Surround yourself with those you can use. That’s the rationale Rebecca Jenksin has been taught throughout her life. Associate with only those who could be of use, as for everyone else, you can disregard them. So that’s why she decided to go to school today, as a way to help foster the connections she would later need. Though on this dark and rainy day at Starlight High – where some of the streets are flooding outside, thunder constantly beckons throughout the sky, and the rain consistently downpours – she realizes it would have been better to just stay home today.
In the classroom she’s in, the only other people there are fellow freshmen Ronnie Everst, Alex Smith, Christopher Wrinkle, Harry ‘Hamster’ Martin, Bennet the Hamster, and Marcus Veridan. Christopher is busy doing wall sits while Hamster is feeding Bennet. As for the other three, well they’re busy chatting with each other. And quite loudly too.
“When’s the teacher going to get here?” Ronnie asks.
“I heard we might have a sub,” Marcus says.
“Really?! Let’s go, I did not study for the biology test today,” Alex cheers by doing a fist bump.
Overhearing that Rebecca snickers, catching the attention of the three.
“Uh, you good Rebecca?” Marcus asks.
Rebecca rolls her eyes before she says, “I was before you started talking.”
“Oh okay,” Marcus sheepishly responds before turning his attention to Ronnie & Alex.
As the three continued to talk, the door to the classroom opened with Ray Ramirez entering, followed shortly behind by X Locke. Ray, who’s wearing glasses and has his hair tied in a ponytail, walks to the front of the room.
“You may know me as just a teaching assistant, but since I’m the only faculty member who showed up today, it looks like I’ll have to be your temporary instructor,” Ray says as he looks at the teacher’s notes, “Now Mister Penningberg wanted you all to take a test today…”
All of the students groan before Ray finishes his sentence, “But as you can see, he isn’t here. So instead, just do whatever you want.”
The entire classroom is delighted while X jokingly remarks, “Well hey, I guess you’re a good teacher after all.”
Trying to hide his anger, because he’s getting paid very well today as the only teacher here, Ray responds with, “Oh right, I forgot you were a Junior, X. See, Junior Biology was going to have an exam today, would you like to take it?”
X, silent for a bit, sighs and declares, “No sir.”
“Good,” Ray Ramirez says, trying to hide the smirk on his face. Ramirez then begins walking to the door and he responds with, “I’ll go find us a movie to watch for today.”
As he leaves and closes the door, Alex rejoices with several celebratory fist pumps. After he does so, X Locke notices how much it is raining outside.
“Hey, you guys wanna tell ghost stories?” X casually remarks.
Hearing those words, Marcus’ eyes light up as he replies, “Yes!”
Marcus reaches into his backpack and takes out a journal with several ghost stories in it
“Dude how did you get all of that?” Alex asks.
“Marcus is a bit of a fan of the paranormal,” Ronnie explains, “I can’t tell you how many times he’s listened to old ghost tales to rereading creepypastas to rewatching that awful ghost sho-”
“At least a hundred times!” Marcus remarks in enthusiasm.
“You know that show is fake though, right?” Ronnie questions.
“But that’s why it’s entertaining!” Marcus insists, “They have to keep a straight face while chasing after The Toilet Tickler Ghost.”
“You do have a point,” Ronnie remarks, “Still funny to think about how our club was gonna be like that though.”
Seeing Marcus’ enthusiasm, Rebecca scoffs as she says, “Wow Veridan, I didn’t think you would be a total nutjob. You do know ghosts aren’t real.”
“Yeah but-” Marcus tries to say but Ronnie steps up.
“Hey, what is your problem, Rebecca? Why are you trying to start some shit?” Ronnie asks.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“I’m not, I’m just trying to let him know he isn’t worth my time,” Rebecca remarks, “I mean most of you aren’t, you all don’t come from any important families, you're not rich, and you guys are annoying. I mean sure, Ronnie’s uncle may be important, but besides that, you guys don’t have much going for you.”
After hearing those words, for some reason, Marcus stands up. But not because he was insulted, but because his friends were. As Rebecca looks at Marcus, Marcus tells her, “You talk a lot for someone that can’t back up their claims. So you think everyone here isn’t worthwhile? Well, guess what, I’ll prove you wrong.”
“Oh really? And how’s that?” Rebecca snidely asks.
Marcus looks around and he says, “Simple. By summoning a ghost!”
Rebecca’s face turns to that of utter bewilderment, “What?”
Marcus, also confused by what he just said, tries to come up with a reason by adding, “Well- uh- if you think ghosts aren’t real, and they are. Then that would mean you were wrong about both that and us not being worthwhile!”
X chuckles at his explanation before he says, “I’d be glad to see The Ghost of Starlight High!”
Hearing that, Hamster, Bennet, & Christopher all look at X completely mortified.
“The Ghost of Starlight High? That isn’t even a real thing,” Rebecca scoffs.
“Nah bro,” Christopher says as he stops doing wall sits and walks over to the group, “the ghost is real.”
As he says that, the lightning outside strikes illuminating the room. Whether it was due to that, the lack of anybody else, or the need to not be bored; everyone’s attention turned to Christopher.
“I was walking down the hallway back at the start of the year when I heard some giggling coming from a hallway. I went there but nobody was around, that’s when I heard her again,” Christopher explains as a bead of sweat drips down his face, “The ghost said ‘the bugs that gnaw at my flesh soothe my soul. You should join me.’ After that I booked it down the hall, told Mister Ramirez, and made my way out of the school.”
