Wildcat ✓

03 | The Haunted House

Prompt by @mystery: There are some words you do not want to hear in an abandoned house. Like 'don't touch it' and 'what are you doing here?'.

Word limit: 500-1000 words

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"Watch out!"

The loud scream accompanying the shout shot goosebumps up my spine and made me abruptly halt in my steps. Before I had the chance to look around and identify (1) the source of the shout and (2) the source of danger, a heavy weight hit me from the side and knocked me to the ground.

"Shit, that hurt!" The same voice said again, this time more calmly. I felt embarrassed. Completely embarrassed.

I was known for my quick reflexes and attentiveness, but in the past 30 seconds, both seemed to have flown out of the window.

I stood up, brushed the dust from my trousers, and looked my savior/attacker straight in the face.

The first thing that hit me was his translucent physics. He did not have a human body. How could someone with neither body nor weight hit me with full force and make me lose balance?

The thousand questions I had must've been obvious on my face because he just smiled, grabbed my hand and pulled me in another room, and closed the door behind him.

His touch felt cold, very cold. But solid. How was that possible?

"Don't think so hard, kitty. You look better when you smile," he said in a voice dripping with playful arrogance.

"Kitty?"

"I knew from a mile that you're a feline shifter. 'Wildcat', right?"

I deemed it better to reply with a question.

"Who and what are you?" I said more collected than before.

"A ghost, of course," he whispered, his voice going up two octaves. A shrill laugh came out of him.

That was my cue to leave. I quick-walked out of the room, leaving the weird, knowing creature behind.

But I had forgotten about source number two: the danger!

"No, don't touch that!" My new ghostly acquaintance said vehemently.

"What is your problem? And what is the danger? I did not see or sense anything!" I said, annoyed.

This was supposed to be a well-deserved holiday weekend. So far, it resembled more and more a car crash. Why had I trusted this agency??!

"Hey, I don't deserve your passive-aggressiveness. I did nothing wrong. I even saved you earlier. It's not my fault you walked into a haunted house. A house that I was supposed to haunt!"

I took a closer look at the ghost. He seemed rather big with young facial expressions.

"Saved me from what? And if you dont mind me asking: Did you die here?"

"So now you're interested?" The ghost seemed to have an attitude because he vanished and left me alone in the entrance corridor.

I decided it was safer to proceed as a cat. I shifted into a black cat and left my bags behind. I walked towards the stairs.

The agency had promoted this house as rural, calm, and quiet. Close to the woods. A perfect spot to rest for a weekend, unbothered by the sounds of the city and through no wifi, also no disturbance from the digital world.

I scolded myself. What had sounded like heaven a few days ago sounded like a nightmare right now. Were there more ghostly creatures in this house?

I proceeded as a cat, and while making a tour of the small house, I could feel eyes following my every step. But I could not find anything, or anyone. Not even the ghost.

I sighed, went back to the entrance corridor, and changed back.

"That was interesting!" Said the voice of the ghost coming from nowhere. "I've never had a feline shifter visiting this house before. You should feel honored."

I ignored him and made my way up the stairs with my luggage heading straight to the guest room I had discovered on my earlier tour.

As I sat down on my bed, the clock struck eight, and all lights turned off at the same time.

"You wanted to know if I died here?," the ghost said from behind me.

I jumped up and turned around. This time, I was better prepared with a knive in my hand.

"Oh, you learned," the ghost said, again with a new voice, this time a lot deeper, like the rumble of a thunder.

"You should not have come here. But it is too late now," he said, not making me feel better.

I thought my different options through in seconds, eyeing the window at the other end of the room and the door in front of me.

Then I headed for the door, but the door closed and clicked shut. I did not hesitate for a second, heading to the window.

It closed as well, but I hit my blade against the glass and as estimated it shattered and I was out the window falling downwards one floor.

I turned in the air and landed as a cat on my feet. Didn't they always say that cats had more than one life?

I quickly created distance between me and the haunted house, but instead of reaching the end of the front yard, the exit seemed to get farther and farther away.

"You are stuck here," the ghost said. Sitting on a bank watching me amused. "Stuck, until you tell me why you're here and listened to me."

That, I could do, but I was not dumb. He was definitely playing with me. But what other choice did I have? I changed back.

"I'm here, because I needed a break," and while putting all my charm and empathy into my voice, added: "Isn't it exhausting to haunt guests of the house? I can imagine it being hard... and lonely."

I seemed to have struck a chord because the ghost calmed down and for the first time seemed vulnerable.

"You have no idea! People always leave me behind." Then he started to weep.

I reached out to him...

...and woke up.

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Word count: 976

🏅 Received an "honorable mention"