Novella in progress....

Here I will publish my work in progress, "The White Ball". It is unedited and developing. Please stay tuned! I will publish at least a chapter at a time.

                                         1.

Katie was excited and nervous as she tiptoed to her bedroom window and slowly began to raise it up. Her parents’ bedroom was on the opposite side of the house and downstairs. Likely they wouldn't hear her without all the sneaking but she'd never done this before and her heart was beating a mile a minute.

Once the window was opened, Katie slipped out, closed the window quietly and took off running down the sidewalk to meet her friends.

She spotted Brooklyn's tail lights a block down and picked up her pace. By the time she reached the red Prius, Katie was in a full out sprint. She ripped open the door and dove into the backseat,landing on top of Mara.

"Damn girl!" Mara yelped as Katie landed in her lap. They were both giggling as Katie slid over her onto the other side of the car

"I cannot believe your ass actually showed up," Brooklyn exclaimed from the driver's seat.

The three girls had been best friends since pre-K and although they did everything together, Brooklyn and Mara were much braver than Katie and had been, sneaking out all year, ever since Brooklyn got her driver's license and a car.

Like all girls their age, they were neck deep in social media. They posted constantly and each had their own platforms but they also shared a page together for their various adventures, frequently using the tags #squadgoals , #besties, and the like. Tonight was a special occasion. The girls were hopping on the Randonautica trend. They'd seen videos of all the scary, funny, and crazy things others had experienced using the app and wanted to try it for themselves. A nighttime excursion was sure to increase their views.

"Ok, so tell me again how this works," Brooklyn asked Katie. It was Katie who suggested the trip and since the other two could never get Katie to break the rules, they jumped at the chance to have their bestie finally join them on one of their late night adventures.

While the general description of the app was that it used a quantum random number generator to give users a set of coordinates to go visit, encouraging people to get out and explore their local areas, on social media platforms, the videos showed young adults and teens coming upon strange, weird and sometimes scary locations. There was even rumor that some teens had actually found a dead body. There were videos of strange people chasing or following teens when they showed up to a location that the app had guided them to,  others showed kids finding strange symbols or ominous signs like bloody clothes or a lockbox with journal pages in it.

Katie explained all this to the other two and both let out squeals of excitement.

"We are going to get SO many views!" Mara said, with excitement in her voice and a big grin on her face.

"O.M.G. we'll be trending for sure!" Replied Brooklyn as she began checking her makeup in the mirror on the sun visor. Certain, all the hairs on her head were in casual place, she turned to the other two and said, "Let's go get Logan"

Logan was Brooklyn's boyfriend. They had been dating since middle school. He was part of their little crew and most importantly, he filmed their adventures for them. Logan didn't like the spotlight so he was more than happy to go along with the girls as behind-the-scenes-guy. Not to mention, it was midnight and as adventurous as the girls were, they were also children of the 21st century and knew better than to go off alone into potentially creepy dangerous places.

Logan met them at the Circle K gas station closest to his house. His parents were more lenient than the girls' and as long he kept his grades up and stayed out of legal trouble, he could pretty much do as he pleased. He locked his jeep, and jogged over to the car. Their noses flinched at the over abundance of cologne that assaulted them as Logan got into the car but none of the girls said a word because they knew Logan was just trying to impress their friend. Any guy who put out effort to make their bestie happy was alright with them. Katie did give Mara a look and they giggled silently in the back seat together.

“Good evening, ladies! Where are we off to this evening? Katie! So amazing to see you join our little pirate party,” Logan grinned and winked at Katie as he said this.

Katie gave him the same explanation he’d just given the other two.

“That sounds pretty creepy. Are you guys sure you want to do that?”

Brooklyn rolled her eyes, “Why? You think girls can’t do creepy things, Logan?” Her tone held a mild warning that Logan immediately picked up on.

“Uh, um, NO, of course not! I was, um, just uh,”

Katie jumped in to save poor Logan, “I get it. It’s ok Logan. Yes, it could be scary and yes it could potentially be dangerous but we are down. Besides, why do you think you’re here?”

She gave Logan a half smile to assure him he had successfully removed his foot from the land mine.

