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Amanda opened the front door to the house she shared with her two best friends, Sophie and Jazz. She strolled through the door, throwing her purse on the couch as she passed. “Hey Sophie,” she called. “I got some good shit from David. Jazz want in?”
A voice floated out of one of the bedrooms. “I’ll check.” Jazz likely wouldn’t hear them shouting; she always liked to study with headphones on, listening to classical music.
Amanda wandered out to the backyard and started rolling a joint at the patio table. A couple minutes later, as she was licking the paper to close it, she heard Sophie say, “She actually agreed for once! Jazz is gonna smoke with us!”
“Ha, nice! What changed your mind?” Amanda asked.
Jazz gave a hesitant smile. “Well, I’ve been so stressed, with finals coming up. You guys are always telling m to relax. So, fuck it. Let’s relax.”
“Oh my God Jazz, I’ve never heard you swear before! We really are corrupting you!” Amanda exclaimed. “Come here, I’ll show you how to hit this.”
An hour or so later, Amanda noticed Jazz looked much less stressed. She had taken the smoke like a champ, only coughing on the first hit. And it was clearly hitting her. She was leaned back in her patio chair, orange hair laid over the back of the seat, matching the sunset behind her. Her eyes were red and she was giggling at a joke Sophie made.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better, Jazz. So, time for me to sour the mood,” Amanda laughed. “Sophie and I like to get philosophical when we smoke, and we’ve had a long standing argument about life after death.”
“I wouldn’t call it an argument. More a disagreement,” Sophie added.
“Regardless. I don’t believe in it. Once you’re dead, you’re gone. That’s it. And Sophie…”
Sophie jumped in, “I think the soul can linger after death, until it moves on to somewhere, like Heaven or whatever. I have friends who have seen some weird shit, and there’s no normal explanation for that.”
“So, what do you think, Jazz?” Amanda asked.
“Sophie’s right, sort of. I mean, I don’t know where they go when they move on, but ghosts are real,” Jazz said with far too much confidence, in Amanda’s opinion.
“Uh huh,” Amanda said, unconvinced.
Jazz looked thoughtful, then a sly smile formed on her face. “I can prove it,” she said. “I know I don’t talk much about my past. That’s because my parents are paranormal scientists. It’s embarrassing, I got teased a lot as a kid. Until the portal, anyway…” She shook her head and repeated, “I can prove it. I can summon a ghost.”
Even Sophie looked skeptical, as she ran a hand through her brown pixie cut, making the hair stick up oddly. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? My cousin’s dog sitter said she knows a guy who ended up in the hospital after using a ouija board. A ghost like, possessed him or something.”
“Oh, it’ll be fine, I know him,” Jazz said with a clumsy wave of her hand. Amanda figured she’d humor her. No harm in it, right? It’s not like she can actually summon a ghost.
Jazz jumped up from her chair. “Let’s get started. I just need a few things…” She went inside and shut the door behind her.
Amanda looked to Sophie and asked, “What do you think she’s gonna do?”
“I don’t know, but it could be fun to find out, right? What if she really can summon a ghost?” Sophie replied.
Amanda laughed. “I doubt it. But she’s my friend and I don’t want to harsh her high, so we’ll see where this goes.”
Jazz opened the back door with her foot, arms full of miscellaneous items. She put them all on the table, which she moved off the concrete onto the grass.
“What is all that?” Amanda asked. She saw chalk, candles, and a really old, dusty book.
“Just the stuff I’ll need for the summoning.”
Amanda raised her eyebrows. “You had that all handy?”
“In case of emergencies.” Amanda didn’t think that really answered her question, but she let it slide.
Jazz knelt on the ground and opened the book. She painstakingly copied a summoning circle from the book, drawing it on the concrete with chalk. The circle was surrounded with strange symbols Amanda didn’t recognize. When Jazz finished drawing the circle, she placed 8 candles around the circles. “Can I borrow your lighter?” she asked, looking at Amanda.
“Uh, yeah, sure.” Amanda tossed it at Jazz, who fumbled it, scrambling after it as it rolled away. Amanda and Sophie giggled at her.
Jazz playfully glared at her friends for laughing at her, then turned to the candles and lit each one. “Alright. Come sit next to the circle with me.”
Sophie had an excited smile on her face. Of course she was eating this up. She loved all this supernatural stuff. Amanda liked supernatural movies and all, but she didn’t really believe in any of this. But she sat down next to Sophie and crossed her legs, getting comfortable.
“I’ll warn you,” Jazz said, “he may not be happy with me. But we won’t be in any danger, he’ll just be annoyed. Don’t let him scare you.”
Sophie started to look a little worried, but Amanda just shrugged. “Alright, no worries. What do we need to do?”
“I’ll do all the talking. Some of it will be weird, just go with it. Just hold my hands while I say the incantation.” Jazz held out her hands, and they linked their hands together in a circle.
Jazz intoned, “High King of the Infinite Realms, we beseech thee, grace us with thy presence. We, your humble servants, bring you an offering.” Servants? Amanda wondered where this came from and who they were supposedly pledging themselves to. Jazz released Sophie’s hand, reached into her pocket, and tossed a fast food gift card into the circle. What kind of ghost eats fast food? She then took Sophie’s hand again and continued, “Please accept our offering and appear before us. Uoy nommus ew, motnahp gnik hgih!”
A strong wind blew all the candles out at once. For a moment they sat in the dark, backyard lit only by the full moon above. Amanda was about to ask, “Now what?” when the candles suddenly relit themselves.
Jazz’s grin looked eerie in the flickering candlelight. A bright flash appeared and Amanda’s attention was drawn to the middle of the circle. “Oh my God!” she shouted, startled. A boy, maybe 17 years old, had appeared in the middle of the circle and was floating half a foot off the ground. He looked confused, his glowing green eyes highlighting his face in unnatural ways. He wore a black spandex bodysuit with white accents, including a strange symbol on his chest. His luminescent white hair blew in the wind.
