Disclaimer - Edgar & Ellen belongs to Charles Ogden.
"We're here, guys!."
Miles Knightleigh announced to his friends, twin brother and sister, Edgar and Ellen, who were recently named heroes of Nod's Limbs for rescuing the towns' founder and their current guardian, Augustus Nod. After the ex-mayoral family had been diagraced and banished from Nod's Limbs, the twins and Miles arranged to reunite in Smelterburg once in a while and explore Smelterburg's haunted places (without Nod nor the Knightleighs knowing). Today they were visiting Smelterburg's cemetery.
"So this is Smelterburg's bone-yard." said Edgar once he and his sister finally catched up with the young boy. He took a good look at the cementery. It was ten times more creepy than Nod's Limbs'.
"Yes. Here is where the Ghost Bride is buried." said Miles.
"Ghost Bride?." asked the twins at the same time.
"It all started 80 years ago, back in the middle ages. A beautiful young women who was very very much in love with her fiancé, was counting the days until they were to be married. Her fondest dream was that they would always love each other and live happily ever after. Finally the day arrived to when she was to be married. She looked radiant as she stood at the alter in her white wedding dress. But, as the hours went by, the bride realized what everybody had suspected. Her husband to be had skipped out and left her at the alter. Later, the bride found out why the groom had never showed up. That stinker had fallen in love with her sister! The next day they were married. That night the ghost bride went to her closet and put on her wedding dress. She went to the basement and found a big, sharp ax. She walked the 13 blocks to her sister's house. Her sister and her husband were asleep in their bed. They never saw the terrible event coming! When the police came, they found her sitting in the rocking chair next to the bodies, rocking herself and smiling, as she hummed the wedding march. Then in horror they could only watch as she jumped from her chair and leaped out the window, resulting in her, demise. They buried her in her wedding dress, right here in this very cemetery. And every year, on the anniversary of her gruesome deeds, she rises from the grave and wanders around the headstones, humming the wedding march and looking for more victims. The end."
"Good grief!."
"The best part is that the anniversary of the horrible murders is...tonight!."
"I wonder if she'll actually appear." Ellen said.
"The only way to know for sure is to be here when it gets dark. Let's all meet here at sun down and see if the old ghost bride appears." said Edgar.
"I don't know." the younger boy hesitated.
"Relax Miles, we won't be here at night." Ellen hesitated.
"Oh ok." said Miles, somewhat relieved but still unsure of the whole thing.
Pet, who was sitting on Ellen's head, shook his eye ball fiercely.
"You don't have to come if you don't want, Pet" said Ellen as the group walked away, "but don't you dare to tell Nod about this."
Unknown to them, two cloaked figures had been watching the whole thing from their respective hiding places. Smiling as broadly as Heimertzes, they disappeared in the shadows.
At sunset...
Miles stood at the cementery's entrance, waiting patiently for the twins. He was very afriad of looking for the Ghost Bride and started regreting telling the twins that urban tale, but at least he wasn't going to be alone. His parents didn't know what he was about to do, but Miles knew they didn't really care about what he did. He started playing with a branch when the twins arrived. Edgar, as always, carried his satchel with him, although this time Pet wasn't with them.
"Sorry we're late." Ellen apologized.
"We had to wait until Nod was asleep." explained Edgar.
"And lock Pet up." His sister finished.
"Why?." asked Miles as the trio entered the cementery.
"He tried to rat us out to Nod." Edgar said
The children eventually found the Ghost Bride's tomb. Edgar read the headstone's inscription.
"Here lies Cynthia Snell. She lived her life and went straight to...I can't read the rest."
An owl rised up from the grave it was standing in and flew away.
"Well the sun is down." announced Ellen, watching the sun hide beneath the mountains.
"That's right. It's offically dark and there's no Ghost Bride." said Miles.
"I think we've proven there's not Ghost Bride and can go home now. What do you say guys?."
The two boys agreed and the trio prepared to leave. Once they reached the gate they were surprised to find it locked.
