A Haunting Cohabitation

20260830

Prompt from DailyPrompt.com

It’s a truly peaceful night; a light rain patters on my roof, a cat sits at my foot and everything, for once, is completely under control.
Then the door to the basement rattles.
I sigh.
The handle rattles again, and Jinx pauses in her washing, tongue sticking out, to glare disapprovingly at it. That causes it to fall silent… briefly.
Pulling out my phone, I double-check my todo list. No, I’m certain I did everything…
Jinx has abandoned me to sit by the basement door, smacking the tendrils which curl out from underneath it. Manifesting already? Ugh.
I get up and fetch one of the bundles of dried parsley. It takes a few tries to get the darn thing to light, but once it’s burning properly and I stuff it under the door, silence falls once more.
We wait and watch, my arms folded and Jinx’s tail twitching. Finally she mews and head-butts me.
“I know, I know.” I sigh, scratching her behind the ears. “I sometimes wonder if it’s really worth the cheap rent. But then I look at the price of groceries these days.”
At least, now that the basement haunt has gone back to sleep, everything seems normal; no cold spots in the kitchen, no humming in the bedroom, and no fingers lurking under the bathtub. Seems the rest of the ‘household’ was successfully pacified by the earlier rituals.
Satisfied, I return to my chair. Jinx continues to glare at the errant door. Can she hear something I can’t? Or is she just hoping something else will pop out for her to play with?
Cats. They’re harder to figure than ghosts. Though far better to share a home with.
I shrug and pick up my book once more. Letting the sound of the rain ease my shoulders. I don’t understand why it aggravates the ghosts; I always find it a soothing, pleasant song. Maybe it sounds different on the other side. Or maybe its related to some ghostly trauma. Or maybe they’re just dumbasses.
Whatever. This is my only day off this week, and I am determined to enjoy it.
So I call “If I have to get up again, so help me, I’m breaking out the prayer mixtape!”, ignore the furtive scrabbling sound from the bathroom, and firmly bury myself in my book.

Prompt was “Start a story with ‘It’s a truly peaceful night; a light rain patters on my roof, a cat sits at my foot and everything, for once, is completely under control.’”