Winchester: A Mother’s Love

Soon after my parents went back home to Arizona, It was just my husband, two children, and myself. The activity continued. As usual, being alert towards the situation, heard and saw everything. My children were always playing and could never stay in one place too long being full of energy and smiles. Always laughing and giggling. On occasion I would hear giggling when they were quiet. A mother knows the sound of her child’s voice even their cries and giggles. This was not their giggles. I, of course, knew exactly who it was. There were lots of little distant giggles from Tommy and playful little footsteps during the day. I stayed home with my children while my husband was at work, so it was as it always was since we moved in in the daylight. Just my two children, Tommy and myself. The evenings into the nights were becoming different. On regular nights, ever so often, I would feel a little on getting into my bed. My oldest would crawl into bed with me when he woke up from a bad dream so come and safely sleep with me. On the night before my husband came home, I was awoken from a little someone getting into bed with me. I turned over, expecting to see my son’s face, but it was the same boy in the little 40’s news boy outfit and cap with the sleek brown hair, blue eyes and little round cheeks. It was Tommy. I sat up and looked up. He was gone. Now during the evenings, my husband would come home, we were together as a family. In the night after putting the children to sleep, my husband and I would spend time together then go to sleep. There was now a man in the house and in the bed making things different.

I would now wake up to crying several times a night, check on the children, only to find out it was not them. As I walked around, I still heard a faint whimpering of a child, even while looking at my sleeping children. It was rather hard to get back to sleep. I walked into the dining room to where I heard the crying. I tried talking to Tommy in a sort of way to console him; like people talk to ghosts as mediums, or paranormal investigators. I let him know everything was alright and there was no need to cry. That he was safe. Believe it or not, the crying stopped. It did not happen as much. I only wish my husband heard it. I felt alone.

I came to the conclusion that Tommy became use to how things were. I already felt like my being a mother and having other children in the house was helpful with him. Being a lost and scared little child in need of a mother’s love. Now to have my husband in the house changed everything. It seems like in a way he was acting out. Things will get thrown around or broken or it would be loud knocks on the wall. Everything felt angry. Was he angry that my husband was there? Do you not like a man being in the house? It felt different.

Slowly my husband began asking what certain noises were. If I moved certain things or broke something. If I heard the child crying. This is when I knew he heard it to. We both heard a child crying while we watched our children sleeping. I was quite relative to know that it was not just me. I could finally tell him everything that had been happening since the day I moved in without him thinking I was insane.

The more attention he gave to it the more peaceful the activity became again. The crying at night stopped and I could sleep again. When he knew that all of us knew he was there and we accepted it, everything was calm. My husband suggested that he could be so active because he liked me and wanted a mother whereas others would scare him away into hiding. The owner of the house said the people that use to live there before us had no children and were both in the military and very stern. They mentioned activity in the home but nothing like we had experienced. It was playful and like he was happy. I suppose I loved him in my own way. He became a part of my everyday life, and as a mother I found it dreadfully sad.

To be continued...