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Amanda called out to me from the dining room. "Someone is here to see ya. Probably friends of yours?"
Every part of me prayed it wasn’t Jake because what happened last night made my skin crawl. I didn’t feel like going back to the apartment.
'I am sorry but the number you have dialed is not reachable at the moment. Please try again later.'
I sigh, looked at the overnight bag next to me, and turn off my phone. 'Maybe I will see her in the school?'
So taking a deep breath, I walk out of the employee lounge and see Brianna, Ralph, Brutes, and Andrew all waiting for me at table nine.
"Hey girl what's up?" Brianna called out.
I sigh in relief and hand them the menu cards. "It is fine. So what will you guys have?"
Brianna hummed, "I would like everything on the dessert menu. Do not worry, my big brother is paying."
"Like hell, I would." Ralph yelled dropping the menu cards "Besides I am not hungry."
"I am," Andrew said looking at the menu. "I would like the breakfast sandwich please."
"I will take the Lemon Iced Tea," Brutes said closing the menu.
I take their orders and go to the counter. Within a few minutes, I come back with their food. No, Brianna did not get the whole dessert on the menu but a piece of our famous chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream on the side. As they ate, I attended to the remaining customers who came and left. Soon it was break time, I joined them at the table.
"So, what brings you here?" I ask.
"Oh, dropping the waitress act now?" Brianna cooed making a face at me. Ralph hit her on the head as an answer to her question.
"We want to invite you to my cousin’s penthouse to celebrate his birthday at the end of the summer," Andrew said with a grin.
My eyes grew wide in shock. "Your cousin has a penthouse?"
"Well yeah," Brianna said out loud. "It is located near the beach where there are clear skies, blue seas and the best barbecue ever! Not to mention that they have the best seafood there."
"Too bad I am not a fan of seafood." Brutes solemnly said.
"Then don't eat it party pooper." Snapped Brianna.
I ignore Brianna's insult and look at Brutes. "What is wrong? You don't like seafood?"
"Uh," Brutes pushed up his glasses. "I am allergic to it."
The shocked look on our faces said it all
"If I eat it, my cheeks will blow up like a puffer fish." He explained.
"Oh," Brianna hummed in thought. “But that does not mean you shouldn’t have fun. Don't worry I will make sure you do not eat anything that would jeopardize the highlight of this summer vacation."
"I hope you are not allergic to nuts,” Ralph said.
"No. I am not." Brutes answered.
"Okay, so it is no seafood." Brianna stood up and pumped her fist in the air. "And you won’t eat any of it. I promise."
"I highly doubt that you will keep that promise," Ralph said with a grim look on his face.
"Then you babysit him, tough guy," Brianna fired back.
Brutes sighed. "I do not need a babysitter. I can take care of myself so stop acting immature."
They stopped arguing and waited for my reply but giving a huge sigh, I say, "I am sorry guys but I can't go."
”Why?" asked Andrew with a sad look on his face.
"I have to work."
"C'mon girl, you have two more years to go before you head to college.” Brianna moaned. “Besides, you are going to get fired for taking a vacation."
"No, she is not," Amanda said walking toward us.
I look at her. "Amanda I..."
"Shh," tugged me to my feet. "I need to speak with you big tits."
Ignoring the looks on my friends' faces, I follow her to the employee lounge.
"You should go."
This shocked me. "But..."
"I know, but you need to throw your stalker off your track and you look like you need a break. Your 5 AM shadows are terrible."
I touched my face and mumble something under my breath. "But what about work?"
"It is okay. You are not going to be fired until I say so. You deserve it for covering up for those lazy sissies’ shifts. I was thinking of asking the boss to raise your salary but I don’t play favorites," she said in a strict tone.
Knowing there was no way to talk her out of it, I thank her, go back and tell my friends the good news. They all cheered and made arrangements for me to go shopping with Brianna to get a swimsuit since I didn’t have one.
‘I do have some money saved up.’ I think as they talked about the big day. ‘It’s for college but it can wait. Besides, spending a few dollars on myself once in a while won’t be bad. I also need some new clothes, shoes and a durable bag because mine was looking too old.
Then I remember something. “Is Jake coming too?”
Andrew laughed at something Ralph said before turning to me. “Pardon?”
“Is Jake coming with us?”
He gave a nod. “Yep.”
