Tommy Sheridan’s gaze reflected off the placid lake from the comfort of his favorite thinking spot on the doc ofk his two story log cabin home in Hillside, Maine. The melancholy whispers of the sandpipers called out in dissonant harmony with the shrill soprano of a broad hawk in search of dinner. The sandpaper groans of a heron acted like a percussive backdrop to the symphony of sunset.
Owning the cabin still felt like a dream; one that might evaporate in the heat of a morning’s waking light. He had purchased it for the unbelievable sum of $35,000 dollars. The cabin had been crafted to give off the air of being outside even when inside. The interior was filled with trees and there was even a waterfall running down the stone supporting wall that separated living room from dining area. Then, without reason, it had become empty of life and neglected for more than a decade before he saw it while on vacation from his little B&B from across the lake.
”You want ta’ stay cleah’a that place. T’is haunted,” Rachel Johnson—the pretty young proprietor of his B&B—told him after he had mentioned the washed out and faded For Sale sign posted at the mouth of the driveway leading to the cabin.
”But it’s still for sale?”
”Ayuh, but you’d best keep lookin’. That’ ain’t no place for a nice young city fellah like you ta’ buy.”
He had received a similar song and dance from the other locals that he had come to know over the years, even the real estate agent had advised against making further inquiries, and refused flat out to accompany him to see the place. The cabin had burrowed itself into his heart and brain like a worm feasting on a discarded apple. Besides, there were no such things as ghosts. He had placed his offer the next day, and was moving in the very next week.
The stars smiled down on him as he faded into sleep on the back porch of his dream cabin on the lake. It was high summer, the day had been sweltering, the night was still warm, yet the glass of beer still clutched in his right hand began to frost. Tommy dreamed.
Writing Prompt: Write about a person who is haunted by a ghost that only appears in their dreams. What does the ghost want? Why is it haunting the person? How does the person try to get rid of the ghost?