• “Mom! Where are we going! We’ve been riding for hours!”
    “I’m sorry Alex. This old road isn’t traveled on much. If I went any faster all of our stuff would break.”
    “Don’t call me Alex! “Alex” is a little kid name! It’s Alexander Mom! And you still haven’t answered my question! Where are we going! Are we moving, and to where! We didn’t even bring everything…”
    “Oh! I guess I’ve better tell you,” she said with a deep sigh. “I’m getting remarried. You see, I met this wonderful man named Charles. He seems…”
    “WHAT! REMARRIED! WHAT IF HE TURNS OUT TO BE EVEN WORSE THAN DAD! WHAT IF…”
    “Stop screaming!” she replied sharply. “What if…everything works out.” She sighed and closed her eyes and ended the conversation at that.

    My name is Alexander, NOT Alex. I am thirteen years old. My mom (her name is Mary by the way) and I had been sitting in our old rickety automobile along mostly untraveled bumpy road for God knows how long! Now, where does it appear we are going? Well, my mom doesn’t even exactly know. She was told it was the third house you would see along this road. Each house is probably about sixteen miles or so apart. The bumpy road made traveling slow even in our automobile. By the time we had gotten into that little fight, the second house was faintly in view in the distance. As far as I could tell, we were heading into freaking NOWHERE! The sun was beginning to set (we hadn’t left ‘til pretty late anyways) and my mom says that after we get about a mile past that next house we’ll have to camp out by the river and finish the other seven miles or so in the morning.

    We did just that. About the time the fifth or so star was visible the old hunk of metal was pulling over. I jumped out and lay down in the cool grass by the creek. I had always thought of the sounds of the old town we lived in before as completely annoying but I missed them. The night was eerie. It was way to quiet. I may have felt more comfortable if the sound of crickets or frogs or leaves rustling in the breeze had broken the intense silence. No relief came. There was a new moon making the night pitch black other than the extremely dim light given off by the stars. I got no sleep but that helped in the morning because we left early and I didn’t have to try to get myself to wake up.

    By nearly noon this “Charles” guy’s house was in sight. My mom wouldn’t shut up about what a lovely old house it was. The only part of her statement I could agree with the word “old.” The house in my view was a lonely box ready to crumble, but I guess it would do. As we got closer, I have to admit, it did seem to look a bit better. It had been recently painted a grayish-blue color with a nice white trim. Whatever. As we neared the house I saw a man run outside with a gun. My heart pounded against my chest, but my mom waved. His angry expression quickly changed to a smile.

    “Mary! I’m so glad you made it!” he shouted as he threw his gun down and ran towards us as we stepped out of the car. “Is this little Alex?” he asked excitedly. He messed up my hair. I wanted so badly to yell about my name and fix my hair, but I didn’t feel like picking a fight with a guy with a gun. I left the two of them to do all of their hugging and such and started my way up to he house only to be stopped in my tracks by that crazy guy.

    “Hey!” he said with a hint of nervousness in his voice. “Umm, why don’t you just wait out here with Mom. Okay?”

    “Yah sure. Whatever,” I said glaring at him. I plodded back down to the wagon where my mom was unloading everything from the back. “Hey Mom,” I began, “what was with the gun. And why did he stop me from going inside. I am getting a bad feeling about him.”

    “Oh honey. You’re just paranoid is all. He has that gun because he doesn’t want ant uninvited guests. Also, he said he had a surprise for the two of us, so maybe he just didn’t want you to find it,” she said reassuringly.

    Right I thought to myself. I tried to shake it off and started to help my mom out. We didn’t see “crazy,” as I’ve decided to call him, for a while. I had a strong stabbing feeling that he had to be hiding something. If he had at least given us a quick wave I think I would have felt better about his disappearance. There was nothing.

    Right as we had just about finished unloading the car, crazy made his way down the path towards us. He just picked up some stuff, not even considering asking us first if maybe there was something fragile in them. He was REALLY starting to piss me off! He took us into his old house. Man oh man, it was a NOT what you expected if you had seen how nice the outside was. Every thing was dusty and there was a smell in the air. It’s hard to describe, but I guess it smelled sort of like pennies…copper I guess. There were cobwebs way up high all over a spooky chandelier. The house looked like it was haunted, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it was. It seemed possible after crazy’s behavior. My mom still just thought I was suffering from paranoia.

