We are Still Here

Jonah Cross drove his car down the long highway listening to that old Tiffany song he liked so much as he found himself driving through a stretch of the lonely highway that he hated with a passion. It wasn't a long stretch, but it was there.

Around 20 years ago a house burned down and took out a stretch of the forest that surrounded it. The shell of the house remained standing even after all that time. Something was there, something that was preventing anyone from tearing the house down and rebuilding it.

“...I think we're alone now!” Tiffany's voice belted out over the radio. “There doesn't seem to be anyone around.”

“No shit!” An eerie feeling came over Jonah as all at once the car stopped dead in its tracks, the radio shut off, and the air around him became thick, heavy and suddenly cold. He checked the fuel gauge and honestly couldn't tell if it was half full or half empty. He tried to restart the engine, there wasn't even enough of a charge in the battery to even make an attempt. “This is a brand-new battery.”

Jonah popped the hood, to make sure one of the connections didn't come loose, but they were on good and tight.

Deciding it was best to call for help, Jonah pulled out his cellphone, but the battery on that too was depleted. It was like something had drained them both from 100% full to nothing in one fell swoop. “I don't have time for this nonsense!”

All at once the cellphone came to life.

“Ah-ha! It just needed to reset itself.” Jonah smiled.

But instead of the phone's usual start-up routine four words came up on the screen in giant lettering: WE ARE STILL HERE!

Jonah looked around, hoping that he would find some kid hiding in the bushes playing a texting prank on him, but there was no kid, because there were no bushes. “Here? Where? And more importantly... WHO?”

COME TO THE HOUSE!

“OK.” Jonah turned not to the old burned-out house that was still smoldering smoke even after 20 years inside the dead zone, but a nice brightly colored house that lay well outside the dead zone.

NOT THAT WAY! This time the text came as a disembodied voice.

“I like that house better!” Jonah has the sensation of someone pulling him along towards the burnt-out house. “OK! OK! You don't have to force me!” Jonah got a look at the smashed-out windows and collapsed walls and the wooden stairwell with missing steps. Were there ghosts lurking about as well? “Then again--.”

COME ON!

Jonah found himself being pulled through the main entrance of the house and stopped himself just short of falling into a large hole in the floor. It took him a few seconds to regain his balance. “Let me go at my own pace, will ya?”

LET'S GO!

“What's the hurry?” Jonah barked. “The place has been like this for 20 years, another 20 seconds ain't going to make a big difference!”

Again, Jonah found himself being pulled along with force.

“Fine, have it your way! But I'm not coming back to this place when I leave!”

WE ARE STILL HERE!

“You said that already!”

AND THERE'S ONE MORE!

“One more what?”

Jonah found himself at a doorway that led down into a deep dark basement that was veiled with deep gray smoke. From what he could make our a few steps were missing. He instinctively pulled out his cellphone so he could use the flashlight function. “Hey, Casper, can you give me power back to my phone.” He got no reply. “I need to know where I'm going.”

FINE! The disembodied voice said begrudgingly.

“And you never answered my question,” Jonah said as he was finally able to use his phone, although he suspected he wasn't allowed to use it to make calls, but at least he could use it as a flashlight. “One more what?”

ONE MORE BODY.

“What's that supposed to mean?”

BODY NEW!

Jonah began working his way down the dilapidated steps into the darkness below.

UNLIKE ME... STILL ALIVE!

“What?” Jonah finally got what the disembodied voice was saying. “Maybe you should have opened with that instead of all of that “We are still here!” nonsense!”

BUT WE ARE!

Jonah let out a mild groan as he stepped off the steps and shown the light into the darkness. “I guess even a ghost can be a complete idiot!”

“Over here!” A child's voice called out through the darkness from the far end of the basement.

Jonah shone the light around the area where the voice came from until he saw a 10-year-old boy buried up to his waste in freshly fallen debris. “Are you hurt?”

“Naw,” the boy tried to move, but there was a ton of dirt over him, “just pinned down.”

Jonah moved in closer. “What were you doing down here anyway?” He quickly removed some of the dirt so the boy could move.

“Exploring. But look at what I found!” The boy came up with a skeleton's hand.

THAT'S MY HAND! The disembodied voice gasped in disbelief as he stare at the hand. WHAT HAS TIME DONE TO ME? I WONDER IF I CAN DO SOMETHING?

