Mallory’s Ghostly Encounter (Literature) (Patreon)

Clutching her jacket around her shoulders, hefting her heavy backpack,  Mallory gingerly stepped over the earth still soft from last night’s  rain, cold moisture seeping through her boots. It was insane for her to  be out here - and yet she couldn’t let this go. Maybe she still wasn’t  fully recovered from the fairground fiasco - another story for another  time - but for the past several weeks, it’s like something in the air  had been out of equilibrium. She swore she saw impossible things -  strange shadows in rooms starved of light; something from one room  appearing in another; her phone ringing with familiar numbers but no one  being on the line. And that’s not even to mention her rash of  clothing-related misfortunes she could never seem to shake! Could it all be the result of something… unnatural? The logical explanations were  there - perspective tricks, forgetfulness, spam-block, her just being  super clumsy! - but it was all so often and so random… fittingly enough,  the thought itself haunted her, the idea that maybe, just maybe, there  was something beyond reality at play… Over the past few days, Mallory had been scouring up to the 99th page of internet forums and  long-running blogs which purported documentation of paranormal activity -  steering clear of the obviously-satanic stuff, for obvious reasons - a  search which led her to a text recommended by OccultForDummies.com: “The  Graceful and Deferent Verses,” which was conveniently available in a  pair of volumes at the local library. While the majority of the books  from her search outlined ways to actively reach out to otherworldly  forces - the exact opposite of Mallory’s goal! - she found some chapters  detailing rituals meant to dispel any potential negative energy which  might attract spirits. Not to say she believed herself the target of bad  juju or whatever… but better safe than sorry… and reviews online did  give the books a 4.8 star average…

Which led her to her insane  trip to the cemetery. According to the books, a place of strong  spiritual energy was a necessity, something about revealing yourself to  the spirits plainly so they know exactly who to leave alone, or  something. Truth be told, Mallory didn’t quite understand, but at this  point it was going to be like baking a recipe: she didn’t know the  science of why a little lemon would bring out more flavor, she just  trusted the process! One step at a time, and it would all work out!

Scanning  the wet grass and weather-worn gravestones, Mallory gripped her  windbreaker tighter, kneading at the zipper. The books made mention of  doing rituals at the ‘times when the spirits are most active’ meaning 3  or 4 am, but there was no way Mallory was coming out in the dead of  night for this! Just being out in an overcast afternoon, the smell of  the disinterred earth and the skeeves of being around so many dead  people that made it feel like she was constantly being surveilled…  Mallory was already about to turn tail and run! But she already went  this long way… if only she didn’t have to go at this alone, but she’d  endured more than enough ghost movies with Candice and her constant  “Come on, really”s to know she’d be the only one to entertain the idea  of the supernatural being at all real. Not saying she did, either, but  still… worst case scenario, nothing happens, right? Safe over sorry any  day.

Finally, past an aging tree so old and gnarled it nearly  twisted into itself, Mallory spotted a large enough space between the  rows of graves. All of a sudden, she noticed her breathing was getting  shallower. What was there to be afraid of? Just wet dirt and stone, just  words on a page. Nothing was going to happen! Trying to take longer  breaths, Mallory crouched down and slid her backpack around to her  front, very intentionally looking at it and not at the gravestones sat  silently beside her. Out from her backpack came the Verses, as well as a  couple candles made from a very particular honeycomb wax, and a plastic  baggie containing a mix of powders - some talcum, ground amethyst, and  some kind of special salt with some coarse yet oddly sweet stench like  burning leaves. Preparations at the ready, Mallory opened up the first  volume and skimmed the pages for the ritual she’d pegged for her best  bet, fidgeting against a chilly wind as she flipped pages. Why hadn’t  she worn something sturdier? The weather report said it was going to be  much warmer than this, hadn’t it? As it was, wearing only a thigh-length  burgundy skirt and pink sweater under an evergreen windbreaker, Mallory  felt goosebumps up her bare legs! Maybe it was just the wind making it  colder, she thought, as another gust tugged at her jacket… she tried to  remember, had it been windy when she got there? Gah, focus! Mallory  began flipping pages faster. Stop imagining things! Nothing’s wrong, but  once we do this it’ll be SUPER not wrong!

