Graveyard, Backyard

Chapter 7 - The Truth

A picture of two little girls was glued on the first page of that notebook.

Both of them had Bob cut golden brown hairs and beautiful bright blue eyes. They were twins. They were standing side by side near a swing. The girls had their arms around each other's shoulder and they were beaming at me through that photograph.

Their smile looked so familiar to me. Monroe, their last names. They were my new neighbors, sisters of that jerk. Their smile reminded me of that idiot's smile. His side smirk was his signature look. That smirk would make any lady with a young heart fall in love with him. I have a cold heart, I won't fall for him. Besides, he's a jerk.

I turned few pages of that pink diary but I couldn't find any more pictures. I have to return that diary back. I thought to go back to the house and return it but I didn't want to risk meeting that guy, not today.

Something caught my attention. On the last page, I saw a poorly scribbled crayon sketch of 3 girls. Two of them were short compared to the one in middle. 'Emily' was written under the sketch of the tall girl and 'Kasie' and 'Kathy' under the shorter girls' sketch.

Who was Emily?

A little girl came out of the back door of Monroe's house. She came towards me. She was looking around on the ground as if she had lost something. She saw the book in my hands and approached me. Alright, caught in action!

"Is this yours?" I asked. Of course it belonged to her. She was one of the twin. Her hairs were now shoulder length and she looked different than the photograph.

"Yes." she mumbled. Shy and quiet!

"It was.. on the lawn." I say awkwardly.

She nodded and took the book out of my hand. She gave a tight smile and turned back towards her house and started walking away.

"Wait, you're Kathy?" she stopped and turned towards me.

"No, Kasie."

"So which one of you reads books till late night?" I saw one of them the other night. She was clearly confused why I was asking that.

"Kathy loved reading."

"You don't?"

She shook her head.

I looked towards her house and ask "Where is she?"

"Dead." she said blankly. She turned on her heels and walked back towards her house.

I was lost for words. I just stare her making her way to her house. That mongrel wasn't lying. He had a sister who died. Dammit!! I was wrong. All along. His sister died. He was right. I accused him for lying that he was making stories. Why would he?

I have to apologize.

~*~

TWO WEEKS LATER

Two weeks went by. No weird thing happened to me. I passed my time in my house reading books and ordering my meals. Mom would be out for whole night due to her job. Jake avoided me. He didn't went on any parties though. He spent his entire time in his room.

I still couldn't make out what happened that night. That creepy lady, the bruise on my wrist. I still had deadly nightmares. I would be standing in a long dark corridor with a bright light on the other end. A person would come out of nowhere and block that end. When I tried to run in the opposite direction I would reach the end he stood. It was pretty weird. I gave me chills and goosebumps when I thought about it.

I was tired.

It was Sunday evening. I was, as usual, reading. I finished reading an interesting book and went to shut the windows. It was around 2 in the morning. There was still no sign of that mongrel. It was good in a sense, because his presence affected me. It made me uncomfortable.

When I went to shut the windows facing the Monroe's house, I saw someone and I squealed. Kasie was standing at her window staring me.

"Hey, why are you up so late?" I asked with curiosity.

No answer. She kept staring me as if she was deaf. Her eyes looked red and teary. Was she missing her sister? I should probably not interfere in some else's matter but I'm Claire.

"You okay?" I asked again.

Still no answer. I was really worried now. Before I could ask her anything else she turned and went away. I just shrugged and shut the windows. I climbed upon my bed and fell asleep.

I still had those nightmares. Repeatedly, night after night. They scared me like hell. I had constant feeling of shortness of breath and suffocation. It was like hundreds of pound weighing you down. I wonder if it was just me or Jake and mom felt that too.

I woke up early, as usual. I got ready and went down for breakfast. Jake and mom were asleep. I hated this morning routines. I didn't know I was living or just passing through days just.. surviving? This was the lamest and most boring summer I ever lived. Dad used to take me to our road trips. Aria and I would roam around and make plans for the next year in school. I had nothing to do now.

Please god, make my life a bit interesting.

I went to the lake and just stare to the far horizon thinking about life. When I climbed back to my house I saw Kasie. She was in my backyard swinging on the swing.

"Hey!" I called her. I was really bored being all alone with no one to talk. I missed the fights with her brother. At least they were interesting.

She smiled when she saw me.

"What happened to you last night? You looked sad."

She narrowed her brows and gave me a confused look.

"I saw you. You were standing at your window." I explained "I called you but you didn't hear me."

She stopped the swing and stood up.

"I just came back to Havendell this morning. I went to gran's house."

"You were not here last night?"

She shook her head.

Hallucinations? No!! I saw her. Or was she Kathy? How could she be Kathy? Kathy was dead.

I was appalled. I run back towards the house and climb upstairs to my room. I was shaking with fright. I felt I was either totally wrong or I was about to realize one of the most dreadful thing. I vote for the latter because all what happened in past two weeks had no other explanation.

The house I lived in was haunted.