Combustion

A Daily Dose of Ghosts by D L Kaiser in Kindle format is live on Amazon.com for $4.99!

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Combustion

A couple bought the house on the side of the mountain and took a walk up the hill the day after signing the contract.

“Wow! Great view!”

“Yep.”

Leslie and Phil wrapped their arms around each other and took in the beautiful panorama before them.

“I could get used to this.” Phil joked.

“Yep.”

After a short while they started back down.  Phil slipped on some rocks and landed hard on his backside.

“Phil!  Are you alright?”

“Yeah, ow.  Fine.  Wait. What is this?”

Leslie walked closer.  There were several fire pits in a circular pattern.  The ashes looked fresh.

“Odd.  I thought the previous owners moved months ago.”

“Well, maybe they came back and had a party before we moved in?”

Neither knew what to think of it so they dismissed it.

Later they were relaxing after dinner when Leslie noticed some light on the mountainside.

“Come take a look at this.”

There were fires burning on the mountain.

“We had better get out there!”

“No! Phil. We had better call the police don’t you think?  They are clearly trespassing!”

After bickering back and forth, they finally decided on warning the trespassers first, then if they would not leave, calling the police.

Both brought out their walking sticks and headed up the trail with their flashlights in hand.

“Sure are quiet, aren’t they?”

“Yeah, you would think they would be talking at least.”

A few steps closer and they started yelling out.

“Hello!  You out there!  You are trespassing!”

No answer.

They yelled some more.

No answer.

Suddenly they heard loud footsteps behind them.

Phil and Leslie spun around, flashing their light all around them.

“Hey!  Come out you coward!”

“Phil.  Don’t make them mad.”

“I’m mad!  This is my land!”

The crunching grew closer and stopped a few feet before Phil.

The mist appeared out of nowhere.  It suddenly grew cold around them and Leslie shivered.  There before them was a man more than 10 feet tall.  He had a huge head and feet bigger than any man they had ever seen. 

“This is MY LAND.”  The huge man said in a low baritone voice.

“But we just bought it.”  Phil blurted out.

“Can you make me leave?”  The huge man smiled an evil smile.  He took a huge breath inward and blew in Phil’s face.  Phil flew backwards and landed on his backside.  Leslie rushed to his side.

“You have no cause to do that!  Leave us alone!”  Leslie raised her walking stick and pointed it at the ghost.  She was surprised when he stepped backwards with a look of fear.

“Go!” She yelled.

The ghost turned into a mist and disappeared.

Several days later, the fires started again.

“I’m not going up there.”

“You don’t have to, I will.”

“What? Leslie, no.”

But before Phil could say another word, Leslie had gone outside with her walking stick and headed up the mountainside.

The fire grew brighter as Leslie stepped near.  It was odd.  There was no wood in the fire.  Then she noticed a pattern.  Each fire pit would alight with a ghostly fire, then go out, leaving strange glowing ashes of some sort, then another fire pit would light up, and then finally the third would light up after the second went out.

“Hey ghost!” Leslie decided to test a theory.

“I am here!” The huge man boomed out, appearing in one of the fire pits.

“I will give you ten minutes to leave this place.”

“You DARE command me to leave?”

He blew the wind around her, but she stood her ground.

It was suddenly quiet.  Leslie waited ten minutes and walked towards the first fire pit.  She bent over and put a some large pieces of wood inside of it. 

“What are you doing?” The voice boomed in her ear.

“I think you know!”

She placed more wood in each of the fire pits, and lit them.

“No! You are not allowed to use my fire!”

“I gave you fair warning ghost!”

She waited and suddenly there were sparks flying in all of the fire pits.  The ghostly fires were going out, replaced by the normal crackling of a wood fire.  She backed away in awe.  There were explosions of light in each of the pits as part of the ghosts' essence left. 

Phil arrived in time to see the fireworks display. 

“Leslie! Are you alright!”

“Yes! It’s okay now.”

“Why do you say that?”

“I think this ghost resided somehow in those fire pits, but when I pointed my wooden walking stick at him, he backed away in fear.  So by burning wood in his fire pits, I sent him back to wherever he needed to go! “

“Clever!”

“Thanks!”

“You want to light my fire!”

“Oh stop.”

THE END