*************************************************************

The Castle

“Honey, what are we going to do in this castle? It looks old and abandoned.” Sarah looked at her fiancé, who was driving up the lane towards the building.
“We’re going to sleep there. It’s a bed and breakfast. Only a couple of rooms and I got us one! It’s perfect for our romantic getaway, don’t you think?” Frank looked at her but doesn’t see the smile he hoped to see, “You hate it. I can see it in your face.”

“No! I don’t hate it, it just looks creepy, like a horror movie. Those black clouds aren’t helping either. I’m just a little tired, honey. It’ll pass when we get to our room.”
Frank wasn’t completely satisfied but he just hoped for the best. He parked the car and they got out to grab their bags. The second they closed the boot, it started to rain, heavily. Both Sarah and Frank ran towards the front door. It took some time on the other side to open the door, but then it opened with a lot of creaks and moans.

Opening the door was a lovely old lady, who introduced herself as Mrs Hannigan, immediately arranged some towels and a cup of tea. It took Sarah and Frank two hours to finally reach their room and shake off the lady.
“Although it was very friendly to welcome us so much, I’m happy to be alone again. That woman became much too clingy for my taste.” Frank said as he started to unpack their bags.
“Agreed. I liked it at first, but she pushed it too far. We didn’t agree to anything other than dinner, right?” Sarah grabbed her brush and started to comb out her still damp hair.

“No, only dinner. It is supposed to be a fancy, kind of historical dinner. I’m happy I brought a suit, but do you have anything fitting to wear?” Sarah only looked at her fiancé, trying not to laugh.
“Alright, sorry I asked. Knowing you, you prepared for everything, from a weekend getaway to a surprise invitation to an African wedding. That explains those enormous suitcases of yours.” Frank pulled it on the bed and couldn’t hold in a groan. “Did you bring the whole washing machine in this thing or what?”
“That’s your punishment for not telling me where we were going. I can’t properly prepare for the unknown so I brought a little bit of everything.” How didn’t he understand that?

The couple got dressed for dinner and went downstairs again. It would be another half an hour before cocktails were being served, but that gave them a chance to look around the castle. Outside the rain had digressed into a storm, and Sarah was very happy to be inside by a cosy fire.

Sarah was looking at an enormous painting of the old Lord Manor of the house when lightning struck outside. In the second the castle was lit by the lightning the painting seemed to blink. Sarah kept staring, in total disbelief that actually happened. The thunder that followed made her jump and she was sure she heard laughing coming from the painting.

“Frank, I’m pretty sure the painting just blinked.” Sarah had her hand on her chest, in a useless attempt to slow her heart back down.
“Don’t be silly, love. Paintings don’t blink. You just got scared by the lightning. I know it’s an old castle but it doesn’t automatically mean it’s haunted. No ghosts here love. Now let’s get a drink.”

When they turned around, Mrs Hannigan was standing right behind them with cocktails on a platter, which scared the couple again.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I’ve got the drinks right here, the other guests will probably join you soon.” She put the drinks on the table and was off again.
Shortly after they were joined by the Smith couple, the Browns, and the lesbian couple Jane and Lauren. Everyone got acquainted with each other and the next hour flew by.

Mrs Hannigan called that dinner was ready, and all of the guests were amazed seeing the dinner table. It was like a movie. A gigantic table with large centrepieces, above hung three giant chandeliers and everywhere were candela’s giving the room an enchanting glow. Already out on the table were salads, fresh fruit, boards with slices of cured meat, and bread baskets. Everyone had an assigned seat, mixing men and women. Sarah was desperately trying to remember that one lesson on etiquette when she saw all the silverware.

The hors d’oeuvre and consommé were lovely, paired with exceptional wines, but during the fish course, the thunder and lightning became more intense. Just after they had finished the salmon with mousseline a lightning bolt struck the castle and for a second everything lit up. A window broke and all the candles were blown out, plunging the room into darkness. Three of the women shrieked of fright and Mrs Hannigan came running.

Swiftly she boarded the broken window and lit all the candles back. Everyone was a little on edge but dinner wasn’t over for a while. They still had entrées, removes and sorbet to go before even reaching the roast course. After that, three more courses followed before reaching dessert, and by now, everyone was stuffed. It had been delicious, either Mrs Hannigan was an exceptionally good cook, or there was a hidden chef in the kitchen.

The party was escorted to the drawing room and after dinner drinks were served. It took only minutes before the women kicked off their heels and the men lit up a cigar. Yawns were hidden behind hands, but a sudden lightning strike woke everyone right up again. A second later a bird flew against a window, making an awful cracking sound.

One of the guests opened the garden door to check on the bird, which again blew out the candles. A howl sounded in the distance and Mr Smith, who wanted to check the bird, quickly stepped in again. The door slammed shut behind him, it was a miracle the glass hadn’t broken. The party started searching for matchsticks or lighters, who seemingly had all disappeared. Even Mrs Hannigan had vanished into thin air.

A mist of dread settled on the dinner guests and Sarah turned to her fiancé.
“Frank, I’m scared. Can’t we just return to our room and go to bed?” The trees made strange patterns on the walls with every lightning strike. She was on the brink of tears.
“I would love to, honey. But without some form of light, I don’t think we’ll be able to find the room. The last thing I want to do now is to get lost in the dismal hallways of this castle.” Frank tried to hold a straight face, even though he was deeply concerned by the turn of events. He tried to think about the situation rationally but he felt fuzzy from all the food and alcohol he had consumed. Could that have been the intention of all this? No, that only happened in movies.

The last of the fire died down, turning the room almost pitch black. It somehow turned the room more silent. Outside the wind was still howling and the rain blowing against the windows, it had turned into a proper storm. Frank addressed the other couples and pitched a plan to stick together until they found something to light the candles with. Nobody had any complaints, everyone had a panicked look on their faces.

“Most logical place to find any matches or lighters is probably the kitchen. If they kept the castle roughly as it was, the kitchen has to be close to the dining room. Let’s start from there.” Frank grabbed Sarah’s hand and opened the door to the dining room.

