Haunted pool

“ I don’t really believe in ghosts,” Charlotte said as she munched on some popcorn. “More people die in car accidents than at home, but you never here about haunted cars.” Charlotte was seventeen and visiting her cousin in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her cousin, Cheryl, and her sister, Tonya, joined her on the deck while her Uncle Tony man the BBQ. The girls sat in the sunshine and discussed plans for scary movies later that night.

“I don’t mind the slasher movies, but I don’t like ghosts.” Cheryl shuttered as she said “ghosts”. I don’t want to watch Candyman, it’s too scary.

“Ok, but we have to watch Jaws. Jaws and Jaws 2 are my favorites.” Tonya declared as she leaped from her deck chair. She sauntered over to the girl and held out her plate. “Burger me, please.” Tony smiled and placed the burger on clean buns on her plate. She slammed back into her chair and began to place pickle after pickle on her burger. Tonya made it back just in time to hear the debate that ensued in her absent.

“I love that you can watch slasher movies or murder movies, but you get scared at ghost movies” Charlotte smiled and shook her head, “That doesn’t make any sense. You could actually be murdered by a stranger, although it’s more likely to be someone you know. Ghosts aren’t real.”

“You don’t know, they could be real” Cheryl said timidly.

“Ghost stories are so weak.” Charlotte began with her arguments. “ They always start the same and end the same. They start with some nuclear family moving into some old house and strange things move around and you see shadow people. Turns out someone was murdered long ago, and their trying to solve who murdered them. The family finds out the mystery and the spirits are at rest. It’s always an old house, what if you murdered in an apartment? You don’t get to come back? Do you get haunt to whole apartment complex or just that one apartment? What if you’re murdered in a forest, do you just haunt the closest tree or do you get free reign over the whole woods?”

“There are ghost stories where ghosts haunt woods, and old buildings.” Cheryl interrupted.

“I just find it odd that it’s always a haunted house in the English countryside and not a haunted studio apartment in Burbank.” Charlotte said with a smirk.

“Well, what about a haunted pool?” Cheryl questioned back.

“What?” Charlotte laughed nervously.

“Oh, don’t tell her that?” Tonya said before taking a huge bite of her burger.

“Did your mom tell you?” Cheryl asked.

Tonya nodded. She swallowed and took a huge swig of her soda. “Yes, before we left.” She took another bite of her hamburger.

“What story?” Charlotte asked. She looked at her sister and then back at Cheryl.

“Apparently,” Tonya mumbled through her chewing. “Someone was murdered in the pool and now it’s haunted.”

“What?” Charlotte exclaimed.

“It’s true.” Cheryl said. “I don’t like telling this story, but they told my dad when we moved in. Back in the 70s, a young girl used to live here with her parents. She was kinda of picked on. One Friday, when her parents were out of town, she invited a couple of guys over. Well, they thought she was inviting them over for a little something, something. They come over and they’re fooling around. They decide to go skinny dipping. So things are getting intense the guys are moving fast and starting to get aggressive. There’s a struggle. She managed to get free, but they caught her in the grass. She was raped by both guys. She was quite upset afterwards, as you can imagine. The guys realized fast they were in trouble. So, they threw her in the pool and drowned her. That’s where things get crazy. The police found the bodies of the boys in the pool. They didn’t have any marks that suggested they fell and they weren’t drown. They were just dead. They couldn’t explain it.”

“And the real estate agent offered all this up?” Charlotte gently questioned.

“Your mom told me.” Cheryl said. “She looked into it after what happened to her.”

“What happened to my mom?”

“She was swimming one morning, back when she lived here. She put her feet over the ledge and leaned back in the water until her back touched the side of the pool. She hung upside down, underwater, for a few minutes until she felt something. She told me it felt like someone grabbing her toes and shanking them. Almost like someone wanted her attention. She pushed off and came up fast. There was no one. No one was on the grass or on the deck. Tony was inside asleep. So, who grabbed her feet?” Cheryl smiled as she finished her story. Your mom may have lied, but the details are so strange and unique. I believe her. Maybe one morning you should do the same and see what happens.”