Chapter 1
The day was 14th October, not too hot, not too cold. The street was busy with people as the day was drifting to a bit pinkish shade. A girl looked outside the window, smiling at the couples sitting in the field as a blow of wind rushed past her face causing few of her hair strands to dance with them.
She had several books in front of her on the table. A voice calling her name from behind broke her concentration making her turn her head to the direction it was coming from.
"Ellie!!"
"What happened? Why are you running??!", Ellie asked the guy who just arrived.
"I have been searching for you...... the whole campus and ....... here you are. .... in the library..?!", he spoke, panting in between.
"Take a breath at first, Shaw", Ellie said while closing her book. "Why were you looking for me?"
"Do you know where Daniel is?", Shaw asked, "Our match is about to begin but he's nowhere to be found. I thought he might be with you but now I see he's not." He ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "I can't with this guy!! Arrggh!!!"
Ellie chuckled, "Did you ask Mason?" Before Shaw could reply, Ellie's phone rang up. She answered it. Her face lit up with a smile as she put down the phone. "Maybe I know where he is...."
Daniel and Shaw had a basketball match to play that day. Both of them were among the best players. Besides of being just team members, they were also best buddies. They had their own pack of friends consisting Daniel, Shaw, Mason, Sylvia and Cassandra or Cass, in short. Ellie and Sarah were new addition to this group ever since Ellie and Daniel got together. Their group was the gossip of the whole campus.
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Time passed. It was almost dark. The cheer and excitement of the crowd was increasing with every passing second.
"Go boys!!! Show those assholes what you got!!!", Cass screamed in between the crowd gaining everyone's attention. Sylvia pushed Cass down to sit back on her seat. "Calm down... Everyone's looking." Sylvia whisper screamed.
Cass pushed out her bottom lip a little, "But... Fine!". She stopped, scared of her angry friend. But suddenly a player from the opposite team pushed Shaw hard to make him fall on the ground.
Sylvia stood up in anger. "DON'T YOU BUSTARD HAVE FUCKING EYES!!"
Her scream left all of her friends shocked.
"Look who's shouting now", Cass commented with a sulky face.
"Because of you girls, I hate coming to public places", Mason, the guy with glasses said as he quietly sipped on his juice.
Sarah snatched his juice, "Shut up!! He literally pushed Shaw intentionally. That son - "
Ellie shoved some popcorn into Sarah's mouth before she could finish the sentence.
"Stay quiet all of you. Let me concentrate."
Everyone got quiet at the sudden scolding. There was only a few minutes left of the game. Ellie kept praying in her mind for the team of their college, specially the person who was playing out there. Earlier that day, when Ellie received a call in the library, it was from Daniel. He had called her to help him out of the women's washroom as he had to hid there while trying to save himself from the fan girls.
A sudden huge cheer from the crowd made Ellie open her eyes which she had closed in nervousness. She saw their team members surrounding Daniel into a group hug. Then her gaze shifted towards the scoreboard and found out that their team won by a goal. No doubt that the last goal was earned by none other than Daniel. A proud smile spread on her lips.
Soon breaking the group hug, Daniel came forward a bit towards where his friends were sitting and made a huge heart with his both hands over his head. The smile on Ellie's face got wider as she replied him with a "I love you too".
//Next day//
Everyone in the campus was busy celebrating the achievement from the last day. The finals was still to be played but the team had certainly brought pride to the university.
The boys received many compliments and gifts. Not to forget about the fan girls who were in their best forms that day. Receiving this much of attention was really refreshing and exciting. However, the look on Daniel's face was saying something else.
"You are no fun", Shaw complained who was wearing a huge grin on his face as he looked at a box of chocolates in front of him. "Life like this is paradise", he also added as he was smiling sheepishly and waving his hand towards the girl who was just passing by after placing that box.
"I would rather die than live in such a paradise." Mason who was sitting next to Shaw and opposite to Daniel, mumbled while chewing on the food. They were in the canteen at their lunch break.
"This is more tiring than playing basketball." Daniel said.
"Who are you even saying this to? Don't you remember? He joined the basketball team just to get popular among girls." Cass commented pointing at Shaw, recieving a deathly glare from the other side.
The starring contest was broken as three more figures joined the table with their food trays.
Ellie took the seat next to Daniel with an angelic smile not too soon before it turned to a frown.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked as she looked at Daniel with a worried face.
"Nothing. He's pretending to be the good guy here." Shaw spoke.
"You won't shut up. Would ya?" Cass exclaimed.
Daniel gestured at the cards in front of him to Ellie. She chuckled. "You earned it", she patted his head making the boy grin boyishly.
"Thank you, dear." he replied.
"Geez. Love birds", Shaw said rolling his eyes.
"By the way, what took you guys so long?", Mason asked changing the topic. He looked beside him which was now taken by Sylvia.
"Our dance class ended late. The teacher had something to discuss so it took longer than usual", she said. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting".
Mason shook his head a little, "No no, we're fine".
"I was waiting for them to finish", Ellie added. "I guess there are lots of preparation going on for the upcoming event, that's why it took long."
Sarah was all along sitting on a head chair with a piece of paper in her hand. She was busy reading the paper, not engaging in the gossip until Ellie mentioned about the event. "Actually lots of people are participating in the event. Individually or as a group." Sarah said after looking up from the paper. She turned the paper to show them all. "We can also participate. We can play an act on something horror or gloomy, right?", her eyes sparkled with excitement. But no response came. The table grew quiet except for her and Ellie.
Ellie took the paper from Sarah to read the description. Breaking the silence, Cass spoke, "Actually....we never participated in any play.. So, um.. I don't think we should enter our names."
"But I think we should give it a try. It would be so fun." Ellie said making Sarah nod along with her. She looked at her other friends.
"We are not participating in any event on Halloween", Shaw blurt it out.
"But...", before Sarah could complete her sentence Daniel stood up. Sylvia held Sarah's hand to make her stop talking.
"I have lost my appetite. I'll see you guys later." Saying that, Daniel left the group, walking out of the canteen door. Everyone got serious at the sudden departure of Daniel.
"What's wrong with him?" Sarah asked, frowning a little.
"Actually, the Halloween day isn't very pleasant for us, especially for Daniel." Sylvia replied in a low voice.
Ellie was busy in her thoughts, still processing the reason behind Daniel's behaviour. "I'll be back", that's all she said before following the way Daniel went.
Cass lowered her head, "Until when this will haunt us, I don't know". She sighed.
"Why should we suffer because of that crazy bitch?!!" Shaw yelled banging his hand on the table making everyone flinch. "It wasn't even our fault, then why should we feel guilty!?"
"We shouldn't talk bad about dead people, Shaw", Mason said.
"What are you guys even talking about? What is the matter?" Sarah asked a bit tensed.
Ignoring Sarah's question Shaw said, "Why? What's gonna happen? They will get hurt? Or what? Haunt us? Kill us? I don't give a damn because she deserves to be called a crazy freak."
Mason sighed, "I know quite well that you won't believe in these words but... If you thought of her as a bad human, she can be a bad spirit too. No one knows."
"Stop this discussion," Sylvia interfered. "It's giving me chills."
"I agree with Sylvia. We should stop talking about that bitc-", Cass paused after getting a glare from Mason. "I mean to say... Why ruin our mood by talking about her. Right? Haha", she nervously laughed to calm the situation.
Everyone continued eating silently before leaving for each other classes. Only Sarah was left behind, "Okay. I'm still confused."
