Haunted Happenings

by Lucrezia Black

  Babs nodded in agreement. “That’s a lovely idea.” She picked up her tea mug and downed half of its contents. “Where should we start looking?”

  Bradley seemed to consider this for a moment. His eyes filled with confusion and he looked as though he was trying to remember where she would have gone. “I think…I think…” he mumbled searching for an answer.

  “Take a minute, dear, and try to remember. We’re in no hurry.” Babs sent her husband a sideways glance. This wasn’t exactly how she’d planned on spending her morning, but she’d always been good at rolling with the punches.

  Ken nodded in agreement. “Why don’t you drink some of your tea? It’ll clear your mind a bit.”

  Bradley stared down at the mug but made no move to touch it. He chewed on his lower lip and tried to remember where he’d last seen his wife. There was a great fog around the details when it came to her. There was always a fog. He tried to sort through it and find an answer.

  “She went to the store…” he said with some level of uncertainty. “She said that we needed milk.”

  He looked from Ken to Babs, hoping that they might confirm his assertion. Both nodded reassuringly.

  “Well there’s only the one local store,” Ken stated, looking to his wife for confirmation. “At least we don’t have to eliminate a bunch of options.”

  “True.” Babs sent Bradley a smile. “We’ll find your wife. Don’t you fret, dear.”

  Bradley nodded slowly but it was almost as though he wasn’t fully comprehending what they were saying. It was almost as though he wasn’t really present in the moment, in the conversation.

  Ken shrugged it off as the man simply being distraught. After all, he’d lost his wife.

  It was still concerning that he’d breached the inner sanctum of the cottage. It was still worrisome that Babs had found him sitting at the kitchen table as though it was the most normal thing for him to be doing in the morning.

  Ken would have to invest in better door locks. Perhaps get a dog. Not that they’d ever turn away someone who needed help. They wouldn’t turn away someone who needed shelter or a warm meal. And they certainly weren’t going to turn away Bradley away, but that didn’t mean they wanted people to break into their house.

  Still, at the present moment he felt compelled to help this man. He knew nothing about him aside from his name. He couldn’t explain it. He needed to help the man. He needed to help him find his wife.

  Some things in life are not to be explained, he supposed, and this was one of them. So, they would do what they could for the man and then hopefully he’d go on his way. Ken’s charity only went so far.

  The Woman in Grey

  They set off together on an adventure to the local store. It took a several minutes to walk into the village which wasn’t a great distance away. The older couple had made the journey before and had familiarised themselves with the route. The walk was hardly an imposition, especially as it was to help a young man find his wife.

  Ken kept an eye on the man as they walked to the store. He kept Babs close to his side and made sure to always be between them. You could never be too careful with strangers and years on the front had made Ken suspicious of most people. It was difficult to trust strangers after being shot at for so many years.

  As compelled as he was to help the man, he was also sceptical of the entire situation. After all, the man had broken into his home. What kind of man was he? What was his story? Why was his wife gone? What did he need to fix?

  They hadn’t really asked a lot of questions. For some reason it hadn’t seemed important when they were in the kitchen, but now as they walked to the store, questions flooded Ken’s mind. Where was this man from? How had he come to be in their house? Was he really looking for his wife?

  Ken was certain that he’d locked the doors. Years of living in the city had engrained that practice in his mind. Had the stranger picked the lock? Did he have a key? Ken made a mental note to have the locks on the house replaced.

  They arrived in front of the local store. It wasn’t very big, just a general store. Travel to anything larger than that was quite a distance, which was a fact that the Dires were okay with. They didn’t need much to get by and the orphanage provided them with anything that wasn’t available at the local store. They’d already been told that anything they might require could indeed be acquired on their behalf. The orphanage had a truck they took into the city once a month, and they were happy to pick up items for their staff as well as supplies for the orphanage.

  They finally arrived at the local store. The walk seemed to have taken much longer than they remembered. Bradley still had a distant look on his face, as though he wasn’t certain where he was. He looked confused and focused all at the same time.

  Ken and Babs led the way into the store. They’d been there once before and they waved to Steve the owner as they walked in. He’d owned the shop all his adult life, having inherited it from his father. Since his wife’s passing, he lived for the store. It was the one thing that got him out of bed every morning and got him going. He knew that it wouldn’t replace his wife but at least it kept him busy.

  They had hardly been in the store a moment when a woman dressed in a long grey dress walked through the door. She didn’t acknowledge the owner. She didn’t acknowledge the trio that stood by the counter. She simply walked into the store and headed straight to the cold box at the back.

  They watched as she opened it, reached in, and pulled out a bottle of milk. She then turned on her heel and left the store without paying.

  The three stared wide-eyed at the woman. Bradley blinked once and then twice, and then bolted out the door after her.

  Ken and Babs watched him go and turned to the owner in confusion.

  “You’re just going to let her walk away with the milk?” Babs asked, baffled.

  Steve gave a soft smile. “She’s come in every day for the last week. It’s always the same thing. She walks in, she takes the milk and then she walks out. But you want to know what the funny part is?”