All the party members were astounded. The whole table they had had their dinner at was gone. It was a blank space without any furniture, knick-knacks or even wallpaper. No way did Mrs Hannigan do all that by herself, that table required at least six people to carry.

“We’re in some sort of TV-show, this can’t be real.” Jane was looking around, trying to find hidden cameras, but couldn’t find any. Nobody wanted to believe this was actually happening so they chimed in with Jane and started looking for cameras. Sarah wanted to help but was held back by Frank.
“We’re only going to live through this if we don’t give into angst and hysteria. Think and be rational. Someone is toying with us, but it isn’t some TV producer. Let’s keep going to the kitchen.” Sarah nodded to him and held his hand. She was happy someone did the heavy thinking for her.

Frank pulled the group together again and opened the door Mrs Hannigan had used during dinner. They ended up in what seemed a hallway for servants.
“This must be the route to the kitchen. It fits with other castles and their layout.” Frank held his head high and his back straight. Even though he didn’t feel it, he needed to be the backbone of the group, the strong rational leader. At the end of the hallway was a door that indeed led to the kitchen. It held another surprise, this kitchen hadn’t been used for decades by the looks of it.

Layers of dust covered everything. The stainless steel counters in the middle of the room, the old pans hanging from a rail, the stove and every other bit of equipment or furniture in the room. Sarah gripped her fiancé’s hand tighter and tighter. Even Frank didn’t know how to spin this in a positive direction. Something was happening and it wasn’t good.

To distract his mind, Frank started pulling drawers open to look for anything fire-related. It was to no avail, no matches, no lighters and it seemed that the stove had been disconnected a while ago. Frank furiously threw the contents of a drawer through the kitchen, making everyone jump of shock. It was followed by a lightning strike outside, making the whole party jump again.

While they all tried to get their bearings again, Mrs Smith gave an agonising scream. Mrs Brown was slumped over a stool in the kitchen, a knife sticking out of her back. Frank rushed over and checked for a heartbeat. Dead as a doornail, he thought.  Mr Brown screamed and came over and held his wife in his arms, hopelessness visible in his eyes. The hopelessness turned to anger and the anger turned to fury. Mr Brown got up and pulled a gun.
“Who murdered my wife! WHO?” He pointed the gun to each member of the party, probably hoping someone would step forward and confess.

Frank tried to diffuse the situation as best as he could. He never considered someone carrying a gun.
“Please sir, try to relax. I understand you are angry about your wife being murdered, but I’m guessing it isn’t the first time this has happened in this house. No one here has a motive for killing your wife, before tonight, none of us knew each other. Please, put the gun away so we can try to get out of this wretched place.” With his hands open he slowly stepped towards Mr Brown. Who, in return, slowly dropped the hand holding the gun. He knew Frank was telling him the truth, but he didn’t want to believe it just yet.

“Save those bullets for the one who actually killed your wife.” Frank concluded, now with a hand on the gun, pushing it towards the floor, “I’m very sorry for your loss. Let’s find the person responsible for this.” The men hugged for a second and Mr Brown nodded and put the gun away again. A sigh went through the group now that the immediate danger was gone.

“Let’s find our way back to the drawing room, and see if we can find the front door so we can leave this haunted mansion.” Frank again grabbed Sarah’s hand and walked to the door.
“Leave? But our stuff…” Lauren said with a quivering voice.
“It’s your stuff or your life. I have no doubt that the longer we stay here, the more people are going to die. Your choice, but those things I can replace, my life, I can’t.”

Frank pulled the door open and started the walk down the hallway. The rest of the group quickly followed. Before the whole party had reached the end of the hallway, another agonising scream was heard. Everyone turned around to see Jane wailing at the strung up body of Lauren. She was hanged. There was a trap door in the ceiling from where the noose probably was lowered. The poor girl never saw it coming.

“You go on. I’m not leaving her.” Jane said voice laced with tears.
“Then you’ll die too, Jane. I know it’s hard but come with us.” Frank tried.
“No, I’m not going to leave her here. I’ll probably die anyway.” Jane was persistent.
“Nonsense. You’re coming.” Mr Smith grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the dead body of her wife. She tried to struggle but the grief made her weak and she had no choice but to follow the man.

They were again in the dining room, and it was still empty. The whole group was waddled together, looking around at the empty room. All of a sudden there was the sound of chains rattling in the far end of the room. The group crept forward but before they had reached the corner where the sound had come from, two women screamed. Frank turned around to see Mr Smith falling forward, eyes wide in terror. An arrow protruded from his forehead. Both women let go of his hands they were holding and rushed over to Frank. Another one of them had bit the dust.

“Alright people, let’s stay close together. Maybe that will make it harder to kill us.” Frank was mad but tried to stay calm for the rest of them. Frank took a deep breath and opened the door to the drawing room. As he suspected, that room was now empty as well. There was something diabolical at play here. The whole bed and breakfast thing was just a façade to lure people into the castle.

He was still holding Sarah’s hand so he pulled her with him. The first thing he did was check the garden doors but they were locked. Not that he had suspected them to be open, but you never knew. On the other end of the room he checked the windows, but no luck. Then Frank remembered something. He ran back to the door they just entered, Sarah hot on his trail. No way was she letting go of his hand. Frank opened the door and looked back into the dining room and sighed.
“What is it, honey?” Sarah asked him.
“I hoped that the window that broke was still boarded up. That way we could break it open again and escape through it. But it looks like it never broke in the first place.”
When Frank turned back around again, he saw a dart fly through the room and hit Mrs Smith in the neck. He flinched when he saw the life leave her eyes and sank to the ground.

