Standing at the top of City Hall front steps, Ariel Moro watched the crowd shouting at the tops of their voices as they made their way towards her, crowding each other to get a better look. Just because she was called a 'demon', and pretty much everyone lived in fear of her didn't mean it had to come to this! It seemed almost ironic. Especially on the day of a protest against DNA experiments on...well, what the protest was for she didn't exactly know. Her appearance was part of her genetics, after all. If God had wanted everyone to be the same, they would all have looked like her. The thought brought a smile to her face, and she turned to watch the crowd in amusement.
"Get out of our city, mutant!" shouted a fat man in a pinstriped suit, waving his sign frantically. "You are not welcome here!"
Ariel bared her teeth in a smile, and watched the man take an automatic step back. She had just finished applying for a job at the local Hall, and had opened the door to...this. It wasn't her fault that she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Well, time to go now anyway. She edged along the stone steps, between the large pillars cemented at the front of the building. And along her way through the crowd with them shouting back at her, the keys to her car safe in her hand.
On the way back home, Ariel stared at herself in the rear view mirror. Her complexion was very pale, with long white fingers placed on the steering wheel. Her eyes gazed back at her, pearl white with black pupils, and her hair was practically non-existent. Ariel thought that her appearance might have been caused by a gene mutation. Maybe it really was something out of a science fiction magazine. When she had gone to school, she had kept her face covered and told everyone that this was because she was suffering from allergies from the sun. However, she didn't mind this, because her mother had always told her 'Everyone is beautiful in their own way.' She also knew that the citizens of Sunset Valley were scared of her. She didn't know the exact reason why, but she thought it was because of the way she looked. But Ariel didn't feel bitterness towards them. She only felt pity, because they had never given her a chance. She prized her solitude, as she had never felt comfortable around large groups of people. If they talked to her for half an hour, Ariel knew they would change their minds.
When she pulled up outside her house, the first thing she saw was the mailman outside delivering the post. Opening the door of the car, she got out. He heard the car door slam and jumped. Ariel sauntered over to the mailbox to sort through the rest of the post.
I may as well be polite. she thought. Even though I know what his reaction will be.
"Hi there." she greeted him in her high voice. She turned her attention to the mailbox, but watched his reaction out of the corner of her eye.
All the mailman did was just stand and stare at her, his mouth slightly open in surprise. He took a few hesitant steps back, away from her.
"H..hi." he stammered in shock. Taking another step backwards, he turned and walked swiftly towards his car, parked out on the side of the road.
Ariel waited until he had roared away, clouds of smoke filling the air behind him, then burst into peals of laughter.
'Poor guy.' she thought, grinning. 'He wouldn't know how to be civil if it danced right in front of him! Priceless.'
She could hardly sit still until night fell. A part of her, mainly the small voice in the back of her head, wondered why she was going to go and explore the local catacombs in the middle of the local graveyard. Was she out of her mind? Ariel knew why, of course. Because she wanted to do something exciting, just this once. She loved challenge, and exploring new places. She had decided to go at night, to make her experience more thrilling. And of course, she may even find something interesting, hidden in the depths underground. However, there was the very small risk of running into one of the residents, who thought her weird enough already. They might think that she had taken a job as a grave digger, before running away in terror. Then announcing through the newspaper the next morning, that there was a madwoman on their hands. And of course, Ariel didn't want that.
Ariel wasn't terrified of the graveyard, as others in the neighbourhood were. She could see the cemetery now, faintly lit up by lanterns, which gave it a sort of mysterious glow. Through the creaky iron gates, she could see the long fingers of the dark tree branches, and the small pond out the front as shadows of the fish flickered across the surface.
'I wonder if the local stories are actually true.' Ariel thought, as she parked the car and walked through the gates of the cemetery. There were all sorts of stories that the graveyard was haunted. The adults told the children that mysterious apparitions lurked there the moment the sun set. Suddenly, she decided the greater the adventure, the bigger the excitement. Instead of exploring the catacombs, there wasn't really any harm in finding out whether the rumors were true or not, were there?
Ariel sat down to wait on a nearby stone seat. And waited. Hours seemed to tick by, but when she looked at her watch, it had only been fifteen minutes. As she looked around she saw that a slight grey-blue mist was slowly rising through the air, blown along by the cool breeze. It surrounded the gravestones, and gave the atmosphere an eerie feel.
