Ghost Story Tuesday

Just after 3am on Saturday, Liam woke up and wanted to be fed. Like every other night, Jim changed him and brought him to me in bed, and I sat up to feed him. Jim settled himself into bed and Liam and I sat quietly together. Just like any other night.

There was a crackling sound on the monitor. It does do that sometimes. A gurgle now. A gasp.

In response, my heart tried to beat out of my chest.

“Did you hear that?” I whispered to Jim in the darkness.

“Hmmmm?”

I waited. Crackle, crackle. Then, from Caleb and Aidan’s room this time, a cry. More gurgling. Another gasp.

“Jim! Go check the boys!”

“Huh?” He rolled over and got out of bed. Even half asleep, he responded to the urgency in my voice.

“Didn’t you hear that?”

“Hear what?” He stumbled out of the room and into Caleb and Aidan’s room, then, after a few moments of quiet, back to our room.

“They’re ok?”

“Mmm hmmm.”

I had known they would be. I tried to relax. Leaning back against the headboard, I reasoned that sometimes the monitor picked up on other signals. And sometimes the boys dreamed and talked in their sleep. Ah, such a good medium, aren’t I? I’ve told you before about my whole “no ghosts in my house” policy. When they do come, I tend to live in denial for a little while.

In any case, by the time I carried the sleepy Liam back to his room, I had convinced myself that all was well. I was secure in my comfortable cocoon of denial. Sometimes, it’s a nice place to be.

It did not last long. Coming out of Liam’s room, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, someone standing in Caleb and Aidan’s room. For the second time that night, my heart fought to escape my chest. I turned to face the room, and about eight feet away stood a young boy. Caleb’s age, but not Caleb. He wore short pants…they stopped just past the knee, and his hair was long-ish. Straight. He wore a white shirt and a vest. He was clear…but somehow…not. He didn’t look me in the eye; just stared at a spot near my feet. I remembered thinking that I would have to research the clothing, to date him.

All of that happened in what felt like minutes, but I’m sure that in reality it was only seconds. I had barely stopped walking when I turned and continued on to my room. Getting into bed, I connected to that boy, asked him why he was there. He didn’t answer, but showed me that there was another…a girl, in Liam’s room. She was older, maybe thirteen or fourteen. I asked her why she was there. She said she was minding the baby.

Minding the baby.

My baby?

She felt confused.

I saw her leaning over a baby...in a different time. A long time ago. I noted her clothing. I felt heat. Heard crackling. It was hard to breathe.

Asphyxiation, I thought. And in that vision, the girl turned and looked at me. She was confused.

“We have ghosts” I said to Jim.

“Oh yeah? Who?”

“Two children. One in each of the kids’ rooms.”

The next morning, Jim assaulted me with questions. Who were they? What did they want? Were they still here? Then, he told me he’d been up for a long time after our chat. Oops.

He wanted to know why I hadn’t found out more. “I was scared,” I said. It’s true. They scared the crap out of me.

Jim sensed the girl in Liam’s room the next night, and I saw her standing at the foot of the bed, on Jim’s side. Nothing last night. A nice break, though Jim is demanding that I figure this out so they can move on. Funny, I deal with other people’s ghosts just fine. But when they’re my ghosts, I wish I could pick up the phone and get someone else to deal with them. Ah, but that’s the way of life, I guess. It’s much easier to help others than help yourself. To give advice than to take it. Nonetheless, I have a job to do, and I shall do it. Later.

I have excuses! Caleb has the chicken pox now, and I still feel…gross. So, later. For now, that cocoon of denial is looking rather nice…