Chapter 6: Pickled Bras
"Stop spying on him", Audrey cried out as she stuffed her bag with more unnecessary items. After Audrey came back from Jeremiah's house, she showed me a camp leaflet that Jeremiah and she really wanted to go to.
I wasn't planning to send her but current circumstances led me to. The fact that a manipulative ghost was haunting this house and was probably planning something evil to get us out of here was still my biggest concern now. So I decided to send her to this expensive camp so that I could sort out the problem before Audrey gets to know about it. I don't want her to be afraid after all she's only six years old.
"I was just looking for...err the mailman" I said removing my eye from the peep hole and turning to Audrey. I was actually planning to hit Rodrick with a bamboo stick as soon as he gets out of his abode.
Things to buy:
Tampons
Ben and Jerry's ice cream (Chocolate Brownie fudge, Red Velvet)
Bamboo stick
"Yeah right", she said as she looked at me with her cute angry face. I was depressed by the fact that my best friend and my boyfriend cheated on me. The past days I have often been crying myself to sleep often muffling the sound of cries with my pillow. I looked down to see my white sweats and my loose dark blue t-shirt. I haven't changed out of them in days and they kind of got stained with every food I had for the past few weeks. I have been eating my heart out and binge watching every show on Netflix. Pretty much I am a mess. Rodrick and Casey has been flooding me with calls. Rodrick is such a cowardly asshole, he didn't even bother to check up on me considering he is one door away. I just spent the whole day going over our old photos on the laptop and looking through the peep hole to get a glimpse of him. I am so pathetic.
"Hey Graciee... we don't have that stench anymore", she smelled the air. She's right it's gone. And surprisingly it's less when Audrey is around. I have a feeling the stench is produced by the ghost. Speaking of ghost, I need to get Audrey out of here ASAP. He may not show up but I knew for a fact he was here. The pile of Doritos kept disappearing and if he was the only one eating them, then I have to say he had a great appetite. It has been a few days and already half the pile was gone.
"Yes! I think Gary's here" I confirmed looking out of the window to see a pick-up truck parked beside our apartment. I carried her bag while Audrey followed me downstairs with her stuffed pony clutched tightly to her chest.
I was greeted by a very excited Jeremiah and Gary who was checking himself out in the rear view mirror. Audrey took a seat beside Jeremiah and Gary, Jeremiah's older brother got out of the driver's seat to greet me.
"Hey, how is it going?" he asked straightening his jacket.
"Good I guess", I said with a sigh.
"Heard what happened between you and Rodrick. That was a bit of a dick move from him". A bit?!
"How do you know about us?" I asked desperately trying to sound not too eager.
"Well Joe is my cousin who's friends with Rodrick. He told me about it", he shrugged as he placed his hands inside his jeans pocket.
"Hmm".
Before I could say anything more, Jeremiah interrupted us. I have to say I was glad for the sudden interruption. "We are going to be late Garyyyy", Jeremiah whined. Jeremiah is the smaller version of Gary. They have the same dark brown eyes and curly jet black hair except that Jeremiah has little freckles over his nose which makes him look even cuter. I met Gary when I went to Audrey's orientation. Gary's parents are always travelling so Gary takes care of his younger brother by himself just like me so we sort of became good friends in a short time as we can relate to each other.
I bid them goodbyes and dragged myself up to my apartment. I let out a small breathe and plopped myself onto the couch spreading my arms and legs. Now the only thing I have left to do is get rid of that obnoxious ghost.
...........................
The next day I woke to the smell of something burning in the kitchen. I quickly ran there to find my blue cardigan on fire. Anger boiled through my veins. I immediately let the flames out with the help of fire extinguisher before the smoke detector started sensing it. It was pretty obvious who did this. Trying to calm myself down, I searched the kitchen to see if he has done anything other than this. I noticed that a lot of cucumbers were dumped in the trash. I leaned towards the trash to be greeted by a sharp sour smell. They were pickled cucumbers. I searched through the cabinet to find the empty jars. Unscrewing the jar I found that something was floating in it. With the help of wooden spoon I lifted the thing up, careful not to spill any sour vinegar over my counter top. It was a bra. I quickly washed the fabric under the tap ignoring how the wet fabric felt in my hands by then the veins on my forehead were probably visible. I recognized the fabric as my blue bra! Worried about my limited collection of underwear, I rushed to open the other jars to find the same thing. THE STUPID GHOST PICKLED MY BRAS. My jaw was physically dropping on the floor as I couldn't believe the sight in front of me.
