Haunted: A short story about a Ghost, a Girl and her family.

Introduction & Introductions

Hey. If you're reading this, it's going to be kinda hard to believe.

I mean... I wouldn't have believed it, if I were you. It happened, no... It's happening to me and I still have a hard time believing this is actually real.

This is what you hear about in a spoopy podcast or see in a movie. It's not something you'd ever expect to happen to you, your sophomore year of high school!

Ok... maybe I'd secretly wished for something like this to happen... but I never in a million years thought it actually WOULD!

Before I tell you a-a-a-a-anything else... you gotta promise me that you'll keep this between us. People already think I am weird enough as is.

This is small town. I'm the new kid.

If word of this gets out, I'm dead. Well... I'd rather be dead... because my life would definitely be over.

So, if you want me to tell you, you gotta promise.

~ Looks around nervously ~

Okay, you promised...

This will take awhile but let's start from the beginning.

Chapter One: The end of my life... as I knew it.

I guess if you're going to listen to my story, I should introduce myself before I go any further. Also. I'm not really good at this. Telling this story, because, you know... I've kept it a secret for so long.

My name is Brittany. Brittany Soulshine Hayward.

Yes. That's my name. Aaand yes, my parents must have hated me. Ha. Ha. Hah.

I'm kidding, they don't hate me... they're just, different I guess... and want everyone else to make fun of me.

My mom is a hippy, witchie kind of person who believes in Gaia and Mother Earth and Spirits and all that.

She likes growing things in her windowsill herb garden and she loves cooking us dinner. She's always going on about "Food is medicine"... it's delicious so I don't really mind but if I had to say anything, I'd say she uses too many mushrooms. They taste like DIRT but I'll never tell her that, I know how happy it makes her to cook for us... so I'll just keep eating her little dirt blossoms.

My dad is nerd. Big time. Video games, game nights with all these different cool pieces and... oh, I mean weird games and his weird friends...

He does the taxes, pays the bills and drags us to church on Sundays. He says I should learn about the Lord from him and Mother Earth from my mom. He says he won't make me choose but it is important to him for me to "know the Lord" - whatever that means.

We did a lot of stuff together when I was little but now he works a lot and I was in middle school. I don't get to see him as much as I did when I was growing up but I enjoy the time we do spend together, even if it's listening to him explain some game or movie he loves... again.

Ok, okay... I'm a bit of a daddy's girl and I guess I take after him mostly.

Mom says she can see a lot of her in me but everyone I know always says how much I take after my dad... Maybe mom sees something I don't.

Anyway, I am getting off track but at least you understand where my stupid name comes from.

My mom's name is Grace and my dad's is Thomas. So there you have it. The whole Hayward family. Thomas, Grace and Brittany.

Oh yeah, I can't forget the other "kids"!

Doge... the Shiba Inu Dog my dad obsesses over and my moms cats Stella and Luna. Doge is named after a Cryptocurrency my dad likes. Dad has tried explaining this to me but it's a little over my head so I just nod and smile.

Doge is a spoiled prima donna and that's my dads fault. I'll admit, he's a cute dog... but what's weird is Doge seems to know he's adorable. Takes full advantage of it and my dad just falls for it, every time.

Stella is a big black cat. I know what you're thinking. Now think bigger. Even bigger. Ok, now maybe you got it. Stella is a Maine Coon and she's big for her breed.

She weighs almost 20lbs but she isn't overweight, it's muscle and fur. She's almost four feet long including her big bushy tail and I'd say almost a foot and a half tall when she's walking on all fours. Speaking of "all fours" her paws were as big as my hands until I was 7!

She looks like a werewolf but unlike how she looks, she is the sweetest cat ever. Plus, my favorite part about Stella is that she loves making biscuits.

Luna is the exact opposite. Luna is a small, slender, Siamese. She's meek. She's quiet. She is like your shadow. One moment she will be in another room, chasing who knows what and the very next she is looking over your shoulder, standing behind you on your chair. I think she might be able to teleport like on one of dad's movies... but I'm not sure.

So there you have it. The whole family.

Things were going pretty great until one night my dad sat down for dinner with a smile that was bigger than usual.

"Hey guys, guess what", he said, overly enthusiastically.

Mom and I looked him with slightly confused expressions.

"What's that honey?" she asked.

"I GOT A PROMOTION!" he exclaimed, barely able to contain his excitement.

Before mom and I could say anything, he continued:

"WE. ARE. MOVING!!! ISN'T THAT GREAT!!"

Mom and I just stared at each other.

My life. Was over.