"It's locked!," said Miles while rattling the gates. "It's the ghost bride! She did it!. She's already chosen us as her next victims!."
"Miles, take it easy," said Ellen. "A guard must have locked it. Why don't we just cross the cemetery to the north gate and see if that's open?."
The children then walked to the north gate, when they heard a soft, feminine voice humming the wedding march.
"What's that?." Miles asked.
"It sounds like the wedding march." Edgar said.
The humming got louder, the twins and Miles turned to see a bride rising up behind them.
"It's her! It's the Ghost Bride!." cried Miles.
The trio screamed and ran away.
Although the figure was neither a ghost nor a bride, but an albino young girl named Ursula. She wore her mother's wedding dress and instead of an axe she held a broke crocket mass.
"Take that, little ghouls."
Miles and the twins ran to the north gate, only for it to cross and lock just as they were about to cross it.
"It's the Ghost Bride! She did it so she can stalk us and hack us to pieces!." cried Miles.
"Calm down, Miles. There has to be an explanation." said Edgar.
The gate started to shake. The group once again screamed and ran in the opposite direction. Unknown for them, it was Ursula who locked the gate with roped and was shaking it, laughing evilly as she did so.
"She's out there. She's waiting for us. So she can chop us into little pieces." said Miles when they were forced to stop due to exhaustation.
"Don't worry, all we have to do it figure out a plan to get out of here." Edgar reassured him.
They heard humming again. Miles gasped while Edgar glared at his sister.
"Cut it out, Ellen."
"Sorry. It's just such a catchy tune."
Edgar heard humming again. He shot Ellen a warning look.
"Cut. it. out. Ellen."
"It wasn't me."
The twins and Miles turned to see the "Ghost Bride" rising up behind them, humming. Again, the children ran away screaming.
"Ha ha ha," Ursula laughed. "What a bunch of suckers. What a bunch of dops. Ghost Bride. Only an idiot would think there was really such a thing as a Ghost Bride."
Her celebration was cut short when she heard a femenine, eerie voice humming. She turned to see the Ghost Bride. She screamed and ran away.
"Wait!, Wait!." she pleaded while trying to catch up with the twins and Miles, who just screamed and ran faster.
"Wait you morons!. It's me, Ursula. I'm not the Ghost Bride. I just put on this dress and make up to fool you!." she confessed, running a hand through her face to show them the make up.
"Huh?." said the trio.
Who are you?," Miles asked the strange girl. Ellen answered for her.
"She's Edgar's ex-girlfriend."
Edgar elbowed her in the ribs.
"What a dirty trick." The youngest child glared at Ursula.
"I'm going to kill you." Ellen informed her.
"But I just saw the real ghost bride and she's right behind me!."
"I say we lock her up in a crypt."
The twins took a step towards Ursula when they saw the Ghost Bride rising above them. They screamed and ran towards a crypt.
"In there!." cried Edgar.
Ellen closed the door and put a shovel through it's handles.
"Do you think she saw us?." Miles wondered.
"No. We're safe for now." said Ellen.
"Look, there she goes." said Edgar. He, Ellen and Miles watched as the ghost walked back and forth at the crypt's entrance, humming.
"She's not leaving. She knows we're in here." Ursula stated the obvious.
"Maybe not. We just have to wait til she goes away. Then we can get out." Edgar commanded.
They waited for about half an hour. Edgar and Ellen huddled together while Ursula, who was trying to stay as away from them as possible, was sitting alone in a corner. Miles, feeling a little more brave, repeatedly got up from his spot next to Ellen and looked out the crypt's front window.
"I can't see her. Maybe she left."
Ellen got up from her spot and looked out one of the crypt's two back windows. She saw the Ghost Bride walking back and forth just a few inches from her face.
"She's still out there," she turned to the other kids, "Maybe someone should find a way to get out. Who's with me?."
No one answered.
"Ok then. I'll go by myself."
"Wait don't be crazy, Ellen. She'll hack you up like she did her sister and former intended." said Miles.
