Note: This one is kinda long too… Sorry! LOL

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The next morning, Emberlynn had all but forgotten about her mother’s strange behavior and her parents’ arguing the night before.

She was too focused on the wedding, and how much fun it was gonna be to get all dressed up, wear her new earrings, and see the bride and groom and all the guests wearing their most beautiful clothes. Emberlynn had already asked for her parents’ permission to bring her sketch book along so she could draw some of the pretty outfits she saw. I can’t wait to show Zelda! She thought happily.

Emberlynn had only been to one wedding before — her Onkel Tam and Onkel Jasper’s. But she was only four years old when they got married. She couldn’t remember anything about it (though everyone loved telling her the story of how she had snuck away from her parents’ table and helped herself to several large handfuls of wedding cake before the reception even started).

Emberlynn was practically bouncing in her seat all through breakfast. But she couldn’t help but notice that her brother seemed to be the exact opposite. Tristan had barely said a word all morning… And normally, that would have been a good thing. Most days, Emberlynn was sick of his constant chatter about stupid baby stuff.

But today, she couldn’t help but worry that something was wrong.

When they returned to their hotel room to get dressed for the wedding, Emberlynn decided to voice her concerns. “Are you okay?” She asked him while her parents were in the other room getting ready. “You’re acting super weird today…”

Her little brother seemed to hesitate for a moment before deciding to reply. “It’s… the ghosts.” Tristan replied softly. “I’m kinda scared.” He confessed.

“Ghosts?” Emberlynn raised an eyebrow at her brother as she took a seat beside him on his bed. “What ghosts?”

“Didn’t you hear Mama and Papa last night? After dinner, when they were really mad, and yelling?”

She shook her head. She hadn’t even bothered trying to eavesdrop on their argument. But apparently Tristan had.

“Mama said she saw a ghost at the store yesterday!” He cried. “And then Papa told her she had to get used to it ’cause there were gonna be even more ghosts at the wedding!” Tristan looked almost as though he were about to cry. “Then Mama got really mad and said we never shoulda come here ’cause it’s haunted! She said there are ghosts of Christmas past everywhere!”

Emberlynn shook her head slowly. “There’s no way they really said that. Christmas isn’t for a long time. And ghosts aren’t real, dummy.”

“I’m not a dummy! And they are real! Mama’s really scared of ’em!” Tristan insisted. “I even heard her and Papa fighting one last night!”

“What?”

“I couldn’t sleep. I was too scared. So I was gonna go in Mama and Papa’s room to sleep with them.” He explained. “But then I heard lotsa banging sounds from the other side of the door. And Mama and Papa were making these noises and breathing really hard, like they were fighting something! And I think it was the ghost!” His cheeks had begun growing red and his eyes were glistening slightly with tears. “I was too scared to watch the fight, so I came back to bed. But I still couldn’t sleep.”

Emberlynn just rolled her eyes. Her brother had the craziest dreams sometimes. “That was a nightmare, dummy. Mama and Papa would’ve told us if they got attacked by ghosts.” She assured him.

“Not if they wanna protect us! I asked them this morning about the scary ghost attack.” Tristan explained. “I told them what happened last night and they looked at each other all weird. They looked really nervous. But then they said it was just in my head. And I know they lied! They just don’t want us to be scared of the ghosts too. But I am!” Without warning, tears began falling down his cheeks. Tristan jumped up from the bed, balling his hands into fists at his side as his tears continued to fall. “I don’t wanna go to the wedding! I don’t wanna see any ghosts!”

No matter how stupid and babyish he was being, Emberlynn couldn’t stand to see her brother cry.

A heavy sigh passed her lips as she pushed herself from the bed. “Come here, dummy.” Emberlynn placed her hands on his shoulders as she spoke. “There’s no such thing as ghosts. But… if there are any ghosts hanging out at the wedding, I’ll protect you.” She said softly. “Okay?”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Emberlynn couldn’t help but smile as her little brother wrapped her in a tight embrace. “Thanks, Ember… You’re the best big sister ever.”

She chuckled softly. “I know.”

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Several hours later, Emberlynn found herself wishing there was a ghost or two at the wedding.

At least that would have made it interesting!

