Chapter 1

Chapter 1

An unusual friend

Briar Sanders was in the lunch room, waiting on her best friend John to sneak past the grumpy old lunch lady, find the mini fridge, and get back with the chocolate pudding he keeps claiming the lunch lady hoards.

“Dude, really?” She said, in a “you must be joking” tone.

“I’m telling you Bri; she keeps a whole stash of it instead of giving it out to students,” John said.

“You know if you get caught, she’s going to kill you right?”

“If she does, please surround my grave with the very pudding, I tried so hard to get.”

“Okay, would you like for me to play despacito at your funeral?”

“Please.”

Bri giggled. John was always overdramatic. But if he did get caught the lunch lady would kill him. Maybe then he’ll stop leaning on me for help. He needs to learn to clean up his own mess, Bri thought. “Psst! Bri!” Bri turned around and saw John with an armful of chocolate pudding. Bri’s eyes widened. Holy Peck! He was RIGHT?! “I know what you’re thinking; the noble hero has slain the beast and brought back the monster’s treasure,” John said, using a silly deep voice.

“Not even close,” Bri said smiling, “but I hope you plan on sharing the beast’s treasure with a fellow citizen, brave adventurer,” Bri used the silly deep voice as well. John laughed, “be my guest.”

As Bri picked up a cup of chocolate pudding, she turned to John. “I hope you’ve been working on your parkour,” she said smiling, knowing what John would say, “I’ll be testing you after school today.”

John stopped and froze as his eyes widened with a spoonful of chocolate pudding hovering just outside of his mouth. He forgot… again. What else isn’t new? Here comes his ‘see what happened was…’ Bri predicted. “Well… see what happened was…” John set his spoon down.

“Called it! You forgot!” Bri said smiling smugly.

“No! I didn’t! I just… forgot…”

“You’re the one who asked me to teach you parkour, so why?”

“I just did okay? You can teach me after me and my family get back from spring break.”

“Fine!” Bri said, rolling her eyes. She didn’t know how anyone could NOT be so excited by parkour. Bri’s father, the chief of the town’s police, was someone who she looked up to, someone who she wanted to be when she grew up. So, she tried to learn all there was to learn when it came to police work, including tracking, laws, street smarts, she wanted to learn parkour to use when it came to catching crooks, and many more things that she needed to learn in hopes to fill in her dad’s shoes one day. Her dad and his partner, her godfather, Deputy David, taught her almost everything they knew at the age of at least six. John thought it was awesome and begged Bri for two whole months to teach him how to parkour like her.

Bri brushed off her thoughts and picked up her can of Grape Soda. What could go wrong with some fizzy grape juice and some chocolate pudding? “Ew,” John said.

“Oh hush. Or should I remind you of the time you ate ketchup with salad?” Bri said this, knowing he would be quiet.

“Never mind it’s cool,” John’s smile all of the sudden faded when he saw what was on the can. “Look, another one,” he said sadly. Bri turned her can to the side. On the side was a little girl, who looked about nine, with strawberry blonde curls in pigtails, she had an orange top with a red skirt. She was hugging a fully grown man who had a strawberry blonde beard and work duds. On the photo said:

MISSING CHILD! Elaina Everheart. Call Police if you have any information.

“Yeah… Another one,” Bri said with a sigh, as she set her can down, “I’m getting a little scared John. Kids under fifteen are disappearing left and right, and this is one of those towns where nothing happens!” John looked at his friend. He was hardly ever serious, but even he could not deny that this was terrifying, that and he hated seeing his friends scared or sad. Then an idea popped into his head, remembering his best friend’s favorite candy.

“Hey you like taffy, right?” He said. Taking out some taffy that was purple and pink out of his pocket. “Um hello? I don’t like taffy, I LOVE it!” Bri took a piece out of his hands and took a bite. “Mmmmm! This is so good! Where did you get this?” Bri asked. It tasted more like bubble gum than taffy. I don’t see a wrapper, or what company it’s from. Wait… now it’s starting to taste a little weird. Which it was, it was now tasting like the after taste of cheesecake. Bri looked over to John, he was chewing some of the taffy too, and he had the, “this tastes super weird” look on his face. “I found it in the mini fridge along with the rest of the chocolate pudding,” he answered. “Is it tasting weird to you as well?” Bri asked. John nodded as he put the rest of the taffy down. Yeah, good idea. I can’t eat this either.

Bri heard giggling and looked up, no one was there. She looked at John, he heard it too. They were both expecting the popular girls to come over and make fun of them again but, there was no one. Guess we just imagen- Wait! What’s that?! There was a black figure that went past the janitor and into the hallway. “Did you see that too?” John asked. Bri nodded. It could just be another student. But it was way too short. “You think we should check it out? It’s too short to be student,” she asked. John looked happy. “Something exciting in child prison? Let’s go!” He said. They got their stuff and walked towards the exit.

“Hey! You punks better get your butts back into those chairs!” The janitor said.

“But we need to go to the bathroom,” Bri lied.

“Then why do you have your stuff, hmm?” He asked.

“Because we only have four minutes left in here?” John said.

“… fine,” the janitor gave in.

Bri thanked him and the duo hurried down the hallway. After three lefts and a right or two, Bri held out her arm to stop John. There was a little girl with black braided pigtails, a very old black dress, and pale skin. She was turned away from Bri and John and was walking off. She looked too young to be in junior high, she looked about eight. “Excuse me, little girl?” Bri said, grabbing her attention. She jumped and turned around. Her eyes were really blue, most blue eyed people Bri has meet or seen were usually like a grey-blue color. But this little girl’s eyes were as blue as pool water. She had a necklace that was as deep blue as her eyes, and a soft, sweet, and gentle voice. She looked at them for a moment and then she shook her head, muttering the words, “nah, no way.”

