The Tween Detectives - Oct. Prep Month

October 7th, 2017 - Children Don't Solve Ghost Mysteries

“Children Don’t Solve Ghost Mysteries”

A Short Story

Written By

PureSciFiPlus
Aka PureSciFi

     A ghost popped his head and upper part of his body out of a big television. He stopped his advancement to within an inch or two in front of The Tween Detectives. They didn’t flinch at seeing a ghost, or of one suddenly appearing. All they did was try to look around him. When that didn’t work, they looked through him. They could still see what they were watching. But it was really faded, almost invisible.

     “Hay, Rufus Hogan, go away. Come back after we finish watching Scooby Doo,” said Nora.

     “Yeah, we were watching that. They were about to unmask the phony ghosts,” said Jasper.

     “That’s one of the reasons I chose to join you now. You already know who the phony ghosts are. Because you have watched this episode a million times already, and that’s just in the last week.”

     “So, what if we know who did it. We still want to see it,” said Brandon.

     “It doesn’t really matter,” said Rebecca. “We will still see it. I put it on pause just after he showed up.”

     Nora, Brandon, and Jasper looked at Rebecca and smiled. Then they all looked at Rufus with even bigger smiles. “What do you want Rufus? Why are you here?”

     Rufus pointed at his chest toward the television screen. “This is my I’m here. I’m here to talk to you about your obsession problem.”

     “What are you talking about Rufus?” Brandon asked. “We don’t have an obsession problem.”

     “Yes, you do. You watch too much Scooby Doo. And if you're not watching that, your reading The Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew novels.”

     “Wait a second,” said Nora. “We have always been told we should be reading whenever we can, as often as we can.”

     “That’s right,” said Rebecca. “You adults encourage us to read more, not less.”

     “I’m not suggesting you read less. I just don’t think it should be just Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. There are thousands, millions, of stories out there to read. You need to be reading them too.”

     “I am one of those adults that encourage you to read every day. Did it with my children and my students. At least I did until I was killed.”

     “A murder that we, The Tween Detectives, solved. How long were you dead before someone proved it was murder?” Jasper asked. “It must have been about fifty years ago.”

     “Not quite that long ago. It has only been thirty-seven years. And I already thanked you for helping me.”

     “You were the only ones who thought it was murder. Everyone else thought I killed myself. But you all didn’t. And you found what I needed to prove it.”

     “Yes, we did. True, the killer is long dead. But we still unmasked him,” said Rebecca. “Just like we do with the phony ghost here in Middletown KS. Where all ghosts come to live.”

     “That’s another obsession that I wanted to talk to you about. You are children. And you should be riding your bikes, playing in the park, things like that instead of pretending to be detectives. It’s okay to pretend to be Cops and Robbers. But you shouldn’t be doing it in real life.”

     “First of all, we aren’t children. We’re Tweens,” said Brandon angrily. “And second, we aren’t pretending anything. We are The Tween Detectives.”

     “We have already proven that a couple of dozen times already,” said Nora. “Like Scooby Doo, we unmask a phony ghost or ghost almost every week. And with Halloween coming up in less than two months, it will probably be more than that.”

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     The Tween Detectives sat together in the center of a large, loud auditorium. Nora, Brandon, and Jasper were watching the front stage where twenty-four adults sat. But Rebecca didn’t. She was looking at the everyone else in there. Only she wasn’t looking at the other students. Rebecca was looking at the small ghosts there. Almost every chair was occupied by a student. And that includes about twelve small ghosts.

     “I feel sorry for the student ghosts that have to come to these school meeting,” Rebecca said softly to herself. “It's bad enough the living has to do it. But to have to do it forever is really bad.”

     Just then a crackling sound echoed all around Rebecca. She looked up on the stage and saw Principal Patricia Quint standing in the center of the stage with a microphone in her hand. Rebecca glanced around and saw most of the students facing the stage. But it was still loud and rowdy from the students that were still talking with each other.

     Patricia cleared her throat into the microphone. It echoed throughout the auditorium. The loud died down a lot. “Attention, everyone.” Her voice also echoed.

     The loudness died, and everyone now faced the stage. “Thank you everyone, and welcome to our annual October Halloween meeting.”

     “It’s almost October. And everyone knows what that means, Halloween is almost upon us.”

     “Almost every school celebrates Halloween, especially the Grade and Elementary schools. But none of them celebrate it like we do. That’s because Middletown KS is special. And this year we are even more special than usual.”

     “We are special because we are dead, no pun intended, center in the continental United States. That’s why so many ghosts have chosen to come here to live. But that’s not the only thing special about this year.”

     Patricia paced up and down the stage as she was talking. But she would only walk a few feet in one direction. Then turn and walk in the other one. Also on a few feet beyond her original starting point. She never took her eyes off the students as she did it. “This town got its name because of our location. And this year marks the one-hundredth year we have been here.”

     “That’s why this year I want to celebrate Halloween a bit different. Every year each classroom picks a ghost to honor with fixing up the classroom to depict their lives, and writing about them. But that leaves several hundred we don’t honor.”

     “We try our best to includes them all every few years. But that’s still not good enough, especially this year. This year I want them all to be honored.”

     Patricia took a deep breath before she continued. “Yes, I know that means about ten ghosts per classroom. And it’s going to get complicated combining them all. But I’m sure we can do it.”

     “Maybe each classroom can break up the students into small groups. With each group honoring one of the ghosts.”

     “There is one other thing I want to do differently this year. Every year we honor our ghost students. But some don’t get honored as much as the rest.”

     Patricia stopped in the center of the stage. She turned toward the students. “From this year on I want them all honored. And with all our classrooms that shouldn’t be a problem. So instead of nine or ten adults and maybe one student, I want it more like seven adults and three students.”

     “That’s all I’ve got to say.” Cheering started. “Thanks for coming.”

     “Are there any questions?” Patricia asked. Before anyone could respond Patricia continued. “Good, everyone is dismissed. Let’s get back to learning.”

     Patricia turned and dropped her microphone as she left the stage. The teachers behind her left too. So, did the students. Some quickly, the others not as quick. The loudness started up again. Rebecca, Nora, Brandon, and Jasper left together. But just after they exited the auditorium they split up into four different directions.

Word Count = 1,264