A Presence or Two
A Ghost Story
What is happening?
Jane was going about her day wondering what she would do on this beautiful day since she was retired and did not have to answer to anyone. It was a wonderful feeling to do what she wanted after being stuck in corporate America for fifty years. Fifty Years! People were always telling her what to do. Fifty years! She was happy to not have to have that anymore.
She lived in a small rented condo or villa, in a 55+ community, along with her twin sons that are twenty-five. Usually she would visit the recreation center and roam the free library for books she had never gotten around to read. But since the pandemic everything had closed. She was mostly stuck in her house. That was fine with her since she only loved books, gardening, writing, painting, her boyfriend, and her boys.
Recently, she had been wondering about the past or “passed” residents of the condo. “Who had died in here?”, she thought one day. She asked these questions because she likes to watch paranormal shows. The people on those shows are not kidding. They truly believe these things happened to them.
The villa/condo was built between 1964 and 1991, so there had to be folks living out their lives here. She bet the villa owner doesn’t know either. She used to live in the neighborhood, moved, then started renting it out. Jane is wondering if she saw some things or felt some things and it freaked her out. She is not forthcoming about that though. Who would be if you needed to rent out the place?
One day her son asked his mom, “Have you woken up to see an old man standing across the room then he fades away?” Jane answered, “Yes.”
Jane woke up from a sound sleep one night and that very man was standing on the other side of her bed, pointing out the window with a determined expression on his face then faded away as soon as she saw him there. It was like he was saying, “Go!”, “Leave!”, “Get Out!” She went back to sleep but she couldn’t forget his striped pants that looked like pajamas.
She told her son about this after he brought the subject up and told him not to be afraid, just ignore the guy. “He’s harmless,” she said.
What is a person to do about something like that? How do they protect others from that? So they forgot about it and nothing else was said and nothing else happened to him.
One night she was sleeping and dreaming, then she became aware that someone was screaming in her ear. It seemed to be saying, “Wake up!” at the top of their voice. It woke her and she hollered back and went back to sleep. What was that? It was off-putting but she ignored it. Her ear still felt the loudness of that screech. She also remembers a face close by.
The next time she was aware that something wanted her attention was when she felt a poke on her right shoulder as she was watching TV. She just told them to go away and stop bothering her. The less you engage the less they bother you.
This is crazy she thought. How many people have died in this house? She smudged the place after she first saw the old man and it didn’t bother her anymore so she thought it was gone.
Jane’s sister died back in January 2020. It was under sad circumstances. One morning after that Jane woke and right before she opened her eyes she felt the presence of her sister. As soon as she woke up the presence left and she has not felt that anymore. Her sister was like that as she was shy and didn’t want her feelings hurt. She also thought no one loved her as well. They were not close but I guess her sister just wanted to say goodbye.
One night Jane was trying to sleep and couldn’t. It was probably because she had a second helping of chocolate ice cream that evening. Caffeine and sugar usually keeps her body charged and she should have known better but since she hadn’t had any lately she couldn’t resist.
As she was laying there on her side trying to relax enough to sleep she felt a rush across her back. It felt as if something had brushed against her and it made goose bumps on her back. It made her skin crawl. She couldn’t explain it. Weird feeling! She turned over and tried to sleep on her other side. It took most of the night for her to finally fall asleep but she did. She kept wondering about that last feeling. It was so strange. It was as if someone was being helpful and they rubbed her back to help her settle.
After all this, Jane decided to open all the windows and doors and smudge the place again. She asked everyone, all the many positive entities, to help rid the place of any ancient energy that had decided to stay. She walked all the rooms and told them to leave and told them that she lived there now. Get out and go to God, please! She also doused every room with holy water.
Her son was out but when he came back in that day he said the place smelled good and fresh so maybe it worked.
Here’s hoping that Jane has found some peace after all this.
Jo Ann Harris is an author, parent, book devotee, writer, copywriter, and film fanatic. She is an autodidact who learns about everything and rows her own boat. She grew up and worked in Atlanta, Georgia and lived there sixty years. She writes articles about love, hope, personal life stories, advice and poems. She is a published author with an article published in Woman’s World magazine in October 2017.