Before long, Mallory  found the warding ritual she was looking for. A previous reader had  written helpful notes in the margins next to every spell; this one was  ‘guaranteed’ to transform negative energy. After lighting the candles  and carefully arranging them into what seemed like a perfect triangle  around herself, she then sprinkled the powdered mix onto the ground to  create the proper shape, quietly mumbling the prescribed chant: “Abite  spiritus, cruiciatus amplius. Abite spiritus…” Mallory repeated the  words again and again. What language it was or what it meant didn’t  matter - the results did. And so she dutifully recited them, keeping her  eyes on her work, not the gravestones, not the crow calling from  nowhere, not even the sky as she felt darker clouds collect overhead,  hopefully not spelling more rain… Gah! Focus! “Abite spiritus…” When the  triangle was complete, Mallory stood in the middle of the triangle and  read the next chant louder: “Derelinquas me… noli me vexare… revelata  ex-… exilum.”

As the final words of the verse left Mallory’s  mouth, however, a strange new kind of cold feeling rushed through her  very being. More specifically, a weird sensation like itching down her  legs pulled her attention off the book. Mallory gasped! She couldn’t  believe it! Totally by itself, she watched as her skirt rolled further  and further up her thighs, a gentle glow like lightning bugs all around  it! The wind carried a gentle chitter like a forgotten voice being  remembered at long last as her skirt rose! Higher, higher, almost to her  hips… when all of a sudden it stopped and dropped back to its original  position on her legs.

Blinking, Mallory shook her head and tried  refocusing on the book. She was just tired, was all! Freaking herself  out, seeing things, hearing them too! Wait, had she undone the zipper on  her windbreaker at some point? Whatever, just read the next lines… why  did the sky seem like it was getting darker? “Um… um- e- ex- er,  revelata… exilum… in…” No sooner had she resumed the recitation,  however, that she once again felt the startling cold wash over herself!  The chittering wind picked up again, as her skirt once again gently  glowed and lifted! “I-in… ah…” Mallory’s mouth went slack as her skirt  continued to rise up her legs, higher, higher yet… What’s more, it  wasn’t just the sky darkening - just past noon a minute ago, Mallory  looked around to find a midnight darkness had engulfed the graveyard! Up  where the sun should float was nothing at all, no clouds or stars  above, just an endless expanse of infinite blackness! Mallory slowly  spun in place in utter awe and terror! What on earth was happening?! And  that feeling of being surveilled was getting worse… she wasn’t alone!  Out of the shadows encircling her, she could see… shapes, nothing more  distinct than that. They didn’t look solid, instead like collections of  the same sort of lightning bug lights that were lifting her skirt. The  brighter and more collected the shapes became, the louder the chittering  on the wind, the darker the sudden nightfall, the colder the fear in  her tummy! Mallory gasped and shrank into herself as more shapes swarmed  around her, brighter, louder… the chittering deepened and became  stretched and tinny with echoes, like voices speaking from a million  miles away! Suddenly, the lights came together to form a chorus of  glowing, cackling skulls!

Mallory’s eyes went wider than her  wordless mouth! What the heck?! Were these… ghosts?! Like, actual  GHOSTS?! All the air felt like it was knocked right out of her body, her  knees buckling out of pure terror! There was no other explanation!  These were real, like REALLY real! It was so unbelievable! Mallory’s  heart hammered so hard and so fast against her ribcage she worried it  might burst clean through her body! Actual ghosts, actual supernatural  things happening all around her! So overwhelming… so HORRIFYING!

Suddenly,  the laughter surged and the skulls swirled faster around her - and it  only took a second to realize why: her skirt had been lifted past her  hips, all the way up to around her waist, totally exposing her lacy  white panties! “Aahhh!” A squeal escaped Mallory’s lips as skulls  floated close to her intimates, jeering and sneering as their pale light  illuminated the fabric and teased the treasure within! As Mallory  awkwardly crossed her legs, a new type of terror overtook her:  humiliation! Why were the ghosts doing this? Why torment her like this?  They weren’t what made these things happen… were they?!

