Ghosts Next Door

Ghosts Next Door
by Lopaka Kapanui

Sep 23, 2017

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2017! #39

KELLER


The beer and the salami sandwich didn't go well together, not initially, but like life, you learn to deal with the bitterness and take it in stride. They always say that one should write about what they know, I can tell you right now that I know I'm going to have a few more bottles of beer until I drink myself into a numb oblivion. However, before I do that before I take another sip and you lose me completely or the other way around, I should fairly explain why I am so hellbent on getting drunk in the next few minutes.
It wasn't really a special night no full moon or waning moon or foreboding evening clouds, I was just taking Keller my dog on a walk down Ke'eaumoku. It's an active boulevard Ke'eaumoku but it's also a strip where a potential for danger of various kinds is always ready to adversely affect your life at any given moment. Keller my dog always gave me an excuse to leave the house and take a walk but it was really Keller who was rescuing me from my then girlfriend because all she did was complain about everything and anything. I guess Keller could always sense my growing irritation with Geraldine because that's when my trusty K9 would walk over to me and lay across my lap.

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

Uknown to me and probably around the same time, Tony Escencio sped off from his home in a hurry after his wife Rena caught him for the millionth time sending an intimate text to the woman that Rena knew he was having an affair with. Rather than take his medicine, Tony ran off. Something in Rena's mind snapped and she got into her Lexus and went after Tony. Speeding down the winding road out of Kalihi Valley, Tony ignored the two red lights which would eventually lead him past the shopping center and onto the freeway. Rena was right behind him, she was no slouch when it came to driving because she learned how to drive from her brothers, they just happened to be street racers. When Tony realized that he couldn't lose her, he took the Punahou cut off and sped down to Beretania where he cut a close right turn and blew two stop lights before taking a left on Pi'ikoi and another left on South King. Rena was literally on his tail and awaited the right opportunity to make her move, that moment came when Tony took a wide left at the intersection of South King and Ke'eaumoku through another red light. Rena punched the gas pedal and went missile straight into his SUV and t-boned it at full speed.

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

Ke'eaumoku was its usual bustling self with a hubbub of people, vehicles, and blaring music coming from the hostess bars along the strip. Keller and I had just stepped into the crosswalk heading toward Lobster King when a dull gold colored SUV cut through the intersection and began to tumble toward me. In a flash, Keller turned and jumped on me with all fours and pushed me backward where I tumbled and hit the pavement hard. Both Tony's and Rena's cars missed me by inches but along with killing themselves, they did manage to kill Keller too. The SUV and the Lexus were a mangled mess, Tony's from the tumbling and Lena's from its direct projectile course into the trunk of a baobab tree in the mini park just off of Ke'eaumoku. I crawled over to Keller, his body was broken and twisted, his insides were splattered all over the white lines in the crosswalk. His head was soaked in blood and I held it in my lap and screamed with grief until I lost my voice, I don't recall much afterward. I know the police and EMT showed up. I'm not sure as to when the fire department arrived, but when someone covered Keller's body with a sheet my reaction was animalistic, I didn't want anyone to touch him. At that point the young police officer released me and I carried Keller back home, luckily Geraldine was asleep so she probably won't be horrified until she wakes up. So here I am drinking myself into a blind drunken stupor with Keller's body draped across my lap and the ghosts of Tony and Rena Escenio standing in the middle of my living room giving each other stink accusatory glances and looks of derision and guilt.

"Geraldine honey! We have company!"





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