A Ghost of a Chance
By Sophia A. Demetri
We begin with a middle-aged author wrapping up a book signing where a bookstore employee asks the author, Sasha Kraus where she got the inspiration for her story. Sasha reveals to the employee that the story is actually true, and tells how it really happened.
Once upon a time, Sasha Elaine Kraus was born in her ancestor's palace. After her delivery, she was revealed to her ancestors, specifically Kubla and Stazi Kraus who reacted in fear and cast their descendants from their personal purgatory.
Years later, Sasha became a paranormal investigator. Together with her band of misfit friends, Sasha would go around the town ridding it of ghosts and demons. Now being a ghost hunter Sasha faced a lot of danger, but the one thing that she could never face was her family. With the exception of her maternal great-grandparents, there hadn't been a single white sheep on either side of her family in many generations. It was so bad, that Sasha was almost ready to join the witness protection program just to change her identity.
One day, the ghost hunters heard word from Sasha's criminal cousin, Vladimir Chekov in January Junction that Governor Stanislaus, the ruler of the providence, needed some ghost hunters. Apparently, her ancestor's castle (now a museum) was still haunted by Kubla and Stazi. Desperate to get business back, Sasha and her friends were offered a cash reward by the governor to get rid of them. Being in dire need for money themselves, they all agreed to take the trip to January Junction.
Meanwhile, as Kubla and Stazi were pondering their relationship with one another they hear Sasha and her friends getting a tour of the palace. The two were both frightened and outraged at this at first, but then calmed when they remembered Sasha's pure heart.
The reason that the ghosts had banished Sasha and parents the first time was because they frightened by the newborn's pure heart. After the family left, they realized too late, that if they had any shot at the pearly gates, they needed to convince Sasha to redeem them in the eyes of God. The only problem was her meddling friends.
That very night, Sasha and her friends set up cameras in their bedrooms in hopes of catching Kubla and Stazi on recording. The two ghosts then scare the crap out of everyone but Sasha, who is quite a heavy sleeper. The next morning, everyone recounted their experience and Sasha thought they were all nuts due to three things; her heavy sleeping, her friends' history of pranking her, and the fact that the ghosts had disabled the cameras in her room. After much insistence that no one was lying, Sasha decided to pull an all-nighter and prove to her friends that nothing was amiss, while the other ghost hunters sought refuge in a hotel (courtesy of the taxpayers of January Junction).
The following night, Sasha set up all the necessary equipment and looked around for any paranormal activity. While searching the place, she heard Kubla in the throne room lamenting all his issues. Seeing this as an opportunity to catch the ghost off guard, Sasha began preparing a small trap. Unfortunately, Kubla caught her in the act and attacked his descendent which resulted in the latter becoming possessed by him. This immediately lead to hijinks as Sasha attempted to remove him from her body. As Sasha struggled against her ancestor, she eventually let it slip that she was going to force Kubla to cross over. Outraged and frightened at his descendant's plan of action, Kubla scolded Sasha for playing God by judging an ancestor she barely knows. Realizing he made a good point, Sasha decided to get to know Kubla and Stazi before sending them to any afterlife. Sasha then removed her ancestor and vomited as a side-effect from the procedure. Kubla then left her to said mess.
The next day, Sasha told her friends to extend their stay at the hotel as she needed more time to get to know the spirits, and had even convinced Stanislaus to pay the expenses involved (again). When evening finally fell, both Kubla and Stazi arrived and told Sasha a little bit about themselves.
As it turned out, Kubla and Stazi were both from high ranking backgrounds. Kubla was the once Cossack King, who had been abandoned by his people due to his arrogance and greed. Stazi was born into a noble family where she was spoiled and disliked by all. Because of this, she had been forced to steal some of the family fortune in order to live alone and away from the people who despised her. The two's paths crossed years later when Kubla was banished from the castle by Jack Frost, and blown past the border of the village. He came to land on Stazi who was in the middle of doing laundry that Kubla had now ruined. Shocked and outraged, Stazi demanded that he put everything back, or else. Later on, Stazi let Kubla stay the week as having a man made her look good, and Kubla needed time to get his bearings. This stay ended up being extended due to a number of events. First Kubla became sick with a fever at the end of the promised week, then Stazi needed home repairs the next week (Kubla built robots to take care of this); and last but not least; Stazi's father passed away, Stazi felt she might get something in the will, and she couldn't face her relatives alone.
It was early autumn when all the episodic chaos came to a close, and Kubla decided to take Stazi back with him to January Junction. This way, she could get compensation for taking care of him and Kubla would regain everything he lost. Unfortunately, Kubla was arrested upon his arrival by Sir Ravenal Rightfellow, the new ruler of January Junction. As the guards overpowered them, Kubla pushed Stazi away and demanded she never return. She did so without looking back. After his trial, Kubla was imprisoned for his crimes against the people.
