"So she wanted me to know that my mom didn't actually take her life." Lya swirled her drink with a straw. "But I still don't know what actually happened." She didn't know what to feel. All these years she had been angry at her mother for leaving her when she was just three years old.

"Well, I don't know when she's going to come back into Ryan's head," Mahlik said.

"Maybe she's never coming back."

"If she doesn't, how will I find out what happened to my mom?" Lya chewed on her lip as she continued swirling her drink.

They stayed quiet for a while. Lya looked around. It was a small smoothie place that she went to all the time. She could hear the whizzing of blenders and the buzzing of the lights above them. A sweet smell filled the air.

"Is it weird that so much happens in this town but no one talks about it," Mahlik questioned.

"People want to forget it happened."

Ryan nodded his head and then took a sip of his smoothie. And Lya thought back to what the Librarian said. People around here don't like it when you talk about the past.

"How did you know all that ghost stuff?" She asked Mahlik, changing the subject.

"I read a lot of books."

"So you know everything about them?" She took a sip of her smoothie. "But you've never actually seen one."

"Nope. I've always wanted to but nothing ever worked," he answered. "I tried a ouija board once. That never worked."

They laughed. And Lya took another sip of the cold drink. Then she shut her eyes tight as it caused her to have a brain freeze.

"Have you read the diary yet, Ryan?" Lya asked. "Maybe there is more stuff in there that can help us."

"I haven't found anything so far. We need to go back to the house so I can ask Nancy more questions."

"Yeah, we should probably go now, before it gets dark." Lya looked out the window beside them and then she got up from out of the booth. Mahlik quickly sipped up his smoothie before going to the trashcan to throw it away.

***

"These stairs feel like they're going to break," Mahlik said.

"You'll be fine, just don't put too much pressure in one spot," Lya said. They were following behind Ryan as they walked up the stairs in the old house. When they were on the second floor Ryan pulled down the stairs to the attic. Then they all walked up the stairs one after the other.

As Ryan entered he saw Nancy sitting on the floor, facing the wall. The sun, coming from the small window, shone through her paper-thin skin. He slowly walked over to her, trying not to startle her.

"Nancy, can I ask you something?" There was no answer and she continued staring at the wall. "Are you stuck in this house?"

It was quiet for a moment and he could hear Mahlik and Lya shuffling behind him. Nancy's head turned to face him. "I can't leave."

"Why can't you leave?"

She stared down at her hands, not answering him. Ryan then decided to ask a different question. "Did you know Darrel?"

Her eyes widened and she placed a trembling finger over her lips. "It's a secret."

Ryan wasn't sure what that meant. He wondered if Myrtle was right and he actually had something to do with her death. "What is the secret?"

"I can't tell you. I can't tell anyone. That's what he said. I need to listen." She glanced around the attic and drew her knees up to her chest. "Bad things happen to kids who don't listen."

Ryan sucked in a breath. "I won't tell anyone, I swear."

"You're lying." She was right. He would tell Lya and Mahlik.

"Who told you that you can't tell anyone?"

"Lawrence."

"Your brother? How old is he?"

"Twelve." She put her head in her lap and then said, "We should stop talking now."

Then Nancy had started to fade. Her voice got quieter and Ryan could feel her slipping away. In a panic he decided to ask her the one question he avoided. "Nancy, how did you die?"

And just as the words left his mouth, her body convulsed. Her eyes darted across the room and she wrapped around her arms around her legs. Ryan got up and turned to Lya and Mahlik. The air around him started to freeze and he could feel the energy from the ghost grow. It felt stifling.

"Ryan, what is it?" Lya asked, rubbing her arms. "Did it get colder in here."

He turned back to Nancy. Her body rose up and down rapidly. She lifted her head up to the ceiling and opened her mouth, and a piercing scream filled his ears. He covered his ears and backed away from her. He couldn't hear anything. And he felt like his head would explode.

He wondered if he was the only one that could hear her. He looked over at Lya and Mahlik and they both had their hands over their ears.

"Ryan what is happening?" Lya said between breaths. "Tell her to stop."

Ryan also found it difficult to speak. He swallowed hard and turned to the ghost. "Nancy, stop."

And suddenly she faded away and so did the screaming. He removed his hands from his ears and turned to Lya and Mahlik. They had done the same.

Ryan rubbed his ears. "I don't think she know she's dead."

"Most ghosts don't know their dead." Mahlik said, blinking multiple times as he rubbed his head.

Ryan glanced over to where Nancy was. "She's gone."

"What did she say?" Lya's eyes were wide and she wrapped her arms around herself.

"She can't leave the house. She wouldn't tell me why." Ryan massaged his head. It had started to hurt. "When I asked her about Darrel she said it was a secret. Lawrence told her to not tell anyone."

"Do you think he killed her?" Mahlik asked.

"Her brother? He was twelve."

"The secret she was talking about could just be his affair," Lya added. "If she knew a secret maybe she talked about it in her diary."

Ryan reached into his bag and fished around until he felt the familiar leather material against his hand. He held it up and they both came beside him to look at the book in his hand. They flipped through the pages until they came on one that mentioned Darrel.

Ryan read it out loud. "Dear Diary, Lawrence won't tell me his secret. He says I can't tell anyone about it but it's hard to keep a secret from mommy. He also won't tell me about Darrel. He says I shouldn't talk about him. All I know is that he's daddy's friend and he has a secret. Lawrence said he could be a bad man but he seems nice."

"So she doesn't know his secret," Lya said. "That means he wouldn't have a reason to kill her."

"So the only person it could be is Mr. Kent and we don't know much about him." Ryan flipped through the book again. "There must be something useful in here."

Lya put her hand in front of him. "I'll read it tonight and see what I can find."