I stayed away for days not wanting to see her due to the the dread I still felt. Her lifeless,pale face with those white eyeballs with two dark pupils at the middle of both her eyes , how was she even...why was she...how could she still be here?. I signed as I turned on bed,I closed my eyes and laid still but sleep refused to come.
Four nights later,I braced myself to go the garden again to find her and the answers to my question. I know it sounds stupid and dumb but i couldn't help it,i wanted to go and so I found myself treading the path I dreaded for days and nights now.
The pathway felt more lonely and longer than I could remember. I felt fear eat deed into my being as I walked towards the garden praying and hoping i knew what I was doing. The closer I got, the stronger the nagging voice in my head telling me to turn back screamed but my feet, they won't listen or obey, they kept moving forward. The turmoil going on between my soul and my mind wasn't what I needed now,I needed a final decision but I wasn't getting that and I couldn't put an end to the argument going on within my two senses either.
Immediately I caught sight of the tree,the argument stopped and the voices were silenced by a force I didn't know. My eyes stayed focused on the tree. The memory still lingered as it was under this same tree I beholded my nightmare, a nightmare that drove all the peace I once felt but now, I was back and didn't know what to expect.
I sat down once more with my guards up. I strained my eyes to see beyond my nose but couldn't as the nigt was dark with nothing but the sayrs to lighten up the sky. Suddenly,I heard footsteps and I rose to my feet looking around anxiously and fearfully getting ready to run at any little surprise." Em... Emily,is that you ?", I heard her familiar voice ring in my ears.
I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard the sound of her voice. My head began racing, hitting hard against my chest ,my breathing too became uneven and shaky even my feet began to wobble under me as I stood.Nothing I did could calm down.
I heard her gasp excitedly," I thought you'll never come ",she said. I took some steps back as I heard her take some steps foret,"Oliver,are you a ghost like a real ghost?",I bursted out. I knew it was a small minded question with an obvious answer but I couldn't help but ask," Of course, I am",she replied casually,"How?",I asked," Like how did you end up as one?". I heard her sigh before replying," I died from a snake bite. I was playing in the garden when I stepped on a snake unknowingly and it bit me, the bite was so painful. I ran to my Mum to tell her but she was in meeting and was too busy to listen to me .I kept trying to tell her but she shoved me off saying I should stop pestering her. As you know, the poison spread and soon I was at the brisk of death,I was so frightening the thought that I was going to die as darkness slowly closed up on me... The last thing I remembered was the sound of her voice screaming and the sound of her feet running to my head but I guess she was too late",she paused .
" When I opened my eyes again ",she continued," I wasn't in the school or home but I felt better much more better and I was happy until I realized I was in the hospital and my Mum was holding my hands crying but it wasn't my hand but the hands of a girl that looked a lot like me lying still on the bed. I looked at my hands they were...white ,it was so confusing. The nurse covered the other me on the bed up with the white sheet and wheeled it away while my Mum continued to throw a tantrum in the ward. I watched as the nurse wheeled away what once held me away, i wad dead to this world".
" I tired calling out to her but she couldn't hear me,I tried holding her but couldn't. I was there watching her cry over me like I was no more which I was but i was still there,i was dead and alive at the same time,I was in this world and not. Do you understand?",she asked. I was quiet while she narrated and when she asked the question i didn't have an amswer to give as i was confused, none of what she said made sense to me but I didn't want to tell her that so i choose silence instead.
" You know I'm trapped in this world until my body is laid to rest and I can bade this world together but unfortunately that day never came*,she said sadly,"What do you mean?",I asked finding my voice at last,"My mother refused to bury me . She still balmes herself for my death everyday. I've tried talking to her but she can't hear me ,I have even sent people to her but still nothing",she explained bitterly," Emily, i need you to plead with her on my behalf ",she dropped the bomb on me," What? Me? No! I can't. How would I be able to convince her? Or even approach her on a matter like this? How can I succeed where others have failed?", I said ," I know it sounds insane and impossible but please,do this for me as a friend, please ",she pleased. Although I couldn't see her face I knew she was serious,"It has been fifteen years already,fifteen years of roaming around as a restless spirit and I want to move on to the other side,I don't belong here anymore. As long as my body remains unburied I can't transit. Please,just try to make her understand my predicament",she explained pleadingly.
I found myself at a cross road,helping her or ignoring her need for help. She had help me a lot so not helping her was an unfair way to pay her back. The decision was made,"Fine, I'll try",I said. She squeaked in excitement,"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you" ,she said repeatedly.
After hours of asking several questions,I returned to my hostel to ponder over I had just learnt, everything made sense now how she never mention of her daughter and the identity of the school's ghost." Wow!",I exclaimed on whisper into the darkness. I closed my eyes waiting for sleep.