Chapter 2 2

Chapter 2.

Jessica's point of view.

After Halloween night, things became confusing. Next morning, I tried to ask if I could go out and play with Michael but mom said that wasn't possible since Michael was sick and he was taken to hospital. A couple of days later mom and dad sold the house and we needed to move again. I really liked to live here because of Michael and I couldn't understand why we were moving again. Mom and dad never talked about it. Whenever I asked if I could go and see Michael at the hospital, dad said that it wasn't possible because he was so terrible sick that they wouldn't let anyone go to see him. I was a little heartbroken because I couldn't go and see my best friend even after a long time. When we moved to Phoenix, Arizona. Mom said that it was a new beginning to us and that we needed to forget everything about Haddonfield. Whenever I asked about Michael from my parents, they said that they couldn't remember him. While I grew up with my parents, they started to tell me that Michael was an imaginary friend that I had when I was 5 years old. But he seemed to be so real to me and I could swear that he was! I always fought with them about that but I never saw him again. When I was a teenager, I truly believed that Michael was only my imagination and I tried to forget him. Sarah never wanted to talk about him, so maybe he was only a creepy imaginary friend?

TIME SKIP 15 YEARS

When I graduated high school, I started at business school. I moved back to Haddonfield because something dragged me back there and it always felt like home to me. I brought my own house when I had enough savings for it. I worked along wit my studies and after years of hard work, I could finally buy my own house. My parents tried to help me pay for it but I refused because I knew there would be a catch. My parents are wonderful but they're overprotective and control freaks. And I hated them for it. I also adopted a black cat named Timmy. He's my little baby but he's independent so usually he would only observe everyone. He comes to cuddle with me rarely but when he does, he cuddles for hours and wouldn't leave me alone. I unpacked the final box ad the I was ready. I looked around my new home. There were boxes everywhere and some furniture were already in their places. Finally! My own house. I can give myself a pat on the back from all the hard work to reach this achievement. This is the first time I lived on my own because of my parents. They wanted to move here too with me, but I had to talk with them to stay in their house and let me finally fly away from the nest. It was tough love, but they got the message. I was an adult now! I don't know why they became so overprotective, but when I was younger it started. My mom almost fainted when I told them I was moving here.

I look at Timmy, who was sitting by the window. He was looking outside but he never wanted to go out. I tried to show him the outside world when I still lived with my parents but he always ran back in or meowed at the door. I walked over to him and patted his head. I look outside to see what he was looking at. I saw a lot of different people, who were walking around and having a great time. Some kids were playing right in the middle of the street. "Come on Timmy. There's food in your bowl." He only sat there, ignoring me. He hadn't eaten yet so I walk over to the bowl and shake it. It makes a nice little sound and Timmy immediately turns around and runs for the bowl. He always wanted me to shake it before he eats it. I laugh a little. I get up and walk over to my wall calender. I start looking through it. Halloween was only two days away and I was a little excited because of it. I have always loved Halloween because of all the decorations and candy and horror movies on TV. I walk over to my Halloween decoration box and start putting them all around the house. Timmy was watching me all the time but sometimes he would push down some of the decorations onto the floor, almost breaking them. "Timmy, stop. You have your own toys over there. We can play later." Timmy only looks at me then pushes another decoration off the table. I shake my head with a huff and then I feel hunger strike me. I haven't had a chance to eat yet, so this was the perfect time to eat. I go to the kitchen and look in the fridge, looking through the food inside. Maybe I could make some chicken soup? That was a great idea. I start to make some food but as I was making the food, someone knocked at the door. I look at the front door with confusion. Who would come to visit me? I turn down the heat on the stove to let the food cook slowly. I head over to the front door, opening the door a little. There was an old woman ad when she saw me she gave me a sweet smile.

"Hello there I saw that you were moving here today so I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Ally Johnson, but you can just call me Ally!" She said joyfully. I smiled at her and reached out my hand to her. "Hi, my name is Jessica Hall! You can call me Jess." She shakes my hand happily. "It's so nice to have a new Neighbour here." I already start to like this old lady. She seemed to be sweet. "Would you like to come inside? I'm making chicken soup and I would like to get to know you better." I step back to give her some room and she walks inside. Timmy jumps on the couch and he looks at the old lady curiously, tilting his head to look at her. Ally looks around. "You must like Halloween. I really like the decorations." she says and I let out a little laugh. "Yeah, I love it. Can you tell me something about the neighbourhood?" I ask her as she turns around to look at me, thinking over my question. I smile and lead her to my couch, offer her to sit down. She sits while Timmy jumps off the couch and runs over to an armchair where I was going to sot. She smiles when I sit down and Timmy starts climbing all over me. "Well the neighbourhood is wonderful. But some people here, lets say they have some character in them." I look at her curiously with a smile. "How so?" she looks at her hands awkwardly but then she lifted her head to look at me. "Well the family on your other side can be a little difficult sometimes. There's a lot of children living here. There is also a haunted house down the road." She says with a smile on her face. I look at her, and I'm curious about the house down the road. "Haunted house? I haven't heard about that." She looks surprised. "Really. Everyone says that the boogie-man lives there. Horrible things happened there." when she says that I started to get a little excited. When I was driving here I saw an old abandoned house, so that must be the house. I have always wanted to go to a haunted house but I never got the chance to. "Really. What happened there?" Ally awkwardly looked around and the shook her head. "It was a long time ago and it's really nothing any more." She said quickly. "Oh okay." I say to her, not wanting to push her buttons on that subject. "What about the family next door?" I continue our conversation. She perks up happily again. "They can be a little entitled sometimes but if your nice and listen to them, then there won't be a problem!" She says with a wide smile on her face. Now I know that family could become a problem to me. I smile at Ally, but then remember I left the food alone. "Oh. Well then, I will try to get along with them. Now if you excuse me, I will go to look at the food." I say and quickly go to the kitchen. I look at the soup bit it didn't look that bad at all. I start putting some seasoning to the soup. When I am done, I take two bowl and pour some soup into them. I set the bowls on the dinner table. I go and take two glasses and spoons and I pour water in a jug. I put them on the table. I go to the living room and see Ally looking at my family photos. "The food is ready. You can come to the kitchen now." I say to her, making her turn around and give me a smile. She follows me to the kitchen and we sit down to eat. I get to know her and the neighbourhood better. After a couple of hours, she leaves and I was the dishes. I'm still thinking about that haunted house. What happened there? I can feel my childlike curiosity start to bother me and I wanted to know everything from that house.

