Recreation mansion

This year is going to be special. It’s my first time. I’m both excited and nervous, my stomach feels all fluttery. Unfortunately, that makes it harder for me to keep a nice, well defined form.

My new family I’ve met at the cemetery has given me this shift. Each year, they take turns at inhabiting this empty house on the hill, playing tricks with stupid kids who never learn. Yes, I’ve lived in this town before I died so I heard the rumors all right – they say the house is haunted. The entrance has been prohibited since too many accidents have been happening here, but for some reason, each Halloween a couple of kids with no self-preservation instinct insist on spending a night here.

Two years ago, it was a group of my older classmates. One of them can’t walk to this day because he fell through the stairs when running Stace’s prank. Stace has gotten extraordinarily good over the years. Practice really does make perfect. He dressed up as a nun and followed the group everywhere, randomly showing himself. It must’ve been hilarious, too bad I was still alive at that time.

Okay, yes, it’s not nice laughing at people who have been terribly hurt, but then again – one of the guys who survived that year ran me over with his car, immediately killing me. It should’ve been him, but we cannot change the past, so let’s not dwell on it.

Maybe I haven’t been dead long enough, but I don’t want my pranks to hurt anyone. Scare them? Absolutely. But no deaths please.

I wonder if I will be able to show myself. It’s quite a skill and while it is easier on Halloween since our world and your world get closer, I haven’t been practicing too much – I haven’t had the time, I’ve been trying to improve my object grabbing. I’m pretty sure moving objects is a lot scarier than just being seen. I hope I have not been mistaken, otherwise my plan will not work, and I’ll be a laughingstock.

As the sun sets behind the windows, I feel myself getting stronger, realer, my body feels heavier and sticks better to the ground.

After some time of waiting I get even more nervous – what if the town has abolished the tradition for good? What if this year no one is stupid enough to enter? But I brush off the thoughts quickly as I see a group of kids entering the property. Some climb over the fence, which seems stupid since it’s pretty sharp, the smarter ones make a hole in the fencing.

Just the sight of them makes me excited. I feel bummed when I realize that I knew these kids when I was alive, they were only a couple of years younger. For a split second I almost felt sorry for them. Then I remembered I was not going to hurt anyone, only give them a good scare.

There’s five of them. I barely remember one name – I think the blond girl is Leela. Seems like she found a boy.

“I don’t like this.” Leela said, standing in front of the porch. My hearing has gotten noticeably better since death.

“Don’t be a scaredy-cat. It’s for fun.” A boy replied, probably the one she was holding hands with earlier.

“Yeah, Leela, get ahold of yourself. A myth can’t scare you, right?” A third voice joined the conversation.

“But what about Billy–“ Ah, yes, Billy, the guy who can’t walk after his visit here.

“He made it up. He didn’t want to look stupid in front of others. Bet he banged his head real hard too.”

The front door opened and the five of them entered. Let the show begin, I thought to myself and jumped through the sport jacket guy who seemed to be the leader. He visibly shivered. I laughed, which I don’t think they heard, and slowly closed the door behind them. Intense CREEEAAAK filled the entrance room.

“Oh my god, what was that,” said a redhead, scared looking girl.

“It’s just the wind,” answered the sport jacket guy.

“Justin?” Leela turned to her boyfriend. “I really don’t like it here.”

“Shhh, babe, it’s only for tonight. We’re gonna have fun exploring, I promise.” Oh, Justin, we’re gonna have SO MUCH fun.

The sport jacked guy advances first, finding his way into the living room. Or at least what’s left of the living room. There’s still a couple of stinking sofas left, and you’d think there’d be at least some homeless guy spending the night, but that rarely happens. Maybe because our ghost family had some incidents with them.

“Hey guys, check this out!” They entered the room to find him relaxing on one of the couches. “Cool, right?”

“Jeez, it’s probably full of rat shit,” the redhead girl looked at him judgingly.

“So, what, baby? Come here.” He sat upright, patting the space next to his butt. A cloud of dust glistened in the light of their torchlights.

“Disgusting.” The redhead girl turned to view the walls.

