"Grace? Are you there?" Melody asked, sticking my head into a closet. "Yeah," a little girl with long blonde locks appeared out of nowhere inside the closet. The girl was wearing a long pink, ruffled dress that looked like it was from the late 1800s. Her dress had blood all over the stomach and was torn around the torso. The skirt was ripped up as well. Her neck has a deep cut, and blood was oozing out of it. *********************** Dear friends and family, "Tell me the story again?" I asked. I was about five at the time, and was scared, yet fascinated on how Grace had died. "I just got home from school, and I was going to cook a surprise supper for Mommy. I went to my room to find an apron or something, When I opened my closet, this closet, a man was standing in it," Grace explained while I listened,"The man jumped out at me, and held a knife to my throat, 'follow along, and you don't get hurt', he said to me. It was super scary!" "What happened next?" I asked her. She always stopped her story at that point. "Terrible things," Grace said, her brown eyes were wide with fear. "What happened after the terrible things?" I asked. "Mommy found my body in this closet, she started to cry, so I tried to talk to her, but she didn't hear me," Grace said. She looked like she was about to cry. I started to cry. "Gracie, that's so terrible! Why are some people so mean?!"" "You're not mean, you're my only friend," Grace replied. She then disappeared from sight. ************************* I went out of the closet and sat on my bed. I was the only one who know about Grace. I was the only one who saw her. I remembered how I met her. It happened when I moved in the house ten years ago. I was putting all of my clothes in the closet. Then, Grace appeared. At first, she just watched me, then I started to talk to her. "Who are you?" I asked her. Grace looked surprised. "My name is Grace, who are you?" she replied in the same quiet voice she has now. "My name is Melody, are you a ghost?" I asked. I was pretty scared of her, because she had blood all over her. "I wouldn't say that," She replied. "What are you then?" I asked. At age four, I was very curious about her. "I'm a person," she replied. Even now, she doesn't like being called a ghost or spirit, she's just a person. "Are you dead?" I asked her. "Yes," She replied. "How did you die?" I asked her. That was the first time I heard her story. "I'm going to be your friend," I told her after I listened to her story. ************************** I had just turned six, and I got a tiny china tea set for my birthday. I went to the closet to show grace. "Hey Grace! I got a tea set for my birthday, wanna have a tea party?" I said. "Yes!" She replied. I put a little kiddie table in the closet, and set up the tea set. "Okay, I don't have tea, so we're gonna use lemonade and pretend it's tea," I told her. "Okay!" She said, sitting down on one of the small chairs. I poured lemonade into the tiny tea cups, and Grace drank her in one gulp. "More please!" She said. I poured her more. Then I sat down and drank my own. "No, no Melody!" Grace said, "You have to hold your pinkie up, like this!" She held her pinkie up, and drank in a sophisticated manner. "Oh yeah!" I said, then copied Grace. Soon, the pitcher of lemonade was gone. "That was fun!" Grace said. "What now?" I asked Grace. ************************** I was eight when I decided to throw a birthday party for Grace. Just me and her. I told Grace to turn around for a little bit. "Grace, don't peek. I'm going to do something, so don't peek!" I said. "Okay!" she said without hesitation. "Ok," I replied as I took out a banner, balloons and a cake from under my bed. "You know, today's my birthday. I'm going to turn one hundred fifteen," She said, still facing a wall. "Yeah, you told me yesterday," I said as I hung up the banner. "And I want a magazine for my birthday. I heard your mom talking about one, and they sound really cool!" Grace went on. "Okay, I'll try to get you one," I said as I tiptoed out and picked up one of my magazines. I found a bow and some wrapping paper and wrapped the magazine sloppily and topped it off with the Mitch-matched bow. "Okay! Turn around now!" I said. I was very excited. When Grace turned around, her face lit up. "Wow! It's a birthday party!" She exclaimed. "Yeah, I even got you some cake and a present," I said. "Thank you! You're the best friend ever!" She said. Then she hugged me. I walked over to a very small kiddie table that I set up, and picked up a birthday hat. Then, I placed it on Grace's head. She hopped around, then sat down. "Want some cake?" I asked her. "Yum, cake," She said. I served her the pink poodle cake that I got. It was pretty fancy for five dollars. "Oooo, it's shaped like a poodle!" She shrieked. I could tell that she was super excited. I sliced the cake in half and gave Grace that bigger half with the head. "Aww.... But its too cute to eat!" She said. "Uh..." I was already half done with my share of the cake. Then Grace started eating hers. "Yum!" She said when she was done, "Let's open my present next!" I handed her my present and she ripped it open. "Is this a magazine?" She asked. "Yes it is," I said, pretty proud with myself. "Wow! It's amazing!" She said, opening it. "Yeah..." I said, leaning back on my chair. "This has been the best birthday ever!" Grace said. ************************** When I was ten, I peeked into the closet to find the same small girl I saw many years ago when I opened the closet. "Oh hey Melody!" Grace said when I opened the closet. "Gosh, you've gotten tall!" Since Grace was dead, she never grew. She