My lips trembled but I put my elbows on the table and cover my mouth with my hands as another thing popped into my mind.
“So are you going to tell me what happened in Drama Club a few years back?”
They all stared at me until Brianna decided to talk about video games but I slam my fist on the table. “I am serious.”
Andrew looked away, Ralph bit his lips, Brianna began to whistle nonchalantly but Brutes on the other hand coughed. “Where do you want me to begin?”
“Brutes!” they yell.
“We have to tell her what happened since she wants to know.” He took off his glasses, cleaned them, and put them back on. “A few years ago a talent scout was looking for ballerinas to be in the next Broadway Show featuring a talented actor. Everyone wanted to be picked so the school organized a show called The Swan Lake; a ballet musical to help the talent scout to pick the best dancer to be on the show.”
“The Swan Lake?” I ask and he nodded. ‘Now I see why the ghost was dressed in a black ballet dress.’
“The school had five girls who were talented ballet dancers but the play involved two main ballerinas; one to play the white swan and the other to play the black swan but only one person was going to be picked in the end. However, someone took the competition too far by killing the dancers until they were two girls left. Then one died before the show leaving the white swan as the main suspect. She was interviewed and released but ‘til this day no one knows who the killer is.”
I bow my head in thought. “Anything else I need to know?”
Brutes was taken aback by my serious tone. “Not really. Except when they found the black swan, her ballet shoes were missing.”
“What was the name of the person to play the black swan?” I ask.
They all looked at me like I had dropped out of the sky until Ralph coughed. “Her name was Regina.”
I nod and look away. ‘Looks like they are hell-bent on keeping secrets from me huh?’ then I look at them. ‘It’s okay. I am keeping secretes too.’
There was tension as we continued our little staring contest until Michael walked in and turned the TV on. A blond-haired woman with little make-up appeared to talk about today’s headlines.
“A hiker found the bodies of four men in the forest this morning. Feng Juin a prominent businessman and a suspect on drug trafficking and rape charges was identified to be one of them. The police were unable to identify the remaining three but from the looks of things, they were his men. A black truck was found burned and with the lack of evidence on who the killer was, Detective Walsh has crowned it as gang violence or a robbery gone wrong…”
“Whoa! So the Loan Shark of the Infamous Cartel is dead hmm?” Amanda walked into the room with a cigarette in hand. “Thank God. Now the people owing him can rest easy.”
“Whoever did this took their time,” Michael said. “It says on the news that he was beheaded.”
Amanda laughed and walked back to the employee lounge. “Serves him right! He always had a big head. He's always thinking he's better than other people because he had money. The sh!t head.”
I on the other hand decided to keep my mouth shut for obvious reasons. The day passed quickly and when it was closing time, Amanda wanted to drive me home but I lied telling her I had a few errands to run. As I walk to school, my phone pinged with a message from Jake.
‘I am waiting for you, my love. (heart emoji).
I turn off my phone instead and continued my journey. Inside the Principal’s office, I search for Regina’s file and open it.
‘Name: Regina Bozick.
Age: 16
Occupation: Student and dancer.
Personality: Stubborn and ambitious.
Cause of death: Stabbed in the heart (murder or suicide)’
Relationship: Gwen’s best friend.
I gasp. “Gwen was her best friend?”
I hear a whisper and turn around to see a girl wearing a ballet dress with blood oozing from her broken mouth. Shuddering, I watch as the blood dripped to the floor spelling out the words, ‘RUN SHE IS COMING!”
“What the…” then the door burst open revealing Gwen wearing a black ballet dress with a murderous look on her face. She attacked me but I dodge the attack and run out of the room speeding down the hall until I enter an empty classroom. On the board, the words ‘HIDE’ was written with blood as the ballerina ghost girl appeared and pointed to a locker by the corner of the room and I enter it. I hear the door burst open followed by the sound of a chair scraping the floor. I peep through the holes and see Gwen writing something on the board. She looked in my direction, grinned, and walked out of the class.
‘Did….did she know I was here?’ I ask myself not daring to go out in case she came back. It took a long time but I did come out to see another message written on the board.
'Don’t bother hiding. I know where you are and I will find you.
Surrender to me and she will live. Runaway and she die. Make things interesting for us and you might survive.'
“‘She dies, make things interesting for the both of us’? What does this mean?” I a shiver went up my spine. “Could this mean someone is in danger?”
