something, they stared at the monitor, looking for whatever it was that had grabbed Zack’s attention.
“Stop!” Zack shrieked in a voice that even he had not anticipated. “Oh, that’s wicked. Look at that, right there in the corner!” he said in disbelief. “Boys, right there; don’t you see it?” he said, pointing to the screen excitedly.
Both Andy and Stewart jumped when Zack shrieked again, but they both tried to act like they hadn’t. Stewart rewound the footage and pressed play one more time.
“Ohhh,” Stewart said, way louder than he’d intended. “Oh, I knew it!”
“Again, Stewart, back it up again,” Andy said, stunned at what he had just seen. “I’m pretty sure I know what I saw, but I would like to confirm that, if you know what I mean!”
It was one of those surreal moments, the kind where the boys knew what they had just seen but couldn’t actually believe they’d just seen it. Stewart realized what he was witnessing via a visual aid and what he must have been experiencing in the Willows earlier that day. He wasn’t quite sure if he should be freaked out or not, since he had never dealt with such a thing before and had no idea how he was supposed to react.
Perched on the edge of the bed, the three boys stared at the TV. “There,” Zack said, pointing again to the screen. “Right there. Do you see it? Do you see what I see, guys?” Not daring to take his eyes off of the screen, Zack leaned forward and touched the monitor in front of them. They all saw it, but they had no idea what to do next.
“Whoa, give me a minute,” Stewart said, as he turned white as a sheet. “I’m trying to take it all in, if you know what I mean. Play in slow motion again, please,” he said, handing Andy the remote. “Look where I’m pointing; it’s like a really dark shadow, but it’s moving toward me right there on the frame. See it?” Stewart asked. He felt shaky and hoped it wasn’t noticeable to the other boys. They hadn’t mentioned it, and Stewart wasn’t about to. He pointed out how the ghost had suddenly bolted toward him and then moved behind the large willow tree.
“OMG, I see it!” Andy screeched. “But did you see that?” he asked the boys, forcing his voice to a lower pitch. “Right there?” The room grew silent as the boys stared at the monitor, not sure if they even had the words to describe what they were looking at.
It appeared to be a boy, a young boy. They couldn’t determine if he was a preteen like them or a teenager. He had bolted faster than humanly possible to the left; the boys were stunned at the speed at which he had moved. Faster than lightning, it seemed. They had captured actual visual proof of a ghost, a ghost boy, in the Willows. Whispering Willows was, without a doubt, as they had thought, haunted!
Andy had stopped writing. “Stewart, press play, and I’ll log everything in a minute,” he whispered. This time, it was Andy’s hands that were shaking.
Stewart fumbled with the remote. “I could be wrong, guys, but I think something’s about to happen right here,” he said. “This is where things got really freaky!”
He was right. Just as the ghost reappeared, it stood directly behind Stewart. Stewart’s, Andy’s, and Zack’s mouths dropped open, but they continued to watch to see what had happened next. They couldn’t believe what they were witnessing.
It was as if the boy ghost was teasing or playing with Stewart, only Stewart hadn’t realized it at the time. It truly was following his every move, staying a step behind him as if mocking him, while Stewart worked.
They stopped the frame and Andy once again picked up his pen and started scribbling as fast as he could in the log. He couldn’t seem to write fast enough. His mind was racing as he tried to record what he had just seen. Andy looked up and said, “Oh, look at that!”
The boys, two inches from the screen, looked where Andy was pointing. They were too stunned to speak and had goose bumps on their arms. The ghost had suddenly reappeared behind Stewart, just as he had said it had. He leaned very close to Steward; this must have been the moment that the ghost had spoken. His features were so clear it was frightful; it felt as if he were suddenly right there among them. The boy was taller than Stewart but shorter than Andy, and they were witnessing the moment when the ghost and Stewart had literally come face to face.
The boys continued to watch the monitor. They didn’t speak, but then again, they didn’t need to. They knew they were all scared; they just didn’t need to talk about it. As the ghost once again became visible to the naked eye, it was clear why Stewart had felt such a surge of paranormal presence. It made total sense that his physical and sensory senses would have been heightened – the ghost was right there with him.
Andy suddenly wondered if they’d captured audio, too. That was next on the list, but they had a new hunt to contend with. They had evidence of a ghost; now they wanted to find out who he was and why he was messing with them. They decided to redefine their task, looking at it with a fresh new set of eyes. An investigation with newly defined clarity would take them in a new direction. Who is he? They wondered and then suddenly froze. No, who was he?
And then Stewart had a crazy idea. What would it be like if they actually met him, like in a real meeting? Was it even possible to talk to a ghost? He didn’t know, and neither did Andy or Zack, but they did know that they had made the greatest discovery of their lives and wanted to take it to the next level, whatever that was.
***
Stewart slept that night with his light on and his door wide open, something he usually didn’t do. Hoping against hope that he hadn’t drawn any unnecessary attention to himself, he lay in his bed while his mind raced and he pored over the images he had seen earlier. He had so many questions and no one to ask. Was there more than one ghost? If so, where had they come from? And what, if anything, did they want? Why had it shown itself to Andy, Zack and him? Stewart couldn’t figure that out either. All of a sudden, he sat straight up in bed. A horrendous thought had suddenly crossed his mind. What if Maggie, Kendall, Krista, and Ally had really seen what the guys had seen? Was it possible that the girls did know something, too? And the ghost – had they seen him as well?
“Ahhh!” Stewart groaned. He flopped back down in his bed. Unfortunately, the girls would have to be dealt with sooner rather than later. Focus, focus, focus, he told himself, as he tried to figure out what to do about this dreadful situation with the girls. At last, he decided, and he was certain that the boys would agree with him to deal with the girls first. Then they could move on! It was very late, and, to his relief, Stewart finally drifted off to sleep.
5 Joining Forces
The boys decided to confront the girls at lunchtime, and they knew their approach had to be handled with care. If they were abrasive or dismissive, they risked upsetting the girls. The girls certainly wouldn’t share any information with them if the boys were mad at them. Andy wasn’t convinced that the girls had anything to share at all, anyway, but he didn’t want to mention that for fear of jinxing them before they’d had a chance to ask them. The worst-case scenario was that they’d be stuck with a few girls, asking too many questions and getting in their business. The best-case scenario was that the girls didn’t know anything and that would be that. He had his fingers crossed, hoping for the latter.
Andy’s first class of the day was creative writing, his favorite. He wrote