  Ken raised a brow in question. “No, what’s the funny part?”

  Steve chuckled. “Well, the first time it happened I took off after her. I couldn’t have someone robbing the store. But when I made it outside, not two seconds after she’d been here, she was gone. There was no trace of her. No one on the street had even seen her come out of the store.”

  He glanced towards the door and smiled. “So, I waited the next day to see if she would come back and sure enough, same time as the day before, she came in and headed to the back of the store.

  “I tried to talk to her. I tried to get her attention but she just kept walking. She took the milk and headed out the door. I followed her out the door and around the building and then she was gone.

  “I went back in and checked my cold box and sure enough, the milk that I had seen her take was still there.” He laughed. “It turns out that she’s a ghost. My father told me they were real but I never really believed him, having never seen one for myself. I have no clue who she is, but she seems fairly determined to get milk. Whatever loop she’s stuck in, I hope she finds peace eventually.

  Steve shrugged. “I guess I’ll never really know more about it all since I can’t get her to talk to me.” He scratched at his head as if that small fact really troubled him. “Anyway, what can I do for you two today?”

  Babs blinked once and then twice as she processed the fact that Steve had just said the woman was a ghost, as if it was the most natural thing ever. “She’s a ghost?”

  Steve nodded and grinned at their shocked expression. “You best get used to such things, dearie. There are plenty of ghosts in these parts. Hard to avoid when the country has been through such hardships in its history.”

  Ken nodded but he still felt a little baffled by it all. “We actually came in here because of the young man we were with.”

  Steve’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What young man?”

  Babs frowned. “The yo
ung man who came in with us. He followed the woman out of the store. I can only guess it’s the woman he was looking for.”

  “I didn’t see any young man.” Steve shrugged. “I’ve only seen you two, and the lady, of course.”

  Ken and Babs exchanged a confused look.

  “You mean you didn’t see him standing here with us?” Ken asked and Steve shook his head.

  “Perhaps he was a ghost as well.” Steve grinned. “You said he was looking for that woman?”

  “Yeah. He said his wife was missing…” Babs frowned as the pieces fell together in her mind. “But if that was his wife…”

  “If the man you had with you was her husband, perhaps you are looking for a ghost.” Steve drummed his fingers on the counter. This was definitely a curious situation.

  He’d encountered his fair share of odd situations but he could say for certain that this was a first of its kind. Never had he had customers come in accompanied by a ghost. He’d just gotten used to his own resident spirit and now he’d had another walk in and out of his shop. The worst was that he hadn’t even seen him. That part disappointed him a little.

  Steven had always had a soft spot for the paranormal. He didn’t fear them. He had always figured that they were simply a more active part of the history of the country. A country could not have as long and bloody a history as the United Kingdoms and not expect to harbour lingering spirits. It was all part of the experience.

  “Well I’ll be damned…” Ken ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh. “That would explain how he got into the house.”

  “I do know that the woman used to live in the cottage besides the orphanage, where she grew up. She was a patron here for several years, and when I’d heard she’d died, we were all sad. Tuberculosis, I believe. So, if that was her husband, it would be safe to say he lived there as well. Never met him. He never came by the store. Then again, it’s usually the wives I see. The husbands are always off working.” Steve grinned. “This is all very exciting. It’s been a while since I’ve run into anyone who had a good ghost story.”

  “Exciting for you, perhaps,” Ken scoffed. “You’re not having ghosts join you for your morning tea.”

  “I wish,” Steve chuckled and accepted the surprised look from Ken and Babs. “I have a bit of an interest in such things,” he admitted with a shrug. “Perhaps I’ll put up a sign advertising the fact that ghosts patronise my establishment. Maybe it’ll get more people coming by the store.”

  “Or it’ll get you sent to an asylum,” Ken muttered, shaking his head. “People don’t take too well to talk of ghosts.”

  “Around here they’ve mostly accepted it as part of the culture of the village.” Steve shrugged.

  “I believe it.” Babs sighed and looked over at Ken. “Well, what are we supposed to do now? I’m fairly certain we’re not going to find Bradley if we go outside.”

  “I agree with you on that one.” Ken shrugged. “I suppose we go home now. Though we should likely grab any groceries we need, since we’re already here.”

  Babs nodded. It wasn’t the answer she’d hoped for but she didn’t seem to know what they could do. Bradley was gone. The woman in grey was gone. All they had left to do was go back to their regular life.

  They bought their groceries, said goodbye to Steve, and headed home. It was likely the oddest day they’d ever experienced but they both decided it made for a good story. And one they would definitely have to tell the kids when they visited.

  A Disappearing Act

  Ken and Babs returned home but Babs couldn’t stop thinking about the woman in grey. She couldn’t stop thinking about Bradley and the woman who was his wife. She wanted to know what had happened to them. She wanted to know why Bradley was looking for her. She wanted answers.

