Nighttime had crept on us townsfolk. The sky that was once purple transformed to dark blue, and the moon and stars formed, their bright lights chasing away the darkness. The town was still and silent. The only sound that was heard was a huge crow that would always perch itself on the limb of the tree that was on Dejah's property. I have seen the bird at least twice. That is how I know.

The crow, of course, was black with sharp talons and grey eyes. Grey eyes that would stare. In the direction of my house.

At me.

"That is ridiculous," I would say to myself whenever I thought of the mysterious crow. "He is just surveying his surroundings. It is not like that he is a pet of somebody's who is spying on me."

Our house was quiet. There were the occasional creaking and creepy noises, but those were nothing but the house settling. Although, it can get pretty annoying after a while. You do not know how many times I have woken up from my restful sleep because of them.

The last couple of nights, however, had been stressful for me. I was having trouble falling asleep. But the sounds of the house were not to blame.

It was those ghosts.

Being stalked by one ghost is bad enough. But three ghosts? Pure torture. And all three of them were out to murder me!

I could not let my guard down. What if one - or all of them - murdered me as soon as I was in a deep sleep? That made me feel a bit paranoid.

Throughout my life, there has not been a night where I have not prayed to the Lord for a good night's sleep and that I would be alive the next day to honor Him. I especially prayed that He would protect me and that none of the ghosts would come near me.

Chad's ghost would not have me as his bride.
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"You will be like me. It will be fun."

I clenched my teeth. "Let me go!"

"See that grave over there?" He pointed to the gravestone that he had stood behind. "That is my grave. That is where my body is buried."

"Please! Just let me go! I need to search for my friend!"

"Who needs her when you have me? I will make you happy. First, I need to make your grave."
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And the ghosts of Gloria and Gabby would not lay any ghostly fingers on me.
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I could see them clearly and realized that they were girls. Two girls that were about my age. They were white with blue outlines. I did not think that they were ghosts and that they were just looking to make trouble. I lifted up my window and poked my head out.

"Hey!" I yelled at them. "That is no way to get any attention! You could have shattered my window! Get off my property! It is the dead of night!"

The girls noticed me and and raised their heads to look at me. They were way creepy. They did not answer back and just...stared. Stared at me as if they were trying to burn my soul.
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I was snuggled up in my bed and staring up at my ceiling. I was sad. Mad. Just plain frustrated that I did not feel tired, and the blackness and stillness in my room were not helping.

I had a stress ball in my hand and was quietly tossing it up and down, thinking about the ghosts and hoping that a miracle would happen. That I would relax and fall to sleep.

Jealously corrupted my mind, for I was jealous that all of my family members could go to sleep with no problems.

Insomnia stinks.

My dad and sisters were sleeping peacefully, and I did not want to disturb them. Though, I was surprised that I did not hear Leonard's phone. It was quiet in his room.

I guessed that he had decided to get some sleep.

This was the perfect opportunity to try to fall to sleep, but I did not feel tired. My brain wanted - no, needed - to stay awake so that a ghost would not do what I hoped would not be the inevitable.

I decided to stop playing with the ball and rolled it on the floor. It rolled across the room and to a corner.

And it went through someone. A pair of feet.

I was catching my breath as I looked up...

...and realized that it was a girl ghost.

It was neither Gloria nor Gabby, and it was standing in that corner. Her back was facing me, and her head was looking down at the floor and at her feet. Her hair was long and messy, and she was wearing a dress.

I got out from underneath the covers and crawled across my bed. My heart would have jumped out of my chest, grow legs, and run if it could.

I could now hear whispers. Low ones.

Were they coming from the ghost?

"I...was killed here. I...was killed here."

Yep. The ghost was saying that.

"I...was killed here. I...was killed here."

She kept repeating that phrase over and over.

"I...was killed here. I...was killed here."

I was shivering because I was both cold and filled with fear. "H-hello?" I said. "May I help you?"

She did not react or do anything different.

"Are you...Jennifer? 'Cause I know that Jennifer Cross was murdered. Here. In this house. And I am deeply sorry for her."

She stopped talking and was silent for a few seconds. I leaned forward and waited for her to see how she would react or hear how she would respond.

"I...am dead," she whispered. "I died here...in this room...in my bed...where your bed is!"

"Huh?"

"Look at your mattress."

I pulled back the covers...and shrieked.

There was blood all over the mattress.