Myrriah walked into the cold, damp, dark crypt. She could hear water dripping and rats scurrying about, and somewhere outside, a raven cawed. It smelled a bit mildewed, but she had certainly been in worse.
Hmm, she mused as she looked about, I found the doublewide trailer of the ghost world.
Along one of the stone walls were five torches, each held by what looked like thin, bony human hands. Who designed this place? Cocteau? Between each torch was a large, round, dust-coated mirror, deeply in need of some cleaning. There are some very vain dead people around here.
She was just going to walk right by the mirrors, but stopped. After glancing about to make sure no one was watching her, she glided up to one mirror and stared at her reflection. It was odd; she had not actually seen what she looked like since… the accident. She had almost forgotten her features. She had slender build. Her glasses made her green eyes look larger than they actually were, and her long, messy bangs kept falling over her lenses. Her blond hair was pulled back into a ponytail.
The "bookworm look", as Courtney called it, suited her. Courtney had been the more outgoing, early bloomer of the duo, and had often teased, (not mean spiritedly), "bookish, plain-Jane Myrriah". Although she would never admit it, she had resented those remarks. Was that the real reason I snuck out to the party? Was I trying to prove something? Normally, she would have never gone along with such a dumb scheme.
Her thoughts were interrupted as her reflection in the mirror began to blur and change shape. She stared at it dumbfounded until it settled and took a definite form. Gus stared back at her, grinning from ear to ear.
"Gus, you little freak!" she yelled. She laughed as he made goofy faces at her.
He puckered his lips and blew a kiss to her, and then he cackled. Ezra and Phineas appeared in the mirrors on either side of him.
"What's happening, newbie?" asked Ezra.
"Yeah," added Phineas, "how are you holding up, kid?"
"I guess I'm doing okay, all things considered," she answered. She pointed with her thumb behind her. "Is this your place?"
"Ah, the swinging spinsters pad?" asked Ezra with a grin. "Yeah it's ours."
Phineas cast a glance around the crypt. "Could use a little disinfectant here and there." He brightened. "Hey, we're heading to the parlor for a game of poker with Sewell, Huet, and Little Leota. You want to join us? You can bring your friend along too."
"No thanks, maybe another time," said Myrriah. She blinked. "Wait, did you say 'Little Leota'?"
Phineas nodded. "Madam Leota's daughter. Half her height and two times as mischievous."
Ezra scowled. "That punk kid got my pocket watch the last time we played. I stole that watch from Sewell fair and square, I want it back!"
Phineas rolled his eyes. "We better get going. Catch ya later, kid." They vanished.
Myrriah smiled as she realized she had made some new friends. Maybe life, or rather afterlife, wasn't so bad.
"No, no, no." Courtney read over the spines of the books. "These all have titles!"
"Can a help you?" asked a male, nasal voice from somewhere to her right. She looked in the direction the voice had come from, but could only see the ladder. "Is there anything in particular you're searching for, or are you just browsing?"
"Uh…" Courtney couldn't decide whether or not she should say what she needed. She had the vague feeling that she should lie about it. "I'm just browsing."
"Are you new around here?" asked the nasal voice. The poor guy sounded like he had a bad cold.
"Yeah. I'm Courtney."
"Hello, I'm Milton Dewey, Gracey Manor's librarian. Do you like to read a lot?" He sounded pitiful, almost hopeful.
"Yeah, I guess so." She was distracted as she continued inspecting the shelves.
"Well we have plenty of volumes here for your reading enjoyment. The library is home to some of the greatest ghost stories the literary world has ever known, and we have quite the collection of first editions, in excellent condition of course."
A small, red book caught her attention. It had fallen off of the shelf and was lying in a dark patch of shadows in the corner. It was too far away for her to see it clearly, but the cover appeared to be blank. That's it!
"Is there anything I can interest you in?" continued Milton. "A little Shakespeare?" He pulled a hefty tome off the shelf.
"No, thank you." She was inching her way to the little book.
"Dickinson?"
She stopped in case the invisible spirit had turned to look at her. "Nah."
"Huh." He seemed to turn his attention back to the shelf. "You know, I love Emily Dickinson's work."
"Really?" asked Courtney nonchalantly as she walked to the corner.
"Yeah. Her poems weren't that well known when she was alive."
She picked up the red book. "Ain't that a shame?" she muttered distractedly.
"It really is. She thought her poetry wouldn't amount to much."
"That's fascinating," mumbled Courtney as she snuck out.
"Poor girl, all alone, nobody really paid a lot of attention to her. Oh, I can relate! I'm so lonely in here all day, and hardly anyone visits and- Hey, where'd you go?"
Myrriah was walking past the music room next to the library just as Courtney dashed out. "Hey, Court! What have you been up to?"
"Oh, nothing much," replied Courtney hastily.
"What do you have there?" Myrriah asked, pointing to the book.
"Oh this? It's-it's nothing, really." She put the book on the head of a large griffin shaped banister. "So, what did you do?"
"Toured the hallway and some crypts, and chatted with the three stooges for a bit. You?"
"I was just checking out the library, seeing if it would be a fun place to haunt." She smiled nervously. "It's not. There's a really whiny guy in there. Dilton-something. Anyway, do you want to keep touring the house by yourself?"
"No, I think I've seen everything worth seeing." Myrriah turned her attention to an old piano in the music room. It had been placed in front of a large window. A tiny patch of sunlight that had fought its way through the thick, gray clouds streamed into the room, giving it a pathetic amount of light. Most of the sheet music placed on the piano had fallen onto the floor. A dim shadow of a man could be seen on the floor as the ghost casting it sat on the bench.
The girls stared down at his shadow as he cracked his knuckles loudly, and then gently placed his fingers on the ivory keys. Courtney listened for a moment. "Chop sticks? You hack!" She walked over to the bench and plopped down. "Scoot over and let a pro show you how it's done." She began playing.
"Mary had a Little Lamb? Courtney, you can do better than that!" cried Myrriah.
The invisible ghost performed the first part of the theme from Deliverance. Courtney continued it. The other ghost played the next part. Courtney joined in and played the next part faster. Then the other ghost hit the keys quicker than her. Soon they were dueling, each spirit trying to play their side of the piano faster than the other.
Both spooks seemed exhausted as they neared the end of the song. "I'm not giving up 'till after you do!" snarled Courtney. The shadow played for a moment longer, stopped, and slammed his head down on the keys. Courtney finished the song with a triumphant, dramatic flourish. "Ha! Who's the piano man now, huh?"
The shadow slunk away, utterly defeated. Myrriah clapped slowly.
"Thank you! Thank you!" Courtney bowed. "And you thought those five years of piano lessons were pointless."
"I didn't think that. You said that."
"Oh. Nevermind what I said. The point is I totally whooped him."
"Yes," said Myrriah dryly. "You totally beat a poor, bodiless spirit whose only joy was playing the piano."
Courtney glared at her. "I hate you sometimes. You just take the fun out of everything, you know that?"
Myrriah grinned. "I'm just teasing. You did great. Want to go back to the foyer and see if any more guests have shown up?"
Courtney glanced at the book. "Sure. You go ahead. I need to take that back to the library."
Myrriah smiled and walked away. Courtney picked up the little book and gently placed it on the keys. I'll get back to this later. She pulled the cover down and shut it silently. By the end of the day, we'll be alive again!
A/N: I created the character Milton Dewey. If you would like to find out more about him, you can check out my other fanfic, Milton Dewey: Geek, Librarian, Ghost.