April Fools

Do you believe in ghosts? I didn’t. At least not until that night. It was the 1st of April – April Fool’s. It was a Saturday and I was walking to my friend, Linda’s house for a party she was planning because her parents had gone away for the weekend.

When I got to her house I rang the bell as always. I heard footsteps approaching the door and someone fumbling with the lock, as only a stranger would. When the door finally opened Tracy and Kim were standing there looking upset. I asked them what was wrong and Tracy, quite hysterically, replied, “It’s Linda! She’s gone mad! She’s walking around like she has a hunchback and keeps telling us to get out of her house!” I wasn’t very impressed because last year on April Fools we all pranked Linda and pretended that I committed suicide. It was very well done, there was a suicide letter and everything. It looked as though it was my turn this year. “Okay,” I began. “Take me to her.” They led me to Linda’s parents’ bedroom and looked afraid. “Don’t go in there, Emma! What if she hurts you?” I laughed and said I’d take my chances. I opened the door and there, next to the bed, stood Linda with a very convincing lump on her back.

I remember briefly wondering if it was a pillow or a folded towel before she spoke. “Out!” she shrieked. “Get out of my house! You are befouling it! And you’ve moved everything and put in all this modern garbage! What would my poor Henry say if he saw what you’ve done!” She glanced nervously at the dresser and gave an angry shriek, “You’ve gone and moved his picture too!” I have to admit, I thought that Linda was putting on a very convincing act. I laughed openly and said, “Very funny, Lins. But the jokes are over, okay? April Fools, you got me. Now let’s go set up for the party.” I looked up at her, expecting her to start laughing and say the game was up. I was not prepared for her to reach for some of the many pillows on the bed and start hurling them at me at an alarming speed “How many times do I have to tell you bratty kids? My name is not Lins, Linda or Linda! It’s Mrs Hooberto you ungrateful little worms! NOW GET OUT!” she bellowed. After she said this, I couldn’t move, I just stood there in shock. Mrs Hoober had been the lovely old lady who lived there before Linda moved in. She had hanged herself two months after her husband, Henry Hoober whom she lived for, had died of a massive stroke. This wouldn’t have bothered me had Linda known about this very hushed up, so she didn’t. And truth be told, it scared the hell out of me. I started for the door, but I wasn’t fast enough. She grabbed me around my shoulders and started shaking me. I don’t know what made me do it but I reached out and slapped her hard across the face.

I suppose I might have been hoping I could knock whatever was in her out of her. She put her hand to her face on the spot where I hit her, as if it still stung, and gasped. “You nasty little creature!” she hissed at me. She went over to the mirror on the dresser and I nearly fainted at what I saw. Out of the mirror looking at me, was not my best friend Linda, but old Mrs Hoober. My legs had never carried me so fast.

At School on Monday Linda was absent and her disappearance was on the news. It broke my heart that my best friend had gone missing but I just could not bring myself to tell anyone what had happened. They’d all think I’d gone mad! Two weeks after her disappearance, Linda’s body was found hanging from a tree outside her house.

Now, a little less than a year later, I’m afraid. For you see, after what happened to Linda. I was so scared that I researched the history of the house and the deaths that had happened here were twice as horrific. And tomorrow , it’s April Fool’s Day.