As she’d predicted, everybody looked amazing. They wore some of the prettiest clothes she’d ever seen, and the bride’s dress was incredible. But after about ten minutes, that was no longer enough to keep poor Emberlynn amused.

The ceremony dragged on forever. Maybe not a trillion-jillion years like the plane ride. But at least a billion.

And the food at the reception wasn’t nearly as yummy as she’d been expecting it to be. The chicken was dry and the carrots were soggy and everybody else there was a stranger. And even worse, they were speaking English. Emberlynn had no idea what anyone was saying.

She’d tried a few times to ask her parents to help translate, but they were too busy being weird. Her Mama had been grumpy all day. And sad too. Sometimes, it almost looked like she was going to cry. But no matter how upset she seemed, Emberlynn noticed that her Mama stayed by her Papa’s side the entire time. She made sure she was always holding his hand or wrapping her arm around him. Emberlynn wondered why would she do that if she was so upset. It didn’t make any sense.

But her Papa didn’t really seem to notice. Or even care, really. It felt like he wasn’t paying attention to anybody. Well, not anybody he was supposed to. He was barely even looking at his wife or his children all day. And even when his friends came over to say hello (and finally speak some German, much to Emberlynn’s delight), her father still seemed so distracted.

Tristan had told her it was all because their parents were worried about the ghosts. But Emberlynn hadn’t forgotten what her Papa had told her about the wedding bringing back some bad memories. That’s gotta be it… Ugh. Why do they have to be acting so weird?! She wondered bitterly. But at least they aren’t fighting.

Once the meal was over and the dancing had begun, Emberlynn decided to take advantage of the freedom and explore the reception hall a bit. “Mama? Papa? Can I please go walk around or something?” She asked as her parents awkwardly sipped their coffees. “I’m bored. And I can’t just keep sitting here doing nothing or I’m gonna die.”

“Don’t joke about that, Emberlynn!” Her mother snapped at her. “It’s not funny.”

“I’m not joking. I’m really bored and I’m really gonna die!”

“I won’t let you.” Tristan interjected before Gigi could reprimand her daughter once more. “You said you were gonna protect me. I’m gonna protect you too!”

“See?” Her father forced a smile as he finally tore his eyes away from the other side of the reception hall. “You’ve got Tristan to protect you. No dying tonight.”

“Papa, you know what I mean!” Emberlynn groaned.

Gigi sighed, seemingly annoyed at her husband’s response as well. “Yes, you can go walk around, honey. But take your brother with you.”

“Ugh. Fine.” Emberlynn knew better than to argue, especially when her parents were in such strange moods. “Let’s go, dummy.” She beckoned for Tristan to follow as she jumped up from the chair and began wandering around the reception hall.

It wasn’t long before she found something of interest. Over at the corner of the dance floor, she saw a small trio of children who looked around her age. Finally! Somebody to talk to! Emberlynn eagerly skipped over to them, her little brother following along in her wake.

The other children turned around at their approach.

“Hi!” One of them called out kindly.

In English.

Oh no! Emberlynn had almost forgotten. How the heck was she supposed to talk to these kids?

“Hi!” She smiled back at the others, summoning all the English knowledge she could muster, limited as it was. “I am Emberlynn. He is Tristan.” She pointed to her brother as she spoke slowly and carefully in the unfamiliar language. “Who are you?”

She watched as the other children exchanged confused glances. Oh no! Did I say something wrong?!

“I’m Dennise!” The little girl finally replied. “And this is Bernie and this is, uh…?” She seemed to have forgotten the other boy’s name. Maybe they’d just met each other too?

“Xander.” The boy finished for her, smiling at Emberlynn and her brother. “Dooyu wamp laywitus?”

Emberlynn and Tristan both raised an eyebrow. “Huh?”

“Dooyu wamp laywitus?” He repeated, more slowly this time but still in gibberish. Or English. Same thing.

She shook her head in reply, wracking her brain for the right words to reply. “Mein English is… small?”

Dennise and Bernie both laughed at her reply, and Emberlynn felt her cheeks grow red with a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

But Xander, at least, kept smiling. “We… Can… Teechoo.” He said, very slowly.

Emberlynn shrugged. She had no idea what he was saying. But at least he seemed friendly.

She followed Xander as he beckoned them over to an empty table. Dennise and Bernie hung back, watching. And so did Tristan.

