[Source: Galimzianova, L. & Getty Images. (n.d.). Funny ghost character [Photo]. Canva. https://www.canva.com]
Sally’s life (death?) as a ghost that haunted a small cozy family home was pretty peaceful. So far, three families have lived in her abode, and she doesn’t mean to brag, but she’s got this whole haunted house business in the bag! She’s pretty much mastered it.
Admittedly, she made the first family move out accidentally. All she was trying to do was claim the empty guest room as hers. So, as one does, she banged the doors and scratched the walls. All she really wanted was for them to stay away from the guest room so that she could have space for herself when they were in the house, but the family ended up moving away. Meanwhile, she scared the second family off on purpose since they were super annoyingly loud all the time. While this third family, the most recent one, is about to be scared off as well.
This current family, the Diosdados, weren’t actually that bad. It was just that they never left the house. It annoyed Sally to death! Pun intended. She never got the house all to herself! Only one or two of them would be out at a time and on the rare occasion that the whole family would head out, they wouldn’t be out for long. Sally was getting awfully bored in the guest room. Tonight, she will take action. Nothing serious of course, just another good scare so she can have her privacy back.
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Jess Diosdado just wanted a midnight snack.
A little treat to herself since modules were kicking her butt. So there she was, wolfing down ice cream in the kitchen at 2 A.M while watching anime on her phone. Unbeknownst to her, a little house ghost had been opening and closing the shelf doors for a while now. Jess didn’t notice with her earphones on though. The little ghost seemed to have lost her patience as she slammed a shelf door hard enough to resonate a loud bang throughout the kitchen.
Jess jolted. She took off an earbud and listened for a moment. She turned to the shelves. There was nothing but silence. She was about to put her earbud back on until a glass bowl fell off the counter and shattered to pieces, the sharp sound piercing her ears.
Jess tensely sat there for a moment, trying to decipher what had happened. Then her eyes widened and she let out a loud gasp. She whipped her head back to her bowl of ice cream.
“Oh no, it melted!” She whined. She couldn’t believe that she got distracted with the episode and the bowl breaking that she forgot about her midnight snack. She waved her hand at the glass shards on the floor as if to say, “I’ll deal with that mess later” and hurriedly drank from her bowl of liquified ice cream.
“What the hell!?” An exasperated sounding voice suddenly rang out.
Jess whipped her head towards the sound.
Another moment of silence passed. She glanced at her phone. Sure enough, her show was paused so it couldn’t have come from there. The voice also didn't sound like her mother and father.
“Hello?” She cautiously called out.
Suddenly, there was a person sitting on the kitchen counter. This person seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, in a blink of an eye. They had their head bowed down so their long black hair was covering their face, but when they spoke, that single word seemed to tremble and echo off the walls.
“Leave.”
“I’m sorry, who are you?” The person paused for a moment, momentarily caught off guard.
“I am the ghost that haunts this house and I want you to leave. Leave this home and never come back!”
“You want us to move!? We can’t!” Jess argued, distressed.
The ghost (understandably) seemed really angry to hear that. They raised their hand and knocked the paper towels off the counter.
“Leave! I did not give you a choice!” The ghost was about to throw a plate against the wall but stopped abruptly when Jess suddenly got to her knees.
“Please! We can’t move during this pandemic!”
A brief pause.
Then the confused ghost spoke, “During this what?”
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Sally, the house ghost, had never imagined a time where she would sit down with a living human to have a lovely chit-chat about the world’s current issues.
“So you can’t move to another crib because it’s dangerous to go outside and interact with other people because there’s this virus going around the whole world?” Sally summarized, sitting across from Jess at the dining table.
“Yeah!” Jess seemed happy that Sally was getting it, “And going outside is such a hassle too. You gotta put alcohol on all the time and make sure that everything is clean. Plus, you have to wear face masks and face shields unless--”
“Unless you want to get the virus and end up like me?” The ghost pointed at herself.
“Harsh, but basically, yes.”
“That’s so sick,” Sally couldn’t help but be slightly amazed, “That sounds like a movie.”
“A horribly long and exhausting movie!” Jess pulled her head back and sighed, “I thought this whole thing would be over in a few months but it’s now been a whole year and to be honest, it’s really taking a toll on my well-being.”
“Wow, a whole year of being stuck in this house, I wonder how that must feel,” The ghost said, her every word dripping with sarcasm.
“Oh,” Jess glanced at her partner with her eyes wide with realization. “Right. How long have you been haunting this place?”
Sally shrugged, “My memories are really fuzzy. All I know is that you guys are the third family to live in here.”
“Did it ever get easy?” Jess leaned forward, “Being stuck in here? With no physical interaction with other people? How did you manage it?”