I was in such a panic that I failed to notice that the TV in the living room had turned on and there was no one in the house except for me. The familiar sounds of laughter echoed in my room. Approaching the armchair, I was greeted by the ghost who was scooting on the couch as he watched something on TV. I couldn't believe his nerve. I went in front of the TV with my bra in my hand. I made sure to keep the bra at my arm's length as it smelled horrible.
"You fucking pickled my bras?" I yelled at him. He looked at me with those emerald eyes with an amused grin as if he was thinking something then all of a sudden he started howling in laughter. First he burned my cardigan then he pickled all my bras and now he has the audacity to laugh at me?! That bastard. I waited for his laughter to die down as I tapped my left foot on the carpet impatiently crossing my arms over my chest.
"I am hilarious aren't I?" he asked as his laughter died down and he pretended to wipe a fake tear of his cheeks. I couldn't help myself but roll my eyes at him.
Before I could say anything he continued, "I warned you to get the hell out of this house or else you have to bear the consequences", he said slowly as he gestured his hands toward my bra. "But sadly you didn't listen me".
"No I am not leaving this place at any cost", I shouted at him. Somehow my anger gave me the confidence boost to defend myself against him and also due to the thing I bought from church yesterday.
"But I am going to get rid of you very soon", I hissed at him with an evil grin on my face at least I hope for one as I always looked like joker from dark knight with my evil grins. The whole time he had a confused yet bored looked on his face as his eyes traveled with me.
Before I could walk up to the kitchen counter to grab my backpack, I disposed my bra into the trash. I think I died a little that time. Rummaging through my backpack, I found the metal container. I carefully laid my bag down on the counter and rushed to stand in front of him. Okay this is it Grace. You can do it. Yesterday I was able to do a little research on getting rid of evil spirits and one of them was holy water. So I rushed to the nearest church after bidding Audrey goodbye and bought some holy water. I tried to offer money but he clearly refused it (I rarely visit churches, this was perhaps my first time). Impressed by his generosity I asked him if I can do something else for him. He suggested to make an 80 dollar donation for the new confessional. I wasn't exactly willing to pay such expense for some blessed water but I badly needed to get rid of the ghost.
I came back home and did a little research. Well the father suggested just to sprinkle the water around the house but I decided to follow the Brazilian way. After searching in YouTube, I came up with a video where a Brazilian guy tried this technique on an evil spirit and it never came back.
Taking a deep breath, I started chanting the mantra and started rotating my head mimicking the Brazilian guy. After finishing the first part of mantra, I started hoping on one foot around him as I went to the second phrase of mantra and sprinkling the holy water towards him. The whole time the ghost had a dumbfounded expression on his face as he observed every move of mine. That's strange according to the Brazilian guy the ghost should feel pain and the screams of his sufferings should echo around the room but no he was just sitting there with a confused look on his chiseled face.
I started hopping harder and chanting the mantra all over again but nothing happened. Except for the fact that my feet started to hurt like crazy and the ghost's dumbfounded expression was replaced by an amused grin. As if he couldn't keep it to himself anymore he started laughing.
"What... the... hell... are you... doing?" he asked between his annoying laughter. I groaned in annoyance as the stupid Brazilian trick didn't work for him instead I made a complete fool out of myself.
"I was performing a ceremony to get rid of evil spirits like you", I pointed my index finger at him. That make him laugh even harder. "Oh stop it!" I snapped at him. He stopped laughing and adjusted himself. He was now sitting upright staring at me.
I cleared my throat as I felt awkward under his scrutinizing eyes. "You use holy water to get rid of evil spirits", he explained as he took the metal container from my hand. "I am not an evil spirit but a wicked one", he said wriggling his eyebrows with a cocky grin plastered over his face.
Asshole.