I woke up and went to school like any other day. Six long periods all depending on a bell that dismisses us at 2:10pm to our freedom for the rest of the day. It was the same thing every day, four periods of hell, lunch, then two more periods, bell rings, and the school traffic in the parking lot until we can escape into this world outside sitting in a chair for about six hours. I got home, walking in taking off my shoes until my feet felt the soft carpet and the smell of lavender air freshener hit me in the face. I threw myself on the couch getting ready to take my daily nap when suddenly my mom comes in with this look of worry, she opened up her mouth to speak and out came

“Honey… we’re moving”.

      Those dreaded words hit me like a train. Moving, we’re moving in my senior year of high school. I didn’t know what to say, I opened my mouth to speak but no words came out. My mom took my place for speaking,

“I know it’s sudden, but your dad got a new job in Oregon and it’s a great opportunity for the family!” she said with a smile at the end.

Anger began to rise in me, “great opportunity for the family?! How in the world is this for the family? It’s for him, not all of us!” I threw my hands up in frustration.

“It’s great for the family because it’s a new experience and higher pay! I know you’re upset and I’m sorry about that, but trust me, this will be great” My mom gave me a smile, hug, and kiss on the forehead and with that walked out.

  I couldn’t be mad, she was right. We’ve been struggling lately and a better job opportunity would help our family a lot. I don’t have much time left in high school, I guess it doesn’t matter because I’ll be leaving for college after graduation anyways. She told me my last day of school would be tomorrow and I was ready for it. A new beginning will be good.

     The next day I woke up with the sun shining through my blinds leaving strips of light on my walls.

I got ready lazily and drove to school like any other day. When I got there and saw my friends, I told them the news and said my goodbyes. When I got home both my parents were already here, packing most likely.

    I parked my car out of the way where the moving truck would be. I turned off the ignition and rested back in my driver’s seat for a moment. This is it, the ending and beginning to my future, I took a deep breath and got out ready to start the packing. I walked into my mom and dad packing, they smiled, both hugged me, and I began helping them pack. We had a good amount of the house done. We finished the rest of the house throughout the last of the week. By Sunday we were finished and everything was in the moving truck ready to go as planned.

                    ***

         I got out of my car, the scent of fresh air like right after rain hit me. I enjoyed the smell and it was quite relaxing. It was late at night by the time we had gotten to our new house and we all just decided to sleep. Mom and Dad bought us new beds and had them delivered already. I took one of my blankets that I always keep in my car and walked up to the house. I felt as if there  was a very unwelcoming feeling around here. The front porch would squeak as you step on it, it was cold on the inside of the house, it was dark inside too. I looked around the house a bit before finding my new room to finally get some sleep. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I knew something wasn’t right. I ignored it and went to sleep knowing I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.

    I woke up fairly late, almost afternoon time, to the sound of birds chirping outside my window. I walked downstairs to see almost everything was unpacked and I helped with the rest. Once everything was in the house everybody went off and did their own thing to get settled in the new house. It wasn’t all bad, I had a fairly big sized room with a walk in a closet and a window with a bench overlooking the scene of Oregon. I’ll be going to my new school tomorrow, so now was the time to try and pick out a cute outfit.

   ***

    Heading to my new school, it was somewhat foggy, nobody on the roads that I could see and I was using google maps to get to my new high school. I looked down for a moment then back up and there was a girl around her teen years in the middle of my path. I slammed on my brakes, swerving to the side of the road. When I went out of my car to look for the girl, there was no one there to be found. I ran back to my car and locked my doors, I could already tell this was going to be a bad day.

  ***

    The day didn’t go too badly, in my Photography class I met this boy Max. He was tall with dark brown hair, gorgeous green eyes, and sharp features. He asked me to be his partner in class and of course I accepted. We hung out through the period and he told me about this place being haunted by some little girl and nobody could ever figure out her death. Me being the curious one I am, I decided to go and figure out what happened. Max said he would come with me, we are leaving tonight to go explore!

***

    It was around dinner time, I sat upstairs doing homework until I smelled mama making dinner. The smell of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and gravy filled the air and danced its way to my nostrils. I quickly ran downstairs and was scarfing down my food.

“Wow! In a rush are you?” My mom was looking at me in shock at my fast pace

“Yeah, I kinda have plans tonight with a new friend,” I said right before taking another bit of my food

“A new friend? Honey that’s great! What’s their name? What are you guy’s up to tonight? I’m so excited for you!” She had an expression of joy and it was nice to see my mom happy.

“His name is Max, he’s in my photography class and my partner. We are just exploring around tonight, getting to know the town.” I smiled at the thought of spending some personal time with Max and my mom could see that.

“Well have fun and be safe! Make sure to text me every once in awhile letting me know you’re okay.”

“I know the drill mamas” I took the last bite of my food, took my plate to the sink and hugged my parents goodbye.

     I went back upstairs to get dressed in something comfortable but cute but also causal  for tonight. By the time I was almost done getting ready the doorbell rang. I could hear my mom and dad open the door and greet Max. I also heard them immediately hit it off and the were all laughing. I quickly grabbed my mini backpack, put my wallet, keys, flashlight,  and a taser  in (yes a taser, you never know).I ran downstairs quickly saying goodbye again and grabbing Max to leave.

    When we got outside he opened his car door for me. I smiled at him then looked back towards the car, but I noticed something strange at the end of my street, right under the street light, there was that same girl I saw this morning in the street. I paused, now getting a better look at her. She was around my age, seventeen. She had blonde hair and pale skin, she was average size and a bit tall. She looked as if she was drenched in water. Max took my attention away asking if I was okay, I nodded and got in and then  he got in the car himself, what a gentleman.

