“You want ghost stories? I’ve got one for you.” Elizabeth murmured, piling up the papers on the desk.

            Brianne bristled with excitement, “You do? Tell, tell!”

            Elizabeth blinked, shrugging as she took a deep breath, “Well, you see…”

~*~

            I always knew Nana, my grandmother, did not enjoy having, Alise, my sister-in-law around. She was not very fond of my brother either, but she could at least tolerate him. It seemed any time that Nana and Alise were in the same room, tension would skyrocket and the two would always start arguing. No one could have known that Nana would carry that dislike even in death.

            Alise* and Michael* had been going through a rather rough time financially. Finally, their landlord had seen fit to evict them, so rather than have them go out on the streets my mother and I allowed them to move in with us until they found another place. It was only going to be for a couple of weeks as they were finishing up paperwork on an apartment. Alise and Michael used the bedroom upstairs, my mother and I remained downstairs and things went smoothly for a few days.

            One day, they asked my mother and me if we had heard any strange noises the night before. They complained that it sound like someone had been walking heavily upstairs. My mother and I just grinned. We shrugged it off, explaining that it was probably just our resident spirit, Frank, and that he wouldn’t bother them. At first, they were a little hesitant to accept that, but eventually they did.

            A week had passed and they mentioned a few other happenings like things being moved. Each time, we just figured it was Frank being his mischievous self. Then, one day, Alise was at the house herself. Michael was at work and my mother and I were out running errands. We came home first to find Alise sitting on the front stairs saying that she was too freaked out to remain in the house alone. The noises had escalated to the point that it sounded like there were two people and they were fighting. She complained that they had been running up and down the stairs and that she just didn’t want to be there by herself.

            That night, I mentioned to my mom that perhaps Nana was still hanging about and perhaps she wasn’t very happy with Alise staying with us. We had had experiences with Nana before, so we knew she visited us once in a while and we didn’t think Frank would behave like that just because a couple of new people were staying with us. My mother admitted that she was beginning to get freaked out. She had been hearing the noises at night as well and she wasn’t used to that much activity. She mentioned about getting the house cleansed and I mentioned the possibility of smudging the house, a ritual that involves a stick of sage and while burning it walking around the house and waving the smoke over any sort of entrance way. I told her that while I was not familiar with the ritual, Alise was and she might feel better doing it as well. So the next day, we asked Alise if she wished to do the ritual for us and informed her that I could provide the sage. She readily agreed.

            That afternoon, everyone left Alise at home alone again, armed with my stick of sage. I had been in the middle of a shift at work when I got a phone call from Alise. She informed me that she had completed the first and second floors, but she was not going to do the basement without me and she would explain why when I got home. I agreed, hung up the phone and let out a soft chuckle. No doubt Nana was not happy about being kicked out by Alise and had done something to frighten Alise enough that she wouldn’t progress without someone there. It turned out I was right.

            We all gathered in the living room and Alise relayed the story to me. She had started at the top of the house, going over all the windows and door frames. Making her way to downstairs to the first floor, she did the same there as well. However, when she went to wave the smoke over the basement door, it didn’t just dissipate into the air like normal, but had been sucked around the door and into the basement. She informed me that the door had also begun to shake and at that point she decided she wouldn’t go any further without someone there. The only person she could think of that would be willing to go into the basement with her was me. I just smiled and nodded.

            So with everyone waiting in the living room, Alise gathered up her courage and we headed towards the basement. She started once again at the basement door and this time the smoke dissipated as usual. I went downstairs ahead of her, knowing she had to take her time and it would be easier to be out of her way. She was about midway down the stairs when I heard noises at the end of the hallway in the basement. I grinned, knowing that this was going to prove interesting.

            Alise had passed our fire alarm without a problem and was about five feet away when the alarm started to blare. I just informed Alise to continue going, that it was probably just Nana expressing her anger and that I would shut the alarm off. She continued on her way while I fiddled with the alarm until I got it to silence. As I came back around the corner, she turned to me and asked me if I heard something. I listened for a moment and nodded. There sounded like rustling coming from the one section of basement she hadn’t completed yet. I watched as Alise took a deep breath and continued on her way.  Finishing up the last door frame, she snuffed out the sage and we both returned back upstairs. The job was done, we just had to wait and see how effective it would be.

