She thought I was her imaginary friend. That’s what her parents tell her anyway. “Come on Holly, we’re going to the beach!” Jasmine laughed, grabbing her favourite teddy and running out the door. I can’t follow her. I can’t leave this house. She thinks I’m her imaginary friend. But I was real once. Real and breathing and alive. And now I’m trapped inside this house. A spirit in the walls. The lonely ghost.
“It’ll be fun, won’t it?” Elena asked Fiona excitedly. “Sure.” Fiona smiled. She couldn’t think of anything worse. When Jake had first mentioned the ski trip she’d smiled and nodded and expected it to go into the pile of things he mentioned but that they never got round to doing. Except it didn’t. The next week he’d bombarded her with tickets. And now she was stuck. “I’ve never been before, have you?” Elena was Dylan’s girlfriend. Jake and Dylan had been best friends forever and the ski trip had somehow become a double date. “Nope.” Fiona replied, throwing three hats into her suitcase. Elena chattered on happily, about the hotel they were staying in and restaurants they could eat in. “I see you’re nearly packed.” Jake walked in smiling. “Nearly.” Fiona smiled back. They’d been together for three years but sometimes it felt like they had been together forever. “Whose ready to get their skiing on?” He joked, making skiing motions. “Me definitely!” Elena laughed, playing along with him. Fiona made a noncommittal noise and hoped it would go unnoticed. Whoever came up with a skiing holiday? “There’s too much fun going on in here.” Dylan joined Jake, laughing. “Is everyone ready?” Fiona shut her case and nodded. It took them fifteen minutes to load the car and then they were on the way. Fiona fell asleep a couple of hours in and was shook awake gently by Jake. “We’re here.” He told her. She stretched and climbed out of the car. She’d put on a thick jumper and winter coat before they’d left but the cold hit her like a ton of ice. Which it almost was. They checked into their hotel and made their way to their rooms. “Well, it’s late.” Jake yawned, “See you in the morning.” Fiona opened the door to their room. The room was beautiful, with a fluffy white rug and a sparkling chandelier. “Nice, huh?” Jake smiled. “Very.” She replied.
The next morning Fiona woke early. The clock said it was seven am. She yawned and turned over, but Jake was gone. She sat up and looked around. “Jake?” She called. Fiona got up and looked in the bathroom but he wasn’t there either. “Jake?” She called again uncertainly. She tried ringing his phone but her calls went unanswered. She dressed quickly and made her way to Dylan and Elena’s room. “You okay?” Elena answered her frantic knocks sleepily. She stood aside to let her in and Dylan waved at her from their bed. “I can’t find Jake.” “What do you mean?” “He wasnt there when I woke up and he isnt answering his phone.” Fiona told them. “Try him again.” Dylan told her. “He’s not answering.” Fiona cried. “I’ll go and have a look around.” Dylan came back half an hour later shaking his head. “No sign of him. His cars still here though.” “I’m ringing the police.” Fiona sobbed. “I found this.” Dylan handed her a piece of paper. “It was in your room.”
𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑦.
I stood on the balcony, looking out into the sea, a cup of tea warming my hands. “This is ridiculous.” Jonah was in his bedroom, his phone wedged between his shoulder and his ear as he pulled on his trainers. “How can there be nothing new?” He paused to listen to the voice at the other end and shook his head. “Fine, see you tomorrow.” Jonah threw his phone on the bed and came to stand besides me. “This is ridiculous.” He repeated. “No news then?” I asked him. “Nothing.” He muttered “How can Josh just disappear without a trace? Without any sign?” Josh was our brother. The youngest of us, he was also the most adventurous. When we first heard he was missing we didn’t think too much into it to be honest, he was always wandering off to climb some mountain or tame a tiger, never giving a thought to letting people know where he’d gone. But when three days became a week, we began to panic. “Shantelle’s getting on my nerves too.” Jonah said. “She’s worried.” “She should’ve called sooner.” “We both know we’d of shook it off just the same if she’d called a day earlier.” “I know.” He muttered. He looked out into the sea and shuddered. “You don’t suppose..” “No.” I cut him off “he hated the water. He’d never go in.” “Maybe he was trying to get over his fear or something.” “He wouldn’t do it alone.” “You know he would. Why else would he move into a beach house?” I sipped my tea. He was right obviously. Josh would want to tackle it by himself. But still.. The waves were rippling calmly, gently kissing the sand and I wondered again why Josh had chosen to move here. Was it so he could get over his fear of water by staring it straight in the face? Jonah’s shrill ringtone broke the silence, making us both jump. “Hello?” He wandered off into his bedroom. I wandered what Josh was doing right now. Was he off having another adventure? Or was he really in some sort of danger? Fear crawled through my body. Jonah returned, staring down at his phone. “Who was that?” “Shantelle.” He whispered. “What did she say?” He looked up and it was only then that I saw that the colour had drained from his face and the fear in his eyes. “They’ve found a body.”
