TROUBLE ON WALNUT STREET(1)

​TROUBLE ON WALNUT STREET

     It was late at night, as usual, Zen just closed her store and was on her way home. Walking briskly so she could meet Ms.  Jane, her neighbor. It was their usual Saturday night ritual, they drink wine and go over various books. She felt like sharing this magnetic pull with the book in her arms with Jane. Taking the left turn, a cold feeling made her shiver, she brushed the feeling aside and continued.

Just last week they had been reading a book on ghosts. Not just normal ghosts but dead ghosts. According to the book, dead ghosts were calm, an almost non-existent form of ghosts. They only haunted people who have uncertainty under their collars. They felt cold like other ghosts but took their captives on strange journeys. The past, subconscious, the future, or what-was-meant-to-be. Each dead ghost represented a family member from one side or the other. It could be one dead before the vessel’s existence or one given birth to after the vessel’s demise. She had been ready to debate their existence but Jane felt quite dismissive and moved to a different book instead. Jane’s dismissal didn’t sit well with her so she took the book with her.  In bed that night, she re-read the pages word for word. An invincible force kept pulling her to the pages and she surrendered to it. Dead ghosts took their vessels in different ways, no two methods alike. People just disappeared and if they were to ever come back, trees would’ve grown mouths.

     Hearing taps after each footstep made her tense. Zen increased her pace and held on tight to the book. As if on fire, the book flipped open and she dropped it. Zen's last turn was the last she ever saw of Walnut’s street as her bag fell to the ground as whimsy clouds enveloped her.

 

                                                                                                                                             TO BE CONTINUED. . .

 



P.S.:

    I wrote this piece about two years ago. I plan on continuing as a series. Once again, thank you for reading. Please, drop a comment and let me know what you think🤗


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