The Super Ghost

by Katrina Kahler

  I thought about what Margo had said. She did have a point. A very weird point. Could I be the super ghost? Could the super ghost be a part of me? Nah, right. I would know if I had a super ghost trying to control me. I was the ghost hunter, the gal with the zapper. No way any ghost, not even a super ghost could control me. But I guess I couldn’t be sure. Well I could be sure.

  “Okay you have a point…” I told Margo.

  She smiled and clapped.

  Of course Matti answered. “Of course I have a point! Come on Zara keep your head in the game so neither of us loses our heads! I like to keep my perfect teeth perfect.”

  Margo glided over to me. “Do you want me to sniff your left or right armpit?” she asked.

  “I don’t care!” I said with a stomp.

  “You don’t care about my perfect teeth?” Matti asked, looking at me.

  I turned to her. I smiled. “Of course I care, your teeth are great! Amazing teeth, best teeth in the world! Believe you me, you don’t need or want braces ‘cause braces are very uncomfortable…”

  I ducked under another ball.

  Matti smiled. “Then what don’t you care about?” she asked me.

  “The pain and fear,” I said forcefully. “I’m going to force them out of my mind! I want to concentrate on playing the strongest dodgeball I can!”

  I made a muscle lifting up my left arm. I hoped Margo would get my hint. She smiled and drifted towards me. “Smart!” she said. She stuck her nose right under my left armpit. She smiled. She fell over.

  I looked on stunned. My gosh, had my body odor just killed a dead ghost? Now that would be a bad side effect of this power.

  Margo floated to her feet. She laughed. She slapped me on the back, but of course her hand passed through me. “Just a joke girl. You might want to consider switching to a better deodorant but you’re not deadly to ghosts. The good news is I don’t sniff any super ghost in you.”

  “Good! Now go check out the boys side,” I told Margo.

  Margo gave me a little salute. She floated over and passed through the wall to the boys’ side. At least now she probably wouldn’t be such a distraction. Of course now I wouldn’t be able to keep track of her.

  I had now really confused poor Matti. Matti looked at me with her mouth open. “Zara, what in the world are you talking about? Get your mind off the boy’s side! I know some of them are cute but if you don’t pay attention you’re going to get a ball in the face!”

  Lizzy came rushing up to us. “Sorry, I’m late teammates! I had a school errand to run. I love being helpful!” She smiled.

  Margo flew back over to our side. “Man, those boys really STANK!” she coughed. “Yet none of them smelled like a super ghost.”

  A ball came rushing at my head. Lizzy caught it with one hand. She smiled. “Looks like you’re out Katie!” she smiled.

  “Lizzy how did you do that?” I asked.

  She shrugged. “I just reached up and grabbed it. Watch I’ll show you!”

  Lizzy rolled the ball slowly to Lulu. “Let’s see what you got girl.”

  “Lizzy what are you doing?” Matti shouted.

  Lizzy grinned. “Giving the other team a fair shot.”

  Margo pointed at Lizzy. “I haven’t sniffed this one yet!”

  “Do it!” I told Margo.

  “Already did it!” Lizzy said.

  Margo glided over and stuck her nose under Lizzy’s arm. “Something tickles!” Lizzy laughed.

  What the?

  Lizzy pointed at Lulu. “Ah, Zara…”

  I turned in time to see a ball heading directly for my stomach at what appeared to be near light speed. That ball hit me square. I fell to the floor.

  I came to with Coach C, Nurse Manson, and the entire class standing over me.

  “She’ll be fine. She just had the wind knocked out of her,” Nurse Manson said.

  “Sorry about that, Zara,” Lulu said to me. “I have no idea how I threw that ball so hard. It’s like I had a burst of strength or something.”

  I sat up. My stomach hurt, but not all that much. Truthfully, I didn’t have any idea why I had passed out. I could only guess that the ball just hit me in the wrong place, perhaps it winded me. I stood up. My feet wobbled for a second then steadied.

  “I’m fine,” I said.

  Matti patted me on the back. “Good thing the school day is over. Now you can go home and relax.”

  “Yeah,” I said.

  “Zara! Maria!” I heard Hammy shouting in my brain. “Get down here immediately! Sooner than immediately!”

