Ghost of a Fly
Hello, My name is Bellora and I am a 29-year-old ghostbuster. Yeah, that’s my job, expelling ghosts out of people’s homes so that they can live peacefully. But how do I do this you ask? Well, I have a sixth sense that enables me to see ghosts. Ghosts get stuck in this world because they have some unfinished business, and I help them to move on by accomplishing that business. Sometimes though, it gets unpredictable. This story is about one of those times when even I couldn’t figure out what to do because it was the ghost of a fly.
Uncle Jared and Aunt Muriel were this really old couple that lived in this equally old, albeit beautiful mansion near Purelake, South Virginia. According to them, they acquired this aforesaid mansion in an auction. The guy that was selling it was in such a hurry to get out of there that these old birds got it at a very cheap price. They only had one another for any kind of support and it started to get really creepy when their daily objects started to fly and land in their hands automatically without even them asking for it. So they flipped open their yellow pages (I told you they were old) and dialled the first relevant number they could see in there.
Enter Bellora.
When I first talked to them on the phone, they sounded so confused and terrified, that I set all my other tasks aside and set out for their home. When I first saw this mansion I was blown away. It was so beautiful, like a palace, with a big beautiful garden, though it was n’t taken care of so it had a lot of weeds and wild plants. The rooms inside were very primitive, with furniture of the old style, but everything either had rust or dust which is understandable, as a pair of 75-year-olds can’t do much around this big a house. I introduced myself, made myself comfortable and then listened to their paranormal story. Apparently, household things have been flying about ever since they moved in. Toothbrushes automatically flew into their mouth as soon as they stood to brush, newspaper landed on the table as they sat to read, the tea sometimes poured itself, etc. I thought this to be very odd as your common ghost would never play with household objects. As I have been told by themselves(ghosts) they only like to play around with electric switches, doors (any kind), and most importantly they love mirrors. Mirrors are ghosts’ favourite kind of pastime, as nobody can see them they like to play peek-a-boo with themselves. “A ghost gotta keep itself entertained somehow you know”, I was told. Usually, as soon as I enter a haunted house I can feel the presence of a ghost or see them in front of me but here either the presence was very small or negligible. So, I told the elderly couple to retire to a room and lock it from inside so that I can talk to the ghost without worrying for their safety. After the couple went into their bedroom I sat in the middle of the living room and started meditating to feel the presence more strongly. Suddenly, I heard the sound of light buzzing. I tried to concentrate harder with my eyes closed and the buzzing increased. As it reached its maximum intensity I threw my eyes open to find a fly in front of me. Not a regular fly but a ghost one. I was astounded. I had never seen something like this before in my life and there were so many questions in my mind. How will I communicate with it? Can it speak? What purpose does it have because of which it is stuck in this realm? “Who are you?”, someone spoke in a tiny voice. I flipped my head side to side to see who spoke but there was no one except me and the fly. Again the voice came, “I am speaking, in front of you, are you stupid?”. I stared at the fly who had just called me stupid, with an open mouth. I asked, “Can you speak?”. “Umm, yeah. Otherwise, how will you talk to me?”, said the fly.
So, we talked. I asked her why and how a fly can get stuck in this realm and it told me that it had been banished here by its community leaders because it betrayed them. I did not pry further because it seemed to be kind of sad about the incident. The one thing you were not supposed to do with ghosts was to make them sad. Of course, that applies to normal ghosts and I did not know how to behave with a fly one but I rolled with it. “So why are you bothering these sweet old people?”, I asked. It said, “I am not bothering them you stupid human, I am merely helping them. They are very old and I notice that they have problems with sight and hearing so I help them with small things like getting something from the upper shelf, newspapers, etc. This gives me a purpose too. I tried to help the family that was before them but they used to shout and cry too much”.
“Can you please let them see you so that they can make sure that you are not here to harm them?”, I asked. It said, “Okay fine”. I did not know that flies were capable of eye roll but I sure saw this one do it.
So I called the couple out of their room, they met the fly, acknowledged it with a shock, but were happy that they get an unexpected helping hand. I accepted my fee in the form of a cake and was out of there before anyone noticed.
END
The writer of the story “An Unexpected Tale: Ghost of a Fly” is Gitanjali Mishra. Contact her on Facebook.
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