• K Y R A N •
I read my manga as I walked down the sidewalk, heading back to my dorm. I had finished packing after we all went home.
I was trying to keep my mind busy from the question I kept asking myself: Should I stay here and help find Evelyn or go home back to my family?
My family had said they missed me ever since Funneh, Gold, and I went back there for a weekend. Anytime I think about going back home though, I always remember how we saw Valerie's ghost.
A FEW MONTHS AGO....
(A/N: Okay so because I was writing this flashback in Kyran's POV, I was going to pay extra attention to his actions and words as I was rewatching the scene. But he says like two things throughout the entire scene and doesn't do anything so ignore that, he's still important😂)
We rode our motorbikes down the gravel road, the rain pounding down as we drove. I heard Funneh and Gold talking while we all drove down the path..
But then we passed a field, and while I hadn't noticed anything at the time, the two had. "Wait, there's a person in that field!"
"What? Where?" I asked, stopping and looking around. "Over there. Kyran, over there!" Funneh pointed.
"Oh, I see it now," I realized, looking at the figure. They were sitting in the field, on a blanket in the rain.
"And they have pink hair..." Funneh said, her voice trailing off. "Should we stop and see if they need help?" Gold asked.
"Their pink hair looks similar to..." Funneh started to say. "Valerie." Gold and Funneh said in unison. We drove up closer.
We stopped in front of the fence that was directly in front of the person sitting in the field.
We trudged through the mud, flashlights in our hands as the rain poured down. Our raincoats and boots were covered in mud and drenched.
The being turned to look at us. Gold shrieked as we all saw the same thing: Valerie. She was actually there! But she's dead. She's dead! She's dead, she's dead, she's dead....
"Valerie, is that you? We're not seeing things, right!?" Funneh asked, her voice panicked. We all looked at the girl, or more specifically, Valerie.
"It can't be her; she's dead!" Gold denied, taking a step back. Valerie then waved at us, with a smile. What? But like we all said, she's dead!
"She's moving though. C'mon, let's break the fence and go look," Funneh exclaimed. I stayed silent.
Funneh then started to pull against the fence, creating that noise that wood makes when you bend it. "Come on, help me!"
With a few more blunt pulls to the fence, Gold helped break it. They pulled and yanked, until then resorting to pushing it.
They kicked it, even harder with force that what they were applying while pulling it. Within a few seconds, they had broken the fence down.
Climbing over it, they rushed over to Valerie. We ran through the field towards her. But as soon as Funneh approached Valerie, she pointed to a journal in front of her and disappeared.
What? What was that? Who was that? She's dead!
With Valerie gone from the scene, all that was left was a pink blanket, a cup of boba tea, a plate of cookies, and a journal that was written in.
"I think we just saw a ghost, but at the same time, do you remember when we went to Senpai's farm?" Funneh asked.
"Yeah and while Senpai was doing farm work, Valerie was sitting and enjoying her picnic..." Gold said.
"A-Are we seeing things? Have we gone crazy?" Funneh asked, looking at the set and then back at us.
"I remember this exact scene at the farm! It's like déjà vu! You remember it too, right?" Gold asked.
"Of course! Everyone was working and she was relaxing here, eating cookies and drinking boba tea! But... is this a sign? She pointed to it before she vanished," Funneh inquired.
"Take it and read it!" Gold said. Funneh bent down and looked at the only words written in the center of the page.
"She came in the night."
"What? Is she trying to tell us something?" Funneh asked. I was still staying silent.
Gold started to ramble but Funneh inquired, "But, is she trying to tell us something? Is she trying to say that... her murderer... was a she?"
"I think so," Gold said. "Wait, think about it. If we tell Evelyn that right now, there's no way she would believe us. Like, at all! Evelyn's all about evolution and science, those types of things," Funneh said.
"And proof too. She wouldn't believe in this kind of stuff. She'd think we're crazy," Gold said.
