Ghost Story
Disclaimer: I deny any ownership of any adolescent transformed shadow warrior chelonians.
Rating Pg 13 for some scary images.
Author's Note: Since it is October what better time to put up a ghost story. The elements that happened in this story are true. I had a relative who lived there. I also heard the rocking chair a few times when visiting and saw some other bizarre stuff but I never heard the 'screaming baby phone call,' which unnerved my relative so. Happy haunting Ramica.
It was a cold rainy Halloween eve when April O'Neil finished off an evenings work and headed down into the sewer to visit with her friends for a while before they headed topside.
The turtles enjoyed Halloween though none more so then Mike, because it was the one night out of the whole year that they didn't have to worry so much about being seen those that might see them might only think the turtles were in very neat costumes. Mike loved leaving early and getting some trick or treats in he couldn't resist the call of free treats.
The turtles also despised Halloween because of all the crime that seemed to go on in the city at that time because they felt safe when dressed in a costume where they could lose themselves easily in the sea of costumes around them.
Or as Raphael loved to put it " Those who were all ready over the edge or berserk decided to recruit a bunch more weirdoes to deal with on Halloween."
It was true crime went up and the turtles fought hard but they couldn't protect and save everyone in the big city and April often wondered how they dealt with the stuff they didn't prevent or stop.
April sloshed through sewer water she was well used to the disgusting smell that was down there and the creepy dark shadows and the eerie echo of her footsteps, the drip of water off overhead pipes and the occasional rat scurrying to get out of her way.
After all these years she had grown used to it all but it still was creepy down here.
Mike greeted April cheerfully as always " Great show tonight April. I loved the story of the possessed doll it reminds me of Chucky."
April laughed " I'll be glad when Halloween is over and I can go back to real news stories."
Raph gave a wicked grin " What you're not afraid of things that go bump in the night are you April?" he teased.
" There are no such things as ghost or demonic possessions except in the movies" Leo muttered. He was sitting on the couch cleaning and sharpening his katana.
" Actually scientist have proven that some spectral activities actually do exist and…"
" Yeah, yeah Donny we don't need another long winded speech about what scientist say. Hell it's bad enough listening to Leo lectures do we have to listen to Don lectures now too?" Raph scoffed as he flopped down in Splinter's usual armchair. Leo looked up quickly shooting a sour look towards his brother.
" Actually as a reporter I'm paid to be skeptical and I would probably agree with Leo on this one except for something that happened when I was a child and I actually lived in a haunted house. Now I'm never sure what is true and what to be skeptical of when I hear other stories about such things" April admitted.
" Really?" Raph glanced April's way giving her a quizzical look as if he didn't quite believe what he heard and was wondering if April was only teasing him.
" Really I was ten but I remember it quite well besides we lived there for a few years and the strange things kept happening around there. My mother some time after the events had been carrying on for awhile decided to check around and see if she could find out why.
I must have got my investigative instincts from her."
" Tell us April please would you?" Mike begged all excited and eager.
" It is Halloween after all a perfect night for ghost stories" Leo agreed.
" Go ahead try and scare me" Raph dared her.
April gave a small smile " We had moved into a townhouse and a short time after strange things started to happen around there. They were a little unnerving but it wasn't too scary or any thing like that. It was just very creepy more then anything.
I had a small child's radio and it would turn itself on and off at will at any given time of the day or night. I could turn it off once it started playing and instantly it would turn on again. Items in our house would disappear and then reappear in the oddest of places. I remember once my mom bought a package of laundry soap and it vanished once it entered the house we never saw it again we used to joke that the ghost wanted to clean his sheets though how much laundry a ghost had to do I really don't know. A deck of cards that were left piled up in a deck on the table before going to bed were laid out in a hand of solitaire when coming down the next morning. The smell of spaghetti often permeated my bedroom even though my room wasn't near the kitchen and my mother hadn't cooked spaghetti for ages. Often when downstairs you could hear a slow steady thump, thump on the floor boards over head it sounded like a rocking chair rocking back and forth but we owned no rocking chair but the noise persisted."
