Kenneth Manor (Haunted)

Chapter Eight

“Finally, we meet in person,” the man said. “I’m Charlie. It’s nice to finally meet your acquaintance.”

“Uh...who are you?” Trevor asked, confused. “Are you like, a long lost uncle or something?”

“No, but I do know Angela. I just wanted to talk to her about something,” he said. “Preferable alone.”

“No,” I said, “whatever you have to say to me, you can say to Trevor as well.”

“Very well then,” Charlie said. “I partnered with a person you may or may not have met before. But I imagine that he goes to your school. His name is Xavier.”

The name rings in my head. Xavier. Xavier. Where have I heard his name before.

Suddenly my mind flashes back to the first day we moved in here.

“When your father and I first toured the house, we were reluctant to purchase it, but if it wasn’t for that man...what was his name, Cam?” my mom asked. “Xavier. If it wasn’t for his recommendation of the house, we wouldn’t have even considered buying it.” my mother had told me.

“Xavier,” I murmured, but my voice was just about to get louder. “It was him. He was the one who wanted my family to move here in the first place! Now, I have to deal with all this mystery and secrecy and...ghosts. I loved ghosts, but I had thought they were a figment of people’s imagination. Not some real-life horror experience!!”

“Before you jump to conclusions, Xavier thought he was going to fix the problem. We hadn’t considered recent events that happened in the last few days to show up not until later. We basically went back to square one. We’re trying to help you use your powers.”

“Amy was right,” I said finally coming into realization. “You guys are after me.”

“No, it’s not that--” he started.

But I couldn’t hear a thing he said after that. The pounding in my head became too much, and I grabbed Trevor’s hand. We couldn’t get out of the park fast enough.

After three hours of homework, I was too tired to think about what happened at the park. I was really stressed about everything in my life. There were so many problems that I have to solve. For both school and my so called “powers.” Even if I do have “powers,” then why haven’t I seen any traces of this?

I then lay my head back and fell asleep after another long day.

Charlie immediately ran up to Xavier.

“I’m so sorry; I wasn’t able to convince her. I tried--” he started.

“No,” Xavier interrupted. “We just have to be a little more forceful. When you talked to her, was there any sign of Amy?”

“Not that I saw.”

“That’s not good enough. You know what could happen if she saw us. It could endanger her.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t say that. We need to act now.”

I woke up, thankfully with no alarm ringing in my ear. It was Sunday, which meant no school, no homework, and no teachers to deal with. All of a sudden, Quinn’s voice rang from downstairs.

“Angela! Your boyfriend’s here!” he yelled.

“He’s just a friend, Quinn,” I told him as I was running down the steps.

“I said that. I said your boy friend was here,” he said.

“I know what you said. You said boyfriend as one word.”

With a smile, he disappeared back into the house.

“So,” I turned to Trevor after Quinn went inside, “what was so important you had to embarrass me in front of my brother?”

“Charlie and the other guy, Xavier came at my house this morning,” he said. “They wanted to talk to you. This time, they want you to listen to what they have to say.”

“No, I don’t want to.”

“They said that they will bother me every morning until you listen to them. I don’t want creepy men at my door every morning so I suggest that you listen to what they have to say.”

“Fine.”

We walked together to Oak Park. We didn’t talk the entire way. Maybe it was because it was 9:00 AM, and we didn’t want to deal with all of this trouble right now. When we got to the park, there was no one there but Charlie and what must have been Xavier were already there waiting for us.

“Angela,” the man who was Xavier said, “it is imperative that we talk to you. There isn’t much time left.”

“Save it,” I told them. “I don’t want to hear any more of your lies. How come you even want to help me when you are the reason why my parents bought the house I currently live in, and the reason why my life has fallen apart. I don’t even want to be here.”

When I looked over at Trevor, he looked hurt.

“Oh,” I said, immediately regretting what I had said before. “No, no, it’s not that. I love having you as my friend, but I love California because that’s where all of my friends are. It’s not that I hate you.”

Trevor just nodded as he was looking at the ground, not bothering to answer me.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“Look, we need to discuss matters that endanger you and your family. If you continue to be ignorant of what’s going on around you, you and your family can die,” Charlie said.

“Why? What good reason do you have for talking to me? What kind of excuse do the both of you have for bringing me to this desolate town?” I half asked, half yelled. “Tell me because I would like to be interested.”

“We are not the ones who you should be running away from,” Xavier said. “It’s Amy.”

“Amy! What does Amy have to do with this?” I asked. Even as the words were tumbling out of my mouth, I wondered how could they have possibly have known Amy. “Wait...How do you know Amy?”

“Amy used to be the owner of the house you currently live in with your family,” said Charlie. “She died about forty years ago. She is the reason why we are here to warn you about her.”

“What? No. Amy was just an unfortunate soul that had tragically died in her house. She told me that!” she didn’t exactly tell me that, but if it’s between these two creeps and her, I would always choose Amy.

“No, she is not the person who you think she is!” screamed Charlie.

“Charlie, remember what we have talked about,” Xavier said calmly.

Charlie just grumbled.

“What my partner was trying to say is that Amy has been lying to you. She hasn’t shown her true intentions to you, which is why we are here to help you.”

“No, it can’t be; you’re both lying to me!” I screamed.

There were more people in the park now. Some of them were just looking at us, but others still continued about their business.

“Amy is a wonderful person!” I screamed. “You know nothing about her personality.”

“Yes, we do,” Charlie said. “Xavier’s father was the one who dealt with Amy, but it ended tragically. Please, just come--”

Charlie never got to finish what he had to say. All of a sudden, his body started spasming uncontrollably as he fell to the ground.

“Charlie!” Xavier screamed.

Even Xavier never got to finish. His body was spasming as well. When I looked over at Trevor, he was already at the ground.

My knees started to buckle. The next thing I knew I was on the ground, and the last thing I saw was Amy above me as I blacked out into oblivion