Trembling With Fear 10-22-23

Ghost Story, by Kenny Togunloju

“Any of you ever seen a ghost before?”

Brad’s absurd question stilled the raucous sounds of our group. For a brief moment, the only sounds we heard were the gentle lapping of waves on the beach, and the crackling of the firepit.

“Whoa, Brad, that kind of came out of nowhere,” Courtney said with a half-laugh. Diana laughed too.

“Yeah, sure you haven’t had too many of those?” I added, pointing to the beer bottle in Brad’s hand.

Brad shrugged and took a swig. “I dunno. Maybe.”

“Maybe Brad’s trying to see some ghosts,” Theo said with a chuckle. “If you drink enough, you’re bound to see some.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Courtney said.

Theo turned to glare at her. “Why?”

Courtney huddled closer to the fire. “Because ghosts aren’t real, nimrod.”

Theo held up a hand. “Wait, hold up, how do you know that for sure?”

Courtney rolled her eyes. “Have you seen one?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t real,” Theo retorted. 

“Many cultures over the world believe in some form of spirits,” Diana piped up. “Stands to reason that some of them stem from real life experiences.”

Courtney snorted. “And some people believe in Sasquatch. Doesn’t mean he’s real.”

“Okay, this is getting a bit too heated,” I said, figuring I’d better jump in before Courtney went into full war-mode. “It was just a fun silly question. Right, Brad?”

Brad shrugged and took a swig of beer. He said nothing, seemingly unaware of the fuse he had just lit. He was definitely wasted.

“Well, ghosts don’t exist,” Courtney said. “And anyone who says they’ve seen one is either lying or delusional.”

“I’ve seen one,” Jun’s quiet voice interrupted Courtney’s loud and abrasive one. 

We all turned to look at him. I’d almost forgotten he was there. Jun had a way of fading into the midst of others. He was looking down, fiddling with his beer bottle, peeling off the label with his thumb.

“You.” Courtney pointed at Jun. “You’ve seen a ghost.”

Jun nodded. “Yeah.” He raised his head and looked Courtney in the eye. “It was a few years ago, when I was getting my spleen removed.”

Courtney scoffed. “Let me guess, you were high on pain medication.”

Jun shook his head. “No, this was before the surgery.”

“Wait, dude seriously?” Theo said. “What was it like?”

Jun’s eyes turned to stare at the fire. “She was a little girl, maybe ten years old. At first, I thought she was just a patient. She wore a hospital gown and carried a stuffed bunny with one ear missing.”

The fire seemed to glow a brighter orange as Jun told his story. Everyone leaned in to listen, even Courtney who still had an annoying smirk on her face.

“I was laying on my bed in the hospital ward when she wandered in,” Jun continued. “She said: ‘Help.’ I asked what she needed help with, but she shook her head and pointed towards the hallway. I didn’t understand what she wanted. So, I reached down to pick up the call button for the nurse. I only looked away for a second but when I turned back around, she was gone.”

“That’s it?” Courtney sneered. “Some weird kid with a deformed toy comes into your room, and you think that’s a ghost?”

“I’m not done,” Jun said. “A couple of hours later, I got restless, so I got up and walked around a bit. I was in the hallway when I saw her again. Still holding the stuffed bunny, she stood on the other end of the hallway, staring at me, before turning around and walking away. I followed her; I don’t know why. I just felt I should. We went down a series of hallways. Every once in a while, especially when we reached an intersection, she’d stop and turn around. When I got closer, she’d continue walking. It became clear she was leading me somewhere.”

Jun paused to take a swig of beer. We all listened with rapt attention. The firepit burned more intensely.

“Finally, we reached an empty room. The bed was bare. The windows were drawn. The room had some sort of… emptiness to it, as if something had been taken away from it. I turned to the girl and asked why she led me here. She pointed at the bed, and just said ‘help.’ At this point I was tired, and a bit frustrated. I kept repeating,  ‘What do you need help with?’ but the girl kept pointing at the bed. I was about ready to give up and call someone when I noticed something stuck under the bed. I knelt down, I picked it up. It was a one-eared bunny. Exactly like the one the girl was holding.”

“I turned around, but the girl was gone. Instead, a nurse stood behind me asking me what I was doing in that room. I asked him if he’d seen the girl. Told him I wanted to return her stuffed animal. He looked confused when he saw the bunny. He said he knew the girl it belonged to, but she died a couple of days ago. And she’d stayed in that room during her hospital stay.”

“That rocked me. I thought to myself, had I just seen a ghost? I told the nurse what I saw but he didn’t believe me. He probably thought it was a prank. Who could blame him? I couldn’t even believe it myself. But at least, now I understood what she wanted. She wanted to be reunited with her toy. It took some persuasion, but I convinced the nurse to take the bunny so he could forward it to the girl’s family.”

“But I don’t know if he ever did. I never saw the girl again. Although sometimes, I’m walking in a crowd, and I think I see her. Holding that one-eared bunny, glaring at me like I failed her. Because I did. I should have tracked down her parents myself. I’ll never know if she found peace. I know I haven’t.”

Jun stopped talking. Everyone was silent, except Brad who’d fallen asleep on the floor with a light snore.

Courtney spoke up, wearing a mocking smile. “There’s no way that happened, right?” Maybe it was my imagination but there was a hint of fear in Courtney’s voice. 

Jun shrugged. “Believe what you want.”

“Maybe she wasn’t a ghost,” Diana suggested. “Maybe she was just another girl that the dead girl made friends with.”

Jun shrugged again. “Maybe.”

Silence again. A draft of cold wind blew, sending a shiver down my spine. The fire in the firepit was low. When did that happen?

Theo stood up, stretching. “Well, that was a cheerful story! I’m gonna call it.”

“Same,” Courtney stood up. She glanced at the sleeping Brad. “Someone better get this lightweight home before he rolls into the fire.”

“I’ll take him,” I said. I was his ride, anyway.

“Good.” Courtney turned to Diana. “Come on. Let’s leave the boys with their ghost stories.”

Diana gave me an apologetic smile. She, Courtney, and Theo walked away, leaving me alone with Jun and the sleeping Brad.

I cleared my throat. “So, was any of that true, or were you just messing with Courtney?”

A corner of Jun’s lips turned up in a smile. “Yeah, I was just messing with her. Court’s scared of ghosts. I knew it would freak her out.”

I chuckled. “Nice one.”

But as quick as it came, Jun’s smile faded. He stared out into the horizon, his forlorn expression illuminated by the dying embers of the fire.