"A penny for your thoughts," Gina said.
"I'm just..." Dana cleared her throat, slowly emerging out of the dense mist of pondering. "I've just been thinking about the other night."
"Makes sense," Gina nodded in perfect understanding.
"No, I'm not talking about..." she sighed heavily. "Okay, yes, also about that. But," her voice turned sterner, "mostly, about the whole situation, how we can..."
"Yeah?" Gina anxiously asked, after a long pause.
"Whether we can turn it to our advantage."
"Come again?!" Gina sat rigidly up, her expression abruptly changing.
"Look," Dana leaned on her elbows, staring at her friend intensely, "what happened the other night was...incredible, in one way, but, at the same time, it was also extremely dangerous.
"We could have...been hurt."
"But, we weren't."
"No, but, Tony had to go to the hospital."
"He shouldn't have been there in the first place."
"Be that as it may, we still..."
"You don't have to go back, you know."
"That's the problem! I feel, deep inside of me, that I have to!"
"It's quite amazing, isn't it?" Gina smirked.
"I'm not sure that's the word I'd use, but...yes, sure. Let's go with amazing. At any rate..." Dana paused again, unable properly to formulate her thoughts.
"What is it?" Gina pushed her impatiently.
"I told you, I'm just thinking of ways to turn this whole situation, what we know and what we experienced, to our advantage."
"You told me that. It's the how you're not telling!"
"It's quite simple, actually..." Dana drew a deep breath.
* * * *
"You're alright, man?" Fred asked.
"I'm bored as hell, but, other than that, no, I'm not good, at all," Tony replied coldly.
"They won't let you do anything, huh?" Fred chuckled dryly, trying to evade the heated topic looming over their heads.
"Yeah," Tony nodded. "All I've done these past few days is lying here idle, unable to watch TV, work on my computer...hell, I'd even read a book, just to kill some time!
"I'm just lying here...thinking; remembering."
"Let's try to forget that, okay? Maybe, it was just...a bad dream, or something."
"You really believe that?"
"No," Fred admitted heavyhearted. "But, I'd much rather..."
"You know what pisses me off the most?" Tony interrupted him. "That I've got some solid proof that ghosts exist—and can even give you a fucking concussion—and can't feel any trace of joy about it!"
"Have you talked with Dana, by the way?"
"No!" Tony shot up from the pillow and immediately reached for his forehead. "No," he repeated after falling back on the soft pillow. "What is there to say?"
"I don't know...ask her about that night? About what really happened?"
"I think we both know what happened...and," he coughed hoarsely, "I'm trying hard here not to remember what you did during..." he stopped, rubbed his closed eyelids.
"I told you," Fred apologized in a heavy voice, "I don't know why, or...something overcame me; it felt as if I was looking at myself, from high above doing...yes, and couldn't stop myself, despite knowing fully well how wrong it was!
"I can't explain why I...you know."
"I do want to believe you, trust me," Tony said, his throbbing eyes still tightly shut, "it's just...I don't know."
"I think it's the mansion, man," Fred said after a long period of silence between them. "There's something in there; and I don't mean just the ghost, or whatever the fuck that thing was!"
"I did tell you the mansion was haunted, didn't I? And you called me stupid!"
"I did, yes...can you blame me? I couldn't...but, now, I've seen it with my own two eyes! It's...different. And, most importantly, we need to do something, man."
"We should burn the fucking thing to the ground!" Tony snapped his fingers. "Man, you saw Dana and Gina losing their minds there, right? They barely even acknowledged our presence; hell, Dana didn't even care for my getting hurt.
"It's the whole mansion that drives them crazy, man; not just the ghost. If we don't destroy it, and quick, I'll lose Dana, forever."
"I know you're right," Fred finally whispered, after quite some time of inner pondering, "it's just...it feels wrong, man."
* * * *
"We can't do that!" Gina protested vividly. "It'd be wrong, it'd be..."
"You're falling in love with that ghost, aren't you?" Dana said, half-mockingly.
"No!" Gina raised her voice, then, abruptly, lowered her glance. "I don't know; it just feels wrong to...use the ghost in that way."
"Why?" Dana shrugged. "If you think about it, we'd be doing it a favor; bringing to it even more...offerings? I don't know how to call them."
"But, charging for it?"
"Why the hell not?" Dana said calmly. "We'll be offering a highly unique thrill; an actual haunted house, with the benefits of extreme sexual pleasure. I'm not denying that the orgasms I experienced there were otherworldly; I just don't see a reason why we should keep it to ourselves."
"What if the ghost hurts the visitors? Badly, I mean," Gina's mind raced, desperately coming up with arguments against Dana's plan.
"It didn't hurt us, did it?"
"No, but..."
"You think we're somehow special...no," Dana's tone turned harsh, "you think you are the special one. You believe the reason it didn't hurt me, was because I was with you."
"What if it's true? Think about it; you felt the thickness of the cock yourself. We shouldn't have been able to walk for a long time; hell, the way it fucked us, we ought to have sustained permanent damage!
"Yet, we didn't! Doesn't that tell you something?"
"We had sex with a ghost, Gina!" Dana exasperated. "Yes, we did feel the cock, it was real enough, but, maybe it's not as solid as...as the real thing. I don't know. Besides, it's the ghost of a serial rapist, right? Someone who once fucked to death many innocent women; perhaps, then, its Hell is to be able to fuck, but not cause the damage that once got him off."
"Do you really believe that?"
"I believe it's a very fair assumption," Dana smirked.
"I still don't like the idea of charging admittance tickets," Gina said in resignation.
"You'll still be able to fuck your beloved ghost, Gina," Dana put her arm around Gina's shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.
* * * *
"Well," Tony tried to sit up, but, immediately fell back on the pillow, "did you get everything?"
"Yes," Fred put down the two bags and sat heavily on the leaning chair, near the shut window. "It wasn't that hard finding them; are we sure, though, we want to go through with it?"
"Absolutely," Tony said. "Tonight."
"No way," Fred leaped up and placed his hand on Tony's shoulder, pushing him back on the bed. "You need a couple more days of rest."
"Two days may be too fucking late!" He protested, but lay still on the bed.
"That's jealousy talking," Fred retorted calmly. "Besides," he cleared his throat, "are we entirely certain burning that thing down is safe?"
"What do you mean?" Tony asked in frustration.
"What if the mansion is what keeps the ghost restrained, in some way? What if, by burning the house down, we release the ghost to our town? To the world?"
"When did you become a ghost-expert?"
"Believe it or not, I listened, when you talked about these things; regardless of how I felt about your obsession, I paid attention."
"And you believe the mansion is the ghost's prison?"
"I'm just not fond of the idea of us releasing the ghost of a rapist and murderer to our town; perhaps, instead of burning the house down, we can just board all the doors and windows, make it impossible for others to get inside."
"I'd much rather proceed with the burning it down plan," Tony said coldly.
"Because of what happened to Dana, not because you believe it's the most rational option," Fred scolded him.