The Mortensen Place

12.

It was only nine in the morning, but the heat was already coming up. Clarissa felt stifled despite wearing shorts under her jump suit. Eastern washington was a bitch in the summer, but it felt like a really mean one on this particular july day. Her and Gilbert were outside of the dreaded "Mortensen" place.

Once upon a time Vincent Mortensen had been a ruthless merchant. Someone who got rich when times were lean and built his empire on misery. The jewel of the empire was his house which sat on a bluff outside of Ellensburgh. At one point in the past it was surrounded by a lush garden and lawn, but all Clarissa saw was the bones of that, just like she saw the bones of the house. A twisted warped old mansion that looked frightening to be near, let along having to go into. Gilbert seemed to of the same mind as he sat there staring in the heat, and made no move to go inside. He hadn't even been that talkative when they left his house in the morning, just a brief meal of eggs and coffee and away they went.

"So proton packs?"

"Nah ever since that shit in new york they don't let you run around with an unlicensed nuclear accelerator."

"Ghost Busters was real?" Gilbert smiled.

"No I was just having some fun with you."

"Cruel Gilbert, mean and cruel."

"No that's what inside, I don't recall exactly why Mortensen is in there, but I do know from stories he's a right bastard now, and his cruelty has attracted other things. If you didn't want to go in there I'd understand."

"No way, the chance to actually bust some ghosts is not something I pass up."

"I hope you keep that optimism with what we'll see in there."

"Guaranteed, so how do you bust some ghosts." Gilbert sighed and opened the van door, he rummaged around for a bit and withdrew some bags of dust.

"Magic dust? You fight ghosts with magic dust."

"Sort of, its a hoodoo powder."

"You mean voodoo?"

"No hoodoo completely separate, and just as a tip never confuse the two or you'll have some very upset people, just trust me on that as I made the same mistake once upon a time." Gilbert, having said that, went back to the van and pulled out some papers, they almost looked like certificates.

"Is that to certify its ghost free?" Gilbert laughed.

"No no, you hit them with the hoodoo powder and then give them one of these well that's what you do with bad ghosts, the dangerous ones, this is an incantation that sends them where they need to go. With reasonable ghosts you can usually talk them into taking it, they are only a ghost because they are afraid of what comes after, you talk them down, get them to accept they are dead and need to move on one way or another."

"That sounds actually pretty decent, doing it to the nice ones I mean."

"Well if they don't take the damn thing I still hit them with the powder and give them the incantation, ghosts are wrong and need to go either way its the only way we get paid." Gilbert started walking toward the front porch and stopped. He could see Mortensen waiting for him. The old ghost almost looked like a normal person, if you didn't know he was dead you'd almost think he was a lost old man. Gilbert could see it though, the maliciousness behind his eyes. The creature Mortensen had become in death was worse than he was when he was alive and he was a monster when he was alive.

"He's a looker isn't he?" Clarissa startled Gilbert.

"Yeah Mortensen, the last couple to own this place was found skinned alive hanging from the porch."

"Gruesome, you think he's going to just keep standing there so we can get him judged and on to the afterlife." The old man had dissappeared.

"Nope, and the thing you have to understand," Gilbert came up the steps and opened the door inside, "The house is bigger on the inside." With the door open Clarissa could see what looked like some kind of horrific carnival going on inside.

"Well that's terrifying to start."

"Also Mortensen isn't the only ghost here." As Gilbert said that a headless clown came walking by the front of the door.

"This is going to suck right?"

"Majorly."