‘Like, a few years down the road, Cece says, “Mom, there’s a ghost in my closet.” Now, you say one of two things – one, “You’re just having a bad dream,” or two, “Let’s go see what it was.”

‘I’m not gonna freak her out, Jim.’

‘Ok.’

‘I’m not gonna lie to her, either.’

Four years later

Jim closed the bedroom door behind him with an overdone carefulness and released the breath he was holding with a loud swoosh. Pam took her eyes off the book she was reading and smiled sympathetically. 

‘That bad, huh?’ 

‘We read a bedtime story. Checked for monsters in the closet. Checked for monsters under the bed and outside the window. Phil was done at the reading part, but Cece made me sing at least thrice before falling asleep. And when I thought that the mission was accomplished, I stepped on that damn Lego piece and had to do everything all over again.’

Pam’s smile turned pitiful as her husband ran his fingers through his hair, visibly irritated. 

‘Next time it’s your turn to put them to sleep,’ he grumbled, sitting on the bed and taking his shoes off. 

‘Gladly, but I won’t be able to,’ Pam sighed. ‘That exhibition from MoMA, remember? It arrives on Monday, and I’m afraid it’ll keep me busy till midnight after that.’ 

‘That’s cruel,’ Jim moaned in frustration and turned to his wife. ‘I can’t take another round of that tomorrow… hold on.’ 

He looked at her with slight confusion. 

‘Tomorrow’s Friday. We’ll have three more evenings before your big arrival.’

Pam’s smile froze on her lips, and a blush crept on her cheeks. 

Busted.

‘Pam?’ 

She said nothing, just looked away, and her face was crimson now. 

‘What do you hide from me, Pam?’ 

He sounded curious mostly, and yet there was a new tinge in his voice, the one that even after all these years still made her knees weak. 

‘Nothing,’ she mumbled. 

‘You’re a terrible liar, you know?’ he turned his whole body to her. His right hand was dangerously close to her thigh now. And of course, she knew that as well as she knew that she wasn’t able to keep this secret longer — not when he asked her like this. ‘Why don’t you just tell me?’ 

‘It would ruin the surprise,’ she said weakly.

‘Just tell me, I’ll pretend I’m surprised when the time comes,’ he smiled.

‘My mom,’ she whispered. 

‘What about her?’ he took the book from her hands and put it on a nightstand without looking.

He was so close now, she could feel his breath on her skin, and that brought her goosebumps.

‘She was planning her vacation, and I suggested to come over. She’ll be here tomorrow and will stay for a week, but this weekend she’s going to spend at a lake resort, and she offered to take kids with her.’

‘For the whole weekend?’

‘Yeah.’ 

‘Uh-huh.’ His eyes glinted with mischievous anticipation. ’And when were you going to tell me about that?’

‘Um… tomorrow?’ 

He ducked his head, and Pam gasped when his lips touched that spot under her ear.

‘You’re unbearable,’ she mumbled, closing her eyes and giving up to the sensation. 

‘Why so?’

It was more vibration against her skin than sound, and she wasn’t even sure why she kept talking. 

‘It had to be a surprise,’ she scolded him gently. ‘And you ruined it.’ 

His lips disappeared, and Pam almost moaned in protest. She opened her eyes to see Jim watching her amusedly. 

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, not even trying to sound guilty. ‘Can I somehow make it up to you?’ 

‘Mmm, perhaps.’ 

Ruining the secret definitely had some perks. 

‘Oh?’ 

‘Well, there is one thing…’

‘Just one?’ 

‘Let’s start with one, and then we’ll see.’ 

The next moment his lips crashed against hers, and her hands instantly found their way under his shirt, enjoying the feeling of his hot skin under her fingertips, and...

She heard a faint squeak of the door just in time to push Jim away and sit straight. 

‘Mom?’ 

Cece looked into the room to see her parents sitting tensely at the headboard of their bed. 

‘Yes, sweetie?’

‘Mom, there’s a ghost in my closet.’

Pam didn’t have to look at Jim to know that he was rolling his eyes right now. 

‘I got this,’ she muttered quietly to Jim. 

Pam got out of the bed, picked a robe to wrap in, and made a few steps toward her daughter. Before leaving, she turned to Jim and mouthed ‘Wait for me.’ The look on his face told her that he’d be waiting as long as she needed. 

But for now, she had to deal with their daughter’s trouble sleeping. 

