Midday Haunt
Katie dotted around her kitchen checking on the different dishes she was making. Bread was in the oven. A salad was being mixed on the middle island. Cookies were being frosted across. Pots and pans stacked in the sink foaming from the ingredients. Soft jazz played over the speakers and she danced from one spot to the next. She checked the time. 1:30 p.m. Plenty of time before her guests arrived for the night. She was having get together with all her high school friends. They were a tight group. Five of them had weathered all of lifes storms together. It brought them closer and even after thirty long tough years, they still supported each other. Katie picked up a small bowl and turned to put it down next to the sink. As she turned she came face to face with a figure.
The figure wore a white sheet over itself with two large black eyes cut out. It draped upon its body and ended just before its feet, which were an inhuman black. They did not touch the ground, but rather hovered completely still a few inches from it. Her hands lost the bowl and it came crashing to the floor as she screamed and backed up. The figure moved as she moved. Silently. Nothing motioned on it. She couldn’t take her eyes off it,wide eyed with tears forming, she stepped back a bit and it floated the same space towards her.The soft jazz still filled the air, but now accompanied by her panicked breath. Katie stood still, waited for moment to collect her self, then bolted towards the door. She opened it and in panic flailed outside to run to the neighbors house. She screamed, cried, flailed her arms for some one to help her. Her whole body cranked towards where she thought some one might be. She did not dare turn around. There was no noise from her pursuer, but she could feel it. Hovering just above the ground, inanimately chasing her. She fell violently to the ground from tripping over something. She scuttled, tears running down her face, thoughts and speech incoherent. She rolled on her back screaming wildly as loud as she could to scare the haunt.
There was nothing there. She cried. This time from joy. What ever it was, was no longer there. She stood up and looked towards her wide open front door. She stared. Her mind blank, body exhausted, her breathe was still trying to calm. Katie stood for a long time. So long that night fell and her friends arrived. The house would never be the same.
This is inspired by a short film I would like to make. The thought that monsters and ghosts only come at night doesn’t make sense to me. It would be much scarier if a ghost was there during the day.
Also when the ghost chases I would remove any sort of music. Movies often bombared watchers with music to create mood. But in real life the tension is there with no music. Sometimes less is more. It would be katies exhileration and panic that could be heard while the camera stays infront of her. Showing her panic face and the ghostly figure following her with a uncanniness.