text: Rail Road High School Two Weeks Before Halloween “Hey Phi, did you figure out what you are going to do for Halloween yet?” Emica asked. “Probably spend some time with my family and then maybe watch some scary movies. How about you?” Phoenix asked as she continued etching a ghost figure into her desk. “Aww...ok. I was going to see if you wanted to go to a Haunted House with me and Rachel? She was asking if you wanted to go with us?” “Rachel asked really?” “Yeah, I think she might like you!!!” “Yeah right! I might be able to go I just have to--.” SMACK! Startled by the rapt sound of the ruler Phoenix quickly looked up from her desk and noticed that Ms. Codfish was glowering at her, wooden ruler in hand at the podium in the front of the class. Everyone in class shifted in their seats staring at Phoenix and Emica. Phoenix gulped and started fidgeting with the sleeve of her hoodie. This was the last thing she needed right now. Was to get in trouble so close to exams. Sighing she shot a quick glance over at her friend Emica who was trying not to laugh out loud. Emica looked at Phi wiggling her eyebrows at her. “Ladies, I’m assuming that since you are having such an in depth conversation that you are finished with this week's papers I assigned. No, well then less talking and more writing unless you would like to be assigned some homework for this weekend!” “Yes, Ms. Codfish.” They said in perfect unison. Later that evening at Phoenix’s Home “You want to do what?” Phoenix’s mother, Amara asked angrily. “I was wondering if I could go with some friends to a haunted house? I figured it would be ok since we are still new to the area and thought it might be a good idea to blend--” SLAM! Bits of chicken flew off the plate. A crack appeared down the center of the table. The house became eerily silent. The tension was so thick it would have needed a chainsaw to cut through it. “It’s two weeks before Halloween and you are just Now asking if you can break our Halloween traditions!” Amara seethed. “Amara I don’t think it’s that big of a deal...” Her husband trailed off seeing Amara’s face. “Not that big of a deal! Have you lost your mind! This is the one chance we have to make an impression on this town! Make a name for our family! And she wants to spend time with her human friends that are doing nothing but polluting her mind! She was raised with better sense than to live her life this way. I will have none of it! You still have much you need to learn! You haven’t even gotten accepted into the School of Horrors yet and you are worried about making friends here. You still have two weeks to continue your training and studying and try to take the entrance exam again or you will have to wait for the next term and I don’t know how long your father and I will be here...” “Mother, we are immortal! Can you stop being so dramatic!” Phoenix mumbled frustrated. “Phoenix, don’t talk back to your mother that way!” Her father warned. “But father, it’s not like I’m wrong..” She replied. “Enough!! Your mother didn’t have to take you in and raise you, but she did out of the kindness of her heart! You don’t even know how to be a ghost! Be lucky we are even allowing you to stay here with us! If it wasn’t for her I already would have performed the exorcism and you would be nothing more than ashes. Now Go To Your Room!” He bellowed. Emica’s home one week later “Emica have you heard from Phi lately?” Emica’s brother asked. He was playing video games on the couch and saw Emica just staring at the picture of her and Phi on the fridge. “No, her family can be kind of a lot, so she wasn’t at school this week.” She said sadly. “Well don’t give up. I’m sure she’ll come around. Why don’t you try giving her a call or sending her a text?” He encouraged her. “Ok.” She said. Emica walked up the stairs. She missed her best friend. She hadn’t had any friends but Rachel growing up and when Phoenix moved to her neighborhood two years ago she finally felt like she had met her missing half. It had been feeling like a piece of her soul had been missing lately and she wanted to know what was going on. They were graduating high school this year and Phoenix was continually missing school and seemed super exhausted lately. She put on her Nightmare Before Christmas Revisited CD and pressed play getting into the mood of Halloween and in the mood to text her best friend. Sometimes you just got to feel the music. An hour later.. “Hey Phi, just wanted to see how you have been doing lately!? I miss you and it’s been weird not talking to you all week or seeing you at school!” Emica texted. Setting her phone on vibrate. “Hey, Emica sorry I’ve been so distant. There’s been a lot going on.” Phoenix texted back almost instantly. “No Worries! I understand! I’m just worried you know? You can tell me anything Phi, I’ve got you!” “I have a secret to tell you. And I don’t know if you will understand or be ok with it. I am scared of losing you as a friend you know. And if I tell you, you have to promise me that you won’t share it with anyone!” “You can tell me anything Phi! I promise I’m not going anywhere! Nothing you can say will ever change that. And I promise I won’t say anything to anyone. Cross my heart and hope to die.” “Stick twenty million needles in our eyes.” “Ok, I’m ready!” “I’m a ghost.” “Woah! Really!?? That’s sooo exciting!” “LOL! You believe me??” “Of Course I believe you!! You’ve never lied to me before!! Plus I’ve always been into learning about the Underworld and now I know I’m right!! So Cool!! Tell me what being a ghost is like!? Do you like it? Sorry for texting so much this is just so exciting and surreal!!!” “Haha I wish it was for me too but well I suck at being a ghost. All I do is mess everything up. And my adopted family hates me and thinks I just want to be a human. Soo...there’s that..” “Well I kind of suck at being human and ironically you have been helping me with that since you’ve moved here. Why don’t I help you with being a ghost!?” “You don’t have to do that. You aren’t obligated too!” “I want to though! You helped me study for my exams and I passed last year and I wouldn’t have been able to do that without you! Let me help you! That’s what friends do!! I got you!” “Awwww. Ok Emica! Thank you! You are the best!” “No Worries! Let’s