October 31st 2001

Halloween

“We are hopelessly lost!” Chris cried.

“No we’re not.” JC told him calmly.

“If it weren’t for you to make that exit back there we would’ve been at Justin’s party hours ago, but no, you decided to go and take that exit, and now we are lost in these freakin woods surrounded on a dirt gravel road and a foggy lake on Halloween night!”

“Chris, we aren’t lost, its only 8 o’clock at night, Justin’s party just started, we would just give him a call, and tell him if we are close by okay?”

“Give me that phone.” Chris yanked the phone out of JC’s hand while JC grabbed on the steering wheel, and looked at the never ending stretch of road that seemed to go on for miles, if he turned off his headlights, it would’ve been pitch black.

“Is there reception?” JC asked.

“I’m surprised that there is.” Chris dialed Justin’s number but JC stopped in when he saw someone on the side of the road.

“Hey, what’s that?” JC started to slow down.

“What’s what?” Chris told him, hanging up the phone.

“That.” JC pointed to a figure that was knelt down over a bike.

Flashing the headlights on the figure, they both noticed that it was a girl, a young teenage girl, about fourteen or fifteen; parking the car on the side of the road, JC put the emergency signals on and turned off the car.

“Why is there a girl in these woods at this time?” Chris muttered to JC quietly.

“Maybe she needs help? Come on.”

Chris groaned and got out of the car, slamming the door behind him.

“Um excuse me, do you need some help?” JC told her.

The girl was startled at first and backed away.

“Hey its okay, are you lost?”

“No, I got a flat tire on my bike and then my light got burned, and I had to get home.”

“We can give you a ride to your house, so you won’t be riding down this dirt path road all alone at night.” JC told her calmly.

Chris was gonna stay something but stopped.

“I’m JC, and this is my friend Chris, we were on our to my other friends party in this area, but we don’t know where it is.”

“Do you know where it is?” Chris blurted out, and took out the address that Justin gave him over the phone and handed it to the girl.

The girl looked at the paper and read the address over, “Oh I know where this is, it’s just down the street, you aren’t far from it, it’s almost near my house actually.”

“Maybe you can come to the party with us, you know its Halloween, and that way you can meet our friends.” JC told her.

“That would be nice, oh I’m KristaLynn by the way, nice to meet you, she shook their hand, and they both noticed that her hand was surprisingly cold, despite the attire she was wearing a red hoodie, a white shirt underneath, blue jeans and worn sneakers, she had long dark and green eyes with a few freckles on her face.

“Maybe we can fit your bike in the trunk.” Chris said, carrying the rusty old bike and heading to the back of the SUV.

“Do you have a cell phone to call your parents so they won’t worry?” JC told her.

“Oh no, my parents are not home, they are also at a party.” The girl told him.

“And you were just gonna home and not have any fun on Halloween night?” JC told her.

“I don’t like to go out much on Halloween night, too many crazy people.”

“I do know that, you just have to hang out with the right crowd.” JC said to her.

“Yeah.” The girl said biting her bottom lip.

“Ok, I got the bike in!” Chris shouted from the back of the SUV; “So are we ready to go?”

“Yep.” JC called out to him and started the SUV

All three passengers got into the SUV and drove away from the side of the road and onto the street, just as KristaLynn had said, streetlights came into view and more houses had appeared.

“We are back on civilization.” Chris let out a sigh of relief.

They both saw a few trick or treaters, and happily decorated Halloween houses, a simple neighborhood, a bit old fashioned, but simple.

“Here’s the place.” The girl told them.

A tall brownstone brick mansion loomed in front of them, with teenagers surrounding the place, loud Halloween music was blaring and Chris and JC were more than happy to bring their new friend to the Halloween party, she seemed like a nice girl.

They found a parking space and headed to the front door, the door swung open revealing Justin with a skeleton painted face.

“Well, its about time you showed up!” Justin shouted. “You are thirty minutes late.”

“We had to help someone.” JC told him.

“Who?”

“Meet KristaLynn, she had a flat tire on her bike and needed help.”

“And we also got lost thanks to JC.” Chris joked.

“Not really Chris, because this is the way we were going.”

“Yeah whatever.” Chris playfully pushed his friend aside.

Just then Joey and Lance greeted them; Joey was dressed as a vampire and Lance as an ice cream sandwich.

“Great costume!” JC told him.

“Thanks, you won’t believe how many people tried to get a bite out of me.” Lance joked.

“You guys should get changed into your costumes, the bathroom’s over there.” Justin motioned to them.

“I’ll just be a zombie and paint stitches on face.” Chris laughed.

“I’ll be his twin.” JC joked.

“And what about you KristaLynn, how old are you?” Justin said, wrapping his arms around her, a cold chill swept all the way down to his spine, despite the blasting heat from the old brownstone mansion, he became surprisingly cold, shaking off the uneasy feeling, and he waited for her to answer.

“I’m fourteen going to fifteen, and I rather just put white paint on my face and be a ghost, boo!” She joked.

