Curiosity: A strong desire to know or learn something.

I finally stopped fighting the urge, I had to know what was up with the neighbor’s garage. Even if I was charged with breaking and entering, I needed to know why that damn green light came on every night at 10:01 pm.

I didn't know much about my neighbors except that it was an older woman and a younger man who lived there. It really didn't matter though. All that mattered was that I found out what kind of weirdness was going on over there.

A couple weeks ago I moved my painting studio to a different room in the house that I rent. I was too busy to clean up the messy distractions from previous projects, so it had to move. The first night in the new room I came into the studio around 9pm to work for a few hours... Tonight would be simple, all I had to do was paint some graphic palm trees on an advertising sign I was making for a red-carpet event in downtown Cincinatti OH. I have to say it was coming along quite nicely. That's until I was interrupted by a green light in my peripheral. I looked out the window and it was coming from the neighbor's garage. There were no windows on the garage, but the light was bright enough to seep out the cracks of the front and side door. I didn't think much of it except it was bright as hell.

The next night the same thing. I went in to work and again was interrupted by the light. I thought to myself, do I have to move this easel? Because this green light is equally distracting. Instead, I finished the night barely paying attention to it.

The 3rd night comes around and as I'm walking into the studio, I remembered that I was going to move the easel. I didn't even know if that light would come on, so I started painting. And then it happened, the green light came on. I looked at my watch, it said 10:01 Pm. This must be the time it came on the previous nights also. I moved a chair to the window and just sat there looking at the eerie light that was starting to grab my attention. It's almost like someone was in there welding with a green torch because the light twinkled at times. Their garage was only about 50 feet from me, so I had a pretty good view. I finished work for the night, had a drink then went to bed. Strangely though I couldn't stop thinking about the light as I fell asleep.

I decided not to work the next night, but was drawn to the studio anyway, I wanted to see if the light would come on. The chair was still at the window from the day before. It was 9:45 pm. I sat there in anticipation until exactly 10 pm. A minute later the green light came on. I got the chills, I don't know why, maybe it's because I watch too many scary movies. I'm sure there was a reasonable explanation for the light... But seriously, what could it be? My imagination brought forth some outrageous possibilities as to what could be behind those walls.

10 more days had passed, and my curiosity finally got the best of me; I was about to trespass on someone's property. It was midnight, the green light was still on. There was no fence between my house and theirs which made this easier. I casually tipped-toed my way over there. All the lights were off in the neighbor’s house and I'm positive no one was in the garage. Ultimately this was none of my business, but I needed to see for myself so I could go back to my life. I took more steps toward the garage. I was almost there, just another ten feet to go. Then the light goes out. I stopped in my tracks wondering if someone knew I was there. The night was cool and dark. I was wearing dark clothing so I wouldn't stand out. I turned around and started walking back to my house. I only traveled a couple feet when I could see the green light reflecting off the windows of my house. I quickly turned around and it was back on. I wasn't sure what to do since I didn't know if I was being watched. I chose to stand in place to see if something would happen. Nothing did, so I started walking back toward the light, again it went off. Maybe I was stepping on a circuit breaker of some kind. I took a few steps backward and it came back on. I took a few steps forward and it went off again. Somehow it knew when I got too close. This was unexpected, I was left defeated and unsatisfied with no place to go except back home. I was left unsatisfied, so I just laid in bed confused until I fell asleep.

As soon as I woke up, I went to the studio to look at the garage. There it sat, in its pale white mystical existence. This time It was not alone, the older woman who lives there was standing in front of it smoking a cigarette and looking directly at me look at her. We were fixated on each other's glance until my comfort level gave in. I turned around and walked away. I went to the kitchen to grab a glass of juice, all the while wondering what she knew. All of a sudden, I heard the sound of someone knocking at my front door. It was her. This was too coincidental, so I had to prepare myself to lie if she asked what I was doing at her garage late last night. I opened the door and spoke,

"Hello, can I help you?"

She returned with "Maybe... I know you came over to my garage a little past midnight last night."

I smiled and quickly said, "Oh yeah, I was just-" She cut me off and kept talking.

"Your never gonna see it, no one has. The light always goes off when you get too close to it. That must have thrown you for a loop."

