Prom Ghosts (A Perry Moxley & Harry Singer Story)

Strawberries, Blueberries, and Cherries

Chapter Eighteen (Strawberries, Blueberries, and Cherries)

Perry

Someone was sitting on the foot of my bed.

My eyes scanned my surroundings. The whole room was dark and quiet. And cold.

Not again, I thought to myself. The room seemed to creak and sway. I could feel myself tensing up, my heartbeat building rapidly. I tried sitting up and almost immediately panicked when I found myself unable to move. My limbs were all frozen in place and my muscles weren't cooperating. The more I forced myself to move the more my body felt heavier. The darkness around me was so dense and it felt as if it were pinning me down to my bed or some other dark substance was.

The apparition stared at me all the while I struggled to move. It was boy. It was always a boy.

I knew I was having a nightmare. I've always been having plenty ever since I could remember. Sometimes I don't. But every time I do, it's just the worst. And I keep on seeing the same thing over and over again. People. Dead people. Deceased. Departed. Ghosts of people who've passed away. Bitten the dust.

Usually, it's different each time, depending on where I've been or where I was or what I'm going through. But there's this one that I frequently see. The pale boy. He's always in my dreams, never ceasing to leave.

He stared at me, all pale and colorless as he stood out against the dark. I didn't know who he was but compared to my other nightmares he was the least terrifying. He almost looked like a normal living boy except that he was so devoid colors he was almost white as a sheet.

Slowly, he stretched out a long limb reaching out towards me. I opened my mouth to scream, straining my vocal chords but no sound came out.

"Hey, hey, snap out of it, you weirdo," says Harry. "It's only me."

The dark smoke covering my vision faded. I immediately snapped out of my trance and found Harry staring right into me and waving a hand in front of my face.

"Don't worry, I'm not a ghost," Harry chuckles. "What's going on? Why'd you space out all of a sudden?"

I blinked, licking my lips then I shook my head. "I was just... reminiscing something," I mumbled.

He gave me a weird stare and rolled his eyes. "Reminisce, my ass," he snorted.

I frowned. "Why couldn't we have done this during the day?" I moaned as I felt my way through the dark like a blind mole rat. "In broad daylight? Where it's safe?"

"Do you still think this is a good idea?" I asked him.

He looks at me in the dark. "You were the one who insisted on coming here."

"It wasn't me who did in the first place," I mumbled under my breath, ducking at the last moment before that Harry pushed aside could smack me in the face.

I stopped on the tracks, the wind nipping on my skin. "What if they're still there?" I whispered. "Those things we saw last night... Ghosts?"

"They weren't ghosts," he snorted but his tone didn't convince me. He turned around wearing a smug grin, the pale moonlight illuminating half of his face. "Why? Are you scared?"

"No," I say with a hint of an edge in my voice. "But what if something bad happens?"

"Geez, Moxley! Stop worrying, what could happen?" he said. "I'm not going to die, if that's what you're so worried about."

He chuckles and disappeared straight into the darkness. With a sigh, I stomped after him as my eyes slowly adapts into the dark environment.

The gate was left open and Harry easily slipped inside. I head on and stumbled over a bramble. A branch scratched me on the leg. I could hear Harry snickering somewhere around me as I tugged on my skirt that got caught among some thorny bushes.

I ignored the occasional rustles around me. When I looked up, Harry was nowhere around. I couldn't see much in the dark. That dweeb must just be lurking around anywhere waiting to scare me.

There was a hooting sound and something fluttered above me, a bird, perhaps, flapping away. I glanced around nervously and hugged myself.

"Harry!" I hissed.

I took a deep breath. Maybe he went on ahead. I take a step forward and nearly died when something fell from above.

It was only Harry swinging upside down from a tree branch and holding a flashlight into his face with his mouth wide open in the shape of an 'O'.

"Scared you, didn't I?"

He laughed and swung down from the tree while I grinded my teeth furiously. My heart was palpitating still. That darn Harry Singer.

"Hurry up, Perry Berry!" he calls out.

I rolled my eyes. I think there's something in the air around here that made him start acting all weird.

"I bet you like strawberry and blueberry," he babbles. "Heck, maybe even cherry cause, you know, your name rhymes with them."

"What has rhyming my name got to do with my fruit preferences?" I mumbled. "And FYI, it's apples that I like."

He shrugged and walked up to the old building, knocking on the door as if expecting anybody to answer. I stayed back and shuddered He pushed it open, disappearing inside. I don't know if I still wanted to go in there.

"Moxley, come on!" Harry's voice called.