Lightning Sticks and Ghost Books
Lloyd set out towards the grove drew beautifully in the journal. It promised to be a circle of trees with "interesting properties" and other fancy words like that. He was ready to see whatever it was. It was a bit of a hike, and he had to backtrack as some of the landmarks confused him. Was elephant rock the one that looked like an elephant or the elephant sized rock?
Either way he was sure he had made it when he entered a ring of bluish trees that just screamed magic. He squeaked with joy and set off to explore. Other than the color of the trees, the air had a buzz to it. He would be worried about lightning if the sky was not so clear. He opened his own notebook and did his own drawings and notes on things. Making sure to note how he did not cry when he had tripped and scraped his knee and that he was prepared with a rainbow bandaid.
Eventually, Lloyd started to bore of the field, his starting excitement dimming as nothing happened. There was usually a creature or cool rock. Here there was just fuzzy air and blue trees. He frowned and prepared to leave. He stopped and picked up a large stick. The buzzing seemed to follow it. A cool sword to show his brother!
As he walked, he noticed when he stuck it near things it seemed to make them float slightly. He laughed and batted it at falling leaves. A thought struck him, ghosts floated things, right? Raven might think this was cool! He turned on his heel and headed towards the cemetery. She seemed to be more interested in his discoveries than his brother anyway.
Lloyd ran through the graveyard before he stumbled, and his stick went flying over a few graves. There was a clunk and then a groan. He froze. He swallowed and nervously shuffled over to retrieve it. He found it, unharmed, andโฆ nothing else. He looked around more and saw more nothing. After a few seconds he shrugged and grabbed his stick.
Though he noticed when he picked it up a small puff of blue appeared and disappeared. He pointed the stick at it and more blue appeared. It took the shape of a book. It had a ghost with legs on the front. He was immediately interested. Finding one book had already made his life much more interesting, another could only help. He reached down to grab it but his hand just passed through, it left a chill at the tips of his fingers.
He poked it with the stick annoyed and surprisingly it made contact. He smiled and continued to poke at the book, attempting to open it, but the stick was annoyingly slippery. He really only managed to put a slight dent in the pages. This is when he noticed movement on the front cover. The ghost figure shifted slightly, which obviously should not be possible for a book. Lloyd blinked and poked at the cover again. The figure shifted further. Slowly it moved to the edge of the cover and Lloyd nudged them once again. Finally the ghost was shoved completely off the cover, and fell to the book's spine.
There was a small shout before an annoyed groan. Lloyd stared wide eyed as the ghost walked back onto the cover. When he noticed Lloyd he froze.
"How are you doing that?" Lloyd asked, leaning forward in wonder.
The figure jumped than smiled. "You can see me!" He said excitedly moving about the cover and smiling wider.
Despite it not being a question Lloyd answered, "Yeah! What are you? Why are you in the graveyard?"
"I'm a ghost, and I'm a ghost." the figure said shrugging.
"Wow, a ghost! I've never met a ghost!!" Lloyd squealed and pulled out his notebook and did a crude drawing. His hands were shaking with excitement. The stick was almost tossed to the side, before he realized it was the only thing keeping the ghost visible. He paused at the name section. Looking down again he asked, "I'm Lloyd, What's your name?"
"Cursed Ghost Journal. CGJ is fine," He responded. Lloyd noted it, probably mispelling Journal.
Lloyd pretty much just smiled down a CGJ for a while while his brain flooded with a million questions. He could not decide on which he wanted answered first. Why is a book a ghost? Was this his grave? How is he talking without lungs? Are all books secretly alive?! Rather than one of the questions coming out, he simply laughed and flipped through the corners of his notebook.
"How does the stick work?" CGJ asked.
Excitedly, Lloyd opened the fancy journal and his own notes, propping them up on his legs and pointing at the pictures of the forest. When he looked back to CGJ he noticed the odd angle that CGJ must be looking at. Lloyd frowned. He was going to reach out but remembered his manners.
"Can I move you? uh, please? So I can show you my notes?" Lloyd said. His hand hovering in front of him.
"I guess you can." CGJ said, seeming a little disappointed when Lloyd set his books aside.
He reached down but the cold air that met his fingers quickly reminded him he was talking to a ghost. He thought for a second before he grabbed the stick and snapped it in half.
"What are you doing?" CGJ asked. Lloyd smiled and held up the still buzzing pieces.
"Too lift you up" He said wiggling them slightly.
Lloyd used the sticks pressed gently against the sides of his new friend to lift him up and lean him against the headstone. Lloyd smiles satisfied and quickly reopened his books.
"Ok so, I was reading this journal, I found it in the woods a couple weeks ago, when I saw this page about a cool patch of the forest, so I went there. I drew a picture see?" Lloyd said pointing to his sketch. "And when I was leaving, because it was a bit boring, I found this stick! It looked like a swordโฆ well less now that it is broken but I'll just get another one!" Lloyd said and smiled down a CGJ.
"Does it do anything else?" CGJ asked. He moved to the side of the cover and poked the part of the stick that touched it.
"It feels like its full of static and it can make leaves float!" He answered and demonstrated with one half of the stick. "I only just fou-" he started but when he looked over he noticed one of the street lights had flipped on.
When had the sky gotten so orange? Lloyd stood up suddenly, gathering his things.
"Oh no, I am going to get in so much trouble if I get home late. I'll come back tomorrow!" Panicking Lloyd does not wait for a response and rushes off.
"I'll be here." CGJ says looking up at the sunset sky, hoping the night was not too boring.
__________
Lloyd was out the door as soon as breakfast was over. He only stopped to fill his pockets with a couple of his recent finds and set off to the cemetery. It took a few minutes of searching to spot the familiar blue. He ran over to the grave, but stopped short. Unconsciously, he noticed CGJ waving at him, consciously he was staring at probably the biggest toad he had ever seen. He was not scared, because he was very brave and not at all scared of frogs or toads. Bog sat patiently in his pocket, he grabbed his plush's hand as he stared down the toad.
He was brave. He was not scared. He was just fine standing right where he was. Then he was not. The toad jumped a bit closer. He screamed and fled a few rows back. He could no longer see CGJ's face but the blue was still there. The toad had not eaten him, good.
Lloyd watched the toad move out of sight. He made a wide cautious circle as he went back to his friend.
"Are you ok?" they asked at the same time.
There was a pause.
"Did the frog try and eat you?" Lloyd asked bending further to check for any disturbance.
"I'm a ghost. Also I would be too big for a toad to eat anyway." CGJ said with an odd tone.
"I knew that." he said a bit embarrassed.
"Are you afr-" CGJ started.
"No!" Lloyd stood up and waved his hands defensively. "I am not scared of anything. Toads are justโฆ they are fine and I am not afraid." He concluded. He sat with a pout and crossed his arms.
Deciding to pretend that did not happen, Lloyd dug the trinkets out of his pocket and explained how he got them. He emphasized he was never scared of any of the monsters he ran into. CGJ raised a brow, but let the moment pass as Lloyd explained every item in great detail. Who pulled out his notebook several times, to show his notes and sketches.
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