Chapter six: New year starts with a bang!
Friendship, Maine. 31st December, 1884.
It was New Years Eve; everyone were in town to have fun. But somewhere, three people in the start of their 40's planned something. "Do ya have the stuff ready Mathilda?" whispered Stephen. He was dressed black trousers and a sky blue knitted sweater that fitted him quite well. "Yes. It's in my purse" whispered the Nighters, who was dressed in a light green dress that reached the floor. Her hair was in a ponytail that was on the middle of her backhead and she was wearing a black wool jacket over her dress.
"Pst! Suspect at two o'clock!" whispered Alfred. He was clad in a blue-green knitted sweater and dark brown trousers. Chad was about 20 meters away and had probably not seen them. The oldest McFadden had to crouch a bit since his height would make him too visible. "Iz the plan ready?" asked the man before he looked on the twins.
They nodded. "Yup! We get that guy drunk before we intorregate him" muttered the male Nighters with an evil look on his eyes. "I've got the booze. Strongest type of akvavit, made by uncle Jonathan. Will get him drunk in a sec: it has 60 percent alcohol" grinned the female Nighters while she patted her handbag. "It's almost a shame to waste such good stuff. But hey...that guy killed my brothers, nearly killed Alfie and hit on you. He deserves it" stated the raven-haired man. The blond and brunette nodded while they kept their eyes on the man. The American went into a bar with the trio on his heels. They chosed a table in a corner. "How are we going to get the booze into the glass!" whispered the male half-Brit. Suddenly, the Irishman saw a poster on the wall. 'Watch the famous magician Harry Kellar! 11:30 PM-00:00 AM!'. The man smirked. "Hey guys...watch" he whispered while he pointed towards the poster. The twins smiled. "I have a plan!" exclaimed the blue-eyed man.
Ten minutes later, Mathilda had turned Alfred plus the bottle invisible. "If we do dis during the show, he won't suspect a thing since he's too busy to look at de magician!" whispered Stephen.
The magician appeared on stage and the male Nighters went towards their victim. He was too busy to look at 'The Kellar Rope Tie' to notice that his beer had been replaced by akvavit. "Won't he notice de difference in taste?" whispered the McFadden. "I doubt he will. Uncle Jonathan is not very good when it comes to make the taste correct. Most of it tastes like beer anyways" muttered the female Nighters. She looked at the man that now made a birdcage fly. Meanwhile, her baby brother poured the beer out of the glass and into a nearby trashcan. He then filled the glass with akvavit, put it on the table and went back to his sister. It was just in time: the spell had weared off for a few seconds ago.
"OK...now we just have to wait" said the blonde and looked at their victim. The brunette ordered water to all of them; they had to stay sober to make the plan work. "Let's count down for the new year!" yelled the owner of the bar. "5...4...3...2...1...HAPPY NEW YEAR!" shouted the whole bar. "Cheers" muttered the raven-haired man before he drunk his water. After a few minutes, Chad went out. That was their signal. The three friends followed him out. The man lit a cigarette; he felt quite drunk. Which was not that weird since he had just drunk a half pint of akvavit.
"Hey" yelled a voice behind him. The American turned and saw three Europeans that stared at him. "Hey...hiccup! Happy new jear...hiccup!" laughed Chad. "OK Chad, spill! Was it you who killed Blayne McFadden?" asked the male half-Brit. "Yeah, of corse..." replied the man with a dumb smile on his face. At this point, the Irishman could barely stand still: he trembled with anger. "Why did you kill him?" inquired the female. "Becos he tried to steal my girlfriend...hiccup! And bezides...the McFaddens are just crackpot-heads anywayz..." ranted the American.
The raven-haired man looked like he was on the borderline to kill him. "Hey Alfred! Why aren't ya dead? I sent you that cake and everything..." muttered Chad with a stupid smile. The three looked at each other with a huge grin on their faces. "OK, let's get ya to the police" smiled the violet-eyed man before he dragged him out of the small street with his blue-eyed friend. But to his horror, he pulled up a gun. He aimed at Alfred's head. "Since you are not dead yet...I better kill ya now..." stated Chad with an eerie grin. "No! What about Emma!" yelled Mathilda, fear evident in her voice. "We divorced" said the man. He then prepared the gun.
"Hey, I did not do you anything except protecting my sister!" stated the male Nighters. "Heh...that is true. It's kinda sad Steven. That you lost both your brothers..." laughed Chad. "IT'S ALL YAR FAULT SON OF A BITCH!" yelled Stephen. Then, the American had enough. He lifted the gun before he shot last McFadden in his chest. A lot of people had turned; the man was now laying on his back in the snow. "GET HIM!" yelled two men as they chased the murderer.
