Rose

1

IN THE BEGINNING

-THE PAST (30 years ago)-

Many years ago there was a community that lived in a forest and was termed the North Community. In the North community there lived a happily married couple; David and Rose.

The leader of North community called for a meeting. In that meeting, they discussed that they needed a way to bring income so that they could develop themselves. They finally agreed that they would move to another area not far from the current, so that they could build a resort in the current habitat.

And so the people agreed after being briefed of the plan. Everyone agreed except for Rose and her husband David saying that they wouldn’t move to any other place because that wad their house and nothing would change it. People tried to talk her into moving out of the house so that they can demolish it and begin the building process but she still refused.

People were upset because Rose was in the middle of them having a resort that would bring income to the North community. As a result, they plotted a plan to burn down her house when she was away. Not everyone knew about this plot because some of the residents of the North community had already vacated the area in readiness for demolition. 

Day after day the people that remained in the North community watched the movements of Rose and her husband. Days turned to weeks and people were losing patience because every minute they spent doing nothing delayed the construction of a resort.

One day it seemed like luck was on their side when they noticed that Rose's house was surprisingly quiet. There were no movements whatsoever to prove that people were inside and hence people assumed that Rose and his husband were out.

People got ready to burn down the house, they lit up their torches and tossed them inside Rose's house while others started the fire outside the house.

When the house was in blazing flames they began to hear loud screaming coming from Rose’s house. Immediately people were filled with fear and guilt that they burned a house which was not vacant.

As they stood afar in fear, they witnessed what their eyes have never witnessed before; they saw Rose walking out of the flames wearing a long white dress stained with blood. However, they couldn’t see her face because it was covered with her long silk hair.

From that moment they realized that Rose was a hex. She killed the people who were responsible for burning down her house but some ran away to inform Harriet the sorcerer.

When Harriet arrived at the scene she removed salt from her bag and made a small circle and lit up several candles and placed them around the salt. She also pulled out a music box and sat down to recite a mantra. As soon as she finished reciting the mantra the dark clouds disappeared and the wind was calm because Rose was trapped in a music box. People were excited because they could now build the resort.

Few years later the resort was fully constructed and named Green Forest Resorts. It was quite big with beautiful sceneries and a King sized pool. As a taken of appreciation, Harriet was granted free stay at the newly constructed resort while others paid for their stay. Through out the years Green Forest Resorts received different kind of visitors and tourists. Everyone who visited the resort admired its beauty and majestic size such that they didn’t want to leave. As planned the North community relocated to a nearby area and used the money from the resort to build new houses, shops, schools, churches and buy food.

One day Green Forest Resorts received a certain family with plenty of kids aging between 5 and 10. The children were very playful and naughty. They barely followed the rules of the resorts and were often dipped into trouble. While the other kids were being scolded others were causing trouble elsewhere.

A certain child was running around the hotel rooms and causing a mess as usual. He then spotted the music box on the table in Harriet’s room. The child was filled with anxiety and curiosity, he wanted to make the music box his own by stealing it. He tiptoed through the corridor and peeped through the open door. When he saw that no one was inside, he walked inside the bedroom and stood over the music box. Immediately he was struck by immense curiosity and decided to wind up the handle of the music box. Then a strong wind blew as dark clouds formed in the sky. In a blink of an eye, Rose was standing in front of the child.

North community residents immediately knew that the strong winds and dark clouds were visible signs of Rose's freedom.

 People began running for their lives as Rose haunted and killed people at Green Forest Resorts. Rose became much stronger than before: she would move things without touching them, command anything she wanted and could change into any being – dead or living.

Harriet was immediately summoned and pleaded with to trap Rose once again and throw the music box but she refused and said:

“Rose is now stronger for me to handle. She can tell when I’m after her hence that makes it difficult for me to trap her. The only person that can trap Rose this time is someone who is brave, hasn’t seen Rose and isn’t from this area. But rest assured that I will send someone here with those qualities to help you and get rid of Rose once and for all. As for now, vacate this place and go back to your houses and wait for someone who will come your way.”

People tried placing “warning” signs near Green Forest Resorts to stop visitors from falling pray to Rose's trap, but Rose pulled the signs out and threw them away.

Rumours about Rose and the hotel being haunted went viral but that didn’t stop people from visiting the hotel, Infact most people wanted to see Rose but were unfortunately killed because she changed form and no one ever knew that it was Rose. 

 Many years had passed but Rose was still alive and waiting for whoever was going to fall into her trap. Meanwhile, the North community waited patiently for a saviour.

2

 HOLIDAY

 -THE PRESENT-

The atmosphere in the college was amazing. It was the winter season and the trees were responding positively to stimulus, the flowers were blooming outside as the wind shook the plants gently from one direction to the other direction.

The windows were wide open hence the classroom was lit by the sunlight. Professor Martin was in front of the students as he taught his last lesson for the term. The exams and practicals were written few days ago.

Majority of the students sat upright with their eyes opened and listening attentively to the words of Proffer Martin, they found his last remarks amusing while others slept on the desks with their eyes closed and wishing that Proffer Martin would dismiss the class immediately because they found his lecture boring.

Professor Martin concluded, “And that sums up the remarks for this term. Do not however, forget to study the topics I gave you today because you will need the information during your final exam at the end of this year.” The students nodded with different expressions on their faces. “Class dismissed!” Proffer Martin announced.

When the students heard the announcement, they flinched up in excitement as they got their bags and walked out of the classroom.

The hallway was more noisier than the classroom. Students were shouting and banging the drums as they rushed from one direction to the other. They were acting like small children on a play day: dancing and singing and running around.

Girlfriends met with their boyfriends in the hallway and hugged each other.

George walked down the hallway, he held his car keys near the keyhole, they jingled separately as he spun them on his finger. He was peeping on the glass doors trying to spot his friends.

As he walked boastingly, he saw three beautiful ladies standing by a door having a cheerful conversation; It was as if they were gossiping.

George approached the ladies and introduced himself, “Hi, ladies, my name is George. I couldn't help but notice you from afar. What are your names?”

The ladies were disgusted, they retorted, “We neither asked for your name nor are we interested in telling you our names,” they later chuckled.

George was furious, he felt insulted. He calmed down almost immediately and tried to get their attention by telling them a lie.

He said, “Seems like you ladies don't know greatness when you see it. Don't you know that I'm on the college soccer team. I do play once in a while but the team reserves me for the big games.” He put out the keys so that the ladies could see them and continued, “As you can see, this is one of my car keys. If you are not busy this afternoon, we can go out for lunch. What do you say? He smiled on one side of his face.

One of the ladies spoke, “You said earlier that your name is George, right?”

“Yes,” he smiled brightly. He anticipated for their names and possibly a lunch date with the ladies.

The lady continued, “My uncle is the head coach of the college soccer team. I see all the team line-ups before any match is played, and sadly your name does not even appear on those warming the bench.”

She mocked, “As for your car keys, they are quite similar with my grandfather’s car keys, except, his car was modern. Sadly, I can’t even compare your car to my gardener’s car because he has a far much better car than that jalopy of yours.”

The other two ladies laughed at George as he walked away in shame. Nevertheless, he continued peeping through the glass doors.

He could still hear the ladies laughing and other students who heard everything. He couldn't bear the shame so he made a sharp right turn into the college library and locked the door.

He heard a voice behind him, “Why are you running from the noise you created?” He quickly turned around, and saw Kimberley, one of the friends he was looking for, seated with a pile of books on her left hand side.

George frowned and asked, “What on earth are you doing here, Kimberly?”

“As you can see I'm reading some books,” she replied.

“Why do you act like a bookworm, Kimberley? What did we discuss yesterday huh? Didn’t we say that we go for a holiday?”

Kimberly replied, “Wait a minute, George. You and the others agreed that you would go for a holiday but I didn't give my vote.”

Just then there was a knock at the library door. George unlocked the door and opened it widely. His friends Thomas and Lucy were at the door. George stepped aside and they entered.

Lucy spoke, “I heard you that you were mocked.”

Kimberly and Thomas laughed.

George replied, “I don’t want to talk about it.” Then he asked, “Have you thought of a nice place we would visit this holiday?”

Lucy replied, “I stayed up all night just thinking about it. Sadly I couldn’t think of any place.”

“How about you, Thomas?” George began, “Have you thought of one?”

Thomas sighed and replied, “I'm blank.”

George said, “I hoped that you would come up with ideas so that we would decide which place would be better. But it seems that we have only one, that is my idea of a perfect place.”

“What did you have in mind?” asked Thomas.

George smiled. He pulled out few flyers and handed them to his friends. He said, “That is Green Forest Resorts. A nice place to relax and have fun especially in holidays. As you can see it has a family pool, a playground, you can go hiking and site seeing. Honestly, the list is endless.”

George’s friends immediately fell in love with the green environment. It was beautiful and colourful with blooming flowers.

Lucy inquired, “This all looks breath-taking but can we afford it?”

“Can you afford it?” George asked cheekily and said, “You don’t have to worry about anything. If we all agree, then you can just prepare yourselves because we leave in few days and we will be back in one week or so.”

Lucy quickly replied, “I'm in.”

“I'm in,” Thomas replied.

Kimberly looked at her friends and complained, “I don’t know if my parents will approve of this holiday.”

George encouraged, “Just try to convince them, moreover school has closed.”

“Alright,” replied Kimberly, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Lucy was still admiring the features of Green Forest Resort. Then she flinched and asked, “By the way, where is this place?”

“It's in the west-side,” replied George.

Later, the students began to walk out of campus and boarded the College buses that would drive them to the local stations. Students who had private cars did not board the bus instead they drove away in their private cars.

3

PERMISSION DENIED

 The evening sun was upon Bratnom City, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, Kimberly’s parents, sat patiently at the bus station as they waited for the College bus. They watched vehicles drive from the left to the right and right to the left in their respected lanes. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were however in anticipation for the arrival of Kimberly for she had been away for three months.

Mr. Williams spotted the College bus as it was making a right turn heading towards the station.

“There comes the bus!” Mr. Williams exclaimed as he jumped from his seat in excitement and pointed ridiculously in the direction of the bus. Mrs. Williams turned her head, and when she saw the bus, she was also filled with excitement, she stood up Immediately and gazed at the bus until it came to a quiet stop.

The door to the bus opened almost immediately and students began to alight from the bus with luggage in their hands and bags on their backs.

Few moments had passed before Kimberly finally alighted from the bus. Mr. and Mrs. Williams had bright smiles on their faces as they rushed to Kimberly and hugged her.

Kimberly was both happy and embarrassed because her parents were kissing her forehead in front of some of her College friends. As much as she loved the warm welcome, she wanted them to stop immediately because she didn’t want her friends to see the affection she received from her parents.

Immediately, Kimberly said her farewells to her friends as they walked away in different directions. Some went home while some decided to celebrate before going back home and some entered a restaurant so that they could satisfy their hunger with local foods and quench their thirst with ice cold water.

 Mr. Williams helped Kimberly with the luggage while Mrs. Williams carried Kimberly’s bag. They walked home as Kimberly entertained her parents with the College stories she desired to tell them:

“We have this lecture who is a jest,” Kimberly narrated. “He loves cracking jokes. Some of his jokes are funny and we enjoy them. But some jokes that he cracks are not that funny and are quite offensive. Hence, some students who were most offended stepped up to this lecture and was apparently beaten black and blue.”

“Goodness!” Mr. Williams gasped.

 Mrs. Williams wondered aloud, “That was rude and unprofessional of them, did the students get into any trouble after that kind of ruthless behaviour?”

“Definitely,” agreed Kimberly. “They were summoned and were immediately expelled from the College. I think they’ll got a one month expulsion if not two.”

Mrs. Williams spoke in disgust, “It was good that those students were expelled, otherwise the situation at your College would have been bad.” She added, “People should really be accountable for their deeds and more especially, respect authority.”

Kimberly continued her narrations as they walked home. Some of her stories were sad while others were exciting and funny. They had so much fun that they didn’t realize that they had reached home until Kimberly snapped, “Time to open the door, dad.”

Mr. Williams flinched and spoke with doubt, “We are home already.”

They pattered across the mud room after Mr. Williams opened the front door. The interior of the house was big and beautiful with lots of decorations and art crafts.

 Mrs. Williams handed Kimberly the bag and announced, “Let me make dinner. I’m sure you are tired, but you’ll get some rest after you eat dinner, right?”

Kimberly nodded her head in approval as she got the bag and followed her father upstairs to her room. Kimberly’s bedroom was quite big with two big windows, a walk- in wardrobe and a study desk. It was a self contained room with a bathroom.

Kimberly noticed that certain things were rearrange: the chairs and bed were moved to a better angle near the window and that her room was painted from pink to purple. She loved the new design because she insisted on the rearrangement and paint colour before she left for College.

“I will leave you to freshen up. I will help your mother in the kitchen,” said Mr. Williams before walking out of the bedroom.

