I was once like you, a non-believer. I believed only that which I could feel, touch, taste, hear or smell. I
believed in the tangible, not the supernatural. Imagination in the mind of writer's and movie producer's
make millions and thrill millions, but that's all that it is. Our fears, insecurities and uncertainty... ahhh yes,
the "what if's" prowl our sub-conscious...they become our nightmares! The nightmares that awaken us in
the darkness of our bed, when we feel the invisible hands clawing to take us away into their world.
Like you, I had a hunger for that which thrilled yet terrified me. But after the last page was read, after the
movie ended, I always came back to my world...a world where I was glad to return. So begins my journey
that August morning, much not unlike your day, I'm sure. But I was mistaken! I can't remember how I got
there, or when I got there, but there I was...standing in a field of green grass, staring at the old house! trees
were swaying, the sun warm against my face, as I felt chills run up and down my spine. I felt myself arch
my neck as the goose bumps sent a warning to stay away!
I nervously looked around, and I saw no path that led me to this place, I saw no road, no other familiar
things that would tell me where I was. The house was old, weathered and without windows! I felt like
my mind was in a panic, as I desperately tried to remember the last thing I could recall before I found
myself here...but I couldn't remember anything. Not a damned thing as I felt tears flowing down my cheek.
I wanted to look away from the house, but couldn't. I wanted to run away. From what I did not know!
But I felt something within me, compelling me, commanding me to stay! I nearly jumped out of my skin
when suddenly, something unseen, "nudged" me toward the house! The push I felt wasn't forceful, but
persuasive...and I walked with hesitation toward the doorway. I studied the house closely, and saw that
there were two parts to this house. The first part was one story, with the second part added on later, and
it was two stories! Trees surrounded the house and it's branches looked like arms, holding it up, so it
wouldn't collapse.
The porch itself had rotted away years before as I placed my hand on the side of the door frame. How
odd I thought that there was no door. Within the room I peered, and amidst the shadows was rotted
debris. Decayed possessions that once were someone's belongings, their home. This had been a living
room, and far in the back had once been the kitchen. To my right was the doorway leading to the second
half of the house.
It was at that moment, that I heard a voice...or did I? My ears strained to hear the sound again; but I heard
only silence. I wasn't even sure of where the sound had come from. I looked behind me at the yard, the
trees, and hillside in the distance. I saw nothing and no one. I stood in that doorway, hesitating, wanting to
run...run away as fast and as far away as I could. But a part of me also wanted me to stay! To put the pieces
of this strange puzzle together, to find out why I was here? Why could I not remember coming here, or how
I got here, or why?
Suddenly a bitter coldness wrapped around me... like a blanket and I put my arms around myself and rubbed
my shoulders. As I exhaled, I could see my breath, as if it was winter. Then, as suddenly as it felt ice cold, the
sensation was gone. As I tried to figure out if I was still asleep and this was a bad dream; I saw shadows race
across the floor. Shadows so fast, so elusive, my eyes couldn't catch up to them! I looked down at my wrist
and pinched myself with two fingers and winced in pain! I wasn't dreaming.
The I heard the soft, quiet voice of a small child behind me and I turned around. I was staring at a golden
haired girl in a white dress, next to roses in the flower bed almost as tall as she. Her eyes were deep brown
pools of sadness, and her gaze mesmerized me. She wore a hat with a flower on it, and I walked toward her.
When I approached, she began to walk backwards, so I stopped. Her lips didn't move but I heard her voice
as clearly as if she had of spoken with her lips.
"You are lost aren't you? So am I!" I nodded and replied..."Yes I am and I'm scared"! She smiled a little
smile, the kind of smile that would make any ground up smile! "This is not a nice place, you should leave.
I wish I could too, but I don't know where I would go". I sat down on the green grass, and motioned her
to sit down too. With reluctance, I watched her sit down. "How long have you been here, little one? What
is your name?" It wasn't long before the small child was talking ninety miles an hour, like she hadn't shared
a conversation with anyone in a long time.
I asked her if she had walked over to the hill in the distance...if she had seen a road, a car, a town? She
gave me the saddest of looks, as she whispered; "It won't let me leave! I know it won't let you leave either"!
As she spoke those words, a fear went through my soul, an eerie feeling, a feeling I can't describe, but I'll
never forget. "It won't let you leave"; I asked! "Who won't let you leave"? She pointed to the second story
of the old house, to the attic blinds. "It won't let anyone leave"! Suddenly other's appeared near us...people
of all ages and races, all wearing the same sad expression she did.
A grand motherly looking woman reached her hand down and touched my shoulder and spoke to me with
sure a warm, kind, southern accent. "None of us know how we got here, we have no memories of the past.
For us, there is no future...there is only here. We are bound to this place and cannot leave. We have tried";
and as she said those words, so many other's looked towards me and nodded! As I looked up at the woman,
I placed my hand on top of hers, but saw that I was instead, touching my shoulder!