Justin laughed and told her where the other bathrooms are so she could put paint on her face.

About an hour into the party, all the guys had their costumes, including KristaLynn, they laughed, ate candy, danced; it had been a fantastic party that lasted well into midnight.

“I’m beat, and I have been dying to get out of this costume.” Lance groaned adjusting the ice cream sandwich strap.

“Do you think you fit in the SUV in that costume Lance?” Joey laughed.

“You should take it off and put it in the bag that it came with.” Chris joked.

“I’ll be right back.” Lance headed back to the bathroom to go change.

“How about you KristaLynn, you need a ride back home yes?” Joey flashed a smile.

“I guess, this was fun, thanks guys.” She smiled back at them.

“I’ll go get the SUV and meet you guys at the front.” JC told them.

They all nodded and cleaned up what was needed to be cleaned up, just then Lance came back out without his costume on.

“Much better!” Lance breathed a sigh of relief.

They all headed out and JC was out there waiting for them, and all went inside the SUV and drove away, happily conversing with one another.

About fifteen to twenty minutes JC asked KristaLynn where her house was so they can drop her off.

“You’re almost there, you can’t miss it, and it’s a tall wooden one with a broken window that needs to be fixed, because a baseball flew in it.”

JC continued driving and then stopped when he saw the house that fit her description.

“Is this where you live?” Lance told her.

“Yep, I’m sorry of how it looks, it’s being remodeled.”

“Oh no its okay girl, don’t worry about it.” Chris said trying to cheer her up.

“Thanks.” KristaLynn said softly.

“Looks like your parents aren’t home yet.” JC asked her.

“They’ll be home later, thanks for the party guys, and thanks for giving me a ride home.” KristaLynn told them as she headed out of the SUV.

“Oh, forgot to get your bike in the trunk.” Chris got out and told JC to open the trunk for him.

Chris got the bike out and asked KristaLynn where to put her bike.

“You can leave it on the porch there its fine.” She told him.

Chris placed the old rusty bike on the porch and went back down the steps.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay, we could stay for a while until your parents show up.” Justin told her.

“Oh no, you don’t have to do that, really its fine.” KristaLynn said.

Justin just shrugged and headed back into the SUV again.

She thanked them again for the party and they waited for her to enter the house, when she did, they slowly drove away.

The next day

All the guys were in their designated hotel rooms, they booked a hotel room for the night, not too far from KristaLynn’s house, it was within city limits.

It was about 11 in the morning, and most of the guys were awake already, Joey was the only one snoring away.

Chris tossed a pillow and it landed on his face.

“Where’s JC?” Lance wondered.

“He must be downstairs getting breakfast again, have you seen that boy eat? He’s like a bulldozer!” Justin laughed loudly.

“I heard that Justin.” JC said through gritted teeth, “and no I wasn’t downstairs, I was outside cleaning out the SUV and I think KristaLynn left her bag in the car.

“Oh we have to give it back to her then.” Chris said.

“Did you open it?” Justin told him.

“No.”

“Well, you should to make sure it’s really hers.” Justin yanked the bag from JC’s hand.

“Don’t be so mean Justin.” Lance said.

Justin pawed into her bag and found her school ID, a lipstick, some money and some loose change, a water bottle, and nothing else.

“Did you find anything interesting there Justin?” Joey told him, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Nothing besides her school ID” Justin said, looking at the ID.

“What does it say?” Lance asked.

“It says KristaLynn only, the last name is faded, her photo is a bit faded too, but it’s her, we should return this back to her, she may need it back when she returns to school on Monday.”

“That’s true.” Chris said.

“What’s the name of the school though?” JC told him.

“OakBridge Middle School.”

“Well this is the town of OakBridge right?” Chris asked.

“I guess so, we aren’t familiar with the town so.”

“So we should go and give this back to her.” Justin repeated.

“Let’s go then.” JC told them all.

After all the guys got dressed and freshened up, they headed out to the hotel’s parking lot and into the SUV and headed to the direction of KristaLynn’s house.

When they arrived to her house, they were surprised that a lot of construction workers were surrounding the property; they parked on the gravel driveway and turned off the ignition.

“Well she did say that they were remodeling her house.” JC told the guys.

“Yeah, but the house looks-Joey was about to say something but stopped when they were interrupted by a construction worker.

“May I help you gentlemen?” The construction worker asked them.

“Uh..we are looking for someone, a girl who lives here.” JC told him.

“A girl? I’m sorry kid but you must be mistaken, this house has been empty for years.”

“But we dropped her off last night, here at this very house.” Chris blurted out.

“Dropped who off?” The construction worker asked with a confused look on his face.

“KristaLynn.” Justin said.

“I don’t know anyone by that name.” The construction worker told them calmly.

“We came here cause she left her bag in the SUV last night, see?” Lance had KristaLynn’s bag and showed it to the construction worker.

He opened the bag and pulled out her ID, the construction worker looked at the ID.

