Zara, The Ghost Zapper

by Katrina Kahler

I looked down at Hammy.

  “It’s my job to ask these things,” Hammy told me. “Just prepare yourself!”

  The cackling stopped. The ghost glared at us and shrieked, “Here! I’ll give you a demo!”

  The skin on each side of his face started to peel down, like a banana. The skin faded away, leaving only a skull. The skull shot forward at us, its mouth wide open, screaming.

  Truthfully, I had no idea why it screamed. I screamed myself as I ran back down the hallway as fast as my legs would carry me. Maria ran right behind me. As for Hammy, I had no idea and didn’t really care.

  After we had run at least fifty feet down the hall in like three seconds, Maria and I stopped to catch our breath.

  “Hey, wait a minute,” I said. “If the other people can’t see him, how can he scare them?”

  “If a ghost hangs out in one area long enough they bond with that area. That gives them the ability to appear to normal people if they wish,” Maria said.

  “Okay, not harmless at all,” I said.

  “Very good, Sherlock,” Maria said. “This was all in the reading material Hammy assigned you. If you’d read it, you would’ve known that.”

  “Let’s not dwell on the past,” I said. “We need to zap this ghost before he can let others see him.”

  Looking down the hallway we saw that Hammy had stood his ground. He had floated up to the ghost’s skull looking it right in the eye sockets.

  Just then, Maria and I both heard Hammy in our heads, saying, “It’s okay, to be scared. Everybody is scared at first. But you can take out this ghost. Remember you’ve been training for this.”

  “I’ve only been training for two days,” I said.

  “I didn’t say you had a LOT of training,” Hammy admitted. “Still, you have natural skills and weapons that can take out ghosts.”

  Maria and I took a few more deep breaths to collect ourselves. I had powers, training, a cool laser pen that could zap ghosts, and a magic yo-yo. I pulled the zapper from my side pocket and the yo-yo from my back pocket. Maria and I started easing our way down the hall.

  The ghost must have noticed us coming, as he turned and started gliding away from us. He headed towards the door at the end of the hall.

  “Get him, Zara!” Maria said.

  Running towards the retreating ghost, I aimed the zapper. I adjusted my aim then pulled the trigger. I felt pretty certain that I had him dead on. The ghost janitor turned and used his ghost broom to block the laser light. The broom dissolved into nothingness. The ghost threw himself through the door into a room.

  “Okay, didn’t see that coming,” I sighed.

  Maria, Hammy, and I reached a big metal door with a small viewing window. Of course, it was locked.

  Hammy floated up to the window and looked in. “This is the boiler room. Where they keep the school’s furnace and water heater.”

  The ghost stuck his head through the wall and said, “You need me, ghost hunter.”

  Turning quickly towards the head, I fired, but the head popped back to the other side of the wall.

  A big, sloppy tongue flapped through the wall. “You do do do!” it taunted.

  The tongue coated me with yellow ghost spit then retreated back into the wall. Trying to shake of the wet but gooey spit made it impossible for me to get another shot off.

  “What is he talking about? How do you need him?” Hammy asked, shaking his head.

  “Yeah, how do I need you?” I echoed, still cleaning myself off.

  “I know something you need to know,” the ghost giggled from behind the wall.

  “He’s bluffing,” I said.

  Maria and Hammy both shook their heads.

  “No. Ghosts can’t bluff. That’s why they never play poker,” Hammy said. “Did you read ANYTHING I told you to read?”

  “I skimmed it,” I said.

  “You neeeeeeed neeeeeeeeeeeed neeeeeeeeeeeeed me me me!” the ghost wailed. Now he stuck his butt through the wall and waved it as he teased me, “Nah nah!”

  “Classy,” I said, firing my zapper again.

  The ghost pulled his butt back into the room, making me miss.

  Sticking his face in the door’s small glass window, tongue lashing out, he snickered, “You are no match for me!”

  I tried firing through the window, but my laser couldn’t penetrate the tinted glass.

  “We need to get that ghost to tell us what he knows,” Maria said.

