Ch.4: Stories
"Please tell me they didn't…" Jazz started, not being able to finish the sentence as she stared into the ravine. Tears had reappeared in her eyes, quickly flooding down her face again. Disbelief and shock reflected off the orbs.
Danny, Sam, and Tucker cringed at the sight.
Melinda wrapped one of her arms around Jazz's shoulder, letting the younger girl cry quietly as they absorbed the knowledge they had just received abruptly. Melinda looked up at the ghosts, sadness shining in her arms as she rubbed Jazz's arm with her hand. "What happened?"
"It was near the end of our trip," Danny started, shrugging. "and we were joking around again. We decided to play hide-and-seek for the first time in how many years because why not?."
"We played bubblegum-bubblegum first to figure out who'd be 'it'." Sam continued, putting the quote bunnies around the last word.
Tucker pointed at his male friend. "Much to his misfortunate, Danny got to be it. So he went off and he counted while Sam and I ran off to find a hiding spot."
"One… Two… Three… Four…"
Sam and Tucker laughed quietly to themselves as they quietly ran through some brush, entering the dense forest and sprinting away from the site. They hopped over logs, pushed past shrubs, and ducked under low hanging branches as they did. Danny's voice grew quieter the farther they went on.
Soon, they were laughing hysterically, hoping Danny wouldn't hear them, even if they were a ways from the camp. They could barely hear him scream at the top of his lungs that he was coming for them.
"Come on, Slowpoke!" Sam called, keeping her voice just above a whisper as she hopped over another log. She looked behind her. Tucker was a couple of feet back but he was, at least, keeping his pace.
Tucker stuck his tongue out at Sam. "You're part of the track team! Cut me some slack!"
Sam cackled, sprinting forward again when Tucker had finally caught up to her. The two rushed through a couple of bushes, planning to jump up onto an incline when-
"AAAAHHHHHH!"
Melinda swallowed hard, trying to imagine how terrifying falling from a great height would be. A person would have all the time in the world to anticipate the impact, preparing themselves for the inevitable pain that was sure to come.
"I scraped up my legs against one of the rocks while falling and Tucker hit his head on a rock." Sam said, pointing to her bloody legs while Tucker rubbed his head red-stained head. "We fell about thirty-five feet with me first. I survived the fall, miraculously."
"Then I landed on her." Tucker stated, frowning apologetically at the girl while she shrugged up at him. "I crushed her and rolled off, already dead from the blow to my head or something like that. Our bodies are, literally, right below our feet."
Melinda swallowed again, eyes shifting to Jazz for a second before she looked up to where Danny was sitting quietly, watching the scene.
"What happened to you?"
Danny frowned at her. "Since I was it, I had to find them. I had heard them running off into the woods but I wasn't sure where they had gone exactly… I also hadn't heard them scream because of where I was…"
Danny jogged through the forest, looking every which way for his two friends. They should've been easy to find since Tucker was wearing yellow amidst green and Sam had purple on. At the same time he was a little worried he wouldn't find them because of how big the woods were. The two wouldn't go off too far, that was a given, but how far would they go before they stopped?
"Sam~! Tucker~!" Danny sung, a grin overcoming his face as he climbed a tree, looking for his two friends. "Come out, come out wherever you are~!"
The teen hummed when he saw no movement and heard no noises indicating to his friends' whereabouts. He jumped down, strolling further into the woods, calling his friends' names and shouting silly words and phrases, trying to make them laugh or move so he could find them easier. Nothing happened still and Danny frowned in worry. He spent a few more minutes trying his routine but, still, nothing happened.
Danny cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled "Sam! Tucker! I give up! You can come out now! Come on; let's go back to the campsite!"
Nothing in the forest stirred except for a couple of birds. To ease his anxious feeling, Danny surmised they just couldn't hear him and went on, calling to them to reveal themselves. He walked through the brush, his calls getting louder and louder every minute no one answered.
"SAM! TUCKER!" Danny yelled again, head flying in every direction so he might see his friends. "GUYS!?"
The teen took another step forward and yelped when his foot slipped. He grabbed a tree to stop himself from falling and took a step back. He moved the brush out of the way, revealing the abyss behind it.
