It’s 7 o’clock in the afternoon, and you’ve just gotten off work. It’s time for you to get back home. Little drops of water infrequently hit your head as you exit the building, and begin the trek home through the city. As make your way across the street, those droplets get bigger, more frequent, and fall with greater force. You barely make it out of the block, before the rain begins to fall at an alarming rate. You, not knowing that this would occur, didn’t bring an umbrella. There’s no way that you’d be walking home in that weather. Out of the corner of your eye, you spy a small building with roofing above the front entrance. You bolt over to it, holding your arms above your head. You make it, and begin to wring out your wet clothing while you wait for the downpour to die down. As you twist the water out of your shirt, you hear a voice whispering over your shoulder,
“Come on in,” it utters.
You turn around, but nobody is there.
“That’s strange,” you think.
You look up at the sign above the doorway. It reads, “Comfort N’ Cuddles - Daycare center for children ages 0-4.” You notice that the lights are on inside. One would think that an establishment such as this would be closed at this time. You pull on the handle of the front door, causing it to swing outwards. A little more shelter could do one no harm in this situation, so you walk inside. The lobby looks like that of a typical daycare center, with a reception desk, and bulletin board. There was one thing missing however; the people. No secretary was at the front desk, and you could hear any children in the playrooms. It was almost creepy.
“Hi there!” a woman’s voice called.
You turn to the reception desk, and see a sight most strange. It’s a woman behind the desk, but numerous aspects are off about her. She’s completely transparent, and she radiates a faint green aura. She smiles at you, and beckons you over. You stand still in shock.
“What’s wrong?” she asks with a soft-spoken tone, “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
She walks through the desk. Not around it, or over it: through it.
“I’m sorry. That’s a bad joke, but I can’t help myself,” she adds with a giggle, “I’m Sonia, and I haunt this crčche.”
You’re still stiff as a statue after what you’ve just seen. Apparently, this daycare is haunted by a ghost. She doesn’t seem dangerous, but every thought you have is telling you to get out. You turn around, and try to open the door. It’s locked. You try, and try, but it doesn’t open.
“Oh, blast it,” the ghost says, “That door’s jammed again.”
You look back, and see that Sonia is right behind you. You desperately try to push it, but the door’s shut tight. Eventually, you give up, and get on your knees.
“Please, don’t hurt me!” you beg, bringing your hands together.
The ghostly woman looks at you with confusion, and then snickers. That snickers turns to giggling, and then full-blown laughter.
“Hurt? I don’t want to hurt you,” Sonia informs, “Why harm when you can transform?”
“Transform?” you inquire, as you get less tense, and move from kneeling to sitting.
“I have the power to transform people into inanimate objects, or regress them into babies,” the ghost says.
This raises numerous red flags, so you begin to scoot away from her. Eventually, you bump into a wall.
Sonia laughs some more, and says “I wouldn’t transform you. No, I only transform those who come to vandalize Comfort N’ Cuddles, or bring harm to the kids.”
You’re slightly calmed by this, but still on not completely trustworthy of this mysterious woman. The ghost is able to see this just from your demeanor. She turns around, and beckons you to follow her.
“Where?” you ask.
“To playroom number three,” she replies, “There’s something I want you to see.”
Begrudgingly, you agree, and stand up. Sonia levitates a few inches off of the floor, floats to a door next to the reception desk, and phases through it. It’s such a strange sight, to see something do that. You pinch yourself, to see if you’re dreaming. You aren’t. This is reality.
“Are you gonna follow?” the ghost asks, with slight impatience.
Immediately, you snap back, and open the door she phased through. You walk through it into a hallway filled with more doors. Each one had a window, allowing you to see into the rooms they lead. They were all playrooms. Typical of a daycare, but you were expecting something stranger. When you looked through one of the doors, you saw Sonia standing in the middle of the room. You opened the door, and walked in to meet up with her.
“This is where I put them,” she comments.
“What?” you ask, confused.
“The people I transform silly,” she giggles once again, “They’re all put into this room.”
You put two and two together, and yell, “I thought you said you wouldn’t transform me!”
“I’m not,” Sonia reassures, “I thought that since it’ll be raining for some time, I could entertain you with stories of the people I transformed.”
You’re put on edge, but the ghost is doing her best to calm you.
“Tell you what,” she says, “I’ll show you everything in this room that was a person I transformed, and I’ll tell you the story behind them. Sound good?”
You nod your head, still fearful. The ghost spreads her arms, and telepathically brings a few items towards her. She then places them on the floor.
“Point to the one you’d like me to tell you about first,” Sonia commands.