• "Come on, Erik! Are you scared because this place is supposed to be haunted?" Kyle Rickson asked his best friend tauntingly. Erik Wolfe just peered at his friend, then up at the deserted old house. The thought of the place being haunted had nothing to do with his resistance of entering.
    "No," Erik replied. "I'm fine with it being haunted."
    "Then what are we waiting for? You don't want to lose the bet, do you?"
    Erik hesitated before answering.
    "No I don't want to lose the bet.."
    Kyle scowled and shoved the other teenage boy.
    "Then come on! Sheesh Erik!"
    The two stumbled into the dark house and Erik gulped as he looked aorund at the familiarity of it all.
    "Wow. This place is a real dump," Kyle commented, laughing. He walked past Erik and started up at the stairs that were nearly directly in front of the front door. "Come on, Erik. We're supposed to go upstairs!"
    Erik took a few deep breaths before stalking slowly behind Kyle up the wooden stairs.

    Bailie softly weeped in the corner of her bedroom. The absolute darkness of the near midnight hour brought terror to the young 11-year-old girl. Her room, in total disaster, brought no comfort to her either.
    "Mommy," she cried as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She hugged her knees to her chest and stared with her blue eyes widened in the direction of her door. The footsteps had reached the top landing of the stairs.

    Kyle laughed and knocked over a picture that rested on a table at the top of the stairs. Erik cringed and tightened his fists beside him. The picture was of a family; a family quite familiar to the teenager behind the rude one.
    "What a joke!" Kyle cackled. "Do you know the story of this place, Erik?"
    Erik didn't respond.
    "They say a girl was killed here about six years ago. It was her stepdad or somethin' after the mom broke off the marriage. Pretty stupid, huh?"
    Again, Erik didn't respond.
    "Hmph. They say her ghost still lingers here. Do you know where she was murdered?" Kyle continued as he started heading a little ways down the hall to the door nearest the stairs.
    "In her bedroom," Erik gasped, staring with wide eyes at the bedroom door. It had the intimate design just in the lower corner of the door of a heart that Erik knew only too well.
    "Yeah." Kyle grinned a menacing grin and stood just outside the door. His grin suddenly faltered and he pressed his ear against the door, eyes wide. "Erik, come here!" he hissed.
    Erik walked over slowly, then stopped and his breath caught in his throat as he listened. Crying; somebody was crying just beyond the door. The weeping was muffled, as if trying to hide it.

    Bailie held her hand tightly against her mouth and sobbed.
    She had overheard her mother arguing with her stepfather earlier. Her mom had called for a divorce and her stepdad had snapped and Bailie heard a sudden gunshot.
    "He isn't coming for me. He isn't coming for me," Bailie whispered shakily to herself, gasping heavily as tears poured from her eyes. She could hear somebody standing outside her bedroom door, blocking the light from the bottom of the door. There was some whispering.
    Bailie sunk against the wall more and whimpered.

    "Think it's her?" Kyle teased, grinning.
    "We should leave," Erik said desperately.
    "Why? Scared?"
    "No! It's just.. just-"
    "Just you're terrified. Come on, man!"

    Bailie glanced around and caught sight of her cell phone sitting on her bed just across the room. She quieted herself and slowly started crawling towards it.

    Kyle shushed Erik and listened intently.
    "There's no more crying. But I think I hear something moving."
    "Kyle, we should leave. What if it is her ghost, and we're just disturbing her?"
    "Hey, you like to be a hero. We could help her, ya know, pass on," Kyle joked.
    Erik glared sharply at him.
    "This isn't funny, Kyle!"
    Before Kyle could reply, Erik's phone started ringing loudly.
    Kyle cocked an eyebrow.
    "Dude, is that your phone?"
    Erik nodded his head slowly.

    "Come on, come on! Answer," Bailie hissed into her phone, glancing at the door with wide eyes. "Please!"

