Book Nine: Happy Halloween!

By: Cari & Al

Written: November 2007

Summary: A ghost is haunting the Pine Grove Mall-it’s up to the employees to hunt it down.

Copyright: It’s ours!  Not yours.  So there.

 

*           *           *

 

“Happy Halloween!”

 

Tracy and Raquel both shuddered as they pushed open the doors to Nate’s Books and heard Betty’s bright, chipper voice. “Oh man, she’s even dressed up.” Raquel moaned when she saw her manager hanging behind the registers, holding a bucket of candy and grinning.

 

Tracy flinched when she saw Betty dressed in brown and sporting a pair of black cat ears on a headband and whiskers drawn on her face.  The end of her nose was painted pink and she had cat earrings in her ears.  Tracy didn’t want to know if she had a fake tail in or not. 

 

“Aren’t you kind of dressed up?” She asked Raquel, giving her co-worker the once over.  Raquel was dressed in her usual black clothing, but she looked a little more extreme than usual-her makeup was darker and her face white.  It contrasted sharply with her blood-red hair.

 

“What, this?  No way.  A friend and I went to this new makeup place that opened on Broadway a few days ago.  She was looking for Halloween stuff, I just needed new mascara.”

 

“For your date with Jason?”

 

Raquel seemed to grow a darker shade of red under the white foundation. “It wasn’t a date.” She grumbled as they approached the backroom door.

 

“Sure it wasn’t.  How’d it go anyway?”

 

They entered the backroom where Nicole was breaking down boxes and muttering to herself.  David was loading a cart and gave the two girls a ‘hello’ and went back to loading.

 

Raquel shrugged as she shoved her backpack into the locker. “You know.  OK.”

 

Tracy frowned. “He didn’t ask you out again, did he?”

 

“No!” Raquel slammed the door and sulked against the lockers. “Not even a ‘hey, they’re showing Rocky Horror Picture Show down at Broadway, I’ll bring the hotdogs, you bring the fishnets.’” She let out a breath and shook her head. “I swear the guy just doesn’t get it.”

 

“Most guys don’t.”

 

“Why, hello there!” Betty exclaimed when she walked into the backroom. She set down her bucket of candy and adjusted her headband. “How are you?”

 

“I’m going to watch the front.” Raquel darted past her.

 

David didn’t say anything, or even look up, as he wheeled his cart past Tracy and Betty and out onto the floor to shelve. Betty watched him go with a puzzled look on her face.

 

“What’s the plan for the night?” Tracy asked, and Betty snapped out of her trance.

 

“David will be here until six thirty. He traded shifts with Amber because Amber wanted to go a party. At six, you have two people coming in. Joyce will run the Halloween movie and story time, and Steve will be in to pass out candy so you and Raquel can focus on customer service.”

 

“Steve’s coming in?”

 

“Yep. He volunteered. He’s so eager to learn new things. I thought he could help you close the registers.” Betty shuffled past Tracy to the lockers. She put on an orange Halloween sweater with black cats and delicately slipped the buttons through the holes. “I’m leaving. I have to take my grandkids trick-or-treating tonight. I found them the cutest costumes. Alexandra is going to be a fairy princess.”

 

Tracy sat down at the desk and flipped open the manager log. “Are we still following the bag check and greeter rules?”

 

“Of course!” Betty pulled the handled up on her wheeling suitcase. Her cat tail wagged back and forth. “Christmas is almost here! Good bye! Happy Halloween!”

 

“What’s Christmas have to do with bag checks?” Tracy called after her. Betty didn’t hear her. She found a customer in the history section, and Tracy heard her squeal in delight her recommendations.

 

“Christmas is a big time for theft,” Nicole explained. “All the booksellers are busy, so no one’s paying attention to preventing shoplifting.”

“I wish I could give my friends and family stolen gifts. It would save on money.”

 

“Tsk. Yeah, but not if you have to spend Christmas in jail. I’m leaving. I’ve had enough for the day.”

 

“Bye. Happy Halloween.”