            About a week had passed and the house was quiet. There were no noises, no things being moved. The smudging was so much of a success that we didn’t even get the regular occurrence of Frank anymore. Everyone else was thrilled. However, I felt empty. It just wasn’t home without at least Frank. He had been there before we had even moved in and so it felt a little too much to me like we kicked him out of his own home. I swore I could feel him just outside wondering what happened, why he couldn’t go home.

            I brought up my concerns with my mom, asking her how she could stand the silence, the emptiness that was now our home. She explained that it was peaceful to her and that while she had gotten used to Frank, he still freaked her out occasionally. I asked her that if I could get Frank back, if she would be alright with it. She hesitated, but eventually nodded.

            I waited until after Alise and Michael left to move into their new apartment. I didn’t want any more problems in case Nana decided that she’d come back with Frank. I had spoken with a friend of mine, asking him if he was capable of allowing a spirit back into a home that has been cleansed through smudging. He informed me that he could, but that something else may come through that I didn’t want. I nodded, having already known that little fact and willing to deal with that when the time came.

            About a week later, when it was just my friend and me in the house, he began his ritual of opening the house to allow Frank in. Up until this point I had thought he would be capable of doing it, but as I watched him I couldn’t help but laugh. He looked like he was trying to imitate the witch doctors you see on T.V. I inwardly shrugged, deciding I’d let him do his thing, play along, and see where it takes me. If he didn’t succeed, I would just find someone else who would. I watched as he moved around my room, talking in some foreign, perhaps made-up, tongue. I couldn’t help but think that I needed a camera, he was just too funny.

            Finally, he paused, then started talking with me. He informed me that he found a spot that he could “open a portal”. I had to fight to hide my laughter as I told him to go ahead. That this was Frank’s home first and he deserved to be there. I watched as my friend went about the “opening”. After a few minutes, he turned to me again and said that Frank was back, that he had indeed been wondering why he couldn’t come home, but that someone else had also come through. He went on to say that this new person claimed to be an older gentleman, an uncle. I shrugged and explained that I only could think of one uncle who passed away and he was young when he died, but that there was a chance that there was one I couldn’t remember that was older. My friend asked me if I wanted to send him away or let him stay. I asked my friend if he was capable of confining the spirit to just my room, that way if it did prove a problem, no one else would be effected. He said he could and so I told him to let the spirit stay.

            After that night, my mother informed me that she could tell Frank was back and that he was back to his old tricks. I just giggled, happy that at least he was back. I was also worried. My friend apparently wasn’t lying, even with all the theatrics he succeeded in getting at least Frank back, but what of the other one? I hadn’t seen or felt anything from that one and it had been almost a week.

            It turned out that I was worried over nothing. The other one had indeed made it through and was indeed confined to my room. The only time I heard anything from it was always around two in the morning. I would wake up to something tapping out Morris Code on my lamp shade. At first, it freaked me out. I didn’t understand Morris Code, so I had no idea what was being tapped out and I got a very overwhelming feeling from this spirit. In my mind, I pictured the type of man that people would refer to as a “house with legs”. I got the impression of a very large build, broad shoulders and very muscular. However, I didn’t feel threatened, just a bit intimidated.

            The Morris Code continued for a few weeks. I finally got to the point that I would grumble that I didn’t understand what it was they were trying to get across to me so they had better find another method of communicating. One night, I guess the spirit decided to try something else. I was lying in bed, on my side as usual, trying to get to sleep. It always took me at least an hour of just lying there before I would start to fall asleep. As I stared at the wall, I suddenly felt a cold draft blow over my exposed shoulder. I sat up straight, looking around my room frantically. The window was shut, my door was too and the a/c wasn’t turned on that night. I finally shrugged it off as my vivid imagination and lay back down. I had to start trying to fall asleep all over again.

            The next night, the same thing happened. As I lay there trying to sleep, I felt the breeze over my exposed shoulder. Only this time, it felt more like a hand rubbing my arm. I groaned, rolling my eyes and thinking that that was not what I meant when I said to find a new way to communicate with me. Eventually I got used to being put to sleep with that new spirit stroking my upper arm. The Morris Code still woke me up occasionally, but no where near as much as when it had first begun. And Frank was home. The house felt like home again, filled with spirits of the living and those that had passed on.

~*~

            “…and that’s what happened.” Elizabeth finished, slipping the gathered papers into the file the stack belonged in.

            “Wow, I wish I had experiences like that.”

            “Heh, you can have one of mine.” She grinned, getting back to work.