Kimberly immediately rushed in the bathroom to take a long warm shower. It was a nice feeling to be back home once again. 25 minutes later, Kimberly finished bathing and walked into her wardrobe and scouted for the best attire she could ware. She found and wore a purple knee-length dress which matched her purple slippers.

Later, Kimberly walked out of her bedroom and pattered downstairs into the dinning room. She found her parents already seated comfortably on the chairs.

Mrs. Williams noticed that Mr. Williams had began eating before Kimberly could seat down.

“Couldn’t you wait for Kimberly to seat down?” Mrs. Williams asked meekly.

“I have only eaten two spoons of veggie skillet, I promise...” replied Mr. Williams after swallowing the food.

“Seat down and eat, dear,” insisted Mrs. Williams.

Kimberly sat down and joked, “I see you have failed to control dad’s appetite,” she laughed silently.

Mr. Williams replied cheerfully, “Your mother doesn’t get my appetite for veggie skillet. Only you understand how much I love it, dear. I could literally eat the entire plate.”

Mrs. Williams replied, “If you eat the entire plate, what are we going to eat? Are we suppose to drink soup?”

Kimberly laughed silently in a respectful manner before she scooped the first spoon of veggie skillet and tasted it. It was very delicious and juicy. She scooped another spoon and another and another.

“I really love what you have done in my room, it looks beautiful. Words can’t express how I’m feeling,” said Kimberly.

Mrs. Williams replied, “You don’t need to thank us, dear. You deserve more than that.”

“Speaking of deserving,” Mr. Williams began, “You could really use a holiday treat. Do you have plans this holiday?”

Mrs. Williams interrupted Mr. Williams, “Dear, why don’t you let her finish her food, first? As you can see she’s really hungry and she could get chocked by the food because of your questions.”

Kimberly paused for while and glanced at her mother and then her father.

“Now that you have brought it up,” Kimberly began, “My friends have invited me to go with them to Green Forest Resorts. I don’t know if you would approve of it.”

There was a long silence between them, no one ate and no one moved during that silence. They only glanced at each other calmly. Mr. Williams broke the silence by sipping on a glass of juice and inquired, “What place did you say?”

Kimberly was worried. She replied thoughtfully, “Green Forest Resorts.” She thought she had made a mistake in the pronunciation of the place.

“Do you really want to go?” asked Mr. Williams.

“Of course I do,” Kimberly replied cheerfully. “I was briefed about its features and I loved the place instantly. It sounds really amazing,” she paused and asked with a worrisome face, “Is there a problem?”

Mr. and Mrs. Williams looked at each other with worrisome faces. Then Mr. Williams spoke, “You will not go to Green Forest Resorts.”

Kimberly was both puzzled and disturbed, she inquired calmly with a tone of respect, “Why not? Why can’t I go?”

Mr. Williams concluded, “This conversation will not continue. You will not go to Green Forest Resorts and that’s final!” He then stood up and walked away into his bedroom.

Kimberly complained, “Why is dad acting like this? He asked a question, I answered him and he gets upset, why?”

Mrs. Williams reassured, “I'll talk to him, dear... Just finish your food.”

Kimberly lost her appetite, she stoop up and pattered up the stairs leaving Mrs. Williams alone in the dinning room.

4

FAMILY DAY OUT

 The following day Kimberly woke from her sleep. She was however, still upset with her father for denying her permission to go on a trip that she eagerly anticipated. To show how upset she was with her father, she neither replied her father's greetings nor reacted to his jests.

Whenever Mr. Williams sat beside Kimberly on a double sofa, Kimberly would stand up and seat on a different sofa.

Mr. Williams was not pleased with Kimberly’s attitude towards him. As much as Mr. Williams wanted to spend quality time with Kimberly, she kept pushing him away and making him feel uncomfortable. The both of them did not understand each other; Kimberly did not understand why her father couldn’t allow her to go to Green Forest Resorts, on the other hand, Mr. Williams didn’t understand how Kimberly really wanted to visit such a resort especially during a break from school.

Mrs. Williams couldn’t stand to see her husband and her daughter in bad terms, after all Mrs. Williams had assured Kimberly that the issue would be resolved before her friends go without her. For this reason, Kimberly kept buzzing her mother with endless questions about if she had talked to Mr. Williams:

“Mother,” she would begin, “Have you talked to Dad yet? What did he say? Am I allowed to go?” Mrs. Williams would sadly, nod her head in refusal.

Mrs. Williams was running out of ideas and patience because Kimberly was getting too obnoxious for her to handle.

Mrs. Williams made herself busy by doing a simple chore: dusting. She used a rag to wipe the glass tables, portraits, book shelves and mirrors. Later she vacuumed the livingroom and the dining room.

The livingroom was spotless and sparkling clean. The last task at hand was organizing the literature books and other magazines in the drawers and the shelves.

Mrs. Williams opened the drawer and began stacking the books in their respectful order. Something colourful and wonderful caught her attention in the drawer. She reached out to it and pulled it out. It was an advertisement on a paper which read: 

              FAMILY WORLD PARK

Come and enjoy the games and activities with your family. We have everything that you might dream about. We have toys and rides for ages. We have restaurants and a cinema for entertainment. 

Come and have fun with your family at Family World Park.

Working hours: 

Saturdays and Sundays: 08 to 14:00hrs.

Mondays – Friday: 08 to 18:00hrs.

           See you there!!!

 

Mrs. Williams glanced at the acrylic wall clock: the time was 16:30 hrs, just few hours before Family World Park closes for the day. She thought a trip to park is what Kimberly and Mr. Williams needed for them to be in good terms with each other.

She folded the paper and placed it on the table and continued stacking the book until she finished. Later, she picked up the paper she had folded and walked to the bedroom to Mr. Williams who was napping at that moment.

“Wake up, dear,” said Mrs. Williams.

Mr. Williams woke from his slumber and sat upright whilst leaning against the wall. She gave him a glass of water which was on the table beside the bed.

Mrs. Williams gazed upon Mr. Williams with affection in her eyes. Mr. Williams spoke after looking into Mrs. Williams's eye:

“I hope you haven’t woken me up so that we can discuss about Kimberly’s holiday trip. Yes she is mad, but it’s for her own good that she doesn’t go there,” he paused for a while and continued:

“You know what occurred many years ago at that same place that she eagerly wants to visit. Yes I want Kimberly to go out and have some fun but, the place that she has chosen is out of the question. You know that there are numerous strange things that occur at that particular resort. There were reports that people went missing and never got found. And..”

Mrs. Williams interrupted by saying, “Firstly, you of all people know that you can’t trust rumours. Yes I have heard of the things that occurred. Everyone in our neighbourhood has heard of the rumours, but the important question is: are they true? Even if they are true, should we not go to places just because a certain area is believed to be haunted? Even this house we live in, it was declared haunted few years ago but despite the rumours, we went ahead and bought the house because we don’t believe in ghosts. Now tell me, why should we start believing in ghosts today?”

Mr. Williams was silent, he didn’t know what to answer. The question Mrs. Williams asked was a trap question; If Mr. Williams replied that he doesn’t believe in ghosts then he must allow Kimberly to go to Green Forest Resorts. If he replied that he believes in ghosts then they would have to relocate because the house they lived in was declared haunted.

Mrs. Williams broke the silence by saying, “Secondly, that wasn’t the reason I woke you. The reason I woke you from your slumber is because of this piece advertisement.” She unfolded the paper and handed it to Mr. Williams.

She spoke, “I found this piece of paper when I was organizing the books in the drawer. I figured it would be great if we went out as a family before they close. It has been long since we had fun, dear. Especially with Kimberly. She is glowing up so fast and soon she’ll no longer be with us because she would move to her own house. Don’t you think it’s important to spend some quality time with our daughter before life plays a bad game on us?”

He thought for a while and replied, “You are right. But how did this paper find itself in the drawer because I have never seen it before?”

“That doesn’t matter,” replied Mrs. Williams, “What matters is that we make use of it. You have to get ready quickly if we are to make it there in time. I’ll go inform Kimberly about this so that she too can prepare.”

Mr. Williams got out of bed and went to take a shower.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Williams walked out of the bedroom and pattered upstairs. She knocked on Kimberly’s door.

“Mother, is that you?”

“Yes it is me, dear.”

“Are you alone?” demanded Kimberly.

Mrs. Williams opened the door and walked in slowly.

Kimberly was lying on the bed starring at the ceiling fan as it rotated on its axis. She sighed and said cheekily, “I did not say come in.”

Mrs. Williams ignored Kimberly's cheekiness and replied, “What didn’t you say?”

“Come in,” Kimberly repeated.

Mrs. Williams chuckled, “Well, that sounds like a come in to me.” She pulled Kimberly up and made her seat upright.

“Get ready, we are going out, dear. Wear something nice, who knows maybe you might meet boys.”

“I’m not in the mood of going out...”

Mrs. Williams replied, “I'm not asking you.”

“Where exactly are we going?” she asked impatiently.

“If I tell you now, it won’t be a surprise, will it?” Mrs. Williams walked out of the room to prepare herself as well.

Kimberly rolled out of bed and dragged herself into the bathroom to take a shower. She did things slowly because she had no interest in going anywhere apart from the resort.

She walked into her wardrobe and scouted for the best attire and nice shoes.

Meanwhile, Mr. and Mrs. Williams were downstairs waiting for Kimberly. They also wore their finest cloths. Mr. Williams wore a white shirt which was neatly tucked in a black trouser with fancy shoes. He looked very handsome and younger than he was. Mrs. Williams wore a long dress which was red in colour and black flat shoes. She looked very beautiful and younger as well.

Few moments later, Kimberly walked down the stairs in a purple dress with purple heels and purple hand bag. She looked beautiful in the purple colour like a pretty butterfly.

“Wow!” Mr. Williams exclaimed after seeing Kimberly. “You look amazing, dear.”

“Thank you,” she replied promptly. There was a tone unhappiness in Kimberly’s voice. Nevertheless, Mr. Williams didn’t mind.

Mr. Williams walked out of the house, Mrs. Williams and Kimberly followed him. They walked to the tarred road, this time the walk was different from the previous day. Kimberly did not entertain her parents with any college stories, no jokes and no conversation.

When they reached the station, Mr. Williams held out his hand and signalled for a cab. If took a while before a white cab finally pulled over, they got in the cab and drove away.

5

FORTUNE-TELLER

 When the car parked outside Family World Park, they were able to hear the upbeat music which was coming from inside the park. The Williams alighted from the car and walked inside through the gate.

The theme of the park was colourful. There were balloons tied on doors and the edges of items. Vendors scattered around the place and sold their products; some vendors used megaphones to make themselves heard by customers who were far away while others yelled on top of their voices. The vendors sold popcorns, candy, Ice cream and other creamy foods. With the vendors yelling and the music playing loudly, it was difficult to hear what others were saying. You would have to increase your voice or talk in the other person's ear if you wanted to have a conversation. But again, there were some areas were the music wasn’t very loud and you could have a peaceful conversation.

A lot of cars were parked in the parking lot; some were expensive while some were cheap.

People of different ages walked back and forth, children ran all-over the park while playing different kinds of games. There were neon light and colourful spot lights which were flashing and flickering at people as they walked around in delight.

Mr. Williams gazed upon Kimberly, he wanted to talk to her but couldn’t find the right excuse to talk to her. He would look at her and quickly look away when Kimberly glanced at him. Mrs. Williams however scouted the best rides that the entire family can ride together.

Up in the sky, Mrs. Williams saw the roller-coaster as at accelerated at approximately 100m/h. It went high up in the sky and slowly made a curve and went back down. You could hear children and adults screaming on top of their voices. Some screamed of joy while others screamed of fear.

“That ride doesn’t seem safe,” Mrs. Williams said aloud. “It is too dangerous especially for me. I might get dizzy and eventually throw up. Let us go for something that is less spiny and accelerates at a low speed.”

Just then, Mr. Williams saw a train ride ahead. The rail road went out of Family World Park and made circles before entering back into the park.

Mr. Williams whispered into Mrs. Williams' ear, “Kimberly and I will go on that train ride. That will give me time to talk to her. Please buy us some food. When the train comes back, we will go on another ride as a family.”

Mrs. Williams smiled beautifully and walked away to buy some food.

Meanwhile Mr. Williams and Kimberly boarded the train and sat beside each other. Mr. Williams saw Kimberly’s sadness vividly like she was wearing a filter on her face.

Few moments later, the train whistled as it began to move on the train truck. It was bumpy but an enjoyable ride.

Mr. Williams spoke, “When I was a child, my father promised me an action figure. He told me that he would buy it the following day when he comes back from work. The next day when the hour of his return from work came, he came back home empty handed. I was furious. I was so upset that I never talked to him for days. But even today I still regret those moments I stayed locked up in my room, not paying attention to him. One day as my mother and I were waiting for his arrival, the phone rung. My mother picked it up and spoke to the person on the other side of the phone. Little did I know that it was the officer calling to inform us that my father was involved in an accident.” Kimberly looked at Mr. Williams with sadness in her eyes. She felt sorry and stupid.