 

“Yeah, right. I’m going to wait outside with hose instead of handing out candy. Bye.”

 

It was a relaxed afternoon at the store. Tracy shelved, Raquel read magazines at the register, and David worked on shelving near the information desk. Outside, the sun lowered in the sky, and the streetlights flickered on.

 

At six, Joyce came in dressed up like a Kentlake Falcon cheerleader, complete with pom poms and pigtails.

 

“You’re kidding me,” Raquel sneered.

 

“No, I’m not. I was busy with school and I forgot to get a costume for tonight. I found this in my younger sister’s closet.” Joyce did a quick twirl. “I may have been a nerd in high school, but tonight I’m cool.”

 

“That short skirt is definitely going to get you some attention.”

 

“I’m going to start setting up. It’s getting dark, and the little buggers will be here soon. I like your costume.”

 

“This isn’t a costume.”

 

Tracy wheeled her empty cart up to the register and pointed to the front doors. “No, but that is.”

 

Steve marched in dressed in a skin tight Superman costume, complete with the outer red underwear, which actually was underwear.

 

“That’s more of Steve than I ever wanted to see.” Raquel closed her eyes, counted to three and opened them again. “Oh crap, it really is true.”

 

“Uh…Steve…you weren’t supposed to take the underwear on the outside literally,” Tracy pointed out.

 

“Why not? It’s all I could find.” Steve put his hands on hips and tried his best to do a Superman impression. Instead, he looked like an escapee from the Gay Pride Parade. “I bought the costume a couple years ago and this is the first time I’ve worn it. Unfortunately, I lost some of the parts.”

 

“Yeah, I don’t think Superman wore Nikes, either.”

 

Steve looked down at his feet. “I know.” He said mournfully. “But do you know how hard it is to find knee-high red boots that don’t have a heel?”

 

Suddenly, there was a crash, a thud, then a scream from next door.  Heads turned to look, mainly because the crash was loud enough to shake the walls, and Tracy feared the books would come tumbling off the shelves.

 

“Uh oh.”

 

Raquel glanced at Joyce, then said, “So, which one do you think is dead?  My bet is Collin.”

 

Tracy looked at David, who poked his head up from the Reference section. “Think we should go see what’s going on?”

 

“Might not be a good idea.” As the words left his mouth, there was another crash against the wall, a few face out books fell from the shelves, and two more screams.  The screams got louder as the front doors to the bookstore were thrown open and Denae and Collin rushed into the store, faces white, eyes wide and clambering over each other to speak.

 

“Sorry about the noise-“

 

“There’s a ghost-“

 

“But Denae saw-“

 

“It was a ghost!”

 

“We threw a coffee grinder at it-“

 

“It went right through it!”

 

“It hurled the espresso machine at me!”

 

“It tried to kill us!”

 

Both stopped abruptly when they saw Steve.  “What’s with the underwear?  Is it yours?” Collin couldn’t help but ask.

 

“You saw a ghost?” This was from Joyce, whose eyebrows were raised, disbelief clearly written on her face.

 

“Of course it was a ghost, wasn’t it, snookems?” Denae shuddered. “It’s Halloween-everyone knows that ghosts come out on Halloween.” She fought back tears. “It wants to kill us!”

 

“It’s not mine.” Steve said hastily. 

 

“What’s not yours?” Raquel asked.

 

“The underwear-I got them from my girlfriend’s brother-“

 

“OK, everyone time out!” Tracy yelled and silence descended.  She glanced at Steve. “Steve, we really don’t want to know, OK?  Now, Collin, tell us exactly what happened.”

 

“Why does Collin get to tell you?  I was there, too.” Denae pouted.

 

Tracy ignored her. “Collin?”

 

“We were cleaning up from…uh…we were cleaning up.  And suddenly there was this floating, see through thing hanging over our pastry display-Denae thought that it was a kid dressed in plastic wrap--“

 

“I did not!”

 

“--And told it to get out of the café, but it wouldn’t go, and it wouldn’t speak to us, even when we threatened to call the cops-“

 

“On a ghost?” Joyce wanted to know, her eyebrows raised in amusement.

