Page 28 of The Neighborhood Ghost

Thaddeus threw Josiah back into the table. His back struck the edge, and he fell to the ground with a thud, coughing and clutching his throat.

Thaddeus turned his attention back to his prize. Her old body writhed on the ground. She moaned and attempted to plead for her life.

“Please,” she murmured. “Please stop.”

He flicked his wrist once more. She let out a guttural shriek as she curled into a ball. Thaddeus kicked her side, rolling her frail body onto her back. He towered over her, the anti-magick wand pointing down at the witch and ready to strike its final blow.

“Maybe the amulet is too good for you. I could spend all day blasting away and listening to the sounds of your wailing.” He laughed maniacally. “Or maybe . . .”

A sharp pain tore through his skull as he was struck on the back of the head. The world stopped. Everything went quiet. His eyes lost focus into a multicolored blur. He blinked a few times, regaining consciousness. He turned his head to see what struck him.

His jaw dropped. It was the woman he had burned earlier in the evening. He had witnessed her burning. She went limp. She was dead. Yet, she stood behind him, holding a black cauldron by her side. Fury screeched from her mouth and revenge in her eyes. She reared the cauldron back and prepared to strike once more.

Thaddeus tried to move, but he was rendered immobile. The first blow still pulsated through his body. His limbs were unresponsive. He wobbled on his feet. His breathing labored. Thaddeus was frozen, awaiting his ultimate fate.

Johanna Newes, gripping the handle with both hands, swung the cast iron cauldron over her shoulder and struck Thaddeus’ head once more with a mighty blow. He fell to the ground with a great thud. His eyes locked onto the old witch laying on the ground. She raised her hand, muttering a secret language he had learned to resent.

Willow finished and snapped her fingers. “I banish you to the realm of lost souls,” Willow’s raspy voice proclaimed.

The world went dark as another blow landed on the back of his head when Johanna Newes exacted her final revenge . . .

“In my hatred and anger,I lost track of how many people were in the room. I did not think to check the body on the table. The body who I had burned moments before,” Thaddeus said to Hugo as he removed his tricorn hat. “She caved in my skull.”

Thaddeus turned his head to show the back of his skull, an indentation of where Johanna Newes had thrice struck him.

“You son of a bitch,” Hugo yelled. “She was a friend of mine, and it was you who did that to her?”

“So . . . you knew her?” Thaddeus asked as he secured his hat back on his head. “Small world.”

Hugo struck Thaddeus on the jaw with a right hook. Thaddeus reeled back, not expecting the attack. He explored his jaw. The blow dislocated it, and he became slack-jawed. Thaddeus grabbed both sides and popped his jaw back into place. He shook his head a few times.

“Alright,” Thaddeus said as he checked out his jaw’s movement. “You pack a mean punch. You want to fight it out? Let’s fight.” With a quick jab, Thaddeus lunged at him.

Hugo blocked the blow with his arms, hiding his face behind his fists. He stood poised in a fighting stance. He countered with a quick left-fisted blow to Thaddeus’ body. He grabbed onto his green coat and tugged.

Control the sweater. Control the fight.

Thaddeus stumbled to the side, his heavier body weight throwing him off balance. Hugo followed up with two quick, over the top, right hooks to the side of Thaddeus’ face.

“I played hockey, motherfucker,” Hugo yelled. “You haven’t even seen what I can do to you.”

“What is hockey?” Thaddeus asked as he swung his arm at Hugo.

The overpowering size was too much for Hugo to control without the benefit of a slippery, icy surface. Thaddeus’ blow struck him in the side. Pain reverberated up Hugo’s torso. He gasped for air as a lung collapsed. He might have been dead, but the blow stung and coursed through his body. Hugo let go of Thaddeus and stumbled backward.

Thaddeus lunged at Hugo. Wrapping his arms around him, Thaddeus constricted Hugo into a bear hug, lifting him off his feet.

Thaddeus slammed Hugo into the wall of the house. Hugo grunted as the remaining air exited his lungs. He struggled to breathe—an odd sensation for being dead. Thaddeus slammed him two more times. Hugo battled the urge to fall unconscious as Thaddeus strangled his body and pummeled him into the wall.

Three knocks rang out faster and faster, increasing their pace. Lightning crackled, illuminating the haunted landscape. A cacophony of sound wore away at Hugo as he slipped from his undead coil.

With all the remaining strength he could muster, Hugo reared his head back and head-butted his attacker. Thaddeus’ grip eased ever so slightly as the sensation of air rushed to fill his lungs. Hugo struck him twice more before Thaddeus let him go, dropping Hugo to the ground. Hugo fell to his knees and caught his breath.

Thaddeus stumbled back a few steps. Hugo regained his footing. He lunged at Thaddeus, driving his shoulder into his midsection. They crashed through the railing of the porch, sending both tumbling to the ground below.

Hugo landed on top of Thaddeus, but the impact from the steep drop off the porch still smashed his ribs. He wasmomentarily stunned as he rolled off Thaddeus. Hugo rose to his feet, grunting as he lifted himself. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to me, but I swear, you’ll meet your end here,” Hugo barked. “For Johanna’s sake.”

Thaddeus rolled over, raising a hand up to Hugo. “Stop. Stop. Get in the house. Get in the house now,” he yelled as he motioned up the steps.

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