The Ghost

by frostilicious and Fuffian the Cloud Chomby

Well...it all started out when I, Fuffian, was outside my Jelly NeoHome playing Cheat! with my friend Shoyrincess. We were minding our own business, laughing and having a blast, when Shoyrincess heard rattling in a nearby bush. We carefully approached it curiously. I pushed aside some branches, revealing two bright, horrified, blue eyes. I jumped back, startled by coming face to face with some creature, or should I say a pair of eyes, staring back at me. The next thing I knew, Shoyrincess was repeating my name over and over.

"Fuffian! Fuffian! Are you all right?!" I blinked several times; awakening from my unconsciousness. Shoyrincess took a deep sigh of relief. "Phew, I was so worried! What was in those bushes? You peeked inside of them, then jumped back and hit your head…" Her voice trailed off.

"Blue eyes," I recalled, "Bright blue eyes… They were staring back at me!" But whose eyes were they…?

The next day, I was over at Shoyrincess's place. We were both riding bikes. Miles and piles of giggles between us, we were no doubt about it enjoying ourselves. That is, all until I lost control of my pedals and crashed into a fairly large garden of roses. I was slightly dizzy, but I managed to regain my balance and steadied myself back on all fours. When I looked up, I saw a breathtaking sight. I stumbled when I tried to scamper back to Shoyrincess. I stepped and limped and stepped and limped. I finally reached her, and she must have noticed the scared look upon my face, 'cause instantly her warm, comforting eyes melted into mine. "What's wrong? Fuffian, what's the matter?"

I took a deep breath. "Oh Shoyrincess, I don't know what's going on! Unis…a whole herd of them! They were white, all their bright, blue eyes watching me. Watching me every move…"

"Were they the same eyes as the ones in the bushes yesterday?" she questioned.

"Yes." And with that, Shoyrincess led me inside of her own Jelly NeoHome.

When we were safely inside on her comfortable Kau Print Sofa, we tried to make sense of all our confusion.

"The only person I can think of with that many Unis is Mr. Saykanski. But he passed away a couple months ago, and his grandson inherited them," Shoyrincess suggested.

"But doesn't his grandson live on Terror Mountain? It doesn't make sense that the Unis would be all the way here in Neopia."

Later on, after listening to the M*YNCI CD together several times, it was time for me to return home. I waved bye bye bye and stepped out of her house, heading the way towards my own. My lower lip trembled a bit, thought I wasn't sure if it was because of the low temperature or my fear of darkness. My eyes leaped from one outline of a shape to the next as I traveled through the darkness. But then I stopped dead in my tracks. One of the shapes was moving. I breathed heavily. I clenched my teeth together to stop the trembling. It looked like the outline of a person… but the weird part of it was… it was see-through. I had seen a ghost.

I slammed the door behind me as I sprinted back to NeoHome. I stopped to catch my breath, then curled up into my bed and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up the next day, I called Bamada, my Split Chomby boyfriend, and told him about all the events that had been happening to me. But he thought also, the ghost is Mr. Saykanski. But I had a grudge inside me that the ghost was not Mr. Saykanski. It couldn't be…

After we had both hung up, I peeked out of my front door to check for any white, bright-eyed Unis or late night walking ghosts. The coast was clear. I stepped outside and ran all the way to Shoyrincess's. When I was inside I told her about my see-through "friend." She seemed just as freaked out as I was! But still, she came up with the same thing as Bamada: The ghost is Mr. Saykanski. I knew I was missing something. Something to prove that it was NOT Mr. Saykanski. Something to prove that it was… that it was… was ….who? I didn't know. But I was soon to find out…

During our time together, Shoyrincess and I had each read about three books each and beaten about three levels of Ice Caves. We were still searching through the gameroom page, looking for another game to play. And that's when I saw it - the five words that definitely helped me answer my question: The Ski Lodge Murder Mystery. I dashed the cursor over to it, and clicked. Shoyrincess was staring at me strangely. But I couldn't stop now! I was onto something!

Five minutes later, it was declared I was right. I knew who my ghost was. And I was going to prove it!

After I exited Shoyrincess's NeoHome, I hid behind a bush to wait for my ghost. (Of course, one that wasn't already occupied my an Uni) There I waited. And waited. And waited. About an hour had passed, and I was just about ready to sadly return home. But then - I saw her. Now, I knew I had to approach her sooner or later, but I wouldn't exactly call myself brave at this point. I didn't just walk up to her right away and start interrogating her. I hesitated and nearly tripped while finally coming to her. Her being beautiful, innocent Snowflake.

I stuttered as I began to start a conversation. "Hi…I-I-I'm Fuffian. Are y-you really Sn-Snowflake?" She smiled.

"I am," she answered.

"Oh." I couldn't think of anything better to say. Could you blame me? There I was in the middle of the night talking to a murdered ghost.

"Well…Fuffian, was it? What bring you here on such a cold night at such a late time?"

I could feel my face flush as I turned away from her.

"Uh…I was looking f-for you, actually."

Snowflake nodded knowingly, almost as if she had been expecting me like I had expected her.

"I see…" Her smile remained. It somewhat scared me; it had never faded since it first appeared. I looked at my feet.

"Snowflake, can I ask you something?"

"Anything," she replied.

"Why are you here?" There was a long pause, which made me feel uncomfortable. Her mouth formed a thin line, and her smile disappeared for the first time.

"Revenge."

"Say what?" I was confused!

"Revenge. To the killer. He murdered me. So I will get him. Like he got me. He will pay. You just wait and see." Her eyes were set on me, yet she seemed to be staring beyond where I was standing.

"And my faithful Unis! They will help me get my revenge." She looked like someone else had taken over her caring, comforting self. Taken over her mind, her body, and she had not control of what she was saying or doing. My eyes locked on her.

"Who-who's this person that you so strongly despise?" I questioned. Her eyes then came back into focus, and were placed back on me instead of behind me. They were wide open, and I was completely terrified to stay much longer out there, for I was sure that she would take all her anger out on me. Her eyes were full of fear, yet full of hatred at the same time. I could hear her breathing, short and brisk breaths, although I was several feet away from her. Then, she opened her mouth to reveal the murderer, and strangely, nothing came out. She jerked her mouth open over and over violently, yet she remained silent. She threw her hands up in rage and started to charge towards me. I was like stone. I could not move. Instead, I squealed in terror, expecting to feel something ram into me. But no. I felt nothing. I opened my eyes and to my surprise, she was gone. No Snowflake, no bruises, no murderer's name revealed. But then I looked down and saw a pile of snow.

And still, to this day, the Ski Lodge Murder Mystery Murderer is unknown to us all.

The End