Ghost Stories
Chapter 2

Copyright© 2012 by sonyaesperanto

Peter's Story - A Girl called Miranda

Peter was upset with his parents. Peter was born in the city of Bismarck, the capital of the great northern state of North Dakota. He had spent his entire life in a city, named after the man who started the Second German Empire (or called in German – die Zwitten Deustches Reich) and was forever at war with the French and Austrian Empires.

Peter was a high school student, enjoying the city life and always hanging out with his friends and classmates, whom he had spent his entire childhood with.

But something changed. During one September evening, his father told all of them at the dinner table that they were going to leave Bismarck and move back to his old hometown. His granduncle (the man who raised Peter's dad) passed away and he left everything to Peter's dad.

Peter was a city boy. He knew nothing of town life. He had a stereotype of a backward people who had no technology, lived like the Amish, worked at the countryside as farmers and went to church every Sunday.

As his father was the supreme authority in the household, everything he said went.

They packed all their belongings and drove all the way towards his dad's old hometown. He had to say good byes to all his friends and people he knew and grew up with.

They were a family of five and had three separate cars. While his dad and mom drove in their own cars (carrying the rest of their stuff in both their cars), his two younger siblings (his younger brother Thomas and younger sister Angela) followed him in his car. He would glance at them from his rear-view mirror, just to keep a check on them. They both had the same pale complexion and blond hair and blue eyes that he had.

In fact he and his siblings inherited their Nordic looks from both parents. They were German Americans, as nearly most European-Americans in North Dakota hailed from North German stock, since the eighteenth century.

Both Thomas and Angela were still in junior grade.

Peter drove always behind his dad's car, following him closely every inch of the way, while driving and passing through roads and lone highways.

They did finally arrive at his dad's old hometown.

The town was called Serpent's Lake. Serpent's Lake was a small town when it came to the size of its population but quite big in land size. It had lakes, rivers and forested areas.

As for how the town got its name, his dad told them that there were different versions to the story. The town was founded by German-Americans in the late 18th Century. The town was once reputed to have something of its equivalent of the Loch Ness Monster, where a giant lake serpent was reputed to have once roamed (and some say still do) and lurk within the waters of the town's lakes and rivers. But the root of that story goes back to the Native American Indian tribes who once roamed those parts.

Others say that it had something to do with a Baptist having exorcised a woman said to have been possessed by the devil and that when the devil was chased out of her body, it left it through the woman's mouth, having taken the form of a snake and that the townspeople saw it retreat into the lake waters.

When they arrived in his granduncle's house, they were greeted by his late granduncle's testator, as well as by his dad's childhood friends.

As for the house itself, it was a big two storey house. It stood all by itself on top of a small hill. The front of the house faced the town road and its backyard faced the woods.

His dad got them all settled in Serpent's Lake, and registered his children with the local school. Peter was registered with the local high school and his two younger siblings with the local junior grade.

Town life and school life in Serpent's Lake, if one had never been there, could compare it to Forks, the small northern American town popularised by the Twilight films and novels.

On his first day of school, his new classmates were happy to greet him, as a new face and asked him tons of questions about life in the big city. But he gave them the impression that he was not keen on making new friends, as he wished he was back with his old friends in Bismarck.

As for his new classmates, they were into Jesus and were born again Christians. One of his classmates told him that after school, they often met for Evangelical Christian fellowship and even studied together. They were extremely nice people but Peter wasn't interested at all in their lifestyle.

But one thing was for sure. He wasn't really going to remembered their names and faces, since he didn't want to have anything to do with them.

But lucky for Peter, he was going to have the internet installed in his new bedroom. He was still going to be able to keep in touch with his old friends and occupy himself with things from outside this town. His bedroom window faced the backyard and the woods, thus giving him both a good view of nature and also a scary one. As for his younger brother and sister, they had bicycles to keep them occupied (and leaving him alone).

Despite the fact that he missed life in Bismarck, there was one life he didn't really miss: not having a girlfriend. Peter hadn't been successful in getting one in his old school.

But when he slept during the night, from that same day he first attended his new high school, he had no way of knowing that his life was about to change.

He had no way of knowing that his peaceful sober life was about to take a terrifying turn.

On his second day of school during early morning, Peter decided to sit far at the back, hoping to avoid being too close to his new classmates. What he learned about his new school was that students registered their names at the reception, as teachers did not take down students' names during their classes.

In other words, he wasn't going to have to answer to any teacher calling out his name, to see if he attended the class.

When Peter entered his first classroom for the day, he saw his classmates talking and laughing amongst themselves. They looked as if they were very deep into their conversations.

He walked all the way to the back, passing by desks and chairs. It was a large classroom, typical from all schools that had been built and designed by German Americans since the 18th Century (but with modern furnishings of course).

But when Peter finally saw reached the back of the classroom, he saw two things. One thing he saw was empty desks-and-chairs. The other thing he saw was that there was another student who was sat way at the back, away from everyone else.

Since it was only his second day in this school, he did not fully remember the names and faces of every student in his class.

But one thing was for sure. She was a very attractive student. In fact, she was the most attractive student he had ever met. She had long dark-brown hair and brown-green eyes, with a tanned-pale complexion. She was dressed in what looked like black conservative clothes, reminding him of Gothic girls from his old school.

She smiled and looked at him.

Peter: Hi. Mind if I join you here at the back?

The girl smiled at him. She then introduced herself.

Miranda: My name's Miranda and you are Peter.

She extended her right hand towards him. He shook it.

Miranda was patting at the table of the empty desk next to hers.

Miranda: You're kinda cute. Why don't you come and sit down next to me.

Peter could not believe his luck. She was the most beautiful girl he has ever seen. And that the most attractive brunette he has ever seen was actually flirting with him.

Peter: Yeah sure.

Peter placed his bag down and sat next to Miranda.

Peter admitted one thing to himself. This was love at first sight.

Miranda: Hey Peter, wanna do something after class.

Peter's heart was beating really fast. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Miranda: I mean you are new in town and I was thinking of taking you sightseeing and showing you around.

Peter: Yeah that would be great. I even have a car. We can go in my car and I can drive us all over town.

Miranda gave her cutest smile yet.

Miranda: Excellent!! I will just look for you at the car park after school.

Peter smiled back. The he heard the teacher enter the classroom.

Teacher: Alright class. I hope you did your reading.

Peter immediately looked up front. But when he looked up front, he saw that some of his fellow students were looking way at the back, towards him. Some of them even gave him puzzled looks, but they all then faced the front, towards the teacher...

But throughout the entire day, he learned that not everyone attended the same classes and tutorials. Miranda was in some of his classes but every time she would be in a class that he was going to attend, he found her always sat way at the back.

But one thing was strange though. During recess, all the students sat and ate at the school canteen. While he ate on a corner all by himself, he was also looking out to see if he could catch a glimpse of Miranda. He thought that if he saw her, he would go and run after her and call her name to come, sit down and join him for lunch. But no such luck.

While he ate his food, he was thinking about Miranda.

Peter: (in his thoughts) Guess she skipped break.

But because she had still turned up for some of their classes after recess, he was sure that she would keep her appointment with him after school.

When school was finally over, he walked over to the car park. He waited for Miranda to come and show up. He hoped she wasn't going to stand him up.

 
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