Frank pulled Sarah along and passed the body of Mrs Smith. The party had been halved and it was only a matter of time before the next one would be dead. He led the group into a smaller room, used as a reception area by the looks of it.
“This room has no windows. If I’m correct, we’re close to the front door and this was used to receive guests.” Frank spoke.  Jane reacted first.
“Well, let’s keep going then. The sooner we reach that door, the sooner we’ll be out of this hellhole.” She grabbed the doorknob and froze. The doorknob was set electrified and it was enough to kill Jane instantly. In her fall she managed to open the door, and a crazed laughter was rolling through the building.

Frank waited a couple of seconds before going over to her body. Jane’s arm was covered in branching redness from the electrical impact. He touched her lightly with his foot to see if there was still any chance of an electric shock but nothing happened. Frank shimmied the door open and went through it with Sarah. Mr Brown followed, gun held in front of him. They had finally reached the hallway and on the far side was the front door. Mr Brown scouted the room, steadying himself against the wall.

Slowly they crossed the room, coming from behind the great staircase. Like a real policeman, Mr Brown quickly turned to the staircase to look if someone was there. There probably really was someone there because Mr Brown was off to meet his maker. A dulled thud sounded and a bullet hit him square between the eyes. It took a second for the damage to be done, but then he fell forward onto the stairs.

Sarah screamed and Frank pulled her along, running to the front door. He tried to open it but was gobsmacked with frustration. The door was locked, or more likely, bolted shut.
“We are going to die, aren’t we?” Sarah asked him.
“I’m so sorry, but yes, I think we are.” He had dreaded this moment.
“I love you, Frank.”
“I love you too, Sarah.”

*************************************************************

Wolves of Sorrow

Ciara had always attracted people with problems. Waiting for a bus, people told her their life stories. Asking for help in the grocery store made people share their darkest feelings, Ciara felt she had a certain presence around them. She had decided at a young age to become a nurse, but puberty ruined it all. Ciara became a wild child during those years, doing everything her parents had forbidden. Then one day, she fell out of a tree and broke her back upon landing on the ground. Ciara was paralysed from the neck down, and went into a coma the minute she entered the hospital.

A year passed but Ciara didn’t wake up. She was on life support, machines doing the work her body couldn’t anymore. The doctors began discussing with her parents about ending the life support. The night her parents took that final decision, Ciara was visited in the hospital. A small group of people sat around her bed. Two of them grabbed a hand and entered her coma.

“Ciara, my dear. Don’t be afraid of us, we would like to talk to you.” one of them spoke softly.
The girl responded. “Who are you, what are you doing here?”
“We want to offer you something. Are you aware that you are in a coma and shall not live a normal life anymore?” he answered.
“Yes,” Ciara withheld her tears, “I am aware of that. And also that my parents want to end the life support.” A single tear rolled down her cheek.

“We want to offer you a second chance,” the man smiled, “You may have noticed people talk to you about their problems like you extrude a scent to them?”
Ciara nodded at the man. “That’s why I wanted to become a nurse. It was my dream.”
“All of us, we all have that same talent. People trust us, we can help them with their problems. We talk with drug addicts, about to take an overdose. Or someone about to take his own life, someone eating their problems away, that kind of people. Do you understand?”
“Yes. I would love to help those people. Could I still do that in this state?” Ciara asked.
“Not in this state. You would still have to die. But then you can return with us to help those people. We are the ghosts that do that. And we want to ask you to join us.”

Ciara had to think about that for a second. It would mean she had to die and couldn’t visit her family anymore. But if her parents were going to pull the plug on her, she couldn’t do that either. This way she could still do something she had dreamed about.
“I would gladly join you.”
The man extended his hand. “Thank you. You won’t regret it. We will come for you when you have died.”

That next day all of her friends and family came to the hospital to say goodbye to her. Even though she couldn’t let them know, Ciara could see and hear everything. She said goodbye to them all in her own way, and was happy and sad all together. Maybe she would encounter them later in their lives, but for now, she hoped they would get over their grief and return to having a normal life.

Never had Ciara been happier she had a brother than now. It would mean her parents had something to return to, and not be left in an empty house filled with grief. The three of them together switched off the last machine keeping Ciara alive. They hold her hands when she took her last breath and died.

Her family stayed for a little while longer, but then her body was brought to the morgue. There she was picked up by the whole group. Everyone introduced themselves before continuing. Ciara was coupled with Soren, following him around until after her funeral, when she would get her body back. Soren would show her what they did, teaching her their ways before being initiated into the group.

She learned a lot from him. She saw beauty in his darkness and developed feelings for him. Seeing him talking to people in need, helping them without them knowing. He was gentle and kind, knew when to push further or touch somebody. Soren developed feelings as well, saw darkness in her beauty, exactly what she needed in this trade.

She learned quickly, and had a real talent for this job. The day before her funeral she was allowed to talk to a human who was thinking about killing himself. Soren was proud of her, she had convinced the man to see the beauty of life again.

That night she had her body back, without paralysis, and she could do everything again. It was a full moon and a good night for her initiation. The group was out in the woods, surrounding a small fire and all dressed in robes. Before the ceremony would begin, Soren pulled her away from the group.
“Ciara, I am very proud of you. You have done well these last few days. I have given my report about you, and our partnership had been extended, if you are ok with that.” He averted his eyes, afraid of the answer. She pulled his face back to hers.

“I would love to become your partner, but I feel I have to tell you something before we become partners.” Ciara saw a little bit of fear in his eyes. “These last few days I have developed feelings for you and I don’t want that to get in the way. I am in love with you, Soren. I don’t want to cause problems with the group, and if you don’t feel the same, it may be better to partner me with someone else.” Now she averted her eyes.
Soren smiled and pulled her head back up.

“I was hoping you would say that. It was the very reason I requested our partnership to continue. I have developed the same feelings and hate to lose you to someone else. Our leader has encouraged us to pursue this, as this job tends to get lonely after a while. If you’ll have me, I would like to share my days with you.” He leant in and kissed her.

