Halloweenský speciál

V dnešním speciálu na vás čeká halloweenská povídka v angličtině!

My Beloved Ghost and Me

Angličtina, povídka

My best friend, Chloe, just moved houses a few weeks ago.. 

She stumbled into the flat. It was three in the morning, and she was drunk. So drunk she could barely remember what had happened. And if it weren’t for the other encounters, she would have brushed it off as drunk hallucinations. 

You see, what happened was that when she entered the flat, she saw a strange man in the hallway. He was just standing there, looking disappointed. “Well, well, well, look who has finally returned home?” he said. She was floored. There was a stranger in her new flat after all. But something about him looked or felt off. She couldn't really wrap her mind around that.

”And you are doing exactly what here? This is my flat now. I have bought it with my own hard-earned money, so it’s mine,” she exclaimed, slightly annoyed. He took one look at her and replied, “First of all, I lived here first and second, nothing is ever truly yours, honey.” “Whatever, just get out of my home right now, or I will call the police!” she threatened him. “You poor little thing, you are really so naïve that you think they would believe you? You smell like a winery!” he easily brushed off her threat.

She couldn’t believe her ears. A strange man in her own home, refusing to leave and mocking her attempt to intimidate him. Something did not add up. Why wouldn’t the police believe her? He was there, and she could keep him there until the police arrived, it was that simple, was it not? After much thought, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She quickly regained her composure and tried a different approach. If her words could not make him leave, maybe her strength would.

Chloe always kept some self-defence tools in her purse, so she secretly pulled out a pepper spray. She cautiously started taking steps towards the man. He looked at her, “You innocent mortal. You think such a measly weapon is going to affect me?” She froze at the words “innocent mortal”. What could he have possibly meant by that? It was not like immortal beings existed…. right????

All of a sudden, a long forgotten memory of hers resurfaced. That fateful night with her friends when they were just teenagers. The old, abandoned church and the Ouija board. The memories from that night washed over her like the frigid water when she had almost drowned at six years old. Was the universe getting revenge for messing with things she should not have messed with?

After what seemed like eternity, she finally snapped back to reality. The man watched her with an amused look on his face. “Do not I remind you of someone you once met already?” Upon hearing this, she was horrified. How could he have possibly known about that? They had never told anyone about that night. Or at least she thought they had not. But what if the others did and they were just playing a cruel prank on her. 

“Did my friends send you here?” she inquired. “No, I have been living here for a long time,” he replied. “But the real estate agent said this place was vacant when I bought it.” she responded. “They’re not exactly wrong. I call these things half-truths. Technically not wrong, but not the most accurate way to describe the situation,” the man said. 

A few weeks later

“Come on in,” Chloe said, leading me through the front door of her flat. I followed her inside, “That’s a cool living room, you really have added a lot of pizazz,” I complimented her interior decorating skills. “I actually asked someone for help,” she refused my compliment. “Someone???? And not me!? I’m offended,” I teased her. “Yeah, I’m sorry, he kind of forced himself here.” she explained. “What do you mean he? Did you get a boyfriend without telling me?”  I teased her again.”You know I wouldn’t do that, every boy has to get approval from you. He is actually a new friend of mine,” she countered my teasing. I continued, enjoying the banter between us, “You know how to make friends, I’m surprised.” 

“It was very demure, very mindful of him to help me,” she switched the topic back to the decor. “I can try to call him up to hang out, if you want to,” she offered. “Yeah, sure,” I agreed, I was very curious about him. Chloe was never the type to make friends fast, so I was surprised that she had made a new friend so quickly. 

After a few minutes, a man arrived. He looked to be about forty years old, and something about him just perplexed me, as if he were not just a man, but something else, something supernatural. Also I did not hear the front door, it seemed as if he had appeared out of thin air. 

I pushed the disturbing thoughts aside and stood up to shake hands with him. I reached out my hand and introduced myself, “Hello, I’m Sophia. Nice to meet you.” He smiled and reciprocated the introduction “Hello, nice to meet you too, my name is Maxwell,” but he did not shake my hand. Chloe walked in as we were exchanging pleasantries and immediately sprung into action. “Hi Ghostie, I see you’ve already met my friend Sophia, she is my best friend from school.” Chloe addressing him as “Ghostie” caught me a bit of guard. Also why didn’t he shake my hand? I thought that was common practice around there. 

After a few hours spent getting to know my friend’s new friend, Chloe and I were left alone once again. I had to ask her quite a few questions. “You will probably think I’m crazy, but he really is an amazing companion,” Chloe started speaking before I could ask any questions. “Not at all, he seems like a fun guy. He appears to be a person with an interesting backstory.” I reassured her. “He actually does. He is 213 years old and has met a lot of interesting people and lived many lives in all those years,” she continued telling me about him.”Wait, wait, wait did you say two hundred and thirteen? What is he, a ghost?” I asked for clarification because this could not be possible. I always thought this kind of longevity was impossible. ”Actually yes, he is a ghost, he was cursed when he was going through a crisis in the 1830s. The local politicians and he got into a bit of an argument and he ended up running into a forest to try and escape them. While trying to survive in the wild, he prayed to the wrong people, and now he’s suffering the consequences,” she openly answered my question. 

And that my friends was the story of how my best friend and I became great friends with a ghost that lived in her flat. He ended up being a good companion, occasionally helping her fix stuff around the house that she could not do by herself. Unfortunately life happened and she had to move away a few years later for family reasons. The only downside of the friendship was that we had to keep it a secret, because I imagine that people would consider us crazy for talking about our ghostie friend. 

Happy Halloween, everyone

Adéla Šavrdová