 

“We didn’t know it was a ghost then.” Denae protested.

 

“It still didn’t leave,” Collin continued, “so I picked up a coffee grinder and threw it at it, and the grinder went right through it! Then, it floated-actually floated-down, picked up the espresso machine, threw it at us…and now we’re over here.”

 

“Whose ghost do you think it was?” Raquel wanted to know.

 

“I like the part where Denae thinks it’s OK to throw things at potential customers.” David added.

 

“I-it was-oh, shut up!”

 

Joyce rolled her eyes. “Guys, there’s no such things as ghosts!  You’re being paranoid because…well, it’s you.”

 

“We are not being paranoid!”

 

“You don’t know if there are or aren’t such things as ghosts,” Steve told Joyce. “That’s like saying there’s no such thing as the Loch Ness Monster.”

 

“There is no such a thing as the Loch Ness Monster.”

 

“So whose ghost was it?” Raquel pressed.  She wasn’t sure if ghosts existed or not, but if it made her night more interesting, then she was in.

 

The group looked at each other and shrugged.

 

“Joyce.” 

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Start the events, get Steve to help you. I’m going next door to the café.”

 

“Me, too,” Raquel said.

 

“Ok. How long will you be?”

 

“I don’t know. Are you sure that wasn’t the ghost you saw and not a trick-or-treater?” Tracy asked.

 

Collin and Denae nodded. “Do you think coffee grinder could go through a kid?”

 

“If you throw it hard enough. Wanna try?” Raquel asked.

 

“Come on. Let’s check this out.” Tracy left the store with Raquel, Denae, Collin, and David following her. “David, you’re coming too?”

 

David shrugged. “I think staying over there with the kids is a scarier thought than a ghost.”

 

“Point taken,” Raquel agreed.

 

The café was a mess. There were broken dishes, spilled coffee, overturned chairs and tables, and a coffee grinder scattered around the floor. The espresso machine sat on its side on the floor behind the counter.

 

“Your fighting is really getting out of hand,” David said.

 

“I’m telling you, it was a ghost!” Denae shivered. “It could come back any minute.”

 

A tall, skinny figure with blonde hair, red lips, and a short pink dress ran into the café. “There you are!” he shouted.

 

He?

 

Denae screamed. “It’s a werewolf!”

 

“Who the hell are you?” Collin asked.

 

“It’s Marilyn Monroe,” David answered.

 

“You got it right!” Marilyn Monroe clapped his or her hands. “I worked so hard to get this costume right.”

 

“Marilyn Monroe with a lisp.”

 

“Calm down, guys, it’s just Drew,” Raquel said. Drew worked at the Pretty Girl Salon next to the gun shop. He came in to Nate’s Books all the time to buy fashion magazines. “I like the costume.”

 

“I like your costume, too,” Drew said.

 

“It’s not a costume.”

 

“What brought you here?” Tracy asked.

 

“The salon is haunted.” Drew clasped his hands over his cheeks.

 

“We told you,” Denae and Collin said in unison. “It was just here. Look at the mess.”

 

“Oh, I thought you two had another fight.”

 

“I still think that,” David said.

 

“Tell me what happened,” Tracy said.

 

“Well,” Drew explained, “I was totally cleaning up for the night, and I look up and there’s a woman watching me.”

 

“What did she look like?”

 

“She was short, had dark wavy hair, and stood like a man. I told her we were closed, but she didn’t say anything. She just, like, stared at me for a moment, then shrieked and threw all my supplies at the wall. I ran out of there and came to find you guys. I saw you in here through the window. I don’t know how she got in. I know I locked the door. I locked it after I walked Barbara out. She’s my favorite customer, and has the most beautiful hair. She knows the best place to get makeup, too. One time--”

 

“Ok, ok, got it.” Tracy sat down in one of the few chairs still standing. “This is all too weird.”

 

“She’s moving around the mall,” Denae said.

 

“Uh…guys…what happens if she decides to visit the gun store?” Raquel asked.

 

Silence.