There was a sudden energy around the skeleton as all at once, it stood up and began to move around.

THAT'S BETTER. The skeleton began to look around. THERE SHOULD BE ANOTHER LIKE ME.

The boy pointed to a skull peering out from a pile of rubble. “There's something over there.”

The skeleton leaned down to pick up the skull and peered into the empty eye sockets. OH MY DEAR, IS THIS ALL THAT IS LEFT OF YOU; NOT EVEN A PILE OF BONES TO PLACE YOUR HEAD UPON?

Jonah could hear the entire house creaking. “Listen, I need to get the boy out of here before the remains of the house falls in on us.

YOU GO. I'LL STAY. The skeleton sat in the corner with his beloved's head in his hands. He caught a look from Jonah. I'M WHERE I BELONG.

“Can you lift the spell that is holding me here?”

YOU DID WHAT I NEEDED YOU TO DO.

“How about lifting the spell that is keeping this house in a holding pattern so they can do something proper?” Again, the house creaked around him.

THAT SPELL IS THE ONLY THING THAT IS KEEPING THIS HOUSE FROM FALLING IN ON YOU! BUT ONCE YOU GET OUTSIDE THE SPELL WILL BE BROKEN.

“Come on,” the boy nudged at Jonah, “let's get out of here!”

Jonah looked back at the skeleton as he held the skull up to his lips. As he did, a part of the wall behind it collapsed, which served as a reminder that he should get out of there. He picked up the boy and navigated his way up the steps. They fell out from under him as he reached the top step. But he made a leap onto a solid section of floor then literally flew through the air to an area just outside the house as it collapsed behind him.

“Again! Again!” The boy cheered.

“I'm sorry,” Jonah teased, as he sat the boy propped up against the car, then looked back at the smoldering pile where the house once stood, “only one ride per customer!”

All at once, a woman in her early 30's came rushing out of the brightly colored house with a look of panic on her face; the full effect of what had happened at the old house hit her and she began to run towards the house. “Billy!”

Jonah stepped into the woman's path. “I wouldn't go that way if I were you.”

“My son is somewhere in that mess!” The woman cried out, totally oblivious to the fact that the boy was sitting on the ground next to her.

“Mom,” Billy looked up, “I'm right next to you!”

“How many times have I told you not to go playing around inside that old house?” The mother scolded.

Billy decided to get cute with his response. “This is the last time I'll go in there, I promise.”

“I just wish they would finally be able to do something with that property,”

Jonah looked at his phone as full service returned, he looked at the screen, then smiled up at the woman, “I have a feeling they finally can,” Jonah responded to the woman,

“I'm sure they can,” Jonah bit his lip for a second, “I'm sure your husband will be glad to hear that--.”

“I have no husband.”

“Wife?”

“I know what you're playing at,” the woman smirked, “single mom. What about you? Wife or kids?”

“Nobody to run home to,” Jonah looked at the woman hopefully.

“Name's Hannah,”

“Jonah,” all at once an old Etta James song “At Last” began to play over the radio and both instinctively began to dance to it. “I have a feeling the ghosts approve.”

“So do I,” Hannah smiled, as she sway to the music.

“I don't!” Billy looked up.

“Who asked you?” Jonah asked.

“Go inside and set the table,” Hannah pointed towards the house, “for three.”

“Three--.” Billy found himself talking to his mother's hand.

“We'll be inside in a moment,” Hannah waited for Billy to disappear, then turned towards the collapsed house, “now that place really is an eyesore.”

“Yes,” Jonah said, “but I think we'll finally be able to do something about it.”

“But the ghosts are still there,” Hannah said.

“Oh, they are still there, they will always be there I imagine. But I have a feeling that after 20 years, we'll be able to do something with the property.”

“What do you mean?”

“I run a construction company that specializes in building houses. I tried before but was stopped by forces from beyond. But now, the spell that was holding the house in its holding pattern is no longer there.”

“I see,” Hannah said, “maybe we can discuss your plans for the property over dinner.”

“We don't have to discuss just that,” Jonah suggested, “there are other things we can discuss.”

“Of that I'm sure,” Hannah lead Joseph towards the house.

Just the beginning....