A shape emerged from the darkness of the open apartment.
Tall.
Crooked.
Wrong.
Smoke-like mist clung to its thin form as it drifted closer. A dusty black top hat sat crookedly on its head, shadowing empty, sunken eyes. Its mouth stretched into a faint grin—far too wide, far too still—like its face had forgotten how to be human.
Then, ever so slowly, the top hat tipped forward.
No hand moved.
No arm raised.
It just… bowed.
Hannah squeaked, panic bubbling up. “Nope—nope—NOPE!”
She flung her umbrella like a javelin. It passed straight through the ghost’s chest and clattered onto the floor behind it.
The ghost didn’t react.
It just stared.
Smiling.
The girls screamed and bolted for the elevator button.
Emily frantically pressed it again and again. “Come onnnn! We’re about to be ghost snacks!”
The doors slid open—
A ghost inside floated out, moaning like a lost soul…
Then bonked its head on the elevator ceiling.
It gasped in shock, tried to hiss menacingly—
but it came out like a squeaky balloon losing air.
“HISSS—eeeeeek—pwwwphhhh!”
Kate blinked. “Is…is that ghost okay?”
The ghost spun in a slow confused circle like it forgot why it was haunting anyone at all.
That was enough for them.
They sprinted for the stairs, feet pounding, lungs burning.
Not stopping until the 12th floor, where they collapsed against the railing, gasping for breath.
Suddenly, a man in a neat suit strolled past them, smiling, whistling a cheerful tune.
As if nothing about the universe was wrong.
He pressed the elevator button, calmly.
Casually.
“To the 14th floor?” he said to himself.
The girls froze.
Kate managed to choke out, “Sir—don’t! There’s… ghosts. Real ones.”
The man chuckled. “Ghosts? Oh, girls. I go up there all the time. There’s nothing up there but storage rooms.”
Ding.
The elevator arrived.
He stepped inside, waved politely, and vanished behind the closing doors.
Hannah scratched her head. “Huh… maybe he’s right? Maybe we DID imagine everything?”
Emily snapped around. “Imagined? Imagined?! You opened a door and stared right at a ghost wearing a top hat, AND NOW YOU’RE SAYING THEY WEREN’T REAL?!”
Hannah shrugged weakly. “Maybe it was… a very dusty tall man?”
Kate was quiet, too quiet.
Her face pale, eyes fixed upward toward the ceiling.
“They were real,” she whispered.
“And they saw us.”
🌀 What Just Happened?
- A tall, crooked ghost wearing a dusty top hat floated out of a dark apartment.
- Hannah threw her umbrella at it, but it passed straight through.
- The girls ran to the elevator and met a clumsy, squeaky ghost inside.
- Terrified, they sprinted down the stairs to the 12th floor.
- A calm man ignored their warning and took the elevator to the 14th floor.
- Hannah began to doubt what they saw, but Kate knew the ghosts were real—and watching them.
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