Brooklyn took Katie’s phone and mounted it in her cell phone holder.

“Logan, you ready?”

“Ready in 3-2-1” Logan said in his best director’s voice

“Hi, it’s your girl Brooklyn, along with Katie (Kate piped in with a ‘Hi”) and Mara (who popped in with a ‘Let’s gooooo!!’) Tonight the bestie crew is trying out this Randonautica app!!. Oh my god, stick around because this is gonna get good. Ok, pause Logan”

Logan paused the camera and Brooklyn clicked open the Randonautica app on Katie’s phone

“Ok, what do we do here?” Brooklyn looked back at Katie who motioned for her to hand the phone back over her. Katie took the phone from Brookly and leaned into the middle of the seats so they could all see what she was doing.

A map popped up showing their location. Katie set their radius to 10 miles.

“I think that’s far enough. We don’t want to be out all night just trying to get somewhere and back”

“Ok, so there’s a choice between ‘Blind spots’ and ‘Anomalies’. Of course, I’m choosing ‘Anomalies’ “, she grinned and mischievous little grin

Mara clapped her hands together in the seat next to her and said “Oooh yes, definitely anomalies!!”

“Ok,next choices are ‘Attractor’, ‘Power’, or ‘Blind Spots’”

“You know more about this than us, K, just pick what you think is best,” Brooklyn said, leaning in so far that Katie could feel her breath and smell it

“Damn Brookie, I can smell your dinner here,” She made a gagging noise and all the girls laughed.

Loganed leaned over and stole a kiss from Brooklyn, “I think your breath smells amazing, babe”.

Mara made loud gagging noises from the back, to which Brooklyn replied “Don’t hate, Mara!” At this, they sLoganered and Mara rolled her eyes. .

“I’m choosing Power. I think that combines both”

With that, a load screen popped up and advised the group to focus on their intention.

“Let’s all set the same intention,” Katie advised.

“Intention?” Logan looked puzzled.

“You know,think about what you want to see or have happen tonight,” Brooklyn explained.

“We want to find something paranormal” Mara exclaimed

“Yeah, and something creepy, “ Brooklyn jumped in,

“Life changing.” Katie spoke those words just as the load screen ended and  a set of coordinates popped up on the map with a large purple marker sporting an owl face.

“Let’s do this. Logan, start rolling”

“We have our mission!” Brooklyn grinned into the camera. Spooky destination, here we come. Logan filmed through the windshield and alternated shots of each girl as they drove. They’d edit it later.

“I never even knew these roads existed,” Brooklyn said as they turned down yet another  road. THey had made at least 5 turns since leaving the Circle K and had only been driving ten minutes but already they were in completely unfamiliar territory.

As they got closer to the marker on the map, Brooklyn slowed the car down to a crawl and when they reached there the marker showed them almost on top of it, she stopped the car and they all got out.

The girls and Logan exited the car and found themselves on a very dark road, surrounded by trees. Full moon above them and darkness around them, Logan asked, in a hushed tone,

"What are we supposed to be looking for out here?" They were on a remote country road. The pavement had ended about a mile back. There were no houses out here so it was as dark as pitch. The only light was the glow of their cell phones and the moon.

Katie answered as she shone her phone flashlight around, skimming over the roadside and trees beyond  " The app doesn't tell you that. Basically, there's supposed to be something out of place or out of the ordinary "

"This place is creepy a.f." Mara piped up as she crawled out of the car.

"I'll second that," Brooklyn said as she got out of the car, making a bee line for Logan's side.

"So, what do we do, Katie?"

“The app shows the actual marker as being to our left. Let's walk that way and see what we can see.”

Brooklyn looked into the camera on their faithful camera guy’s phone and said,

“So, here we are, out in the middle of the woods, in the middle of the night looking for whatever creepy thing this app has brought us too. It feels super sketchy here for sure.”

“Let’s kind of fan out and look along the edge of the treeline,” Mara suggested. Brooklyn broke off left, Mara up the middle and Katie to the right. Logan started to follow Brooklyn but she stopped him and told him to stay by the car and film them as they searched. Logan wisely did as he was told.