Mr. Williams continued, “Later that evening, my mother came back home from the police station. She came back with the toy train that my father promised to buy me. She said that the reason my father didn’t buy me the toy train was because he wanted to give me a bigger train. He was involved in an accident as he was coming from the toy shop.”

Mr. Williams continued, “My father did not say any sweet words to me when he went out because I refused to talk to him. Not knowing that one day, he won’t return. And for that, I will never forgive myself.”

Tears rolled down the chicks of Kimberly. She said, “I’m sorry. I was so stupid for putting you in so much pain.”

“No,” replied Mr. Williams. “I’m the one who has brought that pain unto myself.”

“No... Dad...”

Mr. Williams interrupted, “I was actually being silly when I said no to you. Therefore, I’m giving you permission to go to Green Forest Resort with your friends.”

Kimberly replied, “No. I don’t want to go, I want to stay here with you and mom.”

“If you don’t go,” Mr. Williams began, “Then I will not talk to you for a year.”

Kimberly laughed with tears in her eyes.

When the train cycled around the park, it finally came to a noisy stop. Thereafter, the passengers who were on board alighted from the train and wondered off in different directions.

Mrs. Williams was waiting with a bag of food in her hand. She saw Kimberly’s hand around Mr. Williams’ waist and Mr. Williams’ hand on Kimberly’s shoulder. Immediately, Mrs. Williams knew that everything had gone as she expected. Her idea of bringing them both together worked like a charm.

The three of them boarded on another ride as a family. They enjoyed the colourful scenes of the ride. They laughed and joked together like the previous day.

When they got off the ride, they went and sat on a table which was outside a restaurant while enjoying the upbeat music and scenery. Later, Mrs. Williams told Kimberly, “Go on and have some fun on your own. I bet you are dying to go away on your own without us following you. You will find us here.”

Kimberly stood up calmly and walked away with excitement on her face. She immediately began looking for some fun things to do on her own. She saw activities that were not pleasing to her eyes while others pulled the strings of her heart.

As she was about to walk away to a different stand and begin her fun, she heard a female voice ask, “Do you want to predict your future?”

Kimberly turned around in disgust and spotted an old woman who wore a black hood. She had few wrinkles on her face. She sat on a wooden chair while leaning forward. In front of the old woman was a crystal ball which was on a table that was covered with a purple cloth.

The woman introduced herself, “I'm Harriet, the great fortune-teller. I could not help but sense that you have a future that requires much of your attention. Seat down and look into the crystal ball, I will show you your future.”

Kimberly was not interested in knowing anything about her future, Infact she didn’t even believe in divination hence she wanted to walk away immediately.

She replied politely, “I really have to get going, madam. I don’t have time for this right now, but I promise I’ll come back next time.”

She thought the fortune-teller would let her walk away after that polite response but Harriet insisted:

“Seat down, seat down... This will only take a minute or two I promise.”

Kimberly sighed and as she forced herself on a chair which faced Harriet.

Harriet was delighted to see Kimberly seat. Without wasting time, Harriet closed her eyes and began to swirl her hands over the crystal ball. Kimberly was being impatient with Harriet because nothing was happening to the crystal ball. She was getting irritated by the minute.

Harriet instructed, “Put your right hand on the crystal ball and wait for what happens. But whatever you do don’t withdraw your hand from the crystal ball.”

“Why can’t you just tell me without me touching your toy ball?” replied Kimberly insolently.

“First of all,” Harriet replied, “This is not a toy ball. I would appreciate it if you addressed it as it is, a crystal ball. And secondly, without you touching this crystal ball, I can’t predict your future. If I had my cards, this wouldn’t have been necessary.”

Kimberly had an unpleasant look and demanded, “But, what if my hand gets stuck?”

“No it won’t, just do as I tell you.” Kimberly obeyed and placed her right hand on the crystal ball and waited for whatever was going to happen, though she hoped that her hand wouldn’t get stuck.

Harriet closed her eyes and swirled her hands over Kimberly’s hand. Apparently nothing happened for several seconds and Kimberly was really getting upset and irritated for wasting her precious time.

Then abruptly, there was a white glow on the crystal ball. When Kimberly saw the crystal ball glowing, she was struck by fear that she would get burnt, therefore she wanted to withdraw her hand immediately. But somehow Harriet sensed Kimberly’s thoughts and warned:

“I repeat, Do not withdraw your hand otherwise it will be impossible to do it again as this only works once.”

A peculiar feeling was stimulated inside Kimberly: she felt like electricity was rushing through her veins, her heart beat increased gradually. Then, unwillingly, she closed her eyes while seated upright and her hand still touching the crystal ball.

“What do you see?” asked Harriet.

Kimberly heard the voice inside her head. She didn’t know that Harriet was the one talking because her voice sounded more different with an echo.

“I can’t see anything, It’s pitch-black... Where am I? Who are you? What did you do to me, Harriet?” panicked Kimberly.

“Don’t worry,” assured Harriet. “It's me Harriet.” She paused for a while then instructed, “Calm down, don’t panic. That is when you will see what you are supposed to see.”

Kimberly calmed down, her heart beat dropped to normal and her breathing was peaceful and calm.

Harriet repeated, “What do you see now?”

Few moments later, Kimberly flinched out of her deep sleep and took three deep breaths and demanded, “What did you do to me?” she immediately withdrew her hand from the crystal ball which then ceased glowing.

Kimberly yelled, “What evil spirits did you cast upon me you crazy woman?”

“Nothing. I didn’t do anything. I only helped you by opening a portal in which you saw what you were supposed to see.”

Kimberly stood up and was about to walk away when Harriet spoke:

“You saw five pebbles which were of different colours: red, white, blue, black and purple. These pebbles were arranged in an orderly pattern: from left to right. They were beautiful and bigger than usual. These pebbles were lying on green grass in a beautiful forest”

Kimberly stopped walking and wondered to herself, “How did she know what I saw?” She then sat back down while Harriet continued:

 “You later saw someone carrying a brown coloured basket. She was wearing a white hood but unfortunately, you couldn’t see her face but I tell you that it was a female that you saw. This woman came from the west direction and stopped by the pebbles. She then picked up four pebbles: red, white, purple, and black. She continued her walk in the east direction leaving the blue pebble lying on the grass.

“As she was walking away into the forest, there came a sudden wind which shook the basket and made one black pebble to fall out. This lady turned back and was about to pick both the black and blue pebble when it started raining heavily and therefore she ran away into the forest.”

Kimberly was impressed because that was exactly the vision she had.

“Wow. You are good,” she praised. “Now tell me the meaning of what I saw!”

Harriet replied, “If I tell you the meaning of what you saw, trust me that you will get scared and run away as fast as you can. But I assure you that you shall come to understand everything when the time is right.”

She continued, “Nevertheless, I seldom receive people like you with such future. You are not the first one to see what you saw. A number of people came to me and at least half of them saw what you saw. The fact is that what you saw will keep repeating itself until it is conquered.”

Kimberly retorted, “Liar! You couldn’t predict my future and that is why you repeat things over and over again. You are a cheat. You really need to be arrested.”

“That is exactly what a certain fellow said when he came to me. He said that I was a cheat and I keep repeating things except the arresting part. You people forget that you do same things at different times. If I had my way, I would call people cheaters of destiny because they elude from what they are suppose to do and do other things just to prove me wrong. They think they are winners, but they forget that they are the losers of themselves. I’ll give you an example of a leak in a roof. When the rains come, one will suffer from endless droplets from the leak. If he doesn’t fix the leak in the roof and decides to move out of the house. Who do you think will complain of the leaks?”

Kimberly thought for a while and replied doubtfully, “I guess the other fellow who moves into the house with the hole in the roof.”

“Exactly!” exclaimed Harriet. “And if that fellow decides to move out, another fellow will suffer from the same droplets unless he puts a patch on the leak so that if he was to move out eventually, the next fellow won’t complain of a leaky roof. Do you see the loop in that scenario? The problem will continue repeating itself until it is brought to an end.”

“Yes,” replied Kimberly. “I see your point. But what does that have to do with me and what I saw?”

“If I told you the meaning of what you saw, then I’m afraid you might elude from conquering it. As I said, you are not the first one to see what you saw.” She paused and pulled out a music box from under the table. It was quite a peculiar wooden music box with a small handle at the side.

She then assured:

“When the time comes and you have understood what you saw, you will use this music box, so keep it safe.”

Kimberly got the music box, she didn’t want to continue asking questions as she felt uncomfortable. She shoved the music box in her hand bag. She stood up immediately and walked away.

Harriet kept staring at Kimberly until she was out of sight.

Kimberly went back to the restaurant were she left her parents. She found them having a peaceful conversation. She didn’t want to disturb them but she wanted to go back home. She was left with no other option but to interrupt them.

“I want to go back home now.”

“Why so soon dear? Don’t you want to spend more time here?” Mrs. Williams inquired.

Kimberly replied, “I have had my fun. I really didn’t want to disturb you but I had no option.”

Mrs. Williams chuckled, “Did you find any boys, dear?”

“I wasn’t with any boys,” she replied quickly.

Mr. And Mrs. Williams were surprised that Kimberly wanted to go home.

Mrs. Williams glanced at her Mr. Williams.

“It is alright dear. We could always come back some other time,” assured Mr. Williams.

They walked out of Family World Park. Again, Mr. Williams held out his hands and signalled for a cab. This time a yellow cab pulled over and they got in, the driver put the car into gear and drove away.

6

MY MISTAKE

 When the Williams got back home it was already past 8pm. They did not do much when they got home, they quickly said good night to each other and went in their respectful bedrooms.

Mr. Williams was going to bed excited because he reconciled with Kimberly. Mrs. Williams was also excited that Mr. Williams and Kimberly were in best terms again. Mr. and Mrs. Williams were reflecting on the day that they had. Mr. Williams had a diary were he recorded all the events that would occur in a day. He used his diary to write down how he spent the day with his wonderful family while Mrs. Williams was preparing the bed.

Meanwhile, Kimberly was seated on the chair in her room. She was wide awake and in shallow thoughts. She couldn’t go to sleep without first understanding the meaning of what she saw earlier that day at the fortune-tellers' table.

She got up, walked to her bag which was on the bed. She then pulled out the music box and began starring at it like a lion about to attack its prey. She turned it around hoping she would find a message or tagline but unfortunately she couldn’t find any. This made her even more perplexed. Then, she saw the small handle which was on the side of the music box. She reached out her hand to the handle wanting to wind it and watch what would happen, but she was quickly struck by a very strange feeling which made her to withdraw her hand immediately; a strange feeling of insecurity and danger, like she was being watched.

She immediately walked backwards and looked around her room. She walked towards the two windows and shut the curtains because she felt that someone was watching her. She picked up the music box and shoved it in the drawer and hid herself under the thick blankets that her head and toes were unseen.

2 days later....

The chirping of the birds was soothing and relaxing. The sun was shining brighter that the light penetrated through the curtains and lit up Kimberly’s room. Kimberly was deep in her sleep such that she didn’t hear the alarm beeping for more than 5 minutes before going off and beeping again after 10 minutes and so on.

Mrs. Williams entered Kimberly's room. She walked to the curtains and opened them widely. Kimberly opened one eye and saw Mrs. Williams lingering over her.

“Good Morning, mother.”

Mrs. Williams chuckled and replied, “Aren't you suppose to be somewhere?”

Kimberly was drowsy she couldn’t understand what Mrs. Williams was talking about. Then after plenty of thoughts, Kimberly realized that she was supposed to be at the station. She suddenly jumped off the bed and rushed into the bathroom.

Mrs. Williams asked, “I can’t see your bags, dear. Did you forget to pack in advance?”

Kimberly replied, “I totally forgot mother. Please would you pack my clothes while I take a quick shower?”

“How much are you paying me?” asked Mrs. Williams.

Kimberly yelled, “Mother please!’

“Alright, alright,” replied Mrs. Williams. “I'll do it for free.”

She pulled out a suitcase from under the bed. She browsed through the closet and picked out some best dresses, trousers, tops and shoes of different types. When she was done picking out the clothes, she folded them and packed them neatly in the suitcase. She also packed some cosmetics.

She opened drawers, one after the other getting what was important and packing them in the suitcase. She then opened another drawer and a saw a music box. She wondered to herself: “What is this? I have never seen this before.”

Mrs. Williams wanted to confirm if she was to pack the music box hence she yelled, “Dear, I have found something in the drawer and I don’t think you would need it but I’m trying to confirm if I should pack it as well?”

Kimberly replied, “Just pack everything in the drawer, I didn’t have time to sort them out.”

So Mrs. Williams packed the music box as well together with other simple cosmetics. She then rushed out of the room and hurried downstairs to serve breakfast for Kimberly.

When Kimberly finished taking a shower. She wanted to scout for clothes in the closet but noticed quickly that her mother ironed and laid out clothes on the bed for her to wear.

