A Day For Ghosts

A Day For Ghosts

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Published by Luna Elizabeth

Copyright 2017-2023 Luna Elizabeth

To a little dream

One

Gray

It was just the beginning of dreary autumn days. A chilly wind howled as dead leaves rose from the ground and swirled through the air, rustling around in a circular motion. She always became entranced at that sight and sound, ever since she was a kid, it just seemed sorta magical. This was her favorite time of year, and this would be her favorite kind of day, if only the sun were shining just a little. But it was a dark, cold late afternoon, and the dark gray clouds were hiding the sun completely.

Ellie Atwood watched a few cars drive by, then glanced up again at the gloomy sky. She blinked when a cold raindrop fell onto her cheek.

Please don’t rain. Please don’t rain.

Ellie repeated the desperate little chant again and again in her head, but it didn’t work, and raindrops began to fall with a crash of thunder somewhere in the distance.

This is fine, I guess, Ellie whispered to herself and pulled her hood up. She continued to stand there watching the traffic go by, losing herself in watching the droplets of rain hit the ground. The honk of a horn made her jump a little, and she noticed that it was now safe to cross the street, and if she didn’t hurry up and do it now, that dude glaring at her through his window was gonna throw a fit or something. She hurried across, too aware of the guy watching her as she did that stupid little jog across the street that made her feel like an idiot.

She turned down the block, eyeing the red brick house at the end of the street. Kids were standing outside on the porch, laughing and peering into the windows. They screamed and laughed louder as the rain suddenly came down harder, the thunder rumbling closer, and they ran to their bikes that lay on the sidewalk, getting on and peddling away.

Ellie’s house was only three houses away from the house at the end of the block, but by the time she made it to the small house with chipped white paint and the crooked wooden fence, she was wet and cold, and her teeth were chattering. She rushed up the steps, pulling the key from the pocket of her jeans, and struggled with the lock for a few annoying seconds before she could finally get inside.

Ellie closed the door and kicked off her black sneakers with a little sigh, then strode forward to the kitchen. She started up the coffee machine, taking her favorite cup from the cabinet: it was white, with two black spots made to look like eyes, and a wavy black line for a smile. Her dad had brought it home for her one day a few years ago, finding her obsession with ghosts and horror amusing.

For my little ghost, he’d chuckled.

Ellie went upstairs and crossed the short hallway, straight across to the end, going into the bathroom. She flipped the switch, the light flickering twice before brightening the tiny room. She took the towel that hung on the wall to dry her face from the rain. Hanging it back up, she looked in the mirror, looking into her own dark brown eyes. Her long, dark brown hair was dripping wet at the ends. She ran her fingers through the tangles before she pulled it back into a loose low ponytail, and then pulled off her hooded sweatshirt and hung it to dry by the shower.

She made her way to the middle of the hallway, where two doors were across from each other. She entered the one to the right side, going into her bedroom. She unbuttoned her white work shirt and tossed it onto the bed along with her black jeans before changing into gray pajama pants, and pulling on an overly large black t-shirt.

Outside, the rain began to fall harder. She noticed the dark spots on the white carpet near the window.

Oh man, she mumbled, going over there. Careful not to step in the wet spot, she closed the window. The amethyst she kept on the windowsill was sparkling a bright purple and shimmering with drops of rain. She wiped it dry in her shirt, staring out the window. The rain poured in thick droplets from the dark gray sky, pounding against the window, and Ellie’s eyes unfocused, making it all a blur.

She felt kinda like this day, she thought. A little sad for no reason. A little lonely. A little fragile, but just enough to break without warning. She felt like this day a little too often.

She blinked with a soft sigh, and set the amethyst back down on the windowsill before she went downstairs to get her coffee.

Back in her room, she set the mug on the desk and turned on the laptop, sitting down. She sipped the bitter coffee, mixed with only a little bit of milk, the way she liked it.

Clicking up her writing program, she nibbled her bottom lip and stared at the words. What she was attempting: to write a story about her latest inspiration, a girl with a thin mouthed face, her eyes mostly covered by long hair. A creepy girl that she’d had a dream about the other night. Ellie knew it would make a cool spooky story, but she was kinda stuck on it right now. Maybe she would try drawing the girl first. She always had more inspiration to draw than write.

