The Ghost of Whispering Willow. Amanda M. Thrasher

who he was and why he was messing with them. They decided to redefine their task, looking at it with a fresh new set of eyes. An investigation with newly defined clarity would take them in a new direction. Who is he? They wondered and then suddenly froze. No, who was he?

      And then Stewart had a crazy idea. What would it be like if they actually met him, like in a real meeting? Was it even possible to talk to a ghost? He didn’t know, and neither did Andy or Zack, but they did know that they had made the greatest discovery of their lives and wanted to take it to the next level, whatever that was.

      ***

      Stewart slept that night with his light on and his door wide open, something he usually didn’t do. Hoping against hope that he hadn’t drawn any unnecessary attention to himself, he lay in his bed while his mind raced and he pored over the images he had seen earlier. He had so many questions and no one to ask. Was there more than one ghost? If so, where had they come from? And what, if anything, did they want? Why had it shown itself to Andy, Zack and him? Stewart couldn’t figure that out either. All of a sudden, he sat straight up in bed. A horrendous thought had suddenly crossed his mind. What if Maggie, Kendall, Krista, and Ally had really seen what the guys had seen? Was it possible that the girls did know something, too? And the ghost – had they seen him as well?

      “Ahhh!” Stewart groaned. He flopped back down in his bed. Unfortunately, the girls would have to be dealt with sooner rather than later. Focus, focus, focus, he told himself, as he tried to figure out what to do about this dreadful situation with the girls. At last, he decided, and he was certain that the boys would agree with him to deal with the girls first. Then they could move on! It was very late, and, to his relief, Stewart finally drifted off to sleep.

      5 Joining Forces

      The boys decided to confront the girls at lunchtime, and they knew their approach had to be handled with care. If they were abrasive or dismissive, they risked upsetting the girls. The girls certainly wouldn’t share any information with them if the boys were mad at them. Andy wasn’t convinced that the girls had anything to share at all, anyway, but he didn’t want to mention that for fear of jinxing them before they’d had a chance to ask them. The worst-case scenario was that they’d be stuck with a few girls, asking too many questions and getting in their business. The best-case scenario was that the girls didn’t know anything and that would be that. He had his fingers crossed, hoping for the latter.

      Andy’s first class of the day was creative writing, his favorite. He wrote with ease, often writing more than what was required, though the teacher rarely complained. Stewart’s first class of the day was computer science, and his second class was P.E. This was an easy class with the added bonus that Zack was in there, too. It was always good when any of the boys had a class together; it made time go by faster. Coach let them play dodge ball, and Stewart forgot about everything else for that hour.

      As they passed in the hallway, Steward managed to slip Andy a note that said, you talk to Kendall! Andy didn’t like it, but knew if he didn’t talk to Kendall, Stewart wasn’t going to, and Stewart would likely make a scene until he broke down and did it anyway. He might as well get it over with. Andy was the best choice for the job, even if Andy didn’t agree. It was simple; the girls liked him!

      11:45 finally rolled around. Nervously, the boys walked towards the cafeteria. It was a different kind of nervousness than they had felt in the woods; it was an uncomfortable kind of nervousness, not fearful. They sat down at their usual table and waited for the girls to walk in.

      Maggie strolled into the cafeteria first, and Ally, Kendall, and Krista were not far behind. They were staring in the boys’ direction, and that made the boys noticeably worried. It led them to believe that the girls were acting overconfident and might actually know something that would change everything.

      The boys sat down and watched the girls for a while, and even though Andy knew it was coming, he wasn’t ready when Stewart nudged him. Andy felt sick to his stomach; he’d rather be face-to-face with the ghost than face-to-face with the girls. He assured himself that he was merely relaying a message from Stewart and that was it. It wasn’t a social visit; it was a message. The girls’ stares drew way too much attention toward them, and they hated that, since everyone kept looking to see what they were staring at!

      “Hurry up and get it over with, Andy,” Stewart whispered. “If we don’t, they’ll come over here. Look, they’re still staring, and now other people are, too.”

      Andy hung his head and stood up; very slowly, he walked toward the girls. To his horror, Krista stood up and walked toward him. It was obvious that they were going to talk. This was a move the boys had not anticipated. Andy turned back on his heels, motioning with his hand as he did so. Krista followed him back to the boys’ table and, with a quick glance back at the girls, received an approving thumbs-up from all three girls watching her.

      Krista sat down on the opposite side of the table and noticed immediately that the boys seemed incredibly fidgety. Stewart discreetly nudged Andy in his ribs, and Andy opened up the dialog. “You say that you have something – information – that you saw something? What exactly do you believe you saw?”

      Andy asked, surprising himself as his eyes stared down at the table.

      Stewart was impressed. Great opener, he thought.

      Krista was taken off-guard by the directness of Andy’s questions, but she answered him just as bluntly. “Yes, we do,” she said as she looked around before speaking again. “Do you want me to tell you here, like, right now?”

      “Yes, if you don’t mind.” Andy whispered. “I think – I mean, we think – that it would be best if we knew what you were talking about, don’t you?”

      Stewart nodded his head, “I agree,” he said.

      “It’s simple, really. We saw what you saw!” Krista waited for the boys to respond.

      It took Stewart a moment, but he leaned toward her and, in a lowered voice, said, “And what exactly do you think we saw?” He was not prepared for her answer, and neither was Andy.

      “The ghost in the Willows, of course. The little girl, we saw her playing in the Willows!” She waited for their response.

      “Ohhh,” Andy said. “Wait a minute. Ohhhhh…what did you just say?” He was making sure that he was clear about what he had just heard.

      Stewart’s gaze shot toward Andy, and his eyes were big. Had he heard her right? Had she said what he thought she’d said?

      Krista repeated the words and, sure enough, they were the ones that Stewart had thought he’d heard. “You know, the little girl. The ghost in the Willows, we saw her, too!” Krista said. “The one you’ve been searching or looking for,” she whispered, not sure if she should have revealed that part yet.

      Stewart raised his hand ever so slightly. “I’m sorry. But did you say the little girl in the Willows?”

      Andy finally managed to speak. “Do you know what this means, Stewart?” he said, still trying to process the words himself. “Do you realize the magnitude of what she just said?”

      Krista was confused; this was not the reaction that she had anticipated. “Isn’t that what you saw, too, and why we’re really here?” she asked, curiously glancing at the boys. The girls had been so certain that the boys were chasing or searching for the same thing that they were: the little girl who wasn’t a real girl anymore.

      Stewart nodded. “We definitely saw something, too, and yes, this is why we’re here now, I guess. But it just got complicated,” he said quietly.

      Andy leaned toward Krista and said, “Now, this is kinda cool, but kinda strange. Yes, we’ve seen and are