Sephora comes home and heads to the bathroom for a shower, while Zawadi plays with her toy. Zawadi looks around the room, because she senses that something has changed. She feels a presence. “Mama!” She calls, wondering if her mommy has come back into the room.
Miles arrives home shortly, and Sephora steps out of the bathroom. In the kitchen is a spectral figure. Miles and Sephora stop cold. “Do you see what I see?” Sephora asks Miles.
“Yes,” Miles says in a shaky voice. Sephora lets out a sigh of relief. She should be more frightened, but she is more relieved that she’s not crazy.
Miles is at a loss. He has heard of people having ghostly sightings, but he always thought that it was just stories that old people back home told. Now he is seeing one for himself. He realizes that he’s been sensing this presence for a long time now.
Sephora gets past her relieved feelings and is suddenly very afraid. She has no idea what ghosts are capable of, but she is too afraid to move. Her feet are like mush at the end of her legs, totally useless.
“Get Zawadi out of here!” Miles demands.
This is the push that Sephora needed. Her feet return to life and she grabs Zawadi as quick as lightning and takes her into her bedroom.
Miles knows that he is responsible for protecting his family, but has no idea how to protect them from the undead. He always thought that ghosts were supposed to disappear, but this one is intent on just staring him down.
“This is our house! You need to leave now!” Miles says with less conviction than he would have liked. In fact, it comes out as more of a squeak. If only he could stop his heart from pounding into his neck. Maybe he could muscle up more volume from his vocal chords.
The ghost recoils as if he’d been hit…or insulted. “This is my house!” The ghosts says in a voice that sounds like one hundred whispers and one whisper at the same time. The words come out in a wave of years dead, cold breath. Miles is instantly chilled to the bone.
“Not any more!” Miles says, not knowing where his sudden burst of courage came from.
“This is my house!” The ghosts says not backing down. Miles can feel his bodily functions begin to loosen with each word out of the spirit’s mouth. Miles is afraid to make him angry. Who knows what an angry ghost can do.
Sephora stands in Zawadi’s room afraid to stay, yet afraid to leave. She hopes that Miles is ok. She has never felt more afraid and helpless in her life. Will they have to move out of their beloved home?
Miles knows that there has to be someone who can help them get this spirit out of their home. He is very sleepy, but he refuses to go to sleep with this restless specter roaming around their home. He tries calling the police.
The cop who answers practically bursts Miles’ eardrum, laughing so loudly into the phone. Who will take him seriously? Who can he call?
The spirit is now behind Miles. Miles’ small amount of courage is completely gone, but he is determined to protect his family and reclaim their home. Who would know how to control ghosts?
Then he remembers an article a few weeks ago about a scientist at the science center who studies spirits. A quick call to information and Miles has the scientists’ cell number.
Without regard to the time, Miles calls up Dr. Spright and lets him in on their little ghostly problem. Luckily Dr. Spright is at the lab late working on an experiment. He is happy to offer Miles a few suggestions.
“So let me get this right, we have to find the ghost’s grave and have the whole grave removed from our property?” Miles repeats into the phone.
Dr. Spright goes over the steps with Miles. Miles is overwhelmed with the thought of trying to locate a grave and move it. “Are you sure this will work?” Miles asks.
Dr. Spright informs Miles that it works about forty percent of the time.
“Well what about the other sixty percent of the time?” Miles asks exasperated. He sighs when Dr. Spright tells him that if it doesn’t work he has a major problem on his hands.
Miles is tired and hungry enough to pass out right here on the kitchen floor, but he knows that he has work to do.
Miles goes outside and begins looking around. Where can a person hide a grave?
It’s dark outside, but Miles is determined to find this grave, even if he has to search all night.
Miles searches around bushes and under rocks.
He is almost ready to give up…
…when he practically trips over it in the dark. “There you are!” Miles says excited. He leans down to read the headstone, trying to make out the words in the dim moonlight. The stone reads, Here lies Mort, somewhat missed.
“So our ghost is named Mort Gauge,” Miles says out loud after reading the name and date of death. “He most have been a real jerk.” He concludes from reading the epitaph.
Inside, Mort is making a lot of racket in the bathroom. Miles knows that he will get no rest until things calm down. He will have Mort’s body moved first thing tomorrow. “You have to be the one to actually move the headstone though,” Dr. Spright warned. “If you want to claim the house, this will be left up to you.”
Miles is starving and is surprised that the fear in his stomach is allowing him to hold down food.
At around two in the morning, Miles doesn’t hear any more noises. He guesses that even ghosts get tired and have to rest. He goes in to check on Zawadi and Sephora who are both snuggled up in their bed. Miles lies down beside them and falls asleep.
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