The black-haired boy pointed at one of the objects on the table. “Plate.”

“Plate.” Emberlynn repeated, returning Xander’s smile as she reached out her own finger to point. “Teller.”

“Teller.” Xander’s pronunciation was horrible. Emberlynn couldn’t help but giggle at the sound.

“Teller.” She repeated, nodding. Emberlynn then turned her attention to one of the chairs beside her. “Stuhl.”

“Oh! Stool!” He sounded very excited this time, though Emberlynn couldn’t understand why.

Close enough, she thought with a smile.

“We kallituh chair.” Xander continued, pointing.

Emberlynn tried her best to imitate his pronunciation. “Chair.”

It didn’t take long before the others grew tired of Emberlynn and Xander’s language game. Even Tristan. He ran off after the other two kids back toward the dance floor, though Emberlynn had no clue how he expected to communicate with them.

Meh. He’ll figure it out. She told herself as she led Xander back to her family’s table, which was now deserted. Emberlynn secretly hoped her parents were off somewhere finally getting along with each other. But something told her that was not the case. Oh well. She chased the thought from her mind as she picked up her pencil and beckoned Xander closer.

They’d both started growing tired of naming objects around the room. So Emberlynn had come up with a different plan. Her pencil danced across the page for a few moments as her drawing began to take shape. When it was completed, she pointed down at her sketch proudly. “Das ist ein Raumschiff.”

“Ram-shiff.” Xander repeated horribly. “We kallituh spaceship.”

“Space…ship?”

He nodded, his smile widening as he examined her drawing more closely. “Ureeley good atchrawing!” Xander paused when he saw the confusion on her face, and tried again. “This is very good.” He said slowly.

This time, Emberlynn understood. “Thank you very much.” She replied in her best English as she lifted the pencil and began drawing once more.

This time, she did a fantasy scene, with a princess, a dragon, and a knight in shining armor. She’d never tried drawing a knight before, so it wasn’t her best. But she was proud of how awesome her dragon looked.

She and Xander leaned in close together to peer down at the new sketch. “Prinzessin is Princess.” Emberlynn beamed, proud of herself for already knowing the English word. “Und das ist ein Drache.” She said as her finger drifted across the page to the dragon. “Und ein Ritter.” She tapped the knight’s helmet this time.

“Drache… Dragon.” The boy explained. “And, uh…” He squinted down at the poorly-drawn knight.

“Ritter.” Emberlynn repeated.

“Ritter... a robot?” He said uncertainly.

She smiled down at her drawing. “Princess. Dragon. Robot.”

Xander nodded happily.

“Emberlynn? There you are.” The little girl nearly jumped at the sound of her father’s voice over her shoulder. “Say goodbye to your friend, honey. It’s time to go.”

If he’d asked her half an hour ago, she would have leapt on the chance to leave. But now… Emberlynn shook her head. “I wanna stay.” She whined.

“We can’t, honey. It’s getting late.” He sounded so tired and sad.

“Can’t we stay just a little longer?”

Phoenix shook his head.

“But…”

This time his voice was stern. “No more arguing. Your mother already went to look for Tristan. Let’s go.”

Emberlynn turned sadly toward Xander. “I go.” She said softly in English. “Sorry.”

“I’m sorry too.” He replied, his smile fading. “I had fun.”

“Me too.” With reluctance, Emberlynn finally rose to her feet and lifted her notebook from the table. “We are… Freunde?” She asked. Even if she never saw this boy again, it would be nice to know she’d made a new friend.

Xander nodded eagerly, a small smile coming to his lips. “We are.” He replied. It seemed he’d understood what she meant. “Friends.”

She gave him a small wave and returned his smile before finally turning to follow her father.

At least the wedding wasn’t TOTALLY lame. Emberlynn told herself. In fact, she’d ended up learning a lot, and having a lot of fun too.

She just wished she could have said the same for her parents. They’d both been acting so strangely all night. And on the way back to the hotel, her Mama and Papa were both so quiet and cold, even worse than before. It almost felt like something had changed… But what?

If she didn’t know any better, Emberlynn would almost say that her brother was right. Maybe they had seen a ghost at that wedding.

Because whatever it was haunted them for the rest of the night.