text: “Look at the ghost there,” the little girl thought to herself. If only the ghost could look down and see the girl, but he looked on. The girl knew he was a prop deep down... yet it was fun to pretend. She whispered to her brother sitting next to her later in the car, “the Window Ghost is in the car with us”. “The window ghost?” Bill asked. Bill was not totally on the same page as Shasta, but they were close enough in age he was willing to put up with her silliness. “Yeah, I saw a ghost sitting in the window way high up, higher than any of the decoration ghosts,” Shasta said matter-of-factly. “That sounds like it’s bad...”, Bill would often let Shasta finish his sentence. “News. No, he’s my friend”. The parents did not pay attention to the goings-on in the backseat, as the two were always up to some made up new game. They usually preferred guessing which cartoon character from one of their shows would make a good singer for the song playing on the car radio. The ghost in question, the Window Ghost, sat between the siblings in the family looking on. Bill continued playing his game. He was almost always playing a video game, which left Shasta to physically stare out the window but mentally be elsewhere. Today though, her new imaginary friend the Window Ghost was here to be a comforting friend... even if he was a ghost. No one would have guessed Shasta would befriend a ghost, she often got very scared during Halloween. This year might be different if she had a ghost with her she thought. Though she was the most intrigued by the things that scared her. She sure didn’t like getting scared and was often up for hours on end thinking of all the monsters making those noises in her house, but she often couldn’t resist the urge to look at scary things. As Shasta, the Window Ghost, and Bill zoomed over the highway, she remembered an earlier incident with a Halloween-themed flashlight that contained a plastic skull on the end of the flashlight that lit up. She was intrigued by the flashlight, being scared of it and all. She pierced through her anxieties and picked up the flashlight and turned it on. “The skeletons are pretty neat,” she thought to herself, which suddenly turned to horror when positioned the flashlight under her hand, lighting up the reddish glow of blood. “AH!” She thought to herself, putting the flashlight down gently. Remembering this moment now gave her some anxiety that turned into relief when she realized Window Ghost could protect her the next time something bad happened. The Window Ghost was now outside laying on the top of the car, ready to take a nap. Days had gone by and no sightings of Window Ghost. Shasta was sad but understood... “maybe he could only live in the haunted house,” she thought. She was mainly OK with this because her friend Sean was coming over to play that day. “He’s going to love the cheesecake, and we’re gonna have fun, and we can play video games..” Shasta thought about the endless possibilities of hanging out with a little boy her same age. Sean wasn’t nearly as enthused about this visit. For a girl Shasta was OK, but girls are lamer than his younger brothers even. Shasta, or more like Shasta’s brother, did have a gaming system though.... Shasta felt even more lonely during her visit with Sean than she felt earlier that day. She tried to get him to stop playing the single-player game for a moment and have cheesecake with her, but it turned out cheesecake was even lame to Sean for the stated reason “I don’t like cheese”. With Sean gone, Shasta lay alone in the living room soaking up the sun from the carpet. There were so many curtains, including a translucent one that seemed to be one with the dust illuminated by the rays of the sun. “Window Ghost!” Shasta gasped. Window Ghost nodded, barely visible to Shasta. He was well dressed for his era, which included dressing with items such as a newsboy hat and a dressy suit. Shasta thought they should get to know each other, but Window Ghost was quiet. That’s alright if he’s shy, she thought. She was similar, which made it hard to open up to Window Ghost even. She wasn’t sure why, but she knew Window Ghost was looking out for her. Window Ghost listened to her, but he mainly projected an air of clarity. “Coooooooollll dude” one of Shasta’s favorite children’s cartoon hum-animal regurgitated, much to the surprise of no one. This overly muscular barracuda-people wasn’t as awesome as some of the other “boys” cartoons, but Shasta liked it for its quirky ways. Who could blame her really? Shasta treasured her toys that were in her aquatic hero’s image. The fish was tough, and she wanted to be tough too... probably for as long as she could remember. This desire to act tough would sometimes end poorly for her later in life, such as the time she tried to give herself the nickname “Hooligan” on the junior girl's softball team without *really* knowing what it meant. She climbed into her bed hoping her parents would stop by to say goodnight, or I love you, but this didn’t happen. Window Ghost looked on, with much compassion for the girl. She fell asleep worried she would be cursed to nightmares if her parents didn’t express their affection. Darkness. She saw darkness darker than when you close your eyes. Then, all of a sudden faces! She could barely stand to see what was in front of her and yet she couldn’t close her eyes. Shasta often liked closing her eyes and pretending she had to pass a test to tell where the sun was with their eyes closed as if she was the only one to see light shining through her eyelids. There was no sun shining here. These were the faces of the selfish, those filled with rage, and those who try and take control of you. These were the scariest faces Shasta had ever seen. They were all 2-Dimensional, of different solid colors contrasting the darkness. Shasta started to cry uncontrollably, which jostled her from her sleep. When she woke up she was still yelling, “the faces, the faces!”