A Ghost from the Past

A Ghost from the Past

By Alina Secrest

Prologue

Seven year old Ashley stood in front of the man. It was pitch black outside, so she could barely see his outline. She felt the strange spirit that was not hers inside her, possessing her. She had been fighting it for hours and was weak. She felt a connection between the spirit and the strange man. They must be related, she thought, before the intruding spirit took power over her whole body. The last thing she remembered was being forced to pounce on the man, much too late to realize she carried a knife. She watched the man slowly keel over. Then everything went dark. Absolutely dark.

Chapter 1

(4 years later)

Ashley woke with a start. She glanced at her clock. It was just about midnight. She had been having nightmares again. She’d had the same ones since she was seven. She was eleven now. They were frightening, and made no sense whatsoever. She decided to go back to sleep. Tomorrow was Halloween, and she wasn’t going to be scared now.

Chapter 2

Ashley was lying on the plush green rug in her room, painting her sister’s nails.

“All done,” she said as she twisted on the top of a bottle full of Ravishing Red nail polish.

“Yes, finally!” said her sister, Amelia. “Now I can dress up for the wedding! Barbie doll and Mr. Snuffles are getting married! And I’m their flower girl!” she finished saying, before she quickly bounced out of the room, humming a wedding song. Ashley barely stifled her giggles. A Barbie doll marrying a teddy bear was pretty funny. She sighed and picked up the bottle. One thing she didn’t have a lot of patience for was messy bedrooms. Everything in her room was neon green and blue. From her rug, to her throw pillows, everything matched. She put back the bottle in its spot in her color coordinated nail polish box, and flopped down on the bed with book. She was rereading one of her favorites, Harry Potter. “I can’t wait for trick or treating tonight,” Ashley murmured to herself. “I really can’t wait.” She turned her focus to her book, and was lost in a world of magic.

✽✽✽✽✽

Ashley stood in front of her full-sized mirror, checking her costume. Her mom walked through the door. “It’s perfect, Ashy-Lashy!”

Ashley groaned. “Mom, I told you not to call me that anymore.” But she had to agree, the costume was perfect. She was a vampire, fangs and all. Her mom had sewn a beautiful dress with tattered lace. “Thanks for the costume, Mom,” she said as she turned to face her mother. “No problem, sweetie!” exclaimed her mother brightly. “Always happy to help!” Just then her sister barged through the door.

“Aren’t I a beautiful princess,darling?” said her sister in a silky voice.

“Yes, dear, you look mah-valous!” said her mother in a fake accent.

“Ooh, Ashley, I love your costume,” said Amelia

“Thanks, Amelia, and you’re the prettiest princess around!”

“Do you like my bag for my candy?” Amelia happily asked .“ It’s a unicorn!”

“Cute,” answered back Ashley as she picked up her own bag, a silhouette of a wolf howling at a full moon.

“Come on girls, got to go, or all the candy will be gone.”

“Coming Mom!” shouted Ashley and Amelia in unison. They flew down the front steps, over the front yard, and into the street .Ready for a night of treats, and plenty of tricks.

✽✽✽✽✽

Ashley, Amelia, and their mom stood in front of a giant old house, about their seventeenth stop for trick or treats. It was covered with vines, but had an eerie light coming from inside.

“Wow,” said Ashley, with a hint of nervousness in her voice. “You don’t expect to see a house like this in Washington D.C.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen this house before,” said her mother.

“Lets go in!” said Amelia, and her mom hesitantly agreed, though Ashley heard a trace of uncertainty in her voice.

“I don’t know,” Ashley said, no longer bothering to mask the nervousness in her voice.

“Come on Sis, it’ll be fun!” whined Amelia.

“Fine,” said Ashley “Lets go in. But I have a bad feeling about this.”

“Yay!” said Amelia, as they walked through the enormous, scary double doors of the creepy mansion.

Chapter 3

A dim glow lit what Ashley supposed was a hallway.She could barely see Amelia and her mom. “It’s dark in here. Where’s the candy?”Amelia said with surprising cheerfulness. Ashley barely heard her .

