The Ghost Story
As I look down from the Attic, Evlyn sleeps with pillows and toys all over her bed.
When Karen had moved in, Evlyn was inside her belly for six months. Evlyn is seven years old now. Summer vacation has started and she sleeps as much as she wants. She yawns and expands under the white sheet. The pillow which hangs by the side of the bed, falls and the toys along with it.
Hearing the noise, Karen enters the room. Evlyn tosses with closed eyes. Karen picks up the toys and arranges them over the side table. Some of them, which don’t fit onto the table, go into the cupboard.
“Good morning Evy. Wakie wakie.” Karen pulls the sheet from Evlyn and she rubs her eyes.
“Good morning, mumma.”
Karen kisses Evy and strolls a few rounds with Evy in her lap. She carries her to the bathroom.
Meanwhile, I flow to the bed.
“Clean your teeth and have shower honey and don’t close the door. Okay?”
Evy nods.
“Good girl, I’ll fix scrambled eggs for you.”
Evy smiles.
While Evy takes a bath and Karen cooks the breakfast, I count the toys. Ms. Barbie, the spider, the truck and the lawn mower. Mr. Bunny, the locomotive, the horse and cart in the cupboard. Where is Mr. Woody? I count again, Mr. Woody is not here.
Wrapped in a towel, Evy comes out, wet brown hair resting on her shoulders. Her bright green eyes look through me.
“Mumma, where are my clothes?”
“Coming sweetie.”
As Karen pulls out the lacy yellow frock from the cupboard, Evy grabs Ms. Barbie from the table.
“Hello Ms. Barbie, where is your friend Mr. Woody?”
With the doll in one hand, she looks into the cupboard, below the bedding and under the bed.
“Mumma, where is Mr. Woody?”
“He must be in the room, sweetie. Can you wear your frock? I’ll find Mr. Woody.”
Karen also searches in the cupboard, below the bedding and under the bed. Mr. Woody is nowhere to be found.
The half empty plate stays on the table and Evy keeps knocking it with the fork. She has no more interest in the scrambled eggs. She pushes the plate to the side nearly dropping it over the table top.
“Where has Woody gone, mumma?”
“Are you sure, you didn’t leave him at Mrs. Danely’s?”
“I played The Cowboy and the Princess with Woody and Barbie before going to bed.”
“Oh dear, don’t worry, we’ll find him. You can play Bunny on the truck today.”
“But I want to play with Mr. Woody. Has he left us?”
“No sweetie, he hasn’t left us, He’ll come back. Now finish your breakfast.”
Karen tries hard to cheer up Evy, as if Mr. Woody is a real person with free will. Toys do not act on their own. They need a master who controls them, so do ghosts.
I have been with Evlyn since she was born. I have stayed in this attic for two years now. When she started sleeping without Karen, I also moved to this room. Before this, it was the master bedroom. I used to stay under the large bed.
I am like floating wind, a gust of air, whom no one notices. But I am growing as Evy is also growing.
Evlyn is still not in the mood. Mr. Woody is her favourite toy. When Toy Story I was released, it was the first thing Evlyn asked for. She believes toys have personalities and she treats them like her friends.
Both Evlyn and Karen have searched for the toy. Let me also try the same. There is no benefit of searching the room again and everything looks as no one has touched anything. Only weird thing is Karen forgot to close the window before she went to sleep yesterday.
Is it Perry’s doing? I hope it’s not. I don’t like Perry and I don’t want to face him. Cats can sense me. They have the eyes. The eyes to differentiate the subtleness between the air and a ghost’s body. They are not very fond of my presence and nor I am of theirs. And if It’s Perry, something needs to be done.
Few weeks ago he attacked the neighbour boy from the second block. Fortunately he only tore away his socks. The boy had to go to school without socks and got a real scolding from the teacher when he tried to tell the truth. No one believed him. There are other horror stories and I hope they are not all true.
I come outside the window. The street is deserted. It’s vacation time. Children don’t come out early and grown ups are not going to the office on a Sunday. The garbage bin across the street has been cleared. The cats sleep behind that bin in day time, I know, I don’t sense Perry though. I fear Mr. Woody has been collected along with the garbage. Where has Perry gone? Why is he not here?
I flow down the street and try to sense any motion. Apart from two dogs barking at the corner there is nothing much. Garbage bins are installed on all the streets. Cats scavenge the left over of humans around these bins. Perry must be in the next block if not here. The air is tearing me apart. I am still not strong enough to take him on. If Evlyn were a few years older, her will could lend me more power. But she is a child, tender at heart. She is yet to learn that she can control me.
I decide to check out why the dogs are shouting. They also sleep this time of the day. As I move into their direction, they are backing out. Their barks turn into howls and into shrieks after a moment. It looks weird but not if what I expect is true. My anticipation is right.
Perry is round the corner. Being a cat, only he has such power over the dogs. I reach the corner and the black cat with two different coloured eyes is stationed on top of the garbage bin. His hair is all erect and his gruesome face, which is larger than normal, shows his large canines. He is bigger than the two dogs and more powerful also. Mr. Woody is trapped under his paws.