 

“Should we go see?” Collin asked slowly.

 

“Sure.” Raquel said, a little too quickly.  Tracy rolled her eyes and noticed that David had a puzzled look on his face.

 

“Something wrong?”

 

“I don’t know…do you remember Linda?”

 

Tracy, Drew, Denae and Collin involuntarily took quick intakes of breath, the gun shop forgotten for the moment.  Raquel just looked confused.  “Who?”

 

“You don’t know about Linda?” Drew asked, eyes wide beneath his blonde wig.

 

“I’ve only been here four months.” Raquel reminded. She looked between those present. “So?  Who is she?”

 

“The antichrist.”

 

“The incarnation of evil.”

 

“Evil, soulless, psycho, lesbian bitch.”

 

“Our old manager.” Tracy said dryly. “Before Shane-and I have to say, I prefer Shane.”

 

Raquel stared at her. “How is that possible?”

 

“She was awful.  She used to fight with Nicole everyday, and even Betty didn’t like her.”

 

“That’s not too hard.  Betty doesn’t like me.”

 

“Yeah, but she actually argued with Linda.  A lot.”

 

“Wow.  I haven’t done that yet.”

 

“You know…” Denae said slowly. “There was a moment when I thought the whole scene seemed fairly familiar.”

 

“So what happened to her?  Was she fired?”

 

Looks were exchanged.

 

“Um…not quite.” Tracy said slowly.

 

“Maybe we should go to the gun shop,” David suggested.

 

“But--“

 

The group was already moving, however, and Raquel groaned. “Does no one finish their stories?”  She hurried to catch up with them.

 

As they approached the gun store, they slowed in front of the Pretty Girl Salon and peered inside.  It was a mess-hair products, appliances, clips, brushes and paper littered the floor.  Drew’s shoulders sagged. “So much for going out tonight.”

 

“Isn’t chasing a ghost more fun?” Raquel wanted to know, trying to cheer her friend up.

 

“Not when you have a hot date that you’re not going to make.”

 

“You got a date?”

 

“Guys, please.” Tracy sighed. “Can we stay on task?”

 

“Yeah, it’s creepy out here.” Denae moved closer to Collin.

 

“Don’t worry, sugarbear, I’ll protect you.”

 

A crash sounded from behind him, and the whole group shrieked. Collin dove for the ground.  “Take her!” He shouted, covering his head with his arms. “Leave me alone!”

 

Still screaming, the group threw open the doors to the 2^nd Amendment Gun Shop and ran inside.  Collin, realizing he was alone on the sidewalk, jumped to his feet and barreled through the doors.

 

“Um…can we help you?”

 

They turned to face the speaker, Jason, Raquel’s ‘friend.’  He stood behind the gun counter, looking at them as if they had just gone crazy.

 

“Ghost!” Denae cried, then turned and smacked Collin in the arm. “You’ll protect me, huh?  What the hell was that?”

 

“I-nothing, sweetie, I promise!  It was a diversion-notice that I came in here last-to protect you!”

 

Denae’s eyes widened, then filled with tears. “Oh, baby, you did protect me!” And she fell into his arms, kissing him.

 

“I’m gonna go throw up.” Raquel muttered.

 

“Me too.” Drew agreed, adjusting his fake mole above his upper lip.

 

“Um…what?” Jason asked again.

 

Tracy sighed, feeling a little foolish.  She wasn’t starting to really believe these people, was she?  Still, something was going on, and she needed to find out what it was. “Apparently, there’s a ghost hanging around the mall.  Have you seen anything?”

 

“A ghost?” Jason repeated.  “No.  But we don’t get many trick-or-treaters here on Halloween.  Mainly, Clint and I stay here to prevent break-ins.”

 

“No, they mean an actual ghost,” David clarified.  While the others were running and screaming, he calmly held the door open for them to enter.  Now he glanced at the clock behind the counter-in four minutes, he could head home.

 

Jason looked at them again. “Aren’t you a little old to believe in ghosts?”

 

“Can we borrow one of those?” Collin asked, pointing to a gun behind Jason.

