by Jody Kihara
We’re on the landing…
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The Girl Across the Water
I wanted to get up out of bed and look, but I was
paralyzed with fear. I lay there, eyes wide but seeing
nothing other than darkness as I strained for more sounds.
Did I hear the sound of feet treading down the hallway? I
wanted to shout out, to wake Jasper up, but even my
throat was paralyzed. I squeezed my eyes shut, telling
myself I was imagining it all.
And then I heard a creak just outside the door.
Slowly, I opened my eyes, terrified of what I’d see.
At the bottom of the door there was still a crack of light…
but this time it was interrupted by two dark patches. Feet.
My throat was so frozen, I couldn’t have shouted if
I’d wanted to. Nauseous with fear, I slowly pushed myself
out of bed. I was moving in slow motion, like I was in a
dream. Part of me was still in bed, part of me was
screaming for Dad, part of me was walking towards the
door. Was this a dream? No, it was too real, I was aware of
too much: I could feel the floorboards under my feet as I
slowly crossed the room. I reached out and gripped the
doorknob, which was cold in my palm. I turned it and
opened the door.
Standing there, dark eyes, dark hair, dark dress,
dripping wet, was The Girl. She glared up at me, grey
shadows under her eyes, and hissed, “You said you
wouldn’t tell! ”
This time I yelled.
I stood there yelling for all I was worth, calling for
Dad, still shouting as the girl turned and ran down the
hallway, down the stairs, and disappeared.
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The Girl Across the Water
Dad burst out of his bedroom. “What’s going on,
what is it?”
“The girl! Did you see her? She was standing right
here! You saw her, right?”
He looked around wildly, his hair messy and eyes
bleary. “What are you talking about?”
“Dad, it was her! The Girl! She was in the cabin,
right here? Didn’t you see her? She just ran down the
stairs!”
Jasper appeared behind me. “What’s going on?” He
sounded petrified, but it was nothing compared to how I
felt. I was practically screaming. “She was here!” I
repeated. “Dad, she was in the cabin! She was right here!”
It took him several minutes to calm me down, and
then to calm Jasper down, who was freaking out because I
was freaking out. Dad flicked on the bedroom light, made
me sit on my bed, and then sat down beside me while I
took in big lungfuls of air.
“Okay, slowly. Tell me what’s going on.”
I jumped up again. “But we have to see if she’s still
there!” I ran to the doorway.
“Paul, no. Not until you tell me what’s going on.” He
got up to drag me back to the bed, but I was already on my
hands and knees, feeling the carpet. It was wet.
Ghosts didn’t drip real water, did they?
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The Girl Across the Water
After practically dragging us down stairs and then
forcing us stay put at the table (Jasper didn’t want to sit
where someone from outside might see him, whereas I
kept jumping up to the window with the big flashlight and
shining it into the woods), Dad made hot chocolates and
placed them in front of us.
“Okay, from the beginning,” Dad said.
I had stopped shaking, but felt like I might start
again at any second. Jasper sat in wide-eyed silence.
“It was — at the island,” I began. “I saw this girl on
the island when we were canoeing away.”
“Who’s ‘we’?” Jasper asked. “I didn’t see anyone!”
Dad frowned at him and shook his head: Don’t
interrupt.
I haltingly explained the whole story. During my
recital, Dad’s expression changed from shocked to frowning
again, but he waited until I’d finished before speaking.
Then his first question was, “Paul, why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know… I’m not sure! It was like I’d promised
her something. So I had to find out more. And then I did
almost tell you, but by that time, I figured it must all be a
stupid joke. And then just when I thought it was a joke…” I
trailed off.
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The Girl Across the Water
“Well,” he said. “We have a few options. If it’s a
joke, we can either try to find out who’s playing it, or
simply ignore it. She may be some kid from town, just
having fun at an outsider’s expense. And I don’t think this
girl is doing any harm...” He hesitated. “Paul, are you really
sure you saw her here? Are you sure you didn’t imagine it
because it’s been on your mind so much?”
“Dad, the carpet was wet! I showed you! And the
door was unlocked when we came downstairs. And I know I
locked it tonight.”
“Well, okay,” he said. “Second option, then: she
really is staying on the island, in which case she needs
help, and her family needs to know where she is. So we try
to find her and talk to her. Third option,” he said, then
hesitated again, this time looking uncomfortable. “Well, no,
more of option two, really. We should go tell the police.
