Crowns & Chaos

eighteen

"Evangeline..."

My whole body jerked upright as the voice echoed around my head. 

"Oh what the fuck what the fuck," I muttered, looking around in the dark. All the hair on the back of my neck was standing up, and my palms were clammy with sweat. I knew that realistically, there was nothing to be afraid of, but I couldn't stop the tears pricking the corners of my eyes. 

I stared into the dark corner of the room, trying to figure out if the shadow was simply a shadow from the wardrobe or if there was an actual figure there. 

My eyes strained in the dark as I tried to calm my jackrabbit heart. Ever so slightly, the shadow moved. I was petrified, watching the almost invisible figure inch its way forward. I was absolutely terrified, so I threw myself back on the bed and pulled the quilt over my head. 

"There's no such thing as ghosts, there's no such thing as ghosts, there's no such thing as ghosts," I whispered to myself. 

Something brushed past the hair on top of my head and I thought I was going to throw up. 

Then the same voice whispered, "Evangeline..."

Despite every bone in my body telling me to run, I began to inch the blanket down at a snail's pace. When my eyes peeked over the blanket, I could faintly make out the features of a face inches away from mine. 

A scream bubbled up in my throat.

"AAAAAAGH!" 

Instead of the horror movie scream I was expecting, the one that came out of my mouth was a hoarse whimper, and before I could blink, the figure was gone. 

Shaking fingers reached out and miraculously this time, the lamp turned on. I was too petrified to get out of bed, but I managed to get a hold of my phone from the bedside table. With the room illuminated, it was slightly less ominous, but my breathing was still fast and shallow as hell. 

I opened up my contacts, wondering who the hell I was supposed to call about this. If I called my parents, they were going to get worried and all their suspicions about my inability to live alone were going to be confirmed if I called them in the middle of the night, crying about ghosts. 

I could go get the agents from downstairs, but that would require me leaving the relative safety of my bed, and what were they supposed to do, shoot the ghosts that may or may not exist?

Adriana was far away, and the time change meant she was definitely in class. 

That left one person. 

Peter's voice was groggy on the other line when he finally picked up. 

"Evangeline? What's the matter?"

Immediately, I felt so stupid I could cry. What was I doing, calling my fake boyfriend in the middle of the night about some stupid nightmare?

"I'm so sorry, it's not a big deal, I don't even know why I called-"

"Woah woah woah, breathe. It's okay. Are you alright?"

I sniffled, feeling my chest tighten as I rapidly scanned the room. 

"Okay...um, don't laugh. But I'm pretty sure my house is haunted."

A beat of silence. 

"Pretty sure?"

"Yeah like, I think I just saw my dead grandma's ghost hovering over my bed."

"Jesus christ, Evangeline."