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A cloud moved off the full moon and illuminated the gardens ... and I saw the silhouette of two historical figures embracing beside the fountain. Her in a long dress. Him in a kilt. It was exactly as the bartender had described. The two lovers reunited once again under the full moon. I knew instantly that the rumors were true, and I was staring at the ghosts of Agnes and Duncan. As I took in the full sight of them, the fear I’d been caging broke free with a vengeance. It took hold of my body, and my need to flee the scene overwhelmed all my other senses.
I needed to get out of there.
Now.
I started to crawl backward, but Marge spun and impaled me with a warning stare, shaking her head to stop me. But I couldn’t. My body wouldn’t stop. I was too scared. All I wanted to do was fly out of the garden as fast as I could, jump in the little red car and speed away.
“Don’t move,” Marge mouthed, but I kept crawling backward.
Alice and Sylvie turned toward me, their eyes also begging me to stay still.
“I can’t. I can’t. I can’t,” I whispered as the panic gripped me with its unyielding fingers.
“Doris!” Marge mouthed. “Don’t move.”
“I can’t,” I whispered again, my rear now hitting the bushes behind me. “I can’t. I can’t. I can’t.”
When the bushes I’d bumped into started to shake, I froze and whipped my gaze back to the ghosts beside the fountain. My breath trapped in my throat when both of them spun to face me. As the clouds drifted off the moon and lit up the darkness for only a brief moment, I could just make out the faint features of their faces. Most importantly, I could make out their eyes ... the ones staring straight at me. When their penetrating gazes locked onto me like laser beams, the panic inside of me exploded straight out of my mouth.
“Ahhhhhhhhh!” I screamed as I leaped up.
Sylvie and Alice jumped up and started screaming as well, and our screams mingled into one long, ear-shattering symphony of terror. Visions of angry ghosts sailing across the gardens and murdering me invaded my mind as I continued my blood-curdling scream. When I spun to run away, something gripped my arm, and I yowled and flailed while I fought it off. My elbow collided with something hard, and the grip on my arm released.
“Run!” I screamed to my Widows as my little feet took flight. “Run away! Run away!”
“Run away!” Alice screamed with me, and her lengthy strides sent her speeding past me with Sylvie hot on her tail.
Sylvie grabbed my arm and pulled me with her, and I glanced back to see Marge hoofing it just behind us.
“We’ve been made! Run, soldiers! Run!” she barked, and I pushed my legs faster trying to follow Alice out of the maze of bushes and shrubs.
“Where the hell is the exit?” she shrieked as she took another turn.
We all spun after her, and I glanced over my shoulder hoping I wouldn’t see two angry apparitions breathing down my neck.
“Keep moving!” Marge barked. “Don’t stop!”
As we finally closed in on the castle, Alice hit an intersection cutting us off from safety. She didn’t slow down and pick a direction. Instead, she launched straight over the final hedge standing between us and freedom. Grabbing the bottom of her dress, she hoisted it high, and with one big leap, her long legs sent her sailing over it like an Olympic hurdler. Thinking the straight line back to the castle was the fastest way to escape the ghosts on our tail, Sylvie and I veered after her. With one last backward glance to see Marge puffing behind us and not ghosts, we grabbed our skirts and jumped over it together. But instead of landing gracefully on the other side, it seemed without Alice’s lithe frame and athletics, the hedge was too big for us to clear. With a scream followed by a grunt, we tumbled into the rough branches.
“Ahhhhhh!” I screamed louder as I fought the foliage gripping me tight. My skirt fell over my head, causing me to go blind as I battled the fabric and the shrubbery.
“Ahhhhhh!” Sylvie screamed beside me while she tried to right herself.
“Get up and RUN!” Marge screamed, and just as I pulled my dress from my face, I looked up to see her leaping over us like a gazelle, her kilt giving her full freedom to move without restraint.. and her lack of underwear giving me a show as terrifying as the ghosts on our tail.
Shocked for a moment she’d cleared the bushes so easily, and shocked by the sight of her naked behind practically glowing in the moonlight, I snapped back to the threats likely floating toward us in an angry ghostly rage. I leaped to my feet with Sylvie. Marge, who’d waited, grabbed our hands and pulled us with her.
“We’re almost there! Get to the castle! Get to the castle!”
“Hurry up!” Alice called over her shoulder.
Huffing and puffing and too scared to look behind me again being this close to freedom, I pushed my body to the breaking point. Finally, with our screams still echoing around us, we made it to the castle doors. Before we could get inside, the doors to the castle burst open, and the lights from inside flooded the darkness. Fiona, Finley, and a few other guests stood staring at us in the doorway, their confused faces twisting as we tore out of the gardens toward them.
“Get to the castle!” Marge commanded again, and we rushed toward the people standing in the doors.
So glad to see humans to help us, we spilled into the lighted hall like it was a magical refuge no ghost could cross.
“What’s happened?” Fiona said as she caught me. “Are you alright? What’s going on? We heard screaming coming from outside.”