“Mom,” she said,“I don’t like it in here. Can we go?” Ashley turned around. Suddenly, it became pitch black. “Mom? Where are you! Amelia! Mom!” Ashley was frantic. Where had they gone? She shouted several more times. Her voice echoed off the walls. Then, one by one, a row of torches on the wall lit up. Each torch illuminated a gruesome painting. The closest one was a painting of a headless bleeding man, whose head was being eaten at his feet by wild animals with red eyes. Filled with horror, Ashley stumbled backwards, and felt her back press against something scratchy and squishy. The air began to smell like decayed garbage. Ashley froze. She slowly turned around. There stood a mummy, dressed in rags and tatters of cloth, its mouth half open. “Ahhhhhhhh!”Ashley screamed.

”Must ….kill…... girl …...now,” said the mummy robot-like.

“Ahhhhhh!” Ashley screamed again.”He’s gonna kill me!” Ashley took a deep breath. “Just think clearly,” she said. Then she noticed a door behind the mummy! “1...2...3,” she bolted under the mummy's outstretched arm. " Ha ha! Can’t catch me now toilet paper dude!" Ashley taunted the mummy, as she disappeared behind the mysterious door, bolting it from the inside. Breathing hard, she double-checked that the door was securely locked, and turned around. Ashley wanted to die. She rubbed her eyes. Nope, they were still there. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. Nope, still there. She pinched herself. Nope. They were real. She had walked in on seven werewolves, who were at the moment stripping down a dead carcass to the bones.

Ashley peeked through a crack in the door.The mummy was pressed against the door, trying to get in. She was trapped.

* * * * *

Ashley sank down onto the ground and started sobbing. She was doomed. She would never make it out alive. She would be eaten by the werewolves like the carcass on the floor. Thinking about the werewolves, Ashley looked up, and found all seven of them sitting on the ground, about five feet away from her. The closest one licked its lips. Ashley guessed it was thinking about the wonderful meal it just had, or the meal it was soon to have. The meal with a black lace dress. The meal with a terrified expression on her face. In other words, the meal named Ashley. A werewolf stepped forwards. It was bigger than the others, and it held itself with an air of importance. Ashley guessed it was the leader of the pack. Or race, species, breed, whatever you would call a group of half human, half wolf-like carnivores. Then Ashley had a weird (I mean VERY weird) vision of the werewolves, all starring in a ballet, wearing pink sparkly tutus.

“Stop that!” barked the leader, his voice gruff. Ashley was startled. Talking werewolves?

“Stop what?” asked Ashley.

“Stop thinking about us in a ballet!” demanded the werewolf.

“O.K. Whatever.” Ashley processed what the creature had said. “Wait, what?How did you know…..”Ashley trailed off.

“We’re not normal werewolves,you know.”

“I don’t think that….” Ashley stopped herself. She had been about to say, I don’t think that any werewolves are normal, but that might offend the werewolves, and nobody wants to make human-eating monsters mad.

‘I don’t think that I would know, I haven’t met many werewolves.” Ashley cringed. That had sounded better in her head.

“I don’t get how you’re special werewolves,” she said. That didn’t come out right either. The werewolves growled and snarled as they gathered together, the way a football team would huddle.

“Fine,” snarled the leader. “I’ll tell the idiot human what we can do.

“Hey!” Ashley protested. “I got an A+ on my last history test! I’m not stupid!”

The werewolf ignored her and went on. “Yes, we’re talking werewolves, but, we can…..MIND- READ!”

Ashley wanted to slap herself. How could she have been so stupid! And that’s why the leader had told her to stop thinking about them in a ballet. He had read her mind! And of course he had told her to stop thinking about that. Werewolves probably got embarrassed too.

“Uuuh. Finally, you figured it out,” said the leader, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Um, yeah. I guess I did,” Ashley muttered. Geez,these werewolves are annoying, Ashley thought.

“I heard that!” growled the werewolf.

Whoops, thought Ashley, I forgot that these stupid werewolves can mind-read.

