• Prologue………..

    Breathing hard, using up all my speed, running my heart out. “I am going to make it, I’m going to make it.” Was all I was thinking. “Almost there…” And that’s when an icy hand shot out from the darkness and pulled me into oblivion.



    Chapter One

    Catalina Villamontez, aka "Cat", stood in the hallway of her home, arguing with her mother. “Oh c’mon Mom! All my friends are going!” I yelled. “They may be going but you, young lady are not. It’s Midsummer’s Eve tonight and that’s the most haunted night of the year!” She yelled right back. “But-” I started. “You are not going to the cemetery tonight and that’s final!” She said with complete authority. She then sent me to my room…grounded. “UGH! Why does she have all these superstitions about everything?” I screamed at my pillow. I did this for an hour and then fell asleep, exhausted. I woke up several hours later and checked the clock, 1:34 AM, “YES!” I thought, “I still have time to go!” Luckily my bedroom is on the first floor, so I crawled out and snuck off. “What a fake superstition.” I thought. I had no idea that it was more real than I realized. When I finally got to the cemetery, I saw my friends clustered in a group, talking quietly. They soon saw me and ran up to me, throwing the same question at me 10 times. “Where have you been? You have been missing an awesome party!” Once I answered this question, we headed back to the strobing lights of the party. That’s when they made the announcement that would forever change my life. “Uh, everyone we are having a séance in the far end of the cemetery, so if that sounds fun to you go to the western edge of the party.” This was said by the guy who came up with the idea for the party.

    “Let’s go guys! It will be fun!” said my friend Diane excitedly. Of course we all agreed. What harm was there is a séance? We walked to the western edge of the cemetery and we were instructed to form a circle around some candle they had set up. After awhile this really weird dude walked into the circle, claiming that ghosts could speak through him. “Yeah, he is as much a ghost speaker as I am the dog whisperer.” I said quietly to my friend Leah. She giggled loud enough for the “ghost speaker” to hear her. He turned and gave us a nasty glare, but he continued with setting up. Finally he started chanting and chanting. Then a figure appeared, a few people screamed but the circle held. The figure was transparent but you could see his features clearly. He then walked up behind the man and stepped into him, I mean literally stepped into him. The guy groaned a bit and then fell silent. Then he stood up and glanced around the circle, his eyes sinister and evil. We all quivered in fear. That’s when he started talking. Instead of his usual voice, which was squeaky, it was deep and proud. “Thank you for releasing me from my prison.” He said evilly. Then his eyes locked with mine and he walked toward me slowly, smiling wickedly. He grabbed my hand in his snowy grip. I squeaked in fear, but suddenly I wasn’t in the cemetery anymore, I was in a cavernous room that was decorated with the finest furniture I had ever seen.
    It was then I realized I was sitting on a throne and my jeans and t-shirt were gone. In their stead was a long flowing dress made of gold silk and my hands were gloved in white satin. I looked to the left and nearly fainted from fear. Holding my hand was the sinister man from the cemetery, it was then I realized he was wearing a crown. He caught my gaze and coaxed me to stand up. He then led me, by the hand, down a long corridor. Just as quickly as I left, I was back in the cemetery, face to face with that man. He smiled his wicked smile and backed away slowly. The sinister look in his eyes then, faded and the “ghost speaker” collapsed to the ground. My friends grabbed me from behind and pulled me backwards. The séance was over. Afterwards my friends kept questioning me on whether or not I was ok. I told them I was fine, just a little freaked. Then they stomped over to the guy who could “speak to ghosts” and yelled at him for freaking me out. He said it wasn’t him, it was the ghost, who had gone back to haunting the bottomless void he called home. They all scoffed at him and called him crazy. They walked back to the party with me and the party soon ended after that. I walked back home alone and quietly, crept back through my window and fell on my bed, in a heap. I didn’t even bother changing, and my last thoughts before I fell asleep were, “If Mom finds me like this I will have to come up with a good story. Yikes. Oh well. Good night myself.” I thought quietly. I soon fell asleep, and that’s when the dreams started……

    Chapter Two

    I was in a room that was just as cavernous and elegant as the one I saw in the cemetery, only it was a bedroom, and I was completely alone. I looked around at all the furniture and it was all carved so intricately and beautifully, it took my breath away, every linen the eye could see was made of silk or satin. I went over to the mirror and gasped in shock. It was me, only it wasn’t me. This girl had a regal air about her, but it also looked like she had seen horrors that no one should ever see. She had dark circles under her eyes as if she had tossed fitfully in her sleep, and the look she always had was of bitter sorrow and remorse. Then I walked away from my own reflection and changed into a simple satin gown that had colorful embroidery on the lower skirt. This dress the furthest thing from my regular jeans and t-shirt but, I guess it will do, for now.

