Chapter 21
I had no idea who the ghost had been in life.
So, having an item to lure the ghost out into the open was an insane prospect.
How to go about luring the ghost out swirled through my head, but the only resolution I landed on was reaching out to other mediums in our group chat online.
Maybe one of them had recently trapped a ghost without knowing its name or having an item that once belonged to it.
As I was considering reaching out to the medium community, another thought occurred to me.
I’d already agreed to reach out to somebody else—and I could possibly kill two birds with one stone.
However, a long talk had to be had before I could even consider such a thing.
Resolved and annoyed, I stomped out of the house and into the backyard.
The sun was staring to sink beneath the horizon, so it was a good time to reach out.
“Chester?” I asked in a normal speaking voice.
I didn’t like to summon Chester unless forced.
He always seemed to hang around nearby, so summoning him, or forcing his attention seemed rude.
Besides, he was a family member and old friend.
Summoning him seemed to go against everything.
If forced, I would summon him, but it would be a last resort in a dire situation.
After a few moments, I saw a shimmer at the edge of the woods, which drew my attention. As the sun dipped below the horizon, Chester stepped out of the tree line and floated towards me, his transparent feet barely grazing the ground. His eyes were seeping a bit, but otherwise, he looked good.
“Sorry,” I said as he approached, “I should have waited until the sun fully set.”
Chester smiled.
“It’s fine. It has now set.”
In the purple rose of dusk, I took a deep breath and decided I had no choice but to do what I’d come out into the yard to do.
“Would you do a favor for me, Chester?” I asked.
His face brightened and the seeping at his eyes stopped.
“A favor? A task? A mission? What is it?”
I couldn’t help but grin at his excitement.
“Nothing all that dangerous or thrilling, I’m afraid,” I said, holding my hands up.
The seeping at his eyes didn’t restart, but I could see a visible change in his level of excitement.
However, he seemed to shimmer with curiosity and hope.
I don’t know what kind of existence ghosts live when I’m not observing them, but a lot of them seem to grow bored after many years of simply floating around.
Even getting to do whatever you want whenever you want gets old after a while.
“There’s a missing woman in town,” I said.
“Marcella. I don’t know her last name. I don’t know if anyone does.
But she’s one of the homeless people from the camp down by the river?
She’s come up missing and I promised the leader of the camp I’d see if any of the ghosts around here saw her leave town or… anything.”
Chester’s eyes lit up once more and the black ooze around his eyes disappeared completely.
“Could you ask around maybe?” I explained. “You don’t have to wear yourself out or anything, but if you happen to hear anything or know who to ask, it would be appreciated. If I could give them any information about where she—”
“A mission!” Chester jolted into the air a few feet, then back down, a grin splitting his face. “Consider it done, Silas!”
He shimmered and appeared about to zip away, but I stopped him.
“I have one more question,” I said.
“Of course, of course, of course!” Chester crowed.
I sighed. “A ghost has found its way into the house.”
Chester’s eyes grew wide.
“I know!” I threw my hands up.
“How could you let such a thing happen?” Chester gave a ghostly moan.
“It was trapped in a cupboard and a friend let it out,” I said, defensively. “It wasn’t my fault. I promise.”
Chester shook his head and made a “tsk” sound, but kept his thoughts to himself. Only an Erie would shame another Erie from the afterlife.
“Anyway,” I said, wondering if I wanted to ask the question now that Chester had shamed me, “I don’t know a name or anything. No idea who it is.”
Chester grimaced.
“This does not bode well,” Chester said. “You may have to burn the house down!”
I waved him off quickly.
“No, no, no,” I laughed nervously. “It won’t come to that. However, I wanted to know…if I let you into the house…”
Chester’s eyes grew wide with disbelief.
“Well, would you be able to locate the ghost, find out its name, stuff like that? Things a medium can’t do? Well, an alive medium can’t do?”
Even asking the question I felt like a fool. Suggesting to a ghost, who was a medium in life, that you would willingly let any ghost into your house, was insane. Chester’s face revealed exactly that thought.
“You should never let a ghost into the house, Silas Erie! Ever!”
“I understand that, Chester,” I said. “But you’d leave willingly for me after you found out the ghost’s name, right?”
Chester’s displeased, judgmental expression disappeared suddenly and he seemed to think on that question for a moment.
“Well,” he said slowly, “I suppose that I would. Other ghosts would not, but I would, yes.”
“So,” I asked again, “if it comes to it, would you let me trap you, bring you inside, release you, let you find and talk to the ghost, then let me trap you and release you outside again?”
Chester flinched every time I said “trap,” but managed to keep his composure.
“I suppose…yes. If it becomes a necessity.”
“Only if it’s necessary,” I said, nodding with a smile. “I’ll do my best to figure it out on my own so that it doesn’t become necessary, though. I just wanted to know if you’d be willing and if it would be possible.”
“Willing and possible.” Chester nodded.
“Thanks, Chester,” I said.
Dusk had begun to settle into night around us. The chill of an autumn night was prickling at my bare arms and neck.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll leave you to check about Marcella and whatever else you have going on. Thanks, Chester.”
With an excited expression at the reminder he had a mission, Chester gave me a grand nod of his head—which nearly rolled off his shoulders—then he was zipping away back towards the woods. His body shimmered more brightly than I’d seen it do in weeks, which made me smile.
Wrapping my arms around myself and running my hands up and down the bare flesh, I could feel that autumn was settling in for good.
It wouldn’t be long before the leaves all turned brown, yellow, and orange before falling to create a carpet in the woods behind the house.
Then, when winter set in, everything around my house would become a winter wonderland with ghosts zipping in and around the trees like fireflies.
I’m not certain what it is about winter that makes ghosts appear more frequently, but it does.
Possibly, the temporary death of the world as it falls into its wintry slumbers calls out to the dead?
It’s their season to frolic and make merriment before the long sunny days return and life returns to the world around them.
Ghosts are drawn to the living, but not life.
Figure that one out.
When I turned back to the house, I nearly toppled over backward. Danny was standing in the shadows of the back porch. The blue light on his vape pen lit up before he chuckled with laughter and blew out a plume of blueish vapor.
“Too bad you can’t sense humans,” Danny said. “You wouldn’t have been so startled.”
“Well, I should have sensed you,” I said, gripping my chest with my hand. “You move like the dead.”
“Silent like ninja!” Danny proclaimed.
“I’m not sure if that’s offensive,” I said, stepping over to him, “but that vape definitely is.”
I attempted to pry the vape pen from his hand, but he quickly deposited it into his hip pocket. As if that would keep me from getting to it. Obviously, Danny also was aware of this fact.
“If you want it, you’ll have to go in after it,” he grinned evilly in the darkness of the porch.
I rolled my eyes.
“Are you here for dinner, or just the floor show? Because I need to eat first.” I asked.
Danny frowned at me.
“Have I mischaracterized our situation?” I teased. “Or was my honesty tacky?”
“That’s not what this is,” Danny said.
“Sure,” I said with a nod. “I’m making pasta. Nothing fancy. But there will be salad and garlic bread, so well-rounded meal and all that, I suppose.”
I stepped around him to open the backdoor. Danny grabbed my forearm and stopped me.
“That’s not what this is,” he said again.
“And I can’t see ghosts,” I said.
We stared at each other for longer than was comfortable.
“You can convince yourself of anything if you really want to believe it,” I said with finality.
Danny said nothing.
“So?” I asked brightly. “Pasta? Salad? Garlic bread?”
He gave a firm nod.
“Great,” I said. “Follow me.”
And I led us into the house.