“Come on, Kelly, don’t be such a pussy.”

I started hating the way the guys were pushing the girls to stay here. They were in for a surprise that would hopefully make them less of assholes.

But first things first – I jumped through Kelly, the redhead girl, focusing on affecting her mind for a while. Again, that was not one of my strongest skills, but I think I managed to make her see blood flowing out of the walls at least for a second. She yelled.

Now, just to be clear – I promise I never wanted to hurt anyone and everything that happened next was purely accidental.

Apparently, Kelly was scared of blood. She screamed and tumbled backwards; her left leg got stuck in the wooden floor. She yelled again, this time the scream was tainted with pain, and fell. It almost looked she was going to be okay – that she’ll leave the house with a scratched leg and a bruise on her bum. Of course, we weren’t in such luck. She yanked her head against the armrest. An unsettling cracking sound filled me with dread. I haven’t killed her, have I?

“Kelly?” Leela dived to Kelly’s limp body, holding Kelly’s head in her hands. By the way, that is one of the stupidest things you can do to a person with a head trauma. “Kelly, no,” her voice broke down.

“Is she okay?” Justin asked.

“We need to call an ambulance.” Leela’s shaking hand took her phone out of the pocket of her coat.

I really wanted to help, believe me. Unfortunately, ghost plasma body and the energy I’ve covered the house with interacts with signals from the outside, effectively cancelling any reception.

“I’ve got no reception.” Leela said. Everyone else took out their phones to check, and none of them worked.

I could feel Kelly’s ghost leaving the body. Hopefully her plasma body will not form for a couple of days as I’m not ready to have that conversation.

“We need to get help,” Justin decided. “Me and Leela will go. Dusty, Jack, you stay with Kelly.”

It was not a bad plan, however, I thought that the night would go more smoothly and blocked the exit. In fact, I blocked all of the exits, either physically or by casting an illusion. No one was getting out before the first rays of sun.

“Come.” Justin held Leela’s hand, helping her get up. The girl looked traumatized, staring at him blankly, her skin pale, her lips trembling.

“Will she be okay?” Leela asked as if she already knew the answer.

“We need to get help quickly.” Justin dragged Leela to the front door.

A little trick was awaiting them. Not so little, actually, and I needed help setting it up. It’s not easy to link the exit to the doors upstairs. I followed the pair, curious of what will happen.

Justin opened the door. The hall upstairs stared right back at him. “Hey, what is it? Wasn’t the front door here?”

Leela frowned. “Maybe it was through this hall?”

They entered, porting themselves to the second floor. Wood floor creaked. I ported myself to see what happens next. Unfortunately, what happened next was not what I was expecting. I feel the need to defend myself here – I am by no means an architect and there was no way I could’ve counted the maximal weight the floor would hold. So it’s not completely my fault that the two of them fell through with a loud shriek, disappearing back to the first floor. I looked through the hole. The situation did not look too good. Now, I’m not a doctor, but the horrendous amount of blood and the absence of sounds made me believe that I killed the pair. Or rather the house killed the pair. All of us would agree that this was not my fault.

I jump through the hole to take a closer look. They’re covered in debris, making it hard to see them – especially since the fall also destroyed their torches.

“What was that?” I heard Dusty or Jack from the other room.

“Stay here, I’ll check.” A timid guy appeared in the hall. He inspected the debris and started screaming.

“What is it?” The other guy in the sport jacket ran into the entrance room.

The stability of this house must’ve been in a terrible state. A piece fell from the ceiling, hitting the timid guy on the head. His limp body lay on the floor.

“Oh my god, Jack!” The only conclusion I could come to was that the guy in the sport jacket was Dusty. He looked at the bodies of his friends and sobbed. Seems like someone lost his cool. I felt bad for him, I really did. Plus it was awkward, watching him sob for hours.

When the sun came out, Dusty got up and out of the front door. He himself looked like a ghost, dirty, his face blank, his eyes red from the crying.

My ghost family appeared. “Four out of five?” They checked the bodies. “You really went with the spirit this year!”