The spirit induced a very unusual nightmare in me, that I dismissed upon awareness that I actually was having a nightmare. When I cornered the spirit, it apologized and said it has that side effect among humans that can sense it. It said that it would make sure it would not affect anyone else in the house again.
The next night, Dter experienced a very unusual nightmare. It did frighten her at first, but as the dream went on, she realized how very unusual the situation was and went from being frightened to that state one gets when they catch themselves watching the SyFy channel but unmotivated enough to change the channel.
I confronted the spirit again. It apologized profusely and said it thought Dter would not be affected since she did not see/sense it.
I reminded the spirit of the house rules. Do not fuck with the humans here. It reminded me it was not being malicious and it is as it is. I gave it an ultimatum, depart before midnight or I would not be held responsible for whatever befell it. Not malicious meant I couldn’t eat it in retaliation. (I have to abide by the rules as well.) But having a noticeable and unwanted effect on the humans meant I wasn’t going to shelter it anymore. It was on its own.
The spirit looked at the Regulars, and tried to keep from laughing. The Regulars are lazy, docile, and more faded than a 50-year-old stop sign to be anything more than a threat to a stray fly. It agreed to the new terms. Then got smugly comfortable.
The Skeletal Pit Bull of Not Liking This Shit was waiting on my bed when it was time for sleep. “So, you heard, I take it.”, I asked him. He gruffed in disagreement. “Allow me to remind you, that while you wear my token, you are not mine to command. Not bound by my rules.” His tail started wagging even as he still gave me stink-eye. “That means you do as you damn well please. Just don’t bring trouble back to the house, okay? Okay.” The tail continued wagging then stopped fully raised for a moment before resting very, very still.
Before I was fully asleep, he left the bed to wander the house.
Come morning, his ghostly presence was hogging the blankets again.
How strange, the nightmare inducing spirit is no where to be found now. And the Regulars are avoiding my room again. Gee. I wonder what happened while I was asleep?
~innocent face~
(Who’s a good dog! Yes, he is! ~belly rubs~)