All names have been avoided to protect the identities of those I love, and wish to avoid causing them any more stress then they already have to deal with.
I am going to begin with some background information. January 2009, I was at my concert choir practice on a Saturday morning when I found out something had happened. I was not given details, but was told to go with my sister who was waiting outside for me. I arrived at my house to come face-to-face with a room full of faces of grief and loss, and found out my childhood best friend and her parents had been brutally murdered by their schizophrenic adopted son.
We all suffered from the event, but my brothers fiance took it the hardest. These people were her close family. The girl was her little sister and the parents were her parents as well. She has carried this grief with her even to today, putting strains on both her professional and personal life.
Back to what happened on Sunday, March 11, 2012. I had spent the whole day at my brother's house. My sister-in-law was excited and happy, this being the first day in a week that she had not had a panic attack. We went to grab some groceries around 10 P.M and came back and started unloading them. She handed me some items and asked me to take them upstairs and put them in her room. I grabbed them from her and made my way up the dark staircase. I entered her room and turned the light on, walked over to the bed and set the items down. That was when I noticed the Dream-catcher I bought her for Christmas was spinning above me. It was connected to the fan that was turned off, and the windows were shut, meaning there wasn't a draft in the room. I just shrugged it off and made my way to the door. I turned the light off and began stepping outside of the room.
That was when I saw them. Opposite of their room is a huge mirror. In my reflection I saw my sister-in-law's parents standing behind me with their hands on my shoulders. Their faces looked down on me with horribly sad expressions, but their faces were not as I remember them. They were bloody with holes all over them, which I assume symbolized the way they died. I ran down the steps without looking back and quickly told my sister-in-law nothing was wrong when she gave me a worried look.
I spent the remainder of the night on edge, impatiently awaiting the arrival of my mother to come and take me home. I wouldn't dare say anything to my brother or sister-in-law about what I saw, out of fear of how they may react. I personally don't think my sister-in-law could handle any more stress. I paced back and fourth between the kitchen and the front door, peaking out to see if my mother had arrived yet. It was the third or fourth time I was at the front door that I turned around and saw "her" gliding down the steps. My sister-in-law's sister, my childhood friend, and the girl that I fell in love with. She slowly went down the steps, her expression locked onto mine. She had one of those smiles I used to adore, but she looked just like her parents, covered in blood with holes all over. I walked over to the kitchen without looking back and just stayed there, hiding my feelings underneath to avoid scaring my sister-in-law.
I don't know why they decided to show themselves to me, but I have a couple of ideas. My first idea is that they chose to show themselves to me in hope that I would talk to my sister-in-law. She has carried them deep within her everyday, crying daily and just not letting go. I completely understand that it must have been hard for her to lose almost everyone she had ever loved, but she won't let go. I feel that her parents and little sister are stuck with her until she finally learns that she cannot hold onto them forever. They want to leave, but refuse to leave her in her current state.
The second idea I came up with was a more scientific idea. I thought maybe the Dream-catcher triggered a memory deep inside of my brain and threw itself into my thoughts as I looked into the mirror. Maybe my mind created the image because I was thinking about it subconsciously. I am not sure about how that works, it was just a guess.
One last thing I would like to say before I finish is that I have recovered from the loss. I, too, felt great suffering when I lost those three individuals, but I eventually got over it. Not a day goes by that I don't think of them, but I was happy to think that they were in a better place. This appearance really worries me, it makes me think that they are not in a better place. They are stuck with my sister-in-law until she finally recovers from the accident.
Please give me any advice that you can. It will be greatly appreciated.
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