"But we have to do something. We can't just stay in here forever."
"Sure we can. These guys did." he said, pointing at the haggard coffins, which contained the crypt's two "residents".
"But they're dead."
"What's your point?."
Ellen sighed.
"I'm going out there to try to find a way out of the cemetery. When I find it, I'll come back for you."
"I'm going with you." said her brother as he walked over to her.
"You don't have to."
"I know, but truthfully being in here with all these dead people is starting to freak me out."
Ellen smirked. She undid the lock and the twins walked outside. Edgar soon spotted the Ghost Bride and hide in a bush, dragging his sister along.
"It's the Ghost Bride." Edgar gasped.
Ellen took a good look at the ghost's feet.
"I'm not so sure." she said, getting up and following Ghost Bride, who started pounding at the crpty's door.
Miles and Ursula backed up. Ellen walked up to Ghost Bride.
"Sister! What are you doing?." asked Edgar while trying to grab her.
Miles and Ursula screamed and hugged each other. The Ghost Bride was about to hit them with her axe, until Ellen took her veil. Like Ursula, this Ghost Bride was neither a ghost nor a bride but a young woman, although her hair wasn't white, but light red and curled.
"Stephanie?." said everyone but Ellen.
"Yes. I wanted to get back at you for stealing my family's fortune and my chance to be Mayor!."
She attempted to hit Ellen with her "axe" (which was actually a heavy axe-shaped branch), but the black haired girl caught it. She grabbed Stephanie's arm and twisted it.
"It is NOD's fortune, Princess." said Ellen. She turned to her friends, "I say we lock her up and leave her here."
Edgar and surprisingly Miles nodded. Ursula laughed at Stephanie, until Edgar grabbed her arm and neck.
"I wouldn't laugh if I was you." he told her as Ellen, who was now holding Stephanie by her hair, pulled some ropes out of Edgar's satchel and tied the two girls up.
Outside the cementery...
"How did you know it was the purple princess?." Edgar asked his sister.
"When I saw the Ghost Bride I recognized her lilac socks and purple shoes."
"Do you think we should go back and let them out?." Miles asked.
"Don't worry. It should only take them about half an hour to realize the door only locks from the inside." said Ellen.
"Do you think Nod noticed we're not home yet?." Edgar asked.
"I think so."
They were almost at the bus station. Edgar searched through his satchel, looking for their money when he heard his sister let out an horrified gasp. He turned to her and saw that both she and Miles' expressions had changed to ones of absolute horror, as if the actual Ghost Bride was standing in front of them right now. Edgar looked forward: running towards them with a murderous look in his face was Nod, on his heels was Madame Dahlia (who had to help him get there since he still didn't know how to travel in a bus), and on his shoulder sat Pet.
"YOU WENT LOOKING FOR A MURDEROUS GHOST?." He yelled once they reached the twins. He and Dahlia stood in front of them, arms crossed, passing the look from one twin's face to another.
"Relax, Old man. The Ghost Bride isn't even real!." said Edgar.
"I don't care!, I was worried sick about you!. Oh you are in so much trouble!."
He grabbed the twins, Edgar by the collar, Ellen by the arm, and dragged them towards the bus station.
"You better go home now, young man." Madame Dahlia told Miles before running after Nod. The small child nodded fiercely before heading for his own house, silently thanking that he wasn't the twins.
"Move children!. Our next boss is coming soon!."
Neither the twins nor Dahlia dared to correct him. The kids wondered what would be worse, if facing the Ghost Bride, or their foster father's wrath.
"You'll pay for this, Pet." Ellen murmured.
"What was that, Ellen?." asked Nod.
"Nothing."
Back in the crypt, Ursula and Stephanie struggled to get free when they heard someone humming the wedding march. They looked up to see a bright, white light through the crypt's front door.
"Miles?," called Stephanie. "It that you? Come on. This isn't a joke, let me out. Come on Miles. MILES!."
But who they saw wasn't Miles, nor the twins. In fact, she wasn't even alive anymore. Both girls screamed.