The Ghost of Oak Read online

  "That looks delicious." Mrs. Smith commented, admiring Katie's cooking skills. Katie beamed.

  Before covering it with plastic wrap, she took a good look at the salad that she had just made. Her mother hadn't just been trying to make her feel good. The salad really did look delicious. Since the salad was done, Katie helped her mother in attending to the other courses of the meal. She helped her mother marinate and season the chicken, whir up several side dishes, and best of all: help make their special homemade brownies for dessert. Just as they finished preparing the meal and setting the table, (including the plates of food as well as the drinks) Mr. Smith walked through the door. He seemed quite pleased with the aroma of the meal, and took his place at the kitchen table. His wife and daughter joined him in their usual seats. And they happily ate their meal. They spoke very vaguely, for they believed that it was best to keep quiet during meals, particularly the evening meal. However the cooks didn't need Mr. Smith to tell them that he enjoyed the meal for them to believe it. It was written all over his face.

  When they were done with the meal, they stacked their plates into the dishwasher, and headed for the living room. Mr. Smith channel-surfed the television, while Katie and her mother made popcorn. By the time it was done, Mr. Smith had found a good family movie, and they watched it together, until it was time to sleep. Then, they kindly asked their daughter to go to bed, for it was nine o' clock, and they would be going to sleep soon as well. Grumpily, Katie left her parents and the movie behind, and headed for her room.

  Chapter Three

  That night, when her parents had long since gone to sleep, Katie lay awake in her bed. Not even a common owl or cricket made its sound. It was really a calm and peaceful night, but something about the tranquility made her feel perturbed, as it always did. Katie tossed and turned restlessly, with much endeavor to fall asleep, but something just didn't feel right. Since she'd stayed up late that night after all, she did start to become lethargic, and almost dozed off.

  But all of a sudden, an awful scratching noise disconcerted her. She sat up in bed, petrified. Beads of sweat poured down her face, and her heart raced. She wailed only softly, so her mother never came to comfort her and tell her that everything was all right. The dreadful sound continued, and her sobs grew louder, but her mother still didn't hear her. She tried to scream, but nothing came out. Then, she grabbed a tissue and wiped away her tears. "It's only my imagination." She told herself.

  She refused to go crazy over a little noise. It was probably just a stray cat or dog who was pawing at the front door, looking for a home. If that was the case, then it would just move on to another door after a while. And she was right. A few minutes later, the scratching stopped, and Katie was able to drift off to sleep.

  Before Katie knew it, it was 6:30 am, and pop music drifted from her alarm clock, waking her up. She could smell pancakes, maple syrup, eggs, and bacon coming from the kitchen. Her mouth watered with pure delight. She loved it when her mother made a home-style breakfast. However, it was odd, as her mother usually only made a fancy breakfast on Sundays, and it was a Saturday morning. Katie didn't care. She just couldn't wait to eat the meal. She ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, forgetting to put on her slippers. To her satisfaction, there was already a place on the table for her.

  She looked at the breakfast. At her usual seat there was a large plate with a sunny-side-up egg and a piece of buttered toast, as well as a strip of bacon, and an over sized squirt of ketchup. To the right of that plate, was a much smaller one. On it was a stack of three buttermilk pancakes, topped with a pat of butter and a sticky stream of maple syrup. To the right of that, a folded napkin sat under the necessary utensils. To the left of the larger plate, was a tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. Then, she noticed that her setting was the only one there.

  "Where is your place setting, Mom?" she asked. "And Dad's?"She added.

  Mrs. Smith laughed. "I made the breakfast just for you on your first day of summer vacation, sweetie." Was her reply. "Wow!" She continued. "My little girl only has one year left of elementary school."

  Katie blushed briefly, as she thought of going to middle school in less than two years.