Later, she carried the suitcase out of her room and pattered downstairs. The suitcase was a bit heavy hence she struggled walking with it down the stairs. Mr. Williams was walking out of his bedroom when he spotted Kimberly struggling with the suitcase, he immediately rushed to her aid:

“Give this to me, dear. You should have waited for me. You don’t need to go through all this trouble while I’m here,” said Mr. Williams.

Kimberly replied, “I woke up late. I have to hurry up because my friends will leave without me. I was told that it’s quite a long journey.”

“I understand everything,” replied Mr. Williams. “But you also need some strength on your journey. At least eat one sandwich before you go.”

Kimberly refused saying, “I don’t have time for that, dad.”

Immediately, Mrs. Williams handed Kimberly a bag of food, “Make sure to have this on your journey else your strength will reduce.”

Mr. Williams walked out with the suitcase.

Kimberly got the bag of food and raced out of the house following Mr. Williams while Mrs. Williams remained home to clean the house.

Mr. Williams had trouble keeping up with Kimberly’s steps as she was walking really quickly. When they arrived at the bus station, Mr. Williams said his farewell:

“Take care dear. I will miss you.”

“Dad,” Kimberly replied. “I'm only going for one week. I’ll be back and we will have more fun than we did.”

“I know dear. Just take care.”

“Alright, I’ll take care. Take care as well.” She then hugged Mr. Williams and boarded the bus. Soon, the bus began to move and Kimberly couldn’t wait to meet her friends

7

THE RESORT

 1 hour later, the bus finally reached the first station. She alighted from the bus and saw George’s car parked at a distance. Again, she struggled carrying her suitcase to the car. Thomas, Emily and Lucy were already seated in the car.

When Thomas saw Kimberly, he spoke, “There she is.” And ran after her to help carry the suitcase and put it in the trunk.

Thomas was seated beside George in the front seats, Lucy, Emily and Kimberly sat together in the back seat. George then put the car in drive and drove the car to it's destination: Green Forest Resorts.

While on the road, George told hilarious jokes which made his friends laugh out loud. He was really a jest and made them feel comfortable as they drove through the thick forest on the tarred road.

As the car was accelerating at 80km/h, so was the evening sun. One minute after the other, the sun was moving down and sinking deeper into the horizon. A ray of two colours, red and purple were splashed on the blue sky which made it to appear like an art painting, It was beautiful and glorious.

The street lights were lit automatically and George could clearly see where he was driving. The journey was so long that it made the ladies to rest their eyes.

The time was now 03:00hrs, fortunately they had arrived at the entrance of the resort. George honked the car horn several times that the ladies woke up. But to their surprise no one opened the gate. Then suddenly, the gate opened and out walked an old man who had a brown walking stick. He walked slowly towards George’s car.

The old man then stood beside the driver window. He wore an ancient necklace around his neck.

George spoke cheerfully, “Well kind sir, would you mind opening the gate for us or maybe you could tell someone to do that for you because you are quite old and it would literally take hours for you to open the gate.”

The old man smirked but did not say anything.

“Did you hear me or not? At least give me a sign to believe that you can hear me,” he continued, “I asked seconds ago if you would open the gate for us.”

The old man spoke slowly but clearly, “Of all the places in this country, you chose to die here.”

Their eyes popped out almost immediately with fear.

Emily frowned and asked the old man, “What do you mean?”

 George also retorted, “You are quite old and we are young, you made through to that age, so will we.”

The old man didn’t reply. He starred at them intensively and weirdly.

George then stepped out of the car, walked to the gate and opened it widely. Quickly he stepped back into the car and drove passed the gate.

Immediately after driving through the gate there was a calm breeze and low hooting of an owl which was idol on a tree. The owl starred at them for a while and flew away.

The hotel was big, old and brown in colour. It had three floors. The wall of the hotel was nailed with a number of fluorescent bulbs. It had old windows and entrance doors. It was similar to an old museum. It was nothing like the advertisement. It looked abandoned and dirty.

There were small trees and a swimming pool in front of the hotel. It was a old swimming pool with white pool light.

Emily and Lucy were beginning to think that they were at the wrong place.

Kimberly wondered aloud, “Why does this place look this dirty? This is not what I saw on the advertisement.” She paused and demanded, “George, Where are we?”

George replied cheerfully, “Green Forest Resorts.”

Emily spoke, “Why on earth does it look like a building that is about to be demolished? Look at the environment of this hotel, it's spooky and scary with weird icky stuff.”

George replied, “Give it a chance, guys. It's only night, let us wait until morning then you shall witness the glory of this resort.”

Emily complained, “After seeing the surrounding of this hotel and everything that has happened until now I no longer feel safe.”

George encouraged, “Do not let your minds to be bothered by the remark which was passed by the old man at the gate. Just ignore him.”

“Speaking of the old man,” Emily began, “Where is he? Shouldn't someone help us with the luggage?”

Everyone turned around and glanced at the gate, when they noticed that the man wasn't at the gate, they were spooked and wondered were he disappeared to. Nevertheless, they picked up the bags and carried them inside the hotel.

Surprisingly, there was no receptionist at a desk to direct them to their respectful rooms or anyone who would help them with the bags.

George called out, “Hello! Is anyone here?” Immediately there was a great echo that followed and lasted for approximately 5 seconds.

“I don't think anyone is here,” Thomas declared as he rolled his eyes around the room.

“Are you sure we are at the right place, George?” Kimberley demanded.

With a smirk on his right side he replied, “I'm an experienced cartographer, I read and understood each and every feature you saw on that map. To begin with, you can agree with me that the pool was on the map, wasn't it?”

Emily sighed deeply and commented, “I guess you are right. Everything is here, the poster we saw outside and the features. It's just a little odd that no one would be present to welcome us to such a big hotel excluding the weird man who we passed outside.”

Kimberley inquired, “What are we going to do now, since no one is here? Do we go back?”

Thomas spoke, “I don't mean to be rude, but it's 3 in the morning, it would take quite a lot of time for us to drive back home. I know that because I was awake the entire time.”

“And besides,” George began, ”We don't have enough fuel in the tank that would make us reach that far.”

Everyone gasped in surprise and exclaimed, “What!” Again, there was an echo with lasted for approximately 5 seconds. It was however greater than the first one.

“What do you mean by there isn't enough fuel in the tank?” demanded Kimberly.

George replied, “I didn't realize that this place would be this far. But take heart, I do have another container in the trunk, however it beats me if the extra container would be of any help.”

Kimberly felt weak in the knees, and felt like feinting, she gazed at George with great irritation but said nothing.

“Don't worry, I do have good news,” George began, “tomorrow I will call someone who will pick us up when our holiday comes to an end.”

Emily wondered, “So do we stay here then? In this big and spooky hotel all by our selves?”

“Don't see it as a spooky hotel, rather see it as a family house and that the parents have gone out and left us alone to enjoy its glory,” remarked George.

“What's glorious about this place apart from the pool outside?”

“Guys!” Lucy exclaimed, “I don't know if I speak for all of us when I say that I'm tired. I need some rest my back is literally killing me, I can’t stand like this for any longer. We can discuss this matter in the morning.”

“You are right, Lucy. It is best we went to bed,” replied Thomas.

Emily spoke worryingly, “We don't even know where the bedrooms are located. How are we going to find them?”

George sighed and said mockingly, “I swear I have never met such a stubborn girl like you. Emily, this is a big hotel, we will eventually find them if you keep your doubts to yourself, no offence.”

Lucy was very tired, she couldn't waste any more time listening to the chitchat between George and the others, she got her luggage and began walking towards the stairs. When Kimberly saw Lucy walking towards the stairs, she also got her luggage and rushed to Lucy, “Wait for me!” Kimberly called out to Lucy. 

Almost immediately, Emily also rushed to Kimberly and Lucy. Thomas and George carried the luggage that had remained on the floor and pattered upstairs.

At the entrance door appeared a woman who wore a white dress which was stained with blood on the lower abdomen. She was barefoot and had a very pale skin like she was locked up in the freezer. Her face was covered with her long, black and silk hair. Her name was Rose and the five college students had just entered her territory.

Meanwhile, Lucy, Kimberly and Emily looked for a bedroom by opening the doors that they found. They continued opening the doors until they eventually found a big bedroom with a queen sized mattress. They walked inside the bedroom, put aside their luggage and dropped on the big bed. They did not pay much attention to the features and decorations of the room because they were too tired to even notice that there were cobwebs in the top corners of the room. Spiders continued crawling on the walls and ceiling. It was dirty and dusty with cockroaches running and scratching on the floors. Apparently, the ladies did not see nor did they hear the irritating scratching of the roaches.

On the other hand, George and Thomas were still looking for a bedroom. The doors which they opened were mostly store rooms, which was filled with rats and crickets. The other room which they opened was a huge kitchen with old bones lying on the floor. Another room was a spar and a game room. Then eventually, they also found a bedroom which was not that far from the lady’s bedroom. It was also fixed with a queen sized bed and wonderful lightings except this room was quite cleaner that the lady's room. 

8

THE BUTLER

 It was a new day at the hotel, the sun was over the horizon and beaming its morning light upon Green Forest Resorts. It was a beautiful day with mother nature doing what she does best.

Meanwhile, the ladies were still asleep. Emily slept on the middle, Lucy slept on the right side and Kimberly on the left side.

Emily could feel an irritating itch on her nose. She raised her right hand and was about to scratch her nose when she felt some far. She quickly opened her eyes and saw a rat licking her nose. She took a big breath and screamed on top of her voice. Kimberly and Lucy woke up because of the scream. They woke up to a shock after finding rats and cockroaches crawling from one position to the other. The three ladies jumped off of the bed and raced out of the room calling and screaming aloud.

When George and Thomas heard the ladies screaming on top of their voices, they jumped off the bed and ran outside the room.

George and Thomas met with Emily, Kimberly and Lucy in the corridor. The ladies had worrisome faces and panted heavily.

“What happened?” George inquired.

“Why are you screaming?” Thomas inquired impatiently.

Kimberly spoke but she wasn't clear because she was still catching her breath. Kimberly spoke, “Rats,” she paused and continued, “Cockroaches,” she paused again and spoke, “Infestation, bedroom, on the bed.”

George and Thomas couldn't understand a word Kimberly was saying, it sounded like an ancient tribe. George looked at Thomas, they both wondered to themselves, “What is she saying?”

After catching her breath, Emily spoke more clearly, “George, yesterday you said that you would call your friend today. I believe now is the right time.”

“Don't worry, Emily. I will call him,” George assured.

“I agree with Emily,” Lucy said but stopped and sniffed the aroma in the air, “Did you make breakfast?” Lucy wondered aloud.

“No,” replied George.

“How about you, Thomas, were you doing any cooking?”

“I was actually about to ask you that some question,” replied Thomas.

Emily went from door to door opening and checking were the aroma was coming from. Her three friends also followed her behind until they reached the kitchen door. Immediately, Thomas recalled seeing some bones in the kitchen the during the night when he was looking for the bedroom. He thought that if the ladies were to see the bones, they would be scared nearly to death.

Thomas assured the ladies so that he would check the kitchen alone. He said, “Why don't I check If someone is inside, then I will inform you.”

Emily retorted, “Did you think us girls were going to step in there after what happened in the bedroom? Of course that's your duty as men. I don’t know about the others but I will not go back to the bedroom until those rats are exterminated.”

Lucy and Kimberly stepped backwards and said, “We are not going in there.”

Slowly, Thomas walked closer towards the room and opened the door. 

Thomas was perplexed after seeing two things: The first thing was that the kitchen was sparkling clean, no dust and not a single or smallest bone was on the floor. The kitchen was spotless and filled with the sweet aroma. The second thing was that there was a young man about the same height as Thomas. He looked to be in his late twenties. He was handsome with a nice brown complexion. He wore a black butler uniform: black suit and white gloves. The young man was preparing a healthy breakfast: toasted bread and eggs, apple juice and fresh fruits in a silver bowl.

George and the ladies walked into the kitchen and stood shocked and puzzled after seeing the butler.

When the butler noticed that he was now in the midst of some guests, he removed the pots and pans from the stove, turned around and introduced himself:

“Ladies and gentlemen, do not be spooked for I'm here for you. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Patrick Fisher the butler of Green Forest Resorts.”

Thomas inquired, “What do you mean? Where did you come from because you were not here when we arrived?”

“That’s a wonderful question,” Patrick replied calmly and continued, “I was in the other room, unfortunately I was fast asleep and I didn’t hear you when you came in. I realised that Green Forest Resorts had some visitors when I was doing some cleaning early in the morning. I would have woken you up and informed you of my presence but I don’t dare to wake someone from a good night sleep.” He then smiled brightly. He had a charming smile.

“Are you alone here?” Emily asked looking around the room.

“Unfortunately, I run this hotel all by myself. I am like the care taker, the cook, entertainer and the janitor. The unfortunate thing is that the workers won't be back until further notice.”

“And why is that so?” Emily wondered and gave Patrick a suspicious look.