remained a small seven year old. "Hi Grace, how are you today?" I asked her as I reached for a shirt. "Fairly decent, considering I'm stuck in a closet I've been in for the past century," Grace responded. She sat down on a pile of shoe boxes. "Tell you what, after school, I'll play a game with you. Like when I was little." I said. I haven't played with her for about three years. We mostly talked. After school, I went into my closet to put away my school bag. "What game are we playing?" Grace asked instantly. "Uh... What do you want to play?" I asked. I couldn't think of any games to play in an enclosed space like my closet. "We could play truth or dare!" She shouted. "I guess, sure," I responded. It wasn't the best game, but Grace had the mind of a seven year old, so it couldn't be anything bad. "Okay! Truth or dare?" Grace asked giggling. "Truth," I responded. "Who's your best friend?" She asked. "Why you of course," I said. It was the truth, I had no friends at school. Grace is my only friend. "Truth or dare?" I asked Grace. "Dare!" Grace shouted. "Ok, do a headstand," I replied. Grace tried to do one, but she toppled over on a wall. "I can't do a handstand, Melody," She said when she got up. "Try again," I said. She tried again, but fell over and landed on me. Soon we were laughing and giggling. Then, my little sister, Adrienne walked into the closet. "What's so funny?" she asked. She obviously could not see nor hear Grace. "Nothing," I said. I got up, leaving Grace staring at me from the floor. I started closing the closet door. "Wait! I thought we were gonna play?" Grace whined. She got up and reached a hand out signaling me to stop. I couldn't agnoledge her, so I continued to close the door. After that, I could hear her crying in the closet. "I'm so sorry," I thought ********************** "Hi Grace," I said when I entered the closet. I was twelve. "Hi Melody!" Grace said. She was sitting down on the floor, reading the magazine I'd gotten her. "Grace, I'm sick, I have a fever," I told her. I did not feel well at all. I was home alone, my parents were at work and my little sister was at school. "Melody! How did you get sick?" Grace asked. Of course she would over react. She was from the 1800s. " You could die!" "Grace, it's not a big deal. The doctors have a special medicine to cure me," I said. "What?" She said, "How long have they had that?" "A while," I replied. I sat down at the kiddie table. "Can I do anything to make you feel better?" She asked. "Not really," I replied. Grace got up and got my old Teddy bear that I loved when I was little. "I found Mr. Teddy yesterday," she said, giving the stuffed bear to me. "Ok, thanks," I said. "Have you ever tried to get out of the closet?" "No, I'm scared to. I don't think I could anyway," She replied. "Oh," I said. I went out of the closet and layeddown on my bed, leaving the closet door open. Soon, I was asleep. ********************** I was fourteen. I went back into the closet. "Hey Grace, can you tell me the story again?" I asked her. I still loved to hear her tragic story. "I think it's time I showed you something," Grace said, appearing on the top shelf of a mini dresser I kept in my closet. "What?" I asked. Grace jumped off the shelf. She walked over to where some floorboards shown from under my mess of clothes and shoes. She lifted up a loose floorboard and took a long knife. It was rusted and scary looking. There was some blood on the sharp edge. The part that you held on to was wooden and were were disintegrating. "What's that?" I asked. "The knife that the man threatened me with," Grace replied. "Didn't he kill you with it?" I asked. That's what I always thought, he cut her throat just enough to kill her. "No, he did something much worse," She said, "He held the knife to my neck as he ripped my dress up and... I don't know what he did, but at the end, he stabbed me a lot in the stomach," "So in the end, the knife did kill you?" I said. "Yeah, I guess," she sighed. I took the knife from her a placed it back under the floorboard. ********************** Before I knew it, I was fifteen. My age now. I went into the closet. "Grace, I have bad news," I said. "What?" Grace said. "I'm moving," I told. "What? You're moving?" Grace said. "Yeah, I am," I replied. "But then we won't be able to see and talk to each other anymore!" Grace yelled. "I know," I said. "Can't you stop it?" She asked. "No, my dad's job is moving somewhere else," I said. I felt like crying. I was not going to loose Grace, my only friend. ********************** And that's why, tonight you will find this letter on my dresser and my body in the closet. I hope you realize that Grace was real and this all truthfully happened. I love you all- Melody ********************** Melody stopped writing. Her letter was done. She got up from her seat and left the letter on her dresser. She headed over to the closet. "Grace, are you here?" Melody asked, sticking her head into the closet. "Yeah," a little girl with long blonde locks appeared out of no where inside the closet. "I'm going to do something that will allow us to play together forever," Melody told her as I removed the floorboard, revealing the knife the man used on Grace. "Okay!" She said. She didn't know what Melody was about to do. Melody took the knife, and stabbed herself in the heart. Soon, blood stained the floor around her. And she screamed. "Melody stop!" Grace cried. Melody was soon laying on the floor, dead. And her spirit was standing next to it. There was blood still stained on her shirt. "There, now they won't ever be able to take me away from you," Melody told Grace.