Murders And Spirits

Murders And Spirits is a short story by David Johnson that's canon in the David Johnson universe. It follows a widower haunted by the mysterious poltergeist that killed his wife three years before, this time disturbing a dinner party at the count's mansion. It was published on September 20, 2021 and will serve as a prelude to the upcoming Polygons And Spirits.

## **Plot**

On Halloween day, 1805, Henry Johnson, a widower, goes over to his wife's grave in the fictional city of Sinnelosh and weeps over his death. His wife, Dana Johnson, died 3 years ago on that date due to a poltergeist that had been haunting her for months. After the tragedy, Henry became haunted by the spirit and had to suffer with his wife's death and the poltergeist bothering him.

Later that day, Henry finds an invitation to a dinner party at the House Of Prado, the mansion where Count Pelayo Prado, the richest man in the city, lives. There, he is greeted by civilians Nico Smith, Jaime Dover, Juan Jones, Bigfoot researcher James Hatchwell, rich woman Lady Barbour and the Prado family, including Count Pelayo Prado, his wife Jimena Prado and his son Ignacio Prado. During the dinner, Jimena expresses annoyance over her husband, when suddenly, the lights go out and the poltergeist that had been haunting Henry begins attacking. Jaime, Juan, Ignacio and Lady Barbour run out to the Prado hallways, but Lady Barbour is killed by the poltergeist immediately.

The poltergeist begins belting out random numbers, but Hatchwell is able to decode them. He concludes that the poltergeist is Greek historian Polybius' spirit, and that he was simply speaking in the language of the Polybius Square, a Greek cryptography. Henry then remembers that he was able to neutralize Polybius by attracting the spirit to fresh ink on paper, so he runs over to Jaime Dover, who had ink and paper. He accidentally knocks Jaime unconscious and takes the ink blots/paper, bringing him back to the main hall.

Using Dover as a distraction, Henry is able to spill enough ink near the spirit to complete an exorcism, which calms down the Polybius spirit. In the epilogue, Hatchwell continues researching into Bigfoot, Jimena divorces with Pelayo and marries Jaime, Lady Barbour is buried next to Dana Johnson and Henry passes on the Polybius spirit to unsuspecting merchants.

## **Characters**

Henry Johnson - David Johnson’s ancestor father, and the main protagonist of the story. He is a poor widower and had been cursed with the Polybius spirit for 3 years before the story took place.

Dana Johnson - David Johnson’s ancestor mother, who died on Halloween day 1802. She was killed by the Polybius spirit.

Count Pelayo Prado - The richest man in Sinnelosh, Ignacio’s former father and Jimena’s former husband.

Jimena Dover (Formerly Prado) - Ben Dover’s ancestor mother and Count Prado’s former wife.

Ignacio Prado - Count Prado’s former son.

Nico Smith - Dennis Smith’s ancestor father, and the richest man in Sinnelosh.

Jaime Dover - Ben Dover’s ancestor father, and the new husband of Jimena Prado.

James Hatchwell - A man obsessed with finding out the truth about Bigfoot. Had previously studied Polybius and the Polybius Square.

Juan Jones - Frederick Jones’ ancestor father, a character who isn't introduced until *Polygons And Spirits*.

Lady Barbour - A royal woman from out of town who was killed by the Polybius spirit during the dinner party.

Polybius - The Polybius spirit, the soul from the Greek historian himself.

## **Story**

As the widower approached the graveyard, dusk began to fall. He lost his wife three years before, on October 31, 1802. It was the third anniversary, and the man himself, Henry Johnson, never, ever forgot about the tragic event that killed his wife. He was resting late at night with his wife, Dana, when a poltergeist destroyed the furniture and broke Dana’s back, instantly killing her. The man unintentionally spilled some ink onto unused paper, calming the poltergeist down and revealing a chilling image of a trapped soul on the paper.

The poltergeist had been messing with Dana for 8 months, and on November 16, 1802, Henry found that the spirit began haunting him. He took therapy, studied demonology and did everything to stop the haunting. But nothing worked.