 

“No.”

 

“Holy, Mother of-!” and then gunfire.

 

“Clint?” Jason ran to the back room. There was a loud crash.

 

“What’s going on?” Tracy asked. She ran up behind Jason, but she couldn’t see past him.

 

Between breathes, Clint managed to get his story out. “There was a woman back here…and she threatened me with the pepper spray selection…must be going crazy. ...She disappeared before my eyes…but I know she was here…”

 

“Do you believe us now?” Tracy asked.

 

“We need your guns for the ghost,” Denae cried.

 

“You can’t shoot a ghost,” David said.

 

“We need something. It’s going to kill us all!”

 

“Collin, keep your girl under control,” Tracy ordered. “The rest of you need to help me figure out where she might go next.”

 

“You guys can ghost hunt. I’m going home.” Clint came back onto the sales floor.

 

“But I need you to stay here so I can go with them,” Jason said.

 

“Tsk. No thank you.”

 

Jason sighed. “You guys are on your own.”

 

“I’ll watch the store,” David volunteered.

 

“What?”

 

“How hard can it be? Lock the front door, and I’ll keep the vandals away.”

 

“You want to stay in a haunted gun store?” Jason asked.

 

David shrugged. “I don’t believe in ghosts.”

 

“How do you explain all this?”

 

“God has a sick sense of humor.”

 

“Since when did you start believing in God?” Tracy asked.

 

“Since now.”

 

Jason turned to Clint. “Is that ok?”

 

“Fine with me. It’s his life. Bye.” Clint didn’t look back once as he darted across the parking lot to his car. The moment his but hit the seat he hit the gas. The car zoomed forward, and a group of trick-or-treaters barely escaped being road kill.

 

“You have to forgive Clint. He wasn’t hugged enough as a child,” Jason said. “I’ll lock the door and meet you guys out front.”

 

“Will someone please explain to me what is going on,” Raquel demanded once outside.

 

“Linda and Betty were both Assistant Managers about a year ago,” Tracy explained. “They had completely different management styles—Betty is milk and cookies and Linda was fire and brimstone.”

 

“I could never make her coffee right,” Denae pouted. “She always wanted a double tall, decaf, mocha with extra chocolate. I never put enough chocolate in it. She didn’t want to taste the coffee.”

 

“You went through all that work?” Collin asked. “I always gave her hot chocolate and she never noticed.”

 

“Really?” Tracy smiled.

 

“Yeah, but I charged her for the mocha.”

 

“Awesome.”

 

“You guys have to give me more than hot chocolate to convince me of fire and brimstone,” Raquel said.

 

“I cut her hair too short one time,” Drew said. “She took me aside and lectured me on customer service for a half hour.”

 

Raquel raised an eyebrow.

 

“You would have had to be there,” Drew replied. “It’s just how she was. She was like, manipulative as hell.”

 

“She liked to pin me in the back room and tell me about her visions of seeing Egyptians Gods while meditating,” Tracy continued. “On Halloween last year, she got into a huge screaming match with Nicole. Nicole and Linda were sworn enemies, but this is the first time it had erupted to more than whining to Nate about each other.”

 

“What were they fighting about?” Raquel asked.

 

“Um…I think Linda received a Partners order wrong, though she wouldn’t admit she was wrong. In fact, she tried to teach Nicole how to do it, and Nicole has been doing it since she started here seven years ago.”

 

“I would have punched her. So how did the fight end?”

 

Tracy shrugged. “The fight cleared the store of all employees and customers. We waited outside until the noise stopped. When we came back in, Nicole was happily going about her business and Linda was gone.  We don’t know where Laura went, but we never saw her again. Not even Nate would say anything about it.”

 

“I saw Nicole lift some very heavy books into the trash can that night,” Denae said. “And there was some red liquid dripping down the side of the Dumpster.”

 

“You think Nicole killed Linda?”

 

“I know Nicole killed her,” Drew said. “Nicole wouldn’t back down to a loud mouth bitch like Linda.”

 

“This sounds crazy,” Raquel said.