    I was about to leave the room to explore the building when the knob turned and the door opened. It was that man from the cemetery, and he was still wearing his small crown. I felt as if I lost control of my body and I could only watch warily as the scene unfolded before my eyes. “Yyyour Mmajesty.” stammered my body as she fell into a clumsy curtsy. “Rise, my dear. You need not worry about that sort of thing anymore, you wouldn’t want to wrinkle that pretty dress, now do you?” He replied. “Of course not Your Majesty, I merely wished not to offend thee, Royal Highness.” My body said quietly as “we” stood up. “My dear, you must stop referring to me as “Your Majesty” you can call me by my given name.” He insisted. “It will not bother me if you call me, sir either.” He finished. “Yes…sir.” My body said with difficulty. “Do not worry my dear, you will get used to palace life, long before the winter festival.” The “prince” said with absolute certainty. “Sir, if I may be so bold to ask, why would you choose a lowly peasant, such as me, to be your bride?” My body asked with uncertainty. “That, my dear, would be because your beauty enchanted me.” He said charmingly. He continued to flatter “me” and all I could do was sit there and watch in disgust. “This guy is like twice my age and he is marrying me?” I thought with a shiver.

    Once he was done, “I” was completely under his control. “One such as I, should not be worthy of such flattery.” “I” said with complete humbleness. He chuckled quietly and murmured something to himself. “Ah, but you are, my dear.” As he said this he touched my hair and leaned in close. It was then I finally regained control over my body. Just before his lips touched mine, I screamed.

    I woke to find my mother shaking me and asking why I was screaming. I calmed her down and told her I had a nightmare. She wondered why I was still in yesterday’s clothes so I lied and said, “Oh, I guess I fell asleep after studying really hard last night.” She totally fell for it and told me the bus would be here soon. She left the room and went to eat breakfast. I sat on my bed puzzling why I had seen this, “Does this mean anything or am I still just freaked about last night.” I thought as I got ready for school. “I guess I am still kinda freaked about last night.” I thought with complete insincerity. The bus horn honked a couple minutes later and I rushed out the door, with my mother shouting at me that I had forgotten to eat breakfast. “Mothers…” I thought. I sat down on the bus and completely forgot about my dream as we drove off to school.





    Chapter Three

    “What does he want with me? I am not that pretty am I?” I questioned myself. Although all my friends said I was pretty because I have chocolate colored hair and deep blue eyes. “Oh well, that’s completely off topic anyway…this “prince” guy was tall, dark, and handsome, while I was 5’4” and average looking.” I thought quietly. I quickly got so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t realize that my best friend David was standing in front of me looking puzzled. He poked me, and I snapped out of it. I tried to look up at him, but I got a sore neck in the process. He was so tall at 6’1” compared to my tiny frame. “Deep in thought?” He asked smugly as he sat down beside me.”Yeah, I was thinking about how dreamy Tony Marley is.” I replied. He made a “bleh” face but I continued. “Ok seriously though, I was thinking about this nightmare I had last night.” He looked surprised, “Really? You? Nightmares?” He asked curiously. “Yes, it was horrible…don’t ask.”I said. “I wasn’t gonna.” He said back. We sometimes tell each other our dreams…it’s just something we have done ever since we became friends.” I wonder why you are having nightmares.” He questioned intently.” Well, I guessed I have been stressed lately, because of all the drama.” I said without thinking. “What drama?” He asked with child-like curiosity.

    I told him about my ordeal last night in the cemetery and his face went from innocent curiosity to feral anger. “Did this guy hurt you?” He asked furiously. “No, he didn’t hurt me David, don’t flip out.” I told him. “Don’t flip out? This guy could’ve hurt you and you don’t want me to freak?”He asked me angrily, and he continued,”What’s this guy’s name? He is so doomed. I will hunt him down and-“I cut him short by saying,” You don’t need to hunt him down; I’m fine, honestly David, I am.” David huffed angrily and said, “Fine, have it your way.” I sighed with heavy relief. “Thank you David. I just don’t want you, or your family, to be sued because of me.” He was about to say something when the bell rang, and we headed off to each of our classes. For the rest of the day, all I could think about was my dream. My teachers got mad at me for daydreaming but, they didn’t care enough to send me to detention. When I walked in the front door my mom rushed me and yelled at me for not eating any breakfast, "Cat! Why didn't you eat your breakfast? Do you know how unhealthy that is? Foryour punishment you will eat three times as many brussel sprouts as usual!" I nodded, and sat down solemnly and started eating. I gagged twice and my mother forced me to finish it off. She sent me off to my room as soon as I was done. I got on my computer as soon as the door shut and started chatting online.