The first thing Katie noticed was how still the night was. There were no crickets, no birds, no insects making any of the quintessential Southern summer night noises. The air felt heavy and not just from the heat. It was thick. She was beginning to have a twinge of regret about this idea when Mara whisper yelled to the rest of them as she burst out of the treeline.

“This has to be where it is. I found a small meadow just beyond the treeline here. Come on y’all.”

The girls and Logan (still filming) followed Mara into the woods. About twenty feet back, they reached a meadow-like clearing in the trees, surrounded by a broken down old fence. Katie’s foot kicked an old “No Trespassing” sign in the grass. It was rusted and barely legible. She glanced around to see if anyone else had seen it. Assured no one had, she stepped on it and kept heading to the fence line, holding her phone up in front of her.

“Yes! This is it. We are basically right on top of the marker, “ she turned the phone so everyone else could see.

“There’s nothing here,” Brooklyn said as she looked out into the meadow

“There has to be something , “ Mara told her as they all cautiously moved forwarded to the fence. It was old rusted barbed wire, mostly broken down.

“Found an opening!” Katie piped up and the group, now more or less huddled together, made their way over the fence and into the actual meadow. Just then, the loudest screech owl they’d ever heard sounded off.

All the girls jumped and screamed at once.

“Holy shit!!!” Brookly screamed, “I think my soul just left my body”

Katie’s heart was beating out of her chest. “That HAS to be a sign”

The other three,now shoulder to shoulder looked at her with blank stares

“The Owl? There’s an owl face on the marker….”

“OH MY GOD, Kate. That’s creepy as hell but oh my god yes…”

“Wow, ok, now I am completely sketched out at this point. If someone comes walking out of those woods, I’m dying on the spot” Mara uttered. They giggled nervously.

“Focus ladies. We have to find something or this whole trip was wasted!” said Brooklyn, refocusing them on the task at hand, “Spread out, yes, let GO of me Mara,” she laughed as she pried Mara’s fingers off her forearm, “ and looked around. We are fierce, remember?”

At that, the girls slowly began walking into the meadow.

Katie suddenly got an awful pit in her stomach, to the point of being nauseous but she kept it to herself. Her eyes wandered over the meadow. The moonlight gave it an eerie moonlit glow and played tricks on her eyes, making it appear as if the grass was moving like the waves in the ocean. The grass was about knee high and as she moved through, felt like the grass was actually touching her legs, not just being pushed aside as she walked.

She glanced over at brave Brooklyn as she made her way through the meadow and noticed she kept glancing at the far tree line. Katie moved her eyes to where Brooklyn appeared to be looking and swore she saw a bush move. No way, no. Just her imagination. The moon, the darkness, the lack of forest sounds were all just getting to her. She told herself to suck it up and moved on forward. As she did, the movement caught her peripheral vision. A shadow? It was like a shadow had moved in the tree line, skirting the edge of the meadow. No. Nope. Just a deer. Katie told herself to get a grip.

There it was again, it was almost like a figure was pacing in the woods. What the actual fuck?

She was startled out of her thoughts by Mara, “Guys! I found….well, something.”

The ground beneath her feet felt soft. Not quite muddy, but it had some give to it. Like walking on a sponge. Very odd. She wondered if it used to be a vegetable garden or crop of some sort as she headed towards Mara who was in the middle of the meadow, almost dead center..

The rest of the group arrived next to Mara and she simply pointed down. As Katie looked down, right before her eyes landed on the object, she caught a fleeting glimpse of the shadow again. It appeared to move quickly to a position right in front of where they stood and stopped completely. She could still pick it out though. It was like a dark that was darker than the rest of the dark around it. She shook her head to clear the sight. That didn’t even make sense in her own head. Katie quickly pulled her attention away and looked down at what Mara was pointing at.

An old, cracked, dingy white ball.

It was the size of a volleyball and it was very apparent that white was not the ball’s original color. The sun had bleached it. They all stood staring at it, not speaking. The creepy atmosphere had obviously gotten to more than just Katie.

Logan seemed perplexed. “Ok, a ball. So what?”

“Hush up, Logan and film,” Brooklyn snapped, a clear indication of her level of creeped out.