" Am I scared yet?" Raph asked.
" Hold it Raph I'm getting to the really scary part these things were only stuff that we had to deal with on a day to day basis to give you an idea of what was going on in that house." April cautioned.
" All right then I'm waiting April" Raph sneered.
" Probably the most scariest thing that happened in there were the phone calls. One phone call, once a year always on the same day and the same blasted call every time. After the first phone call my mom started to check into why these things might be happening in our home being very discreet of course. She received almost the same answer told in almost the same way from everyone she spoke to and because it was such a large complex and no matter who she asked around there said almost the exact same thing mom accepted it as being the truth behind the haunting.
The phone call that came was really freaky" April shuddered at the thought of it " I heard it once while living there and I still can't forget it. One night my mom deliberately stayed out late hoping to avoid that call and when she got home the phone rang…it was the call she had been dreading all day.
When I was twelve I heard that call I have never heard any thing like that before or since and I learned why my mother hated it and longed to avoid it."
" AW! Come on April what was the call about? Why was it so scary?" Mike pleaded to know.
" You know the sound a phone makes when you're on a dead line, you don't have that familiar dial tone or any background noise its empty of all sound. There is nothing there and you know you can't call out on such a phone line and no one should call in. Well that is how our phone would sound on this one phone call like it was a dead line but instead of the emptiness that you should have on a dead line was the sound of a screaming baby. The baby sounded like it was hurt or in pain somehow and then the baby's screaming would stop and you would hear only the empty hollow sound of a dead line. Hang the receiver up pick up the phone again and you would have a dial tone.
My mom didn't know anyone with a baby at that time so she had no idea who it could be. The sound of that screaming baby was just blood chilling and disturbing and when I think about it now it still gives me chills."
" So what was the story behind the haunting that your mom came to accept?" Don asked intrigued.
" The story mom heard from the residents who had lived there for years was this. There was at one time a young single mother with two children who lived where we did. She had a young daughter and a new baby boy. Some time in early spring the people were never sure of the date they only knew it happened in early spring, late May early April in around that time at any rate, tragedy struck the family.
The mother a while before hand had been changing her son's diapers and the little girl asked her mother what the thing was he had there. Her mother instead of telling her that little boys were made that way informed her daughter that it was something the doctor had forgot to cut off.
Shortly after that the girl wanting to be helpful retrieved a knife from somewhere while the mother was occupied elsewhere in the home and the girl then cut it off.
The blood and the baby's scream made the little girl go running in fear and brought the mother quickly from her task. The mother took one look at her son and hurried him out to the car.
Now some people said the girl was hiding behind her mom's car, other stories said the girl was going around the car to get into it either way the frantic mother so concerned about her son hadn't stopped to consider where her daughter was and she backed up over her daughter.
The mother lost both of her children that day and she moved out shortly after.
The phone call that came on one day only in early spring gave us an idea of when these events may have happened. We believed the phone call marked the anniversary of their death.
My mom could point out a piece of carpet in the living room that didn't quite match with the rest of the carpet around it. Most of the ghost tricks were childish pranks and they would often stop once you acknowledge the ghost in some way like saying all right cut it out we know you're there.
It's pretty hard not believing in ghost when you have lived with one for four or five years out of your life" April concluded.
" Very interesting. I wonder if any one else experienced problems with that place after you moved out or if the activities were directed at you and your mom alone" Don said.
" I don't know I never have checked out that part of the story."
" All right so it is a little freaky but it's not scary" Raph insisted.
" So what do you call scary Raph?" Leo asked.
" That's easy Leo the low life dirt bags that roam the streets at night they can be scary" Raph replied.
" We roam the streets at night Raph" Mike declared laughing.
" Like I said. You think we aren't scary Mikey?" Raph teased grinning slightly.
" Speaking of which it is about time to go see what the streets have to offer. We'll see you home safe first April" Leo replied.
" It's time for the trick part of the night and what kind of tricks over treats are out there" Mike chuckled cheerfully. He really did love this holiday and April's spooky tale had only whetted his appetite for what lay beyond.
THE END