Haunted

Waiting

Hester's day got much less exciting upon her arrival at her new house. She'd already been late home when she left the house, but she got lost on the way back, realizing that there were no buildings to use as landmarks. She cursed her lack of expereince in rural areas, and got home at half past ten.

Her father was waiting in the hideous leather armchair that Hester's mother had hated, staring at the door like he was preparing a jump scare. Hester walked in, kicked her shoes off, and started walking upstairs.

"And what do you think you're doing?" He asked. Hester flinched- she'd hoped she could get away. Sometimes if she showed just enough anger and lack of interest, he'd let it go.

"I think I'm going to bed. It's almost eleven." She said, monotone.

"And where have you been all night?" He asked. She hated the way he spoke- like he deserved to have any authority or control in her life. She clenched her fists.

"The fuck does it matter to you? I was out with friends, okay? I'm going to bed." She raised her voice enough that he knew this could easily escalate.

"You don't have friends, Hester. Where were you? Elena and I were concerned" Her father reminded her, brutally honest as always. Just the mention of Elena made Hester want to vomit.

"Since when have you cared about my safety? And not that it's anything to you, but I'm not incapable of making friends." She thought about Anadil for a moment- Hester knew it was sort of sad that the closest thing she had to a friend was a dead girl from the 1600s, but didn't really care that much. She stomped up the old wooden stairs and into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Her room consisted of her desk, dresser, bed, and a large pile of unemptied boxes. She knew the likelihood of her getting any sleep tonight was slim enough that it'd be more productive to get some work done.

She unpacked all of her boxes last night, and was mildly disappointed in herself when she realized that most of them were clothes. She took the stupid roll of packing tape, and used it to put up her posters. It didn't look very professional, and she cut her finger. But it'd drive Elena insane, which definitely made it worth it.

After the boxes were unpacked, with the room looking no less cluttered than before, Hester laid on her bed and stared at the ceiling. There was something cathartic but paralyzing about having proof. She hadn't needed it- she knew she was right. Her father had taken her to doctors, asking why she was so obsessed. All she got out of that was therapy, which she hated, and an OCD diagnosis, which she had laughed at at first, but but now figured might be accurate.

Everyone blamed it on trauma, saying the experience had been so terrible that Hester had subconsiously changed it to make it more bearable. Listening to that much denial over the past seven years made even Hester have doubts. But she'd never stopped searching for proof. And she found it today. While Anadil's story may be eerily similar to Hester's own, the part she couldn't stop thinking about was the fact that Anadil was real.

Ghosts were real. Some sort of magic, some paranormal curse, something was out there. Something that could finally help her find out what had happened to her mother, and then get revenge.

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The next schoolday was so infuriatingly boring, and seemingly endless. She won a push-ups competition in gym, mostly just to show off her muscles. It definitely worked, because most of the girls looked a bit more afraid of her after, which always made Hester smile.

She'd sat down at lunch, hoping for some solitude, but Dot, Arachne, and Mona all came and sat down next to her. Mona was going on about some girl named "Sophie" who wore so much perfume it set off her allergies. Dot was drinking chocolate milk, and Hester found herself baffled by how much chocolate this girl could consume. It was admirable in it's own way.

By third period Hester was so tempted to skip. But she decided against it, just so she could keep her father off her back.

After school, Hester didn't go home- she walked directly to the Pharmacy, pulled out her compass, and walked North. It only took an hour and a half for her to get there, which was a new record (she had only done it twice, but Hester took it as a win anyways.)

The house was as strange and silent as it had been the day before, and Hester stared at it for a moment. The vines creeped up the walls in intricate patterns. Hester figured that the house had likely been quite impressive at some point in time, but now the sense of sorrow and fear around it was strong enough to drown any of that out. Hester wasn't at all surprised that this house had been a murder scene.

She slid her headphones off her head and around her neck, and opened the door. She was met with the same impossibly well-kept rooms, narrow staircase, and the same cold. She took a few steps towards the room she'd sat in the previous day, and felt herself shiver. It seemed like everything was cloaked in shadow.

She turned around, and took a sharp intake of breath, feeling her heart pound. Anadil was there, standing in the room across the hall. She wore the same nightgown. Hester could see the soft outlines of what was behind her, once again struck by her slight transparency. Anadil was the first to speak.

"You came back."