The Nightlurker

I had no idea how many times I had experienced this dream, but it felt like the tenth time. I didn’t count. Yet it was another typical dream I had before the other days, like a film that was played over and over again. I didn’t know how long I should witness my parents’ quarrel, the divorce statement, and anything right before my eyes. Maybe after all it wouldn’t end that I would always be haunted by this dream. Thus, I realized that the other thing that had been haunting me after all this time was not only about the mysterious soft hiss calling for Aileana. But the nightmare as well; things that couldn’t get out of my head.

I woke up when the thunder rumbled, before I realized, I was not in my home. This house was not yet mine. It was strange though, I didn’t get this kind of dream before in Nathan’s mansion in London. Perhaps this had to do with the house’s strange atmosphere. Again, I tried not to think about something that has to do with superstitions. This kind of thing was probably common to people who had just experienced a hard time and moved in to a new house, because they hadn’t adjusted themselves in the house.

Probably that was what happened to me.

The morning came quickly then I thought it would be. My vision was still blurred and I felt extremely exhausted, which I didn’t know why. Sleeping early should have made me look fresh today. Instead of boosting my energy for today, perhaps the nightmare last night had absorbed it. I decided to forget it. Still, the events that happened to me yesterday didn’t make any sense. The voice whispering a mysterious figure named Aileana and everything. It seemed I would be getting along with this house in quite some long time. Even when I woke up, my eyelids were still heavy, as if my morning activity was still part of the unfinished dream.

“Still sleepy, eh, Julia?” Nathan flashed me his crooked smile. I could see he’d been noticing my heavy eyelids. “Nice sleep?”

I shrugged in hesitation. The breakfast went slowly as Nathan kept talking about the market stock these days, some businesses stuff I didn’t want to interfere. At some conversation topics, my mother had been trying to make me involved in it. But I only responded with a nod and sometimes a shrug.

As long as Nathan was in the house, I swore my life would never be happy. I guessed my flat, expressionless face should have explained everything to my mother, that I wasn’t fond that Nathan would be my stepfather. But I never understood when my mother would realize that she had taken a big, wrong decision in her life.

And the worst thing was, she insisted me to be involved in it as if I was some sort of her slave.

I walked lazily towards my chauffeured sedan with Sean, as the chauffeur himself, who would take me to my new school. The car headed straight towards the downtown of Aberfeldy, which not to my knowledge, it was pretty different than what I pictured it would be. For the first time since I arrived here, I realized this city had a life. It seemed people stopped working and doing their activities when the sun set.

Worthington Academy was located in the lower ground, so it was not as cold as up there in my house.

I walked into the administration room to take my class schedule before getting into my first class, which was English. When I walked into the class, just like what a newbie should experience, every glance darted towards me in curiosity. I took my seat, flashing my shy smile at them. I just hoped everything didn’t think me as a too-shy girl or moody-looking girl. I did look like a quiet girl and expressionless, but my face just turned like that since my parents’ divorce. It changed me almost completely. I used to be exuberant at school in London, but it seemed I’d changed now.

“Hello.” a blonde girl sitting in front of me turned her seat around just to greet me friendly.

“You moved in here just about time. At least you still have a year to prepare for GCSE.”

GCSE. I even hadn’t thought about it since I moved. The test should be on my grade 13, which should be next year. My mother had never mentioned about the test though. Well, I never thought of that either, since after all this time, I only thought about moving on.

“So you just moved in from London?” the blonde girl continued.

“Yeah.” I smiled at her, trying to give her a good impression. “How do you know about it?”

“You know…gossips. I doubt everyone’s eavesdropped teacher’s conversation.” she scoffed. “So when did you arrive?”

“Yesterday.”

“So, a Londoner, eh?” a curly-bobbed auburn girl snapped excitedly. Her tone struck me as if she was really dying to go there or if she worshipped that city. “Tell me what’s it like? I haven’t been there though but I heard London has a lot of cute guys and cool fashion like Camden market...”

“Phoebe, please...” the blonde girl cut off. “Oh never mind about her, we got carried away easily with every topics about London. I know it sounds silly but we’ve never been there or seen what it’s like. You should talk more about that place, alright? Oh anyway, I’m Lorelai, Lorelai Lovett, and she’s Phoebe.”

“Hi!” Phoebe raised her arm. “Phoebe Forester, and you are…”

“Julia.” I responded. “Julia Flinch.”

“Nice to meet you, Julia.” Lorelai said. “It’s not a difficult name to memorize though. Can I call you Jules?”

“Of course.”

We talked and talked, but it wasn’t until I felt someone was noticing me from the distance, and it was quite distracting. I turned my head around, only to see a pretty yet mysterious looking girl with beautiful black hair, darting her glance towards me sharply. In front of her was the English book itself that she was reading. She sat in the last row at the corner. I looked back at her and it seemed she felt it. Quickly she buried her face behind her book again.

