Hello; I am looking for help to put my dead brother to rest. To start, let me give some context. Growing up, my brother and I were inseparable. We did almost everything together. We played video games, watched cartoons, ate food, did homework, and did pretty much everything else together. One thing my brother liked a lot was the occult and the mysterious. We read stories about Bigfoot, Aliens, and the Loch Ness Monster, but what he liked the most was stories of the undead. Zombies, Poltergeists, Spectres; you name it, he liked it. I never got into it as much as him (and was a bit scared by it), but I still liked being with him, so I went along with it.
As we got older, we went to college together, though we did take different classes. There was no degree in the Occult, so my brother decided that he wanted to be a horror author. He also took a few minors, but he never told me what they were. By the way, to understand something later, let me clarify something. While we shared almost everything, we only shared almost everything. One thing that my brother kept secret was a journal with a lock on it. Anyways, as we went through college, I began to notice that he was writing in his journal more and more, until he had to get several journals. Once, he left his journal open, and I peeked at it and saw something about restless spirits. However, as a nice brother, I told him that his journal was open instead of reading it. If only I had began to read it earlier.
Fast forward to about two years ago, about 25 years after college; we had been separated because we had different jobs (though we always stayed somewhat in contact). We both ended up doing well, so we could be independent (neither of us married). I had a much more successful job than he did (I won’t say what my job was, since the story isn’t about me), but he was happy writing horror stories, and that’s all that mattered.
However, one day, the worst thing possible happened. As he went out for an evening walk, he got hit by a drunk driver. I tried to leave work as early as possible to see him in the hospital, but I was too late. I went to his funeral alone, since my parents had passed away by then. He left what little he had to me.
After that, I began to see him. I first saw him when I drove by the cemetery he was buried in, near a tombstone. I rushed out of my car, but he was gone after I shut the door. I told one of my few friends, but he said that I was probably dealing with trauma and should see a therapist. I decided to go to a therapist for a while, but the guy there seemed to only care about my money because he always just tried to write me off as crazy and told me to take pills. I tried the pills once, but I just felt different. Besides, if it was just a hallucination due to trauma, why did I still see him a while after he died? In fact, I began not only to see him, but to feel him.
At first, I was happy that my brother was back, but I began to get an uneasy feeling as time went on. It was as if he was a restless spirit. I struggled to sleep, saw him constantly, and sometimes would be paralyzed with something when I saw him. My boss began to notice this about three months after my brother first started showing up, but due to my being a good employee, he decided to try letting me have a break due to stress. When that did nothing (my brother wasn’t just going to vanish, obviously), he decided to ask me about my behavior. I told him, and he told me that I seriously needed to see a therapist. I already knew that therapists just wanted my money, and I was getting close to retirement, so I just decided to retire so that my boss wouldn’t feel the need to deal with me.
I have felt nothing positive when my brother comes around. He always stares at me when I try to sleep, and I always felt like there was something I needed to do. One day, however, he put an idea into my brain. “Read the journals.” I found them, but I couldn’t find a key. A hammer worked just as well, though I did sprain my wrist for a few days. I poured my efforts into reading his journals, but it just seemed to be horror stories. No, there must be something there. A puzzle? It must be something to set his spirit to rest. I haven’t found the answer yet, but I will spend the rest of my retirement looking for an answer if I need to, which is a part of why I wrote this all down. Can anyone (who is serious) tell me anything they know about putting spirits to rest? I might send a copy of his journals to anyone who asks, but they might be too large to send digitally, and I only have one physical copy of each journal. If you want other details, I can tell you in the comments. Many thanks to anyone who helps me.