Kingdom Come

Chapter 3: The Ghost


Two weeks went by as slowly as trekking through mud, and it didn't seem like a silver lining was on the horizon. The only good thing was that it was finally Friday, so Sophie could stay up as long as she wanted to without having to worry about waking up early the next morning. So she did what a lot high school students did at eleven o' clock at night. She was hunched over her computer looking up YouTube videos. After every click on a new video, she would also tell herself that it would be the last one. It never was.

Clicking away at another video, she watched the iconic buffering circle in the center of the screen feeling impatience gnawing on her last nerves. Then out of nowhere, all the light cut out in her room and an error message flashed across her computer screen. Of all the nights they had to randomly lose power, it just had to be tonight. Letting out a frustrated huff, Sophie reached out and flopped her arm around uselessly in the darkness to search for her cell phone. She must have put it somewhere nearby, but she couldn't tell in the pitch darkness of her room.

"What the heck? Where did you go stupid thing?" She mumbled tiredly.

Something creaked behind her chair, and just the sound alone made her blood run cold. Instead of running like a sane person, the blonde froze up and held as still as humanly possible. Sophie held her breath as light thudding noises could be heard on the floorboards behind her.

She jerked her arm awkwardly across the table back towards her chest, accidently knocking something off the desk in front of her. The blonde yelped as the weighted object hit her leg and slid off to the side of her chair seat. Her hands darted forward to feel what it was, and she scowled angrily as the realization came quick to her. Stupid freaking phone...

Pressing the home button, she stood up from her chair and shuffled towards the wall to place her back against it as she located the flashlight app on her phone. The room quickly illuminated with bright florescent light, and she shined it jerkily back and forth to locate the source of the noise that had spooked her. Emerald eyes focused on everything that seemed out of place, but there was nothing that could have made the noise. Still she refused to drop her phone as she slid down her wall and eyed the small room with distrust. The only occupants of the house were Sophie and her mother. There was no explanation for the random noises, and not knowing what it was frightened her.

"Is this whole town of Burgess haunted? I can't even go outside without feeling like I'm being stalked or something." Sophie talked to herself as she tried to figure things out. "I know someone's here, but… maybe I really am just going insane."

"That makes two of us."

There was a brief pause as Sophie registered the definite male sounding voice coming from her room before she screamed louder than before, effectively waking her mother up from the room down the hall.

"Sophie!? Sophie what's wrong!?"

"Mom, there's someone in here! Call the cops or something! There's someone in my room!" Sophie screeched in terror as her mother burst through the door and looked around the small room with help from the light still coming from the phone.

"Why are you on the floor? And why is it so dark in here?" Her mother asked as she felt her way along the wall with her hand and located the light switch. Most of her initial fear left her though at the sight of her daughter's surprisingly empty room. After hearing Sophie's extreme reaction, she was positive that someone must have been in the room. However, it was obvious that no one else inhabited the small bedroom besides the two of them.

Ignoring the half suspicious and half annoyed stare her mother was tossing her way, Sophie stood up and chuckled awkwardly. "It um... must have been my imagination? Sorry."

"Just go to bed, I'll see you in the morning."

The door clicked shut, and Sophie face palmed before frowning at the light switch. Now that she knew for certain that there was a ghost in her room, there was no way in hell she would be getting any sleep tonight.


"You look terrible." Cupcake remarked bluntly as she observed Sophie's haggard appearance Monday morning during their first class together. They had arrived early and still had a few minutes to chat before class started.

"My place is haunted, and every time I try to sleep the ghost will do something." The blonde explained in monotone. At this point she didn't even care if she sounded like a crazy person. That and she wasn't too concerned about weirding out Cupcake who seemed very interested in her raccoon like rings around her eyes. This ghost was going to be the end of her before she knew it.

"There's a ghost haunting you?" Cupcake raised an eyebrow and shook her head before continuing. "I find things like that hard to believe, but I guess I'll have to this time. You really look like crap."

"Thanks." Sophie deadpanned sarcastically.

"No problem, but seriously if you need a place to stay to catch up on some shut eye, you can always take a nap at my place after school." The beastly girl suggested as she gave Sophie another look over. "I mean you look like a corpse."

"Once again, thanks."

"You're welcome."


Sophie ended up taking Cupcake up on that offer, and accidently slept the afternoon away on her new friend's couch. She woke up hazily trying to remember where she was when it came to her. Glancing up at Cupcake's girly pink clock on the wall, Sophie panicked and began to hurry out of the house as fast as she could. She had slept nearly seven hours, and it was nearing midnight. "Shoot, I've got to get home!"

After thanking Cupcake and her mom on the way out the door, Sophie shivered in the early autumn chilly weather as she hurriedly walked back to her place. Her sleep-ridden mind was not helping her out in the slightest. She nearly jumped out of her skin a couple times as townsfolk still up at that time would make loud, startling noises that carried down the empty, dark streets.

"I'm so cold, and too freaked out for this right now," Sophie muttered under her breath as she approached her still ominous looking home. "I really hate this place. I want to go back to Michigan so bad."

Stumbling inside her house, Sophie rushed up to her room and picked out an old t-shirt and soft pajama pants. Taking her clothes to the bathroom, she changed before going back into her room that never truly felt empty anymore. It was filled with a certain energy that left her feeling jumpy and nervous all the time.

"I swear next time I manage to get ahold of my dad, I'm leaving this place." Sophie grumbled in agitation as she yanked the covers over her lower half and leaned back against her pillow and headboard.

She tilted her head to the side and cringed in pain as her eyes dilated sharply when something reflected brightly back at her from across the room. "What the?"

Leaning off the side of her bed and glancing towards the window she noticed something on the edge of the windowsill and floor beneath it. It was a clear substance that used the moon's light to shine back at her sensitive eyes. Whatever it was looked strangely artistic and purposeful. As Sophie tried to figure out the pattern like shapes she kept finding along the floor the clouds helpfully drifted away from the moon above. More and more of the darkened floor was revealed until Sophie realized with a sudden dreaded thought, what they were. Footprints.

They started out by the floor underneath the window then circled around the room before stopping next to her bedside. The clouds finally disappeared, and the moon shined fully through her window into her room. It was easy to see then that the trail ended there, and Sophie shivered as she stared pointedly by the footprints next to her bed. Now that she thought about it the slight breeze she had felt when she had moved before felt like someone breathing across the top of her head.

Panicking, Sophie lurched back and gazed with wide eyes at the space in front of her, desperate to find something physical that she could place her fear in only to see nothing. "Oh God... Listen, I don't know if I accidentally upset you or something Mr. Ghost, and I'm really sorry if I did... but can you please just leave me alone? I haven't been able to sleep in days, and I'm so tired."

Silence rang back at her for several moments before anything happened. Then floorboards creaked eerily before a thud sounded from the side where the window had somehow swung open. A sharp breeze cut through her room and in an instant Sophie felt truly alone at last. It had actually listened to her, and was gone.

A harsh stabbing of guilt surprised her but she refused to dwell on it as she got out of bed and went over to the window. Closing it gently, she then turned to kneel beside one of the footprints. Her fingertips brushed the length of one and she choked on a startled yelp at the unexpected cold that nipped at her skin. It was ice.

Glancing once more out the window, Sophie wondered why a simple ghost would have ice powers.


A/N: I can't stop thinking of Danny Phantom with that last sentence. That cartoon was so freaking awesome, I could never stop watching it when I was younger :) I have chapter 4 written already and all I have left to do is finish editing it, so I'll have it uploaded in a couple days.