The Ghost of Delaney house

The Cast:

Jane Delaney - Writer and Author of many successful books. A.k.a, The Ghost.

The Ghost - Bones of Jane Delaney

Mac and Jensen - Two squatters far into the woods

The Priests - Fathers Rossi and Gordi

The Grocer - Mr Franko, with misc Townspeople

Jane's agent - Darzena Black

Rats - Rats

Jane Delaney was a very famous writer. She made a lot of money from her books, but she had a horrible personality. Her agent hated her and she had no friends. Once when signing autographs, she slapped one of her fans who had been a bit forward with his advances. No one could blame him really, the fan had said, Jane was a very beautiful woman. She yelled at another fan, after which she apologized saying she had had a sleepless night.

Rumors started to circulate about her treatment of those who worked for and with her. Jane became very unpopular. She rented a cabin deep in the hills and decided to avoid people at all cost. All her bills were paid up for six months and her groceries delivered every week. She prepaid the grocer for the six months as well. Evey week the same order was delivered, she could not bother the call to change anything. Milk, greens, bread, among other regular household necessities were all covered.

Jane went to sleep two weeks after moving in and never woke up again. She had a bad heart. The rats went to work after three days.

The mail was delivered with the groceries. Two squatters who lived in the woods noticed the grocery not being picked up after a while and started helping themselves to the three bags of groceries every week. The mail they saw were just bills, so thy shoved them through the slot in the door, thinking that the person would return soon.

Jane had asked not to be disturbed for the six month hiatus, so nobody bothered her. The rats ate their fill for six whole months. In the end only the bones were left lying sideways on the bed.

When they finally found poor Jane, she was all bone an no skin. The rats got fat and lazy, it was very easy to exterminate them, In case they got too fond of human meat, the sheriff said. The rat ghosts had a good laugh.

The two squatters knew nothing of this new development. They came on Wednesday, grocery day, to pick up their free stash of food. The front door had police tape displayed across it. They wondered what had happened. There were no longer any grocery bags outside the door.

Suddenly, the front door creaked open a tiny bit. Then a little wider still. The two middle aged woodsmen stood looking at the door for a while.

"Hello". Jensen said. The door remained open, but no one answered or came outside.

"Do you think we should go in Mac"? He sked his partner in crime, who shook his head, no.

"Anybody there"? Jensen called again.

"Maybe we should leave now". Mac said, feeling uneasy about the whole situation.

"Let's just take a quick look, Mac. I don't think anyone is here".

"Then who opened the door"?

"Maybe it was the wind". Jensen said, not really believing his own words.

Jensen took a tentative step towards the front door, Mac had misgivings, but followed behind his friend. They always did things together.

Pulling the door wider, the two walked slowly inside, calling out and looking around.

A sudden gust of wind slammed the front door shut. The two men jumped back in shock, scared out of their wits. Mac staggered back and sat down heavily onto the nearest chair. Jensen grabbed a broomstick which leaned nearby. Still nobody appeared from any of the rooms.

A voice suddenly echoed across the roof of the cabin. It wailed and moaned so terribly that the men were rooted to the spot in horror. A white clad figure emerged as if from spirals of smoke, the form of a woman appeared, standing by the window, arms raised above her head as she screamed.

"Why didn't anyone find me. Why did you let the rats eat my flesh and nibble my bones"?

The two men dashed to the front door, but it refused to budge. They spun around like dogs trying to catch their tails. Out of options, they dashed into one of the bedrooms and locked the door.

"I told you not to come in here"! Poor Mac was almost crying, he was such a gentle soul.

The voice screamed even louder from in there.

"Why, why, why did they nibble my bones"? It kept screaming and repeating.

Jensen grabbed Mac's hand and tore out of the bedroom. This time the front door opened before he could touch it, and both men were flung headfirst out onto the porch. The door slammed shut behind them.

Mac was the first one up, he grabbed Jensen's collar and yanked him up so forcibly, even Jensen was surprised at this great show of strength.

The two men ran all the way to the town three miles away. They went into the grocery store looking as pale as death and sweating profusely. They recounted their ordeal to the people in the grocery store. Mac and Jensen finally learned whose grocery they had been helping themselves to all this time. The grocer, Mr Franko, finally solved the mystery of his missing groceries.

They did smell funny smells, Mac and Jensen admitted, but they figured it was the woods, and animals died all the time.

The local priest had tried having a seance and freeing the soul of poor Jane. Jane had locked them in the house for two days and then unceremoniously thrown them out as well. Their clothes had been ripped to shreds.

Jane's agent, Darzena Black, is trying to acquire the rights to a book with the agreement of the owners of the cabin. She is thinking of writing the story and the book herself. The cabin could become a national attraction, people would pay good money for a good old fashioned haunting, she threw in for good measure.

So began the legend of the "Delaney Haunted Rat Cabin". People started camping out at nights to hear the screams coming from the building.

Bets were being taken about who would go inside next. Would they be thrown out headfirst like Mac, Jensen and the priests. Some people reported that sometimes at midnight, they would awaken to see Jane standing at the foot of their beds, she would scream at them and then just disappear.

Would the ghost eventually graduate to more evil deeds.

Only time and a brave soul or two will tell.

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