  "Kids these days, they grow up too fast." Katie's mother said, more to herself than to her daughter. Mr. Smith walked into the kitchen, and smelling the breakfast that Katie had just began to eat, he grumpily got out a box of raisin bran cereal, and a gallon of milk. He knew better than to complain about not getting a breakfast like Katie's, for he was a grown man, who knew that Katie's breakfast was special, and only intended for her consumption.

  Mrs. Smith scrambled a couple of eggs for herself, and sat down at the table. "Katie, you look very tired." She commented, noticing bags under her daughter's eyes.

  "She Does" replied Mr. Smith. "Katie, did you sleep well?" he asked, sounding concerned.

  Katie shrugged. "I guess so." Was all she said. She brought her plate to the sink, and carefully placed it in. then she stalked out of the room.

  She went upstairs to her bedroom, and grabbed some clothes from her drawer. She looked at the selection. Underwear, a pair of jeans, her favorite T-shirt, and a pair of socks. Good enough. She opened her closet door, and pulled out a pair of sneakers. She thought that she heard a loud squeak, and it frightened her greatly, but she decided that she didn't hear anything, and she went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Once in the shower, she felt a lot better, as the warm water calmed her down, and made her think peaceful thoughts. She was enjoying the feel of the water so, that she nearly forgot to bathe. Realizing that she had been in the shower for a while, she washed her hair and body as quickly as she could wash herself, and actually be washing herself. When finished, she got out of the shower and grabbed a towel. She dried off, and wrapped the towel around herself. In doing so, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, seeing not herself, but the face of another young girl. This one was about her age, but she looked as if from a different time. Then, the girl's face changed into that of an elderly woman. Katie looked away. She had to be imagining things, again. And, besides, she saw the "girl" in such a quick flash, that it simply could not have been real.

  Katie grabbed her clothes from the counter, and dressed quickly. Then, she ran down the stairs, and into the living room, where her parents had been waiting for her. They asked Katie why she had taken so long, and she shrugged as she had earlier that morning. They just laughed, and led Katie out of the house and into the car. Then, they explained to her that they were going to take her shopping for some mew summer clothes, as she had gotten taller, and outgrown her old ones. Although she could care less, she was quiet the whole ride to the mall, and did not make even the slightest complaint about anything.

  Chapter Four

  After nearly a half-hour, the Smiths' car pulled into the mall parking lot. Though she liked to look somewhat decent when she had to, Katie wasn't big on fashion. But, since her mother was, she didn't say anything when her parents dragged her to the mall at the start of each season for new clothes, even though it was quite unnecessary to do so. Katie didn't see the big deal with wearing worn out jeans that had little holes and frays, and that showed her socks. Stores even sold jeans that were meant to look worn. Katie's parents urged her to get out of the vehicle, and she knew she had to be sensible, so she obeyed.

  She dragged her sneakers across the pavement, making a scraping sound, not much different than then the one she had heard the previous night. However, it wasn't long before her mother began to pick up on the fact that her daughter was dawdling.

  "Katie, you have to be reasonable." Mrs. Smith replied. "I know that you don't care for fashion, but your clothes are very old and worn. You simply cannot wear those clothes that you've been wearing in public. People may think that we are neglectful parents, and you don't want that. Do you?"

  "No" said Katie, softly. She loved her parents, and she didn't want them to get into trouble, and have it be her fault.

 
When the Smiths got inside the mall, Katie began to look around. Most of the stores had all the latest fashions in stock, but Katie led her parents to the athletic shop where she always shopped. She wasn't really very athletic, but that was the only place where she could buy good quality sweats and tees, and big brand sneakers, and all the other tomboyish clothes that she wore. She chose clothes very similar to what she always chose. Two sweat suits, a few pairs of jeans, nearly a dozen T-shirts, baseball caps, a new pair of sneakers, and zippered sweatshirts as well as hooded ones. But since it was summer, she followed her mother's advice that followed the usual speech on "weather appropriate" clothes, and grabbed a pair of jean shorts as well. Katie wasn't very fond of shorts, but it was true that jeans could be uncomfortable in hot weather. After paying for the items, the members of the Smith family left the store, each of them carrying a bag of clothing.