Patrick replied, “Well, Green Forest Resorts doesn't receive guests like it used to back in the days. So they all went home. But as a butler, it is my dream to cook for the visitors that stop-by at this resort. That means I would love to see this resort packed with people of different ages.”

Lucy asked, “Around 3 in the morning, we saw a certain man walk out from this place. He said something weird that has bothered us greatly. Do you know who he is?”

Patrick had a gentle laugh and replied, “You mean, Mr. Crazy. That old man comes here once in a while. He's a ghost enthusiast,” he added, “Do not be frightened by him for his actions are quite peculiar and I would advise you to stay away from him if you don’t want some of his craziness to rub off on you.”

Thomas spoke, “I remember this place was not as clean as it is now. Did you do this all by your self?”

Patrick replied, “I love my job. It brings me joy to see visitors walk through that big gate. I would do anything for them to feel welcome.” He paused for while and continued, “Enough with the questions, it is about time I gave you a tour around the Majestic Green Forest Resorts. First you should have your breakfast and rest. Tomorrow I’ll give you the tour.”

Meanwhile, Emily was still pondering about the horrible experience she had earlier that morning in her bedroom. She complained, “I will have breakfast in these clothes for I refuse to step into that room after that infestation.”

After hearing Emily's complains, Patrick replied, “As I said earlier, I hate to wake someone from a good night sleep, but since you are awake, I will now take care of infestation in any bedroom. I will see to it that you are all happy when you rest.”

Later, Patrick picked up a broom and a bucket full of water and a mixture of chemicals to keep away the rats. He then rushed from one bedroom to the other sweeping and mopping. Patrick worked like a machine programmed to multitask. It seemed like there wasn’t any job he couldn’t do and for this, two of his visitors were pleased – Thomas and George.

Later that day, after the rooms were cleaned neatly, everyone went back to the bedroom. The ladies however, felt like the rats were still running across the floor hence they had to peep through the door before they tiptoed into the bedroom. They checked the corners of the room from top to bottom and spotted no dirt of any kind.

 Lucy complimented, “This Patrick guy must really love his job. For as far as I’m concerned, this bedroom is neat as a pin.”

“Yes,” Kimberly replied. “I see no dirt. I hope the other rooms are this clean otherwise I wouldn’t go inside.”

Emily retorted, “But this doesn’t change the fact that this place is not as we expected. You saw what it looked like when we drove passed the gate.”

Lucy didn’t not understand why Emily was saying what she was saying hence she asked, “What's your point?”

“My point,” replied Emily. “Is that I don’t like this place no matter how much it can be cleaned. I just want to go home.”

“Relax girl,” Lucy began. “George already gave us his word. He will call his so called friend. And when he happens to show up, you can go back home with him while we enjoy some quiet time here. Few weeks from now we will be back in class and under the hands of the school. We won’t ever get freedom until we graduate. So let us enjoy this moment because it comes once in a while.”

Emily sighed but did not say anything.

Lucy and Kimberly began unpacking the clothes and hanging them in the closet. As Kimberly was unpacking she saw the music box which was handed to her by Harriet the fortune-teller few days ago.

“How did this get in here?” Kimberly wondered aloud.

“How did what get into where?” inquired Lucy. She stood over the suitcase and looked at the music box.

Kimberly explained, “This music box was given to me by a certain fortune- teller at the Family World Park. She said something about doing the right thing.”

Lucy was curious, ‘What do you mean by that?”

“It's too boring to tell and too complex to explain,” replied Kimberly.

Kimberly then picked up the music box and placed it on the table beside the bed.

“Nevertheless, It does suit the furniture. It's like it belongs here,” joked Lucy. But Lucy was right, the music box did match the furniture, the colour and texture was the same. However, Kimberly didn’t pay attention, she continued unpacking. 

9

PARANORMAL

Afternoon as the sun was high in the sky, lunch was prepared and served by Patrick the butler. The six of them sat down in the big dinning room and ate the delicious food.

When it was evening and the sun was moving down sinking into the horizon; Emily, Kimberly, Lucy, Thomas and George were seated in comfortable chairs near the fireplace as Patrick entertained his guests by telling jokes and showcasing his talents. Everyone in the room was pleased except for Emily. She barely paid attention to him because she pondered about going back home.

Patrick excused himself, “Excuse ladies and gentlemen, I have to visit the respected place.”

He pattered up the stairs and walked across the corridor. He passed the lady's bedroom which was open and something caught his eye – the music box. He turned to the door and walked in, he seemed very upset after seeing the music box.

Meanwhile, Emily was feeling sleepy, she said good night to her friends and pattered upstairs to her bedroom. When she reached the door, she realized that the door was open and could see a shadow which was cast on the floor. She peeped through the key hole and saw Patrick lingering over the music box.

Emily barged into the bedroom and spoke, “Can I help you?”

Patrick turned around and spoke calmly, “No. Actually I was just admiring this music box. Where did you get it?”

Emily gazed at Patrick with a suspicious face and retorted, “It's non of your business. Why should it matter to you?”

“I was only curious madam,” replied Patrick.

“I don’t care whether you were curious or not, this is a restricted area for you. You can’t walk in here without our permission.”

“I'm sorry madam, please forgive my curiosity,” Patrick replied cheekily and walked out of the bedroom.

Emily thought Patrick was in her room to steal the music box so she hid it in Kimberly's bag and zipped the zipper. Later she changed into her pajamas and laid on the bed.

Few hours later, Kimberly, Lucy and the guys also felt very drowsy they wanted to sleep.

Patrick informed, “Rest your eyes, tomorrow I will give you a tour around this environment.”

Thomas asked innocently, “Where exactly are you going to spend the night?”

Patrick smiled and replied, “Do not worry about me for I’ll be safe. There are plenty of rooms in this hotel and I choose any room to be my bedroom.”

“But,” Thomas began, “we are only two guys plus you, we wouldn’t mind if you spent a night in our room.”

Patrick replied cheerfully, “I appreciate your act of kindness but I’ll be fine. I have been doing this for quite a long time now. And few more nights wouldn’t hurt.”

“Alright, if you say so.”

They walked up the stairs and entered their respectful bedrooms. Kimberly and Lucy found Emily fast asleep like a baby. The both of them changed into their pajamas and slept.

Later that night when the moon was at its peek, the wind was blowing calmly outside. The lights began to flicker persistently until the ladies woke up. Emily rolled out of bed and rushed to the light-switch and flipped it. To their surprise, the light wasn’t going out, Emily flipped it several times but it continued to flicker until suddenly it went out on its own. They began panicking and calling out to the guys.

Moments later, they heard strange footsteps outside their room. The footsteps were getting closer and closer and until suddenly Emily felt a warm touch on her shoulder, she immediately screamed on top of her voice.

“Shh, quiet Madam,” Patrick said. Emily looked over her shoulder and saw Patrick holding a torch.

“Patrick, what on earth are you doing at this time of the night?” demanded Lucy.

“Sorry to bother you but I noticed that lights were flicking so I was heading to the basement to check on the power circuit when I heard you scream. I just came to check up on you.”

“Oh!” Lucy exclaimed.

“I will go now. Here is the torch, you will use it to see while I go see the power circuit in the basement,” said Patrick and handed Lucy the torch.

“Thank you, “ replied Lucy. “But, don’t you need this more than we do? How are you going to see your way downstairs?”

“I have my way,” replied Patrick and walked away. His shoes didn’t make the same footsteps as before, it was more quiet like no one was walking. Emily snatched the torch from Lucy and pointed in the direction of Patrick but couldn’t see him. Moments later, the lights were back on and were not flickering.

“That was quicker than I expected,” sad Lucy.

They switched off the lights and went back to sleep. Emily still had goose bumps from the earlier experience.

10

TOUR

 It was early in the morning and Emily was the first one to roll out of bed, then Lucy and lastly Kimberly. Lucy and Kimberly were anticipating the tour ahead of them that they did everything in a hurry from brushing their teeth and choosing the best clothes to suit the day.

Emily however, did everything slowly, she was as slow as a snail. She didn’t even bother to look for the best clothes, she picked up and wore the first thing she saw in her suitcase.

The three of them walked down stairs to the dinning room and saw that Thomas and George were already seated together with Patrick the butler.

“Good Morning sleepy heads!” exclaimed George as soon as he saw the ladies walking downstairs.

“Morning,” they replied. Kimberly and Lucy's voice was the one which was heard.

Immediately, Patrick stood up from his chair, “Have a seat ladies. I will serve you.” 

Kimberly wondered aloud, “How on earth do you manage to do everything all on your own?”

“Well madam,” Patrick began. “I’m talented. Infact there is a lot of things I can do. You just don’t know it.

They all sat down and began eating. Thomas noticed that Emily's mind was not with them. She was so distracted that she poured juice on a plate instead of a glass cup beside the plate.

“Is something bothering you, Emily?” wondered Thomas aloud.

Emily flinched from her mind travel and noticed that everyone was starring at her. She didn't notice that they were wondering why she was so distracted that she poured juice on a plate. When she realized that the plate was overflowing with juice, she felt embarrassed.

“Don't worry,” assured Patrick, “I will assist you in cleaning that mess.”

Patrick pulled out a cloth from his pocket and was about clean the mess made by Emily. Apparently, Emily felt uncomfortable standing so close to the butler. She stood up swiftly and yelled, “Get away from me!”

Thomas asked, “What's wrong, Emily?”

Emily didn't reply, she throw the napkin on the table and ran upstairs to her bedroom.

Meanwhile, her friends were worried, they wanted to check up on Emily to find out why she was acting in that manner. Thomas stood up and followed Emily. Lucy also stood up and followed Thomas upstairs to the bedroom.

George and Kimberly remained downstairs in the dinning room.

George encouraged, “Mr butler, do not feel offended by her actions. Please continue with your duty.”

“Thank you,” Patrick replied and continued cleaning the mess.

Meanwhile, Thomas and Lucy entered the bedroom and found Emily packing her clothes back in the suitcase.

“Why are you packing your clothes?” Thomas inquired, ”The holiday is not yet over. We still have about 5 days remaining.”

Emily turned around and said aloud, “Am I the only one having a bad feeling that we are not safe in this freaking house?”

Lucy wondered aloud, “What do you mean not safe?”

Emily replied, “I have no time to explain myself to you. The only thing you should know is that ever since we got here, I have had a bad feeling.”

“What sort of explanation do you need that will calm you down?” inquired Thomas.

“I do not need any explanation,” Emily replied. “I need to get out of this place as soon as possible.”

Lucy thought aloud, “Speaking of getting out of here, did George call the guy who's suppose to pick us up, at least to let him know?”

Thomas turned to Lucy and asked, “Are you on her side now?”

Lucy frowned and shrugged, “I'm only trying to help.”

Just then, there was a knock on the bedroom door.

“Who is it?” yelled Lucy.

“It's me, the butler. I'm here to inform you that we are now going on a quick tour and I wondered if you would like to tag along.”

Thomas replied, “We'll be there in a minute!”

“Alright!” the butler replied and walked away.

“I don't know about you but I want to go on this tour,” said Thomas.

“Are you going to join us?” inquired Lucy.

“No. You will find me here,” Emily refused and sat on the bed. She added, “You two can carry on with your business.”

Thomas and Lucy walked out of the bedroom.

Later, the tour began in the house: they walked from one room to the other while the butler explained several facts about the hotel.

 He opened one room and spoke, “This is the spar room. In here you can get a massage that would greatly improve your mood depending on what you are going through. Sometimes I spend time in here while I think.”

Thomas and George expected to find the room very filthy but were impressed and surprised, “Wow! You must really like your job. I believe this room was very dirty but now, you can eat and sleep in here.”

The butler replied with a smile, “No sir, I don't like my job. I love my job.”

“Either way,” Thomas began, “You are good at it.”

“Thank you!”

“And yes, it is quite a peaceful place to seat and think,” remarked George.

They went into the library and other rooms before finally going outside the hotel.

The hotel was not filthy like when they arrived. It was as neat as a pin. It was massive in size and beautiful with green trees and blooming flower surrounding the hotel.

Patrick pointed out to the pool and explained, “This is the King's Pool. Long ago kings would come from different parts of the nation and enjoy a quiet time here. They would seat in the pool and do nothing, just letting their bodies float and sipping on juice.”

“Don't you ever feel scared alone in this big hotel?” Kimberly wondered.

Patrick replied cheerfully, “I won’t lie to you. This place was not as it is now.”

Kimberly was puzzled, she asked, “What do you mean?”

Patrick replied, “I didn’t finish my sentence. I was saying, this place was not as it is now because it's not as scary when you get to know and understand its history. And if you are scared like most of our guests then this place would swallow you, but I can assure you that once you get to understand this place you would wish to stay here and never live.”

Kimberly liked the sound of the resort not being scary but not the part of never wanting to live.

Patrick then glanced at the bedroom window on the third floor and saw Emily peeking through the window. He looked away and spoke, “I see your friend is not a fun of tours, is she?”