“I mean, he isn’t wrong,” Mara chimed in, “but what is it doing out here? There are no houses for miles and definitely no schools or playgrounds”

“Maybe some kid threw it out the window of a car passing by, “ Katie offered up

“Maybe,” said Brooklyn but she didn’t sound convinced.

“Should we take it with us?” Mara aked.

“Definitely!” Brooklyn responded

“I don’t know yall. I think we are just supposed to document what we find,not take it.” Kate was saying just as the screech owl let out another blood curdling shriek

“SHIT!” That was Logan this time and all three girls screamed. At the same time, Katie saw the shadow again. It moved as if coming towards them. She looked over at Brooklyn, she saw it too. They made eye contact and then both looked away. The shadow was gone.

Brooklyn positioned herself in front of Logan and the camera

“So, we’ve come to this meadow after trudging through the dark woods, had the absolute shit scared out of us, and have come upon this old, faded ball. We are miles from anything resembling civilization. How did it get here but more importantly, should we take it with us? Vote now!!”

It was then that Katie realized that at some point Logan had gone Facebook live.

Katie dragged Brooklyn out of camera view and was soon joined by Mara

“What the hell are you doing Brooklyn? We’re LIVE???? That’s a surefire way to get us all busted. What if some jerk calls our parents? Or someone’s parent SEES the live” Kate half yelled at Brooklyn

“Relax Miss Uptight. I have the settings set up so that only those in a particular group of people can even see our lives from the Besties Adventures page.

“Ugh, Brooklyn…” Katie sighed, exasperated

“Katie, Brooklyn and do this all the time and have never gotten busted. Loosen up. We’re only young once”, Mara pleaded

“The fuck….there it is again!” Brooklyn interrupted, pointing to the wood line.

“What?” asked Mara,spinning around

“I knew I was seeing something. That damn shadow. Look! Look right there at the treeline. Can’t you see her?” exclaimed Brooklyn.

“Her?” Katie asked

“What?”

“You said ‘her’.“ Katie responded. She looked out at the treeline as the question left her lips and there it was, at the edge of the trees; a shadow, darker than the rest.

She could now make out the faint outline of what appeared to be a person. At just that moment, they noticed a fog starting to roll into the meadow. Even more terrifying was that it appeared as if it was coming from the foot of the figure in the woods. The woman. Yes, the woman at the edge of the woods. Katie didn’t know how she knew that but she did. She felt a jolt of dread go from her head down to her toes like a heavy weight had dropped through her.

“We have to go.” She turned and looked at the other three. They were all staring at the shadow and fog, as if transfixed. Mara had a single tear rolling down her cheek. “Mara! Come on. Let’s go!”

Katie felt panic rising up in her and the acidic taste of vomit in the back of her throat.

“Brooklyn!” She grabbed her arm just as another scream tore through the night, this one much louder than the other two and definitely not an owl,

With that, all the girls screamed and turned to run without even looking back.

They tore through the woods, legs getting scratched by thorny vegetation and low pine branches, no one daring to look back. The three girls piled into the car and Brooklyn immediately hit the lock button on the doors.

“Logan??” Mara shouted

All three turned to look out the car windows just in time to see Logan come jogging out of the woods, pale faced, clearly shaking but with an triumphant smile on his pale face.

He was carrying the white ball.

2.

Katie rolled groggily over in her bed, her eyes not quite focused. She had a headache and her throat felt scratchy. Ugh. As her eyes wandered over the room, they landed on the gym bag on the chair in the corner.

Shit. She almost forgot.

The ride home had been silent until they neared town where an argument broke out about the ball. In the end, Katie was told she was taking the ball home for now because the whole trip had been her idea in the first place.

She swung her feet out of bed and looked at her scratched up legs. The trip had started off fun and exciting but she wasn’t sure how she felt about it now. She got up and slowly approached the bag. All at once, she was hit with such overwhelming nausea that she had to make a mad dash to the bathroom to vomit.

Just then, she heard her little sister yell, “Moooom, Katie is puking!!”

Just what she needed. She made a mental note to pay the little monster back for tattle telling later.

