I looked at my outfit one more time in my mirror. I was wearing a wool knit sweater and skinny jeans with black TOMS. By the time I got downstairs, ready for yet another day at school, my mom already left the house. Elle was still in the shower. She's been in there for half an hour already. Only if Mom knew she was wasting the hot water for that long...

I put a waffle in the toaster as I waited for Liz to show up at my house. Every morning she would come to my house then we would walk to school together and every afternoon we walked home together also. Well, most afternoons. On the first Friday of every month she has Book Club right after school and every Tuesday she meets up with the Environmental Club.

Right when Elle got out of the shower, Liz rang the doorbell. With the waffle in my mouth, I grabbed my backpack and walked past the living room to the front door. I took the waffle out of my mouth to yell up at Liz that I was leaving. I didn't worry about her getting to school on time since she took the bus. I enjoyed walking since it's pretty much the only exercise I get.

I said a quick hello to Liz and we started walking in silence. I like how we could stay in a comfortable silence without feeling awkward. "Did you get some cool shots after school yesterday?" Liz finally asked.

This makes me remember the pictures from yesterday and then the girl from outside the window. "Yeah" I reply simply. "I'll probably take some more some other time."

"Maybe next time I'll be able to go with you." This made me think of Hunter. "So did you invite Hunter?"

"I didn't invite him. He invited himself."

"Really? What'd he do?" Liz was always pretty amused and interested in my kind of relationship with Hunter. I never saw what was so funny about it.

"He was just being annoying as usual."

"You do know why he's being annoying, right?" She gave me a look. I shook my head, not wanting to think that was true at all.

"Liz, he's just overly obnoxious. It's his personality."

"I don't see him be that obnoxious to anyone else but you."

"Exactly. He's trying to make my life a living hell."

"You're taking this way too seriously" Liz says with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, guess what happened right after we stopped talking yesterday."

"What?"

"I said guess." I sighed and looked up at the sky. Every time she did this I made sure to say something tragic and depressing. "Lemme see...you found a dead puppy on the side of the road and-"

"Why do you always have to guess something horrible when I say guess what?" Liz asked, clearly disgusted. I couldn't help laughing at her expression.

"Okay, I'm sorry." I tried to stop laughing and put as serious face on but I failed miserably.. "What happened right after we stopped talking yesterday?"

"I met the new boy."

"What new boy?"

"The one that started yesterday."

"I didn't know a new boy started yesterday."

"Well, he did and let me tell you, Regan, the boy is beautiful." I roll my eyes at my boy-crazed best friend. She was always drooling over one boy one minute and if he wasn't interested, she'd move on to the next. I don't even know if she ever felt sad or heartbroken by the rejections. She's been rejected so many times that I once started to feel bad for her. But it was weird since she never seemed to be affected. I just don't bother with boys. A lot of them, not all, are stupid and annoying anyway.

"So why don't you tell me about this new boy" I suggested, though I could care less who he was.

"His name's Tristan. He came from across the country and he's great at sports..." I rolled my eyes as Liz kept talking about this boy. By the time we got to the school, she practically told me his life story. "You're not even listening are you?"

"I totally am" I mumbled as I walked up to my locker. I heard her groan behind me.

"Stop being so sarcastic all the time."

"I'm honestly not even that sarcastic."

"Yes you are. I'll catch you later." Finally, Liz left to go to her locker. I grabbed my stuff from my own locker and shove them into my backpack carelessly. I turned around and started walking to my first hour class. I was reading over my notes from my notebook when I accidentally ran into someone.

"Sorry" I mutter, bending down to pick up the notebook that was in my hand. I stood up straight and gasped.

"It's okay" he said with a slight smile. The boy standing in front of me was extremely good looking it must have been sinful. I stuttered a bit to reply but I couldn't find the words. I just looked at him and probably muttered something indistinct. This surely had to be the boy Liz was talking about. He had these dark brown eyes that held a certain mystery to them, brown hair that was swept back, and his skin was so perfect. He looked like a freaking god. To be honest, I was quite mesmerized by his beautiful appearance.

"Tristan!" I heard a shrill voice call out from down the hall. I knew that voice anywhere. That squeaky, high-pitched annoying voice was the voice of the devil. Most people think that the devil is a man, but I strongly believe that the devil is a sixteen year old girl in a skirt and stylish flats.