 

Tracy sighed. “Look, believe what you want, but there is something terrorizing the mall tonight, and I suspect she’s saving the bookstore as the big finale.  So where do you think…this thing…will show up next?”

 

“Betta Fish Thai?” Drew suggested and everyone looked at him.  He shrugged. “I’m getting a little hungry, you know?”

 

“No, Linda didn’t like Thai.  She said she didn’t trust what the food was made out of.” Denae sighed. “Any other ideas?”

 

“Healthy Body Vitamin Shop?” Jason asked eagerly.  It was a well known fact that the Gun Store and the Vitamin Shop didn’t exactly get along. 

 

Tracy snorted. “Are you kidding?  Linda loved that place-everything organic, you know.”

 

“She was a hippy?” Raquel asked with a shudder.

 

“What’s wrong with hippies?” Denae wanted to know.

 

Raquel paused, then shrugged. “I just don’t like people.”

 

“Hey, what about Old Man Harvey’s?” Collin suggested suddenly. “She was always saying that one day he would screw something up and burn down the whole mall.”

 

Tracy snapped her fingers. “That’s right!” They hurried across the parking lot towards the hardware store and came to a stop in front of the doors.  Placed in the window was a sign that said that the store was closed…due to an accident.  Looks were exchanged and suddenly Denae cried,

 

“Oh, so that’s why the ambulance was here earlier!  I heard from a customer that the old man was trying to demonstrate how to drill or something, and drilled right through his hand.”

Everyone shuddered at the thought.

 

“So back to the Bookstore?”

 

So back they headed to Nate’s.  They pushed the doors open, expecting to find pandemonium and panic, and Steve and Joyce curled up under a desk somewhere screaming for their mothers.

 

Instead, they found a quiet bookstore with a few customers milling around.  Joyce was straightening the children’s department after a successful book reading and Steve was behind the registers, practicing various Superman poses.

 

He froze when he saw the group and his eyes went wide. “Holy baloney!” he cried.

 

“Isn’t that a Batman thing?” Raquel asked, but Steve didn’t hear her.  He ran out from behind the counters, and stopped short of the group.

 

“Where’s David??  Did the ghost kill him??” He whirled to Tracy and pointed an accusing finger. “This is all your fault!  Leading him to his death!  You should be so ashamed!”

 

“Easy there, Superman.” Tracy said with a smile. “David’s fine.  He’s watching the gun store so Jason could come with us.”

 

Steve looked at Jason, confused.  Then he looked at Drew and his mouth dropped open.  He sided up to Raquel. “Where’d you pick up Marilyn Monroe?” He wanted to know, hearts danced in his eyes.

 

Drew smirked and Raquel smacked Steve on the back of the head. “It’s Drew, you idiot.  Marilyn Monroe’s been dead for years.”

 

Steve’s face turned a bright red, and he looked like he was going to throw up.  Drew smiled. “We’d be a cute couple, though, wouldn’t we?  Superman and Marilyn…” He winked at Steve as the rest of the group struggled to hold back laughs. “Cute underwear, by the way.”

 

“Hey guys.” Joyce greeted them. “Any luck with the whole ghost thing?”

 

“Yeah, it attacked the gun shop!” Denae said before anyone else could.  “And the beauty salon Drew works at.”

 

“Yeah, so if you’re not busy later, you could come help me clean up.” Drew said to Steve, lifting his eyebrows suggestively and Steve looked a little faint.

 

“Ooh, you found Superman’s one weakness.” Raquel smiled.

 

“One day he’ll come out,” Drew predicted. “Just you wait and see.”

 

That was enough for Steve.  His face went white, his pupils dilated, and CRASH, he was out on the floor.  No one seemed too concerned.

 

“Guys?  The ghost?” Collin prompted.

 

Joyce shrugged. “It’s been quiet here since you guys left.  I really don’t think that-“

 

The lights flickered, then went out completely.  Denae shrieked, throwing herself at Collin.  Drew and Raquel both let out a string of creative swear words, and Tracy ran for the light

switches behind the registers.  She swore when she flicked them on and off and nothing happened.