Back at Stazi's cottage, Stazi realized that she actually missed Kubla when she refused to make his bed and even picked up his old habits of talking to a ventriloquist dummy. Back in jail, Kubla was always talking about Stazi to Dummy, to the point that if that puppet had a mind of its own he'd be begging Kubla to change the subject. In the end, they both knew that they had to be together again.
A couple of months had passed before Stazi had finally had it with her emotions and decided to go bail Kubla out. At the same time, thanks to the Sir Rightfellow's lady wife, Elisa eavesdropping, Kubla was being released on the conditions that he be banished to Stazi's home on the other side of the border. Kubla arrived at the cottage that evening, only to find it empty. He waited and waited, but Stazi never came home. He eventually fell asleep and had a nightmare about Stazi getting lost and injuring herself. Kubla then awoke with a fright, and ran out into the freezing cold night. After searching for about half an hour he was ready to give up, when suddenly he tripped over Stazi's ventriloquist dummy. After a bit of digging, he found Stazi herself under the snow in a dormant state with her ankle sprained.
As quick as he could, Kubla got Stazi home and desperately tried to save her. It was the longest night he had ever been through, and for once in his life, he was actually worried for another human. That night, Kubla didn't leave Stazi's side even once.
Stazi woke up the next morning to find herself in Kubla's arms with her ankle wrapped up. Kubla, who was more than elated to know she was alive, nursed Stazi until she was back on her feet (with a little help from the robots of course). Here they realized that they could not stay apart, and were very much in love. They got married some time later and the rest is history.
Back in the present, Kubla reveals to Sasha that both he and Stazi had been looking for redemption since their death and Sasha was the only one capable of saving the couple being the first white sheep born to their family in several generations. Stazi begged her little descendent to find at least one good quality in the two of them despite her apparent hatred for her family tree.
After giving it much thought, Sasha admitted she did find one good quality in them, their love for each other. And she and her parents were living proof.
The next morning, Sasha called her friends together to discuss the new game plan; instead of just forcing the ghosts to crossover, they were going to redeem them. At first no one thought it wise, but Sasha told them that if they did this for her, they wouldn't have to hear her sing about why she couldn't stand her bloodline anymore. This pleased them all. When questioned as to how a posthumous redemption could be performed, the ghosts revealed that in order to properly be redeemed, Sasha needed to take a possession belonging to both Kubla and Stazi, to the old cathedral, and scream "They are redeemed in the eyes of the future!" in order to get her ancestors to heaven. The only possessions they could access however were the couple's wedding bands in their old cottage.
The next day they all embarked on a journey to fetch the rings. When they finally made it to the border, the rings were found in an old bureau drawer that collapsed shortly after said items were retrieved.
Vladimir later told his boss, Governor Stanislaus that Sasha was trying to redeem her ancestors. Stanislaus however did not approve of this knowing Both Kubla and Stazi's backstories and having malice towards the Kraus' in general. Not wanting these vile humans going anywhere near the pearly gates, Stanislaus told Vladimir that they would be following Sasha and her friends to the church and stop her from redeeming her kinsmen.
When they arrived at the church, Sasha pleaded her case with the priest who gave her permission to enter. But before she could say her line, Sasha was suddenly stopped by Stanislaus and Vladimir. Stanislaus threatened to withhold the ghost hunters' paychecks for what Sasha was about to do, but the latter refused to change her mind. Stanislaus then attempted to apprehend Sasha, but she fought back with a long candlestick knocking him into the pews.
While the governor struggled to regain his senses, Sasha rushed to the altar and prepared to redeem her ancestors. Suddenly, her ancestors stopped her and revealed that Sasha was no longer obligated to pay for their sins. Sasha didn't understand considering what her ancestors would be giving up, but Kubla and Stazi assured her that after getting to know her the way these past couple of weeks, they'd rather go downstairs knowing that they finally did something right than upstairs knowing that they gave Sasha an unnecessary burden. They told her that she should worry about her own afterlife and not dwell those who are already dead. Everyone is moved by their speech including the governor who had just fully come to his senses.
Saddened at the loss of the people she had come to love, Sasha runs to her ancestors in an embrace. But just as the two were about to go to the great beyond, there was a thunderous breaking sound and Kubla and Stazi's chains fell off! Sasha then realized that Kubla and Stazi had redeemed themselves by at last being unselfish in the best of ways. Finally free of their transgressions, the two spirits then went into the light and vanished without a trace.
Having had an apparent change of heart, Governor Stanislaus offered Sasha the old castle to live in as compensation for trying to arrest her, but Sasha felt it was better off as a museum and forgave the man as he was just doing what he thought right. Learning from his ancestors, Vladimir continued to work for the Governor as he felt that it was probably the most righteous thing he could ever do in his not so righteous life. When the ghostbusters returned home, they all encouraged Sasha to recount their adventure in novel form so they could never forget their most fulfilling mission. And that's exactly what Sasha did.
Returning to the frame story, Older Sasha looks into the night sky and sheds a tear as she sees two falling stars rush through the heavens.