Everyone in the room has mixed reactions; Ronnie is a little bit tense, Marcus is on the edge of his seat, X seems mildly interested, Rebecca gets a bit nervous, & Alex is pretending not to care.
“Y-yeah, so what?” Rebecca Jenksin remarks, “That could have just been a trick?”
To that, Hamster & Bennet shake their heads as Hamster explains, “I saw it too.”
Everyone turns to Hamster as he continues, “I was by myself in the cafeteria one day, enjoying the muffins we used to have. When I looked out the window and saw someone looking down at me. Glaring at me. After that, I never go in there alone.”
Bennet backs up the story by acting it out. After he’s done, X stands up and walks over to the chalkboard before saying, “It looks like you guys don’t know the full story, how about I educate you all on the story.”
As X begins to draw, albeit badly, sketches onto the chalkboard, Rebecca begins to get nervous as chills run down her spine.
“There once was a girl who grew up in Starlight City,” X Locke says as he draws a tiny stick figure surrounded by two taller ones, “She was the oldest daughter to a family with two kids. She was just like anyone in this room. But…”
X draws the two adults, one walking away from them and the other with horns.
X continues, “She wasn’t loved. Her dad left them, her mother wanted her children gone, and her sister was too young to help. One day, she couldn’t take it anymore, so she ran into Starlight High and locked herself in the bathroom. When people started looking for her…”
X erases the whole board as he remarks, “She was gone. Nobody knows where she went, but some say that on rainy and lonely days, she roams the halls. And if she sees you, then you’ll be dragged down to where she resides.”
As he finishes, Hamster & Bennet are shaking out of fear, Christopher is sweating bullets, Rebecca & Alex have looks of fear on their faces, Marcus looks intrigued, and Ronnie is unamused.
“Sorry to ruin your tale but did you forget that the building got burned down and we had to renovate it?” Ronnie asks as he yawns.
“Oh come on you aren’t fun,” X pouts, “but they didn’t renovate the bathroom she went in. And legend has it that if you knock on the door three times, she will awaken.”
“Alright then, let’s test it out,” Marcus remarks all the while Rebecca wonders what she got herself into.
“I’ll stay behind, I’m kinda feeling tired and also value my life,” Ronnie admits as he yawns.
“Then I’ll stay behind too,” X says, “Have fun!”
Marcus, Rebecca, Christopher, Alex, Hamster, & Bennet exit the classroom and into the hall. As they make their way to the door to the bathroom on the first floor, the two are beginning to get a bit more nervous.
“Nervous?” Marcus inquires.
“A-as if,” Rebecca retorts.
The two stand right next to the door and both are nervous.
“Here goes nothing,” Marcus sighs.
“This won’t work,” Rebecca says.
The two knock on the door once.
Christopher & Hamster are hiding behind Alex.
The two knock on the door again.
Alex gets in a boxer’s fighting stance.
The two knock on the door a third time.
Bennet has his eyes closed expecting the worst, but when he opens his eyes, he sees everything is fine. Rebecca begins to laugh.
“See, nothing happened!” Rebecca laughs.
“Well…I guess you were right, but hey it was fun doing this-” Marcus begins to say but he’s cut off by the crackling of thunder.
The thunder booms down the halls of the school as the lights start to flicker until eventually all of the lights turn off. Leaving the only source of light coming from outside. Right after that happens, the group hears a blood-curdling scream followed by the laugh of a little girl.
The scream coming from the classroom.
Everyone, even Bennet, bolts back to the classroom and when they open the door they see X all alone in the room, shaking out of fear. His whole body is pale. Moments later, Ray Ramirez enters the classroom, carrying the old box TV and stand with him.
“What’s going on?! Is everyone alright?” Ray Ramirez asks.
“I’m... I’m alright,” X manages to say, “but Ronnie…the ghost took him!”
Silence fills the room as everyone contemplates what X just said. The Ghost of Starlight High is roaming the halls, and something tells them that they’ll all fall victim to it.
Ray groans as he grabs a flashlight, “Of course, this shit happens when I’m the only staff member around. Alright, look guys, you’ll stay here. I need to go look for Ronnie and try and fix the generator. You kids stay in here, alright?”
Everyone there nods as Ray exits the classroom. As soon as he leaves though, chaos fills the room with X freaking out and Bennet writing his last will and testament. All the while, Marcus reaches into his backpack as everyone begins to talk.
“Okay, Ronnie, did you plan something with X? You can come out now!” Alex roars, but to no avail.
“This isn’t funny!” Rebecca yells.
“What are we gonna do, I can’t go to hell just yet,” X begins to say, “There’s so much I still need to do! I have to go to a Denny’s, I have to try roller skating, I have to!-”
“Why are those the two first things you think of when you’re about to maybe die?!” Hamster asks.
“I don’t know but if I’m gonna die, I wanna do it while roller skating!”
Finally, Marcus finds what he was looking for and pulls it out.
“Alright listen, guys, since the ghost is out there, we need to figure out what it wants,” Marcus begins to say.
Everyone looks at Marcus to see what he pulled out of his backpack. All of them have looks of either shock, horror, confusion, or a mixture of the three.
“Where did you even get that?” Christopher shivers.
“You can’t be serious,” Rebecca exhales.
“Marcus there’s no way in hell you’re gonna use it,” Alex yells.
“I’m not gonna use it,” Marcus explains before giving a coy smirk and adding “Alone that is.”
All the other kids come to the same conclusion at the same time. That they all were going to use the thing Marcus pulled out of his backpack.
They were going to use an Ouija board.
See You Next Chapter!~