Page 6 of Ghost

“H ere’s a check for the electrical supply place,” Mason said. He’d already filled out the name and signed it. “Get what we need. You got the list?”

Mitch took the check and put it in his wallet. “Yep. Got the list.”

“I’ve got half a roll of wire in my truck that I’ll use up first” Paul said. “Oh, and almost a full box of light switches.”

“Won’t you need those on your upcoming job?” Mason asked.

“Naw, they’ll furnish all that kinda stuff. This was all the leftovers from that last job I did for them. They always get too much and don’t care about what’s left over. They paid for it all, so it didn’t come out of my pocket, and we might as well put it to good use.”

Mason sighed. “Beggers can’t be choosers. I appreciate it, Paul.”

“You gonna start downstairs first?” Mitch asked, looking toward the stairs.

“Yeah,” Mason answered. “I thought I’d take down those cheap ass walls first and haul the stuff out back into the courtyard. I can load up anything that I can’t salvage and take it to the dump sometime after you guys are gone.”

“We’ll need to tackle ripping out that old kitchen at some point, since that’s where the electrical box is.” Paul scratched his head. “I for one don’t care much for demo work.”

“No problem there,” Mitch grinned. “I love demolishing shit.”

Mason rolled his eyes. “There’s no surprise.”

Paul laughed and grabbed Mitch by the upper arm. “Come on, the supply house is just now opening. I want to get that attic space done before it becomes an oven up there.”

Mitch groused. “What do you care? It ain’t your fat ass that has to get up there.”

Paul laughed again. “Sometimes it’s good to be the big guy. Get a move on.”

Mason chuckled at his friends as they turned and left.

He picked up some tools and made his way downstairs.

He wanted to get as much of the demolition work done downstairs as he could before they came back.

Today would be the first day that he’d get up on a ladder since he’d none too gracefully fallen on his head.

With sledgehammer, hammer and crowbar in hand, Mason stopped in front of the offending wall. “What a piece of crap. I hate shoddy workmanship.”

Taking a firm grip on the sledgehammer, he swung it at the makeshift door frame at the corner where the two walls met. He had to jump back as most of the wall caved in. “Holy hell!” It was worse than he thought. The top rail wasn’t attached to anything.

Mason was about to take another swing when this screeching woman came right at him.

She was dressed in a long black long dress with long sleeves.

There was a large broach at the neck of the white collar.

Her hands, knotted into fists, were raised as if to hit him.

Mason ducked, almost flattening himself to the floor, waiting for fists to strike him.

When he looked up there was nothing there.

“What the fuck?” He looked around and saw nothing.

He shook his head, blinking several times before standing up.

Mason searched the entire house looking for the woman.

Once he’d made sure no one was there, he leaned against the doorframe of the kitchen that led into the long hallway, still confused as to what he’d seen.

He knew it was a woman. She was an older woman with gray hair pulled tight behind her head. The look on her face was anger and her fists were raised and that scream.... Mason shivered just thinking about it.

Back downstairs, Mason looked at the crumpled corner of the wall.

“All that in just one hit. Damn, that is some sad shit.” He picked up the sledgehammer again and took another swing.

He looked around, halfway expecting the woman to come back.

The smaller wall fell completely in. The only thing left of the small room was part of the longer wall that was attached to the exterior brick wall that ran the length of the side wall.

“This should be a breeze,” he said to himself. “It’ll take more time to haul it outside than it will to take it down.”

Mason swung the big, heavy hammer again, and a good portion of the wall collapsed, a cloud of dust rising up from the debris like a mushroom cloud from an atomic blast.

He heard her before he saw her. The same screech-like scream.

She was coming at him from behind the dust cloud.

It registered in Mason’s head that there was no way anyone could have come from that direction.

There was a brick wall behind where she had appeared, and that is what she’d done: just appeared.

Mason was too stunned to even move as she went right through him. It felt... cold and damp, but it made his skin crawl as if some great evil had just invaded his body and then left it. It suddenly felt as if he was in a deep freeze; it was so cold and it smelled like... death.

He remembered, as a kid, when a baby raccoon had died behind the wall of their kitchen. It started to rot in the spring heat and the smell was just like that. Dead. Rotting flesh. Mason shivered again, uncontrollably and almost threw up.

There was no doubt in his mind about what he’d just seen.

He didn’t want to believe it; he’d never believed in it before, but now.

.. there was no other explanation. It was a ghost. Both of the back doors were locked, the one from the kitchen and the one from the downstairs.

The front door was locked: he’d made sure of that when he searched the house.

Then there was the simple fact that the woman had come from the billowing dust cloud, in front of a brick wall.

.. what else could she be? And there was that whole going right through him thing, that left him feeling so icky.

It was that feeling of the old woman going right through him to discount it as just a bump on his noggin.

Nope, that was a ghost. No two ways about it.

