Secrets, Roses and old Phones.

I pulled up to the old family house with a heavy heart...so many memories came flooding back all at once. I shuddered as nostalgia washed over me and I was now regretting the decision to do this all on my own. But, I had kept telling myself that I needed the time to come to terms with all that had happened.

The house had been locked up for the entire year since my parents had passed. Not together, for my dad had been gone a long while before. I didn't have the heart to face the daunting task of parting with their memories.

No one had visited except the real estate agent who had finally found an interested buyer.

I opened the front door, it creaked as if tired... and the house seemed to breathe a sad sigh, it was like it too, had felt lonely and abandoned. The keys were still hanging on the wall by the coat closet. I opened the door to the garage and pulled the car in, it was a strange sixth sense that prompted me to do that - I had no idea why.

......The old dusty antique phone in the corner had been disconnected for more than six months, but now it felt like an old and friendly dinosaur, forgotten but still a part of the house.

I arrived late in the afternoon with the intention of staying for a few days to pack away their things, but the place seemed in a strange disarray. The living room things had been rearranged and moved around. A few of the other rooms seemed to have suffered the same fate...but why? It was as if someone had deliberately moved everything around. To what purpose. And who?

......Brnggggggg. Brngggggggg. Brnggggggg. "What the hell"?

"Why was the phone ringing"? IT'S DISCONNECTED.

.........Brnggggggg. Brngggggggg. Brnggggggg.

The evening was quickly becoming dark. I was all alone in the huge house. The reverberation of the rings echoed throughout the entire place. Eerie chills ran down my spine.

.........Brnggggggg. Brngggggggg. Brnggggggg.

"Was it my parents calling me from beyond". I laughed nervously at the silly idea.

Maybe it's the phone company, maybe they had accidentally turned the phone back on. I perked up at the idea. It would make complete sense.

.........Brnggggggg. Brngggggggg. Brnggggggg.

.........Brnggggggg. Brngggggggg. Brnggggggg.

Jesus! Enough already. I may as well answer it.

I walk gingerly to the living room. .........Brnggggggg. Brngggggggg.

Picking up the phone...I answer. "Hello". My voice is hoarse. I clear my throat and try again. Louder this time.

"HELLO".

No answer. Just the irritating sound of...Static. - then....

"Hello Josephina". I drop the receiver, backing away in alarm. The hairs on my neck prickled...cold sweat was forming on my brow.

I still hear the... scratchy sound tctctctctctctctcttc...of the static.

Brnggggggg. Brngggggggg. Brnggggggg. The receiver is not even hung up. How can it still be ringing.

Nervously...I inched closer to the devil thing...shaking...I pick it up again.

"Hel...hello"! More static, only louder...with broken moments of silence in between.

"Hello Jo-Jo". I recognize the voice even through the static. My mother! I sat down heavily in the nearest chair.

"Mother, is that you"? I felt so silly...so surreal and yet...becoming quite calm. My mom has been gone for a year - but it was still thrilling - and eerie, to hear her voice.

"Yes. I have waited for a year to talk to you. I need to tell you something".

"But....but how are you able to speak to me....from...from beyond. You are ... dead...right? I asked foolishly...making the sign of the cross across my chest.

"Yes dear, I am quite dead. But please listen"...there is a palpable pause and more static.. "He did it, he deliberately crashed the car, he didn't die...But I did. He ran from the scene...everyone thought that I had been the one driving. He staged the scene, he knew how to do that, being a cop himself. I found out some terrible things and confronted him. He is not who he claims to be"...that pause and static again, the annoying grating in my head - then - silence.

"Mom, are you still there...who are you talking about? ....Oh my God. You mean your fiance Kenny...It's been a year".

"Yes...and he is coming. He must think that you know the location of the evidence I said I had".

tcttctcttctctctcttctcttctctctcttctcttctctc tctcttctctctcttctcttctctctcttct...damn the blasted static...I need to know what my dead mom is doing talking to me on a dead phone.

"What evidence. Coming where, mom"?

"To the house...For you! You must hurry. Look in the place where childhood meant a lot for you and I. Where we hid our playtime secrets when we were sad and we wanted to cheer each other up".

The phone went dead. What did she mean, do all ghosts speak in riddles? My childhood was a long time ago, I have to think.

