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“Please stop!! This was not my fault! You did this! This is not fair” Molly shouted as she was covering her ears as a large pool of tears fell from her eyes. The copper-haired girl was staring at her best friend Scratch’s deceased body. She felt her lungs start to suffocate as she shook her head. Jinx loomed over her wearing the chairman robe.
“This is all your fault McGee. I did not kill him, look at your hands” the purple ghost smirked. The Thai girl slowly looked down seeing the blood of her blue ghost friend all over her. “Now you will answer me. You will obey my every COMAND. SAY IT. YOU KILLED YOUR BEST FRIEND” the purple ghost bellowed. “I CAN'T!” the cooper haired girl shouts when suddenly
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
Alarm clock.
It has been a few weeks since what Molly deemed as “The Incident”, that being Molly getting possessed by Jinx and almost causing her friends a lot of harm. To say the Thai girl did not feel guilty would be a lie, she felt like her insides were tearing itself apart with how awful she felt. She was able to cover up her guilt well, unlike when she was forced out of her home, she was clearly bad at hiding when she was upset, this somehow felt more personal to her. The nightmares were the worst though for Molly, every day she would have a night terror and awake in a cold sweat, tears, or unable to breathe, sometimes a mix of all.
Molly rubbed her face and groaned. She did not want to go to school today, she felt so sick from what she just dreamed that she just felt alone in a whirlpool. Like she was drowning in her own misery. Before Molly could let out one more sigh, she heard Scratch come out of his house making the copper haired girl quickly turn and wipe her eyes to remove the tears.
“Oh man that was a good rest! Let me tell ya, those chocolate tacos you gave me yesterday gave me the best slee-are you ok?” Scratch asked, seeing that Molly was facing away from him, but then she quickly turned and smiled. “Oh yeah, I am all good! Just had a crummy sleep is all!” The copper-haired girl smiled, and the blue ghost raised his eyebrow. “You have not been sleeping well lately huh” he says, and the Thai girl shrugs as she stood up and started to pack her bag on auto piolet.
“Woah what are you doing? It is Saturday” he said and gently touched Molly’s shoulder making her flinch away from him. The blue ghost had to be honest, ever since the events of last week Molly’s eyes seemed less bright, her smile felt almost faded as well, he was trying his best to make her happy, he would even indulge in crafts which he hated. He did not want to ask her what was wrong as who's to say it wouldn’t agitate Molly.
Ollie, Libby, and Scratch had noticed she had been acting off. She would act distant, laugh less, flinch at the slightest touch, loud sounds would make her walk away from them, go into daydreams, and sometimes have panic attacks. They would try to help but Molly would push them away and as the days of the week went by, she shut them out more and more.
Ollie tried to bring her ice cream with sprinkles, but she couldn’t stomach it. Libby tried to take her out camping, but every ask was denied. Scratch tried everything under the sun he could think of, but every small gesture Molly shut down. “Want me to braid your hair?” No, I feel sick “want to paint with me?” No. “Have a best friend's day?” NO. The answer was always no. She barely would talk to them unless in front of her and speaking directly to her
“Why would my alarm be set for Saturday...I didn't turn it on last night did I?” the Thai haired girl asked as her ghost friend smiled brightly. “Surprise, we are going to have a best friend's day, and no is not an answer” he said, and Molly sighed. The copper-haired girl slowly got up and she dragged herself to the bathroom. The circles around her eyes had gotten bad, the Thai girl could see how messy her hair was as she hadn’t bothered to brush it.
“Someone like you does not deserve a friend”, Molly had also kept the fact hidden that she could hear Jinx in her head outside of her dreams. It would constantly nag her; it was like her dreams were constantly in her life. The copper haired girl had gotten better at ignoring it, but it was hard the first few days. She would end up on the bathroom floor in the corner sobbing in her legs and pulling at her hair to try and get it to stop.
Molly soon came out of the bathroom but clearly did not change anything, she was still in her Pj’s. “Someone like you does not deserve a friend. You will just hurt them. JUST ACCEPT IT”,
The Thai girl brushed it off again but had to be pushed by Scratch to leave her room despite the copper haired girls angry protests.
Ollie and Libby were sitting in the park setting up a picnic. It had ice cream, sandwiches cut into perfect isosceles triangles, a ton of crafts, board games, everything the trio could think that Molly would like to do. “Do you think she will like this? I feel like it is not enough” the brown-haired boy said as he set out some cookies and other candies. “I think she will love it” the long-haired brunette said and smiled at Ollie receiving a small smile back.
The two humans saw the grump ghost using all of his strength to push Molly towards the picnic that was set up. “Please, you have not eaten well in a few days Molls, just a few minutes outside may help you feel less sick” Scratch said as Molly grumbled but walked forward leaving the ghost to gasp and lie down on the ground in exhaustion.