  Okay, maybe I wouldn’t be going home just yet.

  Chapter 4: Back Down

  Maria and I met on the stairs leading down to the basement. Still wearing our gym clothes we moved as fast as we could.

  “So, you got the message from Hammy, too?” I said.

  Maria nodded. “He sounded scared.”

  We entered the basement and could see Hammy floating in the air at the end of the hall.

  Running towards Hammy, I asked Maria, “Have you seen Margo, the ghost? What happened after she sniffed Lizzy?”

  Maria shook her head. “I don’t know. That’s right before the ball knocked you out. I ran over to make sure you were okay and when I looked again, Margo was gone.”

  “So wait, she sniffed Lizzy and then I get clobbered and then Margo is gone?”

  Maria nodded. “Yep!”

  I couldn’t believe what I had heard. But, really I should have believed it. Could Lizzy be the super ghost?”

  “Those ghosts I zapped in the cafeteria...remember how they were attracted to Lizzy!” I said.

  “She’s the super ghost?” Maria said, her mouth falling open.

  Hammy saw us and came running towards us. “What are you two doing here? Who’s the super ghost?”

  “You called us, remember. We think Lizzy is the super ghost,” I said.

  “Ah, no. I didn’t call you,” Hammy said. “And is Lizzy the strange girl who knows everything about everything?”

  Maria and I both nodded.

  “Well, that part actually makes sense,” Hammy said.

  “So, you didn’t call us down here?” Maria said.

  Hammy shook his little hamster head. “Nope.”

  “But, we both clearly heard you in our brains,” I insisted.

  “That was obviously Lizzy the super ghost,” Hammy said.

  “Why would she lure us down here?” I asked.

  Hammy pointed behind us. “Now that makes sense too.”

  Maria and I turned around. Rounding the corner was our Math teacher. He looked like he was sleep walking. Behind him we could see just about every teacher in school and all of them were clamoring towards us, arms extended and walking like zombies. They all lumbered towards us muttering, “Must stop Zara from stopping Master Lizzy.”

  Now that freaked me out. Not so much that the teachers were lumbering like mindless zombies - that I could cope with. But calling Lizzy their master made me shudder.

  “Well, if this is any consolation, we’re now SURE that Lizzy is the super ghost,” Hammy said.

  The mob of teachers and school officials crept forward.

  Pretty much all the school employees were here: Mr. Bell, Coach C, Mr. Burns, Ms. Carol, Miss Gibbs, Nurse Mason, Mr. Mingy, Janitor Sheri, Mr. Olmstead, Mr. Faber, the lunch ladies.... They all looked the same, pale skin, glazed-over eyes, arms extended and rigid, walking without bending their knees. They all kept mumbling in unison, “You will not stop Master Lizzy.”

  Maria, Hammy and I kept walking backwards as quickly as we could. We didn’t want to turn our backs on the zombie teachers, but we didn’t want them to catch us either.

  “Maria, can’t you zap their minds?” I asked.

  “No, I can’t zap an already zapped mind. Besides right now Lizzy’s mind is way more powerful than mine.”

  “Yes, Master Lizzy is powerful,” the mob moaned.

  Hammy levitated up off the ground to fa
ce level. “I can help here,” he said boldly. He squinted his eyes really hard and started to shake.

  “Now, you’re the one who looks constipated,” I told him.

  “Quiet,” Hammy ordered. “This isn’t easy…”

  “What are you doing?” Maria asked.

  Hammy kept squinting and shaking, “I am throwing up a wall of mental energy to slow them down!”

  Looking back at the lumbering mob of zombie teachers, I could see them still coming towards us, only slower. Not a lot slower, but a little slower.

  “That’s it? You’re slowing them down a little?” I said.

  Hammy spun towards me. “What do you expect? I’m a hamster! My brain is the size of peanut! I’m giving you a bit more time to collect yourselves...so please come up with a plan of action!”

  Hammy did have a point. He had done his part. Now it was time for Maria and I to show why humans are higher up the evolutionary ladder than hamsters.

  I pulled out my yo-yo and started spinning it over my head.

  “You know, they are not ghosts. They’re just mind controlled,” Hammy said. “So, your yo-yo won’t work on them. ”

  “Just watch, Ham,” I said.