  Afterwards, they stopped at the food court. Even though Katie wasn't a fussy shopper, she had still taken long enough for it to be noon time. They treated themselves to cheeseburgers, fries, and strawberry milkshakes. How delicious! Even Katie, who thought it important to eat nutritious meals, enjoyed the sweet, salty, and greasy repast. Mr. Smith, who loved junk food, inhaled the aroma of fast food. He took great delight in it, and he requested that they order a pizza and soda once they were finished. The one meal had been enough for her and Katie, but Mrs. Smith ordered the pizza and soda regardless. Though stuffed, they each took a slice of pizza and a small cup of the cola out of respect, but left the rest to Mr. Smith.

  Since it didn't take long for him to finish his "second meal", the Smiths headed back home about twenty minutes later. They didn't have any other plans for the day, so they ordered pay-per-view flicks until, and after dinner. It was overall a fun, and happy day for the Smith family. Katie even enjoyed the weekend day so greatly, that she completely forgot about the strange things that had happened to her the night before, and earlier that day. Well, at least she had forgotten for the time being. At least she had forgotten until it was her bedtime yet again.

  Chapter Five

  Katie should have known that, sooner or later, she would have to go to bed. But, she had forgotten until her mother spoke the dreaded words:

  "Time for bed, Katie."

  She knew that it was foolish to be afraid of being alone in the dark, but she just was. What was strange was that she had always been afraid of many things, but never like that. She could not comprehend why she was like this all of a sudden. It was the most ridiculous thing, to be going into fifth grade and still be so afraid. And, her fears were unrealistic. It was one thing to be afraid of burglars, but being afraid of the boogie man or monsters under her bed was something different,. That was more than just silly. It was absurd, and Katie knew that. So, for that reason, she put her best effort toward forgetting the whole issue, yet again.

  All of a sudden, Katie heard a sudden whisper in her ear. It sounded like the voice of a crone saying,

  "Oh, you shouldn't have, little girl." The tone of the voice made Katie shiver. Goosebumps covered her bare arms, and she got pins and needles in her feet. She pulled her yellow comforter over her head. "Just Great," she thought. Now, she was hearing voices instead of only sounds.

  She wished that she could talk to someone about this, but even her parents would laugh at her. And Jazz was visiting her maternal grandparents in Talahassee, Florida, for thesummer. Not that she'd be of much help. Just because Jasmine Thomas was her best friend didn't mean that she always understood Katie. And besides, Jazz wasn't like Katie at all. She was way more grown up, and even though she always stood up for Katie when bullies picked on her about being a "chicken", she would most likely think that Katie was really overdoing it this time. Katie planned on asking Jasmine about her first plane ride, when school started that fall.

  Just then, Katie's thoughts were interrupted by a loud bang. Her parents came running into the bedroom to see what was going on. They looked puzzled when Katie could not explain to them, the cause of the bang, but were glad that their daughter had not fallen. Mr. Smith glanced at the locket on top of Katie's bureau (she had placed it there the night before) curiously before following his wife out of the room, but did not speak of it. Katie was really becoming weary, to the point of moroseness. She was becoming very impatient, as she longed deeply for a refreshing slumber.

  She felt that way for what seemed like hours, just laying there, trying her hardest to fall asleep. When she could not take it any longer, she seemed to faint from exhaustion, falling into a deep sleep. Mer slumber was so deep, that she did not wake until the late morning. When she finally staggered out of bed, her digital alarm clock read: 10:45 am!

  Her parents had already eaten breakfast, and her father was at work. After roaming the house for several minutes, she found her mother in her sewing room, hemming too-long dresses. Apparently, she was finishing, because she stopped, and put the dress aside. However, when Mrs. Smith looked up, Katie realized, to her horror, that the woman who sat at the sewing machine was not her mother at all, but the same elderly woman that she had seen in the mirror.