Anna Barnett was one of the most popular girls at school and probably the cruelest. Almost everyone in the school knew her, mostly the ones who want to be like her or the ones who want to kill her. Anna was the ideal pretty teenage girl who wore designer clothes, was filthy rich and liked to make snide remarks on everyone's appearance. Kind of like the mean girls off of those quirky American high school films. She has baby blue eyes and long blonde hair that she liked to swish around, just so she could rub it in other people's faces that were "less fortunate" than her, along with nice, flawless porcelain skin. She looked like a freaking Barbie doll. Just the plain existence of Anna made me feel like vomiting in my own hands.

Anna walked up to Tristan and linked her arm throughs his. Seeing them together made them look like major deities of beauty. I'll admit to that. I know this Tristan just started at this school yesterday but they looked as if they could already be the school's snobbiest couple.

I could smell the expensive perfume coming off of her and honestly, I felt like vomiting right then and there in front of everyone in the hallway.

"Regan" she said, looking at me as if I was the most revolting thing she's seen all morning. I probably was, but she was the most revolting thing I've seen all morning also. "I see you didn't bother to put in any effort into your appearance this morning as always." She looked at me in disgust, frowning a bit like she didn't approve of my attire.

"Yeah, well not everyone has enough time in the morning to make their face look like a clown's" I said calmly with a shrug. I wasn't even getting the slightest bit mad. I was pretty much used to this.

Anna pursed her lips and tugged on Tristan's arm. "C'mon. I'll show you to your class" she said to him, glaring at me before she pushed past me and walked on towards whatever class she was bringing him to.

~

The rest of the day pretty much went by in a breeze. I had a pop quiz in math class that I probably did an okay job on and I didn't run into Anna and Hunter as much today so this was a pretty good day. Well, it was a pretty good day. Until Hunter ruined it.

He didn't see me all day so I figured he needed his daily dose of Regan. I was drawing at the park that was a couple blocks from the school. I mostly just come to the park for inspiration. Not to sit on a bench and enjoy the weather or gawk over the pretty colorful flowers. Frankly, I quite liked the park. When it didn't have so many children running around.

I looked down at my doodles of a bunch of flowers. I flipped the page then looked back up. I glanced around at few of the kids playing. On the other side of the park, a kid sitting on the bench caught my eye. He looked extremely depressed, like no one wanted to play with him. He had his hands in his lap and he was slouching a bit as he looked down at the ground. I started to sketch him out on the sketchbook. I looked back up and focused more on the boy to draw some of the details and noticed that I could actually see through him. The boy was transparent. I saw the bench behind his back faintly like he wasn't actually there. I blinked once and still saw him. He turned his head towards my direction and locked his eyes with mine.

"What are you drawing?" I jumped at the voice then turned my head. Hunter was standing there, peering over my shoulder with his hand on his chin. He didn't see me all day so I figured he needed his daily dose.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"Wanted to see how my favorite person is doing." I rolled my eyes then looked down at my sketchbook.

"Whatever" I mumbled.

"So what are you drawing?"

"I'm drawing that boy over there." I turned my head back towards the bench where the boy was sitting but he wasn't there anymore.

"What boy?" he muttered, his eyes moving up to where I was looking at.

"He was just there..." I looked around for any sign of the boy but I didn't see him anywhere.

"Okay...You're crazy." He slid down onto the bench next to me. I started to pack up my stuff as soon as he sat down. "Hey, where are you going?" He looked at me like I was hurting his feelings just by packing my stuff.

"I am leaving."

"Why?"

"Because you're here and you ruined the peace I was obviously enjoying." I glanced back at the same bench where the boy was sitting but it was empty. I wasn't just leaving the park because Hunter was here. I was also leaving because that kid was a bit eerie. It creeped me out how quickly he just disappeared like that. It creeped me out even more that I could see through him. I shook it off and started walking away from the park without a doubt that Hunter was following close behind me.

More leaves were beginning to cover the ground as the new season took off. The trees looked a lot prettier with the red, yellow, orange, and brown leaves all mixed together. Some even left their green leaves. It got a little bit colder in the mornings but it would mostly warm up by noon.

Saturday I invited Liz to go with me to the woods for my little photo shoot. This time she didn't have anything to do so she accepted. While we were in the woods she talked to me about the different clubs she was taking part in: Environmental and Book club. She kept talking and talking until I thought my ears would actually fall off.

She stopped when I told her to shut up.

It was quiet for a bit as we walked along in the woods. I wasn't just taking pictures, but I was also exploring the woods. I've never been that deep in them before so I wanted to take a look around and with Liz around, there was less likely a chance of me getting hurt. Liz didn't seem to care where we were going. She just followed then soon sparked up a conversation again.

