It's been a hectic month and a half and now I'm finally back to posting regularly on this blog.
NaNoWriMo was really fun but the number of words to write was much more than I could handle. I estimated that I could put in three hours of writing each day and that I could churn out the daily quota, but the plan didn't work out like planned.
Still managed to crunch out the first draft of a longer story which was a big milestone for me. I've never finished a story longer than maybe 5000 words before, this one was more than ten times the amount! Still not done though, since I will need to revise it for a few months.
That was a brief update on what I've been doing, writing in solitude (most of the time). Here's a new short story!
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Old and New
I walked into the bar and was met with the same view as outside the building. A place devoid of people. The lights were on, the tables were set. Hell, even music was playing from the speakers. It was like every single person that lived here suddenly disappeared.
Ah well, not that it mattered to me right now. I went behind the counter and rummaged around for refreshment and found some beer to my delight. As I downed a whole bottle and let out a satisfying burp I noticed something in my peripheral vision. I turned around and gazed around the room. Nothing out of the ordinary. It must have been my imagination due to how hungry I was, I mean there couldn’t poss-
“There’s food in the pantry to the left if you like.”
The voice came from behind. It was more of a hiss and the tone gave me goosebumps. I jumped back with a scream and threw the empty beer can towards the direction of the voice.
“How rude, I was just trying to help!” said the hissing voice with a hint of annoyance.
I took a better look and saw a man in his fifties. He was wearing a bowler hat, a fine suit with a vest and a pair of leather shoes. Oh, and he was all white and transparent.
I gave out another scream and in response, the older man smacked me with the back of his hand.
“Calm down, or else I will give you something to really scream about,” threatened the old man.
I was stunned. Mostly due to the smack but also because of the confusing situation, I had trouble gathering my thoughts but I managed to utter one sentence.
“I didn’t know that ghosts could touch people.”
“And I didn’t know that a man could scream like that,” retorted the older man. “Were you perhaps a castrato when you were young?”
“A what?” I asked, uncertain what he meant.
“Just a joke,” said the older man with laughter. He drifted towards a table and motioned towards me to come closer as he summoned a few more beers.
“I’m known as Leroy McGinnis around here,” he introduced himself. “What about you?”
“Adam,” I responded. “Adam Wilpur.”
“So Adam, how come that you’re here?” inquired Leroy. “Did you get lost?”
“No, I’m an explorer and…”
I began to recount my story. We were a group of friends who liked to explore horror places and we found some gossip about a town where no humans were allowed. After some digging, we found the place barely thirty miles from our city so we decided to take a trip during our next weekend. When we got closer to the destination a huge mist appeared out of nowhere. We had to leave our car behind to continue our exploration but something happened. Screams. Panic. I just dashed towards the sounds but I couldn’t find anyone. I just ran straight until I was tired. Then I ran some more. It felt like I was lost for hours in the mist and then it cleared up, I saw this town and ran to the closest building.
Leroy listened to my story without interruption. His brows furrowed when I mentioned the huge mist but he didn’t say anything.
“Well, Adam I have two news for you,” said the old man. “A good one and a bad one, which do you want first?”
I gulped. I recognized this scene from the horror movies. Telling first the good news and then on the bad news the demon or ghost attacks the human and the protagonist dies a horrible death. Ah well, let’s just get it over…
“The bad one please,” I said and braced myself, shutting my eyes.
“You, Adam Wilpur, are dead,” said Leroy McGinnis.
“Please end it quickly,” I said as tears started to flow down my cheeks.
“Wait, what do you mean?” asked the old man.
“I know you want to eat me, please just make it quick. Don’t torture me first if possible,” I responded still with my eyes closed.
A loud smack was heard and my head was pounding.
“Stop that nonsense, you are already dead and I’m no cannibal,” said Leroy. He looked me in the eyes as his own frame deflated a bit, maybe he was tired. “This town is a place for ghosts. For wandering spirits that still walk the earth. There are ghosts that miss the simple enjoyments they had as humans and this town is the result of their work. No humans can enter. Only ghosts.”
I looked at the old man while rubbing my pounding head. “I’m...dead?”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
“Huh…” I had trouble grasping the situation, but hang on… “So what’s the good news?”
“The good news is that your friends are probably still alive since they haven’t entered the town.”
“Oh...that’s, yeah that’s good news.” I thought that there might have been a twist. That I might still be alive, might be the first human that managed to enter a ghost town or something, well that was not the case.
“Wait,” I said. An idea sprang up. “So, I’m a ghost now. Am I locked in this town or can I go wherever I want?”
“You are free to leave,” said Leroy. “But this town will always welcome you if you ever wish to return.”
“Oh boy, oh boy!” I said with a bit much glee. “I guess it’s time to have some fun. I’ve always wanted to scare the bejeebus out of people!”
“You’re taking it quite...well,” remarked Leroy with surprise.
“Well, people usually have a bucket list, but I have an afterlife-list, made it just for fun but man did it come in handy now...let’s see who should I haunt first? Peter? No, Carl? Hmm...what about…”
As the new ghost rambled loudly about his next target the older ghost shrugged and downed the last remaining bottle of beer.
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I was unsure if I wanted to write a horror story or not, but somehow it didn't feel right when I wrote it. I changed it mid-way through and it felt better immediately better. Maybe I just prefer to write a more light-hearted piece.
Hope you enjoyed it, and see you next time!
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