Does the vengeful wraith of a girl who killed herself because she failed to win the homecoming queen nomination haunt the girls locker room? Many former cheerleaders believe so. Many cheerleaders claim to have been pushed down by an unseen force, others report getting scratched, still others report coming in to find their personal items scattered about. Often the items are found torn and ripped.

The spirit has even attempted to murder some. Now the story I'm going to tell is a little out there. But I swear it's true. Now before I begin I should say that encounters with the spirit that generations of cheerleaders have dubbed “Lizzy” are rare, like once in a blue moon rare. But then such an encounter happens. A fresh wave of fear washes over the cheerleaders. And once more we were reminded that we are never truly alone.

I was a freshman when I encountered “Lizzy” in High School, so this was around five years ago. It was late September and I had stayed later than normally to help decorate the gym. Homecoming was tomorrow and it was all hands on deck to get everything squared away. We started decorating the gym around three o' clock that afternoon when the final bell rang. When seven o' clock rolled around we had barely managed to finish with everything. I was covered from head to toe in glitter, glue and dust. I had also worked up a sweat. What can I say, having to climb up and down a ladder for four hours really wears a person down.

Anyway it was late, and I was hot and sticky and I just could not wait to get home to climb into the bathtub. So I decided to take a quick shower at school using the showers in the locker room. The air inside the locker room was hot and humid, sticky almost. The locker room is always wet, and always smells like dozens of different body washes and perfumes. Mix that in with the overpowering smell of bleach and your head would quickly be swinging in fourteen different directions.

Now the moment I entered the room, I felt something was off. I felt like somebody was watching me, peering out at me from the shadows. Looking back the warning signs were there. I just chose to ignore them. The first thing I did was to turn the water on in one of the shower cubicles. Soon the sound of running water filled the air. Now it takes a good moment for the water to warm up, not too warm because it can really burn you, like I've seen girls turn the shower knob all the way to the right and the water has become scalding hot. I normally keep the shower knob in the middle, that way it's not too hot and not too cold.

Anyway, while shower was getting ready, I started to undress. I stripped off my skirt and blouse and hung them up in one of the lockers. I then walked to one of the sinks and started to brush my teeth. This is when the first warning happened. While I was digging my toothbrush out of the travel kit, I always kept a travel kit with me. The door of the locker room flew open and a loud bang filled the air as three locker doors shot open.

That really startled me. But then I thought somebody was playing a mean joke on me or just you know messing around with me. I decided to finish brushing my teeth. I finished brushing my teeth and then I remember feeling something sharp, very sharp, like claw-like sharp getting dragged across my back. I yelled and spun around to look at my back in the mirror to my horror, three long scratches appeared down my back, and it burned, it burned like hell. I mean my head started to spin from the pain and I felt myself becoming physically sick.

“Stop it!” I yelled in a loud tone of voice. “Stop this in the name of Jesus!” I shouted as I sank down on a nearby bench. The room started to feel tense and those tiny hairs on the back of my arms started to stand straight up, I could feel a prickling on my back as those tiny hairs stood straight up.
Then I heard it, giggling, somebody was giggling at me. That made me mad, really mad. Somebody or something was making a total fool out of me. Slowly I stood up and looked around me. The giggling it seemed had stopped and I was alone now.

“I command whatever is here to leave me alone in the name of Jesus!” I shouted at the top of my lungs. I had seen enough ghost shows, I knew that if you shouted that name that was supposed to stop the haunting and keep the ghost away. But, my voice quivered and I felt instead of driving whatever it was always I was just starting to taunt it. And it hatted being taunted.

The air became tense, I should have left then and there, instead I jumped into the shower. The spray of warm water felt amazing and it melted all my troubles away. I love getting a shower, it's like all the cares and troubles of the day are washed away down the drain with all the dirt and grim. I started to shampoo my hair and whistle a little tune. Then something happened, the water became hot, hotter than I ever expected. It became scalding hot, I remember each drop of water felt like a very hot needle poking me.

I remember feeling like my whole body was just starting to boil, A ear piercing scream escaped my lungs. I tried to shut the water off, but the knob was stuck. I started to panic then and before I could catch myself I started to stumble out of the shower and into the coolness of the room. I remember every inch of my skin was red and I could not even bring myself to touch myself. I just wanted to lie down in a bed of crushed ice and mellow.

Taking small steps, I started to move toward my bag, then to my horror I found my clothing scattered about. My change of clothing, I always keep a change of clothing with me, nothing more than an oversize t-shirt and pair of sweatpants. You know in case something comes up and I need to change quickly, fast and in a hurry.

But all those clothes were scattered about, I mean my pleated school skirt, my panties, my bra, my blouse, my backpack was turned over and my notebooks had been torn to shreds, it was like some big cat had decided to sharpen its claws on them. In short everything I had was a mess. And then the lights started to flicker, they flickered on and off, on and off and then the locker doors started to open all of them opened and then all of them slammed shot, it sounded like a gun going off.

Then it appeared.

At first it was nothing but a red haze. Then the haze took on a human form, and then in the blink of an eye there it was, standing in front of me, the image of a girl maybe a year or two older than me. She wore an old fashion prom dress, you know the ones that might have been popular back in the nineties. Her hair was done up in a bun and her face was smeared with running make-up.

“WHY DON'T YOU JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!” The phantom screamed at me. “WHY DON'T YOU ALL JUST LEAVE ME ALONE! YOU'VE ALREADY RUINED MY LIFE, YOU STOLE MY BOYFRIEND AND YOU MURDERED MY PET!” She bellowed at the top of her lungs as she pointed her fingers at me. I could hear her voice, it filled my head, it filled the room. It was like somebody had held a bullhorn up to my ears and shouted that message at me.

I sat there stunned into silence, my skin was still on fire, my mind was starting to twirl around and then a wicked smile formed on her face. I then saw them, phantom flames started to dance around her, orange, yellow and red.

“YOU STOLE MY CROWN, YOU'VE RUINED MY LIFE, AND YOU'VE DAMNED ME TO HELL. I'M GOING TO DRAG YOU DOWN WITH ME.” The phantom yelled once more, and once more the voice seemed to fill every inch of my brain. I could feel my blood starting to turn cold and a sweat started to break out on my forehead and on my back. The lights started to flicker more and more and in the very back of the room, a few of the light bulbs popped, sending down shards of glass and a shower of electric sparkles.

And then the phantom vanished. I was stunned, despite the pain from the burns I managed to collect my things and get dressed. I had to get out of there. I mean I rushed out of there, only pausing long enough to snatch my purse that held my wallet, ID and phone. And a spare set of car keys. I left my textbooks, notebooks, backpack, pleated skirt, socks, shoes and such on the floor. I was not going back there, whatever that was could keep them.

I never told anyone about that night till now. And no, I did not go digging through the school archives. As far as I'm concerned the past should remain in the past. Besides, sometimes you can dig too deep and discover something that should have remained hidden. I felt digging for information would only draw attention to myself and draw the spirits eye toward me. So I put that event far from my mind. I started attending Mass more often and asked Father to bless me. It's been five years now, and I still can't get that image of that girl standing in the middle of that room, surrounded by flames out of my head. I guess I never will.