Chapter 1
"Halloween's tonight, Rose," my mom said excitedly. She was on the couch, watching a new nature special, while my dad sat next to her, digging through the bowl of popcorn. "Are you doing anything?"
I scrunched up my nose. "No, we're all to old to go trick-or-treating year. I'll probably just sleep over at Olive's or something."
All my friends and I were seniors and we wanted to do something besides searching the neighborhood for candy. I still secretly wanted to go trick-or-treating, though. You're never too old for candy, at least that's what I thought, my friends didn't.
"That sounds fun, just check in with me before bed," Mom said without taking her eyes off the screen.
"Sure." I headed up the stairs and to my room. I jogging quickly up the stairs, taking them two at a time, and down the narrow hallway. My room was the first on the left, and the only other bedroom-besides my parent's-with a bathroom.
I spread out on the bed and stretched my muscles. My feet almost touched the bottom, only a few inches shy. Under my bed was a stash of books. I put my favorites there and reread them all the time. I pulled out an old, worn down copy and opened it; it's musky smell hit my nose and I breathed it in.
An hour passed and I faintly heard my dad call me for dinner, but I ignored him, too lost in my literature to care. I turned another page and prepared to read some more, but I was interrupted by a door banging open.
"Hello, everyone! Sorry I'm late, my brother swallowed a marble and my mom wasn't home." Olive thundered up the stairs and into my room.
"Hey, Ollie," I said and set down my book after marking my page. "Is Feddie okay?"
"Yeah, yeah." She waved her hand. "He's fine. I just don't know where he got the marble from. He cried non-stop for an hour and mom had a meeting at work."
I laughed lightly. "Do you know what we're doing tonight? I'm fine with a horror movie marathon."
"No way!" Olive said loudly. "We're doing something awesome this year. Since it's a holiday about ghost and witches and vampires, we're going to honor that."
I look at her curiously. "What?"
She put a finger to her lips. "It's a surprise, I can't tell you," she whispers with a grin. "You'll have to wait until later."
I frowned at her. "Come on! Just tell me."
Olive just shook her head with a smile.
"Fine, don't tell me." I cross my arms and frown. "Are Whitley and Hannah coming, too?"
"Yeah, we have to pick them up."
We drift into a comfortable silence. Olive looks through all the souvenirs lining my drawers. They aren't actually from vacations my family took. Most of the things in my room are random items I find all over; an old bottle cap off the street and a lost key I found on the bus.
I liked collecting things. They all seem like parts of a collection, my collection, and when I found something, I just knew it belonged here.
Chains of beads from vintage necklaces hang from my ceiling, acting as the door of my closet. It took months to built it, but it was worth it. Every morning they clink together we I get dressed and it became a familiar sound, comforting almost.
_Rotted_
"I can't wait!" Olive shouts over the radio. "This is gonna be awesome!"
I snort in the back seat. "Yeah, a great time."
Hannah smacks me lightly on the arm. "Oh, come on. It isn't that bad. It might actually be fun." She gives me a hopeful smile.
"Ghost hunting isn't fun," I retort, more scared than angry.
"Haven't you ever wanted to see a ghost?" Whitley pipes in, excited.
I shake my head. "I'm very much content with the living."
"How will you know unless you try?" Hannah questions, even though she doesn't want to do this either.
"I have a bad feeling about this," I try to persuade them, but it doesn't work.
This whole ghost-hunting expedition seems kind of off, especially since it's at a cemetary. Walking around dead bodies doesn't seem right, like we're violating a sacred rule.
Whitley smiles. "You always say that, just go with. It's not like we're doing something illegal." She stops and looks at Hannah. "It isn't, right?"
Hannah shrugs and looks out the window, watching as the trees start to get bulkier and closer together.
"Who cares if it's illegal! We're not doing drugs or anything!" Olive exclaims behind the steering wheel.
"I care!" My voice cracks with the amount of volume I put in it.
"Please, just enjoy this. We're doing something fun."
"Fine, if you find walking on dead people in the middle of the night fun, then lets go have some fun!"
"Finally," she sighs, purposely ignoring my sarcasm. "I thought you would never let up."
"I'm still deciding, so don't push it."
"I wouldn't dream of it," she laughs.
Soon, we arrive at Flower Field Cemetary, the rumored to be haunted home of the dead. All throughout school people have been saying how they're going to spend the night here--and judging by the empty lot--we're the only ones dumb enough to do it.
Olive and Whitley run to the trunk, pulling out cameras and flashlights, our 'ghost-hunting gear'. Hannah and I stand at the large front gate, watching with our arms crossed. A part of me is excited, but another part, the largest, is worried. I don't know what to expect, and hope that ghosts are just figments of people's imaginations, not actual souls roaming Earth.
Whitley tosses me a small flashlight, the size of my palm, and gives Hannah the camera.
"We're going to search in pairs." Olive walks up to us with a camera in hand. "Whitley and I in one, and you two in the other. "
Of course she puts us together. Neither of us want to do this, so she pairs us up, leaving the two weakest members to fend for themselves.
"Ready?" Hannah calls to me, waiting with the gate open.
"Yeah," I laugh nervously. "Let's get this over with."
We walk down the dirt path, refusing to walk over graves. If there's one thing I won't do, it's stand on decaying bodies. Whitley and Olive veer off, obviously careless about where they stepped. For five minutes or so, we walk down the straight path, heading deeper into the cemetary.
Soon, I notice the foliage getting thicker and thicker. Bushes and trees line the grass, hiding our silhouettes. The path suddenly splits into a series, twisting in random directions.
"Which one," I ask, not really caring which one we take.
"This one." She points to the one on the far left. "It feels spooky."
She's right. The left path is the darkest and wildest, stretching in random patterns. I take a step forward, into the eerie atmosphere. Chills run down my spine and goose bumps form on my legs. It feels colder somehow, like the already chilly air dropped to freezing.
We stroll cautiously down the dirt, quietly. My blood starts to flow after as fear and excitement take control. She doesn't take out the camera and I turn the flashlight on when it gets too dark to see.
"You feel that?" Hannah asks, wide eyed.
"What?"
She looks around nervously, her soft brown eyes searching for something unknown. "I-I don't know. Like something is watching us."
"Maybe it's a ghost," I mock, though inside, I'm shaking with fear.
"Shut up." She glares at me. "I'm serious. I can sense something here, not just us."
"Take out the camera. We might as well get it on video if it is a ghost."
Hannah nods and reaches in her bag, pulling out the small black camera. She turns it on with the press of a button, and holds it out in front of her.
"Let's keep walking," she says, "I want to film it.
We stupidly head straight, ignoring all the signs of danger.