CHAPTER 3

The train screeches to a shaky halt. Attention! Final stop, Spretown, the intercom announces the final stop as the remaining passengers (all two of them) gather their bags. One of the crewmen shake open the door with some frustration, it's been doing this the whole ride. Finally the door opens wide enough to fit one person through at a time.

The cold, eerie air hits me like a bullet. Ghosts are abundant in this town, I can sense it. Thankfully I don't taste metallic air, which usually signals an irate spirit. The last time I was in close proximity of a hostile spirit was earlier this year when a young kid started wailing because his parents were oblivious to his cries. They couldn't hear him. He was dead. Sometimes I regret not getting involved and helping the middle school aged child, but he disappeared before I could get a word in.

Outside the car I could see willow trees surrounding the platform. There wasn't much of a station, it was more like a concrete walkway on either side of the train. All the grass beyond the platform was a pale, dead yellow, as if rain was a rarity here. Somehow I doubt there has never been rain, dense fog filled the air as much as the eeriness.

"Brrgh, wh..where's y..your j..j..jacket Kay?" Julia asks me as she shivers in the below freezing air. I'm simply wearing a thermal long sleeve shirt, and I feel fine. Being impervious to the cold is a major perk in my book.

"Oh, um, yeah I just left it at home. It's ok, I adjust really quickly!"

"D..don't ex..expect m..me to share mine." Still shivering, "I'm already a pop...pop...popsicle."

"Hey." I cross my arms, her complaining won't make her warmer. "It was your idea to come here you know!"

"Y...yeah. I'll warm u..up. Hey, I al..already am!" Yet, she still shivers.

"Okay, well, lets find our way around here"

So we head out the opening doors as the conductor wishes us a half-hearted "good day." Julia nods and wishes him the same. I just keep walking, not maintaining eye contact. This particular conductor has never been sincere when we are entering or disembarking, I just prefer to scurry by awkwardly than utter even a "thank you" to him.

Julia's face lights up when she sees the fog and the willow trees. "Oh Kayla! This is so cool! Spooky!"

Sigh. I just hope she isn't planning on visiting the rumored haunting spots, although I have a feeling that she is. Humans can't see ghosts, only wanderers, at least, I think thats the case.

We shuffle forward through the fog, breathing in the fresh frozen air. Occasionally Julia will walk right through a spirit without her knowledge. When that does happen, the ghost will usually laugh it off, knowing that humans do not see or hear them.

"Tell me when you see Spark street, there's an art store that I need to visit."

"What do you need?" Usually Julia will go buy supplies that she doesn't even have to have. I swear she's a shopaholic.

"Well, nothing really. I just want to see what they have. I hear they've got glow in the dark stuff! And different shaped canvases."

Just then I spot a street sign in the fog. I squint in order to read it and see that it's Spark St. Right, next to Forest Lane.

"I think I see it."

"Where? All I see is the fog."

Even from a young age, i've always had abnormally keen vision. "Just trust my eyesight, i've got vision as sharp as a hawk!"

And so we walk on over to Spark Street along the unkempt sidewalk with grass popping out of the corners and cracks. Spretown must not have adequate city funding, this place is totally rundown. Then again, this place is known for the so-called hauntings. Even among the fog I can trace out the silhouette of each and every spirit. I can see why they prefer this place, it seems as if no one lives on these streets. Yet, even the eeriness doesn't keep the young children from playing basketball on their garage door nets.

"Crystal Art? I'm assuming this is the place?"

Right on cue, a person wearing a paint covered smock and a paintbrush behind her messy bun walks though the door of the store. Literally, she walks through the door. She's a ghost. A ghost who is happily walking away from the art store. Just behind her, a man who steps behind her in unison, as if he didn't want her to know he was there.

Julia's eyes lit up in joy. "Yes! Canvases!" Anybody would just look at her expression and tell that she was in her domain.

I do my best not to make eye contact with the ghost, but I can't help but stare as another one follows directly in her footsteps. His eyes, they are so bleak. Of course, ghosts are sad most of the time as they are dead, but this one, he has hopeless written all over him. A big difference between him and the others is his wears, a black trench coat is draped over his slim shoulders with black boots that seem to blend with the pavement. What makes this spirit so daunting is that I can actually hear the clanking of his metal toed boots, which is something I have never witnessed.

"Did you hear that?" I casually ask Julia, hoping that maybe she heard it too.

She looked at me as if I was stupid. "Heard what? The door? Yeah, that's so the store knows we're here!"

"No no, boots! Metal toe boots! Can't you hear it? Can't you see it?!"

Julia nodded her head. I'm sure she thinks that I'm half crazy by now, I wouldn't blame her.

I know it's a ghost, the slight shimmer he leaves as he walks past the unsuspecting people is the most obvious giveaway. But how can I hear his shoes? I know I can hear voices, but their movement? I have a bad feeling about this...