    My room was okay, I guess. Most of the ceiling was low enough to where Crazy Charles could have gotten most of the webs off. I asked my mom about why the house seemed so musty. She told m that it was just his vacation house. I guess it all seemed reasonable now, but I was still getting an eerie vibe about the place. I tried my best to get to sleep that night, but all attempts failed due to random thumps and bumps and squeaks throughout the house all that night. I rolled over and looked at my doorway. I swear I saw something… a bit of a flash of blue light. I think I was just being paranoid that time.

    In the morning, pretty early, I heard either my mom or Crazy tiptoeing down the hall. As I heard the steps get nearer I pretended that I was fast asleep. I opened one eye slightly to see who it was. I didn’t see a thing. I could hear the steps going down the stairs, which were in direct view from my room, but no one was seen at all. I couldn’t help but think of the light.

    I got out of bed and put on my slippers. I trudged my way to the door and stopped. I looked right, and then left and then began to slowly make my way down the stairs. My legs were shaking. I don’t think I had ever been so truly scared in my entire life. Now I could hear Mom talking to Charles downstairs. Maybe it was just one of them. Hearing them, even Crazy’s voice, made me feel a bit more comfortable. I shuffled down the stairs a bit faster following the smell of freshly cooked sausage that was wafting through the house.

    Sure enough, the fresh meat was sizzling on the frying pan. At first I wondered, where did the meat come from, but then it hit me. I saw a pin behind his house, so maybe the meat was even fresher than I thought. I could hear my mom arguing with him about the “cruel slaughter” of the creatures. I feel pity for them, but they’re dying for a good cause I suppose.
    “Hey there Al! When did you get there?” Crazy said abruptly, startling me slightly.
    “ ’morning. By the way,” I said trying to be calm (I didn’t want a gun to get pulled on me), “could you please not call me “AL”, or “Alex.” I prefer to be called Alexander.”
    “Oh. Okay. Sure thing Ally. Err. Um, Alexander. Sorry.”
    Maybe he isn’t that bad. I thought to myself.

    I slept for a few hours that night. Once again I saw the light after I had woken up. This time I could almost make out a human figure. I am really starting to consider that the house is haunted. Morning was basically the same as the day before and daytime was a bore. Life there became very redundant, so after about four days I decided to strike out on a hike for a while.

    The area around the old place was magnificent. There was a forest behind the house a ways was a beautiful forest that looked like a giant glowing emerald. I didn’t really “hike.” As I walked into the forest I found a tree that looked easy to climb. I sat up there for I don’t know how long. It felt nice to be away from those two for a while. Crazy seemed to be getting a lot less crazy, but that makes me even more suspicious. It’s like he is kissing up to my mom and I to try and gain our trust. Maybe he has just changed though. I’m working on trying to be more optimistic about the whole thing. Eventually I yawned and hopped out of the tree. Everything was quiet except for the crunching sound of leaves and twigs breaking under the feet of squirrels or other little forest creatures scampering about. As I hopped down, there was a sudden flurry of leaves! A strong wind pushed me backwards. I stumbled back and little bits of leaves, turned into confetti, flew into my eyes blurring my vision.

    I began to run back to the house. Crazy met me half way.
    “Alexander! Mary! Where is Mary!” he shouted franticly.
    “My mom? What do you mean ‘where is she’! I thought…Oh my God! What happened!”
    “She saw the storm clouds! She didn’t want you to get aught up in it all by yourself! She went out to find you. She left almost twenty minutes ago!”
    “What direction did she head in!” I said with tears beginning to stream down my face. I just realized I may have lost my only real family member.

    Charles looked up in the direction of the forest. I turned around quickly and began to run. I had NEVER ran so fast in my life. I was flying over the ground. Then, everything went black. I felt a throbbing pain in my leg. When I had opened my eyes, there was Crazy, rifle smoking.
    “Wha…what…you…”
    “Oh my god! I am so sorry! I pulled out my gun because I always do before I enter the forest. My hand slipped.”