    My friend Leah asked me if I was still ok from last night, I told her I was fine, (that is sooo not the truth.) We continued talking for another couple of hours when she found out from her brother Michael, that David had tracked down the guy from the cemetery(with the help of Leah I am sad to say) and gave him a black eye. I rolled my eyes and thought,” What a dope! He is gonna get sued! I told him not to…why didn’t he listen?” We stayed up until 1:00AM chatting; we then, both said our goodnights and logged off. I got into my PJ’s and fell asleep, as soon as my head hit the pillow and my nightmare, once more, unfolded.

    Chapter Four

    I woke with a start, and checked my clock. 4:00AM,”Are you kidding me?” I thought angrily. “4:00AM? Jeez! Why do I have the same dream every night!!?? What does this thing want? Is he some guy who enjoys tormenting me? Who knows?” I thought with ire. I didn’t feel sleepy so I decided to go online to see if anyone I knew was chatting. I logged on and saw David’s username. I said hello to him and he asked,”Same nightmare?” Next to it was an emoticon that had a thought bubble next to it, “Yeah, I still don’t understand what this thing wants with me.” I answered back. He told me to look it up. I agreed with him so I typed, “I am going to go look it up as you so kindly suggested. Bye.” He said “bye” back and it had a sad emoticon next to that looked at me somberly. I logged out and went to Google to research. I typed in “ghosts”. Over a million mentions of the word “ghosts” all over the Internet, so typed in “reoccurring dreams” hyphenated to the word ghosts and hit enter. Now there were only 100 hits. I scrolled through the list, denying every site until one website caught my eye.



    Ghosts-Reality or Imaginary?(www.ghostsroi.org)

    I clicked the link and a page filled with all kinds of information on ghosts. I was about to exit out when I saw there was a search box up at the top. I typed in reoccurring dreams and got one mention of it throughout the website. It said,

    “Ghosts are known throughout much folklore. Some say ghosts can only communicate through reoccurring dreams or visions. Many eyewitnesses of the paranormal believe the spirits only linger because they need something done before they can go to the other side. In many cases, the ghost has to tell someone something important. In others the ghost has a more sinister need. Mary of New York City believes that one ghost had a very sinister need for her mother. In an interview she said, “A ghost man took my ma to be his ghost bride. My dad denies it but we both saw it happen with our own eyes.” A few weeks later Mary was sent to a mental hospital. Did Mary really see a ghost steal her mother or is she simply mad? We may never know.” My eyes scanned over the words, “spirits can only communicate through reoccurring dreams or visions, ghost bride.” Rereading the words “ghost bride” twice. My heart froze over, as the sudden realization hit me like a speeding truck.



    “He wants me, me, to be his ghost bride!??? Why didn't I just listen to Mom??” I thought with a sudden fear. What could she do? Get an exorcism? “No, too painful, and besides, I am not possessed, am I?” I quickly ran through some possible solutions in my mind, rejecting them all. “WHAT CAN I DO!??” I screamed at her pillow, immediately cupping my hand over my mouth, and strained to listen for any sounds from my mother’s room. Hearing a bit of stirring, but that was quickly drowned out by loud snoring. I sighed with relief. “Doofus! Don’t yell at four am!” I scolded herself quietly. Then I logged back on to the chatroom and luckily David was still on. He quickly realized that I had returned and said, “Hola, ghost chick. Did you have fun frolicking with the ghosts?” I made a face and gave an obnoxious reply. “Ok seriously Cat, you seem tense, what did you find?” He said with concern. I humored him and told him everything that I had found. He laughed it off nervously. I asked him what was wrong, but he didn’t reply so I got mad and left the chat. “This is so weird, why doesn’t he ever reply to that kind of stuff?” I thought with puzzlement. “WHY DOESN’T ANYONE LISTEN???” I yelled without thinking. A loud grumbling erupted from across the hall as my mom got out of bed. “Oh, now you’ve done it Cat. That was a brilliant move.” My conscience yelled at herself. “CATALINA VILLAMONTEZ!!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING SCREAMING AT THIS HOUR!!???? GO BACK TO BED AND I WILL DEAL WITH YOU TOMORROW!!!! Mom screamed at the top of her lungs. ”Jeez, for such a tiny woman, she sure can scream. Oh well, back to bed.” I thought. I curled up under my covers and fell into a fitful sleep, as I traveled into a world I had come to fear.