I don't know what you think about ghosts. Or what you might have heard. But believe me, regardless of what you might have heard or seen, ghosts are real. I have seen it with my very eyes. Now let me take you on a little journey on my discovery of this mysterious phenomenon dreaded by most, if not, all.

    Mum told me not to go. And David even tried talking me out of it. But I didn't listened to any of that. I guess my curiosity was taking the better part of me. Bristone town has always been known for ghost stories. And this supernatural phenomenon was being portrayed in every facets of the town. The shops. The schools. The hospitals. The military. We even had a holiday called Ghosted. It was a holiday when everyone both young and old gets to dress in his or her favourite ghost character and acts like them, proving against all how terrifying his or her ghost form could be. The whole town would be decorated with every scary thing pertaining to ghosts and the supernatural. We are superstitious by nature. That is why these ghost stories are made so real, and that sparkled my curiosity. I wanted to know who was this ghost called Charlie. I also wanted to see how he looked like just to satiate curiosity burning my mind up.

         I waited for the perfect time. Night. Because everyone was fast asleep then. Yeah. In Bristone town we are known for sleeping on time, too. By 11pm, everyone is already fast asleep. This was because, as we believed, a ghost could get you if you are found out late at night and alone.

    The sudden fate that met with Mr. Ramon supported this believe. You don't want me going into that, don't you? 

     I took a sheet of plain white paper with me. A couple of pencils and a candle and some matches to light up the candle. I went into the woods, the most scary place to be. And do you know the funniest thing about this little crazy expedition of mine? I wasn't even scary at all. I was hellbent curious! 

    I picked a good spot surrounded by tall and dark trees silhouetted in the dark with a round reflection of light the shape of the moon in the midst of these trees. Looked back just to be sure that I wasn't followed by anyone. Tonight was the night I finally get to see this ghost everyone deemed so scary that even at the mention of its name, feets scampers to safety.

I placed the white paper on the ground. Sharpen the pair of pencils with me. And then, in interconnecting form, parallel to each other, I wrote a yes and no in upper case letters. NO at the left and YES at the right above. And then below, I wrote a YES by the left and a NO by the right. I placed the pencils between the written words. One pencil on the other. Brought out my candle and lit it. Placed it between two stones deep down the soil. And then I began the song....

                   "Charlie Charlie

                   Are you there?"

    Everywhere became silent as the graveyard. Even the crickets that were chirping all this while I knelt on the ground preparing the candles and pencils were quite too. I could feel fear crawling upon my skin as the cold breeze blew. And then the pencils moved. The one above moved like the long hand of the clock. And stopped, pointed at the YES letters, forming an X shape on the sheet of paper. And then the candle went off. For the first time since I was here all this while, my heart began to beat, faster like it was about to pull out its hold. My eyes widen under the moonlight, turning left and right.

    And then, the trees swayed from left to right, faster as a fierce breeze blew off the paper from the ground. My body shook with terror. I could feel cold sweats on my skin. I was speechless. My throat felt parched. Slowly, I tried to stand up. I couldn't. I couldn't stand up. It was like I was glued to the ground. The whole woods shook before my very eyes. It was like I was under a gravitational pull like in space.

                  "Now you see me....."

    The last thing I remembered was that I was screaming. When I woke up, I saw my mum standing by the bedside. I was in the hospital. I hugged her tight.

"Mum, I'm sorry. You were right about Charlie"....Tears ran down my cheeks.

"It's alright, my little child. It's alright...."

    Something felt strange. Wait a minute, that's not my mum's voice. I looked, it was Charlie, the ghost. And I wasn't in the hospital. I was in his lair....