Five minutes of fame

After multiple failed escape attempts and after people stopped passing through the door, John finally gave up. It was around nine o'clock in the morning. The patients in the nursing home were already showered, dressed, and had their breakfast. The personnel took most of them to the entertainment room; the older patients were taken out of the nursing home for some sunlight; the younger ones preferred to watch the morning news. The ghosts were all together watching television; the news were the usual. The economy was bad, oil went up, there was some war somewhere, something weird happened in Asia, and Europe approved a new regulation in something no one really cares about. However, in the local news, things hit a little bit closer to home.

"Hey John, you are on television!" Yelled Ramon.

John made it on time to see most of the news segment. There was a picture of him in the corner of the screen, and a video was playing.

"The police said that the tuned-up car lost control and went out of the road, crashing into a tree. The only passenger identified as twenty-five-year-old Johnathan Urbez died on the spot, crushed by the car's engine. Our most sincere condolences to the family affected by this tragic accident." The news anchor reported.

"In other news, the local authorities..."

John stopped paying attention to the news. He was dead for sure. From the images he just saw, he recognized his car. The firefighters were pulling the machine, which got stuck on the tree. Watching it in the news added a new level of certainty; it made it even more real. Ramon realized John's situation, came close to him, and by reflex, put a hand on his shoulder. John didn't feel anything, but still, the gesture was kind.

"That is how it is." Said Ramon.

"Yeah, I know. Still, it's weird to see news about your own death."

John started thinking about his parents, his brother Samuel, and then about his ex-girlfriend.

"You know, I had a girlfriend; she told me I was obsessed with that car; she forced me to choose between her and the vehicle... I guess I made the wrong choice." He said to Ramon.

"Normally, choosing the car would be the right call; not in this case, though." Ramon commented.

He knew what was coming. John would spend the next few days thinking about the past and mulling over his choices in life, but that wouldn't last for long. After all, he still existed, and soon he would start to think of this state as a new way of life and would try to improve upon it and adapt it to the life he used to live. Then, like all the ghosts did before him, he will start his hunt for answers. Why are we trapped here? How can we get out? He will start looking everywhere for answers to this and many other questions. Ramon went away and let John be with his toughs.

Just like Ramon predicted, a few days later, John started asking questions, trying to touch and listen to the walls. It was a Friday, John already had five days of existence as a ghost. The day was uneventful; besides an uncomfortable situation with Elizabeth, he still had her words ringing in his mind.

"Kid, I have been here for a long time; before that, I was already a ghost, almost about to disappear. Then I got trapped here. I have seen many of your kind: looking for answers for a few days, then getting tired and forgetting about it. They become the laziest and most pessimistic guys ever. You are dead. Your life is over. Get over it and learn how to survive on your own; now leave me alone and get out of my room."

John had many things in mind that he wanted to yell at this presumptuous little girl, but she was one of the most respected and appreciated members of this ghostly community. He had a hard time getting some information from some ghosts because of his bad relationship with Elizabeth. John just got schooled by a teenager and kicked out of a room that wasn't even hers; it was the old man's room. She was just a parasite, but he had to shut up.

When the night came, things changed, like it happened on the first day of his arrival: after ten o'clock, the lights started to flicker, and the rumblings on the walls started sooner this time, and with higher intensity than the previous occasion. However, contrary to the first time, John didn't go for shelter in Elizabeth's room like most did; he stayed in the main hall, looking at the lights and trying to feel the walls. Ramon and others wanted to warn him that it was useless, but they knew he wouldn't listen, like they didn't listen back in the day.

"This kid won't survive for long." Said Ramon.

"We did, and we were no different from him." Retorted Martin.

"Yeah, we survived, but we didn't have a bone to pick with Elizabeth." After Ramon's commentary, Shana and Martin just made an ugly face; the three of them coincided; John was fucked.

John walked to the limit of the hallway; the rumbling noise was stronger there, and sometimes he would swear he heard screams coming from the walls. He didn't even try to hide it; he was scared, but he convinced himself that there was an answer and an explanation to all of this. He just had to keep looking. John went down to the machine room; the room was locked. However, he could pass through the iron bars door without a problem. He examined the boiler, even passed his head through the metal, and looked into the water tank. The water pipes were normal, the noises didn't come from there. He examined the fuses; there didn't seem to be a problem there either. He didn't find any problems down in the machinery room, but when he went back, ghosts atention was focused on the main hall. The woman who was always complaining about how this was God's punishment and praying was screaming in the hallway; that was not weird in general; the problem was that her voice sounded coarse and deeper than usual, and she was stuttering. Shana and Martin were close by, trying to talk to her.

