I realized as I slammed the door that that if she was really a ghost that wasn’t going to slow her down a lot.
“Damn!” I swore as she came through it.
I turned and began hoofing it down the corridor. I really wasn’t sure what I could do but keeping away from her seemed like a good idea.
Let me tell you how it all started. I was going to school at I.T.T. Tech in Schaumburg Illinois. I was in the second class to ever go through that facility. And as we used to joke about it. The first class to graduate.
We were tough in the way that only teenagers who haven’t seen much of the world can be. We all carried knives, we picked fights in bars, and for a lark one night we walked through Cabrini Green at midnight on a Saturday. (That’s actually true and I’m not sure how I lived through it.) One of my favorite activities was harassing the house of Satanists that lived at the end of Cuba road.
So we where always pushing the envelope. I’m telling you this just so you know we were idiots. Or as it’s mostly put. Young Dumb, and full of cum.
Well Bad Bob, came into school one morning with a news paper clipping. It seemed that some rich dude in Chicago had passed away. He was a known occultist, and his very Christian Daughter was auctioning off his things because she didn't want them. Well Bob talked us into going up there to bid on some spell books. Yeah I know, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. So we all ponied up some cash and headed for the auction. There were a lot of people there. Several hundred at least. We picked up a bid card and tried to find a corner to look suitably tough in.
We’d staked out our spot as the auction got underway. I was amazed at how much some of this stuff was going for. I saw one book go for over ten thousand dollars. We tried bidding on stuff but we were outbid at every item. We even took to running up the bid on things. I almost had a heart attack when Bob bid four grand on something. I did tend to notice though that as people shot their wad they’d get up and leave. So some six hours after the auction started there were quite a few less people bidding than their had been. Dagger Dan finally came up with the bright idea of strategically removing people. It sounded like a good idea so we drifted into the crowd. When Bob started bidding we circled the other bidders and persuaded them not to bid. It took us three items to finally intimidate everyone enough to stop bidding. Even so we still paid six hundred dollars for this book.
When we got it back home we all took turns looking it over. Bob related that the auctioneer said it was bound in leather. But I know leather I’ve been doing leather work for years. I’ve worked cow, pig, goat, and the occasional snake. This wasn’t bound in any of them. I believe it was human hide. And at least for me that was pretty scary.
The spells were even worse. They were hand written and you had to be a really devout Christian to read them. Every spell started out with something like By he power of god, or the will of god or something. We all found this fascinating. So we worked ourselves up to trying it out. We all went out to Cuba road and drove down to about a half a mile from the Satanists house. We were going to try and summon a demon and send it after them. Yeah I know not very ethical of us. We chalked out a circle according to the book and Rodney started reading. I really don’t think any of us believed in it. We were just filling up a Saturday night.
It surprised us all as a fog started coming up through the ground. Most of us had been sitting over by our cars drinking beer. But when the show started we all moved up to the edge of the circle. It seemed like kind of a cool show until something started coming up through the ground and the fog, I watched until it was about waste high. I could hear other vehicles start. And when I looked around son of a bitch if I wasn’t the only one left there. I spotted the book on the ground and I grabbed it and ran for my truck. As I got in I looked back and the thing was almost chest high. I really couldn’t make out details it was just a dark shape in the fog.
At the time my favorite possession was a framed speeding ticket I’d received for doing 140 M.P.H down interstate 53. I beat that record as I peeled out of there. I’d done a lot of work to my little truck. It had a 9 to 1 compression racing engine I’d bought, a modified tranny and every bell and whistle I could buy. I passed all my buddies and had picked up two cops as I ran from that thing. I lost the cops on clover leaf turn. I used to run from them a lot and I was on a first name basis with every cop in the three counties. So I paid for that run. I had a very visible truck. Black with racing stripes. It was so glossy you could shave in the reflection. It had a white roll-bar. Yellow lighted antenna’s and balloon tires. For the next month, every time I left the house I picked up a police escort. I got a lot of tickets that month.
We did go back the next day the circle was burned over and we saw the Satanists house had burned down. Guess I’d have to find another way to spend my evenings.
About a month after the summoning I was ready to try something cute. I’d been reading the book and I had come up with a great idea. I was going to infest a house with ghosts, and then bet people a thousand dollars that they couldn’t spend a night in the house.
My buddies enjoyed the thought and with a little advertising we got fifty people to put up a thousand dollars into a pot winner take all.
Cuba road seemed like a great place for this. It’s one of the psychic hot spots in the city and there have always been ghost sightings on it.
I found an old house up there and spent a week infesting it with ghosts, and other necessities. I even included a digital camera and some food in the kitchen. I admit I was playing pretty fast and loose. My spells seemed to attract very pretty and very female ghosts. Okay I admit it that was the kind I was trying to get..
By the time I was done I had over 50 ghosts in the house. Lots of things got moved around and I could feel a sort of confusion, as they all found themselves bound to the house. I was very happy with my preparation. As get rich quick schemes go this one seemed really good.
Friday night was the 13th and it seemed like a golden opportunity to have the overnight stay. We had managed to line up 42 people who had enough cash and the willingness to try for more. I had everyone show up at 5:30. Fifteen minutes before sundown. We all gathered in the living room where I had bolted a safe to the floor. I explained the rules. You had to stay in the house all night. If you left for any reason you forfeited your money and that was it. We had hired several security guards to make sure that if you left that was it.
Everyone agreed and I signed them to our list and deposited their money. I was really looking forward to spending that money. As full darkness came Our group kind of quieted down. We were all a little nervous.