“Katie?”, her mother was lightly knocking on her door, “ Are you ok sweetheart?”

Kate rinsed her mouth with water from the faucet, wiped her mouth,  and went to her door.

She cracked it open and found herself staring into the concerned eyes of her mother

“Oh honey, your face is pale and clammy, “ she said as she pushed herself into Katie’s room.

“Are you unwell?”

“I’m ok mom, just have a little bit of a scratchy throat and yucky stomach,” Katie replied as her mom began to place her hand on her forehead and feel for a fever

Kate leaned back from her hand and said , “MOM,I’m Fiiine”

“You know, Brooklyn’s mom called and said she had a fever this morning and was in the bed.”

Katie’s ears perked up at that. “Brooklyn’s sick?” she replied

“Yep, Cathy called me this morning. You two girls must have picked up a bug. God knows you two spend enough time together that if one of you gets sick, the other is soon to follow.”

Katie, Brooklyn, and Mara had all known each other since Pre-K and their mother’s had known each other even longer. They also grew up together.

“Why don't you go get back in the bed and I’ll bring you some tylenol and gatorade.”

Well,if Brooklyn and she were both sick, then Mara likely was as well so there’d be no plans together today. So, Katie took her mother’s advice and crawled back in the bed but not before she snatched her cell phone off her bedside table to text Brooklyn.

Katie:  You’re sick :(

Brooky: Kill me now

Katie: Me too. How about Mara

Brooky: Yup

Katie: Damn, guess being out late in the screaming field….

Brooky: Don’t remind me. You got “it”?

Katie: Yeah. In a bag in my room

Brooky: I’m going to sleep. TL

Katie: kk

>Rewrite in teen text speak<

Soon, Katie's mom was back with Tylenol and Gatorade. She took the Tylenol with a small sip of Gatorade as her stomach was still queasy. She soon found herself falling asleep.

The fever dreams started immediately. Screaming, crying, blood, and anguish; also anger. Images of small faces, pale and still. So pale that they looked like porcelain dolls. Mothers wailing and clutching tiny bodies. Men shouting, gathered in a mob. A barrage of images of men with violence in their faces in front of a tumble down shack in the woods

Katie startled awake and lay there sweating and shaking. What the hell was all that? She thought to herself

She immediately reached for her phone and texted Mara.

Katie: U feeling better?

She waited and got no reply. She must be sleeping, so she tried Brooklyn

Katie: u bttr?

Brooky: Been sleep. U?

Katie: Same. Hve u hrd from M?

Brooky: No but mom told me she was super sick. Guess we picked up a bug

Katie: 4 sure

Katie: Logan?

Brooky: Dnt want 2 talk abt him

Katie: omg wut is wrong?

Brooky: tell u l8r. Sleep

Katie guessed they had continued the argument that had started in the car over Logan bringing the ball into the car.

She slipped quietly and slowly out of bed. Ouch. Her head was pounding. She crept towards the gym bag on a chair in the corner. She approached cautiously and as soon as she was close enough to reach the zipper, her head swam and the room spun. Katie steadied herself on the chair upon which the bag sat and continued forward. Slowly she unzipped the bag. Immediately she was met with a foul odor; like the smell of a dead animal on the road. She gagged and dashed again to the bathroom to empty out her stomach.

She didn’t remember that stench when Logan got into the car with the ball the night before. She rested her face against the cool porcelain of the toilet and stared at the bag through the open door. What could possibly make it smell so bad? She hoped a mouse hadn’t somehow gotten into the bag and died. They had been in a field after all. It made sense and Katie let it. She hoisted herself off the floor of the bathroom and made her way back to the bed. She felt drained and her stomach hurt.

Upon her head hitting the pillow, she fell into another deep sleep that lasted 12 hours. She barely remembered her mother coming into her room three or four times checking on her. When she woke, it was the next day. The sun was creeping through the curtains. A beam of light was illuminating the stench filled bag on the chair. Yuck. What was she going to do with that thing?

Katie turned on her phone and saw messages from Broolyn and Mara asking how she was and telling her they needed to talk. She jumped into the group chat.

Katie: Im up

Brooky: OMG Katie, we’ve been so worried about you

Mara: R u ok?