John knew a bit about the woman; her name was Sofia; she had just been a ghost for six months; she used to be a patient in the nursing home; she didn't remember that part of her life clearly because she had dementia. As soon as she died and turned into a ghost, her dementia was gone. She was a very religious person, praying all the time while she was alive. Although she was not a good person, she was selfish and cruel to most people.

"Whats happening?" Asked John getting close to Martin.

"She is changing; it seems like she hasn't touched a living person in a long while." Martin answered.

"She is turning into a muncher?"

"Unfortunately, yes"

"How long does it take to change?"

"No one knows. For some a month, for some a week, I don't know; I think there are many factors: how long you have been here, how long you have been a ghost, many things. If you want to be safe, just touch a living person every two or three days." Explained Martin.

John walked towards Sofia; he wanted to know and see what was going on up close. When he got near enough, he could hear her growling in a twisted speech.

"Grrr... pray. Grrr... the Lord. Grrr... good Christian." Sofia repeated those words like a mantra.

"Yes, the Lord saves." Said Shana.

"You know what? The living need the Lord too; you are a Christian; why don't you get there and give them a good smack in the head so they listen to you?" Shana was trying her best.

"Grrr... pray. Grrr... the Lord. Grrr... good Christian." Sofia repeated nonstop.

John got closer; he was about to touch her when Shana stopped him. "Stop; don't touch her!" She warned.

"It will accelerate her mutation. I think there is still time; we can save her if we make her touch a living person; just a second is enough."

John didn't listen; he touched Sofia's shoulder. There was a strange feeling, like he was touching something disgusting; it felt like a mushy substance. Sofia turned around and fixed her sight on John's face. John took one step back. Right in front of his eyes, Sofia's face started melting; her lower eyelids dropped and extended to her cheeks; her eyes popped out, moving to the sides of her face like tentacles. Her nose broke down from her face, and her skin cracked and peeled off, her lower lip grew long, hanging to her chest. What used to be her mouth deformed, her jaw and maxillary expanded, and the teeth became longer and separated between them. The tongue broke into two and grew to almost one meter long. Her body also changed; her neck grew to around half a meter. Her legs seemed to melt along with her arms and low body. Only her chest conserved some of its structure. Sofia had turned into a blob of gray-colored mass with something that looked like a chest and a long neck holding a creepy-looking, deformed face.

The face opened her mouth even wider, and a really loud scream came out. Everyone had to cover their ears; the screams were annoying to hear. Almost immediately, the walls of the nursing home started screaming too. The pained screams combined, making it worse for the others. Thirty seconds or so later, the screaming stopped, and the eyes of the monster that once was Sofia moved and looked straight at John.

"Move, get out of the way!" Screamed Shana.

Like if her words were a signal, the deformed blob grew four human legs, lifted itself up, and started running. John had already moved a few steps back out of fear and managed to avoid the incoming quadruped monstrosity. The creature tried to take a bite out of John on its dash, but John avoided the deformed mouth by a centimeter. Sofia's mutation ran through the hallway and crashed into the wall. The wall deformed and wobled like if it were made of rubber, and when it turned solid again, the monster was gone.

The ones that watched the events unfold were quiet, and their faces showed a bit of sadness. One minute after Sofia was gone, the rumbling started again, increasing until it seemed that the building was breaking apart; then it stopped suddenly. Ten seconds later, the horrified, agonizing screams of a woman could be heard coming out of the walls; there were no words, just non-stop screaming.

"Why did you do that?" Asked Shana.

"Didn't I warn you? Now there is one more Munchers to worry about; I hope they eat you on their next visit."

Everyone was looking at John in a non-friendly way.

"You're probably going to have a hard time from now on." Said Ramon. John didn't listen; he went to check on the wall where the monster disappeared. The rumbling and flickering lights had stopped. Now Sofia's screams were getting lower in intensity. Still, there was nothing wrong with the wall. He went down to the machine room again; nothing was out of the ordinary. When he came back, Martin got closer.

"Listen, kid, I was a man of science; like you, I wanted answers, but I found nothing. But unlike you, I didn't make an enemy out of the ones surrounding me. I doubt Elizabeth is going to shelter you now, and you don't know how to leech out of the living. To make things worse, the living that haven't been claimed by any ghost are the younger ones; they are harder to leech from. We will probably have a Muncher attack sooner than later, and you won't survive."

"I guess I will learn how to leech then; how hard can it be?" was John's answer.

The old professor was flabbergasted.

"You are an idiot." Martin turned around and left.

John focused again on the wall, and after a few minutes of mulling over Martin's words, he realized his situation. Sofia's monstrosity attempted to eat him in her scape. What if she came back and went for him? Learning to leech the energy of the living was his only way out, he needed a master.