Chapter Four: The SleepoverA Chapter by Not here She Who Walks The Streets At Night “Are your parents asleep now?” Brandon asked. “I wanna get rowdy.” Christian stared at him blankly, mouth agape. Crystal looked like she was ready to chastise him and also ready to crack up laughing. Michael was somewhere else in the house showering. “Just kidding, just kidding,” Brandon laughed, rolling backwards on the bed. Christian shook his head, amused, but Crystal took action and shoved him off. With a thud, he landed on the floor, face slamming into the carpet. Grunting, he rolled over and looked up, where Crystal was leaning over the bed and smiling. “Rowdy enough?” she asked. At that moment, Michael walked in the room, tank top and shorts on. Looking around with a confused glance, he asked, “Umm, what’s this?” Christian stood up off the bed and said, “Apparently, they’re being ‘rowdy.’ Take that for what you want it to mean.” Michael laughed and asked, “So what snacks you got hidden up here? I’m hungry.” “And that’s new?” Crystal mocked. “Hey, give the man some peace. Some of us think we’re gonna grow up to be trees,” Brandon added in. “Has there been five minutes in the last five years where you didn’t talk?” Christian asked. Looking at the clock up on the wall, Brandon did not answer. His face suddenly grew serious and, it seemed to Christian, there was a hint of fear etched across it. “You alright, man?” Michael asked, walking over to him. Christian and Crystal both got up off the bed. “It’s time.” “Brandon, what are you talking about?” Crystal put a hand on his shoulder, while Michael walked up behind her. Most days, he would feel a sudden pang of jealousy, but it was different now. Something was going on, something strange. “The real reason why I had you all spend the night,” Brandon started explaining, “was to tell you something. Well, to show you.” The others granted him confused expressions, begging for him to continue, and at the same time dreading it. Inside of them, somewhere deep down, they knew this was going to change everything. What he was about to share, they did not want to hear, and yet they egged him on. “Brandon...tell us…” “This all started about a week ago. I was staying up late one night, playing my Game Boy because my parents don’t know I have it, and I went over to put it away because it was getting late and I had church the next morning. Normally, I hide it over behind my curtains, because nobody looks there, so that’s what I was doing. “Anyways, I pulled back the curtains, and something down on the street caught my attention. There was a figure standing down there, just under the streetlamp. I could barely see her, but all the same I’m certain she was there.” “How do you know it’s a ‘she’?” Christian asked. “And why are you so sure? It was late so you could have imagin-” “I know what I saw,” Brandon said forcefully. “Besides, you didn’t let me finish. I’ve seen her every single night since then. At 10:30, every night, she is out there. I can’t tell what she is looking at, or what she is doing, but a part of me doesn’t want to know.” “How do you know it’s a ‘she’? You didn’t answer,” Christian repeated. “I can see her hair. It’s long; longer than yours, Crystal. It’s like a black, whitish type, so I think she must be older. She kind of slouches, it looks like, so maybe that’s right. Whatever it is, she freaks the crap out of me. Especially at night. The first time I saw her, I couldn’t sleep at all, and kept getting up to see if she was there. Every time I checked, there she was the same way, just standing and not moving.” “When did she leave?” Christian asked again. He was interested, and asking all of the questions. The other two just listened in shock and disbelief, but at the same time, this was Brandon. He would joke, sure, but never taking it this far. This was serious business, and he knew it. “I don’t know,” Brandon answered. “I fell asleep a little after four. Last I checked, she was still there about ten ‘til.” “So what do you want us to do? Get her?” Michael asked, confused. “What?” Brandon exclaimed. “No, no; nothing like that. I just want you all to be here and see if you see her too. To make sure I’m not going...well…” “Going crazy?” Crystal finished for him. “Yeah...going crazy.” “Well, don’t worry, man,” Michael assured him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll check it out, and stay up with you. These things are better faced with friends, like horror movies.” “Yeah, same here,” Christian agreed. “I’m up for anything,” Crystal assured him. Looking up at the clock, Michael rubbed any weariness out of his eyes and addressed the rest of them. “It’s a little after 10:30. Let’s go see.” Like a silent parade at a funeral, they shuffled over to the window, drawing nearer to the curtains, behind which lay a mystery, both in the past and the future. The room was silent around them, and with hearts beating so fast you must have been able to hear them, all four of them gathered around, staring out as Michael’s hand went to the curtain. With a quick tear through the air, he ripped the curtains back, and there it was. Nothing. There was nothing unusual outside. No lady standing there, no shocking revelation. There was a road, running off out of their vision to the right and left. There was a street lamp, casting its shadowy glow onto the bushes and lawns below. There were houses lining the side of the road, spaced apart but still close together. There was nothing. “Brandon…” Crystal began to say, but he was stumbling backwards. “I...she was…” “Brandon, it’s okay man,” Michael tried to comfort him. “Maybe she just didn’t come tonight.” “I swear...every night...she…” He looked up at them with wild eyes. They were the eyes of a man who cannot believe what he saw, forced himself to believe it, and then watched as it disappeared. His sanity came crumbling down, and every pretentious wall he built up was torn to pieces like shredded paper blown in the wind. Leaving him with nothing and no sense of what was going on, he sat down with a thud on the bed and leaned back, staring at the ceiling. “Guys,” Christian said warily from over by the window. “What is it?” Michael responded, not trying to but involuntarily sounding harsh. “I see…” “What do you see, Christian?” “I see her. And she sees me.” In a moment, they were all gathered around the window, staring down at the ground beneath the streetlamp. There was a lady. Her face was grave and serious, with wrinkles marking it like the ridges in wood. Her long, white hair seemed to have once been black, but now nearly all traces of that were gone. She stood, hunched in a way, but still menacing. One gnarled, shaky finger pointed up at them from the street, and her eyes seemed to glow bright, not in the hopeful, kind sort of way. “What...what is that?” Crystal asked, leaning on Michael for support. Christian tried to answer, but could not. Words would not form in his mouth. Michael stood stiff and still, afraid that if he moved, she also would. There was no means to tell which way she would go; away or towards them. Brandon was undaunted and steady, as if he had been expecting this all along. Indeed, he had. “She.”
© 2015 Not hereAuthor's Note
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