“I heard that too!” The leader barked orders at the other werewolves, who sat at attention.They started to close in, their red, evil eyes fixed on Ashley, fangs bared, saliva dripping from their mouths.

One werewolf did not advance. His name was Jokcx. Jokcx was in shame. Algerez, the leader of this werewolf pack, had read Jokcx’ mind while he was asleep,and interrupted an embarrassing dream. Embarrassing, that is, for a werewolf. Jokcx had dreamt that he was frolicking in a dandelion field. So, as a result, tomorrow he was going to retake the Ferocity Test. That was a test that every werewolf took, before becoming part of a pack. If he passed, he was fine. But if he didn’t pass, he would become the pack’s latest dinner. In truth, Jokcx dreaded the test. And, since he was in shame, he was also not permitted to talk or act during a kill, which they were doing right now.That’s why he was sitting in the back of the room, while the rest of the pack busied themselves with the girl. Jokcx, in a way, admired the girl. So far, she had taken this very well. She appeared to be calm, (though Jokcx could sense that she was terrified) and she was still in one piece. Well, for now anyway, he thought grimly to himself. Algjerez has never passed off a chance for food. A quick flash of pity motivated Jokcx into making a sudden decision that he would help this girl. Why? He didn’t know, but he was becoming tired of being a werewolf. A creature limited to evil thoughts, and sinister feelings. He had to focus if he wanted to help the girl escape, alive. In his eyes was a mix of betrayal, fear, and doubt. Suddenly, he pounced upon the leader, and took him by surprise. The leader yelped, then recovered, and turned around, fangs bared at his attacking kin. They both rose onto their hind legs,and lunged at each other.The other werewolves joined in the fight, driven to protect their leader. As Ashley witnessed the attack, she wondered why the werewolf had helped her, and sent sent him a quick prayer of thanks. Looking around the room she saw a small opening in the wall, just big enough for her to slip through and escape the rest of the werewolves. Ashley hurriedly scrambled through the wall, feeling ready to take on the world. Well, maybe not the whole world.

Chapter 4

Well, they always say, (whoever they are) out of the frying pan and into the fire. Now Ashley truly understood what that meant. And if she had ever been in extreme danger, (not counting the werewolf incident) she would be having deja vu right now. Anyway, Ashley had gone through the wall, to find herself in the presence of a two creepy men who were floating, transparent, and arguing. They abruptly stopped as soon as they saw Ashley. They stared at her, then went back to arguing, though this time Ashley managed to catch what they were saying.

“You said she wouldn’t make it!” shouted one ghost.

“I tried!” shot back the other one, “I sent Algjerz and the rest of the pack to her.They’ve never failed!”

The first ghost quickly thought of a comeback.“Well if you…..”

Ashley cut him off. “Wait.” she turned to the second ghost. “You made the werewolves appear?”

“Yes.”he replied smugly, “Did they give you some trouble?”

“Well,yes, but then they started fighting and …..”This time the ghost cut off Ashley.

“See? What did I tell you, Joshy-Washy.” said the ghost, mockingly.

“Don’t call me that!” growled the other ghost, “Ed-nerd.” he added.

“Wait, what?” Ashley said, confused, “Who are you?”

“Ah,we forgot to introduce ourselves to the lady.” the second ghost said, smirking. “I’m Edward…”

“And I’m Joshua.” interrupted the other ghost.

“Wait a second.” said Ashley as she realized something, “You’re both in all my nightmares!” Thinking about her nightmares made it all come back. She is standing in a road, a familiar man with her. She feels feelings that are not her own, a spirit that is not hers. Suddenly, she loses control of her self, and lunges towards the man. The man falls, a voice laughs. A familiar voice. Then she would wake up, only to repeat it the next night. Abruptly, Ashley made a startling connection between the dream man and voice,and the ghosts. “You.” she said, turning to Edward, “You’re the man. The one who I...kill.” She turned to Joshua. “And you’re the voice. The one who forces me to…” Ashley trailed off. “What the heck is going on here?!” she demanded.

