Chapter 4:
Camille walked up the stairs of Jackie's house and out of habit, tried to push the doorbell. Much to her surprise, she was able to ring the bell like a normal person. A couple of minutes later, Jackie's mother opened the door- She seemed to stare straight at CC- and started to scream. "Camile?"
Camille panicked and ran away as fast as she could. She tripped and fell into a puddle of water while heading towards the park. As the water settled, Camille was able to see her reflection.
"So That`s why Jackie`s mom could see me. I'm not invisible anymore." She looked up and saw a 5-year old boy gaping at her.
"Hey you're that girl from TV!" he said loudly. "How`d you do that!" Camille noticed the boy's father rushing over.
Thinking quickly, she said. "Oh no, that's not me. I'm her twin sister."
The little boy pouted. "But you said 'I'm not invisible anymore.' What's that about?" The boy's father came, picked him up, and hurriedly walked away seemingly recoiled. What was that about? Camille picked herself up and immediately noticed why they were so freaked out. She was covered in dried blood. She scurried behind a tree so no one else could see her and lifted up her shirt to look for wounds.
"That`s strange, I got hit by a truck and have dried blood all over, but there`s no cuts or bruises." A few more kids gasped and pointed at her. That's one reason why I hate little kids. Camille took off running towards her house. When she got there, she realized with a panic that she wouldn't be able to get in.
"Urrg; my keys are in my backpack!" She said, slapping her head. "Fine. I'll just do this the old fashioned way." Camille jogged to the backyard, where there was a giant willow tree resting near her house. Camille looked up the tree and tried not to remember all the times she had fallen from it, breaking various bones from time to time. She pulled herself up to the first branch. "This will take a while" she sighed. After ten minutes, Camille had triumphantly puffed to the branch across from her room. Wow, my arms haven't felt this sore in a while.
Slowly inching her way across the branch, Camille finally made it to her window which was, thankfully, unlocked. She rolled onto her bedroom floor and rested there for a while. "I just don't understand how or why all this is happening to me."
Camille sneaked to her bathroom, washed off the mud and dried blood, and changed her clothes. She chose her favorite outfit, which consisted of black skinny jeans and a shirt with the logo of her favorite band, New Divide. Camille smiled at herself in the mirror and for a moment forgot about her situation. Though, she was abruptly reminded when her mother opened the door of her room, and stared at her. "I knew that it wasn't you!" she sobbed, running to her. "I just knew you couldn't have been the one hit by that truck!" She hugged Camille tight, soaking her shoulders in a sea of steamy tears. Camille was speechless. She forgot about how her mother must have been dealing with the news. She winced as her mother squeezed her tightly, sobbing all the while. Camille started to wonder how she should explain what happened and how she was there when everyone thought she was hit by a truck. "I knew you`d came back!" "There was no way that could have been you!" Camille's head was still spinning from all the emotion.
What do I do? What do I do? She thought with mounting panic. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. "Stay here baby. I'll go get the door." Her mother crooned while smoothing her hair. Camille watched her mother stagger down the stairs.
"This might be my only chance to escape, though I don't want to do this to my mom..." Camille's trail of thought was interrupted by a familiar voice; A very familiar, annoying voice. "So, Mrs. Cree, we have reason to believe that your daughter is an apparition that's been brought back from the Other Side."
Of course Jack and his freaky crew would come to my house. Seriously, is this all they do with their free time? Camille peeked down the staircase hoping to be able to see her mother roll her eyes and shut the door in their nosey faces. Instead, she smiled and asked them to come in. The three teenagers practically tripped over each other to get inside. "I know you, she said to Jack, you`re Richard`s child. I actually saw her just now." The faces of the paranormal club lit up immensely. What is she doing? I thought she didn`t believe I was hit by that truck! Why would she listen to those kids about something so unbelievable! She dashed back towards her room, locked the door, and hurriedly put her wallet, her bloody clothes and some extra clothes in a bag that was lying on the floor. She looked at her cell phone on her desk with its tiny blinking green light, indicating a new message. I probably shouldn't bring that, someone might track me down. She threw the bag out the window and went back to the bedroom door and opened it a crack. "So Ariel, what exactly are you guys planning to do when you meet her?" Camille's mother asked as they walked up the stairs. "Meet?" That doesn`t sound too good; in fact, that sounds like the worst thing imaginable! Who knows what crazy things they want to do to me? "Well Mrs. Cree, all we're going to do is set up an apparatus to trap her," Trap? "We`ll gather some information about the Other Side," The hell? "And then push her back. It's relatively harmless, so don't worry." Ariel responded with a smile.
Absolutely not! I'm getting out of here! Camille thought while rushing to the window. Unfortunately, the bedroom door started to squeak open.. I`m too late! Camille flew under the bed. "Was this her room, Mrs. Cree?" Jack asked with an unreadable tone in his voice. "Why yes" she said cheerfully. "Strange, she was here when I came downstairs."
"Hm, she must have sensed us coming upstairs. Ariel and Wally, we're going to set up here." Both of them immediately went to work moving a massive black steel-tipped briefcase into the room and unhooking the latches. "Wait, you're starting now? What about your parents? Won't they be worried about you staying at a stranger's house?"
"Don't worry Mrs. Cree; our parents know that all clients are friends in distress." Wally said reassuringly. Obviously, Meline Cree hadn't thought the situation through when she let these obsessive teens into her house. She wasn't so much worried about what the parents of these children thought, but the fact that they seemed to be trying to stay in her house, overnight, doing creepy stuff while she slept. "This is too much for a woman like me" she murmured under her breath. Nevertheless, however strange these kids were, they claimed that they could fully explain what happened to Camille.
She was determined to see this through, but in spite of that she wondered, what exactly was the cost of her desperation? I bet these kids are going to expect me to feed them as well. She thought ruefully. "So, ah, do you need me to do anything?" Meline Cree asked in what she hoped was a friendly tone.
"Just go and relax, we can take care of everything from here, okay?" Jack, Wally and Ariel smiled at her kindly, but all that kindness did was unsettle her.
"Well, just in case I'll be downstairs, okay?" Meline shuffled out of her daughter's room wondering what she had done. Meline's suspicions was at her peak. Instead of going down the stairs, she went to her bedroom. "This way, I`m able to,at least, hear what they`re doing ." She thought slyly.