Chapter One: The Ghost Girl

"Mia? Earth to Mia!" said a distant voice.

I quickly looked up, pulled out of my day dream, and saw Elizabeth with one hand on her hip and the other holding on to the strap of her backpack that hung on her shoulder.

"Mia, the bell rang like five minutes ago. Why are you still sitting there?" she asked.

I looked from her to the classroom's clock and saw that it said it was 3:05pm. How did I not hear the bell? "Sorry, must of zoned out during Mrs. Stevenson's exciting lecture on the history of the pencil," I said rolling my eyes.

"Well, come on! We got to hurry!" Elizabeth said while grabbing me up, barely giving me time to grab my stuff.

"Hurry for what?" I asked.

"Um, Lucas's surprise birthday party," she said, giving me a weird look. "Please tell me you didn't forget his birthday was today. He only reminded us twenty times last week!"

"No of course not! I just forgot about the party," I said quietly.

She pulled me along until we got outside only letting me go because she had to grab her keys. Elizabeth is one of my best friends. She can be intense. And she just wants to give Lucas the best surprise 16th birthday party ever.

Lucas is my other best friend. He is also my neighbor. We've been friends since his family moved in next door when we were ten years old. He knows me and all of my secrets, except one. And that secret is that I can see and talk to the dead. Yup, that's right. I can see actual ghosts. Sometimes it's not that bad and sometimes it can be scary as crap. Just like it is right now.

As I was getting in Elizabeth's car, I saw a girl standing right in front of us. She looked familiar but I couldn't quite remember how I knew her. What made this moment scary was her face. Her mouth was sewn shut with a thick black string that crossed over itself to make x's from one end to the other. Her eyes were bloodshot with dark circles under them. She was wearing a long white nightgown covered in dirt. Her long black hair was wet and tangled. She looked scared. And that scared me. Then she was gone.

"Okay, so as soon as we get to your house I will grab the decorations out of the trunk and start putting them up while you start on the food. Sound good?" she asked me as she crunk the car. When I didn't say anything she looked at me. She must have realized what was going on and asked, "are you okay? Did you see something," she looked around like someone could be listening and said, "or someone?" Yes, she knows I can see ghosts. I told her when we were about fourteen after her sister passed away from leukemia. Her sister came to say goodbye before she crossed over to wherever we go when we die.

I told her what I saw and waved my hand dismissing it. "It's okay, she was gone soon after she appeared so I'm not going to worry about it right now. We have a party to get ready for," I say putting on my seatbelt.

"That's creepy as hell but okay."

The ride to my house wasn't too long. I only lived about ten minutes away from our school, but it felt like an hour. Elizabeth was jamming out to the radio but all I could do was think about that girl. She looked so scared, I saw her face every time I blinked. I wonder what happened to her and why her mouth was sewn shut. And where do I know her from? I felt like I was going insane trying to remember where I've seen her.

Once we got to my house we went to work. Elizabeth was putting up streamers and blowing up balloons while I got the snacks and drinks ready. With how much work we were putting into it you would think we had thirty people coming when in actuality it was just going to be us three. Lucas had his swim meet until six o'clock so that gave us plenty of time to get everything ready including setting up the projector outside so we can watch his favorite movie The Notebook on the side of the house. He is literally the only guy that I know that loves that movie.

"Well hello you two," a voice said coming from the hallway. It was my mom. She came into the kitchen where we were icing cupcakes. While making herself a cup of coffee she said, " Oh, is today Lucas's party?"

"Sure is," said Elizabeth, "can you believe your daughter almost forgot?" she said, shaking her head at me.

My mom chuckled, "Well I hope you all have fun, but make sure you don't stay up too late. It is a school night you know."

"Yes ma'am," we said knowing we would probably be up late anyway.

She grabbed her purse, gave me a hug and said, "I'm off to work, I left some money on your desk in case you wanted to buy some pizza for the party."

"Thanks mom, I hope you have a good night at work," I said. Then she was out the door.