Even if she is just playing a joke, she’s playing one that
could get her killed, going back and forth to the island by
herself like that.”
But the hesitation and the guilty look told me what
he had really wanted to say: Option three: you’re going
crazy and you imagined the whole thing.
“Dad, I don’t want to go to the police, at least not
yet. I mean, what can we tell them?” That they’d believe,
of course. I was pretty sure they’d also think I was going
crazy, or that we were wasting their time over a stupid
joke.
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The Girl Across the Water
“We’ll go to the island, then, and look around,” he
said. “First thing tomorrow morning.” So that I can figure
out whether you’re going crazy or not.
Jasper gulped. “Do I have to come?”
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The Girl Across the Water
Chapter 11
The next morning was overcast. Dad and I canoed
quickly to the island, and Jasper waited back at the cabin,
protected by his stack of comics. I paddled with
determination, praying The Girl was there, looking forward
to finally making her confess to what was going on. She
might have lied easily to me, but I doubted she could lie to
Dad. Things were always different with an adult around.
As soon as we arrived at the island, I led Dad to the
clearing. It took him longer to follow as he was bigger, and
had a harder time squeezing through the bushes.
The clearing was empty. “She was here,” I said,
indicating the small area.
Dad glanced around. “Well. Shall we check the rest
of the island, then?”
We p
ushed our way through more branches.
Although the island was small, checking the whole thing
was difficult because of the scrub being so thick. I glanced
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back now and then to see Dad frowning contemplatively. I
could tell what he was thinking: there was no girl. With
growing panic, I peered through every gap in the foliage,
searching for signs of her.
We pushed our way to the top of the cliff and stood
there, looking around. I peered over the edge at the water
below, grayish and still on such a cloudy day, and
remembered when I’d almost run right over the edge. Had
the girl led me there deliberately? No ― surely she wouldn’t
have been able to do that.
Dad sighed, running his fingers through his hair. “I
don’t know, Paul, I don’t see any trace. I wish I were a
better tracker. Maybe then we could tell where she’s been
coming and going.”
If she really exists. If you didn’t imagine the whole
thing, was the implication.
I looked around desperately. There had to be some
trace of her! Broken branches, footprints… but of course,
even if we found those, they could be mine.
We made our way back down to the beach, passing
through the clearing again. As we crossed the small patch
of grass, my eyes raked over the ground. And then I
spotted it. There, partially hidden under a plant was the
tiniest clue that the girl had been here ― the corner of a
granola bar wrapper.
I seized it and thrust it towards Dad. “There! See?
It’s a granola bar wrapper!”
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The Girl Across the Water
He took it from me. “That could have been left here
anytime, though, couldn’t it? I’m not sure the police will
take this as proof.” Or that I will, he probably meant.
“But it’s not just any granola bar wrapper,” I
explained. “It’s the kind I brought her. Remember? I
brought her food twice? Well, this was one of the things she
ate!”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am!”
“Well, okay.” He looked around, examined the tiny
piece of wrapper again, and looked back at me. “Let’s go to
the police, then.”
We set off for town as soon as we got back. Jasper
chose to remain at the cabin. I didn’t think he’d want to be
on his own with the possibility of a ghost girl stepping out
of the woods, but he seemed to feel safe enough barricaded
in the bedroom with his stack of comic books and a bag of
potato chips.
When we got to the police station, I was aware of a
slight feeling of apprehension as I climbed out of the car. I
was glad Dad was there with me, lending some authority to
the story; even so, I wasn’t sure the police would believe
me.
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The Girl Across the Water
This time it was a male police officer who sat behind
the desk. I was surprised that such a small town would
have more than one police officer. He greeted us with a
friendly nod as we walked in.
Dad strode up to the desk. “We have kind of a
strange thing to tell you about,” he began. “My son here—”
He indicated me. “―has seen a young girl from time to
time, on one of the islands on the lake. We don’t know how
she’s getting there, as there’s no sign of a canoe. But then
last night…” He paused. “…she came into our cabin.”
The police officer raised his eyebrows. “Go on.”
“So we thought we’d better tell you about it in case
there’s a child reported missing. Of course, it could be
someone from town playing a joke,” Dad added.
