Short Story: How To Deal With A…

Short Story: How To Deal With A Ghost

I felt it again this afternoon, when I was coming along the drive - that sense that something or somebody was watching me. It's always at the same place, just at the dip before the corner, where the mist off the loch swirls across the road between the fir trees. It's a gloomy dark stretch and I hate having to walk it on my own. I usually take a few deep breaths and charge through it as fast as I can.

Danny knows about the drive. He's my best friend and he lives in the next farm cottage, a mile along the road. We sit together on the bus from school. Danny says he wouldn't go along that road on his own for 5 Mars bars, which is enough to persuade him to do almost anything. Last month, he went on the Sky-Rider at the fair 3 times in a row. And that was only for a Mars bar and a Curly-Wurly. He was incredibly sick.

So, if Danny wouldn't walk along there on his own for 5 Mars bars, why do I do it? Well, I have to. It's the only way up to our cottage. Mum gives me a lift to school in the mornings, but I have to find my own way back. And that means using the drive. I'm not very brave. Mum says I'm sensible, which is another way of saying not very brave. Dad says, when you're feeling scared, whistle and nobody will notice.

I love action films though. Claud Van Damm is my hero. He's mega-strong, and his karate is so cool. I practise it in my bedroom while I'm watching him. Danny and the others go to a real karate class in the town hall, but that's different. Like I said, I'm not very brave.

Danny says my drive is haunted. That a poacher was shot dead one dark night by the game-keeper, a long time ago, and his ghost keeps coming back to where it happened. Nobody else has said anything about a ghost there, so maybe Danny is just winding me up - again. But if he's right, will the ghost show himself? Danny calls it 'manifesting'. What if the poacher manifests himself when I'm going home from school? How do you protect yourself from ghosts? With a clove of garlic and a silver cross? Or is that just for witches and werewolves? I'll have to check it out.

Dad and I practised our whistling last night. He taught me, 'The Yellow Rose of Texas' and 'Mairi's Wedding'. Mum says our fridge is haunted. Food keeps mysteriously disappearing. And the very best protection from ghosts, she says, is deodorant. I think she was trying to be funny, but you never know with Mum, so I put on some extra this morning, just in case. It was cold in the car with the windows wide open.

There were plenty books about ghosts in the school library. Most of them were novels, but I thought they might be useful, so I took four out. I started on one at lunchtime. It had lots of interesting info.

The presence was stronger this afternoon, as I ran up the drive. I could almost make out a dark figure, lying at the side of the road. I didn't stop running till I got through the door. I'm glad tomorrow is Friday. Mum wasn't very pleased about the ghost books. She muttered something about an obsession. Is that like a possession? Can ghosts obsess you? Or is that just demons? I'll have to look that up as well.

I started on the second novel this morning and found out something very interesting. Children can sense ghosts better than adults. So, that's why Mum and Dad can't see anything.

Danny's coming to our place after school, for tea. He's decided he wants to see the ghost. But it won't cost me a single Mars bar. And he says we're not going to run past the spot; we'll hang around and see if the ghost manifests itself.

It was drizzling when we got off the bus, and the trees dripped on us as we walked along the road. Danny figured we had a good chance of seeing the poacher. He said it was the right kind of day for it. He took his Dad's camera out and fiddled with the settings, then snapped some photos of the woods and the sky and of me pulling funny faces.

I didn't feel so scared with Danny at my side, and we dawdled up the drive. We stopped when we got to the dip. Some wood-pigeons racketed from the trees, then there was silence. The mist hung across the road and the fir branches were heavy with raindrops. It looked spookier than ever. It felt much colder too and I shivered. Danny went quiet. I whistled the first line of, 'The Yellow Rose of Texas', but I couldn't remember the rest. Then that feeling of being watched crept up on me. I prodded Danny and he jumped.

"Do you feel it?" I asked.

"Wh...what?"

"Something watching us."

He swirled around. We were alone on the haunted path. I've never seen him so scared. He let out a yowl and raced down the dip. I charged after him, spraying my 'Lynx' deodorant left and right. He slowed down round the corner, within sight of the house.

"Danny, wait, hold on." I caught up with him. "Did you see the ghost?"

He turned back. His face was white. He was shaking.

"Some...something moved in the trees."

"I didn't see anything."

"And...and there was a hissing noise."

"What, like a snake?"

He nodded and began walking backwards, keeping an eye on the bend as if he expected something awful to follow him up the drive. I looked around. Now that we were past the dip, I wasn't so worried.

"It's okay. We're safe," I said. "You can relax."

Danny was usually so brave. It was weird to see him scared. It made me feel quite confident. And I had to know the truth.

"Danny, was there really a poacher?"

He shook his head.

"No. I made it up."

That's what I had thought. He had been winding me up again. There wasn't any ghost. Just his imagination. And mine.

"But there is something there," he whispered. "I saw the trees move, and there was that hissing noise..."

I slipped the can of Lynx into my pocket and gave him my best Claud Van Damm box-kick.

"Come on, I'm starving. Let's get some food."

Mum drove Danny home later. I went with them. He was very quiet. Even Mum noticed.

"What's wrong with your pal tonight?" she asked, on the way back home.

"Oh, nothing."

"Did Dad tell you that there's a fox in the woods?"

"No."

"Yes. He spotted it crossing the drive the other night."

"Wow. I haven't seen it yet."

"It'll keep the rabbits down."

There was a pause as she turned the car into our drive.

"Mum...do you really think I'm sensible?"

"Very."

We slowed down for the dip and the corner. I kept an eye out - for the fox.

"Thanks for the tip about deodorant."

"What tip?"

"That it protects you from ghosts."

"Ah. That tip. So it worked then?"

"Uh-huh. Ghosts won't bother me again."

She grinned, shook her head and went inside.

"Yeah. Ghosts won't bother me again."

I looked back down the drive.

"Don't know about Danny, though," I said, to no-one in particular.