Stay: A Halloween-Themed Story Fragment

(Prompt: “Write about someone’s first Halloween as a ghost.”)

 

Bob hadn’t expected this — not so soon.

 

Until now, his Halloween had been quiet and entirely ordinary. Trick-or-treating had fallen out of fashion in his neighborhood, so in lieu of sitting by his front door with a supply of snack-size Milky Ways, he'd stayed in the basement with his wife and watched a special presentation of The Exorcist. That Fright Night tradition, at least, had managed to endure.

 

From there, his routine had rolled forward as usual. Stuffed peppers for dinner. Another quick scroll through his Facebook app and a dashed-off post defending the president from some ridiculous calumny that was lighting up the feeds. And once the grandfather clock struck nine, his evening meds and the pleasures of his favorite pillow. And then —

 

— then he was here. In the — wait, what did his strange visitor say?

 

“The Between.”

 

Bob jumped, not realizing he’d asked the question out loud. “And — I’m dead? How?”

 

“A blood vessel in your brain," said the hooded figure at his side. "You went in your sleep. Peacefully. What happens next is up to you.”

 

“What about Lyla?”

 

They’d been married for forty-five years, Bob and Lyla. And Bob had hoped their life together would last for at least another ten or twenty more. Damn. It’s not fair.

 

“You can be with her — in a different way. She won’t see you. She won’t hear you. But if you choose, you can be bonded to her. Where she goes, you will go. You will be able to watch over her at the very least.”

 

“And my other options?”

 

“There are two paths. You can bond — or you can transcend.”

 

The choice was obvious. Bob decided to stay.

(What do you think, readers? Should I continue from here?)