  “How?” I asked.

  “We need to learn his name,” Maria said.

  “Huh?” I said.

  “Once you address a ghost by its living name, they have to answer one question you ask or do one thing you say,” Hammy said.

  “Who makes up these rules?” I said.

  “You really didn’t read any of the material…” Hammy said.

  “Let’s not talk about what I didn’t do. Let’s talk about what we can do.”

  Hammy sighed. I made him do that a lot. “The bottom line is, if we learn this ghost’s name he’ll have to tell us what he knows.”

  I smiled. “I’m pretty sure I know somebody who knows our ghost.”

  “Who?” Hammy said.

  “Janitor Sheri,” I said.

  Maria patted me on the back. “I’ve got to give you credit. There are times when you really do have a brain.”

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “Okay,” Hammy said. “I’ll keep two eyes on the ghost. You go find ‘what’s his name’.”

  “Why do we both have to go?” I asked.

  Hammy sighed again. It can’t be a good sign when you make your hamster sigh twice within a minute. “Because, people will expect to see you together. We don’t want people to think anything strange is going on.”

  “But something strange is going on!” I pointed out.

  “Exactly,” Hammy said, raising himself to stand on his hind legs. “All the more reason why we don’t want people thinking that!” Pointing down the hall he yelled, “Scat! GO!”

  Chapter 13: The Name Game

  Maria and I raced down the hallway and up the stairs to the first floor of the building. We only had about eight minutes before the class bell would ring and then the hallway would be filled with students and curious eyes. We found Janitor Sheri shining the school’s trophy case. As she shined away, she whistled. I recognized the tune as, ‘Whistle While You Work’.

  Janitor Sheri must have seen our approach in the glass of the trophy case because she turned towards us just before we reached her.

  “What do you kids want? More cleaning supplies? Where are the brooms I lent ya?”

  “Forget all of that,” Maria ordered.

  “Forget all what?” Janitor Sheri said with a weak smile across her face.

  “Janitor Sheri, we need to know the name of the janitor that worked in this school before you,” I said.

  “Why?” Sheri asked.

  “Just answer the question,” Maria ordered.

  Her one good eye glazed over. “There was no question,” Janitor Sheri pointed out, in a trance-like voice.

  “She does have you on that one,” I told Maria.

  “Tell us the name of the janitor you replaced,” Maria ordered.

  Janitor Sheri smiled faintly. “Of course. His name was Barns.”

  I turned to Maria. “Is that all we need?”

  Maria shook her head. “No, we need a first and last name.” Maria concentrated on Janitor Sheri. “Tell me Barns’ full name.”

  Janitor Sheri’s one good eye went blank. She shrugged. “No idea. I always just called him Barns. It was a long time ago.” She pointed to her head. “Hard to drag out memories that are there, much less ones that aren’t.” A pause. “I do remember the day he died, though.”

  “Seriously! She remembers the day he died, but not his first name?” Maria said to me, rolling her eyes.

  Janitor Sheri shrugged. “What can I say? I’ve got a memory for the morbid. It was Saturday, October 16th 1969.”


  “Wow. A really exact memory,” I said.

  Janitor Sheri frowned. “It was a terrible day for me.”

  “I can understand your loss,” Maria said.

  “Tell me about it. My beloved Baltimore Orioles lost the World Series to the Mets. I still remember thinking to myself, what a terrible day. Blow the series and poor Barns dies.”

  “To the library,” Maria said.

  “Huh?” I said.

  “Zara, like Lizzy pointed out, the library has microfilm of every issue of the town’s newspaper. I’m betting we can search for Barns’ obituary.”

  “Wow! Good idea,” I told Maria.

  Maria smiled. “That’s why ghost hunters need sensors. We see things from different angles.”

  “So, two heads really are better than one,” I said. “Together we are invincible! Like super ghost hunters, zappers, sensors, whatever…actually even though Hammy says it is an old-fashioned term, I think we should call ourselves the Ghost Busters.