“No way what?” John asked. The little girl looked shocked. “Are you lost? Where are your parents?” He asked.

Bri kept looking at the dress, she’s seen a little girl in a dress like that in a history book somewhere before. “We can help you,” Bri said bending down to meet her level. She’s quiet, I hope we don’t scare her. “Nice dress, are you part of a school play or something?” She asked conversationally.

The little girl leaned to the left, they still stared at her. Then she leaned to the right, they still stared. Finally, she screamed, “AAAAAAHHH!” John and Bri jumped back. “NO WAY! CAN YOU GUYS REALLY SEE ME?!?!?!?!” She yelled.

“Uh, yes of course we can?” Bri answered. What kind of question is that?

“AAAH! How is this possible?!” She asked. Bri and John looked at each other with confusion.

“Eyesight?” John guessed.

“No! Humans can’t see ghosts! Not unless- unless- how- wha- did you-“ the little girl stuttered.

Bri and John looked at each other again, confused and shocked. “Did you just say ghost?” Bri asked. Is she trying to pull a prank on us or something? The little girl started to say crazier things and she didn’t know what was going on. Neither did Bri or John. Ok! This is getting us nowhere. “Alright well, little… girl, child-“

“Agatha, or Aggie,” she said.

“Aggie, we’ll help you but you don’t need to make up things like you being a ghost. Come on, we’ll take you to the front office, we can call your parents there, and-“ Bri reached for Agatha’s hand but it went right through. Bri jerked her hand back, she looked at John, who was just as stunned and shocked as she was. Bri reached out again, trying to touch the girl’s face, her hand just passed through just like it did before. “I’m not making this up!” Aggie said. Clearly! “I’m dead! I’ve been dead for- what year is it?” She asked. “2017,” John answered. “Right so that’s-…Wait WHAT?!?! That’s, that’s………… that’s three hundred years,” she said in disbelief. “You’ve been dead for that long?” Bri asked.

The bell rang. Time to go to class. “Hey we’re off to class, do you want to come with us?” Bri offered. Aggie started to float, “Yes please! I love learning!” She said excitedly. Huh, I guess that makes sense, since only boys could go to school to learn things in her time. But still, this is the first time I’ve ever met a kid her age that wants to learn.

“Hey Briar,” said a soft but evil voice. Bri knew that voice, Addison. Her backpack was ripped off her arms and Bri turned around. It was Addison alright, and her “friends”. One of the most popular girls in Bri and in John’s grade. “What are you guys doing? Making out?” Addison asked in an obnoxious tone. EW! John and Briar were always assumed a couple, Bri never knew that being best friends with a guy would be such a big deal. “Ew!” Bri and John said in unison. They looked at each other, it wasn’t often that they said things together, but then they turned back to Addison. “We’re just friends! For the bazillionth time!” Addison laughed, “well I’m sure you won’t be needing this Bri.”

Bri got annoyed and felt her temper rising, “I said my FRIENDS call me Bri, those who aren’t my friends just call me Briar.”

“Sheesh, so formal,” Addison said, “oh, wait.” Addison reach into Bri’s backpack and pulls out Bri’s phone. “I need another of these,” she said.

Bri got really mad, her whole life was in that phone. Texts from her dad, photos of family, and what happened to her mom. “Why do you need another one?! Your Dad has already bought you several other phones!” Bri exclaimed.

“And I need some gossip, your phone has some right?” Addison said. She tried to get the face ID for the phone by holding it in front of Bri, but as soon as she held it out, Bri tried to snatch it away. Addison held the phone up. “Don’t make me drop it!” She teased.

“Give it back PECK NECK!!!” Bri swore. Now it was Addison who got mad this time. Addison pushed Bri on the ground and kicked her in the stomach. Even for a spoiled barbie doll, Addison’s dad made her take self-defense classes in his paranoia that she would get taken one day for being a rich kid. Of course, Addison never used it on anyone bad, she only used it to beat up other kids when she didn’t get her way. The fact that she was a cheerleader and was used to practicing and using her legs didn’t help either. She could easily beat anyone up, whether it was other girls or boys.

John ran up and shoved Addison to the ground, Addison’s friends were cheering her on as she got up and punched John. “Wow! Your weak Sanders. Guess it is like mother like daughter, no wonder she died from tha-“ Addison had the wind knock out of her as something punched her in the gut. Bri looked up to see Aggie floating and shoving the big bad bully on to the ground. Addison’s friends were frightened, not seeing the source of what happened, and they ran down the halls screaming. “He- HEY! Don’t leave me here!” Addison yelled at them as she joined the screaming girls and ran off too.

“Peck necks,” Aggie said. Aggie looked at Bri and got a worried look on her face. “Are you okay Briar?” Aggie asked. She held out one of her hands to Bri. It was a habit so Bri took her hand, and it didn’t go through. “How?” Bri questioned when she was on her feet. “I can decide whether or not I want to touch something or someone,” Aggie explained, “sorry Briar, I didn’t want to hurt her I just got mad at the way she was treating you.”

Bri smiled. “It’s okay. Normally we would get in trouble for this but the fight ended early. John, you okay?” She asked.

John got to his feet, “I think one of my tooths are loose but other than that I’m fine. Also, Aggie, don’t say Peck necks.”

Bri rolled her eyes, “she’s already dead, let her some fun.”

The bell rang again. “Second bell we might want to go,” John said. He kneeled to meet Aggie’s level, “do you still want to come to class?”

Aggie floated again and laughed. “Yesss! Let’s go!” Bri picked up her backpack and her phone, “Alright, follow us Aggie. History class is next.”

“Coming Briar!” Aggie squealed in delight. When Aggie flew next to Bri, she smiled as she held her hand. Bri looked down and smiled back at her.

“Call me Bri,” she said.