. Her parents woke and asked what was happening. Shasta tried to explain it was definitely a nightmare... and she felt she knew why she had a nightmare, but didn’t want to hurt her parent's feelings. “It’s these toys,” Shasta’s mom said not believing the little girl. In one night, Shasta lost her favorite toys and her courage against evil things. The next day the wind began to blow cold into Shasta’s bones, despite the dutiful desert sun shining as ever. “I wonder what we’ll be for Halloween”? Billy asked his sister as they played in the backyard. “Don’t know, maybe a ghost so I can talk to Window Ghost”, Shasta replied thoughtfully. “Is he still around?” Billy said, not hearing of Window Ghost since the original car ride home. “Yup!” Shasta said excitedly. “I heard there’s a huge haunted house a few streets over,” Billy said teasing his sister. Billy continued despite fear creeping onto Shasta’s face, “this guy has a scary demon voice who makes his whole garage and backyard like a haunted house”. “I hope we don’t go there,” Shasta thought to herself. Shasta mainly talked to Window Ghost about how she was sad about her toys being gone, but Window Ghost knew the real reason was she was upset. She was upset because no one cared about what she had to say... she *knew* the faces were just a nightmare and that the barracuda-people toys weren’t the real culprits here. A loss of control. Window Ghost knew this feeling well, but also somehow tried to let Shasta know one day she’d have more control. Window Ghost also knew a secret no child could comprehend, a secret about those demon faces. Halloween night was as crisp as crunching into a fragile lollipop, which Billy and Shasta hoped to do plenty of after trick-or-treating. Billy and Shasta were made to be an angel and a devil, respectively. Shasta’s face appeared to glow bright red due to the excessive amount of face paint. Why Billy was the angel and Shasta was the devil was unclear to the siblings... she didn’t particularly like evil things after her nightmare. Alas, it is Halloween and, is time for fun! The kids had a wonderful night together. It seemed the candy was flowing out of people’s hands like gasoline getting pumped from a hose. Suddenly though, near the dead of night, Shasta noticed their van was pulling up to a very popular place. She and Billy got out of the car and simultaneously realized where they were. “That Devil is larger than a swing-set”, thought Shasta to herself too scared to move. The last time she was this taken aback was in a dream, where she stumbled upon a magical floating orb in the middle of a fast-food ball pit. “Helllloooo,” said the Devil in a deep booming voice, not of a man’s. Even Billy was scared, especially after peeking into the garage that appeared to have a series of corpses spread eerily. Billy inched away from the Devil, hoping if he moved slow enough the Devil would not notice him. Much to Billy’s relief, the Devil declared how scared he was of the Angel... but the little devil? What of her? “I like you,” said the Devil to Shasta. Shasta didn’t know what to say so she just stood there, scared, unable to process why this was happening to her. Window Ghost looked on sitting with the girl in the family van as they drove off. “The Devil was not so bad, despite him being as tall as tree” Shasta explained to Window Ghost later that night. Window ghost looked on. “I was still scared though... some reason lately” Shasta muttered. Window Ghost looked on. “UGGG, WHY CAN’T YOU JUST BE REAL?? REAL PEOPLE CAN PAY ATTENTION!” Shasta yelled with a wave of anger that resounded in the Window Ghost. Window Ghost was real though, but Shasta didn’t know it at the time. He’d come a long way to be here, and it was very painful for him every minute he stayed. He knew though. He knew to lift his curse he had to make things clear for this little girl, otherwise, he’d be floating around forever. “She may have to wait and see one day that I am real” Window Ghost thought, trying to remember when that would start to happen. Somewhere around 16, or 17, that poor dear, if she could only see now. Window Ghost knew that wasn’t possible though. He hated the very atoms of the universe for it, that you can’t change the past. He wouldn’t be here if he could change the past, and yet here he was in the past. He came to realize looking onward was the only thing he could do to give the girl clarity. ‘Til she was older and wise, could she really beat the demons inside.