Casper: Friendship is a Treasure

The sun had already set a couple of hours ago. There was silence everywhere. Everywhere, except for the graveyard. As most of you know, graveyards are inhabited by all sorts of creatures. Spooky creatures like werewolves, skeletons, vampires, zombies, among others. But the creatures that we most frequently associate to graveyards are ghosts. Ghosts, creatures who some consider to be the souls of the ones who already died, and who usually take pleasure in haunting and scaring the daylights out of the living. But the story you’re about to hear is not about one of those ghosts. In fact, you could say that this ghost is a very special ghost. A most unusual ghost indeed, a friendly ghost. Yes folks, I’m talking about Casper, the Friendly Ghost. And it’s here, in the middle of the graveyard, reclined against a grave slag, reading a book with the title “How to make friends” that we find this ghost, whom we are about to tell the tale.

“Wow, this book really is amazing!” –Casper states with an enthusiastic voice. – “It has all sorts of advices to improve friendships. I’m sure that I’ll be able to make new friends tonight.”

Putting the book aside, he gets up and walks through the tombstones, on his way to the graveyard gate. But before he could reach it, a bunch of ghosts appear out of nowhere, scaring him. There were four ghosts, being two of them very tall and thin, and the other two were very bulky, although one of them was bigger than the other.

“Hey, come on Casper! Let’s go to town and scare people!” –says one of the thin ghosts.

“Yeah, come on! We got lots of new tricks we want to try out on people.” –says the other ghost.

“You guys know that I don’t want to scare people. I just want to be friendly.” –Casper tells them, still shaking because of the scare.

“When are you gonna grow up, and start to act like a real ghost, Casper?” –the biggest ghost asks him. – “In case you don’t remember, you’re a ghost, and ghosts scare people, remember?”

“But I already told you, I don’t want to scare people.” –Casper replies once again.

“Ah, come on, guys… It’s obvious that he’s not coming with us.”

“Oh well, more people for us to scare, then.” –One of the ghosts says, as they float away from there, leaving Casper alone.

“I’ll show them! I’ll show them that a ghost can be friends with anyone… Besides, who needs them?”

Casper continued his way to the graveyard gate and into the village. As he walked down the road he noticed a bird singing in a tree branch. It was a nightingale. His song was quite beautiful, and Casper thought that he would make a good friend. Gently and silently, he floated until he was right in front of the nightingale. The last one did not even noticed Casper approaching him, because he had his eyes closed, while singing. When Casper spoke, he opened his eyes.

“Good evening, Mr. Nightingale, sir. Would you like to be my friend?” –Casper asks him with his gentle and shy voice.

“A-A-A g-g-ghost!!!” –the Nightingale screams.

The scare that Casper gave him was so big that the Nightingale flew out of there as quickly as possible, leaving behind all of his feathers. Once again, Casper failed in his attempt to make a new friend.

“Oh, at this rate I’ll never find friends… But I’m not going to give up! I’ll find a friend, even if takes me all night!”

Returning to the road, Casper quickly arrived to village. There was no one in sight. He walked through the streets, looking for someone who might want to be his friend. Sometimes, when he was passing right next to a window, he looked inside to see who or what was there. He saw the most peculiar things. On one window he saw a family, a boy, a girl and their parents all gathered around the fireplace, toasting marshmallows, while listening to the radio. On another window, he saw a little redhead girl sleeping in her bed, while holding a little teddy bear in her arms. Casper smiled while watching that tender moment. He certainly loved to look through the windows, because he never knew what he would see through them. As he walked through an alley, he heard a noise coming from one of the trash cans. He slowly approached, only to find a couple of cats, scavenging among the garbage, for something to eat. One of the cats was black as coal, and the other was ginger. He passed right through the trash can, and as he looked into the cats he said:

“Hello, there, pussycats… My name is Casper. Would you like to be my friends? “

Suddenly, both cats turned white as chalk and meowed:

“G-G-Ghost!!!” –they both yell as they run for their lives, leaving Casper once again all by himself, in that dark alley.

Casper tried a few more times to make friends, both with animals and with a few people who were passing on the street, but as soon as they noticed that he was a ghost, they ran away, because like almost everyone else, they were afraid of ghosts. He even tried being friends with a flower, but when this one saw him, the flower just dived into the earth, disappearing out of sight. Crying and sobbing, Casper walked through the streets, until he ended up on the town square. In the middle of it, there was a water fountain, and the little ghost thought that it was a place as good as any other for him to sit down a little bit, while crying over his bad luck. Large tears rolled from his big blue eyes, dropping into the water. Casper stayed there, crying and sobbing for what looked to him like an eternity.

“I wish I was dead… Nobody likes me.” –He sobs loudly.

He was feeling so down, that he did not notice that something just entered in the town square, and was slowly approaching him, from behind. It had big blue eyes, just like Casper’s, and it was as white as he was. It touched Casper’s shoulder, like if it was trying to comfort him, even though it did not know the reason why the little ghost was crying. Feeling the somewhat warm, and at the same time cool touch on his shoulder, Casper turned around and saw who it was. It was Lou, the little ghost-girl, and one of Casper’s oldest and only friends. She was smiling at him, as her hair waved to the wind.

