Beware of What Lurks in the Night

Clickety-click-clack-click. That was the sound that came from my mom’s keyboard while she sat at her desk working. She worked from home as a transcriptionist, so I was used to the sound. It was foggy, Fall night, and I was playing my favourite video game in the living room. My mom stood up and said it was time to go close the gate, and to get our coats on. We were in charge of watching over the local park for the summer and fall, and one thing we had to make sure was done every day, was that the park gate be locked up every night. I grabbed my coat, and we piled into the car. It was chilly out, and I already couldn’t wait to get back home to my game.

We made our way through our small town roads. There wasn’t much there: a tiny library, a ‘50s diner, a couple gas stations, a cafe, a bakery, and the town grocery store. We turned onto the dark gravel road that led to the park. Fog crossed in front of us as we drove. It was hard to see, and I hated being there with no one else around but at least I was in the car with my family. As we got closer to the gate, we all saw a large, white figure dart out in front of us. It looked like a shredded sheet, but it was hovering above the ground. As soon as we saw it, my mom stopped the car. We didn’t know what it was, or what to do. My mom said, “Do you guys see that??” We stayed there for a minute, watching the figure slowly make its way across the road. Suddenly, it darted off to the side and disappeared into a field, almost instantly. The way it moved was unnatural, and we knew immediately that it wasn’t the fog. We all decided unanimously that we were going to leave the gate of the park open that night. There was no way we were continuing down that road.

My mom quickly turned the car around, fearing that the ghostly figure might come back. Or worse, end up in the car with us! As we quickly wound through the streets back toward our house, we couldn’t stop talking about what we had seen. Did we actually just see a ghost? We pulled into our driveway and rushed inside, fearful that we had somehow been followed home. We sat down at the kitchen table and my mom said, “We should all draw what we saw, so that we can make sure we all saw the same thing.” My mom collected the papers once we were done, and her mouth dropped. We all drew the exact same thing. There was no question in our minds, we had absolutely seen a real life ghost. We talked about it for hours because the events of the evening kept us from wanting to close our eyes. We lit some candles, and I placed one of the candles in the window. I looked outside into the darkness and felt a chill go down my spine. I was pretty sure I would never leave the house again, at least not at night and down any foggy roads. I was thankful to be home where I was safe.

When we finally did get to bed, we still talked about it. It was not something you just move on from after experiencing. That was something that will stay with me for my entire life, and a story I will share with my children one day. But also with a warning. Beware of what lurks in the night!