As a preface, while the story reflects on memories from an early age and contact between the ghost and the main character occurs, this is not sexual in nature and would more closely resemble that of siblings. No sexual contact described in this story conveys or is intended to be conveyed as occurring prior to all characters reaching and surpassing their 18
th
birthday.
Ghost in the closet
"Yes, mom, I'm good," I called out to her as I climbed the stairs to the second floor.
It had been years since I last made this trek. In from out of town, I was visiting my parents and rather than grab a hotel room, they insisted that my old room still had a bed, desk and dressers, making it available and free.
I had jumped at the prospect, hoping not to sound too eager. Not that I don't enjoy spending time with my parents, but being out on my own has drawn me towards the independenceΒ Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β Β that staying around them too much impedes.
It wasn't the money either. I have a good job and am more than able to cover my expenses and still have enough to save without looking like a pauper.
No. I was wondering if
she
was still there.
Heh.
She.
Just saying this out loud has me feeling a little crazy.
Not that I know her name, because I really don't. And not that I've ever seen her face. It's a little more complicated than that. But I've felt her touch more intimately than any person has ever touched me.
I guess I should step back and tell you how it started.
I was never really one of the popular kids in school. I was too buried in my books to really give 2 craps about what anyone else thought.
Average and invisible. Appropriate I guess.
Life consisted in its simplicity: School, chores, eating, sleeping. And my books. I was never really sure which of those led me to where we are right now. Maybe it was the invisibility of school. Who knows? Maybe it was some weird food I ate. Maybe it was my eclectic selection of HP Lovecraft and Steven King. God knows they like to play in the supernatural. Maybe it was the way I used to sleep. Or not sleep.
It was never really clear exactly when it all started. I would finish up my dinner, help clean up. I'd knock out my homework at the dinner table. Then I'd disappear to my room. Kill the lights, crawl into bed with just my little reading lamp at the headboard, and read till I fell asleep. That usually took a while as I've never slept well. There's always something more interesting than the insides of my eyes.
One day, half in, half out of sleep, I just sort of noticed it.
I was up against the wall. But my twin bed felt just a little too small.
I could feel the other side indented as if someone was laying there. I could feel the heat they were putting off, so I was sure it was my younger sister, crawling in for some comfort after a bad dream. I wasn't too concerned about it as there was no contact but as I woke further, I thought that I should at least wrap my arm around her and show some level of concern for her state of mind. She had a bit of a rough go of it for most of our childhood.
I rolled over.
There was no one there.
But more than that, the weight on the bed disappeared as I turned.
The moonlight was always coming thru my window, so I could see the room cloaked in shadows. Everything was where it should have been. Except maybe for the closet. That was cracked a little more than I remembered, but nothing that a strong gust of wind couldn't cause.
You see, in my room on the second floor, the closet ran under the slope of the house and was as long as my room was. It actually opened into attic space above the living room with normal venting to the exterior. It made the closet in my room cold in the winter and hot in the summer. This bled into my room through drafts. So, yeah, that definitely could be the reason for the door.
The odd thing about this feeling of someone being there wasn't odd.
It wasn't dΓ©jΓ vu. It felt normal. Like this wasn't the first time.
I remember that the normality of it all is what struck me as being odd the most.
But rather than fret about it, I just rolled back to facing the wall, pulled the covers up and conked back out.
The strange occurrence, the visitor if you will, didn't show again that night.
Shoot, it didn't happen again that month. Or even that fall. At least not that I remember.
But it did happen again.