“Who is she?” I whispered to Lorelai and Phoebe.

“Curious eh?” Lorelai smiled. “That’s Sophie Murray.”

“Yeah, and she’s kind of...freaky, bookworm, and a loner.” Phoebe added, taking a glance at Sophie to make sure she didn’t jerk her head out of the book. “But don’t get me wrong, she’s a pretty genius girl. And you know what people say about her? She’s pretty scary.”
Scary? What was wrong with that girl? She was pretty or beautiful if I might say, but her look did look scary, and through her face, I was imagining if she was plotting a murder case or something like that.

“Scary? She quiet strikes me as a pretty girl.” I asked.

“Yeah, and I’m sure the boys would gave certainly fallen for her, if only she hadn’t been a psychic.” Phoebe whispered under her breath, slightly scoffing.

Psychic? As in a medium? As in people who could what literally didn’t exist in the mortal world.

“So what if she is a psychic? Doesn’t it mean she has a special gift?” I asked.

“Yes, I can see what you mean, but it’s another story if she misuses her gift.” Lorelai added.

“Misuses?”

“Yes, she can detect and see ‘things’, you know – ghosts.” Phoebe whispered by the end of the sentence. “And it freaks people out. I’ll give you an example. Harry, a senior, was walking down the quiet hallway when he came across Sophie. And you know, it was quiet and suddenly Sophie just muttered ‘he’s behind you’ pointing her finger on the empty space behind Harry. He surely had no idea what Sophie meant with he, because there were just him and her in that place. Sophie then added, ‘he’s been following you from the restroom’. Harry was constantly freaked out and you know the rest.”

“Same thing has happened to the others.” Lorelai added. “So I try not to pass her anywhere or even look at her eyes.”

Wow that did sound pretty freaky, but if I were Sophie, I wouldn’t tell people if I spotted something others couldn’t see. I didn’t know if this school was haunted or not and I didn’t care if it really was. Superstition was something ridiculous for me, especially if people still believed it these days. It was now 21st century and impossible things could possibly happen these days. Perhaps that explained why I wasn’t into superstitions or supernatural stuffs.

“Besides, she always seems to wear clothes that…cover her up, and mostly black or dark schemed! Maybe she’s not really into tank tops but, I mean, she ever wears long-sleeved blouse in summer! Not even a T-shirt. I wonder why.” Lorelai blabbered. “She may be pretty, but believe me, she’s not as fashionable as everyone thinks.”

“Maybe she likes modest style.” I shrugged. To be honest, I wasn’t into fashion myself. I basically wore classy, casual, and everything simple. I was more into blazers or cardigan. Well, even sometimes, I didn’t even know what stuffs I was wearing.

“Whatever, the school paper should nominate her to be the girl with the worst fashion sense.” The blonde continued.

Phoebe sniffed, feeling a bit ignored. “Well, the point is, Jules, I urge you not to come any closer to her, even if you come across her, pretend if you don’t know she’s there. Well, this is for your goodness, if you don’t want to get yourself freaked out by her...scary ‘announcements’.”

“Scary announcements you say?”

“Yeah.” Phoebe and Lorelai spoke almost at the same time. “Just don’t dare.”

“If you’re afraid of her then you believe that ghosts exist?”

“Well you can say so.” Phoebe shrugged.

“Has she ever scared you before with her ‘announcements’?” I made apostrophe signs with my fingers in the air.

“Well no.” they said at the same time again.

“Pray it never happens.” Lorelai said.

“Then you shouldn’t be much scared. After all ghosts are only fictional characters people happen to imagine due to their curiosity of how exactly dead people form like.”

“How can you be so sure?” Phoebe asked.

“Because I’ve never seen any. Well, I would believe in ghosts if only I met one, which I’m sure it would never happen.” I pointed out. “I don’t believe in superstitions, so even if she tries to scare me, it won’t just work on me. Maybe she just needs a little attention.”

I gulped and decided to believe in my friends’ persuasion. But still, meeting up with Sophie wouldn’t be a big deal, so if she did tell me that something unseen was walking behind me, I wouldn’t get carried way with it. I looked back at the girl, still questioned and curious. Part of me really wanted to know and learn more about her, for she was one unique person that you would never meet in London. The girl stole glances towards me, but when she realized I was still looking at her, she quickly hid her face behind the book again.

She was definitely hiding something and I could feel that there was part of her really wanted to know more about me. Though I was not sure what she wanted to find out in me.

The class began as the bell rang. The Algebra teacher came in and apparently he noticed I was a newbie. Then he asked me to make a short a introduction before the class started. So far so good, I thought I would be getting along with my new environment in quite short time. I thought the thoughts about Sophie would distract me from the lesson, but apparently it didn’t happen.