Chapter Three

"For crying out loud! Dorothy! How many times have I warned you about going into strange places you are not supposed to?"

Mum kept pacing to and fro. I could see disappointment all over her face. Yes. She had warned me about not going into strange places. And she even told me to stay out of harm's way during the #Ghosted festival. But you see, Dave went out playing with his friends. And I was alone. And it's during my lone time that my curiosity seems to get the better part of me.

"I'm sorry mum " I felt bad. And at the same time I was scared that Charlie might attack me again. At first it was a mere dream. And then it came true. Mum said that I have , been in the hospital for three days now. The doctor said that I was somehow in some kind of extreme shock which nearly almost sent me into a cardiac arrest, but rather in my case it was complete unconsciousness. Like a coma situation kind of.

"Excuse me, madam" said a nurse who never seemed to stop smiling for a moment like her name, itself was Miss Smiley. "The doctor said she is fit to go home now" as she turned to leave, she kept smiling until she left.

There was something sinister about that smile. Those eyes, darken white, bloody like that of Charlie. But this one was different. Because before she finally closed the door, she gave me a wink.

Maybe it meant nothing. Maybe it was my mind playing with me. You know, I have been much much in great shock these past few days.

Some part of me just want to stop this craziness; some part of me don't seem to - the more I try to think who this ghost might be, the more my curiosity seemed to sparkle up.

******

"DeeDee. I think it's high time you do away with these crazy and silly adventures of yours" Dave told me on our way back from church Sunday morning.

"You don't g...." I tried to defend myself but Dave, as always, cut me short.

"Don't get what? You almost got yourself killed! For God's sake, what's wrong with you?"

For the first time since we have been friends right from kindergarten, Dave really seemed to care about me. I could see it in his eyes right now. And I felt bad for upsetting him that way, too.

I just stood there, licked my lips and then, facing Dave, I said "Look, I'm sorry. Okay? I don't have any excuse."

At first, Dave seemed to be feigning anger at me. And then I did something that only he and I would do to each other. I kicked him and ran, leaving him staggering and then regaining his feets to chase after me. But I was way too gone. We ran and kept running. Breeze of excitement blowing at our faces as we ran. But we didn't know we were running into one thing Dave and I just argued about. One thing that almost made Dave hated me. One thing my mother always warned me about. One thing the whole people of Britone's town dreaded the most. One thing with a mystery yet to be solved: the woods. Where I almost got myself killed.

*******

We kept running, deep into the woods without the slightest knowledge of where we're going to or how far we had gone.

"Wait!" I could hear Dave panting from behind as he finally caught up with me. He was down tired. So was I, too. But I had stopped to rest at on the roots of a huge tree. Dave slumbered by my side as soon as he got closer enough.

"I told you. I am the best runner. And I will always beat you to it" I smiled at Dave.

"Whatever" he rolled his eyes. "We should get going. Our parents would be sick worried about us" said Dave as he stood up.

"Yeah" I stood up.

As we were about to leave, we heard a strange sound like the hissing of a snake. Dave stood motionless, his eyes darting around. I could tell from the way he behaved that he was scared.

"Dave. Stay where you are. Don't move..." I tried to keep Dave calm. But it was too late. He chickened out and broke into a run.

"Dave, you don't even know if that's the right way! Dave!" I called out to him as he ran, trying to keep my voice low. Seeing it was of no use, I ran after him.

*****

"Dave? David!" I kept calling. I couldn't find Dave any where. It's been half an hour since I had been looking about for him.

"Dave?" Everywhere was so quite like the graveyard. The air that blew sounded like a whistling sound. The crickets that once chirped, suddenly went into dead silence. No sound was coming in. I tried to look around but all my eyes could pick was just darkness with a little touch of the moon in the middle of these huge trees towering the woods.

Then I heard a tweak. I gave a sharp twist.

"Who is there?" Nothing but silence again.

You see, despite all these creepiness around me, I wasn't afraid. I was just curious. I walked slowly to where I thought the sound I heard earlier came from. I heard a rough and fast thumping coming in my direction. My brows frowned in curiosity. What was that sound? I wanted to know what it was. So I hasten my steps a little bit. The more I moved the clearer the sound coming towards my direction. It was like a thumping. Only faster and rough. I moved. Slowly but a bit faster till I got closer to a huge tree with great width and height. Its roots were huge and visible on the forest floor.

Yes. That where it must be hiding. But what could it be? As I was about to turn to see what it was, something or should I say someone grabbed my hand. Before I could get myself, I found myself running.

"Shhhh!" It was Dave. "Just keep running" And so we ran. And ran until we lost it, whatever it was that Dave was running from. Or at least, we thought.

It took me a while before I could catch my breath again. I was panting like a lion who had ran with all its strength with the hope to catching its prey only to be shaken by misfortune.

"Dave. What's that?"

" I don't know."

Dave looked worst. Like a cabbage doll. Shivered hair. Dirt smeared all over his white T shirt. He was bent down, his hands on his knees and head facing the forest floor.

And then came the thumping sound came again. Dave looked at me with fear seated in his eyes. I simply just angled my right brow and turned around. And slowly walked toward the strange sound.

"Dorothy!"

I could hear Dave straining his voice to call me. "Come back here! Let's stick together and slowly walk out from here"

Everything he said landed on deaf ears. I kept moving, minding my steps. The air felt cold on the skin. The breeze still remained calm. And everywhere was as silent like a graveyard except the strange sound and the breeze. It was already getting darker. The moon was taking on her full shape now. All over the forest floor its light were scattered about like spectrum.

Suddenly the thumping sound stopped. As if it knew I was coming towards it.

*****

I turned around and looked at Dave. He was slowly following me from behind. Turning now and then to look around. I could hear his heartbeats from where I stood.

"Dave!" I called in a suppressed voice.

"Yeah?" He said catching up with me. "What?"

"Look!" I pointed my finger.

"That's a house" Dave said and, then gave me a disapproving look. "We're not going into that house, Dorothy, if that's what you're thinking"

Of course, not. But it was getting late. And we needed to rest. We can't rest outside. Neither could we go back home now because we don't even know the road back. And it was now darker than before.

"That's our only chance, who knows?" I said.

"No! We've to heard back!" Dave said, almost raising his voice.

"Let's go in. And besides, we don't know what could have made that strange sound. So if we stay here we don't know what else will pop up" I said, trying to convince Dave to follow me to the house.

The house was a one storey building. Painted white. And fenced round with wooden fences like the ones used to protect a range. The house looked quite old. The paint on its body which now looked a darkish white green, were peeling off its body like hanging banana peels. It had a front gate about my shoulder height. It was broken and left slightly open. Reclining on the wall of the house by the left was a broken tandem bicycle.

The thumping sound came again. This time faster, like running feets. Followed by a shrieking sound. We ran towards the house. Its door was locked! Dave's eyes were wide open, staring at me and at the unseen creature or whatever could be making that sound.

I felt a warm liquid trickling down my leg.

Just then the door flung open. We went in. It wasn't dark inside. A bulb light was flickering above us. Just as I was about to make out this place, the door shut itself. The flickering light above us went dead. Everywhere was complete blackout. The strange sound coming from outside. Followed by the shrieking sound. And now, inside, this strange house, we heard a hissing laughing sound followed by a kooing sound.