George replied, “She is usually a fun and adventurous person. I don't know what is wrong with her lately.”

The butler laughed and joked, “Well, you better keep an eye on her then otherwise she might just disappear.”

They carried on joking and laughing as Patrick the butler continued touring them around Green Forest Resorts.

11

MISSING

 Emily stood at the window for few minutes. She became bored, she didn't know what to do to make the boredom go away, but she didn’t want to join her friends outside especially with Patrick present.

She remembered that there was a library not far away from her bedroom. Carefully, Emily walked out of the bedroom and walked towards the library.

Then there was a knock at the storeroom door. The knock seemed to be coming from the inside. She thought that maybe she was hearing sounds. She continued walking but again the knocking persisted more strongly and more loudly. Immediately, goose bumps popped up on Emily’s skin, she was scared.

“Who’s there?” she demanded.

It was dead silent, no reply came from the other side of the door. Quietly, she tiptoed across the corridor and stood by the storeroom door and demanded, “Is anyone there?”

The ambience was just the same as before – it was dead silent.

Meanwhile, the tour came to an end, Thomas, George, Lucy and Kimberly enjoyed themselves. However, they were still outside talking and laughing. They were having so much fun that they didn’t notice that Patrick the butler was not amongst them. George and Lucy were seated on chairs while Thomas and Kimberly admired the green environment. 

On the other hand, Emily opened the door to the closet and was puzzled after seeing that no one was at the door. She tiptoed through the storeroom and when she was far away from the door, there blew a strong wind which slammed the door shut.

 The storeroom was quite dark despite the sun shining outdoor. The room was full of spider webs and old bones. Emily crouched down while she continued walking over a paddle of water.

Emily then saw Rose standing in front of her with the blood stained dress. Emily had only heard rumours about Rose. She didn’t know that the rumours were actually true. She was terrified that she felt like her heart dropped in her stomach. She wanted to run but there was no where else left to go.

Few seconds later outdoors as George was swimming in the Kings Pool, Kimberly wondered aloud, “Has anyone of you seen Emily lately?”

“No I haven’t,” replied Lucy.

“What of you George?” wondered Kimberly. But he was having too fun much to even reply. He deliberately swum under water just so he could avoid more questions because he didn’t want to be disturbed.

Kimberly declared, “I'll go check on Emily, I’m sure she’s still in the bedroom.”

“I’ll come along with you,” Lucy assured.

Lucy and Kimberly walked inside the hotel and began yelling, “Emily!” They pattered up the stairs and were immediately welcomed by a sweet melody which was coming from their bedroom.

When they barged into the bedroom, the first thing they had in mind was to see Emily but to their surprise, she wasn’t there. However, they figured out that the melody was coming from Kimberly’s bag.

The both of them glanced at each other:

“What's that?” Lucy asked curiously.

Kimberly shrugged. 

Moments later, Kimberly unzipped her bag and saw the music box. There was a small round ball rotating on its axis.

Lucy pulled out the music box from Kimberly’s bag while gazing at it with great admire, “Although this music box looks old, its melody is quite soothing and modern.”

“Forget about that,” Kimberly began, “Where is Emily?” Then the music box ceased playing the melody.

Lucy replied, “I don't know, let us try checking in other rooms.”

Kimberly shoved the music box back in her and walked out with Lucy while yelling Emily’s name. They checked in the library, the bathrooms, the spar, the bar, the game room and the basement.

They then ran outside to inform Thomas and George of Emily’s disappearance.

“We can’t find Emily!” Lucy exclaimed while panting.

“What do you mean?” Thomas asked, “wasn’t she in the bedroom?”

Lucy replied, “Yes, she was in the bedroom when we came out here. But now she's not in the bedroom. And I can assure you that Emily isn’t someone who can go out without informing anyone.”

“Are you sure you’ve checked every room?” asked George.

Patrick then walked outside and said, “I couldn’t help but notice that you are looking for your friend.”

“Yes,” replied Kimberly. “Do you know where she is?”

“I could have sworn that I saw your friend walk out of the gate,” said Patrick with a worrisome face.

“Out of the gate!” exclaimed Kimberly and Lucy. “But, where did she go?”

“Well,” Patrick replied, “I don’t know exactly where she went. I thought she was only stretching her legs so I didn't bother to ask her or to inform you. But judging by the time she walked out, I think she might be in some sort of trouble. After all, it's a forest out there and anything can happen.”

“But you should have informed us anyway!” exclaimed Kimberly.

Lucy suggested, “Let's all go find her. She might be in trouble!”

Kimberly thought, “We can’t all go at the same time.”

Thomas replied, “Yes. That means, George and I will go and look for her.”

Kimberly protested, “You must be out of your mind to think that Lucy and I will remain here all by ourselves.”

George replied, “But you have the butler to take care of you.”

Lucy said, “Still, it is better if one of you went while the other stayed behind else we are all going.”

Thomas thought for a while and declared, “Alright, then George will remain while I go and look for Emily.”

“I'll go with you!” cried Kimberly.

Thomas tried to convince Kimberly to remain, “You heard that anything can happen in the forest. It is better if you remained here with George and Lucy, I’ll find Emily and bring her back.”

Kimberly refused, “No, I’m not remaining and there is nothing that you can do to stop me. If it means I’ll get in trouble, then be it.”

“You are wasting time, Thomas,” cried Lucy. “Just go with her if she wants to and you will come back together. Nothing wrong with that.”

Thomas thought for a while and approved, “Alright then.”

“Go get me my bag, Lucy” requested Kimberly.

Lucy rushed inside the hotel to the bedroom and got the bag, rushed outside and handed it to Kimberly. Few moments later, Kimberly and Thomas walked out of the gate leaving George and Lucy under the care of Patrick.

12

LOST SOULS

Lucy and George watched helplessly as the sun sunk dipper into the horizon. It was darker and darker without any possible sign of Kimberly, Thomas or Emily. The both of them were worried sick about their friends. But unfortunately, there was nothing much that they could do to help any of their friends. This been the fact, it troubled Lucy the most.

Lucy sat on a bench near the edge of the pool, she was deep in her thoughts. George however was having a late night swim in the King's pool to cool off the nerves as he thought making himself busy would distract him from thinking about his friends who were not showing any signs of return.

Patrick was doing what he does best; he was making sure that his guests were satisfied with the services that he offered. Although his services were very pleasing, they didn’t seem to wipe off the worrisome faces on his guests and this troubled him as well. He wanted to help them but didn’t even know where to begin from.

Lucy leaned forward and complained to George, “I think something has happened to Kimberly and Thomas otherwise they would have been back by now. Just look at the time, the sun is almost gone.”

Patrick heard Lucy’s complaints and assured her, “Don’t worry, I am sure that your friends are safe.”

“How can you be so sure of that,” replied Lucy “I mean, you don’t have a clue of who they are or where they might be, do you?”

He replied calmly, “You are right. But I know this place from top to bottom and everything goes as planned.”

Lucy immediately looked at Patrick with a suspicions look and demanded, “What do you mean by everything goes as planned?”

Patrick had a gentle smirk and replied, “ I meant your plans of course. Everything that you jot down on a piece of paper to be done here is always accomplished.”

He then excused himself, “Excuse me while I pour you some strawberry juice that would surly calm your nerves.”

He smiled and walked inside.

Lucy began to wonder to herself: “Where does this butler disappear to? I have never seen him in one place for more than two minutes, it’s hard to have a conversation with him. Is he what he says he is or perhaps something is wrong? Did he really see Emily walk out of the gate?”

Lucy was deeply troubled that she couldn’t concentrate any longer. It bothered her where Patrick went and where he spent most of the nights. She looked at Patrick as he was walking through the door. She then whispered to George:

“How many times has the butler gone inside today?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean do you ever wonder what Patrick does inside the hotel? He’s been disappearing and reappearing, we hardly know where he wonders off to.”

George replied, “Lucy, should I remind you that the butler is doing everything alone. The least we could do is appropriate his services, it’s not easy switching from one task to another in a short space of time.”

“That's what puzzles me the most, it is very difficult to do what he’s doing, he’s everywhere, he’s either there or here.”

“Don’t confuse me, Lucy. Just enjoy your stay here and wait for the return of Kimberly, Thomas and Emily.”

Lucy wondered aloud, “Do you think the butler was telling the truth when he said that he spotted Emily walking out of the gate? Because for as far as I’m concerned, Emily refused to even step out of the bedroom, it wouldn’t make any sense that she would actually walk out of the gate without our consent.”

But George did not reply, he pushed himself with both his legs into the middle of the pool and swum under water just to avoid Lucy’s statements and endless questions.

But Lucy was really troubled that she wouldn’t ignore what was currently happening. She wanted to find answers to her questions therefore she wanted to follow Patrick and see where he went. She stood up promptly and walked to the entrance door. She looked both sides like a thief before tiptoeing inside the hotel.

She hid behind the sofa and peeped through the hallway. When she saw that the coast was clear, she crouched down and tiptoed to the kitchen. She peeped through the key hole but did not have a clear view because the key hole was filled with dirt. She decided to open the door and pushed her head through the door. She saw Patrick pouring juice in two glasses.

Patrick turned around and saw Lucy at the door, Lucy immediately smiled and said: “I only came to get a glass drink of water.”

Patrick smiled back and continued with what he was doing, Lucy also entered the kitchen to have a drink of water. She got a glass cup from the cupboard and poured herself some tap water.

Lucy suddenly dropped the glass cup when she saw that there was a woman with a stained dress on the mirror in place of Patrick. Her hand was immediately covered with goose bumps as and she shook. 

“You... W-w-w-who are you?” stammered Lucy as she pointed at Patrick.

He looked at Lucy and then at the mirror and replied with a smile, “I'm Rose.”

Then Lucy began to float in the air as she kicked her legs in all directions. Her hands were on her neck because something was strangling her that she failed to breath. Several seconds later, Lucy dropped to the floor from a height of 3 meters and made a rough thud.

Meanwhile, George was enjoying his swim in the pool all alone. He swum in different directions and in numerous positions like he was sport champion. He held his breath and swum under water and touched the floor then swum back to the surface. He swum back down for the second time and swum back to the surface only to find a scary woman standing at the edge of the pool. He began to scream and calling for help while trying to get out of the water but failed because something was holding him and pulling him to the bottom of the surface. George slapped the water vigorously but was pulled even harder until his head was deep in water. Almost immediately, the water in the pool turned red.

13

 WOLF

The sun was slowly losing its light and sinking deeper into the horizon. The sky was no longer blue, however a purple gradient running from the east to the west splashed onto the sky. The sky looked like an art painting on display in a museum. It was beautiful but at the wrong time.

The evening creatures began to creep out of their hiding places: owls flew out of their nests, bats flew swiftly in the air, the foxes were out to haunt and so were the lone wolves. With all the animals out of hiding, the forest became quite noisy.

This was probably the wrong time for anyone to be out alone in the deadly forest, because you wouldn’t know what would be creeping behind you.

Kimberly wasn’t that scared of the dark, moreover the moon was at its peak hence they saw where they were walking. Thomas on the other hand wasn’t that comfortable walking in the nigh time especially in a forest. Whenever he would get scared he would cling to Kimberly’s hand and Kimberly would get very irritated.

Regularly, Kimberly and Thomas took short breaks to rest their feet and quench their thirst. After the short break, they would hike deeper and deeper into the forest. They had no idea where they were going to but they had the assumption that Emily was somewhere in the forest. Little did they know that for every step they took they were approaching a dangerous territory; a territory where wild animals fed on pray. 

Kimberly and Thomas had just crossed the boundaries of the territory and was now being watched by a vicious lone wolf. Its eyes shone and its teeth were grinding against each other. It crouched down and hid itself in a thick bush.

Thomas saw a log lying flat on the ground and thought that it was a great time to rest their feet after a long walk.

Thomas complained, “I can’t continue walking because my feet are killing me. Let us rest for a while.”

Kimberly retorted, “Do you know that the time that we are spending resting is decreasing our chances of finding Emily?”

Thomas sat down on the long and began to massage his legs. He then gazed at Kimberly and said worryingly, “I'm beginning to think that Emily didn’t come this way otherwise we would have found her by now. See it its getting dark, we are only lucky that the moon is lighting our way through this forest otherwise we would have been lost.”

Kimberly replied, “I won’t say you are wrong. Actually I think she did not even walk out of the gate.”

“But the butler did say that he saw her walking out of the gate.”

“Yes,” replied Kimberly, “But what if she didn’t.”

“What do you mean?” wondered Thomas.

Kimberly thought aloud, “What if she didn’t walk out of the gate. Infact, what if she didn’t even leave the hotel?”

“But the butler did say that..”

“Yes I know what the butler said,” interrupted Kimberly, “But what if he lied to us?”

Thomas was puzzled, “But why would he lie to us?”

“Before I ...” Kimberly then paused after she heard the sound of a breaking branch behind them. She turned around swiftly and saw two glowing eyes.

Kimberly exclaimed “RUN!”

