Bethany meets Samara

*This story is under my folder titled “Ghost House”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum titled “My character designs<33”. Enjoy!*

Halloween night is a time when kids young and old revel in all that is so scary they cannot sleep and all that is so fun it keeps them wide awake. It’s a time where people are free to be as spectacularly off-putting as they want to be, a time where judgement doesn’t exist, where what’s wild rules all.

It’s a time of year that eight year old Bethany Foster cherished deeply and it was why she sat on her bed dressed in her vampire costume, waiting for her parents to be done getting ready so that she could go Trick-or-Treating!

Although she was absolutely excited for Trick-or-Treating, she was also incredibly lonely. With every chance she got, she would tell other kids at school all about the spine-churning urban legends she read about in the books she wasn’t supposed to buy, the books with the scary covers that drew Bethany in-The scarier the better. The scary books used to bother her, but she told herself that: “Monsters are cool. Monsters are awesome. Don’t be afraid of them or you’ll be a WIMP!”

And over time, she began to believe that statement, to see monsters for all the wonderful things that they were, for their sharp teeth and pointed claws, for their malice and their magic.

Why couldn’t the other kids believe in that? Why couldn’t the other kids trust that the monsters were good? Why did they all have to yell at Bethany or cry whenever they heard the stories? There was nothing to yell or cry about. There were monsters and ghosts who lived among them and they just had to be content with that.

Well, at least they weren’t like her sixteen year old brother, Thomas. His reaction was even worse. He didn’t care at all. In fact, he seemed to be incredibly annoyed with spending time with her. Yes, they had an eight year age gap, but there was a time when they used to get along fine. A time when they were the best of friends.

But that was before Thomas became a teenager and started going out without her. That was before he started dating this boy he wouldn’t even tell her the name of. That was before he became too cool to even talk to her.

It was nice of her parents to take her out Trick-or-Treating, but it would have been so much nicer if Thomas took her out instead. Why couldn’t they hang out together? Did he like his boyfriend more than her? Or…no…it was too terrible to think about…did he hate her? Their parents always said that they both had to “love each other no matter what” but if what Thomas secretly hated her and wished she was never born? What-

No. That was ridiculous! He didn’t hate her, he was just getting older! That was what happened with being a teenager, from what Bethany heard. Besides, it was Halloween night! Not the time to worry about having no friends and older siblings having other plans! She had to sit and wait for fun…fun…fun?

What was that? Forming at the corner of her room? That blue orb? It looked a little spooky…spooky in an amazing way! Bethany stared at the orb, uttering not a word, watching closely as it morphed into a human shape…a very small human shape…could it be that it was a…no…no way…but actually? Was she really that lucky? Was…

A little girl! A very very little girl, who looked to be either four or five! She had curly black hair with two tiny bows, one pink and one purple and a sleeping mask, wore a lavender lightgown and one dirty gray sock with holes. Her face was bleeding with cuts and gashes, her chest was blooming with blood, her curly hair was matted with blood, a white halo that seemed to be dripping with stars hung over her head and two withered black wings on her back.

There was no mistaking it. Bethany was staring at a real life ghost! Maybe even a different kind of angel, from the wings and the halo! Maybe she was a special angel! Maybe-

But why would she come to Bethany’s house? Was there something important she had to say? Something that only Bethany should hear? But then…how would she know where Bethany lived?

“Your brother is going to the magic house.” The little girl said, staying right where she was. She didn’t even walk towards Bethany, she stayed in one place.

Magic house? Magic house? He just said he was going to his boyfriend’s house. He didn’t say it was magic. How did she know who her brother was, anyway?

“How do you know my brother?” Bethany asked, just to be on the safer side. It never occurred to her that like living people, ghosts could be stalkers, so amidst her excitement, she tried to be as cautious as possible.

The little girl giggled as though Bethany had said the most absurd thing ever and then she said:

“Because I’m dead! I have all the time in the world to go wherever I want and I do! I’ve seen you two before, but you haven’t seen me. You’re siblings! You want to know what my favorite place is? Cain’s house! Cain’s house is a very very special place for people like me and your brother is going there!”

Bethany frowned. Cain’s house? As in Cain Sinclair? But didn’t he die a long time ago? Didn’t he go mad and kill all of his servants after he realized that he couldn’t cure his parents of their mysterious illness? Why would Thomas go to Cain Sinclair’s house?