“Hmm, maybe you can ask that guy over there by the stoop? That’s Mike, he’s been here longer than me, he may be able to help you can step out of the SUV, but be careful, we have a lot of work to do.”

The guys thanked him and they headed out of the SUV, all with confused looks on their faces.

Mike was hammering a piece of wood on the front of stairs and said hello to the guys.

The guys explained their situation and Mike took a look at the ID of KristaLynn.

“And then we dropped her off with the bike you see right there.” Chris continued.

Sure enough, the bike that KristaLynn was riding on stood there on the stoop, blue and rusty.

“I know who this girl was.” Mike told them, a sad look on his face.

Justin felt a lump in his throat like what Mike was about to say wasn’t going to be believable.

“See the year on her ID?” Mike asked.

The guys looked at the ID.

“It says issued September 1986.” Joey said.

“1986?” Chris asked.

“That’s right, and see the school? OakBridge Middle School? That school burned down in 1988, I used to go there and I knew KristaLynn, me and her were friends.”

“Were?” JC said softly.

“Yes, she died on one cold Halloween night, in 1986.”

Justin’s breath caught in his throat, “that’s why he felt a sudden chill when he hugged her.” He thought to himself.

Chris, JC, Lance and Joey were silent; they felt the world stop for a second.

Breaking out of their deep thoughts, Mike continued his sad story, “Come to think of it, today was gonna be her birthday, her birthday was after Halloween, and she used to live here, with her parents.”

“How did she die?” JC managed to choke out.

“She was riding her bike down that dirt road not far from here on one cold Halloween night, when a group of drunk drivers went off the road and struck her, her body flew into the lake near the woods, one problem though, her body was never found, the locals here say the lake swallowed her up, so she was never given a proper burial.”

“That is so sad.” Lance said, trying hard not to cry.

“But we drove her home last night and she went to a Halloween party with us and everything.” Chris said quietly.

“About that, legend has it that every Halloween night if you drive on that road at a certain time, her ghost appears on the side of the road, trying to fix her bike, not many people have seen her, but it looks like you were the lucky ones to save her.”

Justin bit his bottom lip and swallowed hard.

Mike continued his story, “She must’ve been lonely and lost, and wanted to have a little fun, I’m sorry though, really I am, when I heard the news that she died, I was devastated,  me and her would’ve been the same age today, she was a nice girl, a bit on the shy side, but nice.

“What happened to her parents?” Lance told him.

“She was an only child, so when her parents found out, they couldn’t believe it, that was major news in this area, and her parents couldn’t stay here to live in this area anymore, so they packed up and moved away, no one has heard or seen them since that day, and this house has been empty for fifteen years.” Mike said looking up at the house, smiling when he noticed the broken window. “That was her room up there, I was the one that tossed the baseball and broke her window, and she got mad at me for it.”

The guys stayed silent for a moment, they didn’t know what to think, and they were in an SUV riding with a ghostly girl, who has been dead for fifteen years, that was a lot to take for them, unbelievable yes.

“Are you guys okay?” Mike told them softly.

“We’re okay, thank you for telling us this; we weren’t expecting this at all.” JC said.

The rest of the guys nodded in agreement.

“So what are we going to do with her bag?” Justin told Mike.

“You can put that bag and make a makeshift grave marker, I made one for her, I can go with you guys if you want so I can show it to you, I think it’s still there, it’s nothing fancy, but its something.”

The guys agreed, and Mike told the rest the construction workers that he was gonna be right back.

Mike got into his red pickup truck and asked to the guys to follow him, about ten to fifteen minutes into the drive, he pulled off to the side of the road, and left his emergency signals on, and motioned the guys to park next to him.

They all stepped out and followed Mike to the murky lake.

“I think this is the tree.” Mike said looking around the tree, he knelt down and found an old teddy bear and an initial on the old oak tree, marked “KL”

“Yep! This is the one!” Mike told the guys proudly, this was her teddy bear, I forgot what she used to call him though, but this was her teddy bear.”

“So I guess we could leave her bag here?” Lance told him kneeling down putting the bag next to the old teddy bear.

“You could put it there.” Mike said.

They all remained silent for a moment, when Chris took a look at the murky lake.

“That’s the lake?” Chris said.

“That’s the one; the locals around here call it Ghost Lake because of the eerie fog that surrounds it at night.”

“The name fits.” Justin told him.

After that they took one last look at the makeshift grave and JC spoke up and said, “Happy birthday KristaLynn.”

The guys gave a small smile to one another and backed away from the makeshift grave, after having a moment of silence, nobody said a word, not even Mike; they just walked away, away from the sadness that occurred there those many years ago.

Little did they know that KristaLynn was watching them, she was sitting on a tree branch smiling to herself and whispered “Thank you guys, and thank you Mike, thank you for everything…”

And with that, she disappeared within the midst of a fog that carried her away, far away; she will never be lonely or lost ever again, why? Because her soul was saved, her soul…was finally free.