The book!  In the chaos of the moment, Mallory had totally blanked! If she  finished the ritual, she could ward these pervy ghosts away! Shutting  out the cackling overtaking her on all sides, she squinted and leant  closer to the candles to illuminate the words. “N- noli me… vex-  vexare…” Wait, she read that already, didn’t she? Oh crud, where did she  leave off? Would rereading ruin it? “Um… er… rev- revelata…” Okay, she  definitely read that before! But wait, it was on a lower line… so it  must be the next part, right?

While Mallory struggled to find the  proper spot to start reading again, she failed to notice the ghostly  glow transferring from her lifted skirt to her panties! In a slow,  teasing motion, the ghostly grasp tugged at her underwear, inching them  lower and lower, revealing an inch of her butt crack, then a half moon,  before abruptly whisking the panties down to her feet, rendering Mallory  naked from the waist down!

Frazzled and trying to force herself  to focus as she was, Mallory didn’t even register how her underpants had  dropped to her ankles! “Go- AH!” Mallory yelped as she finally realized  why her bottom half had gotten even colder! Instinctively, Mallory  doubled over and pressed the book over her crotch! Shivering from both  the cold and the embarrassment, Mallory felt her bare ass cheeks shaking  and quivering to her delighted undead audience! They looked just like  floating skulls, but Mallory swore she somehow heard applause!

Quickly,  face burning red, Mallory bent over to pick up her dropped undies! It  was an awkward attempt, what with trying to hold the heavy tome over her  lap with one hand while simultaneously trying to reach over and past it  to her ankles with the other - all she really wound up doing was giving  the ghoulish congregation behind her quite the sight! Though the  darkened sky held no celestial object, Mallory was accidentally giving  the swarming specters as full a moon as they came! Amused laughter  echoed off the gravestones, as the ghostly skulls beheld the sight of  Mallory’s upraised, quivering booooooty! The ghostly skulls shared a  wordless glance, a laughing agreement that the fun was only beginning…

At  last, Mallory’s fingers grazed the waistband of her stolen underwear!  Before she could get a firm grip, however, the ghostly glow reappeared  around the undergarment! Mallory gasped, startled and confused, as she  watched her panties rise back up her legs by themselves! Up her calves,  past her knees, her thighs, all the way to their proper place on her  hips… but they kept going up! “A-aah!” Mallory yelped as the ghostly  power continued to yank her underwear higher, digging deeper into her  private places!

“KYAAAAAAH!” The tome fell from Mallory’s fingers  as her hands flew to her privates, trying in vain to pry her panties  out from her privates! Up and down, up and down, Mallory’s underwear  seemed to move in time with the skulls’ cackling cadence, a rapid rhythm  that rubbed frilly fabric like fire up Mallory’s butt and crotch! “P-  please! S- st- stop- AH!” Mallory’s teary-eyed begging only seemed to  incense the swirling incorporeal crowd, as unseen hands pulled her  underwear harder, faster, so hard Mallory was lifted off the ground, the  toes of her boots barely scraping the grass! “YAGH! OHH! StOPP!”  Wildly, Mallory kicked and swung her arms out at the ghostly glow, but  her limbs just passed through! Toes kneading in her boots, gasping and  yelping all the while, Mallory carefully lifted her hands away from her  crotch to instead try and pull her skirt back down from around her torso  - maybe she could push them away? As she lifted her hands, however,  Mallory froze - and not on purpose!

