My Ghost

I never know when he will show up. There has never been a warning...no drop in temperature, no flickering lights...none of the stereotypical signs that you hear about in the movies or on TV. He just appears and then is gone. That was the case this morning when I was visited by my ghost.

I was preparing for work, and had taken care of all the important business of showering, dressing and eating, while the rest of my family still slept. I sat in front of the tv, half asleep as the news droned on about the latest shooting, apartment fire, car wreck, or whatever minor catastrophe had occurred during the night. It is amazing how the newsmen like to peddle gloom and doom, and how eager the public is to soak it up and gossip about it during the day. Anyway, I was almost asleep when I felt a presence. I startled awake, and sensed that I was being watched. I caught movement in the corner of my eye, and turned my head in time to see a man standing in the hallway. He was very old, and very silent. I saw no legs, just a torso and head. He was facing me, and as I was attempting to comprehend this impossible apparition, he turned away and I saw him move down the hallway towards the bedroom. I quickly walked across the kitchen to follow him, my heart racing, but as it has happened before he was gone. I felt no sense of danger. He was not there to harm anyone, only to watch. An overwhelming and profound sadness swept over me, pushing in on my lungs and burning my eyes. I returned to my chair and wept. He has visited me several times since he died. He never talks. He only appears, sometimes as a ghost, sometimes as spirit in the form of an animal. Sometimes I can even smell the familiar and completely distinct odors that I associate with his house as I grew up. I don't know why my Grandpa still stops in to visit, but I am glad he does.