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Chapter 13- Ghosts
Footsteps pounded along the hallway to them, wrenching the door open.
'Dougie's awake!' Danny exclaimed, panting on the spot excitedly. Harry and Abigail looked at each other, then sprinted up the stairs, into the crowded bedroom. Dougie's eyes were closed, but Tom and Harriet each had one of his hands.
'Dougie?' Harry exclaimed, moving closer to the bed. His face was pale white, and sweaty and he looked extremely sick.
'Harry,' Dougie whispered weakly, the ends of his lips turning up into a feeble smile, groping around the bed to find Harry's hand and hold it tightly.
'How are you feeling?' Harry asked quickly.
'Shit,' Dougie said in barely more than a whisper. And with that, he went still, vomited all over his sheets, and became unconscious again. Harry began to cry, along with everyone else in the rest of the room.
'What's wrong with him?' Harry sobbed. No one answered.
'Let's get him cleaned up,' Harriet whispered, gently, taking off the sheets and doonas on top of Dougie, and taking the ones from Harry's bed beside him to replace them. She silently took them downstairs to wash. Danny followed. Tom, Harry and the ghosts stared at Dougie, begging him to wake up, or even move. But there was nothing.
'I just wish we knew what was wrong,' Tom said sadly and the others nodded.
'Hey Tom,' Harry croaked.
'Yeah?'
'What if we call Fletch?'
'Fletch is in France on holiday at the moment mate,' Tom murmured and Harry nodded and hung his head sadly. The smell of food wafted into the room as Harriet and Danny carried four plates of food inside. They handed one to Tom and one to Harry, then sat on the floor beside them to eat it.
Their dinner was nice, but afterwards, most of it was still left on the plates. The four could not bear to eat, while sitting silently at Dougie's bedside. He didn't move, and his breath was quiet. Harry, who remained beside his head, kept one hand gently on Dougie's chest, to make sure it didn't stop moving up and down with each of Dougie's tiny breaths.
'Could we try calling an ambulance?' Tom suggested quietly.
'It's in the middle of nowhere, it would take too long to get one out here,' Harriet replied quietly.
'It's worth a try isn't it?' Tom said fiercely, and Harriet looked taken aback. Danny took her hand in his, glaring at Tom. There was a loud yell from outside, like a child's yell, then murmured talking. Danny stood, walking to the window, glancing out, then turning to the others with an alarmed look on his face.
'Danny? What is it?' Tom asked, his face worried.
'Ghosts. Heaps of them,' he whispered, as the others clambered to peer out the window. 'Come on,' Danny whispered, taking Harriet's hand.
'I'll stay with Dougie,' Harry murmured, helping Tom to stand with his crutches. The others, including the ghosts traipsed downstairs and out into the side yard and down to the back fence, where a crowd of ghosts awaited them. As they stood in front of the fence, they recognised one. The wailing little girl that had run past Dougie and Tom stood there, shimmering, along with a group of about twenty other shimmering figures. There was a man missing his head, a group of children wearing hiking clothes, a man with a nail embedded in his heart, an odd looking hammer in his hand. They'd heard the stories. But hadn't believed a word of them. But now, those tales that Rosemary had told them, unfolded before their eyes.
'What are you all doing here? Leave, immediately!' Melanie shouted.
'How are they all able to come so close?' Tom whispered to Margaret.
'It's just in their area. They've all died in the forest or close to it.'
'Oh.'
Two children, no more than seven moved forwards, close to the fence. They were both wearing old fashioned clothes, with horrible hair styles. They wore menacing grins on their faces.
Margaret jumped and put her hand to her mouth. 'I thought I got you two over the line!'
'Well, turns out, you didn't,' one smirked.
'We know what's wrong with your friend,' the other grinned.
'What?' Danny asked eagerly.
'Why would we tell you?' the taller one laughed, and the rest of the ghosts laughed too.
'Tell us what's wrong with him!' Melanie demanded.
'Nah, I don't think we will. Donald wouldn't like that!' the same one smirked.
'Donald? What's he got to do with it?' Tom exclaimed.
'You'll see,' the smaller twin grinned and they laughed again.
'What the hell is wrong with you?' Danny shouted angrily.
'We're annoyed Danny. It's frustrating not being able to do anything. That's how nasty and angry spirits are made. We're all spent more than eighty years old here. We're bored. Donald's going to give us a nice show to watch very soon,' an elderly man, who was missing an arm, grinned and the rest laughed.
And with that, a strong wind knocked the two boys and Harriet over. By the time they looked back, the ghosts were gone.