“Wh- wh… wha?…” Mallory  watched in horrified awe as the ghostly glow materialized around the  sleeves of her sweater. At first, it was like what she’d imagine  sticking your arms in TV static would feel like - kinda fuzzy, buzzy,  almost liquidy. As the glow brightened, however, the sensation became  firmer, harder, like massive hands wrapping around her forearms! In  fact, the harder she looked, the more she saw the glow form into proper  fingers! “H- hey!” Horror racked Mallory’s brain as she squirmed, trying  to regain control of her arms, until she realized that they weren’t  possessing her or her arms - they were grabbing her jacket! Right on  cue, the ghostly hands started pulling her windbreaker off! “NO! Agh!”  Mallory yelped, helpless to do anything but bounce from another hard  wedgie, as ghostly hands whisked her windbreaker off her back! She’d  barely have time to register the evergreen garment swallowed by the  shadows beyond before the glow reappeared along her arms again!

“NO!”  Mallory plead with renewed desperation. “N- not my sweater- AGHHH!” Her  underwear shooting another inch up her backside interrupted her, and in  that moment, the cackling energy began pulling Mallory’s pink sweater  up! “NO!” Mallory squealed! “What- whatever I did, I’m sorrYYYYYY!”  Another hard pull made it feel like her undies split her right up the  middle! As skulls continued to orbit her thighs and admire their work,  those up top continued to pull at Mallory’s sweater! Though Mallory  struggled as best she could, all her attempts at worming free were  useless! It was like trying to fight fog! Gradually, taking pleasure in  their teasing, the ghostly hands lifted Mallory’s sweater inch my inch,  slowly revealing her midriff, then higher, until the bottom of the  sweater was tugging against the bottom of her boobs! The ghostly skulls  seemed to cheer in anticipation, as the glow holding the sweater  teasingly kneaded the hem up and down against the bottom of Mallory’s  breasts, causing them to bounce up and down for the crowd!

Mallory  was utterly mortified! Her face flushed from crimson to deathly pale,  knowing what was to come! “No! Noommmph!” Mallory’s cry was muffled by  both another tug on her underwear and her sweater floating over her  mouth and face, before finally being pulled all the way over her head!  The skulls cheered as Mallory’s breasts, barely contained by a bra as  white and frilly as the underpants being stretched up her privates,  heaved into full view! “AHHHH!” Mallory couldn’t suppress her scream as  her scantly-covered boobs bounced into full view, and her sweater flew  off into the darkness, leaving her in only her underwear! “OH! AGH!” As  the ghostly energy bounced Mallory with its wedgieing, Mallory’s  bountiful bust heaved with her, the pale flesh trembling and flouncing,  eliciting round after round of shrill laughter from the spirits! The  pain, the humiliation, everything all at once swam through Mallory’s  head and finally knocked her silent, a helpless captive to an army of  undead perverts!

Do something! Head swimming with through an  infinite ocean of horror and humiliation, one thought surfaced in  Mallory’s head: Do something! This doesn’t stop unless you do something!  But what could she do? What would Candice do… she’d focus… she’d stay  calm… and she’d think…

The book! The thought hit Mallory like  lightning. Where was it? She had to finish the ritual… Through the  malevolent glow swarming her body, Mallory dropped her gaze to the grass  at her feet to see the fallen tome spread open! Squinting through the  darkness and the discomfort, Mallory tried to make out what she had to  say next! “D-… decre- EEK!” As she tried to read, she felt the  hand-like-energy roll down her arms and over her shoulders, centralizing  between her shoulder blades! As some of the ghostly energy continued  stretching her panties to kingdom come, the rest slipped around the  clasp of her bra!

“AH!” Mallory screamed before remembering what  she’d just been telling herself - she could stop this! And so she  hurriedly dropped her gaze again, to try and parse the word she’d been  reading. “Um- AH!… um… d… decrescentia?”

Suddenly, with a the  sound of trapped wind rushing away, the cackling dispersed and the  feeling of firm hands abruptly vanished! The hold on her underwear was  gone too, causing Mallory to drop hard to the ground! “Oof!” Groaning,  dazed and aching down below, Mallory shook her head and looked around,  while picking the underwear out of her butt crack. Though the ghostly  glow was gone, darkness still smothered the graveyard, almost seeming to  vibrate with outermost echoes of the laughter. Breathing fast, Mallory  scoured the nearby ground for her sweater or jacket, finding nothing.  She shivered - in only her disheveled undies, the cold was even worse!  At least she still had her skirt! As she readjusted said skirt back into  its proper spot on her hips, she kept a watchful eye on her shadowy  surroundings, not dropping her guard for a second. Whatever she said had  scared the spirits off, but she wasn’t free yet!

