Provided an original short story for Stinkwaves Magazine, a magazine geared towards young readers. My writing was included in their Fall 2018 edition, centered around all things spooky (2018).
Stepping out of the shower, I searched for my glasses on the counter. Pulling them on, I was faced with a deep red message on my bathroom mirror. In one of my favorite lipsticks – which initially I was a bit upset about – was written You’ll be okay. The message stared back at me, starting right over my left eyebrow in my reflection.
“Dad?” I asked out loud. I felt stupid almost immediately. Of course, it wasn’t my father. He was long gone. And there’s no such thing as ghosts. But then, how did it get there? I reached out and touched the letters. My fingers came back tinted with the red pigment. It was clear that it was fairly fresh.
Pulling on my robe, I quickly made my way over to my desk and pulled out my laptop. Before I could stop myself, I typed in “friendly haunting” into the Google search bar. Other than some reviews for Casper the Friendly Ghost, not much came up. Maybe I was dealing with the first ever self-care advocate spirit. Closing the laptop, I sighed. The house didn’t feel any different. I couldn’t feel his presence any more than I could feel it any other night. The house that we had once shared still felt hollow, like even it knew that something was missing.
I slept with the lights on that night. I didn’t want to take any chances.
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