 

“We’re gonna die!” Denae screamed, near hysterics.

 

“The doors are locked!” Collin called from the front of the store, where he had dragged Denae in an effort to get out.

 

Tracy tried the backroom door-it, too, was locked.

 

“Well, this sucks.” Raquel muttered, gazing around the dark bookstore. 

 

“Did you hear that?” Drew asked suddenly.

 

“What, Steve snoring?” Joyce asked, a little nervously.  She still didn’t believe in ghosts, but this was beginning to frighten her just a little.

 

“No…it’s less annoying…like a humming sound…”

 

“Yeah, I hear it too…” Tracy suddenly said.  It sounded like a bee, actually, and it was getting louder.

 

Suddenly, Denae and Collin screamed and pointed to something near the back of the store.  Everyone turned-and there, floating in the air, was a bluish greenish looking object in the shape of a person.

 

“Who you gonna call?” Raquel quipped.

 

The object flew up through the ceiling, and the customers clapped and cheered.  The lights flooded back on and the doors swung open as one customer hurried outside, digging for his phone-presumably to call the newspapers about a ghost sighting.

 

“They think it’s a trick,” Tracy observed.

 

“Wasn’t it?” Joyce asked.

 

Tracy shook her head. “I wish it was. That was the real thing.”

 

Joyce’s face drained of color. “We have to get everyone out of here.”

 

“No. Nate will kill us. As long as they don’t think it’s real, we can keep the store open.”

 

“But how are we going to keep it from coming back?”

 

“Ghostbusters!” Raquel, Jason, and Drew sang.

 

“Stop!” Tracy silenced her colleagues. “She’s here in the store, and we have to get her out. Denae, Collin, go back to the café and wait. Drew, get Steve into the back room. Raquel, watch the registers. Joyce, try to keep the crowd under control. Jason, I don’t suppose you have a Ghostbuster pack at your store?”

 

“Sorry, all sold out of those.”

 

“I don’t want to go back to the café,” Denae whined. “What if she comes back?”

 

“Collin will protect you. Now go.”

 

“But—“ Collin protested.

 

“Go!”

 

Linda materialized above the bookcases. She sank down from the ceiling and landed gracefully on the floor. The customers gave her a wide berth and watched the show.

 

“Oh. Crap.” Tracy inhaled.

 

“What should we do?” Joyce came up behind Tracy.

 

“Wait.”

 

Linda took a step forward and raised her arm up to point at Tracy. “You.” Her mousey voice sounded like it was coming from the end of a wind tunnel. “Where is Nicole?”

 

“Uh…she’s not working tonight?” Tracy offered. “Try again next year?”

 

Linda dissipated in front of their eyes. Suddenly the books in the mystery section jumped off the shelves one by one.

 

“I wish I had my 12 gauge,” Jason sighed.

 

“Like a gun is going to work on a ghost!” Tracy cried.

 

At this point, the customers realized this might not be an act, and made their way out of the store. The ones who weren’t so clever, watched intently as the dropping books quickened and spread to several sections at one.

 

“And I wish Nicole was here.”

 

“Your wish has come true.” Nicole came up behind Tracy and chambered a round in her 12 gauge shotgun.

 

“That one is one of my favorites,” Jason observed. “It has all sorts of features like controlled round feed, semi-auto action, an 18” ported barrel with interchangeable chokes---“

 

“Where is she?” Nicole interrupted.

 

“How did you know?”

 

“I knew this loud mouth bitch wouldn’t give up.”

 

The books stopped dropping and a yellow light hovered above the bookcases.

 

Nicole took off the safety and hoisted the gun to her shoulder. “Come on, Linda, let’s get this over with.” The yellow light flew through the wall into the backroom. Nicole chased after it, the swinging door swung wildly back and forth.

 

“Steve and Drew are back there and Nicole has a loaded gun,” Raquel pointed out.

 

The customers turned to Tracy, eager to know what happened.

 

“Uh…yeah, great show, huh? Continue your shopping. Everything is fine.”