“Sorry guys, I did not get a good sleep last night, so I am feeling off!” Molly said, which was half-truth, she was exhausted but also felt unsafe around her friends. “Sorry about making you push me Scratch” the copper haired girl turned her head to him, and he just crossed his arms and plopped down in front of the cookies and begun to eat them.
For the first little while the picnic was going well, Molly was dissociating every so often and would sometimes look the most miserable she had ever been but after a joke or two and slight pushes to make crafts she would start to come back, her smile more real and her eyes bright.
She had not had a bite of food though. Scratch was sure she had a few bites of food the past few days but not enough for her, she looked thinner at least to him. “Molly, you haven't touched the cookies, did I not make them right?” the short haired brunette said worriedly, and the copper haired girl shook her head no. “No! It is perfect I am just not hungry”.
“What have you eaten today?” Libby asked concerned and Molly stayed silent, she hadn’t eaten today yet.
“PLEASE MOLLY! You must eat something; I can't watch you tear yourself apart like this anymore! I AM SICK OF YOU IGNORING ME TRYING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE” The blue ghost snapped and grabbed a cookie and tried to place it in her hand. The shouting, however, caused her to back off and her breathing to speed up. “Sorry I did not mean to shout, but as your best friend I can’t take it, you will die if you keep this up” the blue ghost says gentler but still agitated for her safety.
“Why are you not getting the memo? I DONT WANT TO BE YOUR FRIEND ANYMORE! NONE OF YOU!” Molly screamed causing all the group to bounce back in shock, she had never yelled like this before. “I hate you all! I am so sick of the ice cream, it always tasted like garbage and so did your hair! I hate books and reading with you! And I hate that I met you and had to be cursed to you for some time!” The copper-haired girl was sobbing as she began to feel her vision distorted. Her friends were turning up dead in front of her and tears began to fall from her eyes as she ran away.
Molly just kept running, she did not know where she would go to, but she couldn’t face them again. But this was for the best, now she can’t hurt them, right? She felt her body get more tired as she ran but she kept the pace up until she heard the voice again. “Did you do that to try and keep ME from them? Oh, sweetie now I can just torture you even more now that you're alone. You deserve this”, Molly could see Jinx in front of her, circling her despite her not being there. Molly fell to her knees as she sobbed onto the ground with her knees curling into her stomach.
“Just leave me alone” she begged as she pulled at her hair and coughed out blood her vision blurring more. “Was I wrong? You drove away all your friends, you can't even go outside without me being with you, you have LOST IT ALL. I HAVE WON. Your friends will die by your hands one way or another” Jinx’s voice was getting louder for Molly, and it kept repeating until she passed out shaking on the ground.
The next time the Thai girl awoke she was in her bed, weird, without a nightmare too. Even more shocking to Molly, she opened her eyes to see Scratch holding her right hand with Ollie and Libby holding her left hand. “Guys?” the copper-haired girl said weakly as her friends hugged her tightly. “Why are you all here, after all that I just said you should hate me, I don’t deserve friends” she said her eyes starting to fill with tears yet again.
“Molly, we know you were just saying that because you're afraid to hurt us, all of the pushing away you have done was to try and protect us, right?” Ollie said gently as he rubbed her left hand gently. “I should have seen the signs sooner, I’m sorry, and I won’t be taking sorry’s from you Molly” Libby said while her and the brown-haired boy backed away making room for Scratch.
“I did not mean to snap at you molls, I just really want you to be happy and seeing you like this just breaks my heart. I could never hate you; the words were clearly not what you truly feel right?” he said and embraced Molly tightly as she grabbed him as tight as she could back and hugged him.
“I’m so sorry....I just feel so guilty about it all...I was the one who went into the alleyway and got tricked, I am the reason my body still is in pain from what Jinx did, I hurt Ollie and Libby by hitting them on the head and you.....I almost killed you with my own hands...I’m a horrible person” she said her breathing becoming fast again.
“Molly, that is not your fault. Plus, I’m right here! I am not going anywhere, none of us are. Jinx won't ever put her hands on you again if I am chairman. We all make mistakes Molly, and we are all here for you to help you heal from this. We will keep annoying you when you shut us out, you cant get rid of me easily” he said and wiped the tears from her cheeks. “How about we all listen to me read inspirational quotes?” Molly giggled and nodded, “that sounds great”.
Over the past few weeks Molly has been improving, her skip has come back, and she is more herself. She still feels the warmth of guilt and sadness every so often, sometimes hear that Jinx voice in her head, but is quickly reminded that her friends will always be there for her, and no evil ghost could tear the bond between them. Nobody could take away how they all saved her life and no matter what, she can trust they will be there to protect her and catch her when she falls.
THE END