Pam quietly closed the door behind them and looked at the girl. 

‘Again?’ she asked. Cece just nodded and grabbed her mother's hand. Pam sighed and squeezed the girl’s hand back. 

The corridor to the children’s room was short, and they stepped silently on the floorboards; since moving in, Pam learned this path so well that she could make it backward and with her eyes closed. As they passed the stairs, she spotted that the kitchen’s light was on and thought absentmindedly that she’d forgotten both turning it off and reminding Jim to do that. She sighed again quietly and slightly frustrated, as now she had another thing to do before returning to the interrupted activities. 

The door opened without a creak. The moonlight, surprisingly bright, flooded the room. Phil slept in his bed, seemingly unbothered with this illumination, but Cece’s sleep was always light, and the slightest change around could wake her up. Probably, that had happened when the moon had peeked from behind the clouds; the shadows that toys and tree branches behind the window cast had done the rest, scaring Cece and making her look for mom’s help. Pam was about to say all of that when the girl squeezed her hand and pointed at the closet door. 

‘It’s there,’ she whispered. 

Pam gently freed her hand from Cece’s grasp, came to the closet, and opened it. 

She sighed for the third time, with a hint of annoyance. 

‘So, our last meeting taught you nothing, I see.’

The room lit brightly with moonlight, but it was dark inside the closet, and with every passing second, the darkness seemed to become deeper, blacker, almost palpable. Pam crossed her arms over her chest, watching as this swirling darkness composed into a man’s slender figure in an outmoded suit. She heard as Cece gasped behind her back, and pursed her lips into a thin angry line. 

‘What are you still doing here?’ 

The man said nothing. Pam could distinguish his features now — empty eye sockets, a hollow place where a nose should have been, and a mournful grimace frozen for the eternity on his face. All his body was weaved with black fog, and it constantly changed: pieces of clothes turned into tentacles, and they — into a shapeless mist, that tried to fill all the closet before turning into the ghostly garments again. 

‘Yeah, I heard your story the last time, and I’m sorry about your grave and your restlessness, but you scare my child. You’re not welcome here.’

Her words didn’t seem to impress the ghost if only the dark haze around him became deeper. The air was still, and yet Pam felt as the waves of stale, viscous coldness hit her face.

‘I asked you nicely,’ Pam said. ‘And I ask you for the last time. Disappear and rest in peace.’ 

The spirit didn’t move at first; but then, instead of fading, it started to expand, and the first tentacles of black fog crawled out of the closet. 

She couldn’t allow this creature to haunt her children. 

Her hand reached out in one swift, firm motion, and she grasped something that should have been an empty air; she felt as foggy darkness oozed between her clenched fingers, and the figure shifted, pulled forward by Pam’s sharp jerk. 

It was a simple trick — her eyes saw the spirit before her and knew that it was real; and if something was real, you could easily take it. 

It was a simple trick — to trust her eyes — and yet it had taken her a while to train it. But once the lesson had been learned, it couldn’t be unlearned. 

‘I banish you,’ Pam said, and her eyes shone deep green. ‘May your soul never find the rest if you cross the walls of this dwelling again.’

The spirit tried to free itself from her grasp. The man’s figure disappeared and the dark fog shaped into a snake’s body, curling its rings around her wrist; cold numbness spread where the phantom touched her skin. Pam hated snakes and shuddered in disgust, but gripped the ghost only tighter. 

‘May the hell hounds gnaw your bones if you bother any living creature again.’ 

The snake disappeared, and now Pam was holding running water in her hand as if she clutched a spring in her fist. She remained unfazed, though. 

‘May your gravestone be split,’ Pam raised her voice, ‘and pave the crossroad if you don’t leave us peacefully.’ 

She heard a soft rustling then, and her head turned to the children’s beds; but Phil just turned in his sleep on the other side without waking up. The spirit tried to use her hitch and morphed into a swarm, hoping that it would make her let it go, but Pam just narrowed her eyes, returning her attention to the ghost in her hand. 

She lowered her voice to a barely audible whisper.

‘May your deeds be forgotten, and your name used as a curse if I see you again. From now and till the rest of the days, I banish you.’ 

During the last part of her incantation, the ghost took its original form and looked deflated and defeated; Pam even pitied this creature for a moment. But then she thought about her peacefully sleeping son and her daughter, hiding behind her back, and her voice remained unwavering as she said the last words. 