After having their private moment, they were pulled back into the festivities. They all shared a drink before their leader stepped forward and asked them to form a circle around the fire.
“Ciara, my dear. You have done well these last few days. Soren is very proud of you and your progress. We are happy to welcome you into our group,” the leader spoke to her, “Will you now take the oath to join our ranks?”
Ciara nodded and stepped forward. She opened her hands and extended them, palms facing up.

“And I was in the darkness,
So darkness I became,
Here in the darkness I know myself.”

The whole group took a step forward and joined hands. Soren was on her right and smiled at her when he grabbed her hand. Ciara smiled back, happy with the turn of events.
“We welcome Ciara into our group. As a friend, as a fellow colleague. To serve humans in their darkest hour, to save them from the darkness. Brothers and sisters, let us speak our oath, together in darkness, and darkness in us.”

“We are a new breed rising,
with fire in our eyes,
we don’t fear anything,
because we’ve already died.
We are the wolves of sorrow.”

*************************************************************

Death and Alive

To cut the crap, I died. Sadly it wasn’t a real heroic death, although it depends on the perspective. I was saving my sister’s life, diving in front of the bullet intended for her heart. If only I would’ve thought for an additional second, we wouldn’t be in this mess now.
My sister responded to my death exactly how I knew she would; “That fucking idiot!”. It may seem that her reaction was a bit much, but I do have to tell you that she is a witch, and can’t be killed by normal weapons. I tend to forget that, because I like to see her how she has always been in my head, my little sister.

She had only discovered she was a witch a year ago. It runs in the family on the maternal side apparently. It skips a generation, but our grandmother never told our mother or my sister. Grandma died suddenly and a few years later our parents were killed in a car accident. My sister found out the day after she turned eighteen. Of course, it happened by accident, how else would you find out you’re a witch when you have no clue.

Before I tell you that, I feel the need to tell you my sister’s name is Lissa. Her full name is Alicia, but nobody ever used that name. Now, I already said she found out by accident. Lissa woke after a night of partying, celebrating her birthday. That’s one of a few advantages of having no parents, you can have a party and don’t worry about the consequences. Naturally, Lissa had a big hangover that morning, and there was a bird singing just outside her window. Not awoken fully, she hoped the bird would take its song elsewhere, and it did. It was the first of many incidents that morning, that Lissa thought of something and it immediately happened. Only by the time we were preparing dinner, it clicked in her head that something was up.
“Why do I always have to cut the onions?” Lissa said, “We both get teary eyed, but I always get the job. I wish those onions would cut themselves for a change!” If I hadn’t looked over that very instant, I wouldn’t have seen it happen and I would have never believed her. The onions jumped up from the cutting board and fell back down in perfect little pieces.

We both just stood there, baffled. No way that really happened.
“Try that again with those carrots, to see if that wasn’t just a fluke.” I told my sister. A second later all the carrots were peeled and cut into uniform little discs.
“Can it be?” Lissa said all of a sudden and she stormed out of the kitchen. I found her in the attic, rummaging through the big chest with Gran’s stuff.
“What are you doing, sis?” I sat down next to her.
“A couple of months ago I was going through Gran’s old journals and letters, and I found a little book with my name on it, but it was locked. And in her last journal, I read an entry about ‘preparing for Alicia’s eighteenth birthday’. It has to have something to do with what just happened. It has to be.” Then Lissa pulled out the little book with her name on it. It was a blue leather-bound journal by the looks of it, and on the front was Lissa’s name, in silver calligraphy. There was a lock on it, but the moment Lissa touched it, it fell off.

After reading for a while we discovered Lissa was a witch, and that Gran had intended to introduce her to it when she had turned eighteen. Lucky for her, Gran had made the little book in case she died before Lissa’s birthday. It took her a few days to work through the book and a few months to master her powers, but Lissa did it. To me, she was still my little sister and not some badass witch who could do all sorts of cool stuff. And that mindset had got me killed.

“There you are.” she said to the empty spot beside her on the bed. I was still dead, but the upside was that being a witch, Lissa could still see me and communicate with me. It was a little bit of consolidation but not enough for her not to be mad at me.
“Why in the Gods names did you jump in front of that bullet? You should know by now that I don’t die that easily?” I saw the anger in her eyes.
“I know, it was stupid. But maybe there’s an upside to this. I’m not human anymore so I can be of more help in the battle against the attacking supernaturals.” I tried my famed crooked smile. It took a bit of the anger off, but Lissa still wasn’t smiling.
“I really hope you can still help me, ‘cause I’m not dealing with this alone. Then I’d rather kill myself now, without your help I’m doomed.” Lissa got up and started to pace through the room.
“Lissa, please don’t worry so much. We’ll get through this, one way or another. You’re a good witch, you’ve got the power to beat them. And now you have a ghost on your side, only thing now is to find out how much I can help you.”

It took a week for me to master the new role as a ghost, but I still had something to contribute to our battle. Maybe it’s fitting to tell you something about that. About half a year after Lissa discovered she was a witch, some of the other supernatural races started a revolution. Sick of living in shadows and hiding their true identities. Cliché, I know, but that was what happened. The world wasn’t ready for them. Certainly not the sheer number of them. Vampires, werewolves and witches, that the world could’ve handled. But mermaids, ghosts, fairies, pixies, sylphs, gnomes, dwarves, leprechauns, dragons and much more, that was too much. The supernaturals outweighed the humans at least two to one.

We discovered we lived in a carefully constructed fantasy world which would have even outshone Tolkien’s imagination. Hybrids were discovered, mutants came out of hiding, it was a catastrophic disaster. And contrary to what had been written in so many books, it was the ‘non-traditional’ creatures who wanted to come out of hiding. So now Lissa, together with her witch-sisters, the vampires and werewolves, was fighting the other races.

There was only one problem in this huge battle, the humans. They didn’t believe the supernatural races could deal with the problem amongst themselves, so they tried to destroy everyone. Police, the military, civilians with guns, it was World War III out there. Most of the casualties were on the human side, they were simply no threat to the supernaturals.