Blue eyes widened instantaneously at the scene. He swallowed heavily and mumbled "Oh my gosh…"
Looking around and on the verge of panic, Danny screamed his friends' names again and again, praying they would answer him at any minute.
"GU- AHHHH!"
The ground underneath Danny gave way and the teen fell, side getting cut open by the jagged rocks where the dirt had been. He plummeted into the dark abyss, screaming before
CR-R-RACK!
Melinda thought she was going to get sick at any minute and tightened her hold on Jazz.
Danny absently rubbed his side, turning his head to the right. He pointed in the direction he was looking. "My body is farther down that way. Not quite sure how far… I estimated about forty feet, maybe?"
The older woman took a minute to process what she heard before she asked "What do I need to do now?"
The ghosts looked at each other with their pursed lips.
"We don't really know where to go from here. We just need to find a way to get our bodies 'discovered' now… We did not think this through too well, did we?" Danny asked his friends, getting shrugs of agreement.
Melinda straightened when Jazz pulled away. "W-What'd they tell y-you?"
The brunette forced a sad smile on her face. "That, even though they fell, they didn't feel any pain. They died instantly. There was no suffering."
"Actually, we felt pain for about five seconds but you probably don't want her knowing that…" Tucker trailed while Sam and Danny face-palmed, groaning at his stupidity.
Melinda suppressed an eye-roll. "Now we just have to figure out how to get the authorities to find this place. Do you have any ideas?"
Jazz racked her brain for a few minutes before nodding. She sniffed, wiping her cheeks with her jacket sleeve and looking towards the ground.
Melinda gestured for Jazz to follow her and the two slowly walked back to the campsite, leaving it behind without ever looking back as the ghosts watched.
The three looked at each other before disappearing again.
The two walked down the long hiking path, coming back to the place Melinda had parked her car. They got in the vehicle silently. The slam of the doors broke the quiet but it was an unnoticed sound to the two that had gotten into the car.
Melinda backed out of the spot, turning around and slowly driving down the path again. Jazz looked out the window absently, watching trees and bushes pass by them. The silence was thick with mourning and sadness. It left the two girls feeling awkward and unsure.
"So what's the plan you thought of?" Melinda asked, looking at the red-head in the passenger seat.
Jazz shifted. "I don't know if it's good or not but I was thinking about telling my parents I went back to the campsite and accidently found the ravine."
"I think it'll work." Melinda assured, pulling onto the paved road and accelerating the car more to get up to the legal speed. Jazz nodded, still looking out the window vacantly.
Melinda dropped Jazz off at her house, giving the red-head her card as she got out. The woman told Jazz to call her once she told her parents. Jazz agreed to do so, walking towards her house. Jazz, occasionally, looked back. Melinda waited until the girl was inside before pulling away from the curb, driving down the road silently.
For the rest of the day, Melinda waited patiently for her phone to ring, aware of how hard it might be for Jazz to tell her parents such a thing.
Around six in the afternoon, the phone rang at Melinda's shop. She picked it up, saying a practiced and easy "Hello. Melinda Gordon speaking."
"I told them. … They've already called officials."
I told you guys. This was going to be an extremely short story. Ba-boom. One more chap to go.
Thanks to these people for favoriting and/or following: Chicaalterego, Bahey, Soft-falling-Raindrops, Dani of the Electroclan, Female Dragon, Hollyflash, HalfaWitchPhysicGirl, Seantriana.
Thanks to these people for favoriting and/or following me: Barren the Inventor and Iamgoku.
Reviews:
Chicaalterego: Thanks. Still short but whatever. :)
Dani: Nope. It was a complete and utter accident.
Roselin: You're probably the only one cheering. XD
Expergiscimini: XD Hahaha! Thanks!
IWasNeverReal: Haha, thanks! I try! I love the name Spazzy...
Chicaalterego: Nope, none of that exists. They were just a bunch of normal teenagers. :)
HalfaWitchPhysicGirl: Aww, oh my gosh! Thanks so much! You honestly don't know how much that means to me. :DDD Glad you're enjoying and hope you continue to enjoy!
Dani of the Electroclan: XD You must be really conflicted about this story... I always continue!