The idea of Perry stealing him from Evy’s room is beyond frightening. What does he want? What should I do? How’d he managed to steal being so big? Surely he got it done by someone else. He has many groupies to work for him.
I hope Perry has stolen Mr. Woody to play and he wouldn’t do any damage to him. His acts are getting more troublesome day by day.
I cannot handle him one to one. First, I am not powerful enough. Second, he can sense me. I have to inform Karen. Avoiding direct confrontation, I go back to Karen’s. Evy comes out dressed in her yellow frock. Karen is behind her in a long maxi. They search the lawn for Mr. Woody. I need to lead them to Perry.
The lawn is a square patch of green surrounded with six feets high fences. Stacks of wooden boxes are kept in a corner. The boxes hold some old stuff which is not used. There is a ragged rubber ball at the top of the stack.
I move myself with all my strength, condensing my body as much as possible, and try to roll the ball down. With all my power I am nothing but a mild disturbance in the air. I try hard and the ball rolls a few inches and falls down into the grass. My bad. It doesn’t bounce much. Karen comes and puts it back at the top.
I have to try again, but grass is not helping. If I move the ball sideways instead of forward, it should fall onto the pavement along the fence. I gather myself and exert one more time, in the correct direction. Ball falls onto the concrete, bounces a couple of times and starts rolling away from the lawn. Evy jumps to grab the ball but it’s already on the street.
“Wait Honey. I’ll get it.” Karen stops Evy from going to the street. The street has a natural slant towards the corner, so the ball rolls along and speeds up. As Karen comes for the ball, she is now at the corner and Evy has followed her.
“Oh my God.” Karen lets out a subdued scream as she finds Perry playing with Mr. Woody. She holds Evy in her arms to keep her at a distance. Perry licks Mr. Woody and does a horrific display of his sharp canines. His claws are unclasped and he growls.
There have been incidences in the past concerning Perry and they are thought of as rumours so far. A cat of the size of a big dog is not something to be taken lightly. The worst has come true today and Perry has interfered with Evy’s life. Now I am worried. Should I have brought Karen here. I hope she doesn’t try anything on her own.
Karen backs away slowly, keeping Evy behind her. She has assessed the situation. But Perry is on the move. He growls and crouches. He leaps into the air and lands in front of Karen. Karen turns her back to Perry and pushes Evy away.
“Run Evy.” She shouts.
Perry stands on his hind legs and in a sweeping blow his long claws tear Karen’s Maxi at the waist. Karen stumbles but reorganises herself. Three red lines appear on her skin. Evy stops and waits for her mother to close in.
“Get inside the house, sweetie.” Karen waves her hand asking Evy to run. Perry, who is playing with the cloth from Karen’s maxi, roars again and latches himself on Karen’s legs. Karen is down on the ground.
“Oh, Peter.” Karen calls my name in pain as Perry mauls her ankle.
Karen is helpless so am I.
What have I brought onto her and Evy. Perry is fiercer and more ruthless than I expected. I must save Karen. I collect myself together and my body becomes dense like a cloud of smoke. I hurl myself into Perry’s eyes. He is blind for a moment and it gives Karen time to go behind the fence of her house.
Karen gathers herself and tries to calm Evy. Evy’s eyes are welling with tears and her body is shivering with fear. Karen is also shaking due to intense pain. The fence holds Perry outside for a while, but he is too agile for his size. His flexibility matches his strength. Within a few attempts he is able to cross the fence and now he is inside. There is nothing between him and Karen who lies on the grass holding her ankle. Evy stands behind her.
Perry stretches himself. He walks along the fence and looks into Karen’s eyes. Then he looks at me. He knows where I am. Perry attacks Karen’s left. He is going for Evy instead of Karen. Evy cries with closed eyes and I throw myself between Karen and Evy. I am denser like fog this time and able to push them separate. Perry’s claws disintegrate me.
Perry hops onto Evy again and she shouts at the top of her voice. Before Perry can do any harm, I am able to take a solid shape, like a malformed baseball bat. I don’t lose the chance I have got and I hit Perry in the face with all my force. In a blink of eye, Perry is on the ground.
Perry is now panting and his upper-left canine is gone. I disperse back. As Karen watches what has happened she is not able to register it fully. She saw Perry attacking her little girl and now he is sniffing the ground. Before he makes any more move, Karen is up on her feet and grabs a long stick in her hand. Perry decides to take it no further and jumps over the fence.
Evy runs into Karen’s arm. “Mumma, your ankle.”
“It’s fine darling. Are you alright?”
“Mumma, I was so scared, but something helped us when I cried. It was like the bat in daddy’s picture.”
Evy doesn’t understand. It is her will which has given me power to help her. One day she’ll realise that I am always by her side.
Karen hugs Evy and kisses her all over her face.
I fetch Mr. Woody back and drop it before them.
“Peter is it you?” Karen says.
I blow into Karen’s hair the way I used to play with them and a drop of tear comes out from her eye.
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