“You know you could’ve just texted me you’re here right?” I let out a slight laugh trying not to sound embarrassed with him meeting my parents.

“Well that’s not polite, I figured if I was taking someone’s daughter out late at night, they should meet the boy and get a sense of trust” he looked at me and smiled.

“Okay,” I couldn’t help but smile and blush.  

***

    We arrived at this abandoned mall. It was huge, two stories, looked as if it was decaying with a bunch of popular clothing stores signs falling apart. I gave max a confused look and he told me this is where the girl was said to have died. We went looking around for an opening but had no luck, eventually, Max had found an unlocked door, he went in first looking around. I took out my flashlight, turned it on and went in right after him, staying close behind. Once we got in the door slammed behind and locked behind us. If we happened to find anything, we were now trapped inside.

    We looked in stores, bathrooms, even in the food court for any signs of clues as to what happened here. We hadn’t found anything, he was ready to give up and I was getting there too until we heard a loud crash from the second story of the building. I gave him a worried look and he took my hand and held it, oh my god! He led us toward the now non-moving escalator. We slowly walked up them, being careful with every step until we reached the top. The whole upstairs was trashed, clothes everywhere, food wrappers and cups scattered. The stench of mold filled the air and made me sick to my stomach. We searched around and found nothing until we came out of one store and there the girl was again, standing in the dark pointing towards a back door. We took one step and she disappeared into the door. We quickly followed to see where she was leading us.

    We opened the door, following her into a hallway with another door at the end. She went through that one too and we followed. Opening the last door took us to this outside balcony that was somewhat hidden. It had benches, the smell of wilting flowers and the sight of already dead ones. A nasty taste entered my mouth with the smell, a taste of rotten food. In the middle of the whole scene stood the girl in this large round fountain. She wasn’t harming us, simply standing there as if we needed to know something or figure something out. Max and I  looked around the garden and found nothing. I looked in the last spot I could think of, still nothing.

    “Mia! Come here, I found something!”

I ran to Max over by the fountain, having my eyes follow where he was pointing to as I got closer and closer. When I approached him, towards the backside of the fountain on the seating area there was a stain. Brown and an orangish color splattered across the seating. There was one particular spot with a bigger stain than on the rest. I looked up to find the girl standing across the fountain rubbing her head, she let her hand fall and blood began to stream down from her head onto her arm and so on. That was it, that’s what happened here.

“That’s what happened here,” I said in a low voice to myself.

“What did you say, Mia?” Max gave me a confused looked.

“That’s what happened here!” I pointed to the blood and then the girl. “She was murdered, Max…”

“By who is the question now” He stood in a daze as if it would just come to him on who did this.

    I grabbed his hand and started running for the door, I was determined to figure out who did this. I rushed us through the hall and once we got back into the mall I went to my knees searching the floor for any clues. I tossed clothes and garbage around leaving it flying through the air. Max asked me what I was looking for, I quickly said “clues” and he began to search with me. He looked by the escalator and around while I looked by the door to the garden and on the half of the mall. I began to lose hope, I sat on my knees in defeat. I took one last look around me and something caught my eye. I crawled my way over towards the escalator that use to go down at one point and in the corner laid a wallet.

“MAX!” I screamed. “MAAAAAAXXXXXXX”

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” I could hear him running up the escalator. “What is it? What’s wrong?” He went to his knees right by me.

“Look!” I showed him the wallet and we opened it together.

    A driver’s license was immediately displayed in front when we opened up the wallet. I took it out and read the name, David Wilson. This was the man who killed this girl but now the question is why. I walked jogged back to the door, through the hallway and out to the garden finding the girl in the fountain still. I slowly moved closer to her, reassuring I wasn’t trying to make trouble in any way.

“Is this the man who killed you?” I held up the ID to her, she nodded.

“Can you tell us why?” Max came closer, standing right next to me. She wouldn’t talk but instead pointed towards the ground behind us, we both turned. On the floor out of a water stain it read,

“He tried to take me”.

“He tried to take you? Like, kidnap you?” I asked in confirmation, she nodded again.

“You put up a fight and he killed you… Is that what happened?” Max started asking the questions.

She nodded again.

    With that last question Max asked, the girl began to have a glow around her. A bright light flashed and when it settled she didn’t look so dead anymore, but instead an angel.

“Thank you” she spoke.

And with that, another beam of light and she was gone. In shock of what just happened all me and Max, all we could do was look at each other in astonishment. That’s what she wanted, that’s what she needed. Someone to know what happened to her in the unsolved mystery of her death, so she could be free.

    By the end of this event, it was time for me and Max to find a way out. We went back down the way we came from and tried the door that had locked behind us. Not only was it unlocked, but it was open, ready for us to leave. We walked out and quickly jogged back to the car, getting in and Max blasting the heater. There was silence until Max spoke up in a raspy tired voice.

“Well, that was a great first adventure with you” Max spoke up, smiling while still looking towards the road.

“First?” I questioned, looking at him with a sassy smirk.

“Yeah”  He looked at me still smiling, “We will definitely be having more, maybe not so life threatening though” He laughed, looking back at the road.

“Well what’s the fun in that?” I laughed. He gave me a smile and said “True”

    This has been pretty eventful for my first time here, but I have a feeling I’ll like it. No more stress or worry because the town is now free and can live in peace along with the girl. She is no longer the one who haunts this town.