Ghost Story Quickie

My family was visiting relatives in Maine, and I shared a bedroom with my cousin for the duration of our stay. I was about 12 years old, and for many years, had closed myself off to spirits as much as possible.
We were having an amazing vacation. My sister and I are very close in age to the youngest two of the cousins we were visiting, and our days were spent in the pool, or making ridiculous recordings of made-up plays and radio shows.
After a long, full day, we started getting ready for bed. I went down the stairs to the basement, where my cousin's bedroom was. I didn't bother turning the light on; there was still enough light from the windows to be able to see my way to the bedroom. When I reached the bottom of the stairs and looked toward the bedroom, I saw a woman sitting between me and the bedroom. In the dim light, she sort of glowed, and in an instant I realized that this woman was a ghost. My heart hammered in my chest. The woman, sitting on a chair, stared straight ahead so I saw her profile. She wore a long dress and a small hat, and clutched something in her lap.
My next actions may seem rather strange to some. Well, to most, I guess. But as I said, for many years, I had closed myself off to these types of happenings. When I realized that I saw these things when nobody around me did, it made me feel so...alone. So when I learned that I could ignore my gifts...I did! Also, I was happy...I was having a wonderful vacation. No ghost was going to ruin it.
Such was my resolve to ignore these events that I screwed up my courage, and began walking toward the bedroom. The woman sat very still, and I was sure that she would vanish if I showed no fear. The only sound I could hear was my heart pounding in my ears as I came closer to her. She did not vanish. Still, I comforted myself with the fact that she had not yet moved or acknowledged my presence at all. Maybe...maybe she couldn't see me!
In a few more steps, I was walking past her, sweating and trembling. I fixed my eyes on the bedroom ahead and told myself that she would be gone as soon as I turned on the light. As I walked past her, I perceived some movement out of the corner of my eye. She turned her head to follow me. The entire right side of my body heated up and tingled with the acknowledgement of her presence, and a wave of nausea rolled over me.
My walking sped up considerably, and I let out a great gust of breath (which I hadn't realized I'd been holding) when I reached the bedroom. I flipped the switch, and nothing happened. I flipped it again: off, on. Off, on. In the few seconds that the light took to flicker and finally burst to life, my world seems to be closing in and suffocating me. I was aware of every noise, every shadow around me. I could hear footsteps upstairs, and laughter of one of my relatives.
With the light finally on, I whirled around with the hope of finding an empty basement.
The woman sat stiffly, just as she had before, but her head was turned all the way to the right, her eyes fixed on mine.
I hastily grabbed my toothbrush and whatever else I had come down to retrieve, and nearly peed with relief when I started back toward the stairs, and she was gone.
I joined my cousin in the bathroom and casually asked if anything...strange...had ever happened to her in the basement.
"Oh, you saw the ghost?" she asked.
"What?!?"
"We have a ghost."
"Well, thanks for the warning!"
I told her all that had happened, and later, as we settled down to sleep, she told me all that had happened to her family. There had been strange sounds, the feeling of someone jumping or sitting on the bed of both my cousins, and other events, including strange behavior from the bedroom light.
Interestingly, I visited my cousins in Maine again during the summer, and both my cousin and I saw an orb of light. Both of us are sure of who it was (we even found an old picture of her after I described how I saw her), and I am positive it is the same woman I saw that night when I was twelve.