  They seemed to be two people separated by time and space, unable to reach each other and it broke her heart. She knew that, if there was anything she could do about it, she quite simply had to. She needed to help these poor souls. She’d never been one to turn away someone seeking help and she wasn’t going to make an exception because they were ghosts. If anything, that made her more determined to help.

  She’d never believed in such things. Ghosts were something you talked about to children to scare them. She’d told her children her fair share of ghost stories, but she’d never believed them. Once her children had grown up, they’d never believed them either. Now she was faced with a bit of a dilemma. She’d actually met a ghost, potentially two ghosts. What was she supposed to do with that?

  As she sat at the kitchen table with Ken that evening, her mind still mulled over the events of the day. She took a sip of her water, squared her shoulders, and knew that she couldn’t back down from this. She cleared her throat and looked at her husband.

  “Ken?” She said, to get his attention. “I think we should talk about what happened today.”

  Ken shook his head and took another mouthful of food. “That’s where we disagree, love. I think we should simply forget it ever happened. I’m not in a hurry to have my life muddled up by spirits. I’m not about to have them invade my retirement. Nope, not going to happen.” He shook his head as he spoke and kept his voice firm.

  Babs sighed. She knew what he was like when he set his mind to something like this, but she was determined to change it. It wouldn’t be the first time and she was certain that it wouldn’t be the last. After four kids and years of marriage, she knew she could change his mind and she was determined to do so.

  “Well I don’t think it’s just going to disappear and leave us alone,” she said in a matter-of-fact sort of way. She watched his eyes leave his plate and meet her gaze.

  “What do you mean it’s not just going to go away?” His voice was sceptical but she could already hear the doubt.

  “Well, this is a man who is looking for his wife. This is a man who has ties to this cottage. Clearly, whatever happened between them was big enough to keep them both lingering here. Do you really think we won’t wake up again one day and find him sitting at our table?” She raised a brow as she watched his expression carefully. She could see the wheels in his head turning and processing the idea she’d just put forward. She could tell that he hadn’t considered it.

  “I don’t think we’ll really be free of it all until we help them settle whatever it is that is keeping them here.” She shrugged as if it was the simplest thing in the world. “We need to help them.”

  “Help the ghosts?” Ken raised a brow.

  “Well they’re obviously still lingering for a reason, and unless you want Bradley in the kitchen every morning, I think we need to figure this out.” She tried to hide her smile. She knew that she was winning him over. She could tell by the expression on his face.

  “You really think he’ll be here every morning?” Ken frowned. He hadn’t considered that possibility and the idea wasn’t really appealing to him.

  “I would assume so. But we can always wait and find out. It could be a fun game, wondering if he’ll be joining us for coffee each morning. It’ll be like rolling the dice.” She could see from his face that he was becoming more and more put off by the idea of letting the issue lie. She knew that she was winning.

  “That doesn’t sound like a game I want to play.” Ken set down his fork and sighed.

  “Well, then I guess we should go back to the store tomorrow and find out just where that woman in grey is going.”

  “But Steve said she disappeared…” he sounded sceptical of her plan.

  “He also couldn’t see Bradley, so perhaps we’ll have better luck than he did.” She said it as though it was the most common-sensical matter ever.

  “I don’t know…”

  “Well I do,” she asserted. “And tomorrow we’ll go back to the store and we’ll see what’s what.” She nodded and knew that he wouldn’t oppose her. “It’s settled then.”

  “I suppose it is, dear,” Ken said with a frown and Babs couldn’t help but grin. She’d won him over again.
She just hoped that she was right about this.

  The next day dawned and they did exactly as Babs had suggested. After breakfast they headed back into town to the local store in hopes of finding the woman in grey. Bradley did not join them that morning. They awoke to find their kitchen table empty and Babs had been a little disappointed. Still, she insisted that they stick to their plan. She was certain that they needed to help these two. She was certain that their spirits needed to be put to rest.

  They walked into the store and sent Steve a smile. Babs walked up to the counter and leaned against it.

  “Has she been in yet?” She asked and knew that she didn’t need to elaborate for him to understand what she meant.

  Steve glanced at his watch. “Not yet, but she should be here any moment. It’s almost eleven and that tends to be when I see her.”

  Steve glanced towards the door as the bell rang and Ken and Babs followed his line of site. Sure enough, the woman in grey walked through the door. Like the day before, she didn’t acknowledge them. She simply walked to the back of the store, opened the cold box and pulled out the bottle of milk.

  As she walked towards the door to leave the store, Ken and Babs moved to follow her.

  They weren’t concerned about following too close behind her. She seemed oblivious to everything around her. So they tailed less than a foot behind her as she left the store and rounded the building.

  Ken wasn’t certain where she would be going. He hoped that they wouldn’t have to walk a great distance following this woman, but he knew that Babs wouldn’t let up about it until they had answers. He would therefore go along with it for the moment. After all, he wanted her to be happy and he didn’t want Bradley showing up at their table ever again.

  They followed the woman in grey around the local store and down a well-trodden path. It was clear that this pathway had likely been there since before the main road was paved. It simply had that old feel to it.