But the war was turning, some of the human armies began to see they could side with the traditional supernaturals. Witches were excellent medics, vampires were quick as light and werewolves had their superhuman sense of smell. Now they only needed to convince the civilians, mercenaries and vigilantes of this fact. Lissa and I ran into such a group the night I died. So I was killed by friendly fire and while Lissa was never in any real danger, how stupid was I?

Back to the matter at hand, I can still help Lissa. I can’t pick stuff up anymore, but with a little spell of her, that problem is resolved.  Now I really felt I could help like I wanted the last few months. She is my little sister and I want to do everything to help her. I had always strongly felt that killing all supernaturals wasn’t the right way. Lissa didn’t do harm to anyone, why kill her?

And by now we had a big group of friends with vampires, werewolves and the likes. Nothing wrong with them, they’re not hurting anyone. Even though I died, I’ve got a second chance of helping in this battle, and still be the big brother Lissa needs. There’s nothing like death to make you feel alive!

*************************************************************

‘The devil is love’

“Would you please just use the pens I left you instead of everything else in this house that isn’t meant to write with! I don’t think you understand how much time I’m spending cleaning up all those messages! I’m fine with a poltergeist who helps me with my agenda, but I’m done cleaning lipstick from my mirror and toothpaste from the door!” Sarah yelled at nothing in particular but knew she was being heard.

She had just come home and found another message on her kitchen door, reminding her a beloved friend was visiting tonight. This time it was written with ashes from the fireplace. Sarah went into the kitchen and found another message on the door of the fridge. Judging by the quality of the message, it was a recent one, written with ketchup. It was a grocery list for tonight and ironically the last sentence wrote ‘And you are out of ketchup.’ All she could do was laugh. She wrote the list on a piece of paper and talked to the ghost again. “If you can write with ketchup, you can write with a pen. Just stick the paper on the fridge, saves me cleaning!”

After Sarah was done cleaning both messages she grabbed the grocery list and a bag and went shopping. Although it was a hassle to clean up all those messages, the poltergeist did make her life easier. Sarah always had a problem remembering things and she spent half her life apologising to people. Now she felt she had a personal assistant, without the hassle of hiring one. Coming home Sarah had to hurry to prepare dinner, get dressed and clean up some loose things. Just as she put the last pillow straight the doorbell rang.

“Jenna! So good to see you! How have you been?” The two women sat down on the couch.
“Sarah, so good to see you too! I brought a bottle of wine for dinner. Your house looks lovely! I love what you have done with the place.” Jenna looked around as she handed over the bottle.
“I will pour us some glasses, I’ll be right back. You have to tell me how Louise is doing, are you still together?” As Sarah walked into the kitchen to open the wine, she saw the dry-erase board up in the air. ‘Not now!’ she thought as she rumbled about for the bottle opener. She looked up again at the board and read ‘They broke up, don’t mention it again.’
“Oh shush, like you know everything!” she whispered angrily at the board. It fell with a light thud.

“Is everything alright Sarah?” Jenna called out from the living room.
Sarah emerged from the kitchen holding two glasses of wine. “Yeah, just an apple that rolled of the counter, no worries.” She gave Jenna one of the glasses.
“Cheers!”
Both girls took a sip of wine and went silent for a minute.

“Now, Jenna. Tell me, are you two still together?” She looked at her friend and waited for an answer. Jenna sighed and took another sip of her glass before looking up to Sarah.
“No, we’re not actually. I caught her in bed with another,-“  that made the waterworks come out, “another… a man!”
Sarah was shocked. Not only because of the cheating but also because the dry-erase board was in the air again. Just behind Jenna’s back and it read ‘Told ya!’. She waved it down while consorting her best friend. Jenna ended up staying the night, talking, crying and getting angry. Exactly what she had needed.

Sarah was knackered by the time she finally left. Both women had slept for a few hours, but it wasn’t enough. While she was making the second pot of coffee, she turned towards the room.
“Why are you being so nice to me? Helping me remember my appointments, making shopping lists… I thought poltergeists were supposed to be haunting you and driving one from its home?”
The whiteboard came floating out of the living room. Sarah was happy he finally used a normal way to communicate instead of anything laying around.
“It is true I am a poltergeist, but it’s not true we only make people’s lives miserable,” the process was slow, cleaning the board in between, “Hollywood ruined it for us. We are actually very keen on helping humans, we’re stuck here, why torment people?”
Sarah nodded. “I never understood the whole ‘I’m stuck on earth so I’ll just harass people’ thing. For what it’s worth, I really like you helping me.”

He drew a smiley face on the board. “And I like helping you. I wasn’t a very good person when I was still alive, so it’s my way of repenting before going before the devil.”
That confused Sarah. “What do you mean? Aren’t you supposed to go before God when you have repented for your sins?”
It took some time before the pen was brought up to the board again. “I really shouldn’t tell you this, but I can’t leave you hanging like this. It all comes down to a translating mistake really. They got it backwards, and no one has ever spotted the mistake.”

Sarah sat down at the kitchen table, trying to grasp what was told to her. “So all of the world religions are based on the wrong thing? That sheds a new light on things…” Absent-minded Sarah took a sip out of her mug, even though it was empty. The coffee pot came to her and the ghost poured her a new cup.
“So the devil is about love and God about hate?” she asked.
“Basically, yes. I won’t go into the details about the names but that is the bottom line.” He answered.
“Dear Satan…”

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Friday, so story time! This week a long overdue part three. I started this story a long way back. First was ‘Knock-knock, who’s there?’ followed by ‘Must contain a map’. When I originally started this story it was meant to be three subsequent stories, but after part two something came in between (life, basically). The third challenge was to start with a bang, so this is; ‘It starts with a bang’. And now, it is done! I’m very happy with it, and I hope you like it too!

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It starts with a bang

The loud bang sounded in the forest not far from the table where they had been making plans. Sam, Theo and Leah jumped up, and Sam let out a howl to make the wolf pack assemble. Within minutes all of the werewolves were together in the clearing. Sam did a headcount and was sure everyone was safe.
“Leah, are you and Theo ok?” he asked his vampire friend.
“Yeah, we’re both unharmed. Shall we go take a look what happened?” Sam nodded to Leah. He instructed his Beta to hold the pack together and safe, before taking off in the direction of the bang.