“What’s the matter, Casper? Why are you crying?” –Lou asks Casper with a warm voice.

“I-I-It’s nothing…” –He answers her, as he tried to stop from crying.

“Now, don’t say it’s nothing, Casper. I heard you crying… In fact, I think the entire village heard you. And you know that I don’t like when you don’t tell me the truth.” –Lou tells him, as she softly grabs his hand. – “Come on, tell me what’s going on, please.”

“O-O-Okay, I-I guess I-I can tell you.” –Casper says, as he wipes the rest of the tears from his eyes. – “It’s the s-same old thing, Lou. Nobody wants to be friends with a ghost. I try, and I try, but nobody seems to understand that I don’t want to scare them. I just want to be nice with people… And nobody seems to understand it.” –Casper explains with a mournful voice, starting to cry once again.

“Is that it?” –Lou asks him, using once again a sweet and gentle voice. – “Casper… You do have friends, and you know that. I mean, I’m your friend and I like to play with you.”

“But it’s not the same thing, Lou.” –Casper tells her, as he blows his nose, using his own arm as a hanky. – “You’re a ghost like me and ghosts aren’t usually afraid of each others. But what about the other creatures? I mean, I scare each and everyone who cross paths with me. From the tinniest ant to the biggest man, all of them run away from me, as soon as they put their eyes on me.”

“Not everyone is afraid of you, Casper. Many children are friends of yours, as well as many animals, which you helped.” –Lou tells him, as she puts her arm over his shoulders. – “And besides, you still have me, and other friends who have any connection with the supernatural or with the afterlife, like Wendy. Which reminds me, now… I saw her a few minutes ago, riding in her broom, heading straight to the Curly Hill on the other side of the village. Come on, why don’t we go see her?”

Lou was really trying to cheer up Casper, who was feeling as low as anyone could possibly feel. She grabbed him by his hand and quickly they both left the ground, heading towards the graveyard, where Lou said Wendy would be. Up in the air, Casper felt a little better already. Maybe what he really needed was someone to talk with. Flying over the road that led to Curly Hill, both Casper and Lou saw a bunch of other ghosts flying under them, probably still on their way to pull some pranks on the living. Finally, they both saw Wendy sat on a brunch of a defoliated tree, with her broom resting on her lap. She was dressed in her usual red gown, with a wood covering her beautiful golden hair. She was humming a little lullaby to herself, not noticing that she was about to get company.

“A little witch was riding through the air, when the Moon asked her where she was going…” –She continues to hum the lullaby, when she feels a shiver down her spine, which only happens when a ghost is nearby. She looks around and sees Casper and Lou approaching her. – “Hello, guys!”

“Hi, Wendy!” –Lou exclaims.

“Hi, Wendy…” –Casper says, in a low tone.

“What’s the matter, Casper? You look quite down… Is there something wrong with you?” –Wendy asked the little ghost, as he and Lou sat right next to Wendy.

“Casper is not having the best night of his afterlife, Wendy. He’s sad because there’s no one who wants to be his friend… They run away from him, because he’s a ghost.” –Lou replies.

“Oh, is that it, Casper? You don’t have to be sad because of that.” –Wendy states, as she gives him a little pat on the back. – “You have friends… Like me and Lou.”

“I know, but for once, I wished that I wasn’t a ghost, so people wouldn’t be afraid of me. That way, I would have countless friends and not just you two and a couple more friends… I hope I’m not offending you, girls.” –Casper states, as he sighs deeply.

“That’s okay, Casper, but you know what? My aunts always tell me that it’s better to have just a couple of friends that are always by your side, than to have hundreds of friends, and that these friends are never by your side, when you really need them.” –Wendy says. – “I think that it’s good for you to try and make friends, but you must always remember that friendship is a treasure, and you should choose wisely before you try and make friends with everyone you see. You should be grateful for the friends you already have.”

“You’re right, Wendy. I should be grateful to have just a few friends, friends who do care about me, like you and Lou.” –Casper says with a more cheerful voice.

“Now that you’re already a little bit more cheerful, Casper… How about if we all played a little game of tag?” –Lou asks both Wendy and Casper.

“You’re on!” –Casper says.

“No, you’re on, Casper. Tag, you’re it!” –Lou exclaims, while touching on Casper’s arm.

“Hey, no fair! Come back here!” –Casper exclaims as he starts to chase Lou and Wendy through the place, trying to tag one of the two girls.

And so, this is how our story ends. Our friendly ghost, Casper learned a valuable lesson… Friendship is a treasure, and although we all need friends, we must always believe that true friends are the ones who stand by your side, when you most need. And I hope that you also have learned it, my friends… especially those who don’t believe in ghosts. Because you must remember that sometimes, some things that do not have a simple explanation must be connected with the supernatural. Because ghosts exist, you just have to know where to find them… Next time you pass through an abandoned house and you hear something creek, look closely. Who knows what you might end up finding…

The End