She stared at it for a few minutes longer, only having a single sentence written, sipping her coffee. Not really in the mood to write, she then closed it with a sigh, and eyed the stack of art books on her desk instead. She didn’t feel much like drawing either, so she grabbed the black hand-held video game console from the desk instead, Tinygame.

The title screen popped up: Moonwish Village, showing her tiny farmer character surrounded by cute, bubble shaped cows, fluffy sheep, and chickens. She immersed herself in the farming game, and heard the front door downstairs open and close, and a few seconds went by before there was a knock at her door. Yeah, Ellie called, pausing the game.

The door creaked open, and Ellie looked back. Her sister smiled at her from the doorway. How was work today? Alexia asked, moving a damp strand of her light brown hair behind her ear.

Fine, Ellie spun her chair around to face her. How was your day?

Okay. I’m just exhausted, she ended with a little sigh, running her fingers through her damp hair and giving a little wince when they got caught in a tangle. "You can make whatever you want for dinner, I’m still full from lunch and I’m going to bed soon. Tomorrow is half-off pizza day at Pizzabro, though. Your favorite day."

It’s how I make it through the rest of the week.

Alexia chuckled. Oh, and by the way, she began, shifting her weight to her other foot, I told Mrs. Norris that I would help her clean the Gutermuth house tomorrow. They’re going to sell it. Do you want to help us out after work? We could use another pair of hands, otherwise it’s only the two of us.

Yeah, sure, Ellie replied with a shrug. I’ll go there right after work.

Thanks. Just come by, we’ll both be there. That said, she closed the door.

The Gutermuth house. The red brick house at the end of the block. It had been empty for a little over a month now. The family, a married couple, had moved away after their daughter was found dead inside. Murdered. And what made it even more disturbing was that the murderer hadn’t been caught, and there were apparently no suspects, either.

Ellie heard people talking about it a lot, especially the kids and the ridiculous stories they came up with, and the disrespect when they peered through the windows, like she’d seen them doing earlier.

WillowWood was kinda known for its ghost stories. The town was surrounded by woods that were easy to get lost in, and there were stories about people entering them and never coming back out. Ellie had no idea if most of it was true or not, but she’d lived here all her life, and there had been two cases of people going missing in those woods that she could remember. She used to be so scared of those stories, because both had happened when she’d been a kid.

She remembered having nightmares about being lost in the woods, screaming for her parents and Alexia, the trees growing taller and taller, blocking out all of the light, and the sound of leaves crunching to tell her that something was near. Then everything would get pitch black, and she’d panic until she woke up in a sweat, and her heart would be pounding.

But murder wasn’t something that happened in WillowWood. Ellie couldn’t recall ever hearing about another besides the Gutermuth girl. According to the gossip of the kids around town, the girl had been killed by a ghost. That was the reason they dared each other to go near the house and look through the windows; they believed that they would see something spooky inside.

Thinking about the house now, Ellie realized she didn’t actually know the people that used to live there because she never really paid much attention to anyone, always kinda lost in her own head at all times. She couldn’t even picture the girl that had been killed, even though she might have seen her around town at some point. The thought made her shiver. It would be weird going inside that house tomorrow.

At least, she thought guiltily, since Ellie couldn’t ever recall seeing her, she wouldn’t have a dead face in her mind when she went inside there tomorrow. Because that would be even weirder.

Two

Creepy

Ellie stopped in front of the red brick house at the end of the block. A chilly autumn breeze rustled the bright red leaves in the grass, and she shivered with cold as she started up the steps. The front door was ajar, and with the soft push of her elbow it creaked open loudly. Alexia and a thin older woman with short gray hair were standing in the empty living room.

Hey, Ellie, Alexia greeted her with a smile.

Elise, hi! Helen Norris smiled kindly at her. I haven’t seen you in a while!

Ellie gave her a smile. Hi, she returned the greeting, feeling a little awkward. It’s nice to see you.

What have you been up to? Helen asked.

Just working, she replied. It sounded so boring, but she really hadn’t been up to anything exciting. Just living.

Helen chuckled. You look lovely. You look so much like Eric!

Everyone in town still said that. Ellie wished they’d stop mentioning her dad. She didn’t feel like hearing how much she looked like him when his face was kinda fading from her mind, almost nothing but a blur these days.

And you look more and more like Alana every time I see you! Helen smiled