I Live in a Haunted House

I live in a haunted house. Some evenings I have a ghost in my room. The ghost wakes me up by tickling my feet in the early hours of the morning. Feelings get muddled up because I should be scared with a woman walking up and down the hallway.

I feel terrified by her presence but can’t stop being interested in her will to remain in the house. She waits in the hallway for Fred her husband to come home. Twice now I have felt her looking for Fred. She wears dresses that have buttons made from shell and her hair is thick with the dampness of a humid summer night. Trailing from her ears are earrings made from emerald glass; glass that catches any light coming through the window, framing her head in a faint glimmer of green and turquoise. Green is a colour of friendship but I think she wakes me to tell me to leave her room. The only way she will leave is if Fred returns from overseas in good health.

Fred died overseas from gassing in the gutters of war. In the war Fred returned to Headingley Hospital to recover from the gas inhalation. The young nurses helped Fred everyday, taking him to the gardens outside to relax in the frigid air of country England. Too much damage was done to Fred’s lungs so he tried to end his existence by gassing himself with the treatments used at the hospital. When they found him he was having a fit on the floor which damaged his tummy too much. He could not eat anymore so started to starve to death.

Under his bed was a bag that contained his home address and letters from his wife. The bag though was damaged during a storm that shattered the windows and drenched the room in water; too much to recover the belongings within.

Years pasted back in Australia and Fred’s wife never heard anything from her husband. She waited everyday in the house but no news came back about Fred. Only sorrow was felt in her heart. To this day she knows nothing of Fred so every night she walks the hallway looking out for Fred.

If you have a ghost in your house, then ask it why it can’t rest in peace.

Only don’t let your feet go out from the blanket, or there will be a tickle at night.