"STEPHEN!" cried the twins and ran over to him. He was still alive, but he would not be that much longer. "Don't go away Stretchie..." muttered the blonde while he looked into his eyes. "Come on, hang on...!" whimpered the brunette, her eyes pooling with unshed tears, holding his hand. "Why should I?" whispered the violet-eyed man. He let out a cough...some blood stained his sweater. "I don't want to lose my last friend" muttered the blue-eyed woman and kissed him. Stephen was surprised beyond words, but tried to kiss back. He managed to break free. "Good bye..." whispered the man. Everything went black a couple seconds later.
The McFadden suddenly floated above his own dead body. The female half-Brit blinked in surprise. "Anything wrong sis?" asked the male half-Brit, his face as pale as the snow. "He's dead" muttered Mathilda. Her eyes were empty. "Stephen! STEPHEN!" yelled Alfred and slapped his face. He laid an ear over his mouth. After that, he laid two fingers on his neck. "He really IS dead..." whispered the male Nighters.
'What the...' thought the McFadden before looked on his hands. They were white...no. They were transparent. 'I AM A GHOST!' screamed the man in his mind. Somehow, the specter managed to fly right next to the female Nighters. "Stop crying. Ya're makin' me sick" said the spirit before he laid a hand on the womans head. She turned, and was going to scream. He placed a hand over her mouth. "You are...a GHOST!" whispered the brunette. The blonds eyes were huge.
"We caught him!" yelled a man not far away. It was a policeman who had caught Chad. The twins let out a relieved sigh. "EY! You two!" yelled the American and let out a stream of swearwords when he passed. "Famous last words..." whispered the Norwegian and gave the man a lethal glare. Two seconds later, he felt limp. Stretch and Alfred looked at her. "Did ya...killed 'im?" whispered the ghost. "No. But he'll tell the truth once he awakes" grinned the female Nighters, an evil smile taking its place on her face. The male Nighters smiled and nodded in agreement.
"I think the twins moved to New York afterwards. Oh, here it is!" exclaimed Fatso as he pulled up a photograph. It was a photo of the twins who stood in front of the statue of Liberty. The date '10.04.1886' was written on the back. They had not realized that they had talked for hours. It was 02:35 AM. "Let's go to bed...I'm kinda tired" yawned Stinkie and flew down. When they passed Marys room they heard someone talk.
"No...go away...don't bite...don't..." muttered a voice.
The trio looked in, and almost screamed. Her face was pale and her eyes were partly open. Cold sweat trinkled down her skin. "Is she...sleepin'?" muttered the fattest ghost. "First time I've seen someone who sleeps with their eyes open" stated Stretch. On their way out, the smelly ghost accidentally made some books fall.
The girl darted up from her bed. For some reason, she looked at her arm. "Thank God...it was just a nightmare..." whispered the brunette. "Hey...is everything OK?" inquired Casper. The girl squinted and her hand went to the nightstand where her glasses laid. Or were supposed to lay.
The Clark went up from bed. She was in her pajamas, which consisted of a black T-shirt with black trousers. "Casper, can you please help me to look after my glasses?" inquired the girl. The ghost nodded before he saw the trio play with them. Right now, the glasses were placed on Fatso. "Uncle Fatso, give them back to her!" ordered the specter. "Why should I?" retorted the chubby ghost as he imitated the girls accent. "Does FATSO have them! How long have you three been here!" yelled the witch. "Long enough to see that you sleep with ya eyes open four-eye!" laughed Stretch. He took the glasses of his brother and placed them on his own nose.
"Can I PLEASE get the glasses back now!" asked Morgan as she gritted her teeth. "Ehm...no!" answered the specter. "I guess I'll just go back to bed" said the girl and headed towards her bed. Sadly, she tripped in something. The trio laughed again while the smallest ghost helped her back on her feet. "Are you all right?" asked Casper. The Nighters nodded as she curled up in her bed.
The trio flied over and saw a bush of brown hair. Stinkie bent down. "Hey Morgan! Don't ya want your glasses back?" he said. The girl trembled. "Guys, I think we've gone a little too far" muttered Fatso. The senior ghost snorted. "She's just pretendin' guys" he huffed. As a reply, the witch looked up. She did pretend at all: her blue eyes were bloodshot. "Pretending huh! Does THIS look like pretending!" replied Morgan. Her voice was quite low, just like Stretch when he got really ticked off.
The chubby ghost took the stolen glasses and laid them on her nightstand. "You're a crybaby...!" teased Stretch. He should not have done that. The girl turned towards him. "What...did you called me...?" she said in the same tone. "I called ya a c-r-y-b-a-b-y" sung the violet-eyed spirit. The girl gave him a glare that could have murdered him if he was not already dead. She laid down in her bed before she pulled up the duvet.
