Misty

When you return from the afterlife, you expect life to go sideways. You have to adjust to a new life while retaining memories of your previous life. Everything becomes topsy turvy where you end up with other people's parents or return as the opposite gender. It's a toss-up between the two.

Never in a million years would I expect to deal with a real-life haunting. It's bad enough we have a psychotic demon bothering us. Now, we get real-life ghosts to add to the mix.

It doesn't help that ghosts have popped up randomly at school and home. If they weren't wreaking havoc on campus, they were doing it in the houses. Doors and windows would randomly close, and objects would move around.

The others questioned Nash if he had anything to do with it. He didn't. How do you close several doors and windows if you're nowhere near them? It's a bit hard to do.

Nash and I walked to the bakery with Nixon and Kat to grab a coffee with other students running and screaming across campus.

"I doubt we need to visit a haunted house since something is haunting the campus," Nixon mentioned.

"No shit," Nash said.

We entered the bakery.

"Duck!" Someone yelled.

We ducked as a pie flew past our heads, stood up, and looked around at the chaos in the bakery. Baked goods flew through the air while the workers hid behind tables and the counter.

"How does food sail through the air without anyone launching it?" Nixon asked.

We rolled our eyes, left the bakery, and headed to the coffee shop. We arrived and entered, only to stop when we saw an older woman dressed in an old uniform with pale skin. She looked like an employee, except she was spilling coffee everywhere. The machines were going haywire while the lights flashed.

"Is it me, or is that not an actual employee?" Kat asked, pointing at the woman.

So much for our coffee, we headed to the house to brew coffee since both places were a bust.

We walked into the house as the others sat around the living room, doing nothing.

"Why are you sitting around in the living room?" Nixon asked.

"It's not like we can go anywhere. Every business we entered has weird shit happening in there," Nathan said.

"Something strange is definitely happening in the neighborhood," Diego said.

"I don't understand why we're dealing with a haunting on top of a demon," Eden said.

"Pure dumb luck on our parts," Aiden said with a shrug.

I need caffeine to deal with this bullshit. I walked into the kitchen and filled the basket with coffee grounds. I set the sugar canister on the counter while filling the coffee pot. The canister moved across the counter. Seriously?

I moved it back until it moved again. I kept pushing it back while something moved it away. "Knock it off!"

The cabinet doors alternated opening and closing. I stepped back and watched the freak show. Then the water turned on. I turned off the water, with the stove igniting. I clicked off the stove. The fridge door opened, with food flying out and smashing against the wall and counter. I shut it and pressed my body against the door while it tried to open.

Nash walked into the kitchen and stopped when he noticed the chaos happening. "Problems?"

"Oh, nothing that a good old exorcism can take care of!" I yelled at no one in particular.

The cabinet doors stopped opening and closing.

I looked at Nash. "The ghosts have lost their minds."

Nash rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I wasn't expecting a real-life haunting to happen."

I sighed because all I wanted was coffee. Is that too much to ask for?

******
Valentino

We have managed to survive a demon and Chet. Now we have an actual haunting? I shook my head in disbelief at the current events and helped Mags with the coffee. I wanted to say my energy was causing the problems, but not after seeing the ghostly worker in the coffee house.

Once the coffee brewed, we poured coffee creamer into our coffee and set it on the counter. We leaned against the counter as the creamer slid across the countertop. The cabinet door opened as a coffee cup floated out of it and sat on the counter. We watched the coffee pot move from the coffeemaker and pour the coffee into the cup before returning to the coffee maker. The coffee creamer lifted into the air, the lid flipped open, and the creamer poured into the coffee.

Mags and I leaned against the counter and sipped our coffee while watching this happen. The fridge door opened, and a pie moved from it to the counter. Another cabinet door opened, and a small plate moved from the cabinet and set on the counter. A kitchen drawer opened, and a knife moved from it before closing. The plastic lid on the pie was removed, and the knife cut slices into the pie, with the slice moving to the plate.

Mags and I exchanged glances while the plate lifted in the air. We watched balls of light float around in a circle before someone materialized. We gaped at the person before us.

"Whoa. It takes a lot of energy to appear." He cracked his neck before taking a bite of pie and eating it.

Mags squinted and cocked her head. "Correct me if I'm wrong. But aren't you dead?"

The guy pointed his fork at her and swallowed his food. "Correct. I am dead, but Halloween allows me to have some fun."

Nix walked into the kitchen and halted when he saw the person. "Christ. What the hell are you doing here?"

"Eating pie." The guy shrugged before shoving another piece into his mouth and chewing.

"I thought I escaped you in the previous life."

"Does anyone ever really escape each other?" The guy kept eating until he finished his pie. "I prefer coconut cream over banana cream. But that's just me."

I stood there, trying to figure out how this was possible.

"What are you doing here?" Nix asked.

"I came with a message." Frazier smiled.

"What message?" Mags asked.

"You have many people on the other side willing to help you with your current situation."

"What?" Mags pinched her brows together.

Frazier turned to Mags and smiled. "Did you think we would let you fight this thing alone?"

Mags and I exchanged curious glances.

"Trust me. Your reward is incredible." Frazier winked before light engulfed him as he disappeared.

I was becoming more curious about this reward.

*******
Misty

Since we had a real-life haunting, we stayed in and watched horror films. It's not like we didn't have real-life special effects around us. I chalked it up to add to the realism of Halloween.

During Poltergeist, of all films, we noticed movement across the living room ceiling. Nathan paused the movie rhetorically as we stood up and looked at the ceiling. A circle of light formed on the ceiling before expanding, and items dropped through it as the light burst.

I picked up a metal wristwatch, Nash found a pocket watch, Kat picked up a ring, and the others grabbed a piece of jewelry. We held them in our hands while the light flashed across the ceiling. A rope dropped through the hole and dangled there. Nash handed me the pocket watch and wrapped the rope around his hand before tugging on it.

We waited until something fell through the hole. Nash quickly released the rope and stepped back. The thing moved and squirmed before growing into a monster and lunging at us.

I jolted upright in my bed, gasping with sweat coating my forehead and matting my hair to my head.

"Mags?" Nash asked sleepily.

I wiped my face, trying to calm my racing heart.

Nash turned on the lamp beside the bed and sat up with me. "Are you okay?"

Once my breathing calmed, I looked at Nash. "I told you watching horror films was a terrible idea."

Nash arched his brow.

Stupid dream.

*******
My eyelids flutter open to find Nash gone. The bedroom door opened, and Nash entered, holding two cups of coffee. I pushed myself into a seat position and took a cup from him. He sat beside me on the bed.

"Thanks." I sipped my coffee.

"Are you okay?"

"I had the strangest dream last night."

"What did you dream?"

I told Nash about the dream I had last night.

He drank his coffee until I finished. "It sounds like a cross between Ghostbusters and Poltergeist."

"No kidding." I drank my coffee, trying to clear my head.

"We need a break."

"How? It's not even Thanksgiving yet."

"No, but it doesn't mean we can't take a break from what's happening now."

"That's a nice dream, but not until they find Chet."

Our friendly cheater seemed to have disappeared after the incident with Allie. We needed to find Chet so we could extract that leech that was sucking him dry.

How do you find someone when they leave no traces behind?