"Kyran, what do you think? We all saw it, we aren't crazy! Like, this is real stuff, Gold! Look!" Funneh exclaimed, kicking the corner blanket up.
"Maybe we shouldn't tell Evelyn about this yet. She's been acting really crazy lately and I don't want her to go insane over a ghost sighting," I sighed.
"Yeah, that's a good point. Let's just leave this stuff here and... go on." Funneh bit her lip. We headed back over to the motorbikes.
"We haven't gone crazy. Maybe Valerie is trying to tell us something. And if we were to tell Meghan, she would totally believe us! She was Valerie's friend and is into ghost stuff," She suggested.
"Yeah," Gold agreed. "She would totally be like, 'Oh yeah, you guys are definitely normal!' I think that's what she sounds like," Funneh impersonated Meghan with a high-pitched voice, followed suite by a laugh.
"Alright, let's go," Funneh giggled as we climbed onto our motorbikes and started to drive off.
PRESENT TIME....
I mean, I'd have all of summer to go back and see my family, right? They've got each other and I'm sure that one kid not back for a little bit wouldn't be such a burden, right?
I strolled down the sidewalk, continuing to read my manga again. I hadn't gotten far in it; I was only a few pages in considering I had just gotten it.
I was already having the rest of the furniture sent off to back to my home. We were all required to have everything out and gone by the end of this week.
I yawned and closed my manga. I had spent a good while packing up and Lucas was somewhat of help, but other than that, he was useless. He spent most of the day with his friends until he came home and helped once I yelled at him.
'Course, as much of a man I am, I struggled to actually carry some of the heavier stuff. Lucas made fun of me for it, but we'll see who's laughing when he needs twenty dollars after losing a bet.
I started to quicken my pace since when I pulled out my phone, it was twelve-something. Had I spent that long in the manga shop? I could've sworn I had only been in there for ten minutes.
I rounded the corner and walked past a street of dorms that looked like had already been completed emptied. But I saw two girls standing in the middle of the street, or to be more specific: Funneh and Gold out of the corner of my eye.
I took two more steps, completely passing the street. But in hesitation, I took those two steps backwards. I didn't see anything there.
Had my eyes deceived me? Had I imagined them standing there? I mean, yeah, I missed them. But did I subconsciously miss them so much that I imagined them?
I shrugged and kept walking, manga still in my hand and phone snug in my pocket. I continued walking down the sidewalk.
That's when my phone started to ring.
I hadn't had my phone on ringer earlier, mostly because I forgot to turn it on. I always turn it off at night. I ended up missing a call from Funneh but when I tried to call her, it immediately went to voicemail.
I pulled out my phone and looked at who was calling. It was Funneh. I answered it and held it up to my ear. "Hey, Funneh."
"Hey. Can you do a small task for me? It won't even take ten seconds," She inquired. I remembered last time she asked for a favor and how we ended up taking her box.
"Uh sure." I shrugged, though she couldn't see it. "Awesome. Just turn around," She instructed. Turn around?
I did as she asked and I felt my eyes widen as she and Gold stood before me with duffel bags beside them. I blinked once. Were they actually standing there?
"Miss us?" Funneh giggled, holding her phone up to her ear. She pulled it away and hung up, then tucked it in her pocket.
Gold stood in front of her and smiled with a laugh. "Didn't expect us back so soon?"
"Nope, not really. I thought you guys said you would be back a little before summer ended," I explained.
"Originally we were, but we wanted to come back to help find Evelyn," Funneh explained. She crossed her arms and smiled.
"Oh. Well, I was heading back to my dorm. I would offer you guys to stay there like last year in our sophomore year but I just finished packing up," I sighed.
"Oh, it's fine! We were planning to stay at a hotel anyway," Gold shrugged it off. "We were?" Funneh asked, her eyebrow raised.
Gold elbowed her and Funneh said, "What? I still don't fully trust hotels."
"She had one bad experience and now she can't get it out of her head," Gold giggled.