A frown appeared at the specters face. He had just called her something ugly and all she did was to give him a deathglare before she went back to sleep? "Let's go back to bed" yawned Stinkie as he left the room. So did Fatso. Stretch followed suit.
Next morning, Melle and Azriel was up for breakfast. Morgan was already there and had begun on her sandwich. She weared a pair of somewhat baggy, blue jeans plus a dark red cardigan with a white tank top under. Her hair was in a ponytail. "Good morning" greeted the small boy. The girl looked at him. "Is he your little brother?" asked the Nighters. "No, he's...my son" smiled the Crittenden girl. The brunette raised her eyebrows but gave the infant a 'good morning' as well.
Kat and Doctor Harvey was in town to shop for the weekend. Suddenly, the trio came down from the ceiling. "WHIPPER!" screamed Fatso. The poor witch nearly felt off her chair. "Ey, look who's 'ere. It's da four-eye" stated Stretch. His face was only an foot away from the girls. To his surprise, she smiled. "Good morning Stretch" greeted Morgan before she drunk some of her orange juice. Now, it was the blonde that raised her eyebrows. The smelly ghost had already told her what had happened last night.
Confusion could be seen in the specter's eyes. Even if he had hurted her feelings, she SMILED to him! Something was wrong here. The 'Whipper' had arrived and gave the trio a lot of pancakes. "Oy, foureye...are you only going to eat THAT?" inquired the chubby ghost as he pointed on her plate. It was not much there: only a sandwich with something that looked like tomatoes, salad, cucumber, onion and a bit of chicken. Next to it was two small cookies. "I'm not all that hungry in the mornings" answered the Clark. The brown-eyed ghost saw his chance and snagged one cookie from her. "Ahem...Fatso, if you want food one someone's elses plate, it's normal to ask first" informed the girl and looked at the specter above her glass. "Do we LOOK normal to you, shorty?" asked another of the spirits, violet eyes glinting. He wanted to see how much he had to do before she snapped. He was on the good way: the brunette gave him a nasty glare. "No...but still, I would have appreaciated if your brother asked first" she said with a tense voice.
"Hey...where's Azriel? He was here just a second ago" muttered the young mother. "I'll check the house" offered Stinkie and disappeared trough the ceiling. "I'll check outside" informed Melle. "I'll go with you" said the witch before she followed the girl. Fatso flied trough the ceiling. Stretch rolled his eyes, but decided to follow the girls.
"Azriel? Where are you!" yelled the blonde. "Come here Azriel!" yelled Morgan. The specter flied around and tried to find him. Suddenly, the smelly and the chubby ghost returned. "Azriel iz not in de house" stated the youngest ghost and shook his head.
"There he is!" yelled the middle ghost. Melle screamed; Azriel had runned towards the cliff they had killed Chad for two years ago. "AZRIEL, NO!" screamed the girl. But the boy ignored her, and before they knew it, the boy had felt over the edge. Everyone ran towards the edge. "OH NO! We lost 'im!" screamed the golden-eyed ghost. "Azriel, come back!" yelled the Clark and extended her hands.
Suddenly, they all felt a powerful windgust from underneath. The small boy were in the brunettes hands seconds after. The shock was so big that it had sent the girl tumbling backwards a little with the blond on her stomach. "He he...don't do that again Azriel" muttered the witch. Azriel got off her before he ran towards his mother. "Thank you Mary! How did you do it?" asked Melle. Suddenly, Morgan realized what she had done. Her face had turned so pale that she could have competed with the trio. The girl spun on her heel and ran towards the manor. "Morgan, stop!" yelled Stinkie, but to no avail.
"I'll get 'er" snarled Stretch and flied towards her. He looped an arm around her before he lifted her fifteen feet above the ground. "Lemme down, lemme down!" shouted the Clark while she wiggled like a worm on a fish-hook. "Take a look down shorty" replied the ghost. The girl looked down and did not wiggle anymore. "Why do not you tell the others how you did dat!" suggested the specter. "No" muttered the brunette. "Everyone saw ya. How're you goin' to explain dat? Dat we all hallucinated on de same time?" inquired the spirit. "Fine...but please put me down. I will not escape again" promised the girl.
Stretch sat her down in front of Melle and Stinkie. "Mary, we owe ya" stated the ghost. "But how did you got Azriel back?" said the blonde. "Melle...Stinkie...Fatso...Azriel...The truth is...I'm a witch. I used magic to pull Azriel back" confessed the brunette, her voice barely audible. The 21-year old raised her eyebrows and the ghosts eyes went wide. "Did you know it Stretch?" asked Melle. He nodded. "I caught her red-handed for not a long time ago. I didn't tell because she gave me those doe-eyes" snarled the tall specter.