“One of the cabins up the lake, you mean? And she
came into it? Where did she say, where did she come
from?”
“Well,” Dad replied, and I tensed, knowing what was
coming next. “I didn’t actually see her. It was Paul who
did.”
The officer turned to look at me, and I tried my best
to look like a responsible young man rather than some
hallucinating loon. “She came up the stairs when we were
in bed,” I explained. “But then she ran back downstairs and
outside before we could do anything.”
The officer frowned. “What time of night was it?”
“Late. It was dark out, we’d already gone to bed.”
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His frown deepened. “Well, she must have gone
somewhere… did you hear a car?”
“No.”
“Maybe she’s staying at the next cabin, then?”
“No. We’ve already met the neighbors, and there’s
one girl, but she’s older. It definitely wasn’t her.”
“Well,” he said again, like he wasn’t sure what to do.
I got the impression that if I’d been on my own, he would
have brushed off the whole thing. But Dad was there, so he
had to treat it with some seriousness. “And before this, you
saw her on one of the islands?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Which one?”
“The one right across from our cabin. It takes a
couple minutes to get there by canoe. You could swim it if
you’re a really strong swimmer… but I doubt a kid could.
Even if she has a boat, we can’t figure out where she’s
coming from.”
He nodded. “Well, there are a lot of boats down this
end of the lake. That’s the only other place boats are
moored, so she must be coming from here.”
“We figured it must be someone from town,” Dad
said. “Likely she’s not going back and forth alone.”
The officer shrugged, although he was still frowning.
“Could just be a few kids playing a joke. They’re not
actually doing any harm, are they?”
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The Girl Across the Water
“No, we were just concerned in case the girl really is
on her own. Away from home, that is. Maybe you could
check for any missing persons reports, just in case?”
“She did say she’d run away,” I added.
The officer peered at me suspiciously. “I thought you
didn’t talk to her.”
“I did. On the island.”
His eyes narrowed more. “When was that?”
“I—” My mind suddenly went blank. “I can’t
remember which day. Three days ago, I think.”
“Three days ago? And you’re reporting it now?”
“No! I was here before, asking about missing kids.
But the police officer — the other one — she said there
weren’t any.”
Dad turned to me. “Paul, I didn’t know you’d been
here before.”
I flushed. I could feel myself getting panicky; my
story sounded like it was changing. “I guess I forgot to tell
you that part.”
“And you told the other officer about this young
girl?” the officer asked.
“Yes. No, I mean…” I felt my face growing hotter.
This was coming out
all wrong. “When she said there were
no missing kids, I didn’t bother to tell her about the girl.
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The Girl Across the Water
There didn’t seem to be any… point,” I finished weakly.
Because I was so freaked out that she might be a ghost.
The officer nodded. “Well, I can run a wider check,
but I suspect it is just a joke.” Although the look he gave
me said, either that, or you’re making this up.
I glanced nervously at Dad. I could see he was
feeling less convinced by my story, too.
Picking up a pen, the officer asked for our phone
number in case he found out anything.
“I can give you my cell phone number, but it only
gets reception randomly up at the cabin. If I go upstairs
and lean out the window,” Dad said with a rueful smile.
The officer jotted down the number. “Well, I doubt
we’ll turn anything up. We’d have received any missing
persons reports from the next towns. But I’ll leave a
message if I have any news for you.”
“Thanks,” Dad said.
I felt myself slump. Not only had we failed to find
out anything, it seemed no one would take me seriously.
Just a joke… kids from town. We headed for the glass
doors.
But wait… there was one thing I still didn’t know:
how had the neighbor kids had learned about the ghost
story?
As Dad pushed open the heavy door and headed
outside, I turned and darted back to the cop. “I just wanted
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to ask you,” I blurted out, “do you know any ghost stories
about a girl? In these woods?”
The look he gave me confirmed that he thought I
was a deranged loon. “No, but we don’t pay much attention
to ghost stories, son. Maybe ask the librarian.”
I ran out feeling stupid yet elated. The librarian! Why
hadn’t I thought of that?
Dad was turning to see where I was.
“Hey, can we go to the library?” I asked as I ran up.
“Sure. I guess we’ll need something to read if the
weather stays like this for awhile.”
I glanced up at the sky. The day was still overcast,
but growing darker, like it might rain again.
“Do you mind if I drop you there while I go check