Why would anyone be coming for me? I don't even know the guy that well. The few times we had met, he had appeared quite pleasant and mom had seemed happy.

A sudden chill passed over the entire house as the front door flew open with a vengeance.

In the corner I see the ragged ends of the severed phone cord. The static fills the entire house.

cttctcttctctctcttctcttctctctcttctcttctctctcttctcttctctctcttctcttctctctcttctcttctctctvvvcttctcttctctctcttctcttctctccttctcttctctctvcttctcttctctct.

It's then I see her...standing by the disconnected phone. Shimmering in pale white...pointing to the attic.

I feel completely horrified...panic set in...yet, I was happy to see her. But -What had prompted this strange call from a dead phone. Had she been deliberately...MURDERED?

"Mom, what happened". I was finally able to whisper, tears streaming down my face. I made a step towards her, hoping to hug her...not thinking her a ghost in that unreal moment. But her form was already starting to fade...as if she blended with the shadows...hiding.

"Go Josephina...hurry to the attic now, and stay there, remember what I said. Never mind what you hear. Do not come down. Just know that I love you".

I was scared half to death...caught in between the ghost and the static.

........and I cannot move.

The entire house speaks in static from the dead phone... it envelopes me...

"GO NOW, JOSEPHINA".

The front door slams shut, jolting me from my pitiful frozen state. Taking one last glance at my mother, I grabbed my handbag and the bunch of keys, opened the secret door and started for the attic. She looked so angelic...but her eyes were burning with a vengeance which I do not recognize. A mother, though no longer of this world, still prepared to protect her grown child.

Hoping beyond hope that I was dreaming...I lock the door behind me with trembling hands and climb the hidden stairs...years ago, my dad had installed a small door that hid the stairway entrance to the tiny attic. Only the family knew that it was there.

I pray he does not!

....I heard the car engine as soon as I reached the attic. Peering out the window from my vantage point, I could see Kenny's form emerge in the half-light. What on earth is going on. He used his key to unlock the door and enter. I could hear him calling my name. The door to the garage had self locked, so he had no way of positively knowing whether or not I was there. Thank God I had followed my intuition.

He began rummaging through the house...I could hear things being thrown about angrily - he was obviously looking for something. I wish my ghost mother had been a little more specific. I couldn't turn on the light...but I had a small flashlight in my purse. I found a chair and sat down to think on what my mother had said. Where did we hide my...our childhood treasures. I remember a box painted with roses which we had colored together and kept in the attic. It must still be here somewhere. But where? So much old stuff were crammed in here.

I did not want to move around too much, Kenny might hear the floorboards creak. I tossed my memory back to childhood - where had we hidden our secrets...The floor, there was a loose board under an old rug.

The noise of him unceremoniously flinging my parents belongings about irked my every nerve. I wanted to go down and confront him. But, I remember how desperate my mother had been for me to stay quiet. At least the noise covered my attempt to lift the rug and board and retrieve the box.

Inside were papers and a cell phone with the charger attached. I used my charger block to plug it in...her pin was written on a note attached to the bottom of the phone and instructions to watch the videos. After a little while, the screen lit up. I entered the pin...activation successful. I scrolled to the first video, careful to turn down the sound.

There were a few people milling around, the images were blurred at first...then starting to become clearer ...what was I watching? A shot rang out!

Oh my God! Kenny had shot another cop. Had my mother been following him. How did she have this on her phone?

There were other videos...Kenny meeting and talking with people in strange places, Kenny receiving strange packages in hidden places. Kenny beating the crap out of strange men in dark places.

After what seemed like hours, I heard the front door slam - peeking out, I saw him get into his car and drive away. He must not know of the attic, the window is barely visible from the street, dad had done a great job of disguising it. I was not laughing at his paranoia now. The attic had one of those self lighting bulb. I switched it on...it was dim but served the purpose.

Mom stopped by one last time. She seemed worried for me as she pointed to the papers from the box. I sorted through and started reading. She was leaving for her sister's house, she had written - and from there would decide what to do. She had gotten herself a duplicate phone, so no one would suspect anything.

He had come home just as she was about to leave...She had just enough time to hide the evidence in the attic and lock the door, hanging the keys in plain sight. Luckily, I had taken the whole bunch with me upstairs when he came to search.