  Mr. Bell and Mr. Olmstead both lunged for me. I cut them both off with a couple of quick yo-yo shots. The first one hit between Mr. Bell’s eyes, followed with a whip of the yo-yo into Mr. Olmstead’s ears. They both pulled back in pain. Coach C grabbed Maria by her arms. She hit him with a fast knee and took out his skinny little legs. Coach C fell over, this hulk of a man was certainly top heavy. Three of them had slowed down, but still a lot to go.

  The problem was that Maria, Hammy and I had now backed all the way to the far wall of the furnace room. We didn’t have anywhere to go. We had no choice but to fight. Bigger problem, I didn’t really want to hurt any of these people. Maybe I wanted to hurt Mr. Stubird...a little for giving me a C minus in history last year. The biggest problem was that in their ‘Lizzy controlled’ zombie state, they didn’t seem to have any qualms about attacking us.

  Luckily, all the teachers moved slowly and awkwardly. We had been able to dodge their attacks so far. On the up side, having our backs to the wall meant it would be harder for them to get behind us. On the down side, the pack of teachers-turned-zombies crushed in on us, making it hard to breathe and harder to move. For the most part, I don’t recommend having your backs to the wall and facing a large group of angry zombie teachers.

  “Stand still, Miss Jones!” Principal Charmer ordered.

  I did not obey.

  He put both his arms forward, trying to grab me. I dove under his uncoordinated grab. He grabbed a wall pipe behind me and pulled it off the wall.

  “Hmmm, Lizzy must be stimulating their adrenal glands, thus increasing their strength,” Hammy said, he sounded like he a professor lecturing a class. “It’s really quite remarkable…”

  Ducking and rolling under a couple more teachers’ reaching arms, I shouted, “Is there anything we can do to snap ‘em out of this?”

  “Yes, I’m sure there is,” Hammy said.

  Maria and I bobbed, dived, weaved and kicked our way through the mob. We did whatever it took to stay free for as long as we could. Sadly though, they just kept coming.

  The lunch room ladies managed to position themselves behind Maria, grabbing her by both her arms. Maria still kicked away, keeping Mr. Bell and Mrs. Lurch at bay for now.

  “What?” I shouted.

  “What what?” Hammy answered back, frantically darting from one spot to another. The mob ignored him, but he still didn’t want to get stomped on.

  “What can we do to break Lizzy’s control?” I shouted.

  Turning to my left I saw that Maria was in big trouble. Mrs. Smack, the cooking teacher, had sneaked behind Maria and put a sleeper hold on her. Maria’s eyes had glazed over and were starting to close. Before I could react, Coach C came up and slapped a full nelson hold on me. Man, who would have ever thought so many teachers would be wrestling fans?

  “Well, some theorize that water might snap victims of mind control out of the mind control. Mind you, the mind control breaking theory is only a theory, since this hasn’t happened before,” Hammy said, scooting left and then right.

  I needed an idea and fast. Actually, I probably could have used the idea a few minutes ago. Looking around the room I noticed there were sprinklers on the ceiling.

  “The room has sprinklers!” I shouted.

  Maria reached up to her head, pulling out the small hair needle that kept her ponytail in place, causing her hair to unravel over her shoulders. Maria used the needle to jab Mrs. Smack in the arm, forcing her to release Maria from the sleeper hold. Now I saw why Maria always wore her hair that way. What a great place to hide an emergency weapon!

  “The sprinklers must be heat activated,” Maria panted frantically.

  “Ouch,” Mrs. Smack said, slowly looking at the pin still sticking out of her arm. She shrugged. “I will gladly take some pain for Master Lizzy.” Grabbing Maria again, Mrs. Smack locked another sleep hold on her.

  “Do something fast Zara, the room is spinning…” She paused. “The heat sensor is in the middle of the room,” Maria thought to me.

  Okay, heat activated. I could work with that. I knew friction could cause heat. Maybe I could use my telekinetic powers to cause friction near the heat sensor? I started focusing on the ceiling, rubbing the two parts of my mind together. Just like rubbing two sticks together.

  “Remember, my brother and sister worshippers of Lizzy, the master wants these two stopped, but alive,” Principal Charmer shouted. “We must keep them alive no matter how much we wish to crush them for not loving our dear master, Miss Lizzy.”