Funneh groaned, "She set it on fire! You were there! A little evil demon baby thing that ended up not being an evil baby demon thing that I—"
Gold gave her this weird side-eye glance and Funneh sighed and stopped talking immediately. She shrugged and looked back at me.
Set it on fire? Evil demon baby thing? What in the world?
"What?" I asked. "Oh, nothing," Funneh shook her head. Weird.
"Anyway, we just wanted to let you know we were here because you didn't answer Funneh's call earlier." Gold pointed to Funneh's phone in her pocket.
I smiled and nodded. We talked a little more before I decided to accompany them to find a hotel. I texted Jacen that I wouldn't be back until later.
"So what did you guys do for the day and a half that you were there?" I asked as we walked.
"Not much. Just kinda hung out with our friends back home. Normal stuff like karaoke, movies, and a party somewhere." Funneh gave a nervous laugh.
"Sure sounds fun," I smiled. They both nodded. "It really was. Except for one small event but other than that, it was great."
"What was that small event?" I asked, genuinely curious. "Oh, nothing..." Gold shrugged. We eventually found a decent hotel and they booked themselves in.
It was then when I made my decision: I was gonna stay here with the rest of the Gang.
"Need us to book another room for you then?" Funneh asked while we were at the front counter. "It's a lot of money. I'll just find somewhere else," I declined.
"It's fine. My parents send me money every month so I'll still have money," Funneh shrugged it off. I was hesitant, but they both persisted.
I eventually agreed and three rooms were booked for us. I explained even deeper into detail about how we couldn't find Evelyn.
"Is it too late to go visit the scene?" Gold asked once we were in the hotel rooms. They were extremely clean and well set up. Excellent rooms.
"I think so. There should be police officers, right? We called 911 after leaving," I explained.
"You say it like we wouldn't break in," Funneh crossed her arms. "We aren't breaking in," I argued.
"We've broken into an actual police office, the school, multiple dorms, and an under construction attraction at a theme park! And that was all here!" Funneh argues back.
"I only recognize two of those things. What are you guys doing in your free time? Robbing places?" I exclaimed.
"Kyran, we've broken a lot of rules and done a whole lotta' stuff here," Gold giggled. "Fake IDs, breaking into places, tampered with evidence, messed with ghosts, gotten detention, and so on," Funneh shrugged.
I never realized how much trouble we all actually got into. Wow, we're definitely no golden children.
They laughed with me. We decided to at least try and check out the place, though it took quite some convincing to make me budge.
When we actually arrived at Evelyn's house, there was police tape surrounding the property. We didn't see any police there though. But does police tape stop them? I mean, you're talking about the two girls who have broken into multiple things.
We ducked under the tape and scurried inside. Immediately, we spotted a bunch of police stuff. Numbers placed around the house, more taped off areas, that stuff.
Funneh headed over to the small library room after ducking under more police tape. She pushed through a few books while Gold went to search the main room. I decided to go check out the bathroom.
• R A I N B O W •
I've literally spent an hour looking for my phone. I seriously can't find it anywhere! My dad worked hard to afford that phone. I can't just lose it like that!
I begged Lunar and Draco to help me find it. We ran from house to house looking for it. But we didn't find it. I was starting to panic.
"Is it possible that you left it in the Pariven Mansion?" Draco suggested. I didn't want to think of that theory.
"But it burned to the ground! My phone would be disintegrated!" I shouted, tossing pillows off of my couch. We ended up in my house.
"Try calling it on me or Draco's phone," Lunar suggested. I popped back up as Draco pulled out his phone from his pocket. He dialed my number.
It started to dial so that meant it was still working. But if it was working, then where is it? I know I didn't leave it on silent. It was on ringer.
Nothing. We didn't hear anything in the house. I rushed out of the house and bursted into Lunar's house, startling her cats.
"Oh, sorry Pudding and Nova," I apologized sheepishly before scampering throughout her house. Lunar called my phone again.
Nothing again. Within a few seconds, I was out of her house and now in Draco's. Once again, they called my phone. And to no avail, no ringing echoed or could be heard.
