VILLAGE GREEN – In a quaint town in upstate New York, nestled between rolling hills and ancient forests, lies a house that defies the ordinary. What started as a daring adventure for newlyweds, Sarah and Tom, turned into an unexpected lesson in the supernatural and the absurd.
When Sarah and Tom first laid eyes on the old Victorian mansion, its weathered facade whispered promises of thrilling nights and hair-raising encounters. Little did they know, the true terror would come not from the efforts of a hellish spirit, but from the inadvertent actions of a ghostly roommate trapped in time.
Their decision to move into the haunted house was fueled by a shared love for the paranormal. They fantasized about spine-chilling encounters and whispered tales to share with friends. However, reality had a different plan for them.
Instead of the expected ghouls and eerie apparitions, they found themselves face to face with Cedric, a ghost stuck in the 18th century with outdated haunting tactics and a penchant for inconvenience.
Cedric, a spectral relic from the past, proved to be a less-than-ideal roommate. Far from the terrifying specter they anticipated, Cedric was a lackluster presence, more interested in pontificating about religious dogma and agricultural methods than in scaring the living daylights out of his unwitting hosts.
His attempts at instilling fear fell flat in the face of modern sensibilities. Where he sought to evoke terror, he only managed to inspire bemusement and eye-rolls from Sarah and Tom. His ghostly moans were always laments over crop yields, far from the spine-chilling wails they had hoped for.
Yet, Cedric’s spectral ineptitude didn’t end there. He displayed a flagrant disregard for the rules of the living, helping himself to their food stores without so much as a polite request and somehow managing to rack up exorbitant long-distance phone bills on a landline that hadn’t been connected in years.
Sarah and Tom’s attempts to rid themselves of their unwelcome roommate proved futile. No sage smudging or exorcism could coax Cedric into departing from their abode. His incorporeal presence persisted, leaving the couple to endure his ghostly quirks and outdated habits.
To make matters worse, Cedric exhibited a surprising lack of consideration for the domestic niceties cherished by his mortal counterparts. He left toilet seats perpetually up and dishes piled high in the sink, much to Sarah and Tom’s chagrin.
Despite their best efforts to reason with him, Cedric remained obstinate in his ways, a stubborn relic from a bygone era. The couple found themselves navigating the delicate balance between the living and the dead, a situation they never imagined when they embarked on their haunted house adventure.
In the end, Sarah and Tom learned that sometimes, the most frightening specters are not the ones that go bump in the night, but the ones that refuse to pay rent and put the toilet seat down. As they continue to coexist with Cedric, they can’t help but wonder if the true horror lies not in the supernatural, but in the mundane challenges of everyday life.
And so, in the twilight hours of Village Green, amidst the creaking floorboards and ghostly whispers, Sarah and Tom remain, trapped in a haunted house not by malevolent spirits, but by the banality of an undead roommate who just can’t seem to get with the times.
Jessica Cortez-Hill