  Maria smiled and nodded in agreement, then she looked at the Janitor who was listening to their conversation. “You will forget you saw us,” Maria told Janitor Sheri.

  “Saw who?” Janitor Sheri said. She turned back to the trophy case and started polishing away.

  This early in the day the library didn’t have many people in there yet. A couple of kids sat at the computers at the front of the room, but besides that, we had the run of the place.

  Pointing to the back of the room, Maria said, “The microfilm reader is back there.”

  We moved quickly and quietly.

  “Do you know how to use the microfilm machines?” I asked. “I use the internet to do all my searches.”

  Maria sat down at one the big machines. “Really Zara, lots of old papers and resources aren’t online, but they’re still interesting.”

  I shrugged. “If it’s not online, I’m not interested.”

  Maria looked at this machine. “This is strange.”

  “What? Another ghost?”

  “No, this machine has the Hallow Falls Gazette from 1969 already loaded on it.” Maria said.

  “After all I’ve seen in the last few days, I would call that lucky, not strange.”

  Maria sat at the desk, and started cranking the machine forward. “All we need to do is skip to the right day.”

  I stood over Maria’s shoulder watching the electronic pages of the newspaper scroll past us on the screen.

  “Hello, Maria and Zara,” the accented voice of the librarian, Ms. Ellen, said from behind us.

  I turned to Ms. Ellen an attractive young teacher with beautiful long, red curly hair. She had the clearest and the biggest blue eyes I had ever seen. I remember when my dad first met her a couple of years ago, he remarked something about how librarians looked nothing like that in his day and how he really liked her European accent. To which Mom gave him a good elbow in the stomach.

  I stood in Ms. Ellen’s way, slowing her down. “Hi, Ms. Ellen.”

  “What are you two students working at?” she asked, foot tapping slowly, eyebrow raised. “Zara, usually I see you at the computers, not at the microfilm machines.”

  “Ah. Maria is helping me look something up on the ‘69 Mets,” I said slowly. “I’m doing a project for social studies and I wanted to see what our local paper thought of the series.”

  Ms. Ellen stood there, her lips curled up into a smile. “What a weird coincidence, I was just looking at the ‘69 microfilm.”

  “Yeah, funny,” I said.

  “Got it,” Maria said in my head. “His first name was Harry. Harry Barns.”

  “Well, we’ll be going now, Ms. Ellen,” I said as Maria stood up. “We’ll let you finish your research.”

  “Oh, okay,” Ms. Ellen answered. She pointed to the chair. “I don’t mind if you stay longer. After all, the library is built for the students.”

  Maria took me by the hand and pulled me forward.

  “That’s okay, Ms. Ellen. We’ll come back later,” Maria said quickly.

  Leaving the library, I said, “Wow. Nice job there, zapping Ms. Ellen’s mind to make her cooperate with us.”

  Maria shook her head. “I was so busy trying to find the name quickly, I didn’t even think of controlling Ms. Ellen’s mind.”

  Moving as quickly as we could towards the basement without running, I said, “So, that was all just luck?”

  “Apparently so,” Maria nodded.

  Chapter 14: Harry Barns!

  Hammy still stood guarding the furnace room door. “Took you long enough!” he said as he saw us rushing down the long basement hall.

  “Sorry, it was complicated,” I said, panting a little bit.

  “I need to work on your conditioning,” Hammy told me. “Maria’s not huffing at all.”

  “And I was pulling her along,” Maria added.

  To change the subject, I pointed at the door and said, “The ghost’s name is Harry Barns. Is he still in there?”

  “Of course he’s still in there,” Hammy said, hands on his hips.

  “Well, he is a GHOST,” I said. “For all I know, he could have passed through the ceiling to the upper floors.”

  Hammy shook his head. “No, no, of course not. This room has the best lock in the school and the strongest door. He thinks he’s safer in there. He thinks he can wait us out.”

  “Which he can,” Maria said. “Being a ghost and all.”

  “But, we know his name,” I said.

  “True, but we...well, you....must face him in order to use that name. Therefore, you need to be able to see him.”