I climbed to my feet, afraid, as she spoke to me. We are nolonger alive, we are spirits, but you, you are
still alive! We can see and sense your living life. We do not know how or why you are here, but you don't
belong here, you must go. You must try to leave"! "Noooo, I cried, this can't be happening" I cried! Then,
I watched as the little girl walked up to me and asked me to touch her cheek. As I did so, my hand passed
right through her.
Reality began to sink in as if I had been struck by a freight train! I was in a ghostly place of spirits, a place
I didn't want to be in, a place I didn't know how to escape from. Then my thoughts returned to what she
had told me just moments before. "It won't let anyone leave"! I brushed away my tears in anger, and asked,
"Where is the coward who keeps you here...where is he"? Everyone was looking at me like I was crazy to
speak such words. No one said a word, but all of their eyes looked upwards to the attic.
I turned and made my way to the doorway, the doorway that I once hesitated at. But this time, there was
no hesitation. I walked right in, and made my way around debris to the second room, and saw the stairway
was torn away into pieces. There was no other way to reach the second floor, or the attic. But I would not
be cheated from cconfronting that which I clearly felt was evil! "You do not scare me...you do not make me
afraid of you! It is you who is afraid. Why else would you remove the stairs so I cannot face you"?
Suddenly the room swirled around like a tornado, and boards and debris were flying all around me. I could
feel the horrible roaring wind and the stench of death, but I was not being harmed. Before me, invisible hands
rebuilt the stairs and banisters until they looked brand new. All the way to the velvet carpet, my shoes walked
upon, to the walls freshly painted. When I reached the second floor, I saw blood stained walls, claw marks
dug into the walls, and sensed death was strong in this room. Each room showed signs of anger and violence,
agony and torment. Shadowed faces pressed from the walls, crying out before they returned to the walls.
When I stood before the last remaining door, I knew that it was the door to the attic. I tried to turn the knob,
but the door did not open. I had never felt such anger in me before, as I shouted "Coward"! My words echoed
with a thunderous roar, so loud my hands cupped my ears in pain! Then the door opened, and in the dimness
of the light from the windows, I saw blood stained steps before me. In a low, muffled sort of snide voice, I
heard him mock me, "I fear no one, come to me"! He had issued the challenge and I was happy to oblige him!
I wore no crucifix, I carried no bible, I had no supernatural weapon to protect me, or defeat him. But that
didn't stop me from wanting to fight for my soul, and for the souls he held prisoner in this place. The light
retreated with each slippery step I took on blood stained steps. Only the hand rail kept me from slipping
and falling to the bottom of the 13 steps. Upon reaching the 13th step, the only light seen was from the slats
I had seen outside. I stood there defiantly, waiting...and waiting even more. Still, I saw and heard nothing.
Finally, I began to tap my foot impatiently on the floor. Before I could utter a word, before me appeared a
blackness, a cloud of blackness like nothing one would ever see in a pitch black room.
"Why are you here", it bellowed? "You are not like the other's! I kept silent. Not because I didn't have
an answer! So...I said the only thing I could say. "I am here to take the souls of these people back with
me"! The room thundered and shook so violently, it was all I could do to keep my balance and not fall to
the floor. On and on the room shook as dust fell upon me from the rafters above me. When the shaking
and thunder faded, so did the cloud of darkness. In its place a figure appeared. But in the dimness of the
attic, I could not see it's face nor describe it. Perhaps it was better that I could not see that which I was
truly afraid of.
We stood there, an arms length apart, good v. evil, neither wavering in our defiance! It was not me who
struck the first blow though...it was he! In the blink of an eye, I was struck by something with such a force
that I felt the room spinning. But at that same moment, the attic burst into a million particles of fiery light. I
closed my eyes because of the intense brightness! When I opened my eyes, I found myself no longer in the
attic of the old house, but instead, a large cemetery.
As I looked around, from left to right, were dozens of people's souls, many of whom I recognized had
stood outside the old two story house. But this time, I saw no sadness in their eyes, no tears of anguish.
I saw kind smiles! The little girl with long blonde hair walked up to me to took my hand in hers! Her
hand was soft and warm, as she looked up at me with bright blue eyes. "We can never thank you with
more then words for setting us free, and for that we are sorry. Perhaps it will be enough for you to know
we will never forget the unselfishness to help set us free"!
I saw tears flow down her cheeks and felt my tears upon my cheeks! Before I could speak, the souls I
had helped set free, began to rise toward the heavens and they waved good-bye to me. As the little girl
began to rise, she pointed her hand behind me, and I turned and saw a stone archway that had a bright
light in its center. I heard her voice softly echo... "Your way home begins there, it's not your time yet...
Good-bye"; and she was gone.
Anxiously I wiped my eyes, it was so hard to see anything at that moment. I didn't know what was
waiting for me "on the other side" of the arch way. I didn't know if I would be in my own world, my
own bed, I just didn't know. All I did know was that it wasn't my time"! I walked over to the stone arch,
with the doorway size opening of glowing light. I let my fingers barely touch the light and felt its warmth.
I was not afraid. I wiped the last tear away and stepped into the light.
© 2006 Raymond Cook (All rights reserved)
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