The Gloomy Ghost

by David Lubar

  Josiah Winston had told me I had poltergeist power. If I got angry enough, I could smash the whole room.

  But that wouldn’t do any good. That would just destroy stuff and scare people.

  Scare people!

  I remembered what else Josiah Winston had said: All of us can cause a little fright or sorrow. We can make the fleshsters tingle and shiver a bit. I thought about the rest of what he’d said: At best, we can touch treasured items from our past.

  I searched the room for anything that might be a treasured item. There wasn’t much at all. My clothes were in a closet. I checked my pockets. Nothing. There were some flowers on the table next to the bed. Mom had probably bought them at the hospital gift shop. But I didn’t see anything of mine that was a treasure. So that wouldn’t work.

  I’d have to use fright or sorrow. I didn’t want to scare them. It wouldn’t do any good. But if I could make them really sad, maybe they’d go home. All of my treasures were at home. Maybe I could find some way to show them the berries. It was my only chance.

  I hated to make them sadder. They looked sad enough already. It seemed like a rotten thing to do to them. But I couldn’t think of anything else, and I didn’t want to stay a ghost forever. Be sad, I thought.

  Nothing happened. They didn’t look any different.

  Maybe I was doing it wrong. How do you make people sad? I wondered if they’d get sad if I was sad. I looked at myself lying on the bed and tried to be sad. It didn’t work. I mean, my body was sick in the hospital, but I felt fine. Then I thought about Scott. That made me sad. He was so young, and he wasn’t going to get any better.

  The light in the room got dimmer. Everything looked sad and gloomy. Sad made the air dark blue.

  “Oh, man, I can’t stand it,” Sebastian said. He seemed sad. He stood up. “I can’t stay here.”

  “We understand,” Mom said. “Why don’t you go home for a while.”

  Sebastian nodded. Everyone else in the room looked real sad, too. But I guess Sebastian was the saddest. Maybe because he was trying the hardest not to show how he felt. I understood. That’s how we are—all us guys.

  “I’ll go with you,” Norman said.

  They got up and left the room. I was so happy, I shouted, “Yay!” as I rushed out to follow them.

  “Your place or mine?” Norman asked when they walked out the front door of the hospital.

  “Home!” I shouted. They had to go home.

  “My place,” Sebastian said.

  “Are you sure?” Norman asked. “Maybe you’d feel better if you were somewhere else.”

  “Shut up, Norman!” I told him.

  “No. I want to go home,” Sebastian said. He started to walk down the street.

  Norman followed him. I ran ahead, then waited for them to catch up. They were walking so slowly. I looked at my watch. It was 7:45. It wouldn’t take long to get home, but there wouldn’t be much time left when we got there.

  If they didn’t stop anywhere on the way, I figured it would all be okay. And there was no reason for them to stop. No reason at all.

  Just when I thought that, I heard Norman say, “Mellon alert.”

  I looked ahead. Right down the street, straight ahead of us, I saw Pit Mellon. He was too small to bully Sebastian and Norman. But he wasn’t alone. He was with a bunch of his big brothers.

  Twenty-one

  FIGURING OUT AN ACTION

  I saw Lud and Bud and Clem and Clyde walking with Pit. There were a couple of others I didn’t recognize. They were probably cousins or uncles. They were real noisy and rough. Clem and Clyde were hitting each other, and Lud kicked a phone pole as he walked past it. Even though they couldn’t touch me, I felt like running.

  “Let’s go around the other way,” Sebastian said. “I don’t want to mess with them.”

  “Yeah, they can be okay alone, but they’re unpredictable when they travel in herds,” Norman said. “We’d better go the long way.”

  “No!” I tried to grab Norman but my hand shot right through his arm. If they went the long way, they’d never get home in time. I had to do something. I looked at Pit. He had my action figure in his hand—it was Mousconi from Swollen Rat People. That was the one he’d taken from me at school. I could feel the anger boiling inside me. Everything started to turn red. I knew that in a second or two, the figure would go flying free, smashing into all the Mellons. Stones and sticks from the ground would go flying, too. Pit might even go flying. That’s how angry I was getting.

