The Ghost of Oak

by Fallon Sousa

  Mrs. Smith urged her husband to sit down beside her. He did, and they began to speak in whispers, which Katie could not hear.

  " I'm really worried about her, Andrew," Mrs Smith said. "She seems to be hallucinating lately. Today she told me all about what has been going on. She even thought that I was some old lady who she sees and hears when I was in the sewing room this morning. First the noises in her room and now this." Mrs. Smith gave her husband a worried look, then continued: " She also mentioned seeing faces in the mirror."

  Mr. Smith tried to act worried, but truly he was not. " I'm worried,too, Katrina," he lied. He hugged her, then replied with a quick "Gotta go." And with that, he got up and headed for the door.

  " But Andrew," she called. "I want you to know that I scheduled an appointment with a counselor for her." He seemed not to care, and he just headed out the door. Katie had heard that part, and realizing that her mother had lied to her earlier, she stormed up to her room, slamming the door behind her.

  Back downstairs, Katrina Smith sighed and thought just to herself: " Something is up with that man."

  She had absolutely no idea whatsoever what those words could mean, at least not when she said them. But for some strange reason, she felt that her husband knew something about what was happening to their daughter. Whatever it was, it was nothing good. For a minute, she thought about the day that Katie had first began to act strange. It had been the first day of summer vacation. But what could have happened to her that would have caused all these problems? She wondered. Then it all came to her as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over her head. The second puzzle piece was clicked into place. A light bulb turned on inside her head.

  Then she said the two words that seemed to fit into place. "The locket."

  Chapter Eight

  That night Katie slept soundly, for her recent lack of sleep had worn her out so much that she did not even notice any peculiar goings on if, in fact there were any. As you might have picked up on already, Katie's full name is Katrina, (after her mother) but to prevent confusion she will be know as "Katie" and she is only ten after all. But let's get back to the story, now shall we?

  Mrs. Smith, However, stayed up for most of night worrying about her daughter, and about her husband's sudden "cold" attitude and lack of concern in regard to the entire situation. She thought about the her strange feeling, and about the way in which those two small but chilling words had crossed her mind earlier that evening. Besides, what would that locket, a silly, miscellaneous item have to do with Katie's odd behavior. Nothing, that's what. It was silly even to think about it. Thinking that the locket was some kind of what-some kind of bad omen or something was as strange and silly as Katie's new behavior.

  Mrs. Smith sighed. It was getting late. Almost midnight. Mr. Smith had fallen asleep long before.

  "He thinks that it's so hard to be a man, well he should try to live life as a woman," she thought harshly. And with that, she fell asleep.

  The next morning, Mrs. Smith woke up to awful heavy metal, which drifted from her husband's equally horrendous glow-in-the-dark sports alarm clock. However, when she looked at the time on the watch that she had carelessly forgotten to remove, she realized that it was not morning at all, but early afternoon. Only an idiot would set their alarm clock just in time for lunch she thought. But she'd known for some time now that Mr. Smith was a fool. He was a fool who expected a sandwich right away if and when he ever got up off his lazy old caboose.

  Just then, Mrs. Smith heard a loud bang, and it seemed to be coming from the kitchen. She sighed, then headed downstairs to see what all the hoopla was about. She found Katie in the kitchen, stirring a pot of soup, her mother's recipe book in hand. Katrina (the grown-up one) could not believe her eyes, when she looked into the pot. Her ten-year-old daughter was making minestrone soup, the most difficult soup that she, herself, had ever made. It had been her mother's recipe, and her mother's before that. No one knew for sure how long it had been in the Spencer family. She was absolutely delighted, at least until she saw her favorite serving tray, also a treasured family heirloom, on the ground broken into at least a dozen pieces.

  "Katie Marie Smith, I cannot believe that you broke my favorite platter," she bellowed. "I understand that you wanted to make a nice lunch for yourself, but.... Her voice trailed off. Mrs. Smith shook her head. "I'm so sorry, it was my fault for sleeping so late, and I should have known that you needed lunch and couldn't make it yourself! Though, I might add that your cooking is delicious. "However," she began, wearing a stern look on her face. "You are never to cook by yourself again. Next time, yell up to us to get up if it's after 7:30 in the morning. The raven haired woman handed her daughter a dustpan and broom, and with that, left the kitchen.

  Katie cleaned up the mess without complaint. At least I managed to make the soup before she caught me, and I can still have it for lunch.... And dinner, she thought. Katie was stirring and tasting her latest "culinary delight," when she heard a noise. It sounded very much like footsteps. The young girl turned around and there, standing right by the table, was the old woman.

  It's only my imagination, she thought. But, despite the fact that she was trying very hard to make the old woman hallucinations go away, the crone continued to simply "be," without saying a word. Katie stood there in awe, with her mouth hanging open and her body completely frozen on the spot.

  "May I taste the soup that you are indeed so fond of?" Katie was able to let out a squeaky sound, before the elderly figure spoke again. "You are an extremely vain young lady, you know. And you know what? I don't like vanity, especially in children," she hissed. Then, the crone vanished.

  Chapter Nine

  Katie had several more encounters with the strange figure, all which she reported to her mother. Mrs. Smith continued to worry about her daughter, but Mr. Smith still did not seem to care. When his wife told him of the things that were happening to their child, he would just shrug it off like it was nothing. This also continued to worry Katie's mother. However, it soon came the day for her to take the young girl for her first appointment with the counselor.

  "Do I have to?" Katie asked.