Before they were even halfway, another bang sounded through the forest. The three caught the blast wind and it knocked Theo back. Sam picked him up and checked him.
“You ok?” he asked.
Theo gave a wry smile.
“Yeah, it caught me off guard. Not as steady on my feet as I thought I was. Thanks for helping me up.”
Leah had to suppress a smile, those two were really hitting it off. She knew bringing Theo and his cute face had been a good idea. Not that she had expected a bomb going off in the midst of their plan-making, but still.

Sam’s excellent sense of smell brought them to the spot where the first blast had gone off. Theo’s senses as a mage immediately reacted and he tapped Leah on her shoulder.
“We’re not alone.” he whispered to his best friend.
“I know, and one of them is hurt, I smell blood.” Leah’s fangs extended and Theo could see the bloodlust in her eyes. Even though he had seen it thousands of times, he was still amazed by the traits of vampires.

The unconventional trio saw only evidence of an explosive blast, but nothing more. Sam held his head up and sniffed the air.
“A little further up ahead is the site of the second blast. It smells weird, not like this one. I smell salt and soap, no idea what can make such a smell.” Sam led the way.
Leah, Theo and Sam had expected a lot of sights but not the one they stumbled upon when they reached the site. The whole forest around them was covered in glitter, big and small, creating the illusion of a hundred disco balls being shone upon.

“What the hell happened here!” Leah yelled. When she concentrated she now saw that dozens of small pixies were floating around and dancing. An eerie high pitched sound rose from the tiny creatures, but when the pixies caught sight of the intruders, the dancing and singing stopped. The head of the pixies floated towards the trio.
“Who are you and what are you doing here?” the pixie asked them.
“I am Leah, and these are Theo and Sam. We heard a blast and got concerned about what had happened. Am I right to assume you are a pixie folk?” Leah knew she had to tread carefully with these creatures. They looked like docile tiny fairies, but knew they could turn aggressive and attack en masse.
“Yes, we are pixies, we live in these forests. I believe we share it with Sam’s werewolf pack. No problem, all peaceful.” the pixie answered.
“Alright, miss. But now we are really curious what happened here. One of your pixies is injured, I can smell it.”
“Ah, yes. The vampire smells the blood. It is but a scratch. And it is you who gave us the idea for this.” The pixie turned to the forest.
All three of them had no idea what the pixie was talking about. Looking around to the glitter-covered trees, Theo started to suspect something.

“Some of us were taking a field trip to the ocean. Normally we don’t venture out into those areas but it is a spectacular sight, we have to visit it once in a lifetime.” The pixie was clearly reliving her own visit, and by now, Leah had understood where this was going.
“There they saw the werewolf attacking you, vampire Leah. But what followed inspired us to do this. When you were standing in the ocean, an explosion of glitter erupted and the pixies thought it was beautiful. So we went shopping and we repeated it here. With a little help of small explosives and glue, we now have our own glitter forest!”

Theo was almost snorting, trying to hold in his laughter and Leah had a sour face, remembering the events of the early night. Only Sam was still in the dark about what happened.
“Leah, can you please explain what happened exactly? I have the strong feeling you didn’t give me the whole story about that attack.” He wasn’t mad, yet.
“Please promise me you won’t laugh, like Theo here.” She playfully pushed Theo, who couldn’t hold in his laughter anymore.
“I had just done some shopping for Theo, you know, craft supplies and stuff, and then I got attacked by the wolf. We scrabbled around a bit before he threw me into the ocean. Then he started to throw things at me, he had pulled stuff out of my shopping bags. When he ran out, the things exploded.” Leah stopped for a second, and by now Theo was in a hiccoughing heap from laughing so hard.
“It turns out, when you throw these bath bombs in salt water, they behave like actual bombs. Sadly, these weren’t normal bath bombs, they were filled with glitter.”

Sam was breathing very shallow from holding in his laughter. Theo was steadying his breathing so he could talk again. Leah crossed her arms, she was still embarrassed and slightly mad about it.
“She turned up back at the house, completely soaked and covered in glitter, it was hilarious!” Now both men fell into each other’s arms and just laughed out loud. Leah was tapping her foot, hoping they would stop soon. It took a couple of minutes before the laughing died down.
“Alright, that’s enough boys. It wasn’t that funny. We have other things to do.” She was done with the shame.
“I’m sorry, Leah. You’re right, it’s not that funny.” Sam held down a giggle. He turned to the pixie. “I do hope this was the last time you folk are fiddling around with explosives.”
The pixie smiled. “We will not do this again. We are very happy with our home now. And feel welcome to visit us again.” She returned to the others for more dancing and singing.

“Now, let’s get back to the job at hand,” Leah said to Sam as they made their way back to the home of the wolf pack, “But we do have to pencil in the pixie home on the map too. Let’s try to keep them in those woods before they mimic something else.”
“Can’t agree more! I’m just happy it was only a glitter bomb this time.”

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It’s Friday! And you know what that means, storytime! Another flash fiction challenge, this time I had to pick a title from a list and this one spoke to me. For some reason, I almost immediately thought of the catacombs underneath Paris. It was fun to write and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I liked writing it. Have a good weekend and happy reading!

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Two skulls

“How many times have you been patted on the head to see if you were real?”

“I’ve stopped counting, I got fed up,” skull John turned to his friend. “Since they opened up the catacombs I’ve decided to just roll with it. No point in getting irritated with the tourists, they’ll keep coming and it’s not like we’re going anywhere soon.

The other skull, Bob, had to agree with him. “I know we’re not going anywhere, I have endlessly tried to pry myself loose from this stack but so far, no luck.”

