My friend Bastet posted a Power Short request on her blog, THE 13TH FLOOR PARADIGM. The prompt? A ghost story in 150 words or less prompted by this picture:

The Castle (c) GSK 2013

The Releaser’s chalk scraped the stone floors as she etched the complex runes. While mist solidified into a ghostly man clutching a sheaf of papers, she poured salt to complete the binding circle and intoned the formal Release.

“No, I couldn’t possibly leave until I’m done with my Book,” the ghost moaned. “I’m rewriting Chapter Four, Sixteen needs a complete replacement, and I’m just not at all sure about Thirty-One…”

Ghost Writers. They were the worst. The Releaser sighed and pricked her finger. Reaching for his ghostly manuscript, she wrote two words in blood. “The End.”

The ghost sighed, “Thannnnnkkkk…”

“Is he gone?” The castle’s new owner stood to the side, open laptop ready. “Because I’m on a deadline here and I have to get another twenty-thousand words to my editor.”

The Releaser paused as she was about to wipe off the runes and shrugged. She’d be back.