My friend Greg had just bought a new house right on the bank of a beautiful river. We had been friends since college, and I was really happy for him. I lived only about 10 minutes away from him, so some nights I would head over to his place, and we would sit on the wrap around porch, have a beer or two, and basically just hang out.
I remember one night I had gone over to Greg’s to watch a baseball game. After that was over, we made our way out to the porch like we usually did. The smell of lilac was heavy in the air, which made sense because the riverbank was lined with lilac trees on either side.
I looked out at the water and sipped my beer. Just at that moment, I noticed a man standing by the water. His face was pale white, and his hair looked dirty and gray. He looked like he also hadn’t bathed in about a month.
“Whoa” I said to Greg, “Are you seeing this too?”
I stood up from my chair to get a better look. At that exact moment, the man began to charge in our direction full force. He got right up to the bottom of the porch steps and snarled at us like a dog.
What the hell was this dude’s problem?
Before I could do or say anything though, Greg stood up from his chair and yelled at the man.
“Get the hell outta here, now!”
The man turned and ran straight back towards the water and disappeared in the lilac trees. Greg calmly sat back down and took a swig of his drink.
I just stood there, still not sure what the hell just happened.
“Uhhh, did you know that guy? I asked, slowly sitting back down into my seat.
Greg sighed, “don’t worry about that lunatic.” he said. “Shows up sometimes, just gotta shoo him away is all, here have another beer.”
“Uhhh, yeah, sure.”
Greg handed me another bottle. I opened it as we started to talk about the game we had just watched. A few minutes passed, and just as I was beginning to forget about the weird incident that took place, that strange man appeared again.
Once again he ran up to the bottom of the steps, just staring at us with a demented smile on his face.
“Can we help you, man?” I said, feeling a chill run down my spine.
“What did I tell you?!” Greg yelled furiously at the man. He leapt from his chair and ran towards the man, who turned and sprinted off towards the water again.
What the hell is happening right now?? I asked myself.
Greg and the man were long gone in the blink of an eye. I climbed down the steps and started jogging down towards the river. When I was about halfway there, Greg emerged from the lilac trees, panting and out of breath.
“Dude, what the hell was that all about?!” I said. “You could’ve been killed, just call the cops man, that weirdo isn’t worth getting hurt over!”
Greg sighed again. “I can’t call the cops” He said.
“Why not?” I was beginning to feel a bit uneasy.
“Because” he said.
“That man is a ghost”
I raised both of my eyebrows in disbelief. I was really worried about my friend’s mental health now.
“A, a ghost?” I asked.
“Yup. Every night he comes back. It doesn’t matter what I do, I can’t hurt him, and he won’t go away. Just the other night I woke up and found him standing at the foot of my bed at 3am.”
I stood there in disbelief, not knowing what to say.
“You see that lilac tree over there, the one with all the missing branches?” He said, pointing his finger in the direction of one of the trees, this one looked oddly naked, missing most of its purple flowers.
“Yeah” I replied.
“Some nights i’ll look out my window and see him snapping off the branches of that particular tree. I don’t know why.”
I continued to stand there, dumbfounded.
“Greg, are you doing ok man? If something is going on, I’d be glad to - “
“Why don’t you head on home man, it’s getting late” Gregg said, cutting me off.
“Greg, come on man.”
He just looked at me with an expression that told me he was no longer having this conversation. He wasn’t wrong, the moon was out and an eerie shimmer had begun to permeate everything. So, I told him to call me if he needed anything, and I started making my way along the side of the house, heading to my car.
As I went, I heard what sounded like a branch breaking. I turned and looked behind me. Off in the distance, I saw the strange man standing next to the bare lilac tree, smiling that deranged smile.
I ran to my car and called Gregg. He didn’t answer, so I left him a voicemail letting him know that I saw the guy and he should be careful, and call the police if he notices anything else.
And with that, I left.
Two weeks later, Greg was dead.
The day after his funeral, me and a couple other of Greg’s friends met up at his house to help pack up some of his things. I went to the backyard, and stood there, looking out at the water.
The lilac tree that was once missing it’s flowers was dead.
And so was my friend.