Hi, I’m new to this subreddit but I wanted to share with you a little personal story that happend to my brother and I around last years summer. Just for you to know, English is not my first language, so sorry if there might be some typos or gramatical errors, I’ll try my best to tell you this story with the upmost detail and clarity. But without further a do, here’s the story.
People say ghost’s and spirits like to roam the places they had the most connection with in life, like the places they had their most precious belongings in or the paths they commonly went through in their daily life. They stay here to try and fulfill something they left unfinished in their earthly times, that’s what keeps them attached to this world.
One day, at the end of summer, my mother asked my brother and I if we could stay over the night at my grandma’s place to receive a package that had to be delivered at around that time. Nobody would be able to answer the door if it arrived, my uncles that also lived there both were working at that time, and my granny had Alzheimer’s so it was dangerous for her to answer the door to a complete stranger. This story would not have happened if we had said no to the request, but since we both had nothing to do on that week and sharing some time with our grandmother didn’t sound like something bad at all, we both said yes.
We travelled from our hometown to the nearby city so we could stay the night at her house, she had lived there almost all of her life since she was a little girl, so that house has some brutal and heartbreaking stories.
When we arrived at the front door, suddenly, I started to feel a mild headache, that, overtime, started to feel more and more impossible to ignore. My brother on the other hand didn’t feel much more than joy for seeing our grandmother after a long long time. We were both happy in the end to spend some time with her.
Everything went fairly normal that day, we even had lunch and dinner at the table and saw some movies on the tv. Other than the constant headache I had all along that day everything felt right. This would change at night though.
It was time for us to choose our beds, and since it was a small sized house, there weren’t a lot of options. I chose to sleep on the couch, and my brother chose the room at the left end of the hallway. The room my brother chose has always made us uncomfortable. In that room, there’s a big window, without curtains, that faces the backyard. That window has always creeped us out since at night it’s pitch black and you can barely see anything outside the house, that means that whatever it’s outside that window cannot be seen. He was hesitant at first, but since it was the only room with a bed, with the exception of my grandma’s and uncle’s rooms, he finally succumbed to the idea.
It was bedtime already so we both headed our directions and went to sleep. The night passed like a train and from my side everything went fairly normal, I watched my phone to fall asleep and had a good night’s rest. Until, suddenly, I was awakened early by my little brother begging me to sleep beside me. I asked why, but I couldn’t understand what he was saying, so I just fell asleep right again.
In the morning I saw him wide awake there sitting on a chair, he clearly didn’t sleep much last night. I asked him once again if something bad had happend. As I made that question, I saw a look of fear in his eyes, as if he had seen something terrific happen. The he told me.
After we both went to bed he had trouble falling asleep, specially while having that window beside him, he just rolled side to side on the bed looking for a good position to fall asleep with till he finally closed his eyes. This placid feeling wouldn’t last long as he was awakened by the out of breath voice of an old man whispering “God knows my pain”. His heart pounded fast, just as the heart of a gazelle being chased by a lion. In the corner of that room, a predatory presence stood still, laying his malevolent eyes upon him. The sound and beating of his heart was all there to be in the black room. He couldn’t actually see what was there standing, but he felt that if he moved it would know he was awake. So, like that, he lied still all night long till the sun rised above, so he could go to me and feel a little more peace by my side.
When he told me all of this, a shiver ran through my spine, as I knew the truth, I knew who he really was.
I never met my grandpa, all I know from him is what my mother has told me over the years about him, contrary to my brother who doesn’t know nothing about him I know my fair share of stories. One day he arrived bloodied and bruised to the house, the cops had beaten him till he could barely move anymore, he barely made it to the front door. For context, my country went through a violent dictatorship around that time and it was normal for this kind of incidents to happen, getting beaten this badly or even to death by the police or military was a common occurrence in those cruel times. So when my grandpa entered his house, everyone knew he didn’t have long till he gave his last breath. His insides were mashed and destroyed, and all they could do was stand beside him on his deathbed. He pushed through two weeks of constant agony, probably asking god to ease his pain since he was a religious man, till he finally heard him and ended his misery. He left 5 children at the care of my, at that time, abusive grandmother.
Remember what I told you about ghost’s and their connection with this world? Well, there’s nothing my grandpa loved more than making furniture. He loved sanding, and sculpting, and everything he did in his shop. That workshop was located in a far room at the left end of the hallway. The place were my brother had slept.
Some days passed and the package finally arrived at the house. We headed to our town shortly after, and although my headache disappeared not much time after we left the city, this event will always inhabit my head.