Page 16 of The Devil and His Ghost

“Ignore her,” I told Kendyll.

“But …”

“Please,” the woman called as she whipped her head every which way. That was when she saw Kendyll staring right at her. Hope brightened her face, and she raced toward us, her coiffed hair bouncing. “Please! My little boy! Have you seen him?”

Kendyll blinked rapidly, and instead of listening to me, she slowly acknowledged the lady with a gentle tone. “Your boy?”

“Ah! Praise! You’re answering me,” the woman cried out in merriment. “Everyone has passed me by without paying any mind to my troubles! Please. My baby boy. He is only a few months old. I-I fell asleep by mistake on the park bench with him in his stroller, and now my baby is gone. He’s gone!”

I listened to the ghost’s ramblings, but I knew better than to get involved in her plight for help. She wore a cream-colored knee-length dress with lapels and wide shoulders, and her hair was tight and pulled back. Both served as clear signs that she’d been dead for some time. Her dated appearance suggested she’d lived during the 40s.

Even after being dead all that time, she still thought she was alive and in search of a missing baby that would be even older than she was in this ghostly, frozen state. Getting mixed up with such a lost spirit was often more of a hassle than it was worth.

“Let’s go,” I grumbled to Kendyll and resumed my walk, but after a few paces, I realized the stubborn human girl wasn’t following.

“It’s okay,” Kendyll tried to appease the woman kindly. “Your—Your baby isn’t here anymore, ma’am.”

“How do you know?” she cried while wringing her hands. “Do you know where Thomas is?”

“I-I don’t, but … I know that you … well, you’re—”

“Don’t, Kendyll,” I warned, but my words fell on deaf ears.

“You’re dead, ma’am. You’re a ghost. Your baby isn’t here,” Kendyll said apologetically.

The spirit floated backward in the way one might rear back upon being slapped. “What are you talking about? What a cruel joke! Such heartlessness!”

“I know it must be hard to believe, but it’s the truth. You’ll find peace once you realize this. Your baby isn’t missing. He’s just not here, because you’re a ghost. I’m sure he’s safe and sound somewhere, all grown up.”

The apparition began to shake. Dread gathered in my body. I carefully returned to Kendyll’s side, watching the ghost warily as I did. Her eyes had gone feral where she stared directly at Kendyll.

“I’m not dead!”

Kendyll only frowned at this.

“I’m not dead! I just fell asleep,” the woman insisted in a rage, her pale eyes suddenly churning with darkness.

“Fuck,” I hissed under my breath. I grabbed Kendyll’s bag-loaded arm to try to guide her away. “Come on. It’s too late.”

“Too late for what?” Kendyll asked.

“How dare you try to leave now?” the ghost roared. “You probably took Thomas! That’s why you’re trying to confuse my mind with your nonsense! Give him back to me. Give me back my baby!”

Her words morphed into piercing screeches like something right out of a horror movie. Her wide eyes went black and protruded from their sockets while her teeth and nails elongated into scary points. Her ethereal skin went from pale to gray. The furious ghost lunged at Kendyll with violent intent, and while most ghosts would simply pass through a human, this ghost was no longer normal.

Dropping my drink and bags, I quickly stepped in front of Kendyll with a malicious glare of my own and caught the mad spirit’s reaching hands. She screamed wildly and thrashed in my arms before a growl peeled past my lips. Lighting fast, I released her to slam my own now clawed hand into her chest, where the essence of her spectral afterlife resided. She froze in shock seconds before I dug my claws into her soul, crushing it into a million glittering fragments. The ghost fizzled out and dissipated from existence like smoke on a passing breeze.

“What just happened?” Kendyll asked, her confusion and alarm making her voice shake.

I blew out a breath and dropped my hand back to my side, hiding my claws away once more. I glanced around the park and was grateful when I didn’t spot anyone else around. It would’ve been a pain to deal with altering their memories had they seen my form shift.

Turning to face Kendyll, I crossed my arms and got in her face. “I told you to ignore her. I told you to keep walking, but you just didn’t want to listen.”

“Because I didn’t understand why you wanted me to ignore a ghost that clearly needed help,” Kendyll fired back. “What happened to her?”

“She became a malicious spirit, that’s what. Have you never met a malicious spirit before?”

She shook her head slowly, and there was no missing the way her brow furrowed in puzzlement.