UNFISHED STORIES

"trick or treat " .. eighth story

The eldest ghost in the circle hold up the basket
"Trick or treat? "
the youngest ghost bit his nearly translucent lips
" Must l choose? "
" Yes, it's our tradition for years .. you are the newst and if you want to join our hunted house you have to choose! .. now trick or treat? " the eldest ghost said with a stern look on his face
the youngest ghost kept munching his lips thinking hard .. it was a tricky question by itself ..every house has its different right answer and this was the fourth hunted house he visited already and he should find one soon .. winter is coming and winter is not good for little ghosts especially new ones .. ghosts tend to go breserk in winter! the problem is not the cold of course ghosts don't feel any cold; it's the emptiness that do the trick, the white that spread everywhere, the snow and rain that penetrate you and continued its way to the ground like you're part of the air .. ghosts Don't love to be reminded of that !  and if you don't have a roof that covers your head when it rains it's more likely you 'll lose your mind before the end of winter ..
the eldest ghost shaked the basket as if urging him to hurry and he swallowed hard .. ghosts don't need to swallow since there's no saliva of course but new ghosts do anyway .. it's hard to let go of the living habits you once had .. that's how you know new ghosts, they behave like they are still alive ..
" Trick " he said finally .. the elders looked to each other with a strange look in their face and the young ghost swallowed hard .. the eldest then looked at him and a whole level of seriousness painted his face
" You see, the house is all ours but .. " he exchanged another look with the elders  before continuing  " There's a small room that we don't enter at any cost .  There's an old man that lives there alone .. you see even human are afraid of him .. ghosts who enter his room never returned ever again! "
there was silence after that..a really deep silence.. the kind of silence that you could actually hear and the young ghost knew what was expected from him even before the elder opened his mouth again to say:
"If you really want to join us you have to prove yourself as a ghost worth of trusting ,  a member of us we could depend on.. you have to scare that man away!  "
and just like that the young ghost knew he have no place in this hunted house either ..
The room was scary .. it wasn't a big deal actually if you didn't hear the stories but now you know it's like in horror movies .. the walls all was covered in books and the old man who didn't seem that evil but just another tired old man sat on the only desk in the room reading .. our young ghost took a deep breath then with a spark of courage he suddenly closed the book on the desk .. the man looked up then and saw him .. like he really saw him .. it was the first time a living person saw him and without any kind of surprise on his face either ..  the man smiled
" Ooh.. you must be a new ghost here! you look young .. how old were you, boy? l mean when you ..."
the ghost was now trembling so hard so the man slighed, took off his glasses, rubbed his tired eyes and asked with a very tired voice :
" did you read Hamlet? "
the young ghost was taken aback by the unexpected question he nodded without thinking .. the old man then smiled and nodded approvingly :
" Good.. no one reading shakespeare this days "
then when he saw the bewildered expression on the ghost face his smile suddenly became lonely and gentle   
" l'm sure that ghost society of yours won't accept you now, am l wrong ? then why don't you live here with me? l have always wanted to talk to someone about Shakespeare "