I clung to the side for dear life. I was terrified. I was higher than I’d ever been and was going even higher. I glanced at Sam. He was leaning over the side, actually leaning, with a massive grin on his face. He was loving it. When he’d opened his birthday card from his parents and pulled out two tickets for a hot air balloon ride I’d groaned internally. I actually prayed, despite my non belief, for him to want to go with his brother or one of his friends. But he’d turned to me and said “You up for it?” That stupid happy grin spread across his face. I mean, who could say no to that? It would be like saying no to a puppy. Sam was the daredevil type, which was the exact opposite from me. He had climbed the O2, gone on the worlds highest zip wire and volunteered with tigers. I was very good at curling up with a good book and a cup of tea. A glass of wine on a Friday night. How we came to be in a relationship I’ll never know, I guess I was just really lucky. We met five years ago, I was running like a madwoman to catch the train and he was coming out of the station and we collided. Went on our first date that very night. Fish and chips on the beach. The hot air balloon jerked and I looked at the pilot sharply. Sam thought it was the best thing ever. “Woah,” He laughed “Nearly went hurtling to my death!” He wandered over to me and put his arm around my shoulders. “Isn’t it beautiful?” He whispered. He was right of course, once you got past the whole “omg I’m going to fall to my death” thing you really appreciated the view. The sun was setting, creating an orange glow and the lights below were twinkling like stars. “Yeah it is.” I said softly. “But don’t think I’m ever setting foot on one of these again.” He laughed “I’m just made up I’ve got you on it once!”
Hope looked across the ruins and frowned. They were deserted, not a soul in sight. “He’s gone.” Joseph told her. “I knew he would be.” It was dark and the ruins were lit up by the moonlight, the stars twinkling above them. “Any sign of what he was doing here?” She asked hopefully. “No,” he replied “He was probably meeting someone.” She nodded and ran her fingers through her hair. “What shall we do?” “Hunt down the traitor, and bring him back to me alive.” Joseph nodded and left her alone. Hope held back tears. Jacob was her best friend. Her fellow guardian. And the truth of his betrayal was too much to bare. She knew the only thing to do was to put him down, and become truly alone in the world.
It was all her fault. He’d told her someone was following him and she’d rolled her eyes and told him not to be silly. A tear rolled down her cheek. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙝𝙚? Justine stood up and made her way to her brother’s room. She paused uncertainly outside his door. The police had searched it of course, but maybe they’d missed something; some important clue as to where he’d gone. 𝙊𝙧 𝙬𝙝𝙤 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙩𝙖𝙠𝙚𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙢. She shuddered and pushed open his door. It was surprisingly neat, their mother must of tidied up after the police had been. They’d taken his laptop and ipad with them. She glanced around, lifting up books and clothes to see if there was anything hidden underneath. She’d been searching for half an hour when she sat down on his bed, hopeless and full of despair. She put her face in her hands and began to sob, when suddenly she sat up. 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙤𝙤𝙠. He’d been holding a black leather book when he’d told her his suspicions. A book he’d been carrying around for the past month. But where was it? Would it lead her to wherever he’d gone? The police hadn’t taken it and she hadn’t found it in his room. 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙝𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙝𝙞𝙢. Hopelessness threatened to take over again. She got up and began to search again, pulling out anything that looked remotely like the book. She glanced at the bed and frowned. The mattress was slightly raised by the wall. She pulled it up and peered underneath. 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙞𝙩 𝙞𝙨! Justine grabbed it and left the room quickly. Once in her own bedroom, she locked the door and opened it up. It seemed to be a diary of some sort. She flicked through the pages, reading snippets of her brothers neat handwriting. When she got to the back page she froze. There were two types of handwriting, her brother seemed to have been interrupted and somebody else had written underneath.
𝙽𝚘𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚖𝚎. 𝚆𝚑𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢? 𝙸 𝚜𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝙸’𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚖𝚊𝚍. 𝙸 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘-
𝕐𝕠𝕦’𝕝𝕝 𝕟𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕣 𝕤𝕖𝕖 𝕙𝕚𝕞 𝕒𝕘𝕒𝕚𝕟.
