The Big Ghost

by Maya Seeker, 9

A February 2024 Monthly Story Challenge Winner

Prologue

Aliha (the main character)

We were camping in a forest near my house. In the middle of the  forest there was a big mountain that earlier the next day we started climbing. When we were halfway up I decided to look down. I barely managed to see my light blue tent between all the leafy green trees. We were on that mountain for a very long time. Then my mom said “We're almost there. Are you all right?’’ I looked at her with  sarcasm written all over my face and said “Yeah I’m fine’’ even though my whole entire 13 year old body  was aching and I was about to give up. Luckily she was right.

I could see the peak of the mountain only 20 meters away. I ran up the last bit, the view was amazing! I went closer and closer to the edge. “Don't fall off,” said my mom but I didn't want to go back now. Suddenly I felt myself slipping and a paw push. It couldn't  have been mom surely, I just had enough time to turn around and see who pushed me but there was nobody there, not  even my mom. What had happened to her? I fell past the peak and my heart leaped up in my throat. I was falling away from the peak and closer to the ground  I tried to scream for help but I couldn't breathe. “Maybe I should just  give up,’’ I  thought Someone was close by but I didn’t bother doing anything I just fell. And if I did something it wouldn’t have mattered because he couldn’t  see me. I thought I had no choice. I closed my eyes and I fell for another 15 seconds then I hit the ground. It was in a dray and black place. It was the only place in the entire campsite  that was burnt to the ground.

Chapter 1 • Day to Night

Allie (the mom)

 “Don't fall off,” I said to Aliha, not wanting her to fall. Well she either didn’t hear me or ignored me because she just kept going closer I was about to grab her when something dragged me and almost made me fall it took me a while to get up from where I hang and when I did Aliha was nowhere to be seen “Aliha Aliha” no answer I began to cry she was nowhere not hanging, not standing just as if she went poof. “No no this can’t be there's no way” so I pulled myself together and went down the mountain I was climbing down for an eternity always passing rocks and trees but I made it down by sunset. I looked around the mountain, investigating every spot. Until I came to a happy looking arya with blossom trees that were blossoming and red bushes.

***

“We’re there,” my mom said. I was brought to a stretcher. And rolled into the hospital and thrown on a comfy bed. It was soft and I felt myself sinking into the mattress. After sinking into the mattress for 5 seconds I was completely covered by it and fell through the hospital bed. Unfortunately for me I was on the second floor and fell right through to the first and the ground floor. “Mom I fell through a bed and 2 13 inch thick floors.” I said as I stood up. It was so weird I felt absolutely nothing as I fell to the ground floor.I tried to walk but then I fell (again) and landed deep underground in a cave.

Chapter 2  • Life in a Cave

It was dark in the cave. All I could see was black . I realised there were some mushrooms. It was the only food there. “I hate mushrooms.’’

 I said to no one in particular. If only mom was there. I picked up a small mushroom with some sort of green car wheel symbol  on it. I ate it. It tasted like a…. pancakes!? I somehow managed to swallow it whole and instead of going in my stomach it went straight through me and landed on the floor. I looked at my hands  and saw that they were slightly see-through! I walked 5 steps before stopping and going back.I thought  that if I walked too much I would fall again. I sat down wondering what to do and how to get back. There was no one to keep me company. I was all alone apart from the mushrooms.I started to cry and my heart started to beat faster and faster “mooooooooom.” I cry out in desperation “I need you.”  My heart was over the limit naw. It was beating 9000000 times a second.  I looked at my hands again with tears streaming down my face and on the ground. naw all I could see was a white outline.

Chapter 3 • Eye on You

I was so mad at myself that I started shouting. “I SHOULD HAVE JUST LISTENED TO HER! THEN NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE EVER HAPPENED! But something was wrong. I was no longer see-through. Not even a tiny bit. “What is happening!?” I stood up and started walking. To my surprise I wasn’t sinking at all. I looked around to see if anything could be useful and as I looked I saw a wall that was shaped like it was trying to hide something.The wall was chiseled in a way that  it looked like the wall behind it. It was also a lighter shade that gave it away. I went closer to it and saw that the two walls were very different. One was iron and one was stone. I touched the iron wall and traced the grooves. When I went to the middle, I all of a sudden got sucked in to the other side. There I saw a tiny opening of light. The problem was, I was too big to go through there. I needed something to help me. So, I tried running through the wall. Of course I thought that would work, but it didn’t. I just smashed into the wall face-first and fell over backwards. 

“Ouch! That one hit me hard!” I mumbled rubbing the red spot on my forhead. 

That did it. Running through the wall isn’t an option. 

I heard someone count down behind me. 

“Three- two- one.” The voice whispered. 

And after it hit one, I felt a push in my back and me falling through the wall. At least time it worked. 

If it didn’t I would be as flat as a pancake. It still hurt a bit, but not as badly as when I ran face-first into the wall. 

I stood up, dusted my dress off and looked at my surroundings. To my surprise, I was at the front door of the hospital and I went inside. I saw the bed that I fell into, I saw Mum racing around trying to find me, I saw everything. 

Wait, my mum racing around trying to find me? I called her over. But she didn’t seem to hear me. 

So I went over to her and stood right in front of her eyes. But she was chatting to someone and they were chatting back to her somehow through me; without even noticing me. It was so weird, because I tried to touch Mum, but all I managed to do was wave my hand through her head. Same happened for everything else, except the floor. All I can do is sit down on the floor and wait or find an open book to read, but this is about it. Because if I try turning the pages of a book, my hands would go right through it. Everything would. I went back over to my mother and she was still talking to the nurse. I listened in what they were saying and I gasped when I found out.