This time she talked about Tristan and it almost made me insane. The amount of time she spent talking about her clubs then Tristan seemed phenomenal. "You do know that there's a possible chance he's with Anna, right?" I informed, eyeing her. I didn't want her to get her hopes all high for some snobby kid that might not even find the time to glance over at her for a brief second. He's just going to fall hard right into Anna's boy trap.

"Yeah, but they're just friends. For now at least." Frankly, I didn't think Liz had a chance with Tristan. "What about you and Hunter?"

My eyes widened a bit, surprised that she would bring him up. "Why do you always bring him up in every conversation we have?" She shrugged then kicked at a dead twig on the ground. The ground squelched under our feet as we started to walk up a steep hill. Liz and I definitely were not ready for this type of physical exercise.

"Can we just take a break for a minute?" Liz panted. I agreed and we stopped by a huge tree. I decided to go through the pictures to see how they came out. Again, I saw those same dark shadows from the other pictures. There was one in every picture and I swear I could almost make out a face in it.

"Liz, come look at this." I held out the camera toward her and pointed to the spots. "You see that?"

"What is that? It's in every picture."

"I'm not sure what it is." Right after I said that, a quick gust of wind passed, making our hair fly into our faces. Liz and I quickly looked up, and honestly, I was starting to freak out a bit. I looked straight ahead and I felt all the color leave my face. I almost screamed from what I saw but the scream was choked up in my throat. That same girl I saw outside my window was standing only about ten feet away from us, still wearing that white lace dress. Her hair was a dark brown and her skin was still pale as ever. Up close she looked like someone I recognized. I just couldn't remember who. She was staring right at me. From ten feet away, I could see the bruises all over her body and face, like she fell way too many times going up the stairs. My gaze couldn't leave hers and this only made me want to scream even more.

"Where did that come from?" Liz asked calmly, quickly brushing her hair out of her face. She noticed my eyes were fixed on something ahead of us so she followed my gaze but she didn't react in anyway of fear. She looked around then looked at me again. I grabbed onto her arm, gripping onto it for dear life.

"Regan, you okay?" she asked, a bit frightened now. She knitted her eyebrows together.

"We need to get out of here" I said in a low whisper before pulling her back down the hill in a hurry. We ran down as fast as we could without falling and I didn't look back once. I knew that always made you run slower and I didn't want some freaky ghost girl thing right behind me.

We reached the edge of the woods in approximately five minutes flat. I never even ran that fast on my laps in P.E. Luckily, freaky ghost girl didn't follow us down the hill. "What the heck is going on?" Liz asked, breathing hard for air. She stopped walking for me to talk to her, but I wasn't stopping until I was in the comfort of my own home. I occasionally glanced back a few times and pulled Liz toward my house.

I waited until we got inside to tell her what I saw. She leaned against the counter in the kitchen then spoke. "Was that what you were looking at?"

"Yes."

"I'm a bit concerned for your insanity right now Regan. There was no one there but us." I rolled my eyes and grabbed a couple water bottles out of the fridge for the both of us."I think I would've known if someone else was there with us. Especially if they were only ten feet away."

"Well I think I would've known if I saw a girl that was staring right at me." I said that a bit defensively without meaning to.

"Your mind's just messing with you." Of course. A typical thing to say, but I thought maybe she could be right. I knew what I saw, but I've also been seeing weird things lately. "Look," Liz continued, "thanks for bringing me to take pictures with you, but I think you should stay out of the woods."

"You think it's making me see things?" Liz shrugged nonchalantly, as if none of this was bothering her. Then again, Liz was pretty good at masking her real emotions.

"I'm just saying maybe taking a break from it. When's the project due?"

"A month from now. I don't remember."

"Well wait a bit. Maybe you should bring Hunter with you" she joked. "You really shouldn't be going there all alone."

"I think I'll pass."

Liz laughed then said goodbye before leaving to go home.

I couldn't breathe. I was panting hard as I ran away from something. I didn't know what I was running away from, but I knew I had to get away as fast as I could. I kept looking forward though everything was blurry. I couldn't even see anything in front of me.

I pushed past branches and leaves. A few of them cut my arms and one of them even scraped my cheek. I kept running though. Even when my chest felt like it was about to explode, I didn't stop. If I stopped, whatever was chasing me would catch me and possibly kill me. I wasn't even sure if anything was chasing me at all.

It was probably really late at night since it was pitch black and everything was quiet except for my quick, rapid breaths. My chest was heaving and my lungs were burning but that didn't stop me. I needed to get away from whatever it was following me. I felt like I was going to pass out from the lack of oxygen. Whatever I was running from gave a dangerous and threatening feeling.

