Floating Face, A New Lesson

Slipping into sadness more and more. It's what the pre teens brought me. Not different from any other children my age. I had a lot of questions and had no answers. The last year had provided me two exorcisms preformed on me. My mother couldn't afford to be supportive anymore. After all she got an exorcism on herself at the age of sixteen to rid her of the family "curse". When the first didn't work on me she got a new priest. When the second didn't work on me, she assumed that I was too young for it to take any effect at all.

I can't think of a single person in their right mind who would do that to an eleven year old kid. But my mother swore it would help. No answers. All questions. And a "curse" that caused my mother and I to slowly lose each other. It wouldn't be until high school that we truly started to fight. But for now as a pre teen we would just stop talking. I would no longer have the only person who understood what I was going through there for me. Not with out being looked at as though I was a child of Satan himself. The experiences in the Claymore house rarely to never scare me as they had at my aunt's house or at the Tea Room. But every so often something that would happen would stick out to me.

I noticed that as I got older not only did things start to happen more often but they would also be much more sinister. Things started to scare me now. But instead of tears I would grow angry with them. And the tears would be of hatred and not fear. In North East Ohio, right on the side of Lake Erie we often dealt with lake effect snow and rain. Our old wires couldn't handle the kind of pressure that the weather would put on them. More often than not we would spend the year in darkness. Flashlights and candle's leading the way through the hallways. I still feared the dark.

One night my mother, sister, and I sat in the living room watching E.R. That of which was still my mother's favorite show. Having no TV's in mine or my sister's rooms just yet we were forced to watch what my mother wished. My father was out of town, more court. Anything his ex could think to make his life hell; would be another few days in Indiana for my father. The thunder and lightening outside kept my attention and made me smile. I loved that weather. I never understood why I knew what it brought. ZAP! I jumped and turned to my sister who sat next to me on the couch. "It's dark!" I yelled.

"Yeah I know, the power is out kid" I heard her snicker at my fear. My sister and I were always close but it didn't stop us from poking fun at each other. Poke fun. Never fight. My mother threw the remote to the other side of the couch "Damn it! Lyn" (the family middle name) "Go get those candles on the shelf in your room and the flashlight grandpa bought you" as if forgetting how I am in the dark. These days it was easier to do what my mother said than it was to argue with her. I did as told and stood I ran from the living room and down the hallway trying by memory not to hit any obstacles in my way.

Once or twice I stumbled over my own feet and used the wall for balance. My dog sat in the door way of the laundry room and watched me slowly sneak by. A few more feet; all I would have to go was a few more feet. A small pep talk and I was off. I ran to my room and was a foot in the door when my eyes caught a white floating face staring at me from just inside the door way.

I screamed and stood in place. Not that I was afraid completely, but more startled. It floated with a stiff upper lip, empty dark eyes, and flaring nostrils. My dog crept behind me and growled at the sight of the intimidator. My mother yelled back "What's wrong?" I bit my lip and caught myself from telling the truth.

"I fell, I'm fine" I growled back at her and turned back to the room. I had had it. I walked into the room and looked at the face. "Back off!" I spat. I turned my head for a second though everything inside of me was ready to burst out in tears. I didn't, I held my ground. And I grabbed the flash light off my vanity and as I turned back slowly there was nothing there. No face. I turned on the flashlight and let the beams twirl around the room. Nothing stood save my dog and a teddy bear in the corner.

I remember feeling some sense of relief. I told it to back off. I took control of one that made me feel scared and it listened. I thought at that moment things would be easier perhaps? I thought maybe all of them would listen to me like that. It turns out however that one had a lot of bark but no bite. My sister saw it too a few nights later. Then my mother after that. After that of course the church got involved once again.

I suppose this story wasn't scary. But it is very important in my growth of seeing spirits. This spirit taught me that they are not always, and don't always have to be in control and most the time they are really nothing to fear. This story was more of a personal lesson. Much like my first. Still see you next time in my Ghost Stories.