She ended with a sneaky grin and continued talking.

"We've had the police check it out. We've talked to the previous owners, but they know nothing about it. I set up a security cam at the back of my house and check the footage every day to see if anything happened overnight. That's how I saw you. It's okay, your just being curious, I'm not mad."

I walked out onto the porch, introduced myself as Jacob and shook her hand. Her name was Sylvia. I offered an explanation for my actions.

"I'm sorry, but I had to know what was going on. I've seen it come on at the same time every night for 2 weeks. When did you first notice it?"

"A month after we moved in, so about 10 months ago. My Husband noticed it first" I curiously responded,

"Your Husband?"

"Yeah, you've probably seen him around here."

All this time I thought it was her son, and she was robbing the cradle. (Heavy Grin).

She kept talking, "Tucker, my husband has tried everything. He tried opening the door with a long pole, but as soon as the door is touched the light goes off. He used a child's remote-control car equipped with a little tiny camera, that didn't work either. The car can get closer than you or me, but the light still goes off when it gets within 5ft of the garage. If we leave either door to the garage open it never comes on. All I can come up with is that the garage is haunted and something very secret is going on in there at night."

I also wondered if that's what it could be. I suggested,

"Have you ever tried talking to it? I mean like putting a speaker in there and using a microphone away from the garage to speak."

Almost laughing she responded, "No I haven't tried that, feels silly but it's an idea, do you think we should try it?"

"Yes! I would do it, I'm not afraid of ghosts."

She agreed. I went back inside got dressed and met her at the garage. There wasn't a whole lot of stuff in there, a few bikes, a lawnmower and some garbage cans. I looked over every inch of the place and didn't see anything that could be the source of the light. I went back home to my basement and found a microphone and a speaker to use. Now just to set it up and wait.

At 9:55 pm I came out to the backyard. Sylvia was already out there smoking. Tucker was on the phone inside the house but kept looking out the window at us. Right on schedule, the lavish green light slowly came to life until it filled up the empty space around us, the chills returned. I grabbed the mike and spoke my first words.

"Hello"

Right as I said it, the light dimmed until it was almost off. A few seconds later it returned to its normal intensity. I spoke again,

"Is anyone there?"

This time it dimmed again but only half as much.

" My name is Jacob, who are you?" The light dimmed a little more.

"Don't be shy we are peaceful people."

The light responded by going back to normal. My chills now had chills.

"If you can understand me blink twice"

There was a short pause but then it blinked...TWICE! Sylvia and I looked at each other as she fumbled for her pack of smokes. I continued with,

"Can I ask you some questions? Blink twice for yes and once for no."

It blinked once. I looked at Sylvia again as she took a long drag off the cancer stick. Was this an entity we were trying to communicate with and was it friendly? I had no Idea. I waited, not knowing what to do for a few minutes until I decided to ask it another question.

“Do you live in the garage” It blinked once. “Are you a ghost?” One blink followed, “Are you made of light?” two blinks. “Are you going to be here forever?” One blink. I then I asked, “Can we come in to see you?”

With that question the light went out completely. By this time Sylvia had planted herself right next to me on the picnic bench in my back yard. Abruptly, the light came back on. It intensified to its brightest, the microphone started to spark profusely, shocking the daylights out of me in the process. I dropped it and the green light went out right as the mike hit the ground. I jumped up from the bench and ran back toward my house, Sylvia was already climbing the stairs to her back porch. I stayed in the vicinity of my yard and just continued to stare at the garage. Thirty minutes went by and no light. I went back to the bench and sat there until 3:01am, that’s the usual time it goes off for the night. Afterwards, I went inside craving a huge shot of bourbon. I was up all night reliving the experience, hoping that I didn't scare the conscious green illumination away. The shock I received from the microphone left the tips of my fingers sore and bruised with strange tiny green and purple branching lines forming on them. I was beginning to worry but it only lasted a few days.

I moved away 5 months later. The light never came back. Sylvia and Tucker were happy about it, I felt indifferent. I wasn’t done, I wanted to know more but the green light apparently didn’t want to reveal more. I told Sylvia to contact me if it ever came back. Since then, I have made several paintings all dedicated to my encounter with the green light. It’s my newly found odd obsession.