I kept running and running until I heard a high, shrill laugh. I woke up in my bed with a cold sweat. I was panting heavily as my hands clutched onto the sheets. I recovered my breathing then looked around. I noticed I was in my room and not in the woods anymore. I sighed and looked at the time. 6:35 am. I got up and left my room to go to the bathroom. I looked in the mirror and saw that my face was red. I was burning up so I put on the cold water and splashed some onto my face. All of a sudden, the temperature dropped and I was freezing. I exhaled and saw my own breath right in front of my face. I looked up and saw the girl from the woods in the mirror. She looked too familiar, like she was someone I've known or seen before.

I swallowed hard then turned around. The girl was still standing there. I was shuddering and my teeth were shaking but I tried not to be too frightened. I knew now that I wasn't just seeing things. This was real. "W-What do you want from me?" I stuttered. I was surprised I even said anything.

The ghost girl just looked at me like I asked her something really stupid.

"What's your name?" I tried again. This time Ghost Girl opened her mouth but someone knocked on the door. She disappeared as soon as the door opened.

"Who were you talking to?" Elle asked, pushing past me into the bathroom. "You know it's my time to use the bathroom." I looked at her without saying anything and moved out of the way. I was too shocked to say anything to her. "Are you okay?" She glanced up at me. "You're all pale..."