  "Well, look who we have here." The woman said in the same voice that Katie had heard the night before. "A bratty, good for nothing, little girl."

  Chapter Six

  Katie shrieked at the top of her lungs. As she was screaming, the old woman's face disappeared, and it was now clear that the seamstress was indeed Mrs. Smith. Katie stopped screaming, and her mother rushed over to her.

  "Why Katie, you didn't have to scream like that." She said, in effort to placate her daughter. "Do you not want your sun dress hemmed?" she asked.

  Katie shook her head. "It's not like that. You see, strange things have been happening to me the past couple of days." Katie told her mother everything from the noises to seeing the old woman in her place. There was a moment of silence. Mrs. Smith kept a straight face, and thought of what to say.

  "Katie, my dear, you have always been the type of child to be scared of many things, but this is abnormal, even for you." Mrs. Smith continued on: "I am afraid that I will have to make you an appointment to see a... She paused.

  "To see a what, Mom?" Katie asked flippantly. "To see a counselor, Katie. I am afraid that you really need to," Said Mrs. Smith.

  The young girl burst into tears. She didn't want to see a counselor. Counselors were for people with problems in their lives. Mrs. Smith hated to see her daughter cry, but there was nothing that she could do about it. Katie needed help, and she needed it very badly.

  "Katie, why don't you go on and have a snack," said Mrs. Smith to her daughter.

  While Katie went into the kitchen and helped herself to some cookies, Mrs. Smith looked up Counselors in the phone book. When she finally came across a family center in the area, she called the number. A woman answered the phone. Her sickeningly merry voice said:

  "Hi, you've reached Dr. Jones' office, how may I help you?" Katie's mother wished that she could reach into the phone and backhand that ditsy secretary, but knowing that it could never happen, she said:

  "I'd like to make an appointment for my ten-year-old daughter, Katie. She's been having some trouble lately."

  "What kind of trouble?" asked the secretary.

  "Oh, just hallucinations and that sort of thing," Mrs. Smith said.

  "Well," began the secretary. "We have an appointment available next Thursday at three, would that be fine?" she asked.

  "Sure," replied Mrs. Smith. The secretary marked the appointment down, and hung up with Mrs. Smith. Just as Mrs. Smith hung up, Katie walked into the living room, where her mother sat on the couch with her cell phone in hand, as well as the phone book in her lap.

  "Who did you call?" she asked her mother.

  Mrs. Smith didn't want Katie to get upset all over again, so she decided to fib.

  "Who did you call?" asked Katie yet again.

  "Mrs. Case," she said. Mrs. Case was a friend of hers that lived down a few streets over.

  "Oh,
you called Mrs. Case," was all Katie had to say, before going up to her bedroom. Once in her room, Katie sat on her bed, lost in thought. She still didn't understand why a counselor was necessary. After all, she couldn't remember a time when she wasn't afraid of one thing or another. But something else, perhaps her conscience, was telling her that her mother was right. This recent issue was extremely odd, even for a scared y-cat like her. Perhaps something was messing around with her mind. No, that was silly. It couldn't even be possible for there to be someone or something who'd be able to "mess around with her mind." Or could there be?

  It was only her imagination. It had to be. Katie sighed. She wished that she wasn't so afraid of absolutely everything that existed on earth. If only there was a way for her not to be afraid. "Now, that would really be nice," thought Katie. She decided to read until her father was to come home. But after a few chapters, a lonesome feeling took over inside of her, so she went downstairs and into the living room to watch TV with her mother. They remained in silence.

  Chapter Seven

  "Has the cat got your tongue?" Mr. Smith asked, walking through the front door.

  Katie shook her head, not really paying much attention to anything other than the movie.

  " Katie, how about you go up to your room and watch some TV up there. I need to talk to your mother." Katie knew exactly what her parents wanted to discuss, and that was her and her babyish troubles. She went up the stairs, acting as if she was going to obey. But when she was about halfway up the stairs, she crouched down and peeked through the banisters, eavesdropping on her parents' discussion.