Katie: Yeah, just went into a coma Iguess. How are you two?

Brooky: I’m still a little weak but bettr

Mara: Same

Brooky: We’re coming over. Is that ok?

Katie: Sure

Mara: Do you still have it?

Katie: The ball? Unfortunately. It stinks!

Mara: Stinks? Like what?

Katie : Death

3.

Katie managed to change into a t-shirt and leggings before the girls arrived and was sitting on her bed staring in disbelief at their insta page. It had blown up. Brooklyn had uploaded the video from the other night and there were thousands of likes and comments.

Just then, Mara and Brooklyn burst through the bedroom door. Both appeared pale and had rings under their eyes. Katie held the phone out towards them.

“I know!” exclaimed Brooklyn, “It’s crazy” but she didn’t look as excited as she thought she would be over their first viral video.

“We’ve gotten some crazy dm’s since that video went viral.”, Mara said, looking paler, if that was even possible.

“What do you mean crazy? Like stalker crazy?” Katie asked looking back and forth between Mara and Brooklyn

“No, not stalker but just as scary.” Brooklyn replied

“What?? Tell me!” Katie practically shouted. Her nerves were ragged from the nonstop fever dreams she’d been having for almost the entire time she was sleeping. Each one more horrifying than the last; all featuring dead children, blood, and anger.

“The field we went to is actually known around here as Hag’s Field. It’s supposed to be haunted. That was the running theme of the DM’s we got. Apparently teenagers have been going out there for years and years for kicks and to try and be scared. I bet our mom’s even went out there. No one mentioned the ball except one. She was a girl from a couple towns over who said her grandmother grew up here and told her a story about Hag’s Field and the ball. Basically, the story goes, back in the late 1800’s, there were a lot of plantations and farms in that area. One Fall, children started going missing from the surrounding plantations. They would go out to play and never come home. The townspeople had search parties and even used tracking dogs but hadn’t been able to locate any of them. This continued over a few weeks. In total 12 children were missing. The townspeople were at a loss. Four children from a single family were among the missing. You know how they used to have such big families back then,” Brooklyn stopped to take a breath

“What does that have to do with the ball?” Katie asked

“So, there was a woman who lived alone out in the woods near Hag’s field. She lived in an old run down cottage. She was kind of like an herbalist, I guess, and most of the women in the town used her as a midwife as well as for different herbal treatments. She had delivered most, if not all, of the missing children. She was an odd character and even though she was invaluable to the women in the community, the men viewed her with suspicion and a little fear. I guess she didn’t go to church with the rest of the people in town and apparently that was a big deal back then. She never charged for her services but it was customary to give the midwife,  food, milk, eggs or whatever money they could.” Just then, Brooklyn was interrupted by Katie’s little sister poking her head in the door.

“What are y’all talking about? A witch? What’s a hag?” she asked the girls all wide-eyed. It was obvious that she had been eavesdropping at the door.

Kate grabbed a pillow and threw it straight at Emmy’s head. “GET OUT!!! Stop spying on us, you little shit!!!”

Emmy ducked and the pillow missed. She stuck out her tongue and ran out the door.

“Is she going to tell your mom?” Mara said looking nervously at the door

“No, mom’s at work and she’ll forget by the time she gets home.” Katie replied. “So, what happened Brooky?”

She turned to face Brooklyn but her face was turned towards the bag.

“Do you smell that? Is that the smell you were talking about? Oh my god, it’s awful. Is it the ball?”

“I don’t know for sure I’m kinda wondering if a field mouse got in there and died. I haven’t opened it back up since the first time when I was sick and it made me throw up.”

“We have to look inside.” Mara chimed in, now looking at the bag as well.

“No way! Not in here! It’s awful, Mara. I’ll puke for sure.” Katie replied.

“Let’s take it out into the backyard.” Brooklyn suggested

The girls eyed one another and then stood up as one unit and all cautiously crept towards the bag, moving as if they believed it might jump up and grab them up.

