A little over ten years ago I lived in a maisonette with my ex-girlfriend (a visual artist), and her pet cat. My ex never talked about the supernatural back then. Before she met me, she had an experience late one night, while cycling over a bridge, that terrified her. So, knowing that, I rarely brought it up in conversation around her.
The incident that my story relates to took place one Sunday afternoon while I was seated with my ex on the lounge room sofa. While she sat beside me, preoccupied with her sketching (back then she was into drawing and painting), I stared at the television screen deep in thought. The television was not on, so I was just staring at the blank screen in one of my reflective moods.
Before long, I detected a slow, deliberate movement just beneath the television. The glass door to the cabinet swung open all by itself. I watched with amazement as it moved back as far as it could go in complete silence. My first thought was not for myself, but my ex. I knew that if she had seen it she would've screamed. Luckily, for her, she hadn't seen it. She was still busy sketching in her large sketchbook. I breathed a sigh of relief and remained still on the sofa while my mind ticked over trying to solve the occurrence in a rational way.
How did the glass door to the cabinet just swing slowly open like that?
I knew that the door had a magnetic lock, which made an audible click whenever the cabinet door came into contact with it. There was also an audible click when the door was released, but on this occasion there was complete silence. I heard no click and there was a slow, deliberate movement when it opened. I looked over my shoulder and casually glanced at the windows, while pretending to look outside so as not to disturb my ex. The windows were shut. There was no draught, no breeze, nothing.
I then stood up and slowly made my way over to the cabinet. I pretended to pick out a video, while busy looking for her pet cat. I wanted to make sure that she was not behind the television. She wasn't. She wasn't even in the room.
I walked back to the sofa and sat back down quietly. My mind working in overdrive about what I'd just seen...
A week later I'd almost completely forgotten about the incident when I was on the phone to my mother. We had our usual catchup to see how the family were, and so on. I lived in a different part of the world, and rarely went back to see them, so most of the news updates I received about my family was through her.
She told me that she'd been to a clairvoyant recently, somebody who she liked to visit sometimes. The clairvoyant told her that my grandfather had paid a visit to see me recently.
My grandfather died in 1994.
My heart began to pound suddenly as I recalled the incident just that week before.
Was it him who caught my attention by opening the glass door, taking care not to disturb my ex? Making sure that it was just me that noticed?
All rational explanations seemed to vanish into thin air as my mother's news from the clairvoyant sunk in.
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I agree, 'MizMiMi02', with your view on short stories. 😊
In answer to your question, 'geetha50', I remember telling my mother straight off after she told me about her visit to the clairvoyant. It was her telling me about what the clairvoyant said about my grandfather's visit, that refreshed my memory about the incident the week before.
Due to its subtlety, I would have forgotten about it otherwise or simply dismissed it. What my mother said to me over the phone, tipped the balance of that incident in favour of me believing it to be paranormal. I can dismiss situations in a rational way up to a point, after that it becomes a?.