Spell… H-A-L-L-O-W-E-E-N 2024 – Day 21

An impromptu piece about living with a handful of ghosts and the consequences of that.

Protectors

There was a ghost in Erica’s bedroom, another in the kitchen, two in the living room, and one in the attic. They came with the house and had been stuck in it for the last fifty years. No one could see them except her.
At first, she thought it was weird but quickly got used to their presence. The dead were quieter than the living and could hold a conversation about anything without sounding like condescending creeps. They were always cheating at chess, though, moving pieces around when she wasn’t looking.
After two years, her spirit companions were like family and on the day someone tried to kidnap her, they got mad.
People in the neighborhood will always remember the day a black van shot into the sky as if it were a rocket and landed heavily on the middle of the street leaving a crater in its wake. Miraculously, the two assailants survived but they wished they didn’t. Every hair in their bodies had turned white and tears of blood ran down their cheeks. What they went through nobody knows except them, but they’ll never be allowed to forget it.
Erica sleeps safe every night now, knowing their five protectors will always have her back no matter what. Anyone who bothers her won’t get a chance to do it again.
Now, tell me, Mr. Ex-Boyfriend… Are you sure you want to continue making a scene at her doorstep at 3 am? Okay, it’s your funeral.