Ariel decided that she had become intrigued by some of the graves, so she thought that she would have a look around. Rising carefully from the seat, she threaded her way through the overgrown clumps of grass, and over to the first stone she saw. She pulled the overgrown weeds away from the name, and bent down to read it.
"Jennie Clavell," Ariel read. 'The name is familiar, where have I heard it before?' she thought. Then she remembered something from the back of her memory, something that she had read in the newspaper a few months ago. A young woman named Jennie Clavell, and her older brother Ransom had been murdered, drowned in Jennie's own swimming pool. Their family was distraught, thinking that the two of them had been targeted on purpose. Yes, Ariel could easily see the symbol on both of the graves beside each other, showing a hand above water desperately waving for help.
The thought was chilling. In the end, of course, nobody came.
Ariel turned around suddenly. She had thought she heard someone behind her. The snap of a twig or the rustle of a leaf, maybe. However, there was nothing there. Maybe the rumors really were true. Or not. She didn't know. She suddenly felt weirdly tired. Walking a few steps backwards to the bench, she lay down on it, pulling the cream-coloured dress she was wearing around her for warmth. Going to explore the catacombs seemed to be the last thing on her mind at the moment, even though a few moments ago, it seemed to be the best idea in the world. In a moment, she was asleep.
Of course, Ariel didn't see Jennie Clavell's grave shake slightly, and a blue mist surround it. She didn't see an orange human-like shape moving quickly through the trees, as if the graveyard was on fire. She didn't see any more of the mysterious human-like shapes either, tinged purple, yellow and white. They disappeared silently into the air with a swirl of dust, before evaporating along with the wind.
Ariel's eyes snapped open. The dawn was breaking, but she couldn't shake away the strange images that filled her mind so vividly. In her dream, she was standing in the graveyard, but she wasn't alone. She standing alongside figures, that she knew were the ghosts. A curvy woman who looked about thirty, that was orange with an impression of flames burning her body, stood beside her looking away into the trees. One that was yellow, with lightning flashing up and down her body, illuminating her. An old man, that was slightly white and transparent, stood alongside another younger man that was opaque and this time, tinged purple.
The last ghost was that of a young woman, with blonde hair and water pooling down her body like blood. She slowly raised one hand and waved. Ariel had waved back, but then she realized who it was. From both the photo in the news and from what she had just witnessed earlier, when looking at the woman stared into Ariel's face and Ariel stared back.
With a jolt, she knew who it was.
She was staring into the face of Jennie Clavell.
Ariel wasn't even sure what the dream meant, if it did mean anything. She didn't think so, but then again, she also couldn't stop thinking about it. Maybe she should go back to the graveyard. This time later at night. For the rest of the day, she passed the time reading and doing anything that came into her mind that would keep her busy for a while. She would also think about the townspeople. Right now, she had better things to think about, without people calling her 'mutant'. A small girl and her foster mother had moved into the town recently. People said that the little girl was rather strange, but in a good way. They said it kindly, like when you have 'special needs.' And they certainly didn't compare her to Ariel out loud. The citizens who knew the family said it was a good thing that this little girl had lots of interests. Ariel wanted to meet her. She sounded different. That was one way, at least, that they seemed similar.
When the sky grew inky black and the first stars began to appear, Ariel felt she couldn't wait any longer. She went quietly out the front door, got into her car and sped away to the cemetery.
When she got there, just like last time, she sat on the cold stone seat to wait. But this time, she didn't fall asleep. Or have to wait too long. And this time, she knew that she would find out if the imaginative stories were really true or not. She didn't think so, but maybe–
Suddenly, an old man transparent, and tinged white stepped out from between the trees. He appeared to be bent over slightly; the hat perched on his head tilted forwards. Strands of grey hair escaped from underneath the hat brim. He looked like a kindly man, but Ariel wasn't so sure. Maybe ghosts expressed their emotions differently. His eyes flickered around the scenery before landing on Ariel. He smiled, and drifted over the dry ground towards her.
"Hello there. You came last night, didn't you? We all saw you there on the bench asleep."
Ariel was rather surprised. For a few seconds, she didn't know what to say.
"My name's Ariel. Ariel Moro. But wait, what do you mean, 'we'? I had a dream last night about being in here, but I wasn't even sure if that even meant anything or not! And by the way, who are you?"