  "Yes," replied her mother. Later that day, she and a pouting Katie would pull the Smith family vehicle into the driveway of the local family counseling center. The mother and daughter arrived at the waiting room of Dr. Jones' office. Mrs. Smith urged Katie to sit on one of the typical waiting room-esque chairs, while she herself checked in at the front desk. After signing in, she plopped down onto the chair adjacent to Katie's. And so they waited.

  Afterwards, Katie sullenly followed her mom into the tight little room, where she would probably be hypnotized or something equally horrendous. Instead, she was greeted by a friendly-looking man who seemed to be roughly in his sixties, and wore a nice suit, like that of a wealthy entrepreneur. Both the nervous ten-year-old and her poised mother, sat on the psychologist's beigesofa, crossing their legs politely. Dr. Jones' took his seat at the office chair that made his computer desk complete, then turned to face his patient.

  "Well, now, what brings this young lady to my office today," he asked.

  Mrs. Smith stepped in. "It appears to be that Katie is hallucinating quite frequently, lately.

  They could see the wheels turning in Dr. Jones' head. Briefly, the counselor asked a few questions regarding Katie's "recent mental state." Boy, this guy was serious about using the proper words of a literate person 24/7. Katie wondered if psychologists talked that way at home, too. She could just picture him at a barbecue. He would say something like " Excuse me Sir, but this frankfurter is positively undercooked." She laughed out loud at that thought, which seemed to irk her mother and the doctor very much.

  "What is it that you are laughing at?" he questioned.

  "Oh, nothing," Katie said quickly.

  Then, they discussed Katie's problems, and how they affected daily activities. They talked about how often and exactly when the hallucinations were occurring, as well. The
counselor tried to get to the bottom of the situation, along with Katie's mother. After a short time, he told Katie to go back into the waiting room, so that he could speak with her mother privately. And, so she did.

  Chapter Ten

  During the car ride home to their tranquil neighborhood, Katie whined about dinner.

  " Mom," she complained. " Why can't you let me try to make something for our dinner tonight?"

  Her mother grumbled. " Katie," she began. " I told you already that you are to young to cook by yourself. However, if you don't keep on pestering, you can help me out with dinner, later." The young girl pouted childishly. Unfortunately for Katie, she inadvertently continued to annoy her mother, and therefore could not assist in the kitchen. After being told to go up to her room, while Mrs. Smith did the cooking, Katie stomped upstairs angrily.

  When she reached the doorway, she stopped dead in her tracks. For there, sitting atop the bed, with its lemon-yellow comforter, was the strange elderly woman who Katie had many times seen and feared. In her left hand, she grasped the locket with the odd little eagle symbol that she had found on the sidewalk on her way home from the last day of fourth grade, just a few weeks after her tenth birthday. Katie was so frightened, that she was sure she turned whiter than the ghost herself. The old crone just sat there, waiting patiently for the girl to say something. Nothing came out.

  The ghost became impatient, and replied: "If you really want to know what is going on, then you should ask your father." The woman's image slowly started to fade. Katie swatted at the old lady, just to find that her hand went right through. Within seconds, the image disappeared.

  Chapter Eleven

  Katie yelled out for her mother. "Mommy!" she screamed.

  She stopped for a split second, just to think about what she had just said. Katie hadn't called her mother "Mommy" in nearly two years. Nope. Not even once since the first day of third grade. But, this time, things were different. She wasn't just being a baby. She was really, truly scared for her life. Any adult would have done the same. At least in Katie's opinion, anyway. Mrs. Smith came running up into Katie's room, in panic.

  "What's the matter, darling."

  Katie, still shocked, could only make out a few words. " T- the g-g- ghost. Her again."

  Katrina, (the older one of course) replied with a sympathetic "Everything is going to be all right." She coaxed her daughter, petting her hair and trying to calm her down.

  When Katie finally did relax, her mother accompanied her downstairs to the kitchen, and allowed her to help out with dinner, regardless of her previous misbehavior. After all, she had just encountered a ghostly being from beyond the grave. Although she did think that the existence of otherworldly presences was possible, the thought occurred to her that perhaps it was "just her imagination." Either way, she had a serious problem that needed to be solved.

  At dinner, the two ate silently and solemnly. There was no talk of anything, whatsoever. All that was on their minds was these strange apparitions. Mr. Smith did not eat with them, for he was on a business trip just as usual. Mrs. Smith was lost in thought. She knew that she should notify Katie's counselor of the latest hallucination. But, something was nagging at her.

  This entire fiasco was off-color. No, she thought. They could tell the counselor about this later. Katie's mother was going to do a little research on all this locket biz. She was going to dig up the dirt about this pesky old poltergeist. And she was going to start her search now!

  Later that night, long after Katie had gone to sleep, Mrs. Smith opened up her laptop. Then, slowly and hesitantly, she pressed the ON button underneath the screen. Just seconds after it turned on, she double-clicked the Internet browser. The concerned mother typed several keywords into a search engine called Find It!

  These included ghosts, lockets, curses and numerous others that by half past midnight she had lost track of. Mrs. Smith searched and searched and searched, but her endless searches all came up empty. She didn't know enough information about who the old woman might be, or anything about her. All she new was that the old lady ghost had something to do with the locket. But, come on! How many grannies out there had one locket or another? She sighed deeply, then went off to bed.

  The young girl's mother had, for the most part, given up, and with much pain, tried her best to accept that her daughter was either making this up, or was seriously troubled. It would only be a matter of time before she had a nervous breakdown, the poor kid. But, what could she do? Nothing, thats what.

  Chapter Twelve

  That next morning, Katie was sulking in her room. For what seemed like hours, she twirled the ends of her light brown hair. Then, for about twenty minutes, she bit her fingernails