"Don't worry about it." I quickly turned around and went back to my room. When I got back to my room, I realize who I was just talking to. I was talking to the ghost of Mallory Jacobs



~~~



"You saw Mallory Jacobs?" Liz asked, holding back a laugh.

"Yeah, go ahead and make fun of me."

"Regan, Mallory Jacobs is dead." I gave her a look that said 'No, really? I haven't noticed.'

"Liz, it makes sense. She died a whole two weeks from now." I leaned in closer to her so no one could hear. "This is the perfect time for her to come back. Right when she died."

Mallory Jacobs was a 14 year old that died two years ago. She fell off the cliff and the next morning the police found her body in the river. They weren't sure if someone killed her or not and after several months of trying to find a suspect they filed her death as a suicide. Liz and I were freshmen then. We didn't really know Mallory but we knew of her so we were kind of shocked along with everyone else when we heard the news of her death. Even though she wasn't that popular, she wished she could be. She was hanging out with Anna and her friends before she died. It was a huge thing at the school. We had a day of silence just for her and everything.

"You sound crazy" was all she said. I admit, I did sound a bit crazy and it honestly scared me. I tried pushing that thought to the back of my mind but it wouldn't go away. "Look, Mallory's dead and-"

"Who's dead?" someone interrupted. I felt an arm drape over my shoulders. I rolled my eyes then looked up at Hunter.

"Hunter, if you don't get your arm off of me, I swear I'm going to rip it off and shove it up your-"

"Okay, okay." Hunter removed his arm then lifted his hands up in surrender. "Feisty, I like it." He fixed the collar of his shirt. I gave him a disgusted look then almost threw up on myself. "So who's dead?"

"None of your business, thank you very much" Liz said coldly.

"I wasn't asking you" Hunter said with just as much sass. Liz and Hunter ended up having a small altercation. I noticed the she-devil walking in with her demons, Claire and Alex, on her right and left side.

"Anna at three o'clock" I called out. Hunter and Liz turned their heads to the right simultaneously. We watched her walk down the other side of the hallway. The way Anna and her demons walked in reminded me of that scene from Mean Girls. It really amuses me how much these girls thought they "ruled the school". Yeah, in their little satanic dreams.

I could tell Hunter didn't care for her much so he turned his head around to look at me again. "So Rey Rey-" I put a hand up to stop him.

"Did you just call me Rey Rey?" I asked, raising my eyebrows at him. He nodded his head. "Don't call me that. Ever." My mom used to call me that when I was younger but when I finally got older, I had to end that name calling nonsense as soon as possible.

Anna and her demons finally got up to us, a smirk plastered on all three of their faces. Claire and Alex were like Anna's little clones. Since middle school they've been "best friends". Well, that's what Claire and Alex thinks. I'm pretty sure Anna thinks otherwise.

They dressed almost exactly the same as Anna. Claire had medium lengthed light brown hair with bangs and had a pretty dark tan like she spent everyday of her summer at the beach. Alex was a couple shades darker, a nice caramel color. She had curly brown hair that ended at her shoulders and it really complimented the frame of her face. I'll give that one to her. "What do you want now?" Liz asked, annoyed already.

"I see Art Geek and Hippie Girl picked up a new friend, Scumbag." She looked over Hunter and made a face like he was another disgusting thing that she saw this morning, other than me of course. I already started getting angry just by her calling Hunter a scumbag.

"Scumbag?" Hunter asked, shifting his weight uncomfortably. They didn't even know each other so I didn't want Anna picking on him.

"Hey," I said, pointing a finger at her. "His name is Hunter, not Scumbag." I was actually surprised I stood up for this guy.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes and as on cue Tristan, that beautiful god kid, walked up to us. Liz eyes immediately sparked up and, sadly, Anna noticed. Anna linked her arm through Tristan's and had a smug look on her face. Liz automatically looked down, letting Anna get to her again."Hey babe" Anna said sweetly with a fake smile. Tristan gave her a half hearted smile but kept his eyes on Liz. Anna tugged on his arm, clinging onto him. "C'mon" she said, to Tristan and her demons. "We're gonna be late to our class." The three of us watched Anna walk away with her posse. "I hate them" Liz muttered. I gave her a pat on the back and continued walking with them to our class. I didn't even realize Hunter was still with us. "When can I kill her?" Liz asked. I noticed her fists were clenched."Liz, who doesn't want to kill her?" I said. It was supposed to be a joke but I don't think it really sounded like one.

I had to go back to the woods today. I needed to see her. Hunter was planning on going with me against my consent and I didn't chide him for doing it either. I actually said he could stay with me. I was being really nice to Hunter and I'm sure it scared him more than it scared me. I kind of needed him here with me just in case Mallory decided that I should join her in death. I was supposed to be taking pictures but instead I was looking for Mallory. The camera was more of a prop. I didn't want Hunter knowing I was looking for a dead girl.

Hunter was talking for five minutes straight but I didn't say anything. I let him talk his heart out about irrelevant nonsense. I was barely taking pictures but I took a few pointless ones just so Hunter didn't think otherwise. I tuned him out and thought about what could happen if I actually did come across this ghost. Death is an option. It's really the only option I'm thinking of at the moment.

"You're not even listening, are you?" I heard Hunter ask.

"Of course I am" I mumbled, taking a random picture then looking down at it to see if I could see any signs of Mallory in it. The first time I actually want her to come out, she won't.

"No you're not." I was starting to regret letting him stay.

"Why are you so annoying?"

"Don't you have anything else to ask me other than why I'm so annoying?" I ignored his question and kept on walking. I heard a rustling come from behind a tree. I instinctively grabbed onto Hunter's sleeve, pulling him back. "Regan, what's wrong?" he asked. I put a finger to my lips to make him stay quiet.

"Did you hear that?" I asked with a whisper.

"Are you-" I glared at him and he finally shut up. I watched the tree intensely to see if anything would come out, but nothing did. Hunter looked at me with concern in his eyes. I heard the noise again and tightened my grip on Hunter's arm. Suddenly, a bird flew out from behind the tree, causing me to let out a small scream.

Hunter laughed at me loudly. I realized my hand was still around his arm so I let go as quick as possible. "What was that about? Are you scared of birds?" he teased with a chuckle.

"Shut up, Hunter" I mumbled, my cheeks burning a bright red. "No, I'm not afraid of birds. I just didn't expect it to be there."

"Sure, whatever." He sounded as if he didn't believe me. "Don't worry though, I'll protect you if one ever decides to attack you." I dismissed his comment then we continued walking for a bit until I felt like something was wrong. Hunter must have thought so also because he stopped walking again. "Something feels...wrong" he whispered, looking around. I nodded my head. I couldn't disagree with him on that.

I felt the hairs on my back stand up and I knew that now, my wish was about to be granted. Mallory was coming and by the vibe I was feeling, she wasn't happy at all. I looked around to see if I could find her. "Where are you?" I whispered to myself. Maybe she could hear me.

"Woah!" I heard Hunter yell. I whipped my head around to look at him. He had a twisted look on his face.

"What?" Hunter was rubbing his arm. "What happened?"

"I felt something on my arm. It was cold." As soon as he said this, I felt a tug on my hair and I squeaked out a small scream. The tug wasn't strong enough to pull me back, but I still felt it and it still creeped me out.

"Regan, what's going on?" Hunter asked. For the first time in my life, I saw fear in Hunter's eyes. Now I felt bad for dragging him here. I turned back around and, again, I didn't see anything.

"Mallory..." I whispered. I saw a girl walking between the trees but she disappeared as quick as she came. It was Mallory and she obviously wanted to play a sick game of hide and seek with us.