Mason looked around again, going through the entire downstairs once again, and found nothing and no one. After he’d gotten over his initial shock and disbelief, he was now just pissed off. This woman... ghost...thing...was going to have to get over it.

He lifted the sledgehammer once again, swung, and took down the rest of the wall. The small room was now gone. This time, she didn’t make an appearance. Mason no longer felt cold, and that dank death smell wasn’t around either.

“Ha! Take that ol’ woman,” he yelled into the empty space.

Determined, he started to pull apart the old walls, retaining some of the timber that had been used. It didn’t look too old and some of it was still in decent shape. Mason didn’t know what he’d use it for but was sure that it would come in handy.

The old drywall was useless, so he started hacking it up and carrying it outside, using the back door that led out into the courtyard.

It didn’t take him too long, since both small walls had come down almost intact.

Before he knew it, there was a small pile of lumber sitting under the stairs, and the only remnants of the walls were some odd nails here and there and dust.

Mason looked at his watch. “That didn’t take long at all. Of course, I’d probably be done already if not for some stupid ass old woman... ghost.”

He started on the other two walls on the other side of the lower part of the house without incident.

It didn’t take him long to get them down, and most of the materials separated, the unusable components hauled out, when Mitch and Paul returned, making enough noise to raise the dead.

Mason laughed at himself as he thought that.

“Well, I already managed to do that,” he said to himself smiling.

It’s going to take more than some lame ass ghost to run me off.

* * * * *

“H ey guys,” Mason greeted Mitch and Paul. “You’ll never guess what I saw!”

Paul dropped two rolls of wiring. “What’s that?”

“A ghost! An ol’ woman came at me!” Mason smiled. “Isn’t that so cool?”

Mitch frowned. “You feelin’ aw’right, there, Mas?”

Paul was looking skeptical. “A what? Ghost?”

“Yeah, an honest-to-god ghost.” Mason was still smiling.

“Did you hit your head again, Mas? You feel okay?” Mitch looked closely at Mason.

“No, I didn’t hit my head.”

“You know there are no such things as ghosts, don’t ya?” Paul chuckled. “You’re just trying to spook us, ain’t ya?”

Mason rolled his eyes. “No. Honestly. I did see a ghost. She came at me when I took out that first wall, and then again, when I knocked down the other one.”

“Mason... buddy, maybe you need to take the rest of the day off.” Mitch stepped closer, looking intently at Mason.

“I know what I saw, Mitch, and I fucking saw a ghost.” Mason scowled at the other two. “Fine, don’t believe me, but I did see a ghost. I know I did.”

“Do me a favor; if you happen to see a leprechaun, can you at least ask him where his pot of gold is?” Paul snickered. “I only need enough to get Christmas taken care of for the kids. You guys can split whatever is left over.”

“Ha! Good one, Paul,” Mitch laughed, punching Paul’s big arm. “I could use some non-taxable cash.”

“Hardy-har-har,” Mason frowned. “Go ahead, don’t believe me, but I’m tellin’ ya, when we get back to working downstairs, you’ll see for yourselves. She’s down there I’m tellin’ ya. If I’m a lyin’, I’m a dyin’!”

The two other men laughed.

“Sure, Mas, whatever you say,” Mitch said, rolling his eyes at Paul. “Meanwhile, Paul and I are going to start on the upstairs wiring. We hope to get that done or the most of it at any rate before we call it a day. Why don’t you start on demoing out the kitchen?”

“Sure you don’t want me getting up in the attic?” Mason offered. “It’s already going to be hot up there. It is my house, after all.”

“Yeah... I don’t think you need to be on any ladders. Who knows what you might see next.” Mitch chuckled, shaking his head.

“Maybe some fairies?” Paul laughed, and then frowned. “Oh, sorry, Mason. I didn’t... well I... I wasn’t calling you a fairy or nothin’! No insult or nothin’.”

Mason couldn’t help but laugh as big, badass Paul blushed and stumbled over his own words, afraid that he’d offended. “I didn’t even think of that, but it is kinda funny.”

Mitch nudged Paul’s shoulder with his own. “We’ll know if he does; he’ll be covered in fairy dust, most likely bright pink.”

“And on that note, I’ll gladly let you sweat your skinny ass off in that attic,” Mason stated flatly.

“Hey, there’s nothin’ wrong with my ass,” Mitch said defensively, looking around at his butt. “You think my ass is skinny?” he asked Paul.

Paul frowned. “I don’t think I’ve ever noticed your ass, and I’m not going to start looking now!”

Mason nearly doubled over, laughing. “I so wish I had a camera right now. The look on Paul’s face is priceless and you standing there trying to look at your own ass.”

Mitch turned to face Mason, his face deadpan. “I’m going to need a lot more beer tonight.” He turned back to Paul. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”

“I’m still not gonna look at your ass,” Paul commented over his shoulder as they both climbed the stairs.