After school, Dean, Claire, and Bianca stood in front of the old school building. The place was quiet and empty, making it a little creepy, even though it looked like it was still usable.
"Ah, I miss this place. My class used to be here," Claire said, turning to Dean and Bianca. "So, why are we here, anyway?"
"Let's go in," Bianca said, ignoring Claire's question.
"Ugh, I'm suddenly tired," Dean groaned.
"Answer me first. What are we doing here?" Claire insisted, crossing her arms.
"We're joining the Mysteries and Paranormal Activity Club that Ruby started," Bianca said with a casual smile. "She's a freshman who moved here three months ago."
"Ruby? Who's that?" Claire asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I told you about the girl who was following me, right? That's Ruby. She saw us go through the portal on the roof," Dean explained, looking at Claire.
"She saw us? So, are we here to get rid of her?" Claire asked.
"Of course not! Like I said, we're joining her club," Bianca replied.
"Is she blackmailing us or something?" Claire asked suspiciously. "Threatening to talk if we don't join?"
"No, she's not. Bianca just felt bad after seeing Ruby get bullied right in front of her," Dean said, looking at Bianca. "Right?"
"Um, not exactly. That's part of it, but the real reason is that I'm just interested in her," Bianca replied.
"Hmm, okay. Let's go meet this Ruby," Claire said.
"Great, let's go," Bianca said, walking inside.
Dean and Claire followed her. They immediately saw a handwritten sign taped to a pillar, pointing to the club's location.
"Huh, so this isn't an official club, is it? How many members are there?" Claire asked.
"Ruby said there are two, but she said people from other schools can join," Bianca replied.
"Okay, let's go," Claire said.
They followed the arrows on the signs until they reached a room at the end of the hall with a sign that read "Art Room."
Bianca slid the door open and saw Ruby sitting at a desk, writing on some papers.
"Ruby," Bianca said.
Ruby turned, adjusted her glasses, and her face lit up when she saw them. She immediately stood up and greeted them.
"Welcome to the Mysteries and Paranormal Activity Club!" Ruby said, holding Bianca's hand.
Claire, who was watching Ruby—a thin, pretty girl with long black hair in a braid and glasses—talking to Bianca, leaned toward Dean and whispered, "Is that Ruby?"
"Yep, that's her," Dean said.
"Bianca said there were two members, but she's all alone. Where's the other one?" Claire asked.
"Don't ask me," Dean replied, looking annoyed to be there.
"Oh, I'm not alone," Ruby blurted out, looking at Claire and touching her glasses.
"Where?" Claire asked.
Suddenly, Ruby turned and nodded. Dean, Claire, and Bianca's eyes widened as a little ghost girl, transparent and black and white, wearing a torn dress and holding a homemade rabbit doll, floated out from behind Ruby and held her hand.
"Oh, so the other member is a ghost," Bianca said.
"Hmm, interesting," Dean added, his eyes fixed on the little ghost girl.
"Fits the name, 'Mysteries and Paranormal Activity Club,'" Claire said with a smile. "Nice."
"Wait a minute," Ruby said, looking at all three of them.
"What's wrong?" Bianca asked.
"You three... you can see her?" Ruby asked, completely shocked.
"Yeah, of course. I used to be a ghost myself, hehe," Claire said, now crouching in front of the little ghost girl.
"Huh, what do you mean?" Ruby asked, stunned.
"Let's not get into that right now. So, you can see ghosts?" Dean asked.
"I've had a sixth sense since I was a kid, and it made me really interested in supernatural things," Ruby replied.
"Ah, I see," Bianca mumbled.
"Do you know who she is?" Dean asked Ruby, pointing to the ghost.
"No, she never talks. But I did live in her house once—an old abandoned house. Can I tell you guys what happened and why I decided to move to this school three months ago?" Ruby asked.
Dean closed the door. They all pulled up chairs and sat in a circle with Ruby near a dusty, unused piano.
"Okay, go ahead," Dean said.
"Alright. I'll tell you. I met her about a year ago, but first, let me tell you about myself," Ruby began.
She explained, at that time, she was a tenth-grader at a small, suburban school on a scholarship. She had no money, no family, and was completely on her own. She lived in a half-ruined abandoned house near the school, which the school let her use. She lived there for six months with no issues, working a part-time job to get by and pursuing her supernatural hobby.
One day, she came home from her job and put down some food, including an apple a customer gave her. She saw a tiny hand trying to grab the apple, but it couldn't because it went right through it. She slowly approached the table and saw a ghost of a little girl trying to grab the apple.
The ghost girl was startled to see Ruby and instantly disappeared. After that, strange things started to happen, like a water bottle falling over, lights flickering, or the bathwater suddenly getting cold and so many things. Ruby realized the little girl was following her and was trying to do what she did around the house.
"Hmm, so she's a poltergeist," Claire mumbled.
"No, she's just a ghost who was happy to have a friend living with her," Ruby replied.
"Oh, okay," Claire said.
Ruby continued her story. About five months ago, she found a diary that seemed to be written by a five-year-old, with messy writing and lots of drawings. From the pictures, it was clear the little girl had been abandoned by her parents, and that they loved her younger sister more. She tried to get their attention by drawing, writing, and being a good kid, but it seemed her parents always spoiled her sister more.
As Ruby explained the diary, Dean, Claire, and Bianca looked at the ghost girl standing next to Ruby. Then, Ruby continued. She found a name written in red crayon: Heather. When Ruby asked the little girl if that was her name, she shook her head and looked angry. But when Ruby asked if Heather was her sister, the little girl nodded quickly.
Ruby finally concluded according to her research using the diary she got, that when the little girl's parents divorced, one of them only took Heather, leaving the little girl alone in the house. She waited for her parents to come home until she died because she was too afraid to leave. "Sniff... sniff... that's so sad," Bianca said, tearing up, and Claire's eyes started to get watery, too.
"Hmm, she looks about seven years old," Dean said, observing the girl.
"That's what I thought, too. After that, I tried to find a girl named Heather online who was my age, about 17, because the diary had this girl's birth date and said Heather was a year younger. A few results came up, but there was only one in this state who was my age and went to this school. Since I'd saved up for college, I decided to move here to find Heather and her parents so this ghost could move on. But... Heather just bullied me when I said something weird to her... hehe," Ruby said, looking down.
Dean looked at the little girl, who was shaking her head and glaring at him with anger.
"Huh," Dean said.
Suddenly, "ding," a notification appeared on Dean, Claire, and Bianca's phones. They looked at the notification from the app. "Aaaah," Ruby screamed, and they saw her phone was floating in front of the little girl's face. Ruby grabbed her phone and her eyes widened as she saw that the Nightmare Revenge app was open and registered.
"Huh, I didn't use this app," Ruby said, showing her phone to Dean, Claire, and Bianca, who were all shocked to see Ruby with their app.