‘Begone, begone, begone!’

The ghost before her started to fade; tiny pieces of darkness fell out of its silhouette and dissipated until Pam felt that her hand was empty. She opened her palm, half expecting to see it stained with black, but it was clean and soft as usual, and only cold prickling in the fingers reminded her about the exiled spirit. 

Pam exhaled slowly and turned to Cece, ready to hush and comfort her; but instead of a frightened child, she saw her daughter glowing from excitement, and a suspicion crept into her mind. 

‘Your turn, young lady,’ she said, looking at her daughter with slight disapproval. ‘You know that ghosts can’t harm you if you don’t let them, and I taught you the words of banishment, so what was that?’

‘I’m sorry, mommy,’ Cece said, staring at her toes and yet smiling; for a moment, Pam thought that she looked at her own little reflection. ‘But I like it so much when you do your cool magic tricks!’ 

‘Enough magic for now. Get in your bed, quickly. If you’re sleepy in the morning, grandma won’t take you with her to the lake.’ 

‘But I don’t want to sleep,’ Cece whined. 

‘Just close your eyes and imagine kittens, playing with yarn…’

‘Is there a spell to put me to sleep?’ she interrupted her mother. 

‘Even if there were, I wouldn’t use it on you,’ Pam said firmly. 

‘But why don’t you like to use magic?’ 

Pam smiled at her daughter’s question. 

‘Magic can’t solve all the problems, only the supernatural ones,’ she said. ‘Remember the rhyme?

'Use words for mortals, for spirits — a spell,'

‘Stick with this rule and you will be well,’ they finished together, and Pam leaned forward to kiss Cece’s forehead. 

‘Good night, sweetie,’ she said. ‘Sleep tight.’ 

Pam tucked her daughter in and checked her son before leaving. She closed the door behind her and went downstairs to turn off the kitchen lights. It should have taken her just a moment, but Pam lingered near the sink. Turning on the hottest water she could only endure, she put her right hand under the stream, trying to get rid of the cold foggy feeling that was still printed into her skin. 

That was the second time this month, she thought, watching as water ran between her fingers. She didn’t worry about the ghost — it couldn’t harm the living for real — but if his bones truly were buried somewhere in the foundation of their house, the spirit would return, and she’d have to deal with it again. 

That vexed her. 

She turned the water off when she felt nothing but a burning sensation and wiped her hands dry. Only finding these remains could solve the ghost problem, and she already felt a dull pain forming in her temples at the thought of how much time and energy it would cost her — not speaking of ruining Jim’s gym in the basement. Perhaps, for now, she could just renew the protective spells around the house. Perhaps, she could even allow Cece to participate. Her daughter seemed to be excited about everything magic-related recently. 

Pam went upstairs, thinking about her daughter. Her little girl grew up knowing about the power she inherited, and her life would be so, so different from her mother’s. For better or for worse, she couldn’t tell yet, but different. 

Pam thought about her grandmother then, who refused to acknowledge that part of herself and all her life tried to erase it completely. She thought about her mother, who still had no idea about the power running in her veins. 

She thought about herself. 

How could her life have looked like if she’d known about her nature since childhood and not learned about that in her early thirties? Would she have been more confident if she’d known from the beginning that all these scary, eerie, and fascinating things she’d ever seen had been real and not just fruits of her imagination? Would she have allowed people to put her aside if she’d known that she’d had an ability to literally ride their backs? 

Her hand paused on the doorknob.

Would she ever have had the worst, the most miserable year of her life, if she’d known that she could have just dropped a few tasteless drops in his morning coffee and made him hers for eternity?

She opened the door of their bedroom and was greeted by Jim’s grin. 

Even if she’d known all of this, she wouldn’t have changed a thing. 

No spell could conjure this smile, and she’d never be satisfied with anything less. 

‘We are good,’ Pam said, leaning to the door. Jim stepped closer, and all her body tingled, anticipating his touch. 

No enchantment could make him love her the way he did now, and she wanted nothing else. 

‘So, what did you say to her?’ he asked teasingly, taking the end of her robe’s belt and tugging it slowly. 

‘Huh?’ 

She couldn’t believe that they were still talking. 

‘Did you really check her closet?’

No need for him to know everything, she thought. 

‘Oh, no,’ she smiled serenely and slid her fingers along his jawline, bringing his face closer. ‘She just had a bad dream.’