Both skulls sat atop a big pile of bones, in one of the most iconic catacombs of the world, Paris. Stacked there to deal with surplus from the graveyards above, and since the end of the 19th century as a tourist attraction. But lately, it had become increasingly busy with tourists from all over the world. Why, the skulls didn’t know, as they had no clue what was happening in the world above their heads. It didn’t make their lives any easier, no eternal rest for these underground remains.

“No limits, what would you wanna be or do if we weren’t stuck here? Would you have liked to rot away in the ground?” Bob asked his eternal neighbor.

“With all those creepy crawlers digging around, no thank you! I think I would’ve liked to become a Diá de Los Muertos skull. All decorated and paraded around once a year. Keeps you in touch with the world around you.” John said, already drifting away in a daydream.

“Really? Although those sugar skulls are beautiful, I must say.” Bob replied, “I would’ve liked to be a research skull or something. Displayed in a classroom or a museum. Looking at the world without the world constantly touching me…” Both skulls sunk away in their own fantasy world.

The next morning it was an early rise for the inhabitants of the catacombs. Tours started around 8.30 to accommodate all the tourists visiting the famous site. Most of them were just there for the sensation, others were hoping to see a ghost or have a spiritual encounter. In almost ninety percent of the cases, it were the remains and skulls playing tricks on the tourists. Try lying there for so long and not get bored with yourself.

John also had a particularly tough morning. He had been dreaming about a better life all night and was now bummed out with reality. The first flock of tourists flowed into their chamber and John’s irritation grew. The photographs, the flashing lights, people taking photos of themselves with the skulls. All the languages, the screaming children testing the echo, the litter being thrown. He was beyond fed up with it.

John wrestled through the rest of the day, trying to form a plan in between the frustration of the tourists. By the time the tours were over, John still didn’t have a plan. Frustration was passing into anger and that was passing into madness. He was tired, done, spent. With all his strength he pushed against the bond that was holding him there. It woke all of the other inhabitants of the catacombs. Some screamed at the noise, scared of what was happening, but others rooted for John. He clearly wasn’t the only one fed up with the place.

The cheering gave him renewed force and John kept pushing and pulling. It took him all night, but just before dawn, John broke clean of the pile. He took a dive forward, broke a couple of teeth and cracked the roof of his skull. But he was free! Finally released from the pile and all of his unpleasant neighbors.

John kept still for a couple of minutes, thinking about what to do next. He never expected to succeed so he had no next step prepared. Then he rolled himself over to a more hidden spot. Now he had to wait for the first tour. When the tourists flowed in, John picked a suitable couple and strategically rolled himself against the foot of the man. What happened next was a dream coming true for John. The man saw an exceptional opportunity. He looked around for witnesses, then bent over to tie his shoelace. With the slyness of a thief, he grabbed the skull and stuffed it in his bag.

A week later John was in a bookcase halfway across the world. Safely hidden away from eager children’s fingers and positioned directly in front of the TV. He was trying hard to catch up to the world he could see outside the window, but being cooped up so long underground he had missed a lot. Only now, John had all the time in the world to do so, and he was finally happy with his resting place.

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Flash Fiction Friday is upon us again! This challenge called for dice again. Rolling on two tables to create a title and go from there. I rolled a 14 and a 4 and created the title Seven days of debt. Telling my husband he told me about a small comic he had come across. It sparked my creativity and voilá; a story! I’ve included the comic, maybe it will spark your creativity. Have a good weekend!

Happy reading!

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Seven days of debt

“So, I hear you are going to intern with us for a week, to see if you want to pursue this career.” Hades said as he shook the hand of the new intern, Tom.
“I will give you a quick tour ‘round the office, and then I’ll take you over to meet your first mentor.” He pulled Tom with him into a dark corridor.
“You probably never realized that each animal species has its own grim reaper.  This being your first day, you’ll be tagging along with human death, as it is most recognizable for you.”

Hades stopped at a large frosted glass door. “Here we have the gals and boys of the administrative offices, the secretaries, declarations, travel bureau and such.” Hades opened the door and waved at the staff. Tom raised an unsteady hand in an attempt to wave. His nerves were getting the better of him.

“Next stop is PR, payroll, accountants. If you have something to do with money, this is your stop.” Again Hades waved and Tom attempted to. Her sure hoped nobody noticed he was feeling so insecure.

“And the last stop is the IT-department. Mostly guys, but everything to do with technology they can fix here,” Hades dropped his voice to a whisper, “Here are the real geeks, but it’s fun to joke around with them, especially as they don’t get most jokes!” Hades chuckled. “Last time I did one of these tours I had a girl with me. Total panic when I opened the door!” Now he laughed aloud.

“But in all seriousness, they can fix nearly anything you bring them. They are the backbone of the company.” He finally opened the door but Tom didn’t see much. It was very dark in the room and the only light visible was coming from all the screens in there. The only sound was a low growl, and Tom wasn’t sure there were actually people in that room.

“Alright, that was the office. You’ll probably be visiting here a couple of times with your mentors, so you’ll get to know some of the people over time. Now, let’s meet your mentor for today, human death.” Hades opened another set of glass doors and stepped into a brightly lit room. Tom saw all kinds of animals, all dressed in the typical black robes. It reminded him of the first Men in Black movie, and he looked around with wide eyes.

“Hey, Dave! I’ve got your intern here! Come and meet him.”
Tom turned towards Hades. “Dave? I thought you told me I was tagging along with human death?”

Hades laughed at his remark. “Yes, you will be spending the day with human death, but being death doesn’t mean we don’t all have a normal name. It would be a crime to address someone if we didn’t have a name, don’t you think?”
Tom scratched his head while thinking about it. “I really never thought of it that way.”

Dave came over and all three men shook hands. “Dave, meet Tom. He expressed some interest in our trade so he will do an internship this week. And you have the honor to take him along on his first day, have fun!” With a puff of smoke, Hades was gone.