  Pushing forward, I tried to open the door. It was locked. Not really sure why I tried.

  “The door is still locked,” Maria said.

  “Why don’t we use our telekinetic powers to open the lock with our minds?” I suggested.

  Hammy shook his head. “Won’t work. We need to see something or at least be familiar with it to use our powers.”

  “Yeah, I guess that would have made it too easy,” I said. Another idea popped into my mind. “Hammy, why don’t you use your powers to blow open the door?”

  “One, the door is heavy reinforced steel and I’m not sure I could push it open. Two, that would be destruction of school property.”

  “Good point,” Maria said, nodding.

  I didn’t say a word. This needed another course of action. Reaching into my back pocket. I pulled out my cell phone.

  “What are you doing?” Maria asked.

  “I’m going to use my phone to learn how to open a locked door.”

  “But, we’re only supposed to use cell phones during school hours for an emergency!” Maria said.

  I stared at Maria. “Don’t you think the crazy ghost of a janitor qualifies as an emergency?”

  Silence. Then, “Yeah, good point.”

  I typed in the words: ‘opening a locked door’.

  I waited for a second, then another second. Man, I needed to get a faster cell phone. A whole bunch of possible links appeared on my screen. I scrolled through them quickly, browsing for the one that looked like it made the most sense. I found one and started reading the information.

  “What are you doing?” Maria asked.

  “Seeing how to open a locked door without a key,” I said.

  “Man, I never think of using the Internet for that type of thing,” Maria said.

  For a smart girl, Maria could be a little naïve sometimes. I continued reading the web page I’d found. It seemed easy enough. I put my phone away, pulled out my wallet, and removed my lunch card.

  I moved next to the door and stuck the lunch card between the slim crack between the door’s handle and the wall. I started sliding the library card up and down, up and down. Finally, I heard a little clank sound. I grinned.

  I put my zapper in one hand and yo-yo in the other. Looking over my shoulder to Maria, I said, “Okay, get the door handle for me.”

  Maria propped open the door. I slid into the room.


  There in the middle of the floor, with his arms crossed, sat Harry Barns. Actually, his bottom half sank under the floor...just to make it creepier. He sat in front of a large metal contraption and a big tank that must have been the furnace and hot water tank. Maria slipped in behind me. Hammy scampered in behind her.

  Pointing my zapper at Barns, I shouted (not sure why I shouted - shouting seemed like the thing to do), “Okay, Harry Barns, tell me what you know!”

  Barns shook his head. “No.”

  Turning to my team I said, “I thought he had to tell me the truth if I knew his proper name…”

  “His proper name is probably Harold,” Maria said.

  Turning back to Harold Barns I said, this time less dramatically, “Harold Barns, tell me what you know!”

  “Drat!” he said.

  “Tell me!” I ordered, pointing the zapper.

  Harold sighed. “There’s a super ghost.”

  “Where is the super ghost?” Maria demanded.

  Harold shrugged. “No idea. I just know this area’s ectoplasm levels are buzzing. That can only mean one thing. Super ghost. I am so jealous.”

  “Yeah? Well, time for you to go back to where you belong!” I shouted. Once again, not sure why I shouted.

  I pressed the trigger on my zapper. Harold noticed my action and dove into the floor. My shot flew harmlessly over and past him.

  “Well that was unexpected,” I said, still keeping my zapper steady and ready.

  “It shouldn’t have been,” Hammy lectured. “Ghosts are tricky!”

  “Where’d he go?” I asked, looking down and all around.

  Hammy pointed to the floor. “Into the floor.”

  “Yeah, I got that part,” I said. “But what’s his end game?”

  “To escape,” Hammy said.

  “How long can ghosts stay in a solid surface?” I asked.

  “Not long. It creeps them out,” Hammy answered.

  It occurred to me that Maria was being quiet. Too quiet. Turning around I saw Maria heading towards the open door. Concentrating on the door, I pushed it closed with the mind. The door slammed shut right in front of Maria.

  “Where are you going, Maria?” I asked.

  Maria turned to face me. Her eyes looked strange.