Daniel's ghost

Daniel's ghost was watching TV next to his still, very much alive brother.

Forgetting that he is a ghost he tries to ask his brother a question. When he gets no response, he puts his hand on his brother's leg. His brother gets a chill and walks away.

That was a very sad reminder of how he could never again be a part of the lives of the people he cares for.

Daniel wanted to drink wine once, so he picked up a glass and it shattered.

As time went on, Daniel would grow more sad with each passing day, but the final straw was when his mother and father were getting old and sick and they died.

His brother moved out of the house. His sister, Tricia, had been married and was living down south, leaving Daniel's ghost alone in the house.

Five years later a new family bought the house, and the lonely, and saddened yet angry spirit was about to have his whole life turned upside down.

A family named the Voleros took the house, rewired, and repainted it and put in a new furnace.

The oldest daughter, Cassandra, chose the room which had belonged to his little brother, and she wanted it painted all black.

Cassie was a practicing Wiccan, and her parents didn't approve of her.

Across the hall, in what had used to be Daniel's room, Cassie's brother Mark moved in.

Mark went wild with his painting, making it look like the inside of a cave with primitive paintings all around.

But that's not what bothered Daniel. No one had wanted the things that had used to belong to Daniel, so they'd left them behind.

Mark began to throw away all of Daniel's things, which made him mad as hell.

Their parents on the other hand, were very much Catholic and tried to get their children to go to church as much as possible.

Cassandra hated it.

One night during dinner, Mark was playing with his food, and his mother told him to stop. His father threatened to send him to his room, and the boy settled down.

Suddenly the lights all went out and the light bulbs exploded.

Amidst the confusion and fear, no one could see anything. Except for Cassandra who could see the problem, and it wasn't the wiring.

It was the ghost that yelled, "I want you out!"

The family was in shock, but not seeing the ghost they just swept up the mess.

Cassandra tried to follow Daniel but he disappeared into a wall.

That night when she fell asleep, she lit three candles and burned incense and left a note on her door, leaving it somewhat open. 

The note was for Daniel, and it explained that she could see him and invited him in.

Daniel, seeing this, went into her dreams. 

As Cassandra was dreaming of modern art and mythological creatures, Daniel stepped in and said,

upset, "You can see me?"

Cassandra got up out of bed and yelled, surprised. Suddenly she realized that it was the ghost in front of her, who said, "What do you want?" 

The girl asked in a much calmer voice, "Who are you?"

Daniel replied, "Ask me who I was."

Recovering quickly, the girl did as she'd been told.

"In life I was Daniel. A writer, poet and storyteller. And I was murdered."

Cassandra asked the ghost, "Do you need to solve your murder before you can pass on?"

Still angry, the ghost replied, "I believe this conversation is over." and he disappeared.

The next morning when the family got up to make breakfast they found the food had all gone bad and moldy. Flies were everywhere. The family couldn't understand what had happened.

"Did someone leave the refrigerator open last night?" the father asked, trying to come up with some reasonable explanation.

"Everyone was asleep last night," his wife replied, "no one could have done this.

Jokingly the man said, "Then who did it. A ghost? Never mind," he continued, "clean up what you can while I go back to the market."

Cassandra went back upstairs to her room and whispered, "Please, Daniel, I know you're angry about us being here, but we have nowhere else to go. No matter how badly you hurt us, we can't leave."

The first thought in Daniel's head was to cause water damage in the house, but then he had a change of heart and said with a sigh, "If you wish to live here, so be it."

Over the next few days, Cassandra and Daniel would talk more, and became friends. He began to use his abilities to play pranks on her brother who liked to tease her mercilessly.

He was so wrapped up in his own problems that he stopped teasing his sister.

The End