• One trait about people I like is the ability to smile no matter how much pain they’re in.
    My brother was like that.
    I packed up my guitar into its case and stuck the music sheets I had just scribbled down to the side of it with my teddy bear magnet, as I do every day.
    My phone alarm that told me to get up hadn’t gone off yet, but I felt like it was time ago so I packed up early anyway.
    I had seen strange shadows again in my house.
    This time they were outside in the upstairs hallway; they’re hard to describe; shadows within shadows, the darkness inside of the darkness moving. I hadn’t heard the strange voice again like I did the other night while I was in the kitchen; I freaked out completely and decided I was dreaming.
    Other than that, nothing strange or out-of-the-ordinary had been going lately. I didn’t run into Leila, the freak job either. She hadn’t looked at me at all during English or Math. She seemed interested, (us usual,) in the boring things out English teacher was saying this time about Secret C.I.A war machines.
    When I stepped outside of the school building into the cool autumn breeze, I was shocked to see the sky was pitch black, and the moon (A Crescent, tonight) was high in the sky. I flipped open my phone and looked at the digital clock on the inside, which read 5:42. Mom was late, and it was strange my phone hadn’t gone off and it was so dark; the sun shouldn’t even begin to set until around seven.
    I set my guitar case on the ground and pressed the 3 on my phone number pad down hard to speed dial my mother. The phone sounded kind of like static, and I moved out towards the parking lot to get more reception.
    After a couple more rings, the phone went to the answering machine. “Damn,” I said to myself. “Where is she?”
    I heard a couple of leaves rustle around me and whipped around to make sure there was no one behind me. You’re being paranoid, I told myself. Its bloody August, the leaves are going to be blowing around.
    The street lamp that sat on the side of the school courtyard flickered a little bit, sending shivers down the back of my neck. I felt like I was in come sort of cheesy horror movie.
    Just then, a saw something out of the corner of my eye and whipped around again. I swear I saw something move, over by the wall of the school near my guitar case. I shoved my phone back into my coat pocket and ran over to pick it up.
    Then I noticed something.
    My papers were missing.
    I looked around to see if they had blown away, but I know I would have saw them under my “Condition” right now; I would have screamed and thought they were ghosts or something like that.
    But the teddy bear magnet was still stuck to the side of my guitar case; it hadn’t moved at all. But all nine of my papers were gone, and there was no sign of them. I stuck my head out of the little niche the school doors were in and looked around for my papers. The wind blew hard again, blowing back my hair and stinging my cheeks.
    “Damn,” I said aloud to myself as I scurried over to the line of bushes that lined the courtyard to look for my papers. Maybe they had gotten caught in the leaves.
    Something moved out of the corner of my eye again when I was digging through the bushes. I scrambled a little faster to find my music sheets, but there was no sign of them.
    “Sam,” someone called.
    I jumped and started running, scared out of my wits and dove behind one of the bushes like a little kid.
    “Jesus Christ, Sam!” someone called. I peeked over the other side of the bush to see my unhappy mother standing in front of me in her pajamas.
    “Mom?” I asked.
    My mother reached down her hand and picked me up.
    “Jesus Christ, Sam.” My mom said, brushing the dirt off my coat. “What in hell’s name are you doing here this late?”
    I pulled out my phone and handed it to her. “I tried to call you.” I whimpered.
    My mom held onto the sides of her head, like it was a balloon that was going to pop.
    “It’s ******** five A.M, I told you to walk home! You gave me a heart attack!”
    I blinked in surprise. I had just gotten out of school two and half hours ago, there was no way it was that late at night.
    It was a miracle my mother had picked me up.
    “Sorry, I-I’ll meet you in the car.” I stuttered. “I lost some papers.”
    My mom ruffled my hair and started back towards the parking lot.
    I dug around in the dark for my papers in confusion, wondering what the hell was going on. There was no way it was five a.m in the morning.
    “Sam,” someone asked.
    “Yes mom?” I asked, turning around and dropping my jaw.
    Standing in front of me was Leila, holding a stack of dirty papers. She was still wearing her school uniform, covered in the same dirt as the paper.
    “Leila?” was all I managed to say.
    Leila extended her hand, holding out the papers. She wasn’t holding a notebook today, the blue pen she had always tucked into the spiral of it was slipped in between her ear and head.
    “These are yours.” She said.
    I nodded Thank-You and stood up, finally closing my jaw.
    “You’re very good.” Leila said. She said the same thing to me the other day when one of my papers had blown away and she found it, just like she did now.
    “Thanks,” I said, pulling the papers out of her hand. When I did this, one of my fingers bumped against her, and her eyes shot wide open, and Leila began to tremble.
    “Leila?” I asked when she looked up at me; she was staring at me with her eyes shot open and her mouth hanging open a little, like she had just watched me kill someone.
    “Your brother.” Leila said, closing her jaws into a sad little smirk.
    I swallowed and hugged my papers to my chest like Leila does with her notebook, ready to run. I started to turn around fast, ready to start darting away.
    “October seventeenth, six years ago.” She shouted at me as I ran.
    I jammed my papers into my pocket and held my fingers into my ears as I ran. I turned around to see Leila standing in the same spot, laughing to herself a little bit.
    “We all have a Skeleton in our closet!” she shouted, her voice no longer quiet and shy, but dark and sinister. “And sure as hell, someone found yours!” and she laughed again, the sound of her sick joy filling the nighttime air.