We looked over to see a very pale girl standing there staring back at us. I didn't know what to do, it looked like something out of a horror film. I was slowly reaching for the door when the girl said, "Don't leave me."
I looked at Peyton as a tear ran down my face. "It's okay, we'll be okay," Peyton assured me when he saw how terrified I was.
"I won't hurt you," she said as she seemingly glided across the floor. "I just need your help."
Peyton looked back at her and stepped a little closer to cover me, "Help?"
"I wanna go back home," She echoed as she glided closer. She stopped and I could see that she had been crying. She had white hair, it looked as if it hadn't been brushed for a long time. Her dress was white but ripped and covered in dirt at the bottom. She wasn't wearing shoes, and her feet were also really dirty. her skin was pale, very pale.
But the thing about her that scared me the most was that I could see through her. The moment I realized it, the moment I realized that she was not alive, I couldn't help it. I said, "You aren't h-here."
Peyton turned to me with a confused expression on his face. I mouthed at him and he turned back and looked at her. He stuttered and tried to get words out, "I.. you... what?"
"I died in this shed 22 years ago," was her response. "The shed can become safe again, but not while I'm here. Every night at exactly 11:11 another ghost appears. The same one that took my life when I was just a kid. It does the same thing every time. It kills me again. I wanna go back home, and I can. If someone is kind and brave enough to break the curse. I was hoping that would be you two."
At that point, I knew that we had to help her. Peyton looked at me, then I said, "What can we do?" Peyton's eyes widened. I guess he wasn't expecting me to want to help.
"You'll help me?" She asked as a smile spread across her face. She looked so happy to hear that someone was going to get her out of that place. "Meet here at 11:00 tomorrow night. I'll explain it all to you and you can stop the ghost before it gets to me."
"Wait, but how would we do that? We can't physically hurt it," Peyton and I were thinking the same thing, he was just the first to say it.
"That's just a stereotype. Although ghosts can be seen through, they can still feel things. If you threw something at me right now it would affect me the same way it would affect you," She looked at him. "I don't think we've had a proper introduction, I'm Elsie Nelson." She put her hand out to shake his.
Peyton hesitated at first, then he reached out to shake her hand, "Peyton Cleft." He said slowly, pulling his hand away, still in shock. He looked down at his hand, "Your hand... it's so-"
She cuts him off, "Cold?"
He looks back up, "y-yeah..."
I interrupted, "I'm Quinn, what exactly can we do to help?" I stepped forward to shake her hand, but when she took it she looked at me with this sad, longing look. I looked back at Peyton and he was just looking at me with a blank expression on his face. I looked back over to see that it was dark out, "Wait, we need to go."
She dropped my hand, "Come back tomorrow. Please." I nodded at her and smiled as I took Peyton's hand to lead him out of the shed. I got him back to his normal self, and we walked back home. We wished each other goodnight at the steps to my porch, and I watched as he walked away. I tried to sneak inside without getting caught, but of course, my mom was standing right there at the door waiting for me. I didn't want to argue, because that whole night was very much like movies, and arguing never works. I just listened to her lecture and then marched up to my room.