Afterlife Home Agency

10) Marie's New Friend

It wasn't unusual for Marie to talk to herself unlike anyone else who probably does the same thing while they're doing homework or listening to music. I could hear Marie having a conversation with someone but I happened to know that we hadn't started school until next week because it was a three day weekend. "Who are you talking to?" I ask opening her door to reveal her sitting on her bed looking to a chair in the corner of the room, "Lucy, she's over there." She says pointing to the empty seat, "I don't see anything..." I add as she points to the chair again, "She's sitting right there. She has brown hair and brown eyes and shes wearing a dress. She's waving at you." She says smiling at me. I don't know why it freaked me out the way she smiled but it did and the fact that I couldn't see what she was talking to unnerved me a bit. As I walked away headed downstairs to watch some TV I hear her say, "Hello there." I turn around quickly expecting to see Marie joking with me but the way she looked at the chair and then glanced at me, "Told you she was here." She concludes continuing to play with her doll.
I walk downstairs and run into dad, "Hey you, I have a bone to pick with you." He says sternly pulling me aside. I grew a bit anxious wondering what he was upset about, "Did you happen to go in the attic at anytime while we were gone?" Oh shit. He knows but the question is how did he know? "Um... No... Why do you ask?" He crosses his arms, "Uh huh. Well I ask because the tape was taken off and when I went to put a few boxes up there I noticed things were moved around." I shrug not having an excuse, "I don't want you going in the attic, I don't know why I don't know how but I don't feel safe with you or your sister going up there. You stay out of that attic, do you understand me?" He sternly asks looking me right in the eye, "Yes sir." I nod walking to the living room. Something about the way he talked to me was new and a bit odd because usually my dad was laid back and cool but the way he sounded about the attic was one of fear and caution. As I take a seat on the couch I flip on the TV and start to channel surf; trying to ignore how weird things started to get around the house. While I'm flipping through channels the tv starts to act up, I try to switch it back to the show I was watching and it flipped right back to static. Just when I'm about to give up on that and go back to my bedroom to listen to some CDs I heard someone talking, "Why are you afraid of me?" She asks I glance around and realize that no one else was in the room with me, "Be careful, she's coming." I hear out of nowhere followed by a rush of icy air hit my face. I didnt even stick around to find a logical answer to the situation instead I ran out the backdoor into the backyard. I was so scared I wasn't going back in that house unless my mom was home or Brian was with me.
I went around the backyard trying to calm myself down when I see Marie looking down from the window to her bedroom and behind her was a young girl possibly my age with brown hair staring right back at me. I honestly would say that I stayed outside for a few hours not knowing what else to do and no one to talk to about it I sat in the grass just glancing to the woods that were only a few feet from the house. Imagine that; a young girl I couldn't see speaking to me scared me more in my home than the fucking woods that was outside the house.
Mom came outside yelling for me for dinner when I didnt exactly run toward the back door she knew something was off, "What are you doing out here all alone? Is something wrong?" She asks coming over to me from the house. I shrug not even knowing how to answer to that question, "No, I just thought I'd come outside and look around I guess..." I can tell by the way she tilts her head to meet my eyes she had seen something too, "You saw her... Didn't you?" She whispers loud enough where it was just her and I. "What are you talking about? See who?" She pulls me in a little closer, "The girl. You saw her with Marie didn't you?" My eyes go to and fro and I nod slightly, "I knew I wasn't crazy. So obviously I'm not the only one noticing strange things happening in the house lately. We can't tell your dad about this ok? If anything happens you come to me alright? I love you, Kevin." She says kissing the top of my head going back into the house.