The harsh hiss of her whisper made the words sting even more. Up on the roof, silhouette against the moonlight, was a small figure with long curly hair. There was no doubt it was Alice, perched right in the middle of the ridge. She was facing us; the whites of her large, round eyes faintly visible under the shadow of the night.
Why was she up there? Was she there the whole time? Was that her idea of hiding from us? From my guest? She was completely still. Staring right at us. I was absolutely sure she knew we saw her. Yet, like an animal, she was frozen in place. Head perked up. Watching her prowlers. Then, with a sudden twist of her little body, the spirit quickly ducked away, over the ledge, to the other side of the roof.
“Oh! She’s gone over!” To my surprise, Sophia started sprinting towards the cottage. “Wait!” she yelled. “Wait up there, darling!”
I stayed where I was, sunken and bewildered. After all this time, after all this effort, with all the confidence I had in the spirit’s uncanny ability to simply disappear, she was finally spotted by an outsider. There was no return from this. Even if my witness was someone I knew, she was not someone I knew that well, nor someone I trusted not to run their mouth.
Sophia was running around the bend as fast as she could. I heard her distant voice echo throughout the clearing. “We’ll get you down! Just, don’t move!”
She saw the spirit differently than I did. It was almost as if she thought there was somehow an actual girl up on the rooftop. Begrudgingly, I urged myself forward. I had to take control of the situation. That was the only way I could come out on top of this disaster.
Grabbing onto my skirt and pulling it up a bit, I made haste towards the cottage, finding my evening companion looping back towards the front steps from the other side, her head locked towards the roof. I slowed my approach and dropped my hands to my sides.
“Where did she go?” Her voice was in a bit of a whisper.
“… So you can see it too.”
Sophia turned to me, looking dumbfounded. “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know… This would always happen… on occasion. I would see a girl… then she would disappear.”
Her eyes widened a tad. “Disappear, you say? Like a ghost?”
“Not a ghost… I think she must be a spirit— Not… a dangerous one. Never does anything. But still… eerie.”
“Really?” She whisked a glance back at the cottage, then returned to me. “A spirit that looks like a human girl?”
“I know… It sounds crazy… but that’s the only explanation I could think of… and I’m fairly confident… that’s it.”
“That’s…”
Sophia gazed up again, her voice trailing off. I held my breath. Did she believe in my story?
“… So interesting… I’ve never come across such a…”
“…” I breathed out.
“I mean… Sorry, if that’s the wrong tone… This whole thing might be a bit spooky for you… especially living alone.”
“No, it’s just… Please don’t tell others about this yet. I don’t want people to think… I’m… bewitched or anything.”
“Bewitched?”
“Sentiment about the spirits in this city isn’t brilliant.”
“Oh… I think I heard about that a little bit, right. I didn’t know it was that bad.”
“Yes…”
“From having spirits visit around? Well that’s a bit silly, isn’t it? Sure, there’s some nasty spirits, but there are some nasty animals as well!”
Her choice of words were starting to become familiar, and a bit discouraging. “If you do take to the streets for that, please… not even a mention about me.”
“No, no. I’m not, like, going to go out of my way to tarnish your name. I just think these clowns need to go out and get some fresh air.”
“Just… promise. Not a word of this, unless we’re in private company.” She gazed back, and I met her in the eyes. “Not until I’ve figured out what to think about this.”
Her gaze was reluctant, yet candid along with her words. “Don’t worry. I don’t think you’re a witch just because a human-looking spirit visits you every night.”
“I’m glad you don’t think of it that way.”
“I’m just… a bit sad. You can’t go on hiding most of your life because of these people.”
I sighed, dropping my gaze to the ground behind her. “I can endure it. It’s the path of least resistance, and that’s just how I want to live my life for the moment.”
Sophia nodded. Returning to her face, I noticed she dropped her gaze as well, avoiding my eyes for the first time tonight. She gazed back up at the roof one last time. “Are you sure you’re all right? That spirit isn’t… knocking on your boards or driving you insane or anything of the like?”
Insane? Driving me insane? Was that what was happening? Was I truly remaining measured, or was I slowly going mad trying to lead this sort of double life? How much longer can I hold this? Maybe I was going mad. If I was, how could I tell? Was this a warning? As much as I did not like it, would I have to rely on my closest friends to tell me when I was teetering over the edge? Perhaps I had less time than I thought. Perhaps I was not as sane as I thought. Yes, I was fine. Yes, I was stable. Yet, yes, that could all change. Yes, perhaps it was changing before my very eyes; the very eyes of my friends. And yes, all it could take was a little bit of a push to send me flying over the ledge.
“… Yes.”