A shot of adrenaline rushed through their bodies, Thomas jumped to his feet and ran in the west direction, Kimberly also ran in the west direction but her bag made it difficult for her to catch up with Thomas. Although Thomas complained earlier that his feet were aching, he paid no attention to them, he ran like an Olympic champion.

Neither Kimberly nor Thomas knew what was chasing them until the wolf howled. They could hear its howling getting closer and closer.

Thomas thought that if he could split up with Kimberly, the wolf would stop chasing Kimberly and chase him instead.

“I'll go left, you go right!” yelled Thomas and later turned to his left hand side while Kimberly made a sharp right turn to her right hand side.

Apparently, the wolf did not turn to Thomas despite him been closer instead it turned to Kimberly.

Immediately, Thomas picked up a branch and ran towards the wolf. Kimberly realized that her bag pack was slowing her down hence she decided to drop the bag so that she could run faster.

As soon as the bag touched the ground, the wolf stopped chasing Kimberly and walked around the bag like it was shielding it from danger.

Thomas was puzzled and yelled out to Kimberly, “Wait Kimberly turn around.”

Kimberly stopped running and looked back, saw the wolf and was also puzzled.

“Are you alright?!” yelled Thomas.

“Yes I’m, what about you?”

“Don’t worry about me,” he replied.

Suddenly, a man walked out from behind a tree. He wore a black hood and had a stick in his right hand. It was no bigger than the stick that Thomas had and definitely no harder. No sooner had the wolf seen the man than it ran away.

“You can come out now, the wolf is gone!” assured the man. His name was Nicholas, he lived not far from where they were standing. He was the same man who was at the entrance of the resort.

Thomas and Kimberly walked to Nicholas.

“Who are you?!” Thomas demanded as he looked at Nicholas with hostile eyes.

“Aren’t you the man we saw back at the hotel two days ago?” claimed Kimberly. “What are you doing here?”

Nicholas spoke in a calm and deep voice, “That is the question you should ask yourselves: why have you come here?”

“We came here to look for our friend – Emily,” replied Kimberly enthusiastically.

Nicholas questioned, “What makes you think she's here?”

Thomas spoke in a disrespectful tone, “Aren't you the mad old man that Patrick told us about? He said you are a mad man and that we should avoid you at all times.”

“Which Patrick are you talking about?” inquired Nicholas.

“Patrick, the butler,” replied Kimberly.

“Who’s the butler?” demanded Nicholas.

Thomas was getting irritated by the man’s questions and retorted, “We are talking about the butler who works at the resort you first saw us.”

Kimberly interrupted, “First of all, tell us who you are and where you came from. Are you some sort of wizard?”

Nicholas gazed at Kimberly and inquired, “What do you have in your bag?”

“A water bottle, some snacks and yes some type of music box,” replied Kimberly.

Nicholas had a bright smile on his face as he said, “A music box you say? Pick up your bag immediately.”

The happiness of Nicholas worried Kimberly especially Thomas. Nevertheless, she picked up the bag and dusted it clean.

“You are the one that the universe has sent to free us from this slavery,” declared Nicholas.

Kimberly had no idea what Nicholas was talking about. What Nicholas said only made Kimberly to believe that Patrick was right; that Nicholas was indeed a mad person.

In a respectful tone, Kimberly spoke, “Sir, have you perhaps seen our friend, Emily. We were told that she walked out of the gate and we were wondering if you have seen her.”

“Did you look for her everywhere in the rooms?”

“Yes we did but, we did not find her.”

Nicholas thought, “Did the music box by any chance play a melody by itself? Like did you hear a kind of melody coming from the music box?”

“yes we did, three times today actually. The first one was at the hotel and we heard the two melodies some few hours ago, why?”

Nicholas sighed and replied with a low tone, “That means your friends are no more.”

“What?!” exclaimed Kimberly. “Get away from us you mad man.” She then said to Thomas, “Let us go, I can’t waste any more time with this man.”

‘No wait!” cried Nicholas. “Don't go. I’ll explain everything to you. You are here for a reason and if you go we will suffer. Let me burst the bubble, the person that sent you this way is the same person who is responsible for the death of your friends.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I'm serious,” replied Nicholas. “It is very dangerous for you to go back now because all of you will face the same fate as your friends.”

“Come with me,” insisted Nicholas.

“Why should we go with you? We barely know you,” retorted Kimberly.

Nicholas assured, “I can assure you that I’m one of you. And I hope that you won’t make the mistake I made. I know you also had a vision.”

“What are you talking about?” demanded Thomas.

“Your friend there knows what I’m talking about,” replied Nicholas.

Thomas turned to Kimberly, he was perplexed, “Kimberly, what is this man talking about?”

Kimberly replied, “Let us follow him, Thomas.”

“What?! Why?!” exclaimed Thomas. “Do you want to follow a man that you don’t even know? And what vision is he talking about?”

“I’ll lead the way,” concluded Nicholas and began walking. Kimberly also began following him. Thomas had no other choice but to follow them as well!

14

BE MY GUEST

After walking for 15 minutes with Nicholas in front of them leading the way, they saw a fire blazing at a distance. Then they heard people talking, laughing and singing. It sounded like a festival was taking place. The ambience of people laughing and singing was getting louder and louder each second that passed until they finally saw a clear view of what was happening ahead of them.

Ahead of them was a community that was called North Community. The houses were modern and neatly built in a linear pattern. Trees were placed around the community to act as the fence. In the middle of the houses was a blazing fire with people of different ages singing and dancing as they circled around the fire.

As Nicholas walked passed the entrance, he spoke cheerfully, “Let me be the first one to welcome you to the North Community. A community of love and care. This is where I grew up.”

Immediately there were people who ran after Kimberly and Thomas to welcome them. The people were very respectful and friendly in addressing Thomas and Kimberly.

Moments later, an old woman walked up to Nicholas. She had a walking stick in her right hand while her left hand was behind her back. She walked while bending forward. Her name was Elizabeth but everyone called her Eliza.

“Who do we have here?” Eliza asked.

Nicholas replied cheerfully, “The universe has remembered us once again. Here is the one who’s going to free us from Rose.”

Eliza replied, “Is that so?” she then turned to Kimberly:

“What do they call you?”

“I'm Kimberly Williams,” she replied. “And this is my friend Thomas Anderson.”

“Very well,” replied Eliza ,”You both have such wonderful names. Follow me to take rest, you must be tired.”

“But who are you?” asked Thomas.

“Call me, Eliza.”

As they walked, Kimberly saw people seated on a bench which was on the veranda while they ate food. When the people saw Kimberly and Thomas, they smiled brightly and waved at them. Cheerfully, they waved back and walked away. Outside another house, they saw people star gazing and pointing out to the stars in amazement. 

Finally they entered the main house which was located between two small houses. Five old chairs circled a round table, there was a fire place beside a window and a book shelf filled with books. It was a nice and cosy house with a warm temperature to chase away the cold.

Eliza and Nicholas sat down next to each other on different chairs. You could hear the squeak sound made by the chair as soon as they sat down.

“Have a seat. You are no longer strangers,” assured Eliza.

Thomas and Kimberly sat down next to each other near the fire. They could feel the warmth of the fire which immediately warmed their cold bodies.

“Do not be afraid for you are in safe hands now. Your coming here tells me that you were at the Green Forest Resorts, weren’t you?” asked Eliza.

“Yes. But can you please stop beating around the bush and tell us the reason we were brought here?” snapped Kimberly.

“Yes!” exclaimed Thomas, “Have you perhaps kidnapped us?”

Kimberly interrupted, “Thomas, behave yourself.”

“Many years ago,” began Eliza, “before Green Forest Resorts was built, we used to live there. Near our house lived a couple by the name of Rose and David. By that time I was younger and more beautiful that I am now. The North Community decided to come together and build a Resort, that way we would have income to develop our community even further.

“When our community held the meeting to decide our future neither Rose nor David showed up. Nevertheless, we all agreed that we demolish our houses and relocate to this place so that the resort can be constructed. But when we informed Rose about the decision of the community she refused. For many days we tried to convince her that she relocate to this area but her answer was always ‘no.'”

Eliza paused for a while, gazed closely at Kimberly and asked, “Are you listening?”

Kimberly nodded her head in approval.

“What can I get you while I tell you the story?”

“Some tea will do,” replied Kimberly.

Eliza instructed Nicholas, “Please serve our guests some tea and don’t forget to add some snacks too.”

Nicholas stood up, walked to the kitchen. He found hot water in a tea pot which he poured in the cup and picked out some snacks from the cupboard and placed them on the tray. He walked back to the living room and placed the tray on the table before seating back down.

“Please help yourselves to some tea and snacks while I brief you to why you are here.”

“By the way, where was I?” asked Eliza. 

Kimberly replied, “You tried convincing Rose but her answer was always ‘no.’”

“Oh yes,” replied Eliza. “You have been very attentive.” She then continued:

“Most of the people in the community had already moved here including me. But apparently there were some people who remained behind to try and convince Rose. Apparently those people that remained behind had lost all patience with Rose that they plotted against Rose to burn down her house.

“Before I continue you should be aware that Rose was a hex and she practiced her magic and spells secretly. We only got to know about this when the people finally burnt down her house while she was inside. They thought that maybe she wasn’t home because days had gone by without seeing her.”

Kimberly interrupted, “Pardon me for asking but how exactly did you find out that Rose was a hex?”

“Because she didn’t die.”

“Excuse me!” exclaimed Thomas. “You mean you burnt down the lady?”

Eliza replied, “If you have been paying attention, you would understand by now that it wasn’t intentional. And that foolish mistake is the reason why you are here.”

Kimberly did not understand what Eliza was saying, “Madam please shade more light on that last statement because I can’t seem to understand your point.”

“As I said that Rose did not die because she was a hex who practiced magic. She walked out of the flames wearing a white dress which was stained with blood. No one saw ever her face because her hair covered the face. All those people who burned down her house were killed by her. Rose also wanted to kill the rest of us but because of Harriet the sorcerer we survived.”

“Wait a minute,” interrupted Kimberly, “I know someone by the name of Harriet except she is a fortune-teller not a sorcerer.”

Eliza smiled and replied, “You are not far from correct. She’s the one. She is the one who trapped Rose in the music box that I believe you have. From that point freedom was upon us and Green Forest Resorts was constructed. But the freedom was short lived because Rose was set free by mistake. There was terror on the Green Forest Resorts that people ran away.”

“Why didn’t Harriet trap Rose for the second time?” asked Kimberly.

“Because Rose grew too powerful for her, “replied Eliza. “You can’t even imagine the kind of power she possesses now. Harriet told us that the only person that could trap Rose was someone brave and not one of us. She went to Bratnom City to send us you.”

Kimberly replied, “Right... Now could someone explain to me the meaning of the vision I had. I remember Harriet told me that I will come to know the meaning of the vision when the time is right.”

“Well,” Nicholas began, “ The pebbles that you saw were your friends. And the woman in a hood was Rose. The order in which Rose picked up the pebbles is the order of your friend's deaths. Unfortunately, no one can tell who’s next but you will be the last one if you don’t stop her.”

“You explained my vision with such ease. I didn’t even tell you the vision so that you could explain it but you explained it without me telling you the order of things, why is that so?” Kimberly asked thoughtfully.

“It’s because I had the same vision a long time,” replied Nicholas, “I visited Harriet the fortune-teller because I wanted to know my future; that’s when I had the vision of the pebbles and I was handed the music box. When my family and I visited Green Forest Resorts, we were haunted day and night by Rose. I lost my family in that hotel. I was so scared that I ran away into the forest and that’s how I found myself in this community. These people took care of me until now. The one mistake that I made was to run away.”

“But,” Kimberly was curious, “If you were handed the music box, how come it was with Harriet?”

Eliza laughed and scoffed, “That old fortune-teller can do more than you can imagine.”

Nicholas continued, “Now, Kimberly. You have two options: you can repeat the same mistake I made when I ran away. As you can see that did not solve the problem and it won’t solve it either if you ran as well. Hence, Rose will continue haunting and killing whoever enters that hostel; or you can trap Rose in that music box so that the hotel can be free from the years of slavery. Make your choice wisely.”

Kimberly asked, “Why can’t you trap it now that you know how to do it?”

“Who was handed the music box?” Nicholas questioned.

“I was given the box. But I can give it to you.”

“That’s not how it works, The one who was handed the box is the only one who can trap Rose. So let us just say that the future is in your hands, Kimberly.”

Thomas exclaimed, “Wasn’t it enough that you declared our friends dead, and now you are talking about trapping a ghost!”

Kimberly however began to think about what Nicholas said. She was deep in her thoughts and overtaken by anxiety. She thought about her friends and thought about the future of Green Forest Resorts. She felt weak in the bones and wanted to refuse. But deep down her heart, there was a voice which was strengthening her and encouraging her.