  I squeezed my fists together. Calm down, Rory, I told myself. This wasn’t right. They’d get hurt. Everyone could get hurt. There had to be another way. Calm down, I told myself again. The red faded away. I looked at Pit, and I looked at the figure in his hand. I stared at it and moved closer. Then even closer. I knew it so well—every part of it. Even the little marks in the back from when Darling had started to chew it. It was mine. It belonged to me.

  I moved closer.

  And then I was inside it. I was smaller, and wearing the figure like a suit of armor. I looked up at the giant face of Pit Mellon. Then I raised a hand and pointed at him. “Thief,” I whispered, even though I figured he couldn’t hear me. I shook my other fist at him.

  There was no way he could hurt me. I was a ghost inside a piece of plastic. I was still a little scared, but not so much as before. The fear was fading.

  Pit stared down at me, his eyes wide. He opened his hand. I stomped my foot hard, slamming my heel on his palm. I was so small, it couldn’t have really hurt him. But it sure got him moving.

  Pit screamed. He turned and ran back toward his house. Anyone with half a brain would have dropped me. But Pit held on at first. Then he must have realized what he was doing. He screamed again and threw me.

  Mousconi went flying. I popped out and floated to the ground.

  “What’s wrong, little brother?” Lud Mellon called.

  “Something scare you?” Bud Mellon asked.

  All the rest of the Mellons chased after Pit. For a moment, I just stayed where I was. I felt a little confused and dizzy. When I looked back, I saw that Norman and Sebastian had decided not to take the long way.

  “What do you think got into them?” Norman asked.

  “Must have been frightened by the sight of us,” Sebastian said. He held up his arm and flexed his muscle.

  I looked around for Mousconi. I could use it to give Sebastian a message. But I didn’t know where Pit had thrown it. I couldn’t take time to search for it. Norman and Sebastian were already on their way again.

  There had to be something in the house I could use to send a message. “Hurry home,” I called over my shoulder as I ran ahead of the two of them.

  When I reached the yard, I heard barking. Yip was there. He rushed over and wagged his tail at me. “Good boy,” I said. I petted him.

  He barked again and licked my face.

  “I can’t play,” I told him. “I have to show Sebastian the berries.”

  Yip looked at me, then suddenly looked next door toward Mr. Nordy’s yard. Then he started to rise slowly into the air. It was just like what happened to me before the ambulance came. As he rose, he started to fade.

  Twenty-two

  GET THE MESSAGE?

  “What’s wrong?” I asked him.

  He didn’t bark. He didn’t look scared. He just kept drifting higher. I jumped up to grab him, but my hands went right through his body, like he had become the ghost of a ghost.

  He wasn’t only going higher, he was also going toward Mr. Nordy’s yard. I ran through the hedge. When I got to the other side, I saw what was happening.

  Mr. Nordy was burying something in a hole at the back of his yard, right next to his flower garden. “Sorry, puppy,” he said. “I wish you’d had a longer life.” Mr. Nordy doesn’t talk much. He started to fill the hole back up. Browser whined. I looked over at Mr. Nordy’s house. Sheila, the other dog, was there, with a bunch of puppies. I guess Yip was one of the puppies, but he’d died. I
also guess his ghost was waiting until he got buried.

  “Bye, Yip,” I said.

  He looked at me one last time and gave a little bark. Ghosts can’t understand animals any better than fleshsters—I mean people—can, but I knew what Yip was saying. He was saying “It’s okay.” That’s all.

  And then he was gone.

  Ghosts can cry.

  But I knew Yip wouldn’t want me to stand there and feel sad. I had to save myself, or I’d be drifting up and fading away real soon, too. I ran back to the house and went to my room.

  There were a lot of toys on the floor. There were trucks and soldiers and tons of army stuff—even a gas mask that Dad got me. Then I saw something in the corner. I had a bunch of plastic letters. If I could move them, I could spell a message for Sebastian.

