The Ghoul Next Door

The Ghoul Next Door - By Rose Pressey

Chapter One

“Do you believe in all that exorcism, possessed-by-the-devil stuff? ’Cause I got to tell you, Larue, the more I think about it, the more freaked out I get. I don’t want to start speaking in a weird language and get glowing red eyes.” My best friend, Mindy Winters paced the length of her front porch.

I’d rushed to Mindy’s house the second she showed up at my front door in a panic and looking rather frazzled, demanding that I get rid of a ghost in her house pronto. I’d turned the ringer off on my phone so I could spend some quality time with the hunky Callahan Weiss. It always freaked her out if she couldn’t reach me on the phone.

Normally Mindy let the waves of her golden hair fall against her shoulders, but tonight she had her strands thrown into a drooping ponytail. I’d never seen her wear lime-green sweats and a black-and-yellow striped tank top at the same time before. Sure, she had always dressed a little bold, but this was insane clown apparel.

“You got dressed in a little bit of a hurry, huh?” I stared at her baggy pants and let my gaze move up to the bubble-bee tank.

She unlocked her door and stepped back, motioning for me to come in. “You’re damn right I got dressed in a hurry. You would too if a ghost was trying to kill you.” Her voice had reached ear-bleed level.

She could be so dramatic.

“Mindy, I need you to take a deep breath, let it out, and repeat. Think calming thoughts. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

Okay. I couldn’t guarantee that nothing weird would take place, but I’d keep that little tidbit to myself. In fact, I did believe in that exorcism-possessed-by-the-devil stuff. I’d seen it with my own eyes. It wasn’t something I ever cared to see again, either. Yet something told me I would see it again.

Mindy took in a deep breath, but she forgot to let it out. I slapped her on the back.

After grabbing her hands, I said, “Okay, if you freak out, I’ll freak out, so stop worrying. I can’t afford to freak out when I’m working.”

She scowled, but luckily didn’t smack me back.

In all the time that I’d known Mindy she’d never once had a paranormal bone in her body. I’d even tried to take her to fake haunted houses, but she’d always refused. Well, except for that one time. I’d gotten her inside one, but the first monster that jumped out wielding a chainsaw sent her screaming out the entrance door, knocking a few teenagers down in her path. She just wasn’t into it.

To her credit, Mindy had always believed me when I said I talked to ghosts. She was a great friend like that. So when she said she had a ghost in her house, I knew that something was really going on with her. She would never make up something like that. Was it her imagination finally getting the better of her? Maybe. But I’d soon find out.

Mindy had seen so many crazy things lately that maybe it was finally getting the better of her. Heck, she’d just recently gotten rid of a black magic spell that had been cast on her. Either way, I had to find out what was going on in her home.

“What makes you think you have a ghost?” I asked as we stepped through her front door.

My boyfriend Callahan Weiss was beside me as we stepped into the foyer. I still loved saying that—my boyfriend. It never got old. Well, technically it had only been a short time that we’d officially been dating, but still…

If he was going to stick around with me, he’d better get used to the ghost-hunting and other crazy paranormal antics in my life. I’d been seeing and speaking to spirits ever since I was a child. Then there was the little matter of the new witchcraft skills I had apparently gained. The local coven had wanted me to be their leader, but I wasn’t sure I was cut out for something as big as that yet. I had enough to handle with running my bookstore and all the spirits I dealt with on a daily basis.

I had a revolving door for ghosts. As soon as I got rid of one batch of spectral visitors, there was another batch just waiting in the wings to harass me. And they weren’t always every-day, normal ghosts either. I had famous ghosts as well. Recently I’d attracted Abe Lincoln and Mae West. An odd combination, right? Luckily, I’d been able to help them cross over. I’d picked up Abe Lincoln while visiting his birthplace which was close to my hometown, and Mae had been hanging out in a little ranch-style house after she’d been conjured up by a Ouija board. But I digressed.

Anyway, with any luck, the ghosts would give me a little vacation now that the latest bunch had crossed over. I needed a rest.

“So tell me what’s going on?” I asked while looking around her living room.

Everything seemed normal in the room. The toss pillows were neatly aligned on her beige sofa. The side chairs were perfectly parallel from each other and the floral area rug didn’t have a speck of lint. Typical Mindy—all looked normal to me.

She tucked a loose curl behind her ear. “Well, I didn’t mention anything over the past few days because I was, well, under that crazy spell and not in the right frame of mind, but a lot of strange things have been going on in here.”

Like I said, Mindy had been affected by a black magic spell. A witch who wanted to be the coven leader got a wee bit jealous and thought she’d hurt me by attacking my best friend and turning her against me. Luckily, it hadn’t worked out for her. Thank goodness.

“What have you heard? Have you seen anything?”

Callahan stood beside me taking in the whole conversation. His blue eyes seemed sharper under the glow from the overhead light. He’d slipped into his blue T-shirt and jeans when we’d rushed over to Mindy’s. The casual look suited him… well, any look suited him.

“There have been footsteps up in the attic.” She gestured above. “I’ve heard my name called out and mumbling. I’m not sure what the voice is saying, but it’s definitely there. Oh, and one more thing. I smell cigarette smoke. No one smokes in my house.”

Why was it always the attics? Why did the spirits like the dark and spooky spaces? Not to mention the spiders and mice that liked to call those places home too.