Spooky Ghost's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

Miriam's words stuck with Spooky Ghost through the night. He needed something stronger than standing still. But he had another problem first. When he tried to haunt, his moans turned soft and kind. His stillness went warm instead of cold. The twins had taught him the trick of oppressive silence, yet he could not master it alone. He needed a victim to test it on. No one would come near the burned cottage. So at dusk he drifted out to find someone. He floated down a lonely road until he reached a gas station. A single pump light buzzed. One tired traveler leaned against his car, waiting for the tank to fill. The man yawned and checked his phone. Spooky Ghost sank behind the pump and watched. This was his chance. One person, alone, far from town. He gathered his glow and tried to go cold and still. Two pale blue shapes slipped out of the dark beside him. The twin ghosts, Echo and Whisper, wore matching nightgowns. They had hidden him once before. Now they finished each other's words again. "You can't do it kind," said Echo. "You have to mean it," said Whisper. Spooky Ghost's glow flickered soft. "I don't know how to mean it," he said. "I feel bad scaring him." The twins drifted in front of him. "Watch," they said together. They went flat and gray. Their faces stopped moving. The air around the pump turned thick. The traveler's phone slipped from his hand. He looked up slow, and his mouth went dry. The twins held it one long breath, then faded back. "Feel that?" said Echo. "That's the cold," said Whisper. "Stop caring if he likes you." Spooky Ghost rose over the pump. He thought of the hunters with salt and nails. He thought of being driven out before he could ever scare on Halloween. The warmth drained from his glow. He stopped moving. He stopped caring. He let the cold fill him and he held it. The traveler turned. His eyes found the gray shape above the pump. Spooky Ghost did not moan. He did not flicker kind. He hung there, still and empty, and let the silence press. The man stumbled back into his car. He dropped his keys twice. The pump handle clattered to the ground. He threw the car into gear and tore onto the road, tires screaming, gas cap still swinging. Spooky Ghost watched the taillights shrink. For the first time, his stillness had stayed cold. The twins drifted up beside him. "You did it," said Echo. "You meant it," said Whisper. But Spooky Ghost felt the cold still sitting in his chest. It had worked. It had also changed him. He wondered how much colder he would have to go to scare a whole town, and whether he could warm back up when it was done.