  I rushed over to the corner. “You dummy,” I said when I remembered that I couldn’t spell. How could I tell Sebastian about berries when I couldn’t spell berries?

  But there was berry punch in the fridge! I ran downstairs. This was great. I could look at the carton and see how to spell the word. “Pretty smart,” I said when I reached the kitchen.

  I stuck my head right into the refrigerator.

  “You dummy,” I said again. It was dark in the fridge. I couldn’t see anything. The light only came on when the door was open.

  I heard another door open. Sebastian and Rory came in. They went upstairs. I ran ahead of them. I looked at my watch. It was 8:03. In a few minutes, my body would start getting sicker and sicker. In the hall, I could hear the two of them going into Sebastian’s room.

  What could I use to give them a message? I tried to move one of the plastic letters, but nothing happened. There were too many toys. I liked all of them, but they weren’t treasures.

  Oh, no. I could feel something funny. It was starting. My body was getting lighter. Just a little, but it was happening. I didn’t want to be alone when it happened. Even if they couldn’t see me, I wanted to be with people I knew. I ran to Sebastian’s room.

  Right inside, taped to the wall, I saw something I treasured.

  I pressed myself against the poster of Frankenstein’s monster. It had to work.

  It did.

  I grew. I moved inside. Then I stepped away.

  I heard a rip as the monster tore free from the poster. I staggered for a step or two. It’s not easy walking when you’re made of paper.

  “Aaaaaaggghhhhh!”

  That was Sebastian. He backed up into the corner of his room.

  “Eeeeeeeeiiiii!”

  That was Norman. He stood up, but then he seemed to freeze.

  I took a step toward them. They both screamed again. This wasn’t going to work. I had to hope they’d follow me. I turned and walked into the hallway.

  “It’s mass hysteria or some other form of shared delusion,” Norman said. “Definitely a temporary form of dementia. We’re imagining it. Lack of sleep. Yeah. That’s it. Stress and lack of sleep. This is not real. There’s no cause for panic.”

  I looked back at them. Norman was staring at the floor, telling himself in a thousand different ways that he was imagining this. As far as he was concerned, I wasn’t real.

  Sebastian was staring at me; his eyes were wide, but he didn’t look afraid. He looked amazed.

  I turned to face him and motioned with my arm. Follow me, I thought. Please follow me.

  If he came, there was a chance. If not, I knew I was out of time.

  Twenty-three

  NOW OR NEVER

  Sebastian stepped away from the wall. “It wants us to follow it,” he said.

  “You can’t follow it!” Norman shouted. “Do you want to know why you can’t follow it? Because it isn’t real. It can’t be real. Therefore, you can’t follow it. Just close your eyes until it goes away.”

  I walked down the stairs. Everything looked so strange. The floor was far away. I was used to being my own height. Frankenstein’s monster was a lot taller. I glanced back. Sebastian stepped out of his room.

  I went to the kitchen and tried to open the door. But my paper hand slipped around the knob.

  “I got it,” Sebastian said. He reached out and turned the knob for me.

  I walked down the steps and shuffled toward the bushes. It’s a good thing it wasn’t windy—that would have been trouble. I would have been swept away like a kite with a snapped string. I kept looking back to make sure that Sebastian was following me. When I reached the bushes, I leaned over and grabbed at a berry. It wasn’t easy with paper fingers, but I got one and managed to pull it off.

  I turned back to Sebastian and held out the berry.

  “What?” he asked. “I don’t understand.”

  I held the berry up to my mouth like I was going to eat it.

  “Are you crazy?” Sebastian said. “Don’t you know red berries are poisonous?”

  “THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN TRYING TO TELL YOU!” I shouted. Of course, he didn’t hear me.

  But he heard himself. “Poisonous!” he said again. “I have to call my parents.” He raced back inside.

  I stepped out of the poster. It fluttered to the ground behind me. I followed Sebastian and watched while he called. He told them about the berries. By then, Norman had come down from upstairs.