Then we entered Gold's house and said hello to Ms. Glare. She's such a sweet lady, but she's also one of those tries-to-be-cool moms. Oh shoot, we forgot about Ms. Glare.
"Hi ma'am. Did Gold tell you about—" I started to inquire but Ms. Glare interrupted me. "—Her departure? Yes, she did. Don't worry, darling!"
"Oh okay. That's better. Ooh, what's that smell?" Lunar started to get sidetracked. "Oh, I was making cookies! Want some?" Ms. Glare offered.
Oh, we couldn't decline cookies. And Ms. Glare makes amazing cookies. "Sorry about the mess. We were running from house to house trying to find something," I apologized as I realized we were dripping wet.
"Oh it's fine, hun! Now come and eat," She hurried us over. We started to snack on the delicious cookies when I realized we were getting way off track.
I pardoned myself and stepped outside, into the rain. I pondered the thought that maybe, just maybe it was at the Pariven Mansion. Or at least what's left of it.
"Oh! Rainbow dearie, come back inside. You're going to catch a cold and according to the weather reports, the storm is going to get worse," Ms. Glare pulls me back inside.
"Worse?" We all inquired. She nodded with a frown. "I'm afraid so. Well, at least we'll have more water for the plants. Oh, but I do hope our neighborhood doesn't flood like last time." She bit her lip.
I remembered how our town flooded and we were forced to move. That's why we all have our new houses here; the flood almost reached the roofs of our old houses!
I looked out the window and stared at the rainfall. It was indeed getting heavier. I started to worry that it might actually flood. I stared back out, not saying a word, just eating a chocolate chip cookie.
• G O L D •
We were investigating Evelyn's house. We agreed to be careful, to not interfere with anything that looked important or make us look like we did it.
We must've spent an hour or so searching, but we couldn't find anything. Anything that did seem out of place lead to nothing.
"Ugh, how are we supposed to help find Evelyn if everything in this house leads to a dead end!?" Funneh groaned.
"Well, maybe by leaving it to the police. That usually works, doesn't it?" A voice comes from the front door.
I jumped and spun around to face whoever was there. Kyran and Funneh peered out to see who it was.
It was a tall woman, with very dark skin and black hair braided. She was really pretty actually. Her detective coat was a beige color and she wore a black and blue outfit underneath it. I soon realized her outfit was a police uniform.
"Who are you?" Kyran asked. She looked at him and pulled out her badge to show us.
"I'm Officer Farlam. I'm here with the police to investigate the crime scene again and search for anymore clues. Now the real question is, who are you?" She clarified.
"I'm sorry, but we just want to help find Evelyn. She's our friend and we can't just let her disappear off the face of the earth," Funneh explained.
"Well, if you want more clues, then you'll have to look at her dorm. This is her Christmas house and her other house. You haven't checked her actual dorm yet, I assume," Officer Farlam said.
"No, we haven't. Thank you but why help us?" I couldn't help but ask. "I can tell the difference between a good friend and a low life scumbag. None of you fit into that scumbag territory," She laughed.
"Well, thank you ma'am!" Funneh smiled and hurried out the door, with us on her tail. We were going to head for Evelyn's dorm.
"You're welcome."
-/•\-
Okay so fun fact: this was supposed to be published yesterday. I'm trying to post one every 7 days but the drawing delayed this one. Actually, this was ready to go yesterday but I was actually really tired and fell asleep as I was reading the last paragraph so I didn't actually hit the publish button. Oops.
Also I'm starting 8th grade tomorrow! (Tomorrow for me at least) and my friend was right.
"Everyone's all excited until they realize they have one day before school starts and that's when the anxiety kicks in."
"I'm not gonna get anxiety this time."
"You get anxiety about everything."
"Not this time."
Yeah I've gotten it this time😅 But fear not, I've gotten through two years of middle school and I can do it again. Anywho, thank you for reading. And please vote and comment, I love responding to everyone's comments💖
L U N A is typing....💬