Do not enter!

Chapter 10

At the end of the day, everybody went to get picked up by the bus, or by their parents at the school's driveway. Alice went to the front desk. She said goodbye to her friends and then was ready to walk back home. During this time, she did not see Liam, Amelia, or Rosalie. "They must have gone home." Alice said to herself. She then started on her walk home. Alice was puzzled at who would want her to walk home instead of taking the bus. Alice was suspecting Liam, Rosalie, or Amelia. Since they were good at causing trouble at school. Alice didn't want to think badly of them, but their actions made her upset. "Liam would want to make me walk home so that he could make more fun of me. Amelia would want me to walk home instead of taking the bus with my friends since she could be jealous of me. I don't think that she wants anybody to think badly of her. She thinks things work by the way she wants things." Alice told herself in her mind. She was not sure as to who would mess up the bus schedule. The only other suspect left is Rosalie. "She thinks that her advice would help people. So maybe she wants to prove a point to me. Her point that is. All she does is create more trouble than helping people. Rosalie might think that she is wise." Alice continued to think about them.

As Alice wondered, she arrived at the intersection that was next to the desolate construction site. The big hole in the street ahead was still there. A new water pipe was placed in the hole. It was firmly attached to the rest of the pipe underground. Alice went to look both ways. There were no cars coming. She managed to cross the intersection without any problems. The only thing different she noticed is that the construction equipment was all on the other side of the hole. The excavator was parked close to the next intersection after the one she crossed. Alice continued to go the way where she usually takes. Alice went to stop next to the entrance of the abandoned lot. She looked into the lot using a crack located somewhere along the fence. She saw that there was a jack hammer next to the cement. The piece of equipment wasn't there before. Alice manage to open the gate and was able to sneak inside. She had the gate closed behind her, so nobody would know that she had gone inside. Alice also knew that James must be the one who hurt Liam, Amelia, and Rosalie. She looked all round her. All seemed normal. Alice was just four steps away from the concrete base where the girder structure stood. Then a hoarse voice could be heard. James slowly emerged from the concrete. "Hello Alice, you've come to see me again?" Alice plucked the courage to tell James what had happened. "Hi James, I've got something important to tell you." Alice asked. James stared at her with his ghostly eyes. "What seems to be the trouble?" The ghost wondered. "Remember the two girls that you've scared the other day?" Alice rallied. She didn't know if she was going to be making the ghost angry or not. "Yes, I do remember those two troublemakers."

"Well, I think that you should stop. I think they are not going to be bothering anybody again." Alice stated. "Stop it? You mean to say that I might have something to do with throwing them about at your school?" The ghost questioned with his hoarse voice. Alice nodded her head. The ghost frowned. "I hope that they don't bother anybody again. Because I am going to be haunting them for the rest of their lives. I will also bother that boy if he ever bullies you again." James declared. "That boy is called Liam. He's been hurt. You think that's the answer to the kids who like to do bad things? Get thrown around or hurt them?" Alice grilled. "I'm sorry if I ever did hurt you Alice. The people who like to cause trouble at your school don't seem to learn anything through detention. I think that the principal should just expel them all. I hate people who behave like they do." The ghost exclaimed. "I don't like people who like to cause that much trouble too. I don't want them to get hurt. I would want to learn from my bad choices if I was bad as the Liam, Amelia, and Rosalie are." Alice pronounce. She sounded as if she was trying to take a stand against James for hurting Rosalie, Amelia, Liam. "Are you saying that you want to have those three brats still at your school?" James asked. "Well, I like them to go to school, but as good people. They wouldn't have to behave badly as they did." Alice explained. "So let me get this straight. You think that I should leave the three jokers alone. That way that they could someday learn from their mistakes, and end up in suspension?" The ghost demanded as he slowly floated towards where the jack hammer is on the dirt. "Well, I think that if they learn from the bad things that they done to me, then they could become better students. If they would get suspended or be moved to another school, then they could learn from their mistakes. Learning from the mistakes would make them want to change their ways." Alice elucidated.

The ghost was now floating over the jack hammer. Alice looked at him. The expression on his face indicated that he does not want to believe what he had just heard. Alice expected him to say something in return. The ghost only had his grasp on the jack hammer. He lifted it off the ground. "What are going to do with a jack hammer?" Alice questioned as she watched the ghost transport the tool over to a part of the concrete base. The ghost did not answer, instead he left the tool on a part of the concrete base. "Where did you get it? I don't remember seeing any tools around here." The ghost floated back over to where Alice was standing. "The story of what I'm about to do with this building and how I got a hold of the jack hammer are non of your concern. I do see your point. I will leave the problem kids alone. They will soon learn from their mistakes. Then they could use that knowledge to become better people in the future. Is this what I'm hearing?" The ghost queried with his ghastly hoarse voice. "Yes." Alice responded, trying not sound excited or scared. James then looked over to the side on the other side of the dirt lot. "You better get going. You wouldn't want your parents to worry about you, right?" James pumped as he disappeared from view. Alice turned around and walked towards the gate. "Turn around." The hoarse sounding voice said to her. Alice stopped in her tracks. "You don't want the neighbors catching you leaving the site." Alice turned around and faced the wooden fence at the other side of the construction site. She started to walk towards the area of fence where she climbed over. While taking a stroll, Alice thought about why the construction project was abandoned. She was reminded that the ghost didn't tell her the full the story. "James?" Alice asked. The air was silent as she was. A car rolled up to the side of a house. The driver of the car climbed out. The sound of the driver going inside could be heard from the other side of the street. Alice felt that she was cornered inside the construction site. "Stay close to the fence." The hoarse sounding voice advised. Alice was only a meter away from the concrete structure when she heard that tip. She then walked up to the section of fence to her right, as it was nearby. Alice continued to march alongside the wooden fence.

Alice was doing her best to stay quiet. "Why was the construction project canceled?" Alice whispered into the air. Just like before, nobody answered. Alice was only six feet away from the fence when she heard the sound of James' hoarse voice. "As I told you earlier, the money that was used to fund this construction project was cut off. A lady that was part of the council board of the construction company that I work for had the money stolen. I don't know what she had done with it." Alice was walking sideways along the wooden fence. She was worried that somebody might spot her in the construction sight. Alice stopped at the place where she had used to climb over the fence and use the sidewalk on the other side. "When you get to the other side, just walk or run. Don't stop for anybody. You can't let them know that you have been here." James's voice echoed into Alice's left ear. Alice scanned the side of the construction site with the fence. She might be worried that somebody might come and enter the lot. Alice started to feel her feet not touching the ground. She started to have a better view of the houses across the street. Alice could see the roofs. Then the world started to slowly turn around her. Alice could see that she's slowly turning to face the houses on the other side of the fence. She had the instant fear that somebody might see her. What Alice didn't know is that the ghost was making things float in thin air in one house. This house was the home of the driver that just came home. If there are any people who weren't interested to see who was across the street from their houses were left alone. Alice could see the whole section of houses on one side of the block that was across the street from the construction site. Alice was floating while standing on thin air. She saw that nobody was watching her. The ghost of James the construction worker has helped Alice to float over the fence separating the sidewalk nearby from the dirt lot. Alice could see that her view of the houses nearby seemed as if she were getting lowered. It would almost be as if she would be going to watch them as if they were giants in a few seconds. Alice could feel distance between her shoes and the sidewalk being reduce at a steady pace. Suddenly, she could see somebody raising the blinds on one of the windows of a nearby house.