Then it hit me. ‘She is going to kill Caroline! I have to warn her!’
I run out of the classroom and head to the second main building but I startle someone staring at the window.
“Gah!” she looks at me and sighs. “Ahh. What was that all about? You scared me! Shame on you! Scaring a young ghost! What do you have to say for yourself huh?”
I stare at her. “You… you’re a ghost?”
“Well duh? I am see-through!” she pouted and put her hands on her hips. Then her facial expression turned into one of shock. “Wait, you can see me?”
I nod.
“Really?”
I nod again.
She jumped for joy. “Oh wow! I am so glad! Normally people pass through me even when I say ‘Hi’ which is too bad because I want to be seen.”
I take a good look at her and see that she was wearing our school uniform with her hair tied in pigtails with white ribbons. There was nothing scary about her except her feet which were badly sliced.
“Wait a minute. If I am a ghost and you can see me, shouldn’t I be haunting you?” she asked pacing around in thought. “I mean I should be scaring you.”
Then she turn around and faced me saying, ‘Boo!’ while waving her arms in the air but seeing my cocked eyebrow, she huffed. “Looks like I have to take an extreme approach.”
I watch her get rid of the cherry ribbons that held her pigtails, cover her face with her hair and raise her hands at shoulder length.
“I…am…going…to…get you…” she moaned staggering towards me leaving bloody footprints in her wake.
Unfortunately for her, this made me snigger. “You know, if you wore a white cloth and had long wet hair you would really look scary but now, you look cute.”
‘You forgot to add silly.’
“Really?” she asked pulling back her hair and staring at me with big brown eyes.
I nod but my face turned to horror when Gwen appeared through her chest with an evil smile.
“Talking to ghosts Emma?” she asked lunging at me. I break into a run and run down the stairs to main building one.
“No need to hide Emma!” she screeched. “I am going to find you!”
Turning round the corner, I see an arrow drawn in blood pointing to the left. It leads me to a door with a pentagram drawn on it so I enter the room and shut the door behind me.
My heart pounded as Gwen’s footsteps were heard behind it so I close my eyes and brace myself for anything. Anything at all. But she walked passed me, her footsteps echoing down the hall.
‘Phew! That close.’ I wait for a minute before I proceed to open the door but I was stopped by the ballerina ghost girl who suddenly appeared in front of the door.
I jump back and fish out my flashlight in terror but all she was moan and shake her index finger at me. This time, she wore a face mask that covered her deformed mouth and that made her look less scary.
“A…are you the one who drew that arrow?” I ask.
She nods.
“And you were also the one who drew the pentagram on the door right?”
She nods again.
My muscles relax. “Thank you.”
She looked surprised at first but closed her eyes and nodded. I smile back and look around.
“Looks like I am in the storage room,” I say touching the shelves and rubbing the dust in between my fingers.
She nods again and points to a box near the bottom shelf. I take it out and rummage through it.
“Boo!” I jump back in fright. The school girl ghost had appeared through the wall in front of me and she giggled. “Looks like I got you this time.”
I place a hand on my chest to slow my beating heart while the ballerina ghost planted her hands on her hips and let her eyebrows furrow.
“What? I was trying to be scary!” and turning to me, she said, “Ohh what have you got there? Treasure?”
I go back to what I was doing and find a pair of boots with dried blood on their soles, another Math Textbook covered in blood and a screwdriver.
‘Aha! So he was carrying a math book.’ I take out my phone and take a picture of the items. ‘Why are these things here? Did the killer leave them here on purpose?’
“Hey!” the school girl ghost yelled. “Why are you ignoring me? I have been asking you the same question over and over again!”
I look back. “I…I am sorry. What were you asking me?”
“What are you looking for?”
I stare at her and look back at the box. “Clues leading to your death.”
She smiled. “If you want to find clues leading to our deaths, you should go to the library.”
“The library?” I was surprised.
She nods. “Yeah! Some newspapers tell our story.” then she gasped. “Maybe you can find out who killed us! Right Stella?”
“Stella?” I ask.
“Yeah!” she said thumbing to the ballerina ghost. “Her name is Stella. My name is Muriel. What is your name?”
It was surreal and weird to introduce myself to a bunch of ghosts but it was not like I had a choice. Besides they looked nice.
“My name is Emma Cross-wood.”
ns 15.158.61.46da2