 

A shot was fired. There was a loud crash and a long stream of swear words and Steve and Drew screaming erupted from the back room.

 

“Happy Halloween!” Tracy shouted, but it was too late. The customers screamed and ran out of the store. Tracy cupped her face into her hands. “How am I going to explain this to Nate? If I wasn’t in charge tonight, I would actually enjoy this.”

 

“Sucks to be you,” Raquel said.  “This is the best Halloween I’ve ever had.”

 

There were more loud crashes, more screams, shouting, and swearing.

 

“Remind me not to piss off Nicole,” Raquel said.

 

“I hope the gun is alright,” Jason said. “It should blow the head right off that freakin’ ghost.”

 

“Good luck with that.”

 

“Ah ha!” Nicole shouted.

 

The noise in the backroom stopped, and the store fell quiet. Tracy, Jason, Joyce, and Raquel looked at each other. “Think it’s safe?”

 

Nicole came out of the back room and wiped her brow with the back of her arm. “She’s gone.”

 

“What happened? Where did she go?” Tracy asked.

 

“I don’t know where she went.”

 

“How did you get her to leave?”

 

“The gun didn’t work, and she started throwing books at me, so I threw books at her. When I started throwing political books, she screamed and disappeared. I realized I’d come

across of stack of Ann Coulter books.”

 

“I think I have a new found respect for Ann Coulter,” Raquel said.

 

“Will she come back?”

 

Nicole shrugged. “She’s in to all sorts of New Agey things. I don’t even know what that was. Someone better check on Steve and Drew.”

 

Joyce was already in the back room where Drew and Steve huddled under Nate’s desk crying.  A 12 inch hole had appeared on the wall separating the back room from the men’s bathroom.

 

“I can’t get them to come out,” Joyce explained.

 

Raquel knocked on the top of the desk. “Come out, rise and shine. The ghost is gone.” Steve and Drew backed out butt first.

 

“It was awful!” Drew exclaimed. His hair and makeup were in disarray and his nylons had runs.

 

“I thought we were going to die!” Steve sobbed.

 

Raquel laughed. “You’ll need to rethink your costume for next year. And did you wet your pants?”

 

“No!” Steve wrapped the cape around him.

 

“Alright, we need to get this place cleaned up and closed down,” Tracy ordered as they exited the backroom and joined the rest in the store. “We can’t let Nate know about this. Jason, go fetch David from the gun store. Steve, start cleaning up the backroom. ”

 

“And here.” Nicole handed the gun to Jason and wiped her hands on her pants. “Tell David thanks for letting me borrow this from your store.”

 

“What? This is the store’s gun? We can’t sell this now!” Jason looked the gun over. “How did it handle?”

 

“It feels great, points well and blows huge holes in the wall…” Nicole answered.

 

“Hmm…” Jason mused. “But what am I supposed to do with it now?”

 

“I’ll walk you back to the store,” Raquel volunteered. And the two walked out.

 

“Wait, what about holes in walls?” Tracy called as Nicole retreated to the backroom.

 

“I’m going home,” Drew said.

 

“What about your store?” Tracy asked.

 

“It can wait.”

 

With the backroom empty, Nicole began to clean up her mess. Tracy, who had followed her, sat down in Nate’s chair ignoring the mess that Steve was working on.

 

“Seriously, what was that?” Tracy asked.

 

“It was Linda.”

 

“Did you really kill her?”

 

Nicole looked up from her mess. “You can’t kill someone that wasn’t human to start with.”

 

“So what is she?”

 

Nicole shrugged. “I don’t know, but we’ll have another chance to find out next year.”

 

Tracy glanced at the hole in the wall. “What are we gonna do about that?”

 

Nicole frowned, then removed her wall calendar and hung it over the hole.  She stepped back and observed. “Good as new.  Don’t worry.” She laughed when she saw Tracy’s face. “I’ll take care of it.”

 

“Do you really think she’ll be back next year?”

 

The grin on Nicole’s face was huge. “Oh yeah.  Now that’ll be fun.”