HAUNTED PRINCE by DENIS DANIEL (children's ebooks free online txt) 📕

“What did he do?” I asked curiously,

“He was a curious old man, he couldn’t just let it go. So the first person he went to see was his friend an elf, he trusted that guy more than anyone and we still do. He told him everything and the elf told him to give him time.”

“You are actually talking about an elf, the ones with pointy ears. And one of them was friend with your great grandfather. Is he still alive? Don’t answer that you wouldn’t know.”

“I actually do, he is still alive, and elves don’t die as quickly as we do. No one know how old he is or where he lives. He just pops up when we need him most of the time.”

“So what happened?” I asked, I always liked a good story even though I didn’t see how this whole scenario was related to me.

“After sometime the elf came back. He told him that the person was technically a skin walker or rather a person possessed with one like a parasite in a host of some sort. What would a skin walker want to do with a person’s body? That was what he couldn’t figure out. The funniest thing is that you can’t exorcise a skin walker out of a person. The host had to die to get it out. Since that was the only way they couldn’t just kill the guy and leaving that thing inside his body was unacceptable.” She paused for a while,

“So?” I asked. Something in me was so curious and had no doubt that this wasn’t just a story. But my mind was wondering why I kept listening to her I didn’t even know what I was trying to find out.

“The elf promised to help him with some strong herbs they used rarely but he said he wouldn’t use them again. It was too much of a cost.”

“What did he do?” I asked again couldn’t help the curiosity.

“He stopped the guy’s heart long enough for the skin walker to get out and started it again. When the person woke up he couldn’t remember anything he is been doing for ten years, it was all blank.”

“Wow,” it’s all I could say, “but how is that related to me?” the question popped up in my mind,

“I didn’t tell you when a person died before that thing got out.” She got up went to one of the shelves and came back with quite one old notebook. She opened couple pages and put it in front of me. There was a picture even though not very clean but had all the details. The body was dry and pale white. She went to the other side of the table opened a drawer and came back with a picture of Clara my first girlfriend, suddenly I felt a sharp cut across my stomach. I guess I could never get used to see her like that. She had same features as the person on the old picture.

“See why I told you the story now.”

I didn’t need any more explanation, I got it, my first girlfriend and second and my childhood best friend were all possessed. Great!

“But there is something that doesn’t add up. Veronica the girl you were with didn’t die, and that wasn’t supposed to happen. My dad thinks we’ve walked into something big and you are the center of it.”

“So you think something might have killed them instead!”

“Yes, because we know so little about these creatures. We don’t know what brings them to life or why they came at all. Maybe they have nothing to do with the death of your friends.” She said and that was a little comforting, it definitely beat dating a possessed person.

“You mean, you don’t know why they died either?”

“We have theories, but they are not proven yet. But we’ll find answers, we always do.”

I didn’t know if it was right to ask what I was about to ask but I had to, “and what makes you so sure I’m innocent?”

“Because I know how affected you are with everything, despite everyone looking at you like you are the bad guy. I know you are a victim too.” She was almost as convinced as Ashley was. Talking about Ashley I had to go pick her up before ten o’clock.

But before I could tell Alex anything somebody came,

“Hey little cousin supper is ready, bring the guest with you.” The girl from earlier called from the door.

“Well, you heard her.” Alex said.

“Actually I need to go pick up my sister. We need to be home around ten and mom doesn’t like us being late.”

“Okay, you have twenty minutes until ten. I didn’t know how long we’ve been sitting here.” Alex said.

“He has to eat something first.” The girl commanded, and somehow her words were more than just simple words they had a pull, a desire to want to accept them. But somehow I managed to repel the power.

“Thanks maybe some other time.” And somehow they were both surprised with my response,

“That’s a new one, I guess not everyone can be enslaved.” Alex wondered.

“This one is special cousin, you should keep him.” The girl said, “Well then, hope to see you soon.”

“Yes, me too” strangely I meant it more than I expected.

“Let’s go before she gets into your head again.” Alex said and pulled me to go back to the family room and rushed me outside the house. I didn’t pay much attention to that I just thought she was being dramatic.