After washing and cleaning the kitchen from the sea of dishes, I walk back to Timmy. When he sees me, he runs to me and climbs to my shoulders. Today he has been all clingy so tomorrow he probably wants to be left alone again. I pet his head, giving him a small smile. "You're so cute when you're like that. Tomorrow you can have the house all to yourself. I have o go to bath so you need to be here and watch over the house." I softly poke his nose and he meows. I put him on the floor and head over to the bathroom but he runs after me. After I'm done with my night routine while the cat was clinging to me all the time, I go to my bedroom and choose tomorrows outfit. I put it o an armchair which is on the corner of the room. Timmy comes to the bedroom and jumps on the end of my bed meowing loudly at me. I smile at him and get into the bed and under the covers. Finally, I could go to sleep! I yawn and turn off the lamp next to my bed on the bedside table. "Goodnight Timmy." I say to Timmy and he meows. He runs right next to me and lays down. I smile as I lay down and fall asleep

DREAM STARTS

I was walking down a street which had so many Halloween decorations all around it. I smiled when I saw all the lights, pumpkins and plastic decorations, loving every second of this! There were children walking everywhere, going trick-or-treating with cute costumes. I happily look around and then see a dark figure standing far from me. It was looking at me soundlessly. I look at the figure for a while, trying to find some details on it. It wasn't threatening but almost comforting. I turn away from the figure, not wanting to stare at it any more. When I turn I can see younger me playing with my old imaginary friend Michael. They were playing with my old plushes. I never realized how detailed Michael was compared to my other imaginary friends who usually were animals. I can't remember anything about them but I can remember everything about him. I chuckled a little amused remembering all those times I would hang out with him. I used to play with him almost everyday but one Halloween night I didn't see him again. Mom always said that I was becoming too old for imaginary friends when I cried about him and I cried almost everyday for three months. I was heartbroken but Sarah said that I would find real friends who wouldn't leave me like that. I found some friends but they stayed in Phoenix when I moved here. I walked closer to them and saw a house which looked awfully familiar. Michael and younger me were playing at the yard of the house. The house looked just like the abandoned house from down the street. It seemed to scream danger, so I decided to go away from the house. When I turn around, the figure was standing much closer than before and it was just watching me. I jump a little because of the sudden closeness of the figure. It was like a shadow, following me silently. "Umm... Hi" I say to it, a little nervous and it tilts its head. I couldn't see any details on the figure even when it was so close. It walked right up to me and reached its hand towards my cheek, its touch was warm and I leaned in its touch, feeling comforted. It was leaning its forehead against mine, calming me down even more. I see movement behind it and tilt my head to look behind him. I saw Sarah behind the figure. She looked at the figure with fear in her eyes. "Sarah is everything okay?" I ask and her expression turns into an angry one. "Jessica! Get away from it! It isn't good for you!" What was she talking about? The figure turned around and starts walking toward Sarah. When it reached her, it attacked Sarah, taking hold of her neck. Sarah tried to fight it but she easily got overpowered by the figure. "H-Hey stop!" I go closer to them, only to see the figure is choking Sarah. I ran up to them and take a hold of the figure's shoulders. The figure turns to look at me, but at the same time it snapped Sarah's neck. I let out a scream and quickly back away from them. Suddenly the whole setting in my dream turned cold and dark, making me feel anxious. I look at the figure, which was now coming back in front of me, just looking at me with no expression. I take a step back, but it takes two forward. Before it can reach me I feel something wet and rough against my cheek.

DREAM ENDS

I sit up, sweat running down my face. I look around my dark room, my blood pumping fast in my veins. My eyes stop to look at Timmy, who was sitting next to my pillow looking at me with his head tilted to a side. I sigh in relief when I see his fluffy face and pet his head. "You little rascal. You scared me!" I say to him, laughing a little when I realized the he woke me up. He meows at me and lays down next to me. I pet his fur a little longer, thinking about my weird dream. I don't get nightmares that often but I don't mind having them if they are not as disturbing as this one. I can't even think what would have happened if Timmy didn't wake me up. I decide to get a glass of water before going back to sleep. When I get to the kitchen and take some water, I look outside my window which was facing Ally's house. I could see that she was still watching TV in her house. I guess she didn't need to wake up early next morning? I smile a little to myself and put the glass down. When I reach the stairs, I look outside my living room window. There were some teens walking down the street towards the old abandoned house. I shake my head then I go back upstairs. That house must be their hang out place, so maybe it wouldn't be so smart to go there after all. I wouldn't want to get stabbed by some teen manic! When I got back to my bedroom, Timmy was sleeping on my pillows, making me smile. He looks so cute and I don't want to disturb his sleep. I lay down next to him and try not to disturb his sleep. As I'm laying here, I start to think about my dream again. I haven't seen dreams about Michael in a long time, so it was a little weird to see him after all this time but I conclude that I saw him and that figure just because of the stress from the moving. I just close my eyes again and try to have some sleep tonight.