The Ghost of Snowstar: Part 2

I swallowed hard as the three of us walked under the faint moonlight. The trees waved in the warm wind, and so did my hair. There seemed to be a myriad of shadows floating across the ground, but there wasn’t a bird or even a bat in sight. Despite the wind, the whole thicket was dead silent, and we could hear our own footsteps.

I hope Comet will be okay by herself. She wakes up at night quite often. I just hope she doesn’t notice I’m gone.

“It’s not so bad,” said Hazel.

“You’re right. We were scared for nothing,” said Violet.

I disagree. Anything could happen. We’re merely at the entrance of the forest.

There was the squeak of rats.

“Eek! There are rats here,” I said.

I entered swiftly, clutching onto my pendant. The two of them filled the air with laughter.

“Janessa, you’re such a scaredy cat,” said Violet.

Hazel continued to laugh as I looked back at them.

“Hmph! I’ll let you know that rats are the pure enemy of a cosplayer!” I said.

“What do you mean?” asked Violet.

The two of them exchanged glances and then blinked at me.

“Well, I had kept some foam armor at a friend’s place, but he had rats at his house, and they destroyed it! Ripped it to shreds.”

“Janessa, if I were you, I’d be more worried about the infestation.”

“Yeah, no. I couldn’t compete at the con even though I had registered a week before!” I said.

“What good is armor made of foam?” remarked Violet.

We walked forward, and it became dark to the point that I couldn’t see my friends’ faces.

Before I could reply that it is easy to use to mimic actual metal armor, I saw a series of glowing red eyes above us, in a tree branch. A howling wind caused the tree branch to swing, and the eyes zoomed towards us.

"What is that?" said Violet.

“Run!” cried Hazel.

Just as I was about to run, something heavy, furry, and slimy landed on my back, causing me to trip, fall, and smack onto the hard ground, covered in wooden roots. I screamed a few times.

Oww. Eek! What is this disgusting stuff? Eww!

“Janessa? Janessa?!” cried a series of voices.

It was still dark as I heard pops and scrunches near my ear.

I need to get up and check if my pendant is okay!

“Help! Help!” I screeched.

“Let’s get out of here!” I heard.

“But what about Janessa?”

They’re abandoning me?! I don’t need them. I’m fine on my own.

I saw a pink glow coming from my pendant. It filled the whole forest as a boom reverberated, followed by an inhuman screech.

With the explosion, the slime fumed away from my body. There was a rancid stench, and I coughed my lungs out. Getting up at once, the glow filled my whole body, and I began to float.

The owner of the red eyes was now visible. Above the branch, there was a semi-translucent woman with a dress made of a coat of slime and fur. Her dress bore a hundred, blinking eyes, but her face had none.

“Who are you?” I asked.

She muttered something in a language I didn’t speak. In her hand, there was a silvery metal blade attached to a crooked branch. The ghost jumped down, aiming the blade. I backstepped several times.

She swung at me, but I managed to dodge. However, there was a cut across my arm, and blood rushed out of it. I held onto it, as it stung with pain.

“It’s time for cosplay!” I yelled.

The whole scene melted away as I entered the royal dressmaking room. A pair of pixies bandaged my arm.

I quickly imagined the pattern and the pixies cut out a white, grey, and blue sailor school uniform, which I then sewed and added the lace and bias trim onto the collar. I fashioned a newsboy cap with triangle pieces, added a black/sky-blue split wig, and blue rimmed glasses. The final pieces were the oversized machete on a stick and the oil lamp.

“Ah, yes! Asumi the Ghost Hunter. Perfect!” I yelled.

I returned to the forest, but it was pitch-dark. I raised my lamp to my face, only to realize her blade was only a yard away from my neck. My machete clashed with her spear. I tried to attack her a couple of times, but she parried it with her spear.

“Ugh!” I said, whacking her spear away with my machete.

That’s it, I’m winning!

I watched as the ghost slipped away behind me, and toward Violet and Hazel. They both carried sticks and waved them around, but Hazel was shivering behind Violet.

They didn’t abandon me?!

The rate of my heartbeat increased as the ghost picked her spear up once again.

I have no choice.

I swung my machete at the ghost from behind. It struck her quickly. Her shrill screams made my ears deaf for a few seconds. It not only cut deeply into her, but was stuck in her body. I tried taking it out, but it was simply stuck there. The ghost dropped her spear and fell to the ground as she bled. The blood seeped through the ground. The eyes on her dress released tears, and she began to wail.

“Janessa, let’s get out of here!” they cried.

“Yes, let’s go!” I said.

We ran across, trying to dodge the trees. As the ghost wailed and wept, I wondered why my body felt so stiff as a knot formed in my throat.

I sighed as we ran until we could no longer see the trees.

A minute later, the sun peeked from the horizon, and the forest lit up with warmth. Even now, her cries echoed throughout the border of the forest. I clicked my tongue and panted while resting a few yards away from the forest border. I was completely out of breath.

“Come on, Janessa!” said Violet.

The pair looked at each other and nodded. They each held one of my arms and ran at lightning speed. Even when I was about to trip a couple of times, they caught me and kept running.

At last, the town’s entrance was visible, with a sign that read, Welcome to Northern Snowstar. They stopped running at once, and we crossed the street as the pedestrian light turned green.

“Do you think we’re safe?” asked Hazel.

“I hope so!” I said, frowning and looking at the ground.

I touched my pendant and concentrated as my look changed to the one before, except fresh and clean, as if it had been mended and washed. I touched my arm; it still stung.

“Come on, let’s go back,” I said.

I bid them goodbye, walked up the stairs, and found Comet, who was staring through the window in her nightgown and nightcap, crying and blowing her nose. She sat on a pile of used tissues.

“Comet?”

“Janessa?! It is you! Where were you? I was worried sick! What happened? You must tell me everything.”

“I will, little Comet. Please let me sleep for a few hours.”

“Hmm.”

I landed on the soft, white sheets.

“Surely, you will not sleep in that tight dress! Put on some pajamas.”

“I will do anything I please.”

By the time I woke up for class, I found Comet asleep on my belly.