Ghost or Hoax?

A Story by Urban

Jake get a frantic call from Helen, theres a ghost in her room!

Ghost or Hoax?

“Jake! Jake! You’ve got to help me! Come over right now!” a high frantic voice screeched over the phone.

“What’s wrong Helen?” Jake replied back worried. Was there a robber in her apartment?

“I think there’s a specter in my apartment!” she yelled. A specter? What’s that a pervert? Before he could voice out his thoughts, Helen continued in a rush. “I think it’s a pugilist that died here a thousand years a go! It hates all things factitious and electronic!”

“A pugi- what?” he asked, rather annoyed now. Why was she talking like she came out of an old English novel at seven in the morning?

“I don’t have time to explicate! Just come over before he gets me!”

Jake stared at the phone for a minute and decided to answer rather than to hang up, “Have you’ve been reading the dictionary again?”

“That’s not the point right now! There’s a-“

“Have you?” he persisted.

There was a pause, “Maybe.” I knew it.

“Helen, how many times do I have to tell you that using big words will not make you smart? It’ll only hurt your brain.”

“Ugh, I don’t have time for this! Come over right now! Do you want me to die!?” Then she hanged up. He started at the phone for a while, have she finally gone mad? Jake always knew that Helen was never the brightest crayon in the box, and this is definitely not the first time she had made him doubt her sanity, but he was still worried.

With a sigh he pulled on his shoes and walked out the door.

Jake knocked on Helen’s apartment door. He was rather annoyed right now. While walking over to her room, Jake had sent a text message to his verbose human dictionary friend, asking him what a specter is. Turns out, it was not a lewd old man, but a ghost. He glared at the door; she made him come over for a ghost? Wasn’t she mature enough now not to believe in them?

He was about to knock on the door again, when he heard some noise on the other side of the door. “Helen? Helen, are you all right?” He started to get an bad feeling when he heard a muffled yell. “Helen, I’m coming in right now!” he yelled.

He was ready to break down the door, but it suddenly opened. Jake felt his eyes widen. To say she looked bad would have been an understatement. Her hair was all ruffled, her eyes blood shot, and her makeup smudged. “Sorry I took so long to answer, I tripped.” Typical clumsy Helen.

“Sure, sure. So where’s this ghost you called me over for?” he asked, looking around her apartment. There was stuff everywhere; papers littered the floor, chairs flipped over, and a faint smell of smoke. “Why do I smell smoke?”

“That’s the ghost! I leave the room to get a drink and come back to find my TV and my laptop smoking! I swear I heard an evil crackle too!”

He looked at her quizzically. “Just like that? You leave the room and your electronics go up in smoke?”

“Yes! See for yourself! My laptop won’t turn on!” She led him to the computer desk. He pressed the power button, but just like she said, it wouldn’t turn on. He looked at the cover to see if there was any damage, there wasn’t. Then he lifted it up to see if the battery was properly placed. He gasped at what he saw.

“There’s rust all over this thing! What did you do!?”

“Oh, it got hot so I poured water on it.” she said matter of factly. “What?” she noticed him staring at her with wide eyes. “Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?” He sighed and looked back at the computer with sympathy. It was a nice and expensive laptop, very high tec, but with this much damage its data probably got expunged.

“Did you pour water on the TV too?” he whispered.

“Well ya. It was getting hot too.” she said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“You do know that these things are not waterproof right?” he asked. Even though it was clear that she didn’t. Her eyes widened when she finally caught on.

“Yo- you mean I’m the ghost?” she asked with full naivety. “What about the evil crackle?”

“It was probably the TV fizzing out.” He answered.

“No way.” And then Jake couldn’t take it anymore, he laughed. Which is more surprising then Helen’s stupidity. Jake never showed much emotion, except for annoyance and anger. It was a habit he developed, growing up in an abusive family. Helen was the one who saved him. She taught him how to feel.

That’s why she’s his most auspicious friend, no matter how much she drove him crazy.