Quick! The  ritual! She tried to first fix her unclasped bra, but couldn’t quite  reach enough behind her back… finally, still on the clock as she was,  Mallory let it remain undone - even though it meant the cotton cups  began to slip from properly covering her boobies! - as she scurried on  all fours to the dropped book and leaned close to the open pages. “Um…  um… okay… tum… tum auget… w- wait!” This was the wrong ritual! The book  must have accidentally flipped to another page when it fell! “Oh God oh  God oh God oh God…” Mallory murmured at the same rate her heartbeat  hammered as she hurriedly flipped back and forth through the tome,  desperately seeking the page she’d been reading from but not finding it!  If she didn’t send these asshole ghosts back where they came from soon,  who knows what more they’d do to her?! Unfortunately, Mallory was a  little too preoccupied to hear the echoing laughter once again  encircling her, not until it was too late!

Nervously tracing a  title with her forefinger, Mallory felt fairly confident this was the  right ritual - if not the original one then another that would work -  when suddenly the pages began flipping themselves before her very eyes!  “What?! Oh no no no!” Mallory tried to stop the pages from turning, only  for a ghostly skull to scream out from the pages right into her face!  “GAHH!” Mallory hurriedly crawled away from the book as the cackling  skull shot off into the sky, but she found she couldn’t go very far! The  shroud of ghostly energy around her returned brighter, innumerable  spectral skulls materializing around her! Though she tried to scramble  away, the staticky sensation prickled all up her body again and  solidified in clouds around her shoulders and down her legs - Mallory  watched in dread as the clouds of energy collected and became skeletal  hands holding her in place!

Laughter echoing and multiplying  around her, the ghostly forces resumed pulling at Mallory’s clothes,  again jerking her skirt up around her midsection to once more expose her  panties still partly tucked up her sensitive spots! It didn’t stay  ‘partly’ for long, however, as skeletal hands gripped the back of the  waistband and once again hoisted upward! “GAH!” Mallory howled as the  cackling ghosts bounced her backside up and down, friction like fire  along her butt crack, her panties fraying between her lips! As some  hands occupied themselves with the underwear, others appeared around her  skirt, pulling in opposite directions like a game of tug-of-war! They  were trying to rip it, Mallory realized! With her shoulders held, though  she tried her best to squeeze in her elbows and keep her skirt, though  she could hardly move with the spectral hands holding her in place!

It  was more than that, though; the hands holding her weren’t idle for  long! As some pulled Mallory’s underwear harder, others began sliding  across her shoulders, slowly, teasingly, with others running the length  of her legs, up and down, up and down, drifting further inward every  pass… Mallory shuddered, stunned! The hands were so cold, yet there was  some indescribable warmth behind that cold, just real hands hovering  barely an eighth of an inch above the skin, almost not being touched at  all, it was almost like being touched by someone in a dream! Just barely  able to move her wrists and elbows, Mallory tried in vain to swat the  spirits away, but her hands just kept passing through! The attempts,  though, seemed to amuse the ghosts, as they all surged in a chorus of  catcalling laughter around their captive plaything, a horrible harmony  which crescendoed with Mallory’s skirt finally tearing in half! “NOOO!”  Mallory wailed, watching the sundered halves of her favorite skirt  hoisted like victory flags before the floating hands cast the pieces out  into the darkness!

