"Oh, you stubborn, stubborn girl! How many times have I told you not to go into the human town?!" Mama Simbi cried out just as Niram, Kiesh, and Sisi stepped into the graveyard.


    The graveyard was located a short distance away on the east side of the town. This one was just like the other ones he''d been to. Unkempt and dilapidated. Most of the gravestones had already been shattered by the passage of time while the newer graves lacked any sign of identification, probably because most of the towners were too drunk and broke to care about their dead. The most they could do was stick a wood-crafted X over the graves, a sign that they wanted the dead as far away from them as possible.


    "Leave the little girl alone, Simbi!" Papa Yemir walked over, his walking stick silent as it clucked on the rock-filled ground. "Stop acting like you weren''t the same when you were still a newling!"


    Like Mama Simbi, who had been a youthful woman when she''d died in her sleep, papa Yemir had also been youthful when he''d been killed in a riot. The old ghost woman had a wrapper covering the lower part of her ghostly form while a simple top covered her upper body. She wore a long scarf which was beginning to get loose on the side.


    Papa Yemir, however, was putting on a simple garment, which Niram somewhat wished he was also wearing. Despite his tendencies for mischievousness at times—especially when it came to Simbi—the man was a simple, straightforward person. No one knew this, except probably Kiesh, but Niram secretly admired the man.


    The aged woman shot Yemir a glare. "The way you talk sometimes, Yemir, makes me think that you''ll one day join the mischiefs on their wayward stunts."


    Yemir gave a wicked smile. "Why, the pot is calling the kettle black."


    Niram''s eye snapped toward Simbi just as she turned her face away in a flash of embarrassment. "Don''t listen to him, dear," she patted Niram''s cheek, and he forced himself not to shiver at the unnatural freezing touch. "His mind is already old and lost to time, he doesn''t know what he''s saying."


    "Aye, I agree. My mind is somewhat lost to time," Yemir smiled at the triumphant look blooming on Simbi''s face. "But I ain''t old enough to forget when you used to run around the human town, haunting everything that came your way." He turned to Niram. "She even haunted a chicken once, can you believe? A chicken! Sent it running straight for the road, where its life unfortunately ended under the wooden tires of a speeding cart." He smiled. "You should''ve seen the joyful look on her face after it happe—"


    "That''s enough, Yemir!" Simbi snapped. "That was a long time ago! I''ve changed!"


    Yemir shrugged. "If you say so..."


    "Papa Yemir?" Sisi looked up with a wide excited look on her face. "Can you tell me more about what Mama Simbi did when she was still a newling?"


    The man in question gave her a wide smile. "Of course, little one," he agreed, ignoring the warning glare from Simbi. "But you''ll have to promise us not to venture into the human lands again, okay?"Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    Excited, the little girl didn''t fuss and simply nodded.


    "Okay, back when Simbi was little, like you, but not, not like you ..." Niram didn''t stay to hear the story, whispering goodbye to the two elders before he and Keish made their way back.


    "I can''t believe Mama Simbi was that wayward when she was young." He snickered.


    "Oh, you don''t know the half of it!" Keish laughed. "Did you know that most of the old ones were once mischiefs?"


    "No," Niram shook his head. He waved at a group of ghost children who were running around the burial ground of an old ghost who kept shrieking at them to stop. But of course, they refused to listen until Niram had to call them off.


    "Thank you, Niram!" Mama Ayor waved at him as he left. "I owe you a chicken soup when you come back!"


    Niram smiled back.


    "So, as I was saying," Kiesh continued. "Mama Simbi was always into one kind of mischief after another when she was young. Understand, I heard this from Papa Yemir. I don''t want to get into that woman''s bad books. Anyway, Mama Simbi was once known as the greatest mischief to have ever walked this graveyard. Did you know that she once haunted a count''s heir as he visited the town?"


    "No way!" Niram turned towards Kiesh as the walked into the town. He ignored the scary looks the passers-by gave him at his outburst.


    "Yes, way!" Kiesh laughed. "So, get this. The count''s heir visited the town and decided to stay overnight at an inn that was once standing opposite farmer Olam''s house—the place where those newcomers who just moved in are building their abattoir.


    "So, this count''s son sleeps overnight and, maybe he was feeling lonely —I don''t know— decides to carry an escort from the tavern below. They were at it in the middle of the night, as I heard from Papa Yemir. And then Mama Simbi moves behind the heir, and with as loud a voice as she could muster, enough not to alert anyone other than the busy two, she screams."


    "What?!" Niram shouted and didn''t look as he stumped his foot on a rock. He laughed it off, as the story Keish was telling was better than some prickling pain. "She did not!"


    "Oh, yes she did!" Kiesh said. "Funnier though, was that the heir had been betrothed to the daughter of a duke."


    "Impossible!"


    "Ohh, definitely possible, Nir. She chased them running naked and screaming out of their room and down onto the street. When all was settled, the two were shocked to discover that nobody heard the sound of any ghost, it was just the two of them, running and screaming like mad people."


    "What happened after?" Niram asked.


    Kiesh shrugged. "I don''t know, that was how long Yemir went before Mama Simbi chased him off with his walking stick."


    Niram chuckled at the imagination.


    They turned another corner in silence, listening to the distant revelry of those in the taverns. Eventually, they came to the front door of a house standing behind the butcher''s shop. It was a three-story building, one of the oldest and largest houses in the town. Niram reckoned the house was probably close to four hundred years old, judging by its ancient architectural designs and the bent look it had. It was probably not going to last another decade.


    For as long as Niram had been in the area, this house had always been rumored to be haunted. People had whispered that they''d heard noises coming from it at night. And some had even sworn to have seen a ghost or two look down at them from one of the windows. But those were things the people knew but actively ignored.


    Now, however, something was seriously wrong with the place. The other day—the reason he''d been hired — a group of homeless children who had rushed into the place to take cover from the rain had encountered something that had left them scream for hours until they''d immediately quieted. The next morning had seen a dozen people gathered in front of the place with touches on their hands. Their intention to burn down the place had been stopped when they''d realized how close the other houses were and how quickly a fire could spread.


    Resigned, they hired a ghost seer — Niram— to take a look at the place and banish the thing hiding inside. Well, here he was.


    "You ready?" Keish whispered.


    "Sure," Niram answered, and then turned over the doorknob.