“He’s going to his boyfriend’s house, not Cain’s.” Bethany said. Did the ghost girl not know anything or was she lying? It’d be rude if the ghost was lying to her, considering how much Bethany loved ghosts like her. The little girl shouldn’t be mean to humans who wanted to be her friend and Bethany wanted to be her friend…or did she? The little girl wasn’t how Bethany imagined her to be.

With a giggle, the little girl said:

“Cain is his boyfriend, silly! Cain is still alive! Cain is a scaryyy vampire and your brother doesn’t even know it! He thinks that Cain is just a guy. Can you believe how stupid your brother is? He doesn’t believe in any of the stories! He’s going to learn that we’re all real, just like how he’s going to find my toy! He’s going to do all sorts of things, your brother! He’ll find my toy that I have been missing so much and then he’ll take me home! I’ll be a proper angel, not a pity one! He’ll take us home! Your brother is special! He has magical powers that can send ghosts home but he doesn’t even know it! He doesn’t know anything! He’ll know soon. I’ll tell him…after I possess him, of course.”

Bethany’s jaw dropped. Thomas had powers that could take ghosts home but he didn’t know? Why couldn’t she have those powers? Did she have those powers? Should she ask the little girl? Wait, but what about Cain? Was Cain really still alive? Was he a vampire, like the little girl said? What did she mean by “us”? But wasn’t there something more pressing to deal with, like…

“Why would you possess my brother? That’s a horrible thing for you to do.” Bethany said. For a little girl, she was so terrible.

The little girl crossed her arms, her smile disappeared. She didn’t giggle at all. In that moment, Bethany noticed that her large eyes were so dark that they looked black, like a coffin.

“Why not? I’ve been dead for so long that I deserve to have a little fun. I won’t hurt him if that’s what you’re wondering. I’ll just make him do stupid things. I’ve been watching you, Bethany. I’m disappointed in you. I thought you’d like to hear something scary. I thought that I could tell you all of this and that it’d be our little secret, just you and me, girl to girl. I thought that you were more fun. But I guess not. I guess you’re just boring, like Thomas.” The little girl said, her black eyes devoid of any sparkle, of any light.

A chill ran down Bethany’s spine. The little girl didn’t sound like a little girl at that instance. She sounded like an exhausted, joyless woman who was quietly seething with rage, the kind of anger Mom got when something so deeply upset her that she didn’t even have it in her to yell. It was something that disturbed Bethany to her core, but still, she had to ask a few more things…

“How do you know me and my brother’s names? How do you know for sure that he has powers and that Cain is a vampire?” Bethany asked.

The little girl smiled, but it wasn’t a big, happy smile. It was small and reptilian, her teeth either covered in blood or rotting away. Her black eyes glinted with a sense of malice and she said:

“Like I said, I’m a ghost. I have time to follow everybody and learn their names. Don’t be fooled by the halo and wings. The angels gave them to me because they wanted me to feel safe. They felt bad that I died young and they wanted me to think that I’d go to Heaven, but not if I don’t get my business finished! Thomas is going to help me find my doll and send me home, just like he’s supposed to! Me and my Mom are going home, whether he likes it or not. You’re not going to do anything. You’ll go out and Trick-or-Treat, just like you’re supposed to. Everything that is supposed to happen will happen.”

After the little girl finished, Bethany heard Mom call her from downstairs, shouting out that she and Dad were ready to go. But Bethany couldn’t leave yet! She still didn’t know the girl’s name! The little girl was starting to disappear as a blue orb really fast and-

“What’s your name?” Bethany asked, right before she could leave.

“Samara.” The girl replied curtly before she disappeared completely.

Bethany’s heart dropped in her stomach. She thought that she’d be so excited, so satisfied to see a ghost, but all she felt was frightened, frustrated and sad. The ghost she spoke to was none other than Samara Robinson, a girl who was murdered by Diana Pierre, her Mom’s homeless friend, in the 1960s. Samara’s Mom, Myra Robinson, was murdered by the same woman. The both of them were killed all because Myra stopped handing Diana money. All because of money. Samara’s father, Hector Robinson, died driving off a bridge years before. None of them could save themselves and as Bethany sat on her bed, pondering what Samara said, fiddling with a strand of fabric on her costume dress…

Would she be able to help Thomas?