“Gah!” Another hard jolt rocked Mallory’s  privates and snapped her gaze back down just in time to witness two more  hands materializing half a foot in front of her chest! Though Mallory  braced herself, surprisingly, these hands didn’t immediately latch onto  her! Instead, they made a big show of waggling their fingers, left and  right, up and down… Mallory had no choice but to incredulously watch,  still gritting her teeth in anticipation for them to lunge… only to  recognize a strange tugging sensation already on her chest! The hands  had just been distracting her, as another finger-walked up her cleavage!  “HEY!” Mallory yelped, but while the hand skittered off, her voice was  lost in the cackling of the skulls floating close, all eyeless sockets  trying to catch a glimpse of her goods! Unclasped and disheveled, her  bra only precariously remained over her chest and shoulders, and, much  to Mallory’s dismay, the undergarment soon became alight in a ghostly  glow which swiftly manifested into more ghoulish hands! The hands  slipped their fingers in the space between her bra and her boobs,  waggling and taunting! She tried to shake them off, but swinging her  ample chest from side to side not only caused the bra to slip even  further from covering her, but also gave the skulls quite the show to  gawk at! The hand made another show of wiggling its fingers, before  finally grabbing hard and yanking the bra right off Mallory’s body!

“NOOOOOO!”  Mallory cried as her bare breasts flopped into full view! In the  deathly chill around her, immediately her petal-pink nipples puffed up,  drawing the eager eye socket of every skull orbiting her! The hands then  reappeared, grabbing the whole of Mallory’s massive melons, grabbing  and bouncing her breasts up and down, gently squeezing and turning them  in their grasp, seeming to delight in every shudder and gasp it elicited  from her! W- why would they want to do this?! Mallory wanted to scream  but was too lightheaded to try! She was helpless to do anything but  watch as translucent hands groped her bountiful bosoms, while others  continued to stretch her panties deeper up her privates! So much all  over her body, Mallory’s senses were pushed to their limits!

Finally,  with a deafening SHRRIIIIIIIIP, her panties finally tore! “AHHHH!” She  cried through a wave of cheers though the levitating skulls! She was  naked, totally NAKED! In vain she tried to squeeze her knees together to  hide anything, just a shred of modesty, but the hands kept her in  place, kept everything visible!

With the tearing of the panties  which had suspended her hips so, the impact of finally dropping sent  ripples through her doughy rear! The cold wind along her beleaguered  butt crack was hardly a relief, when after not even a moment’s pause she  felt the hands grab onto her buttocks, what amounted to fingers  hungrily digging into the supple flesh before squeezing and gently  spreading them! “Ahhh!” Mallory whimpered as the hands continued to  grope and knead her plump ass cheeks, and a single finger began touching  and tickling in between! Mallory’s pulse beat so hard and loud she felt  it drowning out every thought in her brain! Every squeeze, every impish  flick sent spirals of sickening heat up through her whole body! As she  unsuccessfully tried to wiggle her hips so that the hands wouldn’t reach  so intimately, though, one of the hands stroking her inner thigh  finally drifted all the way up! “Mmph!” Mallory almost choked as the  ghostly hand began rubbing at her privates! “N- no! Not- NOT THERE!  AHH!” Mallory’s voice pitched as the hand rubbed her faster, sending  horrible shimmers through her hips! All over her body, the hands rubbed  harder, faster, so solid yet so unnatural, like static electricity  stabbing across her skin!

In that moment, the only coherent  thought that could form in her head… was Candice… how much she  desperately needed her… Candice… What would she do… focus… you summoned  them… now banish them!

Quickly, stifling a moan and immediately  failing from another squeeze to her breasts, Mallory glanced at the  grass beneath her, only to find the tome had been pulled further away  from her! With the hands holding her, she couldn’t so much dream of  reading it! But wait… at the edge of the shadows beside her, Mallory  caught a glimpse of the second volume! There HAD to be something in  there that could end this waking nightmare!

