My Halloween as a Ghost

My Halloween as a Ghost 

By: Haripriya 

Author’s Note: This prompt is the most interesting one because you can write a story in 2 different ways. The first was way is the obvious one, where you write a story about a little kid dressing up as a ghost for Halloween. OR you could write about a dead person, and it is their first Halloween as a ghost. To me, I feel like the second option is a little bit more interesting and fits the theme of Halloween. So, my story is going to be about a ghost spending its first Halloween. I hope you enjoy reading this story!!  

I could hear the echoing sounds of laughter. Little kids screaming across the street. More kids running around and playing. Smelling the sweetness of the candies and chocolates. I remember the time when I was doing all these things. Hanging with my friends, collecting as much candy as possible. Trading these tasteless pretzels I used to get ALL the time, for some of Reese’s pieces. I loved that brand much! The amount of chocolate and peanut butter it has is just amazing! The right formula for any candy for that matter. But now they are just memories. They’re gone and are never going to come back. My life is going to press the restart or the repeat button.  

“Trick or Treat!!!”. I heard the little kids holler in front of doors. The adults would give some candy to them. I never thought I would miss any of it... until now. I saw everyone wearing costumes. Vampires, witches, princesses, more Disney characters, cat costumes, superheroes, marvel characters, and... me. Me, as in ghosts. Obviously ‘ghosts’ are one of the most popular Halloween costumes. I never bothered about people wearing ghost costumes when I was a living person, but now it hurts me so much. It makes me remember who I am. I hate that feeling. It also makes me feel guilty, and I know it’s not my fault that I am now a ghost... it's just the circle of life. 

People are born, and they die without even knowing it. I feel like my life ended a bit too early. I had never even completed a decade of my life. If you count this year, then I am 10. But that is what I should have been if I was a living thing. I am technically 1. It’s my first Halloween as being a dead person, as a ghost. Let me tell you that it is no party. No one should ever wish to be me. All I do every day and night is watch the days go by. Sometimes I visit my house, and of course, no one ever notices me, since I go through people. I look at my mother and my father. I look at my 2 younger siblings. They all seem so happy like they have moved on without me. To be fair though, the first 5 months since I was gone, I could see my mother’s tears from here. In a way, I am glad they’re living a happy life.  

It gets lonely when you have no other souls to talk to. It’s just me. Most of the times, I think about my human life, and my friends, family, everything. It all seems too good to be true, though I used to live a life like that, being happy all the time. Now, I regret everything, though it wasn’t in my hands. It was my time, and I had to leave Earth. 

I used to know how to play the piano, and I drew amazingly and even won a few competitions. I went to gymnastics, played tennis, and went to my karate class. I was even a black belt! Those were all my hobbies and talents. As a ghost, I just feel disappointed with myself. Feel helpless.  

If you are asking me what my number one hobby is as being a ghost, well it is sulking about myself. I feel useless most of the time, like no one in this world needs me. Before, I had a trophy in my room which said, ‘Most helpful and kind student’. I won that award out of the entire school. But I am the opposite now. Since it gets boring when you have no one to talk to, I just go into random people’s houses. Now that it’s Halloween, I go to see what candy they have in store. Obviously, I can’t eat it. I don’t have a body. But just smelling it is satisfying. I hear more and more kids rushing up to get candy. Since I can’t do anything, I just float out of the house, going into the next one. 

All of you might consider this as invading people’s private space, but I consider this as a time pass activity. I guess you can consider this as my hobby too. I spot that this house has a lot of those sour patch kids candies. Those weren’t really on my "favorite list". Yes, as a human, I did have a list of which candies I loved, to witch candies I hate. But most of them fell in the middle category which is “the tolerable candies”. The list changed every year because my taste buds also keep changing. 

As I had feared, many kids started crowding in front of this house too, so I gradually moved onto the next house.  

But this house was a special one. It was where I used to live as a human. I peeked through the window right next to the door. I could see my mom and dad, gathering more candies for the trick-or-treaters. I couldn't see my younger brothers because they were probably going to other houses to trick-or-treat. Every time I stared at my mom’s sweet face, it would instantly take me to the times where she had comforted me, hugged me, loved me. You all have no idea how many times I have hugged my mother as a ghost. Sadly, she can’t hug me back. In fact, she doesn’t even know I am wandering all over town on Halloween night.  

I guess that this was my Halloween experience as being a ghost. The best part of my first Halloween was seeing my parents. It made me feel a lot better. I will remember the next Halloween to take a quick visit to their house.  

~The End~