“Ok, one of us needs to grab it and just run with it. Let’s go to our old clubhouse in the woods behind the house so that little miss nosy ass won’t see it. “ Katie suggested and then added “One of us needs to distract her and one of us needs to go open all the doors. I’ll go distract her, Mara you open the doors and Brooklyn you’re the fastest of us so…will you do it”

Brooklyn eyed the bag and then looked back at the other girls, “Ok but y’all’s bitch asse are going to owe me.”

Kate moved down the hallway towards her sister’s door. “Emma, can I come in?” she asked as she pushed the door open

Emma was sitting on her bed playing a video game on her tablet. She narrowed her eyes as Katie entered, suspicious.

“What do you want? I haven’t spied. I’ve been in my room.” she said, defensively

“No, I know. I was just going to say, that we were just telling scary stories but we talked about it and decided that you aren't a baby anymore and if you don’t bug us the rest of the day or tell mom, Brooklyn will come tell you the story she was telling me.” Katie was desperate to keep her sister from telling her mother what was going on and from snooping any further. She knew she’d be in big trouble if her parents discovered she had gone out late at night.

Emma sat up straight in her bed with an excited, eager look on her face, “You promise? I won’t  be scared you know. I have watched scary videos on YouTube and never cried even once!”

Just then, a commotion could be heard coming from Katie’s room, thumping and what sounded like a small squeal

“What was that?” Emma tried to lean around Katie and peek out the doorway as the commotion continued.

Katie rushed over to the bed and sat down next to her sister.

“Emma, you have to promise you won’t spy on us anymore today and leave us alone all day, if you want Brooklyn to tell you the story. Pinky swear?” She held up her pinky to Emma who was still craning her neck trying to see out the partially opened door. SHe looked at Kate, then back at the door for a moment as if trying to decide if the deal was worth not knowing what was going on in the hallway.

“Ok,fine” she finally conceded

“Awesome, now put in your earbuds and keep playing your game. We’ll be back in later,ok?”

“Will you get me a snack?” Emma asked, trying to press her advantage

Katie suppressed a sigh, “Ok fine, what do you want?”

“A gatorade and some chips, please” she replied, flashing a cheeky grin

“Ok. Just stay right here.” Katie said as she dashed out the door. She chanced a glance into her bedroom and saw that Mara and Brooklyn were gone. Good.

She dashed to the kitchen, snatched a gatorade out of the fridge and grabbed a random bag of chips, then sprinted back up the stairs to Emma’s room .She tossed them to her from the doorway.

“There. Now, remember, you have to leave us alone all day, got it?”

“Got it”, Emma replied around a mouthful of chips.

When Katie made it out to the clubhouse, Mara and Brooklyn were already there. Both very out of breath and green around the gills.

“What happened?” Katie asked, eyeing the other two

“Brookie almost puked and Katie I swear to god the thing moved just as she grabbed it!” Mara said, wide eyed and clearly still terrified.

Katie looked over at Brooklyn and saw that she was pale but trying to hide her fear.

“Maybe the dead mouse isn’t dead? Or maybe there is more than one?”

The girls sat close together on the wooden floor of their childhood clubhouse. Katie’s dad had  built it for them when they were in the 3rd grade and the girls had spent many hours here, talking about boys, clothes, life,and the adventures they’d have when they were grown.

“God, I haven’t been back here in ages, Katie.” Brooklyn got up and started walking around the clubhouse, looking at the hand drawn pictures and “Bucket lists” the girls had hung up on all the walls. The clubhouse was about 7 feet off the ground and just far enough away from the house to give the girls a feeling of being in a secret clubhouse. She reached for the switch on the wall next to her and the little room lit up with the lights her father had strung for them. There were those stringed naked bulbs, pink fairy lights, and lighted stars all hanging from the ceiling. The lights gave the room a soft magical glow.

“Wow, I had no idea dad left the lights hooked up,” Katie commented, gazing around the room in wonder. It looked like her mom had kept it clean as well. There was no dust on the furniture, which consisted of giant purple bean bags sitting on a furry pink rug.

“I bet she’s keeping it set up for Emma,” Brooklyn said as she continued to wander the room, looking in boxes and shuffling papers, fingering the various “treasures’ the girls had added to the decor.

