Ghost Girl

Part One: Memories

I remember.... I remember sitting in the attic, peering out the tiny window to see outside.

I would hear my momma crying, while Father yelled at her.

That's all he knew how to do:

Yell, and kill.

Momma got me puppy one day so I wouldn't be lonely. I didn't have it that long, though.

Teeny, I think that was his name...

Daddy didn't know about him. Momma and I tried to keep Teeny a secret cause Daddy wouldn't approve.

But when Daddy saw Teeny's messes, he grabbed Teeny and dragged him out in the backyard.

I watched as Daddy took out his gun and shot Teeny right in the head.

I could see his mouth murmuring some curse words as he dug a whole and threw my puppy in it.

Daddy started beating Momma after that.

Even though the only noise I'd here downstairs was hitting and yelling, I knew Momma was crying on the inside.

Sometimes, every once in a while, my little sister would come up in the attic and talk to me. She'd tell me about her day at school, how much she was afraid of our father... She would even read to me occasionally. I loved hearin stories she made up the most, though. There was one she told me all the time: The Little Bunny and The Carrot. That was my favorite.

It was about a bunny who became best friends with a carrot. They would do everything together. One day the bunny took the carrot home to meet its parents. They were angry that the bunny didn't eat the carrot yet, but it didn't care. The bunny didn't want to ruin their friendship, so the ran away together where no one would judge them for their strange relationship.

Sister would talk about running away with me, where no one would judge me, or stare at me because I was different.

A place where I can be normal.

I'm normal now, I've left my body. The form I take now is myself if I wasn't abnormal-

how I would be if my legs worked, and if I could talk.

All I ask is to go to heaven, where Momma and Sister are, so I can see them again.

But I can't. Not by myself, that is.

Outside.

My body is outside, in the barn.

The problem?

I can't go outside, never. I'm way to scared to even think about it. Besides Daddy, home is the safest place to be. Bad things happen outside. At least, that's what I hear.

So all I do is sit at home, wandering around. Watching the spiders catch some flies and the mice huddling to rest at night.

A gust of air blows my chesnut-brown hair around.

Wind?

I walk into the kitchen, staring at the front door, wide open.

It's her.