I Love You
She heard it again, the dull clawing at the door. It reminded her of her cat at home, begging to get in.
The noise had been happening at three o'clock am since she moved to her Great Aunt and Uncle's house. The first night it happend, she asked her Great Aunt if the cat could enter her room.
"But love, what cat? There is no cat nor has there ever been a cat: my allergies forbid it." Aunty said to her.
Winnie hadn't slept properly since then.
She had asked the question over two months ago.
Uncle said the house was old, the noises came from it's age, or perhaps from rats.
Winnie knew that that was not the case. She could sense the secrets within the old house. She wanted to know what they were, to discover the past of the near mansion on Pine Road.
She found herself wandering the long corridors, seeking something although she didn't know what. She would sit for hours in large rooms, staring at nothing and letting her mind come up with stories for the years past.
Days went by with pretty little Winnie exploring, and yet she found nothing until the sixth.What she found nearly made her scream with shock, for she hadn't been expecting another to be in her family's house - not another her age at least.
The girl before her was young and pretty, like herself. She had blond brownhair which hung in ringlets around a softly curved face. Her eyes were honey gold sparking so solidly while being so transparent. Her cheeks were rosy and her dress was a rcih red outlined in golden lace.
"Hello." The girl said, her voice as innocent as the sparkling of wind chimes tinkling in the springtime breeze.
"You're so beautiful." Winnie breathed out, eyes wide with wonder.
The beauty before her smiled shyly, while batting her eyelashes, "Thank you."
"Your name?"
"Mabel. And you are Winnie." Mabel smiled, those perfect lips curving to show off white teeth.
"How did you ..." Winnie trailed off as the other girl moved forward.
"I've watched you while you slept." Mabel breathed, pressing her fingertips to Winnie's mouth with a ghostly softness.
Winnie's breathing sped up and her heart pounded within her chest, "Mabel."
"Shh." Mabel leaned forward, lips replacing fingers. Still, the touch was barely there and that was when Winnie gasped.
Her sea foam eyes fluttered open even though she hadn't realised they were closed. "You -"
"Are not alive. No." Mabel looked down, then fluttered away from Winnie and the kiss.
"Why - how?"
"I cannot tell you. That is my curse." Mabel closed her honey gold eyes, giving a small but bitter laugh. "You love me do you not?" She floated back, grasping Winnie's hand's with her barely there touch.
"I - I don't know. That was simply my first -"
"Did you not come to this room but a hundred times to sit upon my chair, to feel my caress upon your face, my lips upon your head? Do you not yearn for my touch again? Does your soul not cry out for me - for I am but a soul, without a body merely stuck here without a spirit."
"It must be horrible for you." Winnie's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Oh it has been, believe me it was! But it's not so horrible now my dear." Mabel's hands cupped Winnie's face, and drew her closer.
"Why not now?" Winnie nearly whimpered.
"Because I have you. I have a soul mate, a best friend. And you'll help me, because you love me. Just as I love you." Mabel smiled and kissed the other girl again, gentle as always.
Winnie's ears picked up on the faint sound of footsteps, and when she opend her eyes Mabel was gone - although her uncle stood in the doorway, eyes full of confusion.
"Hello Uncle -"
"Do you have a friend here?" He interupted, eyes hardening. He wasn't a strict man, but he liked knowing who was in his house.
"Oh no Uncle. I would have asked permission before bringing a friend, Uncle." Winnie bowed her head, shaking it.
"Hm. I could have swore I heard someone else in here." He huffed, beard shifting with the release of air.
"Oh, that was me! I was practicing for my English - Shakespeare, you know."
"Ah." The old man nodded, then turned and left.
Winnie waited in the room for hours afterwords, but never got another glance of her ghostly lover.
"Aunty," Winnie asked, walking into the kitchen where her Aunt was making a load of cornbread. "Aunty, have there been any recent deaths around here?"
"Oh heavens child, no! Why would you even want to know such a morbid thing as that?" Her Aunt looked at her, a horrified look in her eyes.
"Oh, you know. Rumours...about a girl dying around here. She was around my age." Winnie said, playing innocent. She sipped her glass of lemonade, and watched her Aunt from behind her lashes.
"...There was a girl around here. But it isn't proven she's dead." Her Aunt sighed softly. "My daughter had a best friend when she lived here. A gorgeous little girl, with the most expresive eyes and enticing laugh. She was so sweet and full of sunshine. She always smelt of apples and oats...always looked like a princess."
Winnie held her breath. This was exactly the information she had been waiting for, for several weeks now.
"She went...missing one day. After a sleepover. They checked this house over and over, but never found any sign of her. Had thought your Great Uncle had done it. But he hadn't, of course. He had been with me out of town when she went missing. Your Aunt Haille said that Mabel had left at the regular time, headed the same way home. But she was never seen again. This was the last place she was ever heard in..."
"Thank you Aunty." Winnie gave her Aunt a sad smile, and rushed out of the kitchen, up the stairs. It didn't take her long to find the special room. She sat in Mabel's chair, eyes closing and began to sing a song. She sang and sang, then after an hour or so heard a voice join her.
Opening her eyes, Winnie stared at the ghost girl across from her, "Mabel my love - " She leapt up, eyes sparkling. "I think I found out how! Or who, at the very least." She spun, pink sundress twirling with her. "It was my Aunt Haille was it not? She killed you didn't she - and made you not be able to tell!"
Mabel smiled, although it was not one of happiness. "Very good. Now can you find out where." She floated backwards, and halfway through the wall paused. "I shall give you a hint: Water, water all around - just one our till you drown'." And with that, she disapeared.
Winnie narrowed her eyes and took out her notebook. She'd find where Mabel's body was if she died trying.
It was three days of herself, Ashley and Tina brooding over the ryhme before Tina stated "A well."
Winnie stood, and tore off to the near mansion on Pine Road.
She arrived at the well in only five minutes, a smile sliding onto her pretty face. She leaned down into the well and shouted out "Mabel, I've found you!"
Mabel floated slowly, up from the well. It scared Winnie seeing her lover that way, floating as if hung by the -
"She hanged you!" Winnie gasped in horror, stepping away from the well as Mabel settled on the side.
"Very good. You've found it out." Mabel closed her eyes, tears rolling down those soft, round cheeks. "And now that you know the truth...I must say goodbye." She sobbed, floating back down into the well.
"What - Mabel, no! Why?"
"My purpose in life - to let out the truth. You've fulfilled my purpose." Mabel shook her head. "I am so sorry my love, but I cannot stay - "
"My purpose in life was to help you with your curse!" Winnie wailed. "Please you can't go - "
"You are alive and I am dead - I must go. It's not right, I'm sorry -"
Winnie settled on the edge of the well, legs hanging down. Slowly she tied the rope around her neck. "No...We'll both be dead." She whispered.
"No Winnie..." Mabel's eyes were wide, as she grasped her lovers hands.
Winnie shook her head, and with a tensing of her body pushed forward and into the well.
When Winnie opened her eyes again, she was staring down at her lifeless self floating in the dirty well water. She knew it would be days, weeks even before they bothered checking there for her body.
Slowly she turned to her lover, and with a smile floated to the other ghost.
Together the two spirits of the near mansion on Pine Road floated into the house, remaining forevermore to make sure their love would be eternal.
Well, that's my latest shitty story. Like?