The old man nodded at her. "Hello Ariel Moro. My name is Chester Landgraab. Nancy Landgraab, the founder of our town, and as you know her today, is my niece."
Of course, Ariel thought, everyone knew Nancy. She lived with her family up in a big house by the hill. Being the great-grand-daughter of the founder of the town, she was extremely rich. However now, Ariel was beginning to think that the ghosts had got the wrong person. What would she have to do with any of this? Out of her and everyone else in the world!
Especially as the townspeople didn't think much of her at all.
'The dream didn't mean anything at all. Just another excuse for craziness.' she thought unhappily.
Chester's voice interrupted Ariel's thoughts. "I can assure you, Ariel, that this may seem out of the ordinary. The citizens of this town are scared of anything that isn't what they like to call 'normal'. We have been waiting for someone like you to come, someone who can easily accept the existence of the paranormal. That is why, as we need you to help all of us."
As he spoke, the same ghosts from last night's dream edged from around the trees and formed a line in front of the two of them.
The old man walked slowly in front of the line of ghosts, indicating them with a wave of his hand. "This is Queenie Landgraab. She and I are cousins." The curvy woman who glowed orange like fire twinkled at Ariel and raised her hand in welcome. Ariel thought the resemblance between her and Nancy was very alike. "Big Steve Underwood, usually known as Steve." The younger man that was tinged purple nodded his head at her. "Annabelle Oinkslopes..." The lightning that was flashing quickly up and down the woman's body reminded Ariel of Christmas lights. "And of course, Jennie Clavell." The young woman who had drowned only a few months ago smiled, and swept her blonde hair behind her shoulders.
While Chester had been introducing each of the ghosts, Ariel had wondered why they were all tinged a different colour. All the other spirits she had seen on TV had been one colour; transparent. She had a sudden thought.
'Jennie Clavell drowned, so that's why she's blue, like water.' she realized. "And it looks like Queenie got caught in the middle of a fire...' The image made her shudder. "The lightning flashes on Annabelle's body are most likely electricity, so Annabelle was electrocuted, but I don't know about Steve or Chester.'
The latter, having finished the introductions, drifted over towards Ariel.
"Can I ask you something?" Ariel wondered. "You don't have to answer if you think I'm being rude." She didn't know about ghost etiquette, if there was such a thing.
Chester laughed. "Of course you can."
"How did you and Steve die? And why is your colour more... erm, normal? I've figured out how the rest of you died, but I'd just thought I would ask–"
"I died by starvation." Steve said with a shudder at the memory. "They locked me away in a dark room with no food at all. Can you imagine? Even though I tried to kick the door down. The next minute, I found that I was was chained to the wall! What kind of horrible person would put another human through this procedure? I ask you!"
"Right." Ariel said carefully. She had suddenly realized that the colour of Steve was sort of like the inside of the human body. "And what about you, Chester?"
"I just died of old age like anyone else." Chester said. "As you say, I'm 'normal' in my colour, as only the ghosts who have died of natural causes have an appearance such as mine. Some of the imaginations that mortals have, seems to me, shocking! Look at the type of ghosts they show on the television! Nearly all the same, and not with nearly as much personality as I." He twirled his hat proudly and replaced it back on his head.
Ariel had to suppress a giggle. To her, Chester seemed rather old-fashioned and endearing, but at the same time, terribly vain. Queenie's eyebrows were raised, and Steve looked as if he was enjoying a silent chuckle to himself.
"Anyway," Jennie continued, "when the dawn breaks, we can't stay in the sunlight for too long, otherwise we would evaporate into the air and disappear. That's why we always return to our graves, and wait until night falls, so we can come back here. Speak of the devil–" she gestured to the sky, where the bright light of the sun was filtering across the clouds. Ariel realized that she had been enjoying herself so much, she had forgotten the time.
Turning around to where the ghosts stood, she bid them farewell.
"I have to go now." she said. " But I'll come back here tonight." Looking around, she could see that the pond had turned pearl-coloured in the light of the morning. The silvery light of the dawn made the graveyard look almost magical.
"We'll all see you then." Annabelle replied. "Bye for now, Ariel."
As the first rays of sunshine broke through the clouds, the ghosts seemed to waver, hanging in the air. Then they seemed to explode silently into coloured mist, and swirled back into their graves. Their gravestones vibrated slightly, then all was still.