The moon was out, I had not heard a clock.
“Are you sure you will be okay?” Christine asked. She was one of those “mother hen” type of people; her heart of gold would never allow her to leave someone on their own no matter how alluring the thought of going out with the rest of the cast for food sounded.
“I just have to lock up the restrooms. I’ll be fine.”
I climbed the stone steps to the restrooms and dressing rooms as Steven and Christine drove away, watching at a particularly large moth throw himself at an unforgiving light. The sickly yellow glow of the seductress light illuminated four doors. Four doors that required the keys in my hand so that the castle could be freed from any living annoyance.
One.
I heard a rustling in the bushes to my right. I looking through the leaves hoping to catch a glance at the family of deer who frequented the area around the castle grounds but the only thing looking back at me was the black of the night.
Two.
A clicking from deep inside the dark abyss that was the men's restroom bade me to look inside. “Anyone in here?” I called into the empty space. No reply.
Three.
A cold chill ran down my spine as an autumn wind crawled across the ground, disturbing the fallen leaves as they lay dead on the ground.
Four.
A light was left on inside of the women's dressing room. I quickly went inside, flipped the switch, and bolted out. Taking great caution to not look in the mirror for fear of seeing the unexplainable.
As I jabbed the key into the last lock of the four doors a strange feeling came over me. The feeling not of being watched, but observed. As if I were being studied, evaluated, or analyzed. Another rustling in the bushes made my curiosity flee and leave only my fear behind. I sprinted after my courage, hoping to catch it in my car. Relieved to find that I had forgotten to lock my car doors again I threw myself into the driver seat and started the ignition.
A sigh of relief escaped my lips as I locked myself inside the strawberry scented sanctuary that was my little Mazda 6. I plugged my aux cord into my phone, opened Youtube, and selected my “Rob Starks” playlist. As I pulled out of the upper parking lot Rob sang me a song he wrote when he was seventeen or eighteen.
"In the air, in the air, we won’t have a thought or care abou-"
Buffering. Stupid Youtube.
I glanced at my phone to ensure I was in range of service and upon lifting my eyes to the narrow winding road again my heart stopped.
I drove passed what appeared to be the mirage of a tall figure walking to the castle but vanished before making it to the other side of the road. The air caught in my throat. My heart began to race. My hands glued to the steering wheel. I slammed on the gas and tore my way down the curving road. My voice screamed only inside my head for my lungs had lost the power to draw air. My mind argued with itself. There is no way- How could I have seen- No. It couldn’t have happened.
But as I sit here now, looking back on that Saturday night, there is no longer doubt in my mind. I saw a ghost.
No comments:
Post a Comment