My mom is a nurse and works third shift, which can be kind of unnerving for someone who can see ghosts that stays home alone most nights. I am an only child and my dad was killed in a car accident when I was twelve. I was in the car that night and died too, but they were able to bring me back. My dad wasn't so lucky. It was after I woke up from the coma when I realized I could see and communicate with ghosts. And a hospital is the worst place to be for someone like me. My hospital room was filled with ghosts trying to get me to help them deliver messages to loved ones. It was so overwhelming. I was relieved when I got to go home.

My dad's funeral came and went and he never showed up, as a ghost I mean. I was mad for a long time because he left us and didn't even come to me to say goodbye. Eventually I came to terms and realized he crossed over because he really didn't have any unfinished business. I still miss him though.

There was a knock at the door. "He's early," said Elizabeth. We walked to the door ready to yell happy birthday. She opened the door and I froze. The ghost girl was standing there. Elizabeth said, "no one's here. I swear if those kids down the road are doing ding dong ditch again I'm gonna beat them."

She started to close the door when I stopped her. "Who are you?" I asked. The girl just looked at me with pleading eyes, trying to move her mouth and couldn't. I know she was trying to tell me something, something important. She started to walk forward but something stopped her, she looked behind her like she was looking for someone. Then she was gone again.

I let out a worried sigh. "What was that?" asked Elizabeth. I told her and she seemed a little uneasy. She shut the door and asked, "she followed you home? Now that is freaky."

We headed back to the kitchen to finish cleaning up the leftover icing that made its way onto the counter. Not even a minute later there was another knock. I looked at Elizabeth as she looked at me. We walked together slowly back to the door. What is the deal with this ghost? I put my hand on the handle and gently turned it, pulling the door open. Elizabeth held on to my free arm tightly. I knew she was scared.

"Hey ladies," said a voice from the other side of the door frame. It was Lucas. Elizabeth and I both let out a sigh of relief. There was a slight pause. "Well, can I come in?" he asked, looking from Elizabeth to me with his eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, sorry. Come on in," I said, making room so he could walk by. Elizabeth poked me in the side as to remind me that we were supposed to yell happy birthday. "Oh, yeah."

"Happy birthday!" we yelled in unison.

Lucas smiled, chuckled and said, "Thanks, I was wondering if you both remembered." We gave him a group hug and took him to the back yard to start his movie.

I couldn't even concentrate on the movie though. All I could think about was this mystery ghost. She looked so afraid. She looked as if her final moments were absolute torture. I had so many questions. What happened to her? Why did she come to me? Where have I seen her before? How did she die? Who did this to her? When will she show up again? My head was swirling by the time the movie ended.

We made our way inside to eat the pizza that was just delivered. I turned on the tv for the background noise as we just hung around talking. I got Lucas's gift out and gave it to him.

"Ooh I get a gift?" he asked, wagging his eyebrows. I smiled at him and waited for him to open it. He unwrapped it pretty quickly. You could tell he's been waiting all day for this. He opened the box unveiling the contents. "Oh wow, this is awesome!

He pulled out the pocket watch from the box. It was a replica of the one his grandfather had, inscription and all. The original one was left in his old house when it burned down. That's how we became neighbors.

"Mia, this is seriously the best gift I have ever gotten. Thank you," he said reaching over, giving me a tight hug.

Just then the tv got our attention with the breaking news interrupting the show that was on. "We interrupt your program to bring to you this important announcement," the voice said. Then there was a reporter on the screen.

"This is Jennifer Blanton from Walker City News reporting from in front of Walker High School, where a missing teenager was last seen," the woman said. A picture of a girl came up on the screen. I gasped. "Seventeen year old Ember Murphy was last seen leaving Walker High School yesterday and never made it home. She was last seen wearing blue jeans and a Walker High School soccer sweater, walking home. If you have seen Ember or might know her whereabouts, please call 911 or the Walker City police department missing persons unit. Ember is believed to be in danger for she is diabetic and is without her insulin. Again, this is Jennifer Blanton reporting for Walker City News." The tv show came back on as if nothing happened.

It was her. Ember. She was the ghost that I saw. And that's how I knew her face, she went to my school. I remember now. She is a grade above us, that's why I didn't know her immediately when I saw her. They say she is missing, but I knew the truth. Ember is dead, and I believed she was murdered.