Who Was He?

I can't say, like some people, that I saw or was afraid of something unknown watching me. However I can say that I grew up in a family where three of the six members reported feeling, seeing or hearing things.

Maybe it was because the three members that didn't were under the age of 10. An adult's active imagination? Possibly... But my sister, who was just two years older than me, recounts having spent terrifying, sleepless nights.

In the hallway next to the room we slept in, the door was missing. So my mom put up a curtain in order to give us some privacy. The hallway led to a closet and a bathroom. At night my sister would see the curtain moving as if someone was looking into the room. Then she'd hear feet moving down the short hallway and someone going through things in the closet. Eventually it would come back to pull the curtain aside and stand for what seemed an eternity to my sister, before dropping the curtain and moving on. This happened on and off for the next couple of years until my sister left home at the age of 16. I however never witnessed anything growing up there.

In this very same house my mother heard footsteps, moaning and the scraping of chains on the floor. Very classical ghost stuff, but then again my mother grew up in a family where everyone believed in ghosts, witches and hexes. My sisters and I were frequently entertained by mother's ghost stories as we grew up. This is why I attributed most of it to active imaginations. Until it happen to me.

I got married, moved away and had two kids. Then in 1978 my mother needed surgery. I came to stay and to help her out at home while she recuperated from surgery. I brought with me my new born and my toddler.

The night my mother spent in the hospital I remember it was bitterly cold. There was a cold draft that kept coming in under the door where we slept. I just couldn't get warm. To add to that the bed was too small for all three of us. I covered my children and decided to sleep in the hallway where the wall heater was giving off heat. Taking a pillow and a blanket I made myself comfortable with the warmth of the fire. I started to fall asleep when I felt something. I opened my eyes and saw the figure of a boy leaning over me. He was wearing white socks and a white under shirt tucked into his white boxers. Both his hands were on his hips and he was leaning forward as though he was ready to speak to me. His face was in the shadows but the lower half was illuminated by the heater light. It looked like my brother. What could he be doing watching me sleep? Propping myself up on an elbow I started to speak to whom I thought was my brother when suddenly he faded in front of my eyes. I felt a chill run up my spine. I got up and went back to the small bed with my children and cuddled all the while remembering a story my mother had told us.

She said ghosts and bad spirits would never go near babies because they have clean souls. I was banking on that!