Ghosts Next Door

Ghosts Next Door
by Lopaka Kapanui

Oct 2, 2019

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2019 #31




The police questioned me the second I was well enough to be interrogated. I told the officers everything; my story matched what they found on Gwenʻs phone as far as the time she called me and right on down to the texts she sent to her boyfriend Frank, even though she promised not to text him while in my car. You know, out of respect?
Turns out that the cops on the scene threw up their lunch once they saw the damage that was done to Gwen and Frank. Poor old Franky, I never hated that guy. I tried to be his friend initially, but Gwen had already poisoned his mind through his dick. I always assumed that it would be much too late by the time Franky woke up to the truth of who Gwen really was. But, to die the way he did? That was tough, but Buddhism says that one spouse who exists in the state of life called hell will only drag the other spouse down into the same form of being unless he or she awakens to the truth of the universe.

Franky, I never got the truth.

....................


ʻEONO MAU MAHINA MAHOPE AKU


Iʻm not gloating because I gained full custody of my son. Believe it or not, I would have preferred to have done it the right way and not by way of Gwenʻs death. My little boy cries; that is all he does. The pain he feels isnʻt gonna go away soon. It hurts me to see him pulling; my hugs and long nights sitting up in bed with him until he falls asleep helps some, but I know he wants his mother. That is a void that only time will eventually be able to fill. In the meantime, my entire schedule has changed, and so has my relationship with my girlfriend. She was upfront enough to tell me she wasnʻt one of those ready-made moms. She had other things in mind for the two of us before finally deciding that it was time to have our own kids. There was nothing I could say about that; once a person has their mind made up, there is reason to argue the point. She hung around after and helped me put Mac to bed, and then she helped wash and put away the dishes. There was that awkward moment of not knowing what to do since we agreed there was no relationship anymore. I opened the door for her and gave her her purse. She walked out, which was the last I ever saw of her.

....................


I KĒIA MANAWA


Three in the morning is the magic hour when no soul is stirring, not even a mongoose in this context. I honestly donʻt know why Iʻm here, but I surmised that at this hour on Kaukonahua, there be no preponderance of traffic. What am I doing back here at the very place where Gwen nearly shot me to death? Where Iʻd accidentally run over a practically dead homeless man? Where some.........some.....thing... ran out of the tall grass and carried Gwen and Frank off and disemboweling both of them while they were still alive? What the fuck am I doing here?

I donʻt know.

What am I doing sitting here, parked on the side of the road in my SUV? Am I expecting this thing to just walk out of the tall grass and stand in the middle of the road at this ungodly hour so I can better look at it for my satisfaction?

"Thanks, creature! I appreciate it!" I wave at it foolishly like Forrest Gump.

 Itʻs voice would thunder back, "Glad I could help puny human!"

Well, guess what? That is precisely what the fuck happened, except we didnʻt exchange pleasant banter. Once I realized what I was doing was dumb and twisted, I started the car, put it in gear, and did a skidding u-turn. I righted myself back on the pavement, I thought to head back east, but I came to a screeching halt instead.

There IT was, standing in the middle of the road. It was a good eleven feet tall and covered in short black fur. It was massive. It was corporeal because my headlights were shining right on it, not through it. Its face was covered with hair too, and the skin was very dark, but its eyes were intelligent. It was a living, breathing, thinking thing. It recognized me and took a side step back to the left, a little off the yellow line. It gestured its huge hands toward the end of the road, indicating that it allowed me to leave. I didnʻt have to be told twice. I lay down the gas peddle and took off out of there at full tilt. I willed myself not to look at it as I passed, but I did. We made eye contact again; this time, it ran alongside my SUV even though I was doing fifty. Somehow, I knew it wasnʻt chasing me, but it was escorting me out of its territory. I was coming up fast on the traffic intersection between Whitemore and Kūkaniloko, the light turned red, and no cars were coming from the Whitemore end, so as wrong by the law as I was, I blew the red light. Within that small time frame, I saw a homeless couple coming out of the bushes. They were heading down that long dirt path toward the sacred birthing stones. The duffle bags and backpacks they carried probably contained all their worldly possessions.
Everything happened in slow motion; I looked at the creature running alongside my driver's window and saw it was a homeless couple. A sizeable pointed snout grew out of its nose; the k-9ʻs were long, white, and dripping with saliva. It was no longer human-like but had become a dog-like creature the size of a young elephant. In one motion, it bounded over the hood of my SUV and made a beeline for the homeless couple. It scooped them up in its jaws, and I had already driven past the area by the time I could witness it doing its worst. I was speeding down the hill past the bridge. My knuckles were deathly white as I gripped the steering wheel, and I let out a scream of victory, utter fear, and disgust simultaneously. I had to get out of there and get way past Mililani, Pearl City, and Aiea. Only then would I feel safe?

....................

ʻO WAI?

My studies, as of late, led me to believe that what or who I encountered was ʻAikanaka. But then, I came across the study of another Kupua or demi-god known as Kaupe, but Kaupe seems more centered toward the Nuʻuanu-Pali locale. Was it ʻAikanaka? Both are reported to be cannibal dog creatures. Still, the only ʻAikanaka is reputed to have been a chief from Papa New Guinea who came to the Hawaiian islands, hiding his cannibalistic practices until he was found out and killed. What if what I saw was a descendant who managed to survive in the Wahiawa, Waialua area all these years? I shudder to think of the possibility of more of them.


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