Hello. My name is Noah Romano. I'm a 16 year old junior year student at Boddicker High and just earlier today, a ghostly hand emerged from the vending machine and tried to steal my Fritos.

This is the story. And every word of it's true.

I thought about posting this on various other websites, but I couldn't really think of any that fit better than Scribblehub.

• Reddit: There's no real subreddit for this sort of thing, or a good way to update a post frequently.
• Tumblr: No one goes on there anymore, except for the weird girls with blue hair who are obsessed with wolves or dragons or anime or British TV shows no one watches. Also, making an account and a blog and stuff seems difficult.
• Facebook: My parents never let me make a Facebook.
• Snapchat, Instagram, etc: I never got into these sites. Also they're apparently apps, not sites, and I don't think you can post stories on them. I don't really use my phone that much anyways.

Well, less "fit best" than "fit at all." It's probably going to get lost in the wave of isekai and boy's love and fantasy stories that get posted here, but whatever. I just really want to get this story out, and I don't particularly care if two or two thousand people read it. The truth needs to be known.

I'm going to begin this with a boring explainy part, if only because I think every story should have a boring explainy part at the beginning.

One time in middle school, this girl read aloud her first draft of a book she was writing at sci-fi/fantasy club, and it just leapt straight into the plot, which was about wolves or dragons or something. I actually stopped her and asked where the boring explainy part at the beginning was, because every book I read up to that point had a boring explainy part at the beginning. But the rest of the club laughed me off.

The way I see it, the boring explainy part at the beginning is crucial to providing context for the rest of the story, even if it can drag and be a slog to get through. It's important, so that's why every book has a boring explainy part at the beginning, and why every book should have a boring explainy part at the beginning. It's not like a TV show or movie, where they can just throw in explosions or dinosaurs or boobs in the background while they get the boring explainy stuff out of the way.

And yes, I know the term for "boring explainy part at the beginning" is "exposition" or whatever. But ironically, calling it exposition makes it seem even more boring and explainy.

If you're not interested in reading the boring explainy part and just want to get straight to my description of what I'm going to refer to as "the Vending Machine Incident" going forward, you can just scroll down this page until you see big red text that says "boring explainy part over" in all caps. But don't complain when you miss things later on.

Well, here it is:

Most people don't believe in ghosts, but I do. 100%.

I think it started when my abuelita (grandmother) told me about the time she saw my abuelito (grandfather) smoking a cigar on her porch after he passed away. I think I was six or seven at the time.

My mom said abuelita didn't know what she was talking about, it was just because the old lady had Alzheimer's or dementia or whatever. But abuelita swore on God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and all the rest that it was his ghost. And trust me, when she swears on God, she means it. One time she smacked mom so hard her nose bled just because she took the Lord's name in vain.

So, one night mom dropped me off to stay at abuelita's. Can't remember why, but that's not important. Abuelita fell asleep watching TV, so I was left to my own devices. Little did mom know when she dropped me off that I had took her camera with me. I camped out on the porch all night, ready to snap a picture at the first sign of abuelito. And guess what.

He didn't show up.

But, I did take a picture of his rocking chair out of boredom. And when I saw what was on it, I freaked out.

Surrounding abuelito's old chair were these little white circles. My aunt had told me about them before, so I recognized them immediately. They were orbs, and apparently that's how ghosts showed up when you took a picture of one.

My mom and aunt were both over in the morning. While abuelita and my aunt were all over it, mom once again was suspicious. She said it was just dust on the camera - which she was really mad at me for taking, by the way - and told me flat out that ghosts weren't real. But I was already a believer.

Ever since, I've consumed almost every piece of media out there about the supernatural. TV shows, movies, books, comics, video games, you name it - if it's got ghosts, I've seen it. It's honestly hard to find new stuff to watch or read. Here's hoping they keep making those Conjuring movies.

My dream is to make my own ghost hunting show, but not at all like that Ghost Adventures one with that hack Zak Bagans in it. That's just obviously faked, they have like people throw bricks in the background and stuff, you can see it. No, I want to make a real one, where I go to real haunted places and show off true paranormal events. And given the Vending Machine Incident, maybe there'd be an episode where I revisit my old high school.

BORING EXPLAINY PART OVER

Alright, well, on with the story.

Today we had a late arrival due to a flood warning thing. Everyone was supposed to show up to school at 11, but I accidentally fell back asleep after initially waking up and learning about the late arrival. After getting my stuff together I pretty much bolted to school, which was hard because the streets were still flooded pretty bad. Yeah, I can't drive yet and my house is close enough to the school that they don't send buses over. So, I have to walk. Luckily, I think I was only about ten minutes late or so.

I walked in to school through the cafeteria, as most kids do. The place was completely empty. Since I had some money in my pocket, I never got to eat breakfast, and I was already late, I figured... hey, why not get something from one of the vending machines?

Now, I think there was a bill or something in our state that got vending machines removed from high schools. But for whatever reason, Boddicker High still has five - two on either side of the cafeteria near the entrances, and one in the athletic wing. While the athletic wing vending machine only has like that flavored sports water stuff, the ones in the cafeteria have all kinds of snacks and drinks (no soda, though).

Even though I had run to school in the rain, I was still pretty tired. So, I decided on getting a canned coffee. It cost two bucks, and it was pretty good. I then decided to put in another dollar fifty for some Fritos - and that's when it happened.

I put in the money, pushed in the code, and waited as the corkscrew thing that held the chips spun around. Of course, like half the time you use a vending machine the snack got stuck in between the rows of bags and the glass panel. I shook around the machine and thankfully the Fritos came loose.

Crouching down, I opened up the little flap to get the chips, but just as I grabbed them, a PALE WHITE HAND APPEARED FROM OUT OF NOWHERE. It chased after my own hand and snatched a corner of Fritos bag, but I still had a hold on it too. We played tug of war for a little, and I ended up winning. Just as quickly as it had appeared, it retreated, sliding back under the flap.

No, I'm not lying. This is not a joke. This really happened, and while I don't think I have any way to prove it... I'm going to try and see if I can see the ghost hand again, tomorrow.

Well, I can't think of anything else to type. Really, I can't think of anything other than that hand. It was so freaky, but just so. I don't know. I'm glad I saw it, in a way. If I didn't believe in ghosts before, than I certainly would after that.

This is Noah Romano, signing out.