Just barely able to  move her wrists and elbows, Mallory strained to reach the second tome  just barely within reach, struggling harder as the hands continued to  grope her all over, as the visitor at her back door kept knocking, as  the hand against her privates rubbed harder and harder and… oh God…  Panting, Mallory fought to focus, her fingers barely grazing the bottom  of the book… bit by bit, she managed to inch it closer, closer still…  SMACK! “OUCH!” Mallory yelped and spasmed as one of the hands gripping  her butt suddenly gave the cheek a hard slap that knocked her senses  back out of alignment! The ghosts laughed louder, the hands squeezed  harder… focus… through the blend of terror and titillation, Mallory  continued to nudge the second tome closer, until she could just barely  flip open the front cover… “MMPH! Ohh…” Her attempts at turning the  pages were constantly stymied by the hands’ arrhythmic rubbing all over  her, especially across her butt… her private place… Between the undead  shades intermittently blotting out the meager candle light and the  absolute assault on all senses, the spanking, the squeezing, it… it was  so hard to read! But Mallory kept flipping pages best she could…

Wait,  there, as certain dog-eared page! She remembered that one! She remember  it being a powerful invocation, that’s why she marked it, but what did  the page say?! More hands began rubbing her inner thighs, another rough  rub made her knees to buckle inward… Biting her lip so hard she worried  she’d bleed, Mallory tried make out the words on the page, to make sense  of the words while her head continued to spin around and around, her  body being squeezed and groped from every angle, pushing the white-hot  feeling further and further…

Finally, she got it! It was only one  phrase repeated four times! Though she tried to put strength in her  voice, it trembled all the same as she read aloud: “Sp- s- spiritus…  abeunt!”

Immediately, something changed. The laughter roared on,  but the intervals between each chuckle lengthened just slightly, as if  creating more space for echoes. Though the hands which groped her  continued, she felt those around her shoulders slacken just barely! They  were scared! That meant whatever she was saying was going to work and  send them back beyond! “Spiritus abeunt!” Mallory again called out,  buoyed by a new rush of bravery! She could end this! She WOULD end this!  She would show these undead jerks who’s boss! An otherworldly wind  blasted the book away and out of sight, but it was too late - Mallory  already knew just what to say! “Spiritus abeunt-“ Mallory again cried,  nearly cut off by the hand at her crotch suddenly digging against her  clit harder! Be it fear or rage compelling them, the ghosts in the fog  around her began to float faster around the graveyard, and all the hands  playing with her sensitive regions began gripping harder, rubbing  faster! Mallory opened her mouth for the final recitation, but all that  escaped her mouth was a reluctant moan! “AHHHHHN!” Tears formed in the  corners of Mallory’s eyes as the hands on her chest began twisting her  boobs more fervently, and those against her crotch and between her  cheeks rubbed more fiercely! Surreality stirred all throughout Mallory’s  insides, as impossible sensations built and built to a fever pitch! Her  tummy was all knots, like she was being pulled apart and together and  apart… Through the mounting arousal, she screamed at the top of her  lungs, “SPIRITUS ABEUNT!!!”, and the hands all over her body squeezed at  once, overflowing her body with an unyielding eruption of pain and  warmth… before it all stopped.

A moment passed with no feeling at  all, as though she’d slipped between what was real and imagined and  existed in some strange limbo devoid of sensation. Then all of a sudden,  it was over. The world was quiet… and she was real again.

Hesitantly,  Mallory’s eyes eased open. Holding her breath, she glanced up and  around. She was still at the graveyard, but the shadows had parted, as  she again beheld an overcast noontime sky. Not a single sound broke the  calm around her - it was over. With a sigh of relief so immense it  nearly knocked her unconscious, Mallory collapsed onto her back, all the  horrible sensations ebbing away, an involuntary smile spreading across  her lips. It was over… the horrible nightmare was over… not just over,  but over for good! She’d done it, she’d actually done it! And yet,  something was off… The wind felt… well, she felt it way more then she  should… and the damp grass against her back… her bare skin…

“Ah…  ah, AH!” The realization hit Mallory in one fell blow, as she jumped to  her feet and haphazardly covered herself with her hands! She was still  naked! Scanning the grass, Mallory streaked from gravestone to  gravestone, looking for her stolen clothes but finding nothing at all,  not even her backpack or the ritual materials! Quickly, she consulted  the second tome; in the better light, she could make out the additional  blurb the previous patron left in the page margin: “Dispel ornery  spirits. Effective but last resort - will dispel both them… and anything  they’ve touched…”

