Strange James

This is a more revised version.

 

Fear of the dark eats away at every child’s soul and lies far beneath the depths of our hearts and minds. The thought of what may be lurking in the shadows is more than enough to send cold shivers down one’s spine. What can be watching over us however, are ghosts, the mysterious beings of the lateral world. Few people believe in ghosts and even fewer have even seen a ghost. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, I will tell you the story of “Strange James”. This story begins in the urban city of Hummingdale.

 

James White looked rather peculiar. Besides his pale skin, he had curly black hair and dark, empty brown eyes. Strange James was always glaring at things around him and when doing so, he sneered.  He always slouched when he walked as if heavy weights were dragging his shoulders to the floor. James had a strong gloomy presence that you could sense if he walked into the room.

 

James wasn’t always like this. James used to be a happy-go-lucky fellow. He was outgoing, loud, liked to make people laugh and on top of all that, the captain of the Hummingdale High football team. You could say he was always the center of attention. Back then, his friends, teachers and even the people in the neighborhood called him the rocket. James was looked up to for his quick legs. Whenever he’d walk into the football field, the crowds would chant, “ROCKET, ROCKET, ROCKET!” Nobody would have guessed that he would become to be known as “Strange James”.

 

After a long and exhausting football practice, James wanted to buy a Coke so he decided to take the long way home and pass by the convenient store on Chili Street. Chili Street had many apartments throughout the block. The apartments were worn, old and the sidewalks had many cracks that made it easy to trip and fall. As James was about to turn on the corner he noticed a book by the tire of an old car. As he went to pick it up he noticed the gold designs on the edges of the book and was amazed by the beauty of the cover. The words on the outside of the cover were also in gold letters and in a language that James did not understand but he assumed it was Russian from the way the letters looked. The pages in the inside of the book were damaged but none of the text was missing. James had to know what the book was about.

 

Instead of going home, James hurried to Vlad’s house, a Russian friend of his. Vlad’s mother opened the door for James and let him in with a warm smile. Mrs. Ivanov was very friendly when she didn’t drink and Mrs. Ivanov was hardly ever sober. Despite her old age she cursed like a sailor and drank Vodka like it was water. James ran upstairs to Vlad’s room and showed him the book. Vlad, like James, was captivated by the gold designs on the book. Vlad flipped through the pages of the book and told James that it was not in Russian but in a language that he once researched about called Fghlor.

 

“You can’t get this book at no ordinary library James, all literature of Fghlor should have been lost already!” he proclaimed.

 

“Where’d you get book?”Vlad asked promptly.

 

“Found on the floor.”

 

Vlad held the book to the air. “This is the biggest discovery since dinosaur bones!”

 

“Dinosaur bones?”

 

“Do you know what’s in this book? The Fghlorian people studied the black arts.”

 

James laughed. “Spirits and all that mumbo jumbo righ-“

 

“Exactly! They say the Fghlorian people all died from a curse.”

 

He looked hard at James with a stern face. “Don’t read too much of this stuff.”

 

“Alright give it to me, I’m going home, I’ll catch you later.” James walked down the stairs, said goodbye to Mrs. Ivanov in the kitchen and left the house. It was already dark outside and there was a cold breeze.

 James jogged to his house. His house wasn’t too far from Vlad’s house.

 

“Where were you?”Asked James mother from the kitchen. “Over at Vlad’s house,” replied James. “Okay, don’t stay over too late next time” Mrs. White walked over to James wiping her hands with a cloth. “How’s Mrs. Ivanov doing now?” “Fine,” said James. He walked over to the stairs. “You know, she used to take care of you when you were small.” “Really?” said James carelessly. James ignored her and walked up to his room. He couldn’t wait any longer. He took out the book from his book bag and put it on the table.

 

“Okay” James said under his breath. “Let’s see what I can find on Fghlor.” James went on his computer and searched for any translations on the Fghlorian language. “The translation says that it won’t be exact but it should be close enough.” He muttered to himself. James translated the whole first page and began reading.

 

“Ritual number one, how to see ghosts.” James body quivered. He was not going to stop reading now.

 

“Take dirt and mix with a drop of blood from a male human.”

