A Little Playful Retaliation

The crew of a local moving firm finds out what happens when they push they're boss too far.

 “Guys!” Rick shouted from the sidewalk below. “Stop hitting the pulley! This ain’t a rock band!” The men on the roof could not control their laughter because “Sticky” Ricky, the big, bad boss, was losing his temper once again. His hot breath floated away in the cold December air. The team could actually see the vein bulging on Rick’s forehead, even though they were on the roof of a three-story building. They were hitting the wheel of a pulley with a steel rod, making cymbal-like sounds with the newly created instrument.

Rick was holding the low rope of the pulley system on the street. Today’s assignment was to move a sofa up three stories into an apartment suite, and since the sofa could not be carried through the staircase, the only option was to have it lifted and brought in through a bay window.

Assignments should never be dealt with lightly, Rick thought to himself, especially today’s. He became more and more frustrated with his team, because he instantly thought of all the times that he had specifically told them that horse play was for horses, not for grown men at a job site. “Guys, I’m serious!” he screamed. “Be careful up there!” These guys aren’t listening to me, he thought; they never listen! They’re acting like a bunch of kids dancing around a campfire, not caring if they all fall in. It’s this kind of irresponsible behavior that gets everybody all wound up about the company’s performance…Ah! What if other people saw how these boys were acting? We would never be hired again, and I’d be out of a job!

Each thought that came to Rick was more negative than the one before it. It was a downward spiral of red, hot anger. Rick became so immersed in this anger that he became numb to reality, and he wasn’t aware of what was happening to him. He fell into a trance, with his eyes rolled back and fluttering, white with unconsciousness. He then began floating, about a foot above the ground.

His team, still on the roof, realized that Rick’s end of the rope lost its hold; luckily the couch was already inside the room. They looked down at Rick, and were frightened to see him levitating. They then froze as they saw a fog arise from the top of his head. It hovered over him and continued to grow into a cloud which then formed into a human-like torso. “Human” because it had a head, neck, shoulders, arms, and abdomen like normal, but “like” because it was deformed,  demented…and demonic. It had sharp fangs, inwardly slanted shoulders, and a face wrinkled with scratch marks. Its eyes radiated a dim red hue that sharply contrasted with the darkened haze around its short, matted gray hair. The rest of its body was as pale as the breaths coming from Rick’s mouth; in fact, the creature and Rick's breath were one in the same.

The spirit then detached itself from Rick, who fell to the ground and awoke momentarily from his trance in doing so. He saw the uglier side of the current situation. He not only knew exactly what the thing was, but he also knew what it was going to do. It was a poltergeist that had physically manifested from his anger, and it was on its way to the roof to stop the team from playing around, no matter what. After the realization, he fell into a motionless state of shock.

The spirit flew to the team and immediately began roughing them up one by one: a scratch on the face here, a scream nearly shattering an eardrum there. The spirit whirled around each of them in a vicious tornado-like fashion, attacking and torturing the team. It was too much for them to handle, so they all filed down the fire escape stairs on the side of the building. They ran over to Rick, who was still unconscious on the sidewalk. One of the members grabbed him by the hand and shouted, “Rick, wake up!” And as Rick gained full consciousness, the spirit let out one last shriek and dissolved into the air.

Rick explained what the creature was and why it came about. He apologized for not being able to control his anger and the team apologized for being so ignorant of Rick’s leadership. Of course, they still have a little fun riding Rick’s nerve, but it’s nothing a little playful retaliation on Rick’s part can’t resolve.

Author's Note

Another entry for a ghost story contest.