Nancy Drew and The Mystery Of The Ghost Maiden

Chapter Six

After halfway finishing eating the meal, Nancy asked her aunt, "Was there a very bad storm around here, lately? It looks like it there has been one recently, from the state of your yard."

"There was a really bad thunderstorm with high winds last month, that did a lot of damage. I know the cleanup should have been taken care of already. Unfortunately, my landscaper decided to quit, and I've been unable to find a replacement for him" explained the aunt Betty.

"What happened that was so bad that to made him quit?" asked Bess.

"Quite honestly, It's not worth talking about, so let's just forget about it, for now, girls." the aunt replied. Nancy and her friends glanced at the women with questioning looks but received no further answer from her. After dinner, she led the group of young girls into a small sitting parlor with a large TV set in it. "You can watch what you want girls. I'm just going to sit down here and work on my knitting. I'm trying to finish up this gray throw blanket, It's a gift for our church pastor. He's getting up in years and tends to stay cold, so he needs one of his own."

"What's he like?" asked Bess.

"He's a kind man but very quiet. He is also a veteran in his seventies and is soon to retire from preaching. " answered the aunt.

The girls found the old TV to have poor reception, after messing with it for a while, they managed to find a station that had an "I Love Lucy" marathon airing on it. They all enjoyed watching it and laughing together all the way up until ten o'clock that night. Their favorite episode was the "Chocolate Factory", one where Lucy must get a job. 

After turning off the TV, the girls helped Aunt Betty up the stairs to her room, which was on the other side of the house. When Nancy got back to her room, she went into the bathroom and ran a bubble bath. It didn't take Nancy long to find her shampoo and body wash in her suitcase. She enjoyed relaxing in the warm bath, it felt refreshing to feel her stress and worries melt away. As she was lathering her hair, Nancy heard a strange sound outside and jumped getting soap all in her eyes. Grabbing a towel, she washed her eyes out. But when the teen peeked out the window there was not a soul in sight.

"Must have been some animal." Nancy thought as she got back into the bathtub. That night despite the soft feather mattress, the girl had a lot of trouble falling asleep. She kept awakening to whispering sounds, that stopped as soon as she sat up. The young girl also felt like she was being watched. She wanted to investigate but was far too tired to get up at all. Nancy tried to figure out which direction the sounds were coming from but could not in her state of overwhelming fatigue. She finally drifted off the sleep but had very strange dreams that made no sense what-so-ever.

"Nancy, where are you? Are you even up yet?" asked Bess, when she came into the bedroom the next morning.

"No, I just want to sleep a while longer. It's still dark outside Bess and I'm really exhausted. " Nancy whined like a small child.

"It's dark outside because of a storm cloud, It's almost eleven a.m. You slept so long that you missed breakfast.", the blonde said as she grabbed a hold of the edge of the soft cotton comforter. She pulled very hard and managed to get the covers off her sleepy friend. "No Bess, I feel so cold! Please let me sleep another hour!" begged Nancy before she also grabbed the blanket. The two girls ended up having a very weird tug of war fight over it. With one final yank, Bess pulled the blanket away and carried it quickly into her own room.

Once the girl came back into the room, she noticed Nancy brushing out her strawberry blonde hair while sitting at the cream-colored vanity. "It wasn't easy to wake you, but at least you're up now. You're normally wake up before me, so why are you so tired? Did you have nightmares all night?" Bess asked feeling a bit concerned.