“Say goodbye to everyone for me.”

“Okay,” then she paused for a second and said, “come tomorrow I want to show you something.”

I got into my car and headed back to the road I came with. It’s a good thing the route to her house wasn’t complicated, so it was easy to find the main road back to town.

I might have acted cool earlier but now that I was alone my mind was about to explode and who wouldn’t. Before I was a normal boy with fucked up life but now I was a fucked up boy with fantasies made real. I mean, how was I supposed to believe any of those things she told me? I felt so stupid all over sudden. I couldn’t believe I actually thought she could help me. And now she wanted me to go back there tomorrow, there was no way my mind was going to accept that. What exactly could she show me that would make sense to everything she said? In my mind there was no way I was going back there again.

All over sudden I was so mad I wanted to punch something. I raced through the town while my chest wanted to explode with all the anger I was feeling inside. The reason why I was so angry was unclear, but one thing was for sure. My body was splitting in half inside because of what I heard.

My mind believed in reality and facts. I was sure as hell what she told me had no shred of fact in it. But someone else inside of me was as convinced as my mind that what she told me was true. I couldn’t pick which side to believe, I could feel myself becoming two separate people.

And before I could figure out what the hell was happening with me I had to deal with something else I wasn’t expecting. When I arrived to pick Ashley up at the party she was already out waiting for me on the side of the road, sitting down on the concrete. Normally she wouldn’t get herself dirty just like that, so there was one explanation for that action, the one that I felt reluctant to admit but I had to. She was drunk and she knew mother barely agreed to let us go out. And now she would never let us go out again, ever.

“Hey, Steve, my big brother.” She slurred the words soon after I got out of the car and I help her up, “I thought you wouldn’t come.”

“I would never leave you out here alone, you know that.”

“Yah, right.” She said like she just realized that, but all over sudden she stopped and looked at me, “have I ever told you that you are handsome?” she straightened up trying to look at me from a distance and let go of my hands, “very handsome, angelic.” I couldn’t help feeling a little blush creeping up my cheeks, but it didn’t matter because they were words of a drunk girl.

“Okay, now you said it. Come on let’s get you home.” I grabbed her and let her lean on me,

“Wait, I feel something, that’s why I decided to sit down. Why wouldn’t everything stop spinning? Wait, I feel like, like,” she stopped moving and held her mouth.

‘Oh, no,’ I murmured to myself, “like throwing up?” I asked.

“Yes,” she said. I should’ve known this would happen.

There was a fence beside the road I guided her there and help her with her hair. By that time I knew perfectly mom was going to ground me for life, because I was supposed to be Ashley’s chaperone or something. While in reality, the painful truth was that I wasn’t even supposed to be fifty feet near that party. With Ashley’s situation I needed a plan. Since we couldn’t just get in just like that I needed to sneak in and make sure mom doesn’t see us.

But there was another problem with Ashley; drunk Ashley never stopped talking. She kept talking on and on about meaningless things and stuffs about her and her friends which in normal situation she wouldn’t. And if she kept going on blubbering about all that nonsense mom would definitely hear us and that would be it. I would never go to Alex’s house again. No matter how much I wanted to ignore that fact, I couldn’t ignore that I wanted to see her again. I felt like I needed to see her again, at least one more time and if she fails to convince me I would walk away.

When I paid more attention to the present Ashley was quiet and sleeping. I didn’t know if that was better than when she was talking or not, but on the bright side it would be easier to sneak in without waking mom. But I was no muscle man, I couldn’t even remember the last time I had body exercise. So caring Ashley was definitely going to be a challenge, a huge challenge because she was five foot seven and I was six which wasn’t a very big difference.

Before I could figure out which was a better choice of action I was already at the driveway to the garage. I switched open the garage door and parked the car. Then I took a few seconds to think of a way to get inside without setting off mom’s hyper sensors.

So first I got out of the car and went to the passenger side to try and carry Ashley. And man, that was a laugh since she couldn’t barge; she was like a sack of sand. I never knew how heavy she was, so that was the end of that plan. Another plan