Spirit Chronicles: Part 2

Quinn Brings Home a Friend

If you read Part One of this series and are still here, it means one of two things; either you are ready to believe that, perhaps, there is something to this afterlife thing, or you are bored out of your mind and find me highly entertaining. I’ll take either one.

Like the main character in The Apostle’s Fury, I, too, neither understand nor can anticipate when something freakishly weird will occur. And apparently, since everywhere is fair game, I cannot control it. There have been ‘dry’ spells throughout my life, times where nothing happens for months and months and then, bam! Casper and his friends make their presence known and the next thing you know, I’m cowering in the corner (OK, not really, I don’t cower…but it can be quite chilling!)

I read once that sometimes it isn’t a location that is haunted, but the individual. Which explains a lot. Like how I can be at a friend’s house or on the beach or, yes, even in a cemetery, and feel or sense something there.

Watching, waiting, sizing me up.

The incident in the hotel with the old lady—see Spirit Chronicles Part One—has been the only time I have seen spirit that appeared as solid and real as you or I. The remaining incidences involve translucent beings or orbs, snippets of conversations or, and this is really spine-chilling, a whisper or two directly in my ear. You haven’t lived until you are halfway through an episode of ‘Dexter’, feel a puff of hot breath in your ear, and hear a kids voice whisper “I can’t find my bike.”

Believe me, I tore that house apart looking for his damned bike. There was no bike.

In short, I have never mistaken any ghostly encounter for a live person, except for the naked broad on the bed. And one or two boyfriends were iffy on the pulse thing, but that’s a whole other story. Still, solid or not, I am aware when a spirit drops in for a visit.

Case in point…the girl in the Jeep. My Jeep.

This occurred circa 2010. It was a time of innocence, a time of family, a time of sweet and calming silence…

—pause here for dramatic effect—

…and I hadn’t seen or heard from the other side in months which, honestly, wasn’t a bad thing. There comes a certain point where, after being constantly bombarded with disembodied voices or lights flickering or electronics turning themselves off and on, you get as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Constantly looking over my shoulder, jumping at every noise, hair pointing in all different directions like a lunatic—a madwoman trapped inside the body of an ordinary mom.

It wasn’t pretty.

So I was enjoying my hiatus from all things paranormal when my oldest and I decided to take the Jeep to the grocery store. Full disclosure here? My children have all inherited some degree of ‘extra’, whether it be seeing spirit, tiptoeing around ESP and clairvoyance, or exercising their empathic abilities and sobbing during a Charmin commercial (although I think we’ve all shed some tears regarding toilet paper during this pandemic!) Even my grandmother had some degree of “fey” I am told.

The family that creeps together, keeps together, am I right?

Anyway, my child (who has major gifts of her own) and I went to the store to stock up. Halfway through the beverage aisle (BOGO on Pepsi cola 🤑), I see my daughter look at me quizzically, shake her head, and proceed to the next aisle. So automatically I’m thinking ‘judgy, much?’ as I piled the carbonated, empty-calorie goodness into my cart.

Kids can be so cynical.

When we completed our purchases, we packed everything into the back seat of the jeep and headed home. During the ride, we blasted the stereo, bopping to Lady Antebellum (who now call themselves Lady A because…well, I don’t really know why), when I glanced into the rearview mirror. (I’m an excellent driver 😉.) There, in the back seat, kind of hovering over the grocery bags, sat a teenaged girl of about sixteen. Long, dark hair, white billowing nightgown, and a broken, joyless expression on her face. I was slammed with all that sorrow, that sadness, in an instant.

Did I mention I could see through her to the fabric on the back seat? Yeah, there’s that.

I pulled my eyes back to the road (safety first!) and when I peeked at the mirror again, she had vanished. Several moments went by until, suddenly, my daughter realized I was no longer howling “It’s a quarter after one, I’m a little drunk…'" So, with the philosophy of “if there’s an elephant in the room, introduce it,” (which is a philosophy I love, btw), she asked what was wrong.

I hesitated. I always hesitate when I am going to share my crazy with my kids. I started with, “whelp, you aren’t gonna believe this but…” and ended with, “and I have no clue who this girl is. Never seen her before in my life.”

My daughter was silent for a moment but I could see the wheels turning. Finally, she spoke. “Ma, did you notice me looking strangely at you in the store?” When I nodded, she continued. “That’s because when I came to find you in that aisle, there was a young girl standing next to you. But when I turned for a second, then looked back, she was gone. In an instant.” She went on to describe, in uncanny detail, the teen I’d seen in the back of my car.

Yeah, I know…the hairs on the back of your neck are doing the Electric Slide about now, right? Me, too, and I’ve already lived this story.

Jeep-er’s Creepers. 🚙👻

So who she was, what she wanted, remains a mystery. I had never seen her prior to that day, nor have I seen her since. Wandering soul, perhaps? A “Buy healthy drinks, not teeth-rotting soda” ambassador from the other side? Whoever she was, I hope she’s found her way, I hope she is where she needs to be.

I hope she’s found peace.

So, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Proof positive that you don’t need to be in a dank basement or at a funeral home at midnight to see the dead.

Next time on Beyond the Veil: Spirit Chronicles, Part Three, we will explore that little boy who lost his bike, plus many more spirits, that visited in a 1899 Victorian home I owned a few years ago.