Page 32 of Ghost in the Cupboard

“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.