“She probably did keep it set up for Emma but all Emma cares about is her video games.” Katie replied. She made a mental note to ask her mom if she wanted her to try and get Emma out here more. Katie and her friends were on their phones and computers constantly but at Emma’s age, even though those things existed, they still spent as much time as they could here in the clubhouse. Emma would like it, if she gave it a chance, Katie thought to herself.

She realized suddenly that they were all stalling the inevitable.

“Ok let’s get this over with.”

“Why don’t we tie these scarfs around our faces?” suggested Mara

They all wrapped various scarves from around the clubhouse, covering their noses and mouths.

Katie moved towards the bag that Brooklyn had tossed into the far corner. The pit in her stomach, same one from the other night, settled in and her heart rate shot up. She could smell it through her scarf but she powered through it, unzipped the bag and quickly dumped it on the floor.

In unison, the girls yelped and ran to the opposite corner. The ball was no longer white. The ball now had a pink tinge to it. How was that even possible? Katie crept closer to inspect the bag, no mouse carcass, nothing but a gooey, smelly liquid pooled up in the bottom.

“What the fuck, Katie??” Mara exclaimed from the corner. “Why is it pink? What is that stuff in the bag?” You could hear the panic rising in her.

Just then, a jar of sea shells fell off the shelf nearest to the bag. It shattered on the floor causing all of the girls to jump. At the same time,the ball moved; just a little but enough that Katie noticed.

“Did you see that? The ball…it…it moved!!” she said, in a shrill voice

“What? No way. No Katie, it can’t have. You’re imagining things.” She heard Brooklyn’s voice behind her but she refused to turn, eyes glued to the ball. Again! It moved again

“There! Did you see it? It moved again!” Katie turned to look at the other two girls and both nodded their heads. Just as she began to turn back around, the lights in the clubhouse flickered. What was happening?

She had no more than thought the thought then Mara cried out “What is happening??”

The three girls began to scramble towards the ladder and out of the clubhouse. Mara tripped on the way down and crashed into Brooklyn. Brooklyn grabbed for the ladder but got Katie’s foot instead. They landed in a pile on the ground beneath the clubhouse.

“Ouch! Mara get off me!” Brooklyn pushed Mara off her and sat up brushing dirt off her jeans and shirt.

A thumping sound came from above them. Thump, thump, thump, thump thump thump. If she didn’t know better, Katie would have thought the ball was bouncing around inside the clubhouse.

“Is that the ball?” Mara’s eyes were wide with terror

Thump, thump, thump thump thump

“Oh my god! No. Just no. I’m not doing this shit.” and with that, Mara turned and ran

Brooklyn yelled after her but Mara was across the yard and into her car before Brooklyn could say her name twice. She turned back around facing Katie who was still sitting on the ground staring up at the clubhouse.

“Fuck this noise. I’m going back in,’ Brooklyn had a terrified but angry expression on her face as she strode towards the ladder. Without a word, Katie got up and followed. They cautiously made their way up the ladder, both poking their heads up to nose level, into the room. The ball sat where they left it, the lights were all on and there was no movement. However, Katie noticed something on the floor in front of the ball. She couldn’t read it from where they stood, crammed onto the ladder peeking into the room from the trap door so she made her way the rest of the way up the ladder.

As she climbed up through the trap door, she saw the words clearly. They were written on the floor of the clubhouse, smeared into more like. It was as if someone dipped their hand in some kind of reddish goop and scrawled the message with their fingers. Katie moved closer, the lights flickered but she was too intent on the scribble message to even care. There on the floor, in what looked like smeared blood were the words

He came to the town,
Not from around.
Bounced his ball
Like a siren’s call.
Children all followed
He led them away.
None would ever
See the light of day

Katie spun around to Brooklyn, who was now up in the clubhouse and staring at the scrawled lines, “Tell me the rest of the story, Brooklyn”. Brooklyn had her phone out filming, out of habit, Katie guessed. She seemed transfixed.

“Brooklyn! The story. What happened to the children?”Katie stepped in front of the phone to snap Brooklyn back to reality but Brooklyn just stood there, frozen.

Katie grabbed her by the hand and led her back out of the clubhouse and they ran together across the yard.