start tomorrow morning at Starbucks!” “Ok sounds good to me!” Starbucks Three Days In “I’m Never going to get the hang of this!!” Phoenix yelled, glowering at Emica. “You are being sooo dramatic Phi!! Look all you have to do is try your best to levitate and make no noise when you try and scare the barista!” Emica exclaimed. Grabbing Phoenix’s shoulders and shaking her like a rag doll! “You are such a know it all!!!” Phoenix laughed, pushing Emica off her. “Listen you want that pumpkin spice latte right!? Well then suck it up and practice it again!” Emica was unbearable when she got like this. But what would Phoenix do without her. Phoenix smiled to herself as she continued watching Emica speaking energetically at her about her studies and test coming up. It was in two days and she still was nowhere near understanding some of the physics behind being a ghost. She couldn’t seem to memorize the historical facts about Eugene Milsworth and why he was such an important figure in the Horror Community. In fact she wished that Emica could join her at the School of Horror because this stuff seemed to come naturally to her and she was seriously in awe. “Why are you so fascinated with...with, well all of this? Why is it so important to you?” Phoenix asked. Emica went quiet and started biting her nails, not quite meeting her eyes. “Well aside from being your best friend and wanting to see you succeed with life. When my brother and I were younger we lost our mom. One day she was with us and the next she was gone. The police officer who spoke to us couldn’t or wouldn’t tell us how or if she died. The officer just said that she was gone and we would have to figure it out. We tried a séance and we also tried desperately to figure out how to find her if she was alive and nothing was working. So we both just continued researching and studying. Then you moved here and I don't know, I just thought the aura around you was magical and special. So I thought maybe one day if we continued being close friends we could talk about this and maybe do research together.” Phoenix reached over and pulled her into a hug, "Wow! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. That must have been hard to do and seems very overwhelming. I appreciate that you trust me and believe in me so much!” “Anyways, enough about me! Don’t try to distract me! Study, Study, Study!!!” Emica chanted pulling out of the hug. “Yeah I know, Practice, practice, practice.” Phoenix whispered, smiling to herself. Phoenix’s House the day before Halloween “Well I don’t know how you managed to pull it off but congratulations you passed your entrance exam to the School of Horrors!” Amara said. “Thank you.” Phoenix said. “Your father and I discussed it further and noticed how hard you have been studying and practicing and he, we, decided that you could do what you wanted this Halloween with your friends. Just be safe and remember to text us if you are going to be spending the night at your friend Emica’s house or out past twelve. Understood?” “Yes, thank you so much!!!” Halloween Evening Briiinnnnngggg!!!!! Emica rubbed her hands together and blew on them. Brrr it was chilly outside and she had forgotten to wear a sweater. Come on Phi!! Answer the door! The door opened and there sat a black cat whose bright green eyes pierced through Emica giving her the chills. She bent down and waited for the signal that it would be ok to pet her when Phi arrived. “MOTHER!!!! What have I told you about meeting my friends if I ever brought them over!?” Emica did a double take. Closed her eyes and when she opened them again Phi’s mother walked over to her towering over her. She wanted to curl into a ball and die. “Be safe and make sure not to get into any trouble tonight girls!” Closing the door after practically pushing Phi out of the doorway. Emica breathed a sigh of relief. “Don’t worry about her! She’s kind of irritated that I’m not spending time with the family tonight but happy that I passed the entrance exam so what can you do!? She shrugged. “You look amazing!!!” Emica squealed and hugged Phi! She was wearing white skinny jeans, white knee high boots, a tucked in white tank top with a white leather jacket covering it. She had her hair in braids around her knees and it was smooth and creamy as white frosting. Her iris eyes were alert and excited and she was gliding effortlessly next to Emica. She tilted her head. “Emica are you ok?” Phi asked mischievously. Emica nodded. “I just think I’m a little underdressed.” Emica said looking down at her blue skinny jeans, Edward Scissorhands cotton tee and her short hair messy and dyed purple for this evening. “You look beautiful! Now let’s go before we miss the haunted house with Rachel.” After the Haunted House “Bye Rachel!! Have a good night!” Emica and Phi said waving walking down the front steps. Walking through the neighborhood looking at all the Halloween decorations Emica started shivering. Phi shrugged off her jacket and draped it on Emica. Smiling Emica hugged the jacket close to her. “What did you think of the Haunted House?” Emica asked nervously, biting her lip. “It was ok. I’m glad I went with you and Rachel. It was like a cute little theme park. I mean they tried.” Phi laughed loudly. Emica's eyes widened. It was sooo scary to her! She wondered what Phi had seen that could have possibly been scary. “Ok, here we are!” Phi announced stopping suddenly. They were in front of the cemetery. “What are we doing here, Phi??” “You told your brother you weren’t coming home tonight right? I just texted my parents that!” “Yeah, but I thought...” “You up for an adventure of sorts?” “Always!” “Great let’s go!” “Where are we going?” Phi stood still for a moment moving her arms in a mystical way and suddenly a portal appeared with purple, black and blue swirls coming from it. “You said you always wanted to go to the Underworld right?” Phi smiled holding out her hand. Emica nodded vigorously and grabbed Phi’s hand. “Hold me tight and don’t let go!” Phi whispered. Emica nodded. Emica and Phoenix entered the portal, leaving this world behind and being whisked away into the unknown. Seconds later the portal dissipated seconds after they had stepped in. This was only the beginning of their misguided adventures into the underworld.