With another mighty sigh - this one FAR more  resigned than the previous - Mallory’s head fell back in dismay. At  least she hadn’t tried it at home where she could have lost more stuff…  only bright side she could think of at the moment, what with now having  to make the run home butt-ass naked. Well, she still had her boots… and  the books… better than nothing at all, right? Although a single tome was  hardly enough to cover even both nipples if she held it up to her  chest, and they were so heavy to hold with single hands… Idly, she quick  skimmed the tomes for any evocation that might conjure a fresh pair of  jeans and an XL t-shirt… no such luck, of course! She also made the unfortunate discovery that she’d accidentally skipped  over what might as well have been the previous reader’s most important  blurb, written right on the inside of the front cover: turns out  everything in the tomes, she was supposed to read almost entirely in  reverse - right to left and bottom to top, not the other way around - or  else any ritual would bring the opposite of the intended effect. She  felt sympathy, then, for the previous reader, who probably also found  that out the hard way…

Just thinking back on the horrible cavalcade of  cackling hands made Mallory’s knees buckle! Still trying to catch her  breath, Mallory squatted low behind a gravestone, worried that anyone  might come by and see some freaky purple-haired chick chilling naked in  the middle of a rained-out cemetery! Squatting and rubbing her  goosebump-riddled skin, she shuddered, still feeling the ghosts’ evil  touch all over, and she pondered over the biggest question at hand: how  was she ever going to explain this to anyone? She’d lived it, and even  she was having a hard time believing it all! Real ghosts, real  supernatural happenings… No one would believe her, and it was a  defeating thought… After all of that, too, she still couldn’t answer the  other massive question of if she truly had done what she set out to do  in the first place: free herself from any paranormal element which might  be causing her misfortune? Did those ghosts ever have a hand in all the  other times she’d been stripped or worse, or did she accidentally  summon them there and then? What happened in that graveyard was a whole  other order than anything that’d happened to her before… it seemed like  it was only what she’d done that brought those spirits there, but how to  know… Uncertainty churned like restless ocean waves within her - how  could she ever know? What if she’d even gone too far, and now there was a  target on her butt from all kinds of forces she now KNEW existed? What  if she woke up right then and there, and it was all some  bad-sushi-fueled night terror? What to believe, what to do now…  Questions upon questions buzzed through her head nonstop and made her  feel so small, so hopeless!

In the middle of the fracas, however,  a single thought silenced all the others… did it even matter? Whether  or not there truly was ever anything supernatural behind her  misfortunes, quite frankly, she didn’t care anymore! Besides, her luck  wasn’t really that bad after all, was it? She’d had some rough times,  but she also had lots of good ones! And without them, she’d never have  met Candice, the best part of her life! Maybe supernatural stuff did  exist, maybe it was all in her crazy imagination after all, but whatever  the case, her life was her own, and she was gonna live it, dammit! One  step at a time, and it’ll all work out… it wasn’t her voice, but then it  was: one step at a time. Besides, if those pervert phantoms ever came  back, she knew she could give ‘em what they deserve…

Finally,  Mallory stood up from behind the gravestones with both tomes hugged over  her chest - as much as she’d never admit it, the cold air was kind of  soothing on her aching privates… On legs still weak and wobbling,  Mallory began her naked dash home, over grass and concrete, across  sidewalks and between pedestrians sneaking glimpses as she streaked  past! Of course it was humiliating, and would probably definitely  restart rumors of the town’s resident purple-haired nudist making the  rounds again, but something about this time was different - not that she  was getting used to streaking, of course! This time, though, it was  like Mallory was experiencing the feeling vicariously, like watching  someone else behind glass. Maybe she was crazy, maybe she was out of her  mind, but somehow public nudity didn’t seem like the biggest problem to  her. Keep going, and soon it would all pass, one foot after the other,  one step at a time…