"I just got used to it," Sally shrugged.
Jess's face twisted in disappointment.
"What?" Sally raised an eyebrow. "Were you expecting some profoundly wise ghostly advice?"
"Kind of, yeah," Jess took a sip from her melted ice cream before speaking again. “I don’t want to just get used to this ‘new normal’ though. I don’t want to accept this as our ‘new way of living’. I want to go back to how things used to be.”
“Sorry, dude. Can’t give you much advice except that you can’t really do anything besides adapt to this current thing.”
“I know, I know,” Jess can’t help but sigh again. “But all this waiting has just really got me exhausted. I hate how it’s affecting my family and friends. This whole thing really had all of us stressed out. And I really hate how I can do nothing but just try to cheer them up and stay positive for both their sake and mine.”
“Well, that’s all you can do for now,” Sally tried to give Jess a reassuring pat on the shoulder, but her hand just went through. Although Jess appreciated the sentiment, she still couldn’t help but shiver at the cold that washed over her. “You’re doing the best you can with the situation right now. I can't really explain it but I want you to realize that you, unlike me, are filled with so much life. Even if it feels that you're wasting that life away right now, I want you to treasure it still. You dig me?”
Jess was momentarily caught off guard by the sudden serious atmosphere and the out of date slang at the end. All she could do was nod. To be reminded of one’s own humanity by a ghost felt surreal. Suddenly, Jess realized that no matter how similar their situations seemed to be, their worlds are completely different.
“This so-called ‘new normal’ won’t last forever,” Sally continued. “The definition of normal changes ever so often, after all. Life's trippy like that. And with those vaccines being shipped out now, it seems like the current definition is going to change very soon. Just wait a little longer.”
Jess had to wonder how old Sally was. The ghost looked like she was around her age, but with her advice and comforting presence, she reminded Jess of a grandma (although Jess was sure that Sally wouldn’t appreciate the comparison).
“Wow, thanks,” was all Jess could say. “Now I kinda feel guilty for ranting on you when you’ve obviously had it harder.”
Sally waved a hand, “The difficulties we experience shouldn’t be compared. This is not a competition of tragedies. We each have our own problems and our own ways of solving them.”
“Well, if you ever need help with your ghostly business, just tell me and I’ll do my best to help.”
“Really? Sweet!” The ghost clapped her hands together, her smile blindingly bright. “I was actually thinking of ways to ask for your help without sounding rude, so thanks for the offer!”
“Wait,” Jess put her hand up. “You actually need my help with something?”
‘I put my offer out there to be polite but I didn’t expect you to come up with a request so quickly.’ Was what Jess did not add.
“With your help, my normal is about to change real soon too,” Sally said, looking so happy and full of hope that Jess was now even more determined to help her no matter what. “Help me complete my unfinished business and I’ll go from haunting this crib to chilling in the afterlife!”
“How, exactly?” Jess felt like Sally was forgetting to explain a lot of important details.
“Well, my wish is a simple one,” Sally explained. “I want to visit my family’s farm one last time. And I mean, I can leave the house. I’m not imprisoned here. It’s just that… well… everything has changed a lot over the past years and I’m afraid that I won’t be able to recognize anything and will probably get lost. So I’ve always needed someone to guide me there. And that’s where you come in!”
“Sounds like I can only help you with that once this whole quartine thing is over though.”
“Exactly!” That fact didn’t seem to damper Sally’s optimism. “So we’re stuck with each other until then. Let’s be patient for a little while longer. Our ‘normal’ will be changing soon, and no matter what that new normal will be, we’ll just have to press forward like we usually do.”
The corner of Jess’s lips twitched up into a smile. There were days when she just couldn’t find the strength to be positive even if she wanted to be for her family and friends. Days when all the stress would build up and she all she wanted was for the waiting for this ‘new normal’ to be over. Days when it felt like anxiety was grabbing her by the neck and immobilizing her from doing what she needed to do. Those days had sucked, but she managed to get over them somehow. Sally’s words had reminded her that she just needed to push just a little bit more. She made it this far so she just needed to wait a while longer. Because this prominent sadness will not last forever.
“That’s the spirit, Sally.”
“Ugh, I should kill you for that horrible pun.”
“Feeling so lonely being the only house ghost? You want another one around?”
“Who said I was the only one around here?”
“There are more!?”
“Psyche.”
“Please don’t ever joke about that.”
“Then stop making lame puns and show me something that’s actually entertaining. We’re going to be stuck here for a little bit after all.”
“Have you heard about K-Dramas?”
“K- what?”
“Oh boy, I am going to change your world. There are lots of shows I can recommend.”
“Go ahead, then. We got some time anyway.”
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