“Then I gather you got my little..messages?” asked Edward, his voice silky.

“You sent those dreams?”

“Yes.Although technically they’re your memories, saved, but forgotten.”

“Hold on.” said Ashley, unbelieving what she was hearing. “I never murdered anyone.” But even as she said it, she had a sneaking suspicion that the ghosts were right.

“Well, I’m sorry.”she said.

Joshua ignored her. “Yes. I possesed you, forcing you on Edward. And for our own reasons, we agree you are to live no longer.” They both stared at Ashley. “This,”they said, voices like ice, “is our revenge.” Now Ashley was scared. She tried to reason with them. “I’m really not sure about this.” she said. They were definitely crazy. “Maybe we could talk about this?”They advanced.

“I’ll take that as a no.”she decided glumly. Suddenly, Ashley noticed that the floor was littered with swords and battle gear. For some reason. One glance at the approaching ghosts, then the armor ect., she envisioned a risky plan. Risky, but a plan. And it was something.

Chapter 5

Apparently, ghosts can’t move very fast, because by the time Ashley had finished struggling with her helmet, strapped a shield to her left arm, and picked up a small flair,they had moved six feet. Ashley dramatically closed the visor of her knight’s helmet, positioned her flair, and gave a battle cry that sounded more like a crazed monkey. Then she charged. Ashley took the ghosts by surprise, tumbling and swinging her flair amongst them. She actually got into a rhythm. Swing. Swing. Roll. Swing. Again and again. After two minutes of this, Ashleys arm was beginning to tire, so she stopped, confident that she had vanquished the revenge-driven spirits.She turned around….and saw the ghosts,chortling with silent laughter.

“But...but…”Ashley stuttered.

“You do realize we are transparent. Right?” said Joshua. Suddenly, it hit Ashley. Not literally.

Of course. Her blows had gone right through them. It was all for nothing. She flung down her flair, and threw her helmet at the wall in frustration. It got caught in a groove in the wall, but due to Ashley’s need for organization, she couldn’t stand it hanging there. So she went over to pull it out. But it was firmly stuck ,and wouldn’t budge. Ashley tried twisting it. Finally, it came out. And with it, a board of wood.

“Whoopsy-daisy.” she said nervously.

“Nooooooo! She found it!” shouted Joshua and Edward simultaneously.

“Um,what did I find?” Ashley asked. Then she noticed a switch that had been hidden behind the panel of wood. Then she noticed that some letters were faintly carved above the switch.

“What do these mean? T,S,S,A,G,T,A,D,T,V,T?” said Ashley.

“Just tell her Edward.” grumbled Joshua miserably.

“All right.”muttered Edward, “They stand for, This Switch Sends All Ghosts To Another Dimension,Then Vaporizes Them.”

“Oh.” said Ashley, a plan already forming in her mind. “Does it also send humans?” she asked curiously.

The ghosts seem to have let their guard down. “No,only ghosts. It’s more of an emergency evacuation.”

“Oh,I see.” said Ashley.Then, without warning, she flipped the switch.

Chapter 6

When Ashley came to, her watch read 6:35. She’d been unconscious for an hour. She stood up. The room looked like a tornado hit it. But the ghosts were gone. Ashley smiled. Her mom,and Amelia would never believe her.Suddenly Ashley remembered.Mom and Amelia had disappeared earlier! Ashley ran out the door to find them. She was startled to find she was outside. That’s odd. she thought, I didn't come in through that door. But then she saw Amelia and mom. “Where were you?” she asked.

“I’m not really sure.” Ashley replied. Amelia yawned. Ashley smiled, “We’ll figure it out in the morning.” Amelia yawned again.

“Good idea.” said Ashley’s mom laughing. And they started home, to find that in the morning, the strange house would be gone, and they would forget all about it, and its events. Everyone except Ashley that is.

Epilogue

Years later, Ashley looked back on that night on Halloween, and realized that she had learned something. She had become brave. As for Jokcx, he was reincarnated as a pet bunny named Fluffernutter. He was deeply loved, and enjoyed life.

THE END