    Erik reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, directing it in front of his green eyes to read the name of who was calling him. The phone fell out of his hands and crashed with the floor.
    "Dude, you okay? Who's calling?"
    Erik ignored his friend and quickly snatched his phone up and whipped it open, holding it to his ear.
    "H-Hello?"
    "E-Erik, please. You have to help me," came the voice that Erik had been longing to hear for years, the voice he'd mourned over losing.
    "B-Bailie. Bailie, calm down."
    Kyle put his hand to the doorknob of the bedroom door.
    She was crying uncontrollably now. The doorknob was moving.
    "Erik! Erik, he's outside my room! He killed my mom! His coming to get me," she hissed with horror in her voice.
    "Ba-Bailie," Erik's voice was cracking now as tears filled his eyes. "Bailie, everything's going to be alright."
    "No, the door's opening! It's opening, Erik! He shot my mom!"
    "I'm calling the police, Bailie! Just hide! You'll be alright!"
    The door opened fully and Bailie screamed. She saw her stepfather standing there with a shotgun in his hand and blood splattered over his clothing and face. Bailie tried backing away.
    "Bailie!" Erik yelled into the phone. "Hang on!"
    Kyle shook the doorknob and struggled with it.
    "Open the door!" Erik urged.
    "It's stuck!"
    "Please don't," Bailie whispered to her stepfather. He raised the gun. "Erik! Help!"
    The trigger was pulled.
    Kyle jumped back in surprise at the sudden loud noise and Erik threw the door open, dashing into the room.
    "BAILIE!" he screamed, rushing to the body lying in the corner. A hole was shot between her eyes, blood spurting out and staining her pale skin. Tears fell from Erik's eyes as he sat beside Bailie's body and held her.
    "B-Bailie? Bailie, hold on. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna be just fine. Hang in there."
    The girl had died immediately from the gunshot in her forehead.
    "Bailie," Erik cried. He hugged her body close and cried into her shoulder.
    "Erik?" Kyle called, walking into the room. "Dude, are you alright?"
    Erik looked up to find Bailie's body was gone.
    "Wh-what happened? Where is she?" Erik looked around frantically.
    "Dude, chill out. No one was in here," Kyle said.
    Erik snapped his head up and stared at Kyle.
    "No one?"
    "No one."
    Erik stared down at his shaking hands. No one was in there..?
    He quickly turned and grabbed his cell phone that had fallen onto the floor. He replaced it by his ear and listened. He could hear sirens in the distance and footsteps running out of the room.
    "Bailie?" he spoke into the phone. "Bailie? Are you there?"
    The sirens suddenly stopped and complete silence followed.
    "Bailie? Bailie, answer me please.."
    "E-Erik," Bailie's voice cried.
    "Bailie!"
    "Erik, I-I was shot."
    "I know, Bailie. I know." His eyes welled with tears again and his vision blurred.
    "I-I don't think I'm alive anymore.."
    "Bailie," he breathed.
    Bailie put her phone down and stared at her door. It was wide open and she could see a figure standing there, staring at the ground directly in front of where Bailie sat. There was another figure there, sitting. Tears glistened in his green eyes and his black hair fell over his forehead with his lowered head. A phone was held against his ear.
    "Erik?" she whispered to him. He looked up suddenly. His mouth quivered and the tears rolled down his cheeks.
    "Bailie?" he whispered back. She stared at him intently.
    "You lied," she whispered, furrowing her eyebrows.
    "W-what do you mean?"
    "I'm not okay. You promised.."
    He gritted his teeth and buried his face in his hands as he started crying again.
    "I'm sorry Bailie."
    Bailie stared at him and tilted her head to the side. She slowly reached over to him and rested her hand on his shoulder. He looked up, tears covering his cheeks.
    "You.. should be okay.. Erik," she told him softly, lifting her hand to wipe away tears on his cheek.
    "Bailie.."
    She smiled, then closed her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, she was in the very corner of her room, tears falling from her eyes. The door was shut tightly, and a shadow suddenly blocked the light from beneath it.
    Bailie covered her mouth and tears started pouring even more from her eyes.
    "He isn't coming for me. He isn't coming for me," she whispered to herself, sobbing silently.