Goodnight Charlie

This is going back to my first experience with the paranormal and I am happy to say it was a good experience for me.

Firstly let me paint the picture for you, as a child growing up there was a very friendly old guy named Charlie who lived in the next street from me and our back gardens were facing each other. Back then there was only a small wooden fence separating the 2 gardens and I would stand chatting to Charlie while he tended his garden. He loved to grow rhubarb and would give some to my mum when it was ready. He would love to listen to what all us kids (there were 7 of us) had done at school and whatever we wanted to chat about and he would give us humbug sweets to eat. At night when we went to bed, my room (which I shared with 2 of my brothers Robert and Tim) faced Charlie's back bedroom and we would shout "good night Charlie" from the window and he would wave to us.

One day just before my 8th birthday I came home from school and found my mum in the kitchen crying with Charlie's daughter I can't recall her name now. I asked my mum why she was crying and she told me to sit down, she then told me that Charlie had gone shopping in the town centre and had just fell over and died from a massive heart attack. I was very upset by this news and ran to my bedroom and went straight to the window, looking into Charlie's garden and cried myself to sleep.

A few days later on the day of Charlie's funeral I told my mum I was ill and did not go to school, mum and a few others on the street went to Charlie's funeral and a family friend sat with me. I went to my room so I could say good bye to Charlie, as I stood in my window looking towards Charlie's house I said "good night Charlie sleep tight" and then I saw Charlie waving at me from his bedroom. I did not know what was happening I knew Charlie could not be waving at me but there he was waving and smiling just like normal.

I told myself I had imagined it and went down stairs to wait for my mum to come home, but that night I decided to say good night to Charlie again so I got my brothers to stand with me and say like we all ways used to "good night Charlie" we all saw Charlie waving back to us my brother Tim screamed Robert jumped in to bed and pulled the covers over his head I just stood there waving, mum came running in to see why Tim was screaming "Charlie's waving" I told her she looked but he had gone.

Mum told us we had imagined it and to get to bed but for the next week I stood and said "goodnight Charlie" from my window and he would be there waving. After a week it stopped Charlie was not there when I said goodnight it hurt but I knew that even though I could not see him that he would still be around, I don't know how I knew this at the time but I felt it.

I still think about him 29 years later when I get some humbug sweets or smell elastic band it always make me smile.

Thank you for reading my first (of many) story I hope you enjoy it as much as I have telling it