    In my fear, in my sense of complete loss, I wanted to believe that it was only an accident. There I fainted, completely blacked out.
    I finally woke up. Crazy…really crazy Crazy…said I had been out for two days now, and there was still absolutely no sign of my mom. I looked away to the side as warm, salty tears ran down my cheeks. As he left the room, my mind flashed back to that day. Something dawned on me. How did he miss, or how, rather, did I fall? I was pushed down, or part of me new to dive to the ground. Then I thought again of the light.

    That night, what I had greatly expected happened. As I sat watching my doorway, the light appeared. A girl appeared. She wore a probably once gorgeous white dress that was ripped and stained with blood. Long brown hair partially covered her eyeless sockets as she walked slowly towards me. Her feet never touched the ground.

    “Who…who are you?” I said calmly. I needed answers and I couldn’t have my chance ruined by fear.
    “Jade. My name is Jade.” She said with the voice of an angel.
    “Why are you here? Can you give me answers! What happened to my mom? Are you the light? Did you save me?”
    Jade only nodded, then she turned around and began down the stairs.
    “Wait!” I yelled from my bed.
    “Follow me. You said you wanted answers. We can’t talk here. If ol’ Crazy wakes up we…or you at least, are doomed.”
    “You call him ‘Crazy’ too?” I asked beginning to smile. Jade only laughed and continued on. I jumped out of bed like lightning and followed her down the stairs.
    “So, how exactly did you save me? I thought that…ghosts…”I paused. It had just now hit me that I was following a ghost.
    “That ghosts what?” she asked, urging me to finish what I was saying.
    “Oh, umm, I thought that ghosts couldn’t touch mortal being or objects.”
    “Yes. That is correct. I possessed you. Possessing you was a last resort, and I am sorry if that fact startles you. It was the only way I could spare you the same fate as the others,” Jade responded sadly.
    “Spare me the same fate…as who? Is Crazy really that crazy!? He is a murderer! So then…what happened to my mom!” I began to completely freak out. A waterfall of tears ran down my cold face.
    “Shhhh! She is alive. She will be dead very soon though. The forest lulls all the children that are brought here in, including me. While they are gone, the mothers are taken and tortured until death comes. On the child’s way back, he says that the mother went looking for them and shoots them as they turn around. This happened to me as it has happened to many others before you. I am bound to this earth until vengeance comes.” She explained slowly as she began to pass through a door I had never been through.

    I turned the knob behind her. There were old wooden stairs leading down to a musty old basement. That copper-like smell got stronger. The smell was blood. At the base of the stairs, I noticed a small door. It looked like the door to the house of a large rat in some cartoon, but I had a feeling that whatever was behind it was much worse than a rat. I didn’t ask about the door. She seemed mesmerized by it, and I had a feeling that she was behind the door. She began to walk along the air yet further through the musty basement. I glanced back at the door once again. My heart was pounding. I was sure I had seen the doorknob turn. I ignored this feeling in my gut, and went on.

    We came to a second door. I opened it.

    “MOM!” I screamed. Once again I began to cry. I had never cried harder in my life. A piece of cloth in her mouth prevented her from responding. The sight was horrible. She was pinned to the wall by barbed wire. Her feet slightly touched the ground to prevent her from being strangled.
    “Cut her down. Hurry!” whispered Jade. I was in a state of shock. I could hardly move.
    “AAAAAAAALLLLLLEX!!!” I heard screamed through the house. Crazy woke up.
    “Oh…oh God…help me…help!!! Jade! What do I do!” I screamed, beginning to panic. She rushed towards me and everything went black again. All I could hear were screams. First my mom’s and then my own. I couldn’t see or feel anything. My body was cold and numb. Color suddenly flashed before my eyes again. Charles lay dead. I don’t know what happened, but my mom was free…and Jade was gone. She had sought out revenge at last and her soul was at peace.

    My mom ran forward and hugged me. Her warm tears fell on my arms. We ran out of the house without looking back. We left our things, but we didn’t care. We were free from certain death. That is all we needed.