The boy looked around the circle and his eyes locked on Jazz, confusion making way for wariness. “Hey Jazz… is there an emergency? You know you’re only supposed to summon me in an emergency, right?”
“No emergency. I just missed you,” Jazz said earnestly. She knew this weird glowing boy? Ghost? No, ghosts weren’t real, there was no way. There had to be a rational explanation for this.
The boy groaned and landed on the ground, legs crossed. The candles flared as he did, bathing the circle in flickering orange light. “Jazz! Come on, I was actually relaxing for once! Saturday night, no ghosts, no responsibilities… Sam and Tuck are gonna wonder why I vanished on them so suddenly.” He glanced at the floor and grabbed the gift card. “Fifty bucks to Nasty Burger? Alright, fine. Can you at least break the circle so I can get out?”
Jazz reached towards the candles and Sophie, with wide eyes, grabbed her hand. “You just summoned a ghost and you’re going to just release him? Do you know him? What is going on?”
The boy laughed in disbelief. “Are you serious, Jazz? You didn’t explain anything?” Jazz giggled, a little more than the situation called for. “Are you high?” His eyebrows disappeared into his hairline.
“Maybe a little. Look, it’s finals week, I’m stressed! Just… don’t tell ou – my parents.” The boy rolled his eyes but motioned for her to continue, as if agreeing. “But you’re right, I should have introduced you. These are my roommates, Amanda and Sophie.” The two of them waved, still stunned by the appearance of this otherworldly teenager. “You’d know who they were if you ever came to visit.” The boy crossed his arms, reminding Amanda of her constantly sarcastic little brother.
Jazz turned to her friends for the first time since the boy appeared. “This is Phantom. He’s a ghost that haunts my hometown. Proof, as I said, of life after death.”
“You seriously summoned me to win an argument with your friends?” Phantom threw his arms up. “Fine, okay. Nice to meet you guys. Dead kid here, in the flesh. Ectoplasm. Whatever.”
Amanda struggled to find words. “Wow. Uh, okay. This is… a lot to take in. I have to rethink my entire worldview now.”
Sophie looked over to Phantom, smiling. “So you’re like, a friendly ghost? Cool! I thought ghosts were all like, scary and dangerous or whatever.”
“Nope!” Danny said, popping the P. “Most of us just want to be left alone.” He glared at Jazz during the last part.
Jazz butted in, “Sophie just got the new Mario Kart for the Wii. I’ll break the circle if you agree to a couple races.”
Phantom considered this. “I have been wanting to play it… Alright, you win.”
Jazz reached forward and smudged the chalk circle with her hand. All the candles blew out once more, lazy smoke trails floating above the wicks.
“So,” Phantom said with a sly grin, “can I try some of whatever you’re smoking?”
“Da – Phantom! You’re a minor!” Jazz seemed shocked.
“I’m also dead, so who cares?” He tilted his head to the side, grin widening.
“I care! No. Maybe in a year or two, when your delicate teenage brain is done developing.” That seemed like a weird comment to Amanda, considering he was, you know, dead. Not much growing to be done as a ghost. But she seemed to know what she was talking about, and Amanda was way out of her depth here.
“Fiiine.” Phantom stuck his tongue out at her and got to his feet, stepping out of the circle.
Amanda soared past the finish line and held her Wii remote in the air triumphantly. “First place baby!”
Phantom pouted. “Man, I can’t win one race? I’m so rusty.”
Sophie said, “Hey, it’s understandable. I assume you don’t get a chance to play often, being a ghost and all. Where do you like… live, anyway? (Is that an insensitive way to word that?) Like I know Jazz said you’re from her hometown but do you have a place to like, stay? Do you need to eat or sleep or whatever? Being a ghost sounds rough, man.”
Phantom laughed. “You’re fine. I kinda hang out around town. People there know me, and most of them even seem to like me. And uh, ghosts don’t need to eat or sleep, being dead and all, but there is food in the Ghost Zone. I think they just like the taste. Not really suitable for humans though.”
“You think? ‘They?’” Amanda said. “Are you not one of them?”
Phantom’s eyes went wide. He clearly let something slip that he didn’t mean to. “Uhhh I mean we, of course.” His eyes darted over to Jazz, conveying something silently.
Jazz put her Wii remote on the coffee table. “He’s a little different than the average ghost. Don’t ask him how or why, that gets too close to asking how a ghost has died and that’s incredibly rude in ghost culture.”
Amanda scrunched her brows and mouthed the words “ghost culture”. Out loud, she said “Sure, okay. That makes sense. Sorry if I was rude.”
“Nah, you’re fine,” Phantom said. “I get it. Humans are curious. I think it’s about time for me to get going, though.”
Sophie looked disappointed. “I had fun, it was super nice meeting you!”
Amanda looked over at the boy who completely changed her opinions on the afterlife in just a couple hours. “Thanks for answering our questions and everything. Hopefully next time we meet you, you come here of your own volition.”
Jazz laughed. “Maybe if he comes to visit, I won’t have to summon him.”
“This was fun, I’ll see about coming back. But I have uhhh… responsibilities, back home. So it might be a bit before I have the free time.”
Phantom turned towards the middle of the living room and waved an arm in the air. A searingly bright green dot appeared, growing into something Amanda could barely fathom. Did he just rip into the air itself and tear a hole in reality? Phantom looked back towards her. “Sorry, portals can be a little weird to look at if you’re not used to it. This is my ride home. Have a good night!” He jumped through the portal and it disappeared with a quiet pop.
Amanda was not high enough for this. “I’m gonna go roll up another joint.”