The Ghosts of Longwood Drive

The ghosts of 218 Longwood Drive were due for a home shift but they hadn't heard from their upcoming accommodations in two days.

It was quite annoying. The ghosts had been itching to move houses for the last five years. The children here were boring and the new family had retrofitted all the doors with new locks, making it much harder for the ghosts to rattle them. And what was worse, the new refrigerator made a whistling noise from time to time, so when the ghosts tried to make terrifying noises, the family just thought it was the fridge and they weren't afraid at all. It had gotten quite boring for the ghosts.

Lucky for them, their 50 years in this house was almost up, and it was almost time for them rotate through the ghostly network on to their next place of haunting. Supposedly, the place they were heading next had lots of old floorboards to creak and a few teenagers who liked to watch scary movies. They were definitely going to have a lot of fun there.

But the ghosts of the next home were supposed to check in when they were headed out to their next placement, and the Longwood Drive ghosts hadn't heard anything from them.

"Perhaps the supernatural channels are clogged," said Martha, a middle-aged woman who'd died about 200 years ago of heart defect.

"Or maybe there's a delay further up the line in houses," said Charlie, a twenty-two-year-old, who'd died about 40 years ago in a car accident. This would be Charlie's first rotation and he was very excited to be doing different ghostly things.

"I bet they like their house and don't want to give it up, leaving us stuck here forever," Gregory said. Gregory had been about 80 when he'd died, but he was always angry about everything that happened to him in life, so he'd refused to move on in death.

"They don't have a choice," Martha said. "Once a house joins the ghostly exchange network, there's no getting out of it, no matter how nice the house is."

The dad in the living family walked past and Charlie rattled all the picture frames on the wall, but the man had headphones in and didn't notice at all.

Charlie sighed. "I just want to make someone shake with terror. Is that really too much to ask?"

"We'll never get out of here. Never," Gregory said. "We'll be doomed to causing vague chills at the back of people's necks for the rest of eternity."

"We just need to get a message to the next house," Martha said. "If we concentrate together, I bet we can get through to them."

"Never!" Gregory said. "Stuck here forever!"

"You're not helping," Martha said, crossing her translucent arms.

But at that moment, they all heard the buzz.

"Well, about darn time," Gregory said.

So sorry for the delay, came the voice in their heads. We had a lightning storm like you've never seen here. Sent all the supernatural channels on haywire. We're vacating now.

The three ghosts shivered with excitement. All the lights in the house started flashing and a cold wind ran through the house. As the ghosts got ready to jump through to the next house, the living family in the house felt the hair on the back of their necks rise. And the ghosts previously of Longwood Drive were pleased to hear, as they left, the distinct sound of horrified shrieks.