I was about fourteen at the time and it was a Saturday night. My sister, my mother, her partner and I had been out together to the cinema, then a restaurant. We usually did that on the weekend, I think my mum's partner was trying to impress us. After dropping us home, he went back to his own flat.
The rest of us went to bed, as it was quite late. My sister fell asleep immediately and I, as usual, was left awake, struggling to sleep - I've always had insomnia.
After a few hours, I got out of bed to go on one of my regular nightly wanderings, maybe get a snack, watch t.v, fall asleep on the sofa. I did this pretty often, the sofa always seemed more inviting then my bed. So, on my way past my mum's room, I noticed the door was ajar, so I thought I'd check she was asleep. The room wasn't too dark - there was a street lamp outside the window so I could see quite clearly. I saw my mum was curled up, asleep, right up by the wall. On the other side of the bed, however I saw a man, laying as if propped up by pillows, on top of the covers. As soon as I saw him, I jumped back behind the door, as the way he was facing suggested he was awake and looking directly at me.
I immediately assumed it was mum's boyfriend, as he looked about the same skinny build, rounded shoulders, same square face and wavy hair. I couldn't see the facial features that well, I didn't look for long enough.
I took another look, to make sure I was seeing right - I was sure that my mum's boyfriend had left, I heard him go. When I looked again, the man was still there, in the same position, but not giving away whether he had seen me or not. Again, I jumped back, and again I took another glance, to make sure it was definitely him. Who else could it be? It looked like him. But why was he laying like that? Sort of, half sitting up looking directly forwards.
Well, I just assumed that my mum had sneaked him back in somehow, and as I wasn't sure whether he was awake or not, I went back to bed. In my room, I looked out the window to see if I could see his car outside. I couldn't see it, so I thought he must of parked around the corner.
I read for a while, and went to sleep.
The next morning, I got up and told my sister about the night before. We both decided to confront them, and marched directly to my mum's room, where he was gone, and she was awake, in bed. We asked her about her boyfriend, and she was confused saying we'd seen him leave last night. Obviously we didn't believe her, and questioned her endlessly until she finally got angry and demanded to know why she would lie about him being there. It's not like we had a problem with him.
I told her what I saw and she was genuinely scared. At first she didn't believe me, but when she realized I was serious, we all got a bit scared as I repeated my story. They asked the usual questions, could I have been dreaming - no, I didn't go to sleep - am I sure about what I saw - most definitely, was as clear as I could see my mum in the same bed, like a normal, solid person.
It was only a couple of days later, when I was thinking about it, that I took a bit more notice of the picture of my mum's dad, who had died when she was fourteen, on the shelf. Wavy hair, square face, kind of skinny, round shoulders...
My mum once went to a clairvoyant, just to see what it was like, about a year or so before I saw this. She was her father's favorite and had been most effected by his death. The clairvoyant told her that her dad was often with her, and liked to watch over her while she slept. Could it have been him that I saw?
I don't really believe in ghosts, but I know I didn't dream or imagine it. What else could it have been? I would be really interested to hear what other people think about my experience. My mum truly believes it was her dad, what do you think?
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