  “Rory will be okay now,” Sebastian told him after he hung up. “The doctors are getting him the right medicine. Come on. I want to be there when he wakes up.”

  So did I. I had a funny feeling that I should be near my body when I woke up. I followed Sebastian and Norman out the front door.

  I was so happy, I didn’t even notice the van.

  Round and round the mulberry bush …

  All of a sudden, something was pulling me. “Yes, I knew it. There was so much spectral energy here,” Teridakian said. He was pointing his ghost grabber at me and cranking the handle. It played that awful music.

  I reached for Sebastian. It was no use. My hands went right through his arm. My body was being sucked into Teridakian’s machine.

  The monkey chased the weasel.…

  “Stop!” I shouted. “Please.”

  My foot got caught. I was being pulled in. But I felt a pull in another direction. My body, my real body, was trying to pull me back. The doctors were fixing me.

  The machine was stronger.

  I was more than halfway inside.

  Sebastian looked at the van. I guess he read the part about ghost hunters. Then he looked toward me. “Norman, he’s got Rory.”

  “What?” Norman asked.

  The monkey thought ’twas all in fun.…

  I was in up to my shoulders. I tried to push myself out, but it was too strong. I knew that as soon as the music reached the word pop, I’d be sucked inside for good.

  “Stop thinking so much!” Sebastian shouted. He ran up to Teridakian and grabbed the ghost-catching machine.

  “Hey!” Teridakian shouted. “Give that back.”

  “No way,” Sebastian said. He threw the machine toward Norman. “Get him out. Save him.”

  Norman caught me. He looked surprised. I think he usually drops anything that’s thrown at him.

  “Go!” Sebastian shouted.

  Norman ran back inside the house with me while Sebastian blocked Teridakian from following.

  “Oh, man,” Norman said. He pulled something out of his pocket. I twisted my head around so I could see what he had. It was a knife—the kind that has a screwdriver and lots of other stuff.

  “Hurry,” I said, even though he couldn’t hear me. My head felt like it was going to be torn in half. The force pulling at me got stronger and stronger, but I was stuck in the machine.

  “Okay, this can’t be too hard,” Norman said. He removed a screw and took the cover off. “Yes, I got it,” he said. I could barely see what he was doing, but it looked like he unhooked some wires and then put them back on.

  My neck was starting to stretch. I felt like a giraffe. “Hurry!” I shouted.

  Sebastian dashed in a
nd slammed the door. Outside, Teridakian was pounding at the door and yelling.

  “Did you do it?” Sebastian asked.

  “Almost,” Norman said. “I tried to crank it backwards, but it doesn’t go that way. So I reversed the wires between the crank and the motor. Whatever it did before, it will do the opposite now.”

  My head had stretched so far, I could look down and see the machine in Norman’s hands.

  “Are you sure?” Sebastian asked.

  “No. I’m not sure. I could ask the fellow outside who’s trying to break your door, but I doubt he’s in the mood to discuss electronics with me at the moment. All I can do is hope.”

  I was sure something was about to break. I couldn’t stand another second. “Stop talking!”

  Norman cranked the handle.

  Twenty-four

  GREAT EXPECTATIONS

  Pop goes the weasel.…

  As the end of the tune played, I shot out of the machine so fast, I felt like a bullet. I went right through the house and over the neighborhood. I guess my body was pulling real hard.

  I zoomed straight through the hospital. As I was flying into my room, I saw Scott in the hallway.

  “Hi, Rory,” he called as I flashed by.

  “Scott!” I shouted. There was something I had to tell him. Something I’d learned. But there was hardly any time. “Stop expecting—”

  I’d just barely said that much when I got pulled back into me. I’d wanted to tell him that he should stop expecting to die. I remembered how he told me he wasn’t going to live. But I’d learned that what you expect can change things. Not always, but sometimes.

  I was back in me. Everything went away for a while. Then I woke up. Mom and Dad and everyone was there. They were all hugging me and crying, except Sebastian, who was pretending not to cry.