“Always a drama queen.” Dave shook his head. “Welcome to the Department of soul collecting, or debt collecting as it’s also known. Hades has already shown you around the office, so now it’s up to me to show you the ropes of the business. I’m Dave, the current grim reaper for humans, and going strong for 200 years now.” He pulled Tom with him to the coffee machine.

“Have a cup of coffee, I have a feeling it’s going to be a long day.” Dave handed him a plastic cup.
“Is that a hunch or based on actual facts?” Tom had questions and wasn’t afraid to ask them.
Dave smiled. “Part hunch, part fact. Today is Saint Patrick’s day on earth, that means a lot of people on the streets, and a lot of alcohol. It’s going to be a busy day for all of us. You picked a good week!”

Even before Tom could finish his awful coffee, they got their first call. Dave threw him a robe to put on and flashed them to the scene. Tom was handed an iPad, showing the details of the human that was about to die. “Name, age, cause of death?” Dave asked him, all business-like.
“Uhm, Sally Peterson, age 86, falling down the stairs.” Tom replied with a hurry. He read the status in front of him. “She surpassed her children, but was very happy overall.” he added.

Tom kept back as Dave walked over to the woman crumpled on the floor.
“Sally Peterson,” Dave said with a low, menacing voice, “Your time has come. You lived a full life of 86 years, it is time to go up to the heavens, and see your children once again.” Tom witnessed the transparent white soul of Mrs. Peterson rise up to them. He turned to Dave.“Is that speech really necessary?” Dave laughed, even though he couldn’t see his face. “Not really, but for some reason, it calms the humans down if you do it like this.”

“Am I dead? Is this heaven?” the frail voice of Mrs. Peterson asked.
“Yes, you are dead; no, this isn’t heaven yet.” Dave removed his hood and pulled a machine from his pocket. “Mrs. Peterson, devoted Christian right?” He waited for the old woman to nod. “One trip to the pearly gates, coming up! Have fun up there!” He pressed a button and the soul of the lady was gone.

Tom was baffled.
“That’s it? No traveling with them, or some dramatic speech about being dead?”
“No, this is it. Look at your screen, do you see a green button there that says ‘collected’?” Tom nodded at his mentor. “Press it, then we’re done.”

Tom was knackered by the time Dave released him. When he got over the fact that his imagination was nothing compared to the real deal, he started to have fun. And even though he had a hard time keeping his eyes open, he was excited for the coming week.

The four days that followed went by in a flash. He spent a day with the grim reaper of sheep, of frogs, the reaper of crows and of salmons. Tom had requested to spend his last day with Dave again, but today his mentor was Luna, the soul collector for cats. Hades turned him into a cat for the day, and he set out to find his mentor. It wasn’t a real surprise he found her in a basket by the central heating.

“Good morning, I’m Tom. Did Hades told you I would be tagging along with you today?” He got no reaction. With his small paw, he tapped her on the head. “Hello, Luna?” The cat in front of him gave a small hiss.
“Who dares to disturb my snooze?” She growled.

“My name is Tom, I’m your intern for the day. Don’t you have to collect souls?”
“Nah.” Luna closed her eyes again and hid her face on her paws.

“Luna! Get to work you lazy fluffball!” Hades’ voice rippled through the office. Tom had his back in the air and a tail three times its normal size. The little grim reaper of cats flew out of her basket.
“Yes, sir! Of course, sir!” Luna waited for the commotion to die down and as soon as it happened, went to lie down again.

“Now, Luna!” Hades appeared right in front of them. “Forgot I’ve got eyes everywhere again?”
“I’m sorry, sir. I’ll leave at once!” With a poof, she was gone. Hades sighed when he saw Tom still sitting there. Hades flicked his wrist and Tom disappeared as well.

It was only two hours later and Tom had never been more tired. Luna wasn’t the epiphany of accuracy and collecting the souls of cats involved a lot more running than he could have ever imagined. Halfway through the day, he was done. The second they returned back on headquarters, Tom ran through the rooms, trying to find Hades.

“Please, no more! I like the job, and I really want to spend my last day of my internship with Dave, but please don’t make me go with Luna again!” Tom’s legs gave out from under him. “So. Much. Running. So. Tired!”Hades laughed as he picked up the cat. “It’s ok, Tom. Take a nap, and then I’ll change you back. You can spend the rest of the time with Dave.” He let Tom slide into his shirt pocket. “Luna has a reputation around here, maybe it wasn’t the best choice to send you with her.”

Tom had the best nap of his life and enjoyed peeping out of Hades’ pocket. He stretched it for half an hour but then Hades saw him peeping.
“Hey, little guy, feeling better?” He scooped him out with care and even before Tom had touched the ground, he was turned back into a human again.“Yes, much better. Thank you. I’ll go look for Dave.”

At the end of the next day, Tom sat in the breakroom, very happy with his tasteless coffee. When Hades entered, he didn’t have the strength to rise from his seat.
“Don’t get up on my account, son. There’s a reason I delegated this business, it’s tiring as hell!” Hades laughed at his own joke and then sat down next to Tom. “So, this was your seven days of debt collecting, what’d you think?”
“I really liked it! Tagging along with the animals was a bit weird, but the days with Dave were fun.” Tom filled his coffee up and gave Hades one too.

“Well, if you want, I’ve got some good news for you. Dave was very positive about you and has expressed to me he wouldn’t mind getting an assistant.” He took a sip of coffee before continuing, hoping to catch a glimpse of Tom’s reaction.
“It relieves him a bit and it’s a good way for you to learn the tricks of the trade.” Tom’s smile became wider and wider with each word. “But, I want you to think about it before you give me an answer. Go home for a week, and return with an answer only then.” Hades leaned forward and put his arms on the table.

“You have to realize that I have to upgrade your human status, otherwise you would collapse in a week. But if you do, you can’t go back, so you must really want it.” He waved a finger in Tom’s direction. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir. I will think about it, and decide what I want to do. Thank you for this opportunity, sir!” Tom felt a lot better.

A week later a broadly smiling Tom received his own robe out of the hands of Hades, shadowed by a similar smiling Dave.