The Ghost of Whispering Willow. Amanda M. Thrasher

girls agreed that Ally would giggle too much and probably wouldn’t be taken seriously. Kendall didn’t want to deliver the message, and Maggie had no desire to deal with Andy or Stewart, for that matter. The task was left to Krista. They devised a plan. The message would be dropped during lunch. Since the boys always ate in the corner, it shouldn’t be a problem to get them alone at the same time. If they dropped this bombshell and the boys didn’t want to talk about it, well, they’d have to continue on their own.

      “How do we know that Andy won’t blow me off like he always does? I swear if he does, I’m going to come unglued. If he drops that pen, then I have his attention!” Krista giggled, and so did the other girls.

      Ally laughed so hard that her red hair bounced everywhere. Andy never gave them the time of day, and Stewart didn’t, either. Kendall suggested they stick with the same plan even if Zack happened to be there, which was doubtful, but just in case. The girls all agreed. No distractions.

      The girls whispered about the ghost they had seen in the Willows and couldn’t help but wonder where it had come from or whom it could have been. They had been scared at first, terrified in fact, but there was something about the ghost that made them feel at ease. They didn’t know what it was. It could have been the demeanor, perhaps, or maybe the size. Perhaps it was the gender; they just didn’t know. They just knew that they were fascinated and wanted to find it again. They wondered if the boys had managed to capture evidence on the equipment that they had so carefully set up. They all recognized how amazing that would be and wanted more than anything to view the data if there was some. If the boys would share with them, who knew where the investigation could lead, what they could all accomplish together?

      “OMG,” squealed Ally, “Just, OMG, can you even imagine if we grouped up?” It was too much for preteen girls; they suddenly stopped talking and just burst out laughing!

      ***

      The lights were dimmed in Stewart’s room. Andy had the logbook and his favorite pen in hand; they were ready to watch the DVDs. It was the same routine every time: DVDs first, voice recorders second, and then, last but not least, the thermal image recorders. Stewart hit play, and no one said a word. The boys stared at the screen, blinking only when absolutely necessary. They watched the monitor as Stewart gathered and reset the equipment. They could tell from the video that it was just as Stewart had described, eerily still. The willow branches weren’t moving in the typical sweeping to and fro manner that they usually did when there was a breeze. They watched as Stewart stopped and looked all around him. They could tell he was uploading information from the equipment, but he kept stopping and looking around his surroundings, as if something wasn’t quite right. They could see that Stewart was very uncomfortable with something, though they could tell that he didn’t know what. Stewart was rushing about and was obviously very nervous, and Andy made note of that fact several times in the log. Stewart was mopping his brow and nose as the sweat poured off of him, profusely at one point. Andy noted this in the log as bizarre and circled it, since the temperatures had been relatively mild that evening. The sweat was definitely an indication of an increased heart rate likely due to fear, which Andy also logged and circled.

      “Whoa, wait a minute; stop rolling!” Zack suddenly hollered as he jumped to the edge of the bed. “Did you see that? Back it up!”

      Stewart hit rewind and then hit play again as the boys watched each frame, one by one. Barely daring to blink in case they missed something, they stared at the monitor, looking for whatever it was that had grabbed Zack’s attention.

      “Stop!” Zack shrieked in a voice that even he had not anticipated. “Oh, that’s wicked. Look at that, right there in the corner!” he said in disbelief. “Boys, right there; don’t you see it?” he said, pointing to the screen excitedly.

      Both Andy and Stewart jumped when Zack shrieked again, but they both tried to act like they hadn’t. Stewart rewound the footage and pressed play one more time.

      “Ohhh,” Stewart said, way louder than he’d intended. “Oh, I knew it!”

      “Again, Stewart, back it up again,” Andy said, stunned at what he had just seen. “I’m pretty sure I know what I saw, but I would like to confirm that, if you know what I mean!”

      It was one of those surreal moments, the kind where the boys knew what they had just seen but couldn’t actually believe they’d just seen it. Stewart realized what he was witnessing via a visual aid and what he must have been experiencing in the Willows earlier that day. He wasn’t quite sure if he should be freaked out or not, since he had never dealt with such a thing before and had no idea how he was supposed to react.

      Perched on the edge of the bed, the three boys stared at the TV. “There,” Zack said, pointing again to the screen. “Right there. Do you see it? Do you see what I see, guys?” Not daring to take his eyes off of the screen, Zack leaned forward and touched the monitor in front of them. They all saw it, but they had no idea what to do next.

      “Whoa, give me a minute,” Stewart said, as he turned white as a sheet. “I’m trying to take it all in, if you know what I mean. Play in slow motion again, please,” he said, handing Andy the remote. “Look where I’m pointing; it’s like a really dark shadow, but it’s moving toward me right there on the frame. See it?” Stewart asked. He felt shaky and hoped it wasn’t noticeable to the other boys. They hadn’t mentioned it, and Stewart wasn’t about to. He pointed out how the ghost had suddenly bolted toward him and then moved behind the large willow tree.

      “OMG, I see it!” Andy screeched. “But did you see that?” he asked the boys, forcing his voice to a lower pitch. “Right there?” The room grew silent as the boys stared at the monitor, not sure if they even had the words to describe what they were looking at.

      It appeared to be a boy, a young boy. They couldn’t determine if he was a preteen like them or a teenager. He had bolted faster than humanly possible to the left; the boys were stunned at the speed at which he had moved. Faster than lightning, it seemed. They had captured actual visual proof of a ghost, a ghost boy, in the Willows. Whispering Willows was, without a doubt, as they had thought, haunted!

      Andy had stopped writing. “Stewart, press play, and I’ll log everything in a minute,” he whispered. This time, it was Andy’s hands that were shaking.

      Stewart fumbled with the remote. “I could be wrong, guys, but I think something’s about to happen right here,” he said. “This is where things got really freaky!”

      He was right. Just as the ghost reappeared, it stood directly behind Stewart. Stewart’s, Andy’s, and Zack’s mouths dropped open, but they continued to watch to see what had happened next. They couldn’t believe what they were witnessing.

      It was as if the boy ghost was teasing or playing with Stewart, only Stewart hadn’t realized it at the time. It truly was following his every move, staying a step behind him as if mocking him, while Stewart worked.

      They stopped the frame and Andy once again picked up his pen and started scribbling as fast as he could in the log. He couldn’t seem to write fast enough. His mind was racing as he tried to record what he had just seen. Andy looked up and said, “Oh, look at that!”

      The boys, two inches from the screen, looked where Andy was pointing. They were too stunned to speak and had goose bumps on their arms. The ghost had suddenly reappeared behind Stewart, just as he had said it had. He leaned very close to Steward; this must have been the moment that the ghost had spoken. His features were so clear it was frightful; it felt as if he were suddenly right there among them. The boy was taller than Stewart but shorter than Andy, and they were witnessing the moment when the ghost and Stewart had literally come face to face.

      The boys continued to watch the monitor. They didn’t speak, but then again, they didn’t need to. They knew they were all scared; they just didn’t need to talk about it. As the ghost once again became visible to the naked eye, it was clear why Stewart had felt such a surge of paranormal presence. It made total sense that his physical and sensory senses would have been heightened – the ghost was right there with him.

      Andy