"But why had he not searched before mom".

"He never knew about the phone back then, he only thought that I was leaving him because of things I suspected and I never gave him the reason why. But I knew that he suspected something else was going on. I have never seen him so mad as he was that day. He forced himself into the car as I was leaving, asking if I had been following him. I actually thought that he was seeing someone else, silly old lady that I am".

"Aw, mom. We all do stupid things no matter what age we are. Why didn't you call me about it".

"I thought that I could handle it on my own. I underestimated him and how far he would go to keep his secrets. I am so sorry".

Brngggggggg. One ring!

Good God. Now the phone in the attic is ringing too. Will this day get any stranger.

"Hello".

"He is coming back Josephina. Be careful".

"Dad"?...But the line was as dead as the disconnected phone.

Then I guess that this is really the last call from this phone as my father appeared by my mother's side with ghostly reinforcement.

My cell phone vibrated, it too was turned low. I quickly answered it as I heard the car pulling in again.

"Hello". Please God, not another ghost on my cell phone, I thought.

"Jo-Jo. What is going on. Kenny called to ask if the house had an attic...he says it looks like there is a window at the top. Is it about Magda". It was my aunt June.

"What did you tell him"? I asked nervously.

"I told him I didn't know about an attic. What is it Jo"?

"Aunt June, let me call you back, I will explain then".

"Start sending the videos to the number on the bottom of the page. And call the police now. I think he may have figured it all out". My mother said, her voice sounding disembodied.

I did so...advising that they approach the house quietly...I prayed that Kenny had no idea that I had contacted them...The call had been forwarded to a detective who said that he understood, they had been investigating him for a long time...he implied that Kenny had flummoxed them many times before. It seemed they knew he was a bad seed. My mother must have known him, he was the one who received the information from her phone.

How had my day turned into a nightmare? Here I was having an honest to God conversation with the ghosts of my parents in the middle of the night and talking about rotten cops, all this while a murderous mad man was on his way into the house! What else could go wrong. I had the key to the attic door, so it would take him a while to figure things out. Unless he brought a hatchet or something more ominous.

I took a bite of the fruit bar I always carried and sipped some water from the bottle in my handbag. My stomach was growling, I had not eaten in a while.

"Don't worry mom, I will do right by you". I mumbled this with more bravado than I was actually feeling. I switched off the light...my parents glowed softly in the semi-dark.

Everyone, ghosts and the living, fell silent as the car approached and the door opened downstairs.

"Josephina. I know that you are here. Where are you"?

We heard tapping. He was trying to find the entrance to the attic. After a while, the tapping stopped.

"I got you". Kenny yelled.

There was a great splitting sound of wood being chopped. My parents moved to the door, protecting it. Could a couple of ghosts stop a crazy guy with a gun and a hatchet, or whatever Kenny was hacking away with downstairs.

Suddenly...

"Don't move. Drop the weapon. Slowly place your gun on the floor...slowly! Hands on your head. Get down on the floor. NOW"!

I guess they were cuffing him and reading him his rights after all of the yelling and the mumbled parts which I could barely hear.

"You can come down now". A voice yelled loudly enough to wake the dead.

I walked towards the spirits...they were slowly fading away. I reached out, my hand passing through them as if through smoke. It felt warm...calming.

"Goodbye my love". "Goodbye Josephina". They both echoed. "We will always be close by". And just like that...they were gone.

"Bye Mom, bye Dad". I whispered, my eyes tearing up.

Detective Black took my explanation of my ghostly parents saving my life with a grain of salt. I could see the masked skepticism and doubtful reservation of whether or not I was a bit touched in the head.

We were all standing outside the door...WHEN....

Brngggggggg. Brngggggggg. Brngggggggg. I beckoned for him to follow me.

He used a glove to pick up the phone...but he only heard the static.

We checked the downstairs phone and the attic phone. One was plugged out, the other had the cord all cut and frayed. Plus, I told him, the phone had been long disconnected. He was free to check.

He cocked his head sideways and said....

"Huh. Imagine that"!

Had the Ghosts made a believer out of him? For certainly, that was the very last call. Right?

I stayed at a hotel for the night, Aunt June came next day to help with the house. The phone never rang again!!!