Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Comedy

Author: I’ve finally completed the first three chapters of my story! And the first ghost adventure the kids went through! 

Time for some lighthearted side stories~ 

Story synopsis: Asher joins an Occult Club in school, which is a club investigating supernatural activities, as he is a spirit medium himself, he can see and hear ghosts. There is Melissa, the energetic and eccentric club leader, Ethel, the equally strange, seemingly quiet girl, and Thomas who probably hates everything. The club’s mascot is a fluffy ghost dog named Pickles (who looks like Missile from Ghost Trick).

Story #1 Ethel’s life
Hello, Ethel here, I am a normal girl who attends school. School... uh...My results are good, but they do not stand out. 

Ethel was in a classroom, staring at her report book, filled with mostly As and two Bs. 

“How was your results? You are usually so lazy, did you manage to pass?” Melissa peered over her shoulder, then stopped breathing. 
Ethel cocked her head to the side in curiosity.

Melissa started hyperventilating, “I saw your daily school work! You wrote really less! And you fell asleep halfway through the exams!”

Ethel pulled out her test scripts. For essays, she wrote one page per essay, that is, only one side, yet got decent grades. For maths questions, the maximum number of lines she wrote to answer a question was five. Somehow, Ethel mastered getting the highest grades while writing the least amount of words. 

Melissa wordlessly shook Ethel by the shoulders in desperation. “You failed again?” Ethel asked. Melissa’s body sunk downwards in response. “There there,” Ethel said as she patted Melissa’s back, “there’s always next time.”
——————
A hobby? I guess... archery. Every weekend, I try to improve my skills. I started after I read the Hunger Games when I was younger, and wanted to become like the main heroine. Really unconventional reason to buy a bow and arrows huh? But I began to love the wind on my face, tightness of the arrow on my hand, and kept coming back to the range. 

At the archery range, a man with a hooded jacket stepped inside, along with several rough men surrounding him. With a snap of his fingers, the man at the desk was shaken up, and his eyes flashed with recognition. 

“Oh lord, so you’re-“ the man at the desk began in a weak voice, but the hooded man shook his head. 

“Yes, of course, we’ll prepare the best bow and arrow in the facility. Welcome to Hillside Archery Range, the best archer in the country, Mr. Hanks.” 

The hooded man, Hanks, now dipped his head to nod, swiftly grabbed the bow and arrows off the desk and walked towards one of the stands, with the men following him, one of whom were carrying a video camera.

Much to his surprise, there was a small petite girl next to him, checking her bow. 

Huh, never knew that they allowed children in here, Hanks thought as he tapped the girl’s shoulder. The girl looked at Hanks in curiosity as she asked, “Did I disturb you, Mister?” She looked bored, even with the large men surrounding her and Hanks.

Hanks grinned and bent over to meet the girl at eye level, and said, “Would you like to see a trick, young lady?” 

“Sure, I do want see how I can improve myself,” the girl calmly replied. “Alright!” Hanks exclaimed, turning to the camera, “let’s begin!” 

From young, people had marveled over how well Hanks could see from afar. ‘Eagle eyes’ he was nicknamed, and he was able to use his strengthened eyesight and spatial awareness to play better in sports of all kinds. One day, a teenage Hanks got bored because he claimed that his ‘potential’ was wasted in rugby, and a friend introduced him to archery. He excelled at it, and became the best archer he knew.

But lately, I’ve been getting bored again, Hanks thought as readied into a perfect form, I could not find anyone who can rival my talent, and this is getting stale. When he looked at the target, he knew it would be another bullseye, from whatever distance it were, before the arrow was even fired.

With supernormal precision, all arrows were fired swiftly, and all struck the centre mark, hardly a milimeter away from each other. Hanks released his breath, and turned towards the girl, “Cool huh?”

“Not bad,” the girl nodded, “Okay let me try.” The girl took an arrow.

Her form is rough, Hanks thought, and I don’t think she’s aiming right. Well, she is a kid after all, but I want to see how I can help her, she’s an aspiring archer like me. 

Suddenly, the arrow disappeared from the girl’s grasp, and she was already preparing her next shot. Wait, where did that arrow go? Hanks stood up straighter and looked at the end of the field. Wait, a bullseye? The rest of the men around them also started being surprised and talking amongst themselves.

“That’s good, but it could just be beginner’s luck-“

Another arrow also disappeared, after another in quick, smooth succession. 

Does she even aim? Hanks thought and then the girl placed her bow back on the rack. “That was tiring, I’m done for the day,” The girl said. 

Hanks looked at the target again, and what he saw nearly knocked him over in shock- the arrows are all in the exact dead centre of the bullseye, and the force of the subsequent arrow was so strong that they sliced through the centre of the previous arrow. I’m pretty sure these arrows are made out of- Hanks could not rationalize what he just saw. The other men were also confused.

“Hey girl, what’s that?” Hanks, still dazed, stopped the girl from leaving. “Does that break any rule I didn’t know about? I don’t know much about those, I’m self taught after all,” the girl wondered aloud, worried.

“No I think you’re amazing no- what’s your name?” “Ethel,” the girl answered. “Why don’t you practise at my place?” 

And that is why I now go to the field outside a mansion to practise my archery. My mom always told me not to go with strangers, but I’d be fine. This man, Mr Hanks, is now a good friend of mine and gives me free ice cream sundaes on top of archery lessons. Besides, whenever I walk through alleys and suspicious men run towards me, all I’ve to do is shoot a few arrows to pin them down and they will eventually stop appearing. My mother can be really silly sometimes, but I get that she really loves me, so I still listen.
————
“Hey, isn’t Ethel a rather mysterious girl?” Melissa piped up, at Thomas and Asher during lunch. 

“She has really good archery skills,” Asher remarked, “from last time in the factory.” 

“She appears and disappears in a flash and has good reflexes, but complains that she’s lazy,” Thomas added, and sipped from his drink.

“She is also really polite and expressionless most of the time, doesn’t all that make her seem super mysterious?” Melissa remarked, “and I still don’t know her much as her best friend!”

Thomas and Asher looked at each other and sighed. “Out with it,” Asher said to Melissa.

Instantly, her eyes twinkled, “Let’s stalk her after school!” The other two boys groaned.

Melissa wore a thick brown overcoat, a top hat and sunglasses, while the other boys wore normal street clothes that were low-key. Melissa clicked her tongue disapprovingly at the boys who just rolled their eyes. They had to follow Ethel.

They could see Ethel in jogging clothes entering a park, when she stopped suddenly, and bowed.

Curious, the trio approached to see her talking to- pigeons. 

“Excuse me, but you are blocking the way,” Ethel said at the birds on the pavement. “I thought humans and the avian kingdom have been getting along, but this is too much!” Ethel cried, placing a hand on her chest and gave a hurt expression. “I thought I acted as a great diplomat between my kingdom people and yours!”

“Is this a declaration of war?” Ethel bent down to the pigeon’s level, which looked on, unaffected, walking in front of her.

“A blockade? How clever of you, but under our kingdom’s terms, a blockade also constitutes as an act of-“ Ethel continued, waving her hands in front of the bird.

“... Is she crazy?” Asher deadpanned behind the bush. 

“Come on, let’s leave and never to speak of this again,” Thomas said, leaving. 

“Wait, guys!” Melissa ran after the two leaving, and as she did so, Ethel sneaked a glance back at the three leaving figures and smirked. 

—————
Welp! End of Ethel’s side story! Stay tuned for others!