 

James went to his mother’s garden in the back of the house and grabbed a chunk of dirt. He darted back to his room and put the dirt on his table and starting looking for his Swiss army knife.

 

“I never thought that this would be the day I’d use this knife” James thought.

 

James took the knife and gently cut himself on the tip of his index finger on his left hand. He threw the knife on his bed and reached for the dirt on the table with his right hand. He then very careful shook a drop of blood from his finger to the dirt. After that, he looked at the book again that he set on the bed before he went to the garden.

 

“Smear dirt on both eyes and when the sun and moon are farthest apart from each other, they will come to you.” James read. “Farthest apart from each other? Midnight?” That must be it.” He thought.

He walked to the bathroom and smeared the dirt in both eyes like the book told him to. Afterwards, he washed the dirt off his hands and face and sat on his bed.

 

He looked at his clock. “9:47, two more hours.”

 

He decided to take a nap until twelve o’ clock. James woke up to somebody crying and assumed it was his baby sister Natalie.

 

He rubbed his eyes. “Damned kid is always crying.” James got out of bed and began walking.

 

“What the hell?”

 

On the corner of his room was a little girl on her knees crying. She had tattered clothes, and long, messy hair that touched the floor.  James assumed it was probably one of his mom’s friend’s kid who found her way into his room.

 

“C’mon little girl, you can’t just go into somebody else’s room like this when he’s sleeping.” He walked towards her.

 

The girl’s head turned behind her back and she let out a screeching scream. The girls face was short an eyeball. The skin on her face was rotten, dry and was falling apart to the point where you could see the insides.

 

“OH ****!!!!” James was frozen.

 

The girl disappeared.

 

“Oh my go-“ before James could say another word the girl reappeared in front of him standing and let out another ear bleeding scream.

 

“Goddamn!” James panicked. He ran to grab his Swiss army knife but she had already disappeared.

“What’s wrong James?” James mother came into his room. “You woke up Natalie! It took me so long to get her to fall asleep!” She shouted angrily.

 

“Sorry mom.” James did not want to tell his mother about what happened.

 

“Jeez, keep it down.” She left his room.

 

The next day at school, James was out of it. He could not pay attention in class. They were in the room also. They just stood at the edges of the classroom looking down on the students. He couldn’t help but stare at them. They did not seem to notice however. For two weeks he did not go back to football practice and was taken off the team, everybody was surprised. Besides that James completely stopped talking to other people and his social life was depleted. Even Vlad stopped talking to James.  He lost all his energy and enthusiasm anything after that night. James did not see that little girl again but he did see others everywhere else.

 

One night, James had to go downstairs for a snack and on the stairs was the girl again, sitting in the middle of the steps. Her body arched backwards and she crawled up the stairs. James heart was beating so hard now it felt like it was going to spill out in front of him.

 

James covered his eyes. “It’s not real!!”

 

James took his Swiss army knife from his room and ran down the steps. He escaped to the outside of his house. James then looked around him. They were there as well. James felt a tap on his shoulder and winced. He turned around. A boy about the age of eight was looking at him, floating in the air.

“Mister, can you spare me some change?” The boys face twisted inwards and he let out a loud shriek.

James could not take it anymore. He began running. He looked around him and in some of the cars, they were there. They turned to look at him and with their jaws stretched under their necks they shrieked. Loud, high pitch screams ringed in James ears. James had enough.

 

“If I didn’t have these stupid eyes, I wouldn’t be able to see them anymore.” He laughed.
James dug into his eyeballs with his fingers. Blood burst out of his eyes to no end. He continued to laugh hysterically.

 

“NOW I CANT SEE YOU!!!” he screamed loudly.

 

Still, he heard them and they were gathering around him.

 

James grabbed his Swiss army knife from his left pocket. He cut his left ear off.

 

“Hahaha, now I cant hear you either!” He laughed with joy.

 

What can you do to me now?” He then sliced off his other ear. “

 

James then took hold of his knife. “Now….I won’t be able to feel you.” James smiled broadly and with all his might he plunged his knife deep into his heart.

Author's Note

What do you think of the dialogue?

Reviews

[Raven Wilson]

Wow, I really like the story, I feel it could use a little more description and transitioning though.