That single tombstone that marked Dana’s birth and death gave Henry a thousand awful memories of that horrific night. He hugged the tombstone and sobbed for what felt like hours.

Later that night, when Henry returned to his quarters by the edge of town, he found an invitation for a dinner party hosted by Count Prado, the most popular and richest man in the city of Sinnelosh. Not having a lot of money yet being invited to a fancy dinner sounded strange to Henry, until he recalled all the favors and community service he did for Pelayo Prado.

The Prado residence was full of people, including Lady Barbour from out of town, Nico Smith, Ignacio Prado (The Count’s son), Jaime Dover, Juan Jones, James Hatchwell and Jimena Prado, the Count’s wife. The dishes consisted of steak, roast chicken, salad, pasta and ground beef. It was a wonderful meal, and the room was blooming with discussion.

“Hey Smith, how’s your sleeping quarters?” Dover asked.

“It’s very splendid!”

“So, James, what have you done recently?” Ignacio asked.

“Been trying to look for Bigfoot.”

“I’ve been slaving over this food for hours, you better enjoy it.” Jimena told the guests.

Lady Barbour pitched in. “I’m really enjoying the roast beef. It’s pretty good.”

“Pretty good!?! I’ve been working on this for 2 entire days, and it’s really frustrating having Pelayo or Ignacio come in to say, ‘When’s the food going to be complete?’”

“Any thoughts on this, Count Prado?” Juan Jones asked.

“I think we should all just calm down and enjoy the meal my wife spent 36 hours on.” Pelayo replied.

Henry was genuinely enjoying the conversation. His life wasn’t this lively in 3 years. But suddenly, the lights went out.

Loud and horrific screaming and bashing was heard, and no one knew what it meant except for Henry. His curse led the poltergeist to the House Of Prado. Jaime, Juan, Ignacio and Lady Barbour ran away into the darkness, but Barbour ended up dying anyway.

The poltergeist was screaming gibberish. “31, 24, 32 32!!!” All they could hear were numbers.

“I know what this means!” Hatchwell cried over the chaos. “I’ve been studying the legend of Greek historian Polybius, and from what I know, when he died, his ghost became sinister and started doing all kinds of evil things! It only speaks in the Polybius Square.”

“What’s the Polybius Square?” Jimena asked.

“It’s Greek cryptography. The ghost is yelling ‘kill’ right now!”

“Well, who brought a Greek demon into the House Of Prado?” Pelayo demanded.

“I did!” Henry confessed. “I’m cursed. My wife Dana used to be cursed, but somehow I calmed the ghost down after it killed her. I think it awoke and passed it onto me.”

“Well, what did you do to stop the murder spirit!?” Nico screamed.

Henry immediately remembered. He spilled some ink, which revealed the true colors of the spirit and calmed it down.

“Do we have any ink or paper!?” Henry yelled.

“That’s a negative. Though I think Jaime has some.” Hatchwell answered.

“I’ll go to Jaime!” Henry told the others.

“What do we do?” Nico asked.

“Survive!”

Henry sprinted up every staircase and rushed through every hallway just to find Jaime. Eventually, they both collided into each other, which led to Jaime falling unconscious. Henry found some ink and paper in his pockets and dragged him down various staircases.

When he arrived, the spirit had evolved and had already beat up all the guests. Luckily, the unconscious Jaime served as a good distraction, as Henry threw him into the spirit’s direction. This gave Henry enough time to pull out the ink and paper and spill it near the Polybius spirit.

Everything had gone back to normal, as Jimena decided to divorce with Pelayo and marry Jaime, Nico began to work at a local church, Juan and Ignacio were found hiding inside the House Of Prado, Hatchwell continued his research into Bigfoot and Lady Barbour was buried next to Dana Johnson.

## **Trivia**

* The short story was a school project.
* The characters were named after David's old classmates and teacher.
* The short story was originally going to end with a cliffhanger, but the ending was changed to serve as an actual ending.