She then stood up abruptly and pulled out the music box from her bag. She looked at Thomas, Nicholas and then at Eliza and said enthusiastically:

“This world rarely produces people like me. According to you Rose has been haunting the hotel for many years. People actually had an opportunity to get rid of her but ran away because they were afraid. And if I do the same thing, who knows when this place will get such a person again? The fortune-teller was right, we humans think we are smart when we ran away from problems.”

“What are you saying, Kimberly?” asked Thomas.

“I'm going to trap Rose.”

“Are you out of your mind?!”

“Thomas, try to understand. I was handed this box for a reason. Unless I do what I was destined to do will this place be free again. People stopped coming here because of this same Rose and won’t come until she’s trapped.”

Thomas didn’t say anything.

“I will teach you how to trap Rose tomorrow. For now, get some rest,” said Eliza.

Nicholas then said to Thomas, “Come, I’ll take you to your room.” The both of them walked out of the house leaving Kimberly and Eliza in the main house.

15

GHOST POSSESSION

It was morning with the sun shining in the blue sky. People in the community woke up earlier before the sun was out in the sky so that they could do their assigned chores. Eliza was the one who supervised everyone and made sure that everything was done accordingly. She also made sure that children did not walk away from the community boundary because it was dangerous.

By the time the sun was out in the sky, breakfast was already served for Kimberly and Thomas in the main house. When Kimberly woke up, she didn’t find Eliza in the bedroom. She saw Eliza standing by a tree when she went outside to smell the morning air.

Kimberly walked to Eliza. She admired how Eliza was giving out instructions. She would use her walking stick to point out in a certain direction and instruct what needed to be done like:

“You there, pick up those leaves and those small branches.” “And you, make sure that place is clean.”

Kimberly spoke, “For an old woman, you still have what it takes to lead a community to glory.”

Eliza had a smirk on her face, however it wasn’t very clear for Kimberly to see. “You don’t need strength to lead but courage,” replied Eliza. “One might have the strength to lead but without courage it becomes very difficult to lead anything. Even the strongest men have perished not because they lacked strength but because they lacked courage.” She then asked, “So Kimberly, how was your night?”

“It was quite peaceful, though I’m still heart broken that I lost my friends.”

“I understand your pain dear.”

“I have noticed that people here don’t live in fear that Rose would probably come for them, why is that so?” Kimberly asked curiously.

“You are right, people live freely here knowing that Rose won’t come for them because this premises is sprinkled with special salt every day. The kind of salt that irritates evil spirits. Hence, we are all safe unless we walk out of this premises.”

“But Nicholas was far from here, wasn’t he?”

“Yes he was,” replied Eliza. “That is why he was wearing a special necklace to protect him.”

“Oh... I understand. So how many of those necklace are there?”

“Unfortunately, there is only one. It is actually for emergencies only. By the way, did you go through the book I gave last night?”

“Yes I did,” replied Kimberly.

“Good. And I hope you’ve learnt the mantra because without it, it is nearly impossible to complete the ritual.”

“I have learnt the mantra and everything that is necessary to complete the ritual, I only await to be directed to the thorn tree which I’m suppose to perform the trapping ritual.”

Eliza was impressed with Kimberly's knowledge, she smiled on side of the face.

“Have you had your breakfast?”

“No I haven’t,” replied Kimberly.

“Come, we’ll have breakfast together.” Eliza and Kimberly walked back into the main house to have breakfast.

Meanwhile, Thomas was in Nicholas's house which was few meters away from the main house. Thomas’s night wasn’t that peaceful because he kept having strange nightmares. When he woke up in the morning, he thought he was still at the hotel only to find himself in a simple house with simple modern windows.

Nicholas kept Thomas company hence he didn’t have any reason to complain. Everyone in the community was welcoming and very friendly, they had smiles on their faces that would probably drive away the sadness in anyone.

Later that Evening, Eliza summoned Kimberly, Thomas and Nicholas in the main house and sat them down.

“Where you are going isn’t any lesser than the distance you walked here. It would greatly help you if you went while the sun has its light,” suggested Eliza.

“But how is it possible for us to go where we’ve never been before?” cried Kimberly.

“Don’t let that bother you,” Eliza began, “You have Nicholas to take you there and once everything is done, he’ll bring you back here.”

“Well that is good to here,” replied Kimberly, “Since I’ll be coming back here, I think it’s better if Thomas remained here with you.”

Thomas protested, “I don’t mean to sound rude, and don’t take this the wrong way but I’m not remaining behind. I want to be there next to you. You convinced me to come to this community and I agreed because I couldn’t let you go by yourself.”

“Thomas try to understand...” said Kimberly but was interrupted by the raise of Eliza’s hand:

“I don’t see any reason for you to stay here, son. If you want to go with your friend that’s alright but make sure to stay very close to each other. That’s for your safety,” warned Eliza.

Few moments later, Nicholas snapped and unpinned the necklace from his neck, “You need this more than me.” He stood up, walked to Kimberly and pinned the necklace around her neck.

When Thomas saw what was happening, he complained, “How come I don’t get a necklace like that? I will be vulnerable as well.”

“So will I,” replied Nicholas. “Unfortunately, there is only one necklace of that kind. But just as Eliza said; we will be safe as long as we stay close to each other especially to Kimberly now that she has the necklace.”

“Why do ladies get so much attention? It is said that men are to protect women from danger yet Kimberly is now protecting us from danger,” chuckled Nicholas.

“I don’t see anything wrong with that,” replied Eliza.

Thomas was now silent. He watched as Kimberly was reciting a mantra.

The air blew calmly outside the main house. They could see the sun through the window as it was going dipper into the horizon. Eliza decided it was time for them to go. Hence, Kimberly, Thomas and Nicholas said farewell to Eliza and walked into the forest following a trail of some kind. They held hands with Kimberly in the middle, Nicholas and Thomas on the sides. The distance from the North Community to the thorn tree was about 1km hence they had arrived in time just as the sun finally sunk deep into the horizon.

The thorn tree was bigger and more thorny than expected. It had weirdly shaped branches sticking out of it. One would miss the tree if not given a clear description.

Quickly Nicholas pulled some items from Kimberly bag pack which were packed earlier by Eliza: candles, lighter and some salt. He lit up 7 candles and placed them making a circle big enough to accommodate three people including the tree. Then he sprinkled salt around the edges of the candles such that it looked like a big white hoop.

Kimberly pulled out the music box and entered the salt ring, Nicholas also entered the ring and finally Thomas crossed the ring. They sat down on the dry leaves.

“Kimberly, you know what to do,” began Nicholas. “And as for you Thomas. Listen to me very carefully, we have to close our eyes when Kimberly will be reciting a mantra. Do not at any point open your eyes. And one more thing...”

Thomas was curious so he interrupted Nicholas and asked eagerly, “Why? What will happen?”

Nicholas replied cheekily, “Do you perhaps want to see Rose?” he continued with his instructions, “Once we hold hands, don’t let go of Kimberly's hand or walk out of this circle. Holding hands like we did when coming here will protect you and me as much as the necklace will protect Kimberly. But if for some reason one of us, especially you and me, decides to break the circle then we fall prey to Rose.”

They held hands and closed their eyes. Few moments later Kimberly began to recite a mantra:

 

“For the place you came from is the place you are suppose to be;

We’ve been slaves under your watch because you were set free;

I now summon you from where ever you may be;

And command you to return to your world so that we can be free.”

 Kimberly continued reciting the mantra until suddenly there were dark clouds over them and a strong wind blowing persistently from four different directions. Strange ghostly sounds echoed through the air.

Then suddenly, Rose appeared behind them. This time she wasn’t hiding in a human form. She stood upright with her head facing in the direction of Kimberly. Her face was however still covered by her hair. She could sense a strong force field between her and Kimberly that prevented her from walking any further towards Kimberly. 

 Slowly, she began pacing back and forth as she laughed maniacally. As soon as Thomas heard the laughter, his heart pounded quickly and loudly, his face was sweating so much that some of his sweat rolled down his cheeks and dropped like rain on the dry leaves.

Then abruptly, Rose roared loudly like an angry lion. The roar was so loud that the ground shook almost immediately. Thomas was so scared that he opened his eyes and ran away in fear, he didn’t wait to realize that the circle would protect him hence he decided to run for his life.

Kimberly noticed that Thomas ran away, she opened her eyes and tapped on Nicholas's shoulder. When he opened his eyes, he too saw that Thomas was not amongst them, he turned around and saw Thomas standing at a distance from them while looking strangely at them.

“Thomas!” Kimberly yelled aloud. She thought Thomas could hear her and was only pretending not to hear her. She had no idea that Thomas was actually possessed by Rose.

“Come back into the circle, Thomas!” she said. But nothing was happening. He stood upright with pale skin.

“I'm afraid Thomas has been possessed,” interrupted Nicholas.

“Possessed!” exclaimed Kimberly. “By what?!”

“Rose.”

Kimberly had tears rolling down her cheeks as she gazed helplessly at Thomas. She didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t bare to lose another one of her friends.

16

DO OR DIE

Kimberly and Nicholas stood inside the circle made of salt while gazing at Thomas. The wind was still blowing strongly that a small tornado formed behind Thomas. The tornado was very swirly and strong that Nicholas and Kimberly could feel its pulling force.

“We have to get away from here,” said Nicholas.

“But why, you said that...”

“I know what I said,” he interrupted, “But Rose has possessed Thomas. You might not understand but now she will try by any means necessary to scare us out of this circle. We were safe before, actually you are still safe but as for me I’m not. Just finish the ritual by any means necessary and don’t worry about me or your friend. Once you complete the ritual, your friend will be back to normal but I hope you do that before Rose takes our lives.”

Almost immediately, Nicholas was pushed out of the circle by a strong force. He hit himself on a tree and fell to the ground with a thud.

“Come with me, Kimberly,” began Thomas as he was walking towards Kimberly, “Let’s go back home. Our parents must be waiting for us.” For a second, Thomas didn’t seem to be possessed, he was in his normal self with his brown colour but Nicholas yelled from behind:

“Don’t listen to her, Kimberly!”

Thomas was very angry, he flew over to Nicholas and lifted him to his feet, he then began to choke him as the both of them were floating in mid air. Nicholas was slowly losing his life, he passed a quick glance at Kimberly.

Quickly, Kimberly sat down, closed her eyes and began to recite the trap mantra. When Thomas saw this he threw Nicholas to the ground. He then tried to distract her by making all different kinds of sounds: roars, barking and growls but Kimberly did not barge, she was focused. Then Thomas called upon the birds of the air which flew over Kimberly and made quite a racket but did not succeed.

Then suddenly, in the clouds, lightning began to strike, the clouds were even darker and the wind was more stronger. Kimberly felt a strange breeze on her skin. Rose then left Thomas and slowly turned into a white smoke. The music box opened by itself and sucked the smoke like a vacuum. The music box heated up and became too hot for Kimberly to hold but almost immediately it cooled down making it easier for her to hold.

Few moments later it was dead silent: no chirp or wind. All the birds flew away, the dark clouds deformed and it was clear again. Kimberly opened her eyes, looked around, she saw Nicholas and Thomas on the ground. She didn’t know whether they were dead or alive and whether it was safe to walk out of the circle.

After deep thoughts, Kimberly ran out of the circle to Thomas. She shook him very vigorously until he opened his eyes. For a second, he looked lost like he didn’t know where he was. His vision was quite blurry for a while but was restored onwards.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, I just have a slight head ache,” replied Thomas, “What happened?”

“Apparently, you were possessed by Rose,” replied Kimberly.

“What....? Where is she?” he inquired eagerly.

She held up the music box and said, “She’s in here.”

He looked around like he was looking for a lost item and asked, “And Nicholas?”

“Come,” Kimberly helped Thomas to his feet and rushed to Nicholas.

Kimberly shook Nicholas vigorously using one hand but he didn’t open his eyes. They thought he was dead.

“All this is my fault. This wouldn’t have happened if I had just listened to him and stayed in the circle,” said Thomas.

She replied as tears ran down her cheek, “There is no need of blaming anyone. Leave it.”

Then suddenly, Nicholas began gasping for air.

“Nicholas! Nicholas!” called Kimberly cheerfully.

“Oh!” exclaimed Thomas. “Thank goodness, are you alright?”

Scratching his head, Nicholas replied, “Yes. I’m alright. Are you alright?”

“Yes I am alright,” replied Thomas.

Nicholas was helped to his feet by Thomas and Kimberly.

“I can’t believe it is actually done. Rose is no more. If you delayed I would have been dead,” said Nicholas.

“What’s next?” Kimberly inquired.

Nicholas replied, “We throw the music box in the river so that no one will ever find it. It is too dangerous to lock down in some treasure room as it could be easily found and anyone would be tempted to wind the handle. And you know what happens after that mistake.”

Later, Nicholas led Kimberly and Thomas to the North River. The music box was thrown into the river, it sunk immediately to the bottom of the river. Finally they had gotten rid of Rose and the music box. Happiness was streaming in their hearts as they were going back to the North Community to report the good news – Rose was trapped.

END!!!