The rain pelted down outside. It was intense enough that Leslie had to close the window so the wind wouldn’t blow out the candles. The shutters rattled.
“Ugh, I’m bored,” Ramona proclaimed from where she sat on the floor.
“We’re playing cards, what more do you want?” Leslie asked.
Ramona paused for a moment. Then, with a smirk, replied, “Ghost stories.”
“What stories?” I asked.
“Oh, come on,” Ramona said, placing her hand face down on the table. “The System’s gotta have at least one urban legend.”
“A what now?”
“Spooky stories,” Leslie replied with a grin. “Stories meant to scare you. Who knows if they’re true or not?”
“Alright. And… what does ‘ghost’ mean?”
“Sometimes,” began Ramona, “when a person dies, their spirit is left behind. And they can cause all kinds of trouble.”
I scoffed. “Well then of course these stories aren’t true. Ghosts aren’t possible.”
“There’s actually a story about someone like you,” Ramona continued.
“Oh, yeah?” I challenged.
“Yep.” She leaned forward onto the table in front of her. “She didn’t believe ghosts were real either. You see, there’s an abandoned farm not far from here. And legend has it that the mother killed her whole family then herself.”
I leaned forward. There was something about the way Ramona spoke that drew me into her tale.
“Everyone knew not to go to that house,” she continued. “If you did, the ghost of the mother would drag you into the basement and add you to her collection of souls. But this one woman, no, she didn’t believe in ghosts. Such a silly superstition. And she wanted to own this farm. It was a waste of good land, after all.
“The city told her the farm was all hers, if she could survive the night. It was basically free, so of course she would do it. Ghosts aren’t real. But when she went to spend the night, the shutters would rattle when there was no wind. There’d be a knock at the door, but no one was there. And from the corner of her eye, she could’ve sworn there was blood dripping down the walls.
“Then she began hearing whispers from the basement – that was when she decided she was losing her mind and needed to leave that house. But, before she could even step foot out the door, a cold hand reached out and – ”
Something grabbed my shoulder. I screamed, jumping up from the couch. The cards that had been in my hand went flying. And then I remembered Leslie was the one sitting next to me.
Both of them were laughing hard, tears streaming down their faces.
“Ohteiomlfdskjhtuiejrokmlfsdkaiedjss!” Ramona cried as she banged on the table.
“I’m going to kill you,” I told Leslie as I sat back down on the couch.
“Aw, you’d miss me too much.”
I gave them a light shove in response.
“So, Dax,” Leslie said as they wiped the tears from their eyes, “have any stories like that from the System?”
“Well, one, I guess,” I replied.
“Yay!” Ramona cried, clapping her hands together. “Tell us, tell us, tell us.”
I shook my head. “I barely remember it. Something to do with a game virus. …And I had a friend who could tell it a lot better than me.” I picked up the cards I’d dropped from the floor.
“You miss the System, don’t you?” Leslie asked.
“No,” I responded. “I miss the people I’ll never see again. I miss the conveniences of living in the System. But the System herself? …Not at all.”
To be continued…