  I locked my concentration in. Two or three more teachers grabbed my legs and helped Coach C lift me off the ground.

  “You will meet our master Lizzy,” they all said.

  I had no idea how much success Maria or Hammy were having or whether they were in trouble, like me. I knew I needed to keep my mind focused, concentrating on a box in the middle of the ceiling...hoping that it was the heat sensor. I kept pressing it, rubbing it with my brain. Faster and faster.

  BEEP BEEP BEEP! Went the alarms.

  The sprinklers on the ceiling started spinning, spraying water on the entire room. What do you know? I’d done it. I only hoped it snapped the teachers out of Lizzy’s spell. All the teachers stopped their attacking. They stood there dazed, wet, and confused.

  Chapter 5: Soccer Super Star?

  Maria, Hammy, and I rushed up the stairs and then outside to the soccer field. We had to stop Lizzy and fast. On the way, I tried calling Grandma and Maria’s dad. I knew we needed reinforcements to help. After all, as Hammy would say, a super ghost is nothing to sneeze at. Time for all hands on deck and all that jazz. But, neither Grandma nor Maria’s dad answered their phones at home or their mobiles.

  “That’s weird,” Maria said, as we raced towards the soccer field. “Why wouldn’t they answer their phones?”

  We exited the school. Standing there waiting for us were Grandma and Maria’s dad.

  I ran up to them. “So glad you guys are here! Man you are fast. We need all the help we can get against Lizzy.”

  Grandma and Maria’s dad just looked at us. They grinned. Their grins sent a shiver up my spine. I’m not sure why. I just knew I didn’t like this feeling.

  Grandma smiled at me coolly. “Zara, I have a surprised for you again… Grandpa Mick is here again….”

  Grandma stepped to the side. There, standing behind her, was the transparent image of my Grandpa.

  “Gramps, are you here to help?” I asked.

  Grandpa nodded silently. His eyes wide open. Not sure why but his silence and his big eyes made me shiver again.

  Hammy stepped forward. “I think the important question to ask is, who are they here to help?”

  “It’s whom…” Grandma corrected.

  “Look, I know I’m only a hamster and I have
a little hamster brain,” Hammy rambled, “but I’m pretty certain it’s who are they here to help…”

  “I think it’s whom also…” Maria’s dad said. “And I used to work for the newspaper, so I know stuff!” he said defensively. “It’s whom whom whom…”

  Hammy shook his head. “Nope, sorry, it’s not…”

  Maria stepped forward. “Guys why are we arguing over who or whom? We need to stop Lizzy, she’s the super ghost.”

  “She is the super ghost!” Maria’s dad corrected.

  “Look this is no time for you guys to become the grammar police!” I said. I pointed to the field. “We have a mad super ghost taking control of almost everybody. We have to stop her!”

  Grandma shook her head. “Actually honey we don’t…”

  Hammy took a step backwards. “I think this goes back to my original question, who or whom are you guys here to help?”

  Grandma and Maria’s dad stepped to the side. Grandpa walked between them. “I believe this will answer your question in no uncertain terms.” Grandpa turned and hit us with one of his super ghost farts!

  PPPPPPPRRRRRRIIIIIPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!

  Maria, Hammy and I started gasping for air.

  “In case I wasn’t clear we are now working for Master Lizzy!” Grandpa shouted.

  “Yeah, that came through loud and clear,” I gagged. My eyes were watering, I gasped for breath. If I didn’t do something fast Maria, Hammy and I would be down and out. Maria’s powers were useless. Hammy’s little hamster brain probably wouldn’t be able to generate enough power to help now.

  I knew what I had to do. I had to fight grandpa with my own wind. No, no, I wasn’t going to fart back at him. After all my farts don’t smell that bad at all. (Well at least not to me!) I needed to create a mental wind and blow the fart stink back at my grandma, Maria’s dad and my grandpa. It would be just like blowing out the candles on my cake with my mind. Well, just with more power. (And more urgent. Way more urgent!)

  I pictured a cool breeze in my mind. One that only blew outwards from the land to the sea. Wow, I can be so poetic! I pictured Gramps’ fart as a sail, my mind was the wind to push that sail out into the ocean away from us.