[Inoni]: 62. Happy-Go-Lucky.New 'Go.Chapter One: Leala

Chapter One: Leala's Rebirth

  "I will be here till the day I live..." she whispered, cherishing the backwords irony of the statement. For one who is already dead, 'till the day I die' was not physically possible.

  She was beautiful when living, Leala was. Shining gold-blonde hair that swished and swirled around her hips when she walked, perfect milky white skin, and blue eyes that sparkled like the fresh dew drops that hung from blades of grass in the morning. And she was always dressed in fine white gowns. Even as a dead girl, she still retained some beauty. Her hair still shone, although it was messily cut close to her scalp. Her skin was still white, though it was now rather dusty and grey from years without sun. And her eyes still held a snippet of that forgotten light, beneath the dullness of years of silence and alone. And her beautiful gowns where now nothing more than rags.

  She had once had some company, in that room. When the school was first built, there used to be children and teachers to see her every now and then. But, even though she was pleasant towards them, they were frightened of her, and would run away. Eventually, they just stopped using the rooms. So now, she was bound to sit in that ugly bare room till the day she lived.

* * *

  Mia followed the shadow. The shadow which flicked here and there in the moonlight. Sometimes being eaten by other shadows, sometimes swishing across pools of icy moonlight that filled the streets. She was not nearly so graceful, but she snuck as best she could, her nimble figure slinking along the shadowy sides of fences and cars.

  The shadow flitted towards her, and a thin strip of pale skin appeared in the moonlight, as two invisable hands pulled her hood up a little. "You holdin' up ok?" Tessa asked, grinning. "We're almost there... I've lead us through some back alleys, and we should come out right beside the door closest to the empty room,"

  Mia nodded. "Yeah, I'm ok," she whispered, and then pulled Tessa's hood down roughly. "Now keep moving, Ninja girl! We have to get there and back before you brother gets up. He has to work before school, right?"

  Tessa nodded silently, and then took off again. Mia set off after her, a look of determination across her hidden face. The clock was ticking, and she only had an hour or so before the alarm went off... She bit her lip, and kept running.

  The two girls arrived at the school a few minutes later, and hesitated at the door for a moment. They knew it would be unlocked; It was a door that was damaged, and couldn't lock. The janitor was supposed to fix it, but he ended up being 'too busy', and the task was forgotten. Mia looked at Tessa, and Tessa looked back. They nodded in unison, pushed the door open, and heading into the darkness of the school...

  Snik. A cone of light appeared in the hallway as Mia turned on her flashlight. Her feet padded along the tile floor softly, following the silent steps of Tessa in front of her. Her hand began to shake, the beam of light in front of her trembling. Tessa turned to look at her. "You nervous too?" she asked softly, and all Mia could do was nod. The school was dead silent. The brightness of her flashlight seemed to slowly shrink against the inkyness of the air around it. There was nothing in the whole school, except foor the pit pat pit pat of her feet on the floor.

  And then, she was there. As Mia and Tessa turned the final corner into the empty room, she came into sight. The eyes, the hair, the gown, and that surreal white glow. Mia's hand flew to her open mouth and she stepped back in surprise, but said not a word. The ninja beside her did as ninja did, standing still without showing any sign of fear. And the ghastly creatuure before them, let out a cry of disbeleif, and pressed herself against her stake with a hand one her chest.

  "L... L... Leala!!" Mia cried, after several minutes of shocked silence. "You... You..." She was about to say 'You're real!', but of course that would've sounded silly. She caught herself, and quickly began to recite the words she knew could free the girl.

  "Do Undone, those cruel things, that kept your heart in chains." Leala looked at her with wide eyes, as a rope shot out of nowhere, binding her to the stake in the center of the rooms. "Do undone, the wicked crimes, and do undone the pain." Flames burst from the ground, as Mia chanted. Tessa watched in fear and amazement, as the ghost was enveloped in fire. "Do undone, those tragedies, that stole away your breath," Inside the flickering of the flames, the ghost began to change. Her skin became smooth and clean, milky and fresh with hints of rose across her cheeks. Her hair poured from her scalp like liquid gold, materializing in the lucious long strands they used to be. And her tattered gown became pure and white again, flowing perfectly in silken folds to her feet. "Do undone, your wrecked life, and DO UNDONE YOUR DEATH!!!"

  With Mia's final scream, the flame and the stake they burst from vanished. So there, before the two bewildered friends, was nothing. Nothing, except for a blonde girl their age dressed all in white, with tears in her eyes. "I've... I've been saved..." she whispered. She blinked, and the tears spilled from her eyes. "I've finally been saved!" And, like her tears, she fell to the ground.