CHAPTER 1

It was a calm and quiet day in Blithe Hollow. People going about their day peacefully without a care in the world. Everything just felt right that day. And if one was to venture deeper into town and to the suburbs, you'll find the Babcock residence and a certain spiky haired boy in his room talking to his deceased grandmother

"Norman, I think what your doing is a splendid idea", said the elderly ghost to the now identified Norman.

"Thanks Grandma, I just hope everyone else will like it", He said as he continued with his little project.

"…and finished. That took longer than expected", the boy said as he held up the now completed photo album he was working on. "Our first family album in years. Mom's gonna love this!"

The teenager then hoped from his chair and made his way downstairs to show his family the numerous amounts of pictures he found and managed to collect over the years. He stepped into the kitchen to find his mom on the phone with an old friend. He then walked up to her and tapped her on her shoulder.

"…yeah...yeah…Uh-huh…just…hold-on a sec Stacy I'll be right back", Sandra then turns around to face at her son with an unimpressed look. "Yes, Norman"

"W-Well, I finally finished our new photo album…you know the one I told you about, and I was just wondering if maybe you wanted to look at some photos with m--", he was sadly cut short by the older woman raising her hand while huffing

"Look Norman, I am very busy at the moment. I honestly don't have time for anything you have to show me right now ok?"

"But—"

"No 'Buts'. I have a lot of work to do and you're seriously interrupting me. Maybe if I have time later I'll look at it, but right now isn't the time. Go show your dad, Courtney or grandma, maybe they'll want to re-live some family moments with you". And with that she waved him off and went back to her call

For some weird reason, Norman didn't really feel shocked by her reply. Ever since he turned thirteen, his family hasn't been giving him that much attention anymore, despite just getting it after he saved the town from Aggie's centuries' old curse. But that was two years ago. Right now he's Fourteen and is almost practically invisible. His Mom is always on one call or 'important' matter or the other. His dad only talked to him to check up on grandma to know how she was doing to which she would say some very colorful words in regards to Perry ignoring his son rather frequently in favor of sports or his paper, to which Norma would always lie and say that she's doing just fine. Courtney is a whole different story. Ever since she entered college some time ago, she's practically distanced herself from Norman. When she came back home for summer break, she rarely spends time with him and even she's told to keep an eye on him sometimes, she's mostly on her phone texting or listening to music, while he would play solitaire quietly in the corner.

Bottom line of all of this…..No one's gonna have his time today

As he walked out of the kitchen, he stopped by the door post of the living room to see his dad watching football. And Norman knows he won't be able to get his father's attention when there's a game on. He sighed and continued to walk upstairs. He decided to pass by his Sister's room to see if he had a chance today to spend some time with her only to reach her door to hear that she was on a phone call just like his mom.

Dejected, he slowly dragged his feet back to his room in hopes to see his grandma there to comfort him but sadly, she wasn't there anymore. Once he locked his door, he fell on his bed while looking at the ceiling.

'Where did it all go wrong' he thought to himself for umpteenth time concerning his current situation. He then sat up and started going through some of the pictures in the album while sighing, sadness still very much in his eyes. He then turns to look out the window and sees that it was dark out

"Damn it. I really wished I could have seen Aggie today" he said out loud, longing for a companion as his best friend, Neil had gone to Hawaii for his summer vacation, Salma was on a student scientific exploration in Africa and Alvin, his former bully who he had properly befriended last year, had gone to summer camp. He was the Only one who stayed in town leaving him without a single soul to talk to.

As he was brooding however, he noticed something very strange on his nightstand. It was a small black box with a big letter L on one of the sides

What the Hell?...

He closes the book and places it on his bed and stretches to pick up the box to get a better look at it. After some time examining the box he notices that on one side of it, at the top right corner is another letter

N…?

'What is this thing'? he says as he hovers his fingers over the N and discovers that its actually a button. Being the curious boy he is, he decided to press it. Once the button wen down, the box began to shake

"Uh-Oh. That's not good"

The box then began to tremble and hum violently in his hand and started emitting a bright white light from certain areas on the box like a hyperactive party light. Startled he let go of the box and it rolled on the floor. The light it gave off intensified so much that Norman could barely see the small object anymore. He shielded his eyes with his hand as the room turned pure white with silence following suite. By the time the light died down, neither Norman nor the box were present in the room. It was so quiet that one wouldn't even think that something happened at all upstairs. But now an issue had appeared with Norman's disappearance.

Just where did he go? And how long until his family realizes that the town's resident ghost-whisperer…was gone?