The Haunted

I could see and hear things no one else could for as long as I can remember. My granny told me at a young age that I was sensitive just like her, at the time I couldn’t understand exactly what she was referring to but as time went on I would certainly find out. Unfortunately granny passed away and I later found myself very alone in these experiences with so many unanswered questions. I’ll never forget The first time I saw a ghost I had to be between seven or eight years old. I will never forget it because it was my great grandfather whom had just passed away. I hadn’t ever gotten to know him he was an Army veteran who suffered terrible ptsd. Grandpa mostly stayed in his room and I don’t recall seeing him well really ever. That summer I was visiting my granny and helping in the orchard when the phone rang, my granny promptly requested I answere the phone as not to wake grandpa. I did what she requested and to my surprise he had already answered the phone and when I picked up he scolded me and I remember I felt so hurt by his words. I immediately burst into tears and ran out to my granny to tell her what happened. I will never forget what I said to her. The hate filled words rolled right off my tongue;” he’s so mean! I wish he would just die” now mind you even with little to no relationship with my grandfather I did love him and didn’t mean what I said I was just a stupid young girl. We stayed for two more days and left back home. The very next evening my mother got a call I overheard enough to know something had upset her. She explains my Grandpa had died, when I heard the news I gasped I could feel my heartbreak. had I actually killed my grandfather! I cried for days, sure that my awful words had somehow caused his death, at his funeral I will never forget the way his daughter cried for him she was filled with so much pain. My grandmother was inconsolable, I remember wondering what kind of relationship they had with him, this broken man I never got to know hadn’t always been that way. He must have been a wonderful father a wonderful husband and a great loss to the family. I sat alone and cried as I begged for forgiveness and every cry of pain I heard from his grieving family invoked a guilt inside of me that seemed to consume my whole body. When I got home that night I went strait to my room and cried and cried I couldn’t stop apologizing to my grandfather and saying to myself “ why would you die?, I didn’t mean it.” I fell asleep after a while I was awakened by an odd feeling that I was being watched. Terrified to open my eyes I pulled my blanket up to my chest and grasped it tight in my hands while I worked up the nerve. To open my eyes the very first thing I noticed was odd green light almost a glow emanating from my closet and filling my room. I feel my bed compress near my feel and to my suprise I feel a hand gently lay across my calf. Startled I look to the foot of the bed and that’s when I see him. My grandfather, transparent and silent he just sat and looked at me and I looked closely back. The longer we look at each other I realize something is very different about him. His features look soft and and full of compassion a far cry from the stern and indifferent features that were compiled in my memory. This was him, he was filled with peace no longer tormented by his memories of war. I regretted that I never got to know him. He tapped my leg three times with his hand and smiled, just then the green glowing light began to recede into the closet I watched as my room filled with the familiar darkness, I looked back to the foot of the bed and as the light disappeared as quickly as It came so did my grandfather. I was filled with a sense of peace as well. I believe to this day That My grandfather came to comfort me and let me know that his death was not my fault. And without speaking a word, he did just that.

In loving memory of grandpa Bob.