The apartment was perfect; it was in an old Victorian in a quiet neighborhood. I was a little daunted by the fact it was a third floor apartment, but I feel in love with it the second the landlord opened the door to show it to me.
The door opened to the kitchen which was a huge kitchen living area combined. The walls were painted a light yellow, with natural wood cabinets. There was a small pantry that I knew would be perfect for my ferret to keep her food, litter box and other treasures she liked to collect and hide. Abu, my ferret, is a little thief, thus the name straight out of Disney’s Aladdin movie. Moving from the kitchen there were two bedrooms, one that I planned on using for a pseudo office-library and the other would just be my bedroom. Both were good sized and had built in closets and dressers in the old style. I was in love with the apartment and gave Rick, my new landlord, a check for first, last and security. I was set to move in the following weekend.
I went back to my parents garage and loaded as much as I could into my Cabrio and headed back to my new apartment. I was so excited, I was also going to paint and hang up some of my favorite prints. I had a couple of Van Gogh prints I loved and I knew that “Starry Night” would be perfect in the office and “Sunflowers” would accent the kitchen perfectly. I ended up making several trips that night and got everything moved in except my bigger pieces of furniture which would be picked up by the movers Saturday morning.
As I was putting things away and cleaning up I thought I heard a noise behind me, but when I turned there was nothing there. I got back to
Unpacking and organizing when I saw something or someone out of the corner of my eye.
“Hello,” I called out cautiously. There was no verbal response, only the sound of footsteps running above me in the attic. I knew there was no one up there, the only access to the attic was through my apartment and I was the only one there. I went back into the kitchen after taking a look through the apartment. There was a surprise waiting there for me. The box I had been unpacking, which was still half full of dishes when I walked away, was no completely empty.
I was freaked to say the least. I ran to my cell phone and tried to call my new landlord. My cell phone, which had full signal when I arrived, was now showing me a “no signal”. I gave myself a little mental shake and told myself to get it together and went back to my unpacking.
I heard the noise behind me again as soon as I set back to work, and again when I turned there was nothing before me. I admit though I was a little sneak this time, I took a small mirror out of the box in front of me and placed it in such a way that I could see behind me. I went back to my unpacking and when I heard the small noise behind me again I took a look in the mirror. What I saw before me at that moment is something that I will never forget, even if I live to be one hundred-fifty years old. It was a full body ghost of a small older woman. I wasn’t sure what to do next.
But, I said hello, not turning around, looking carefully in my mirror. The spirit behind me spoke to me then, but the sound came more from in my mind than anything. She told me that she lived in the house, she had been raised there. Proceeded to raise her family there, and later after she had lived a long and happy life she died in the house, here on the third floor.
I told her that I meant no harm, and how much I loved the house. She told me that she knew and that she loved what I had done so far. I realized that she was harmless and made a mental note that I had to write about this for my job at the local magazine. Minutes later when I was getting ready to lock up and go back to my parents for the night, the woman had a final thought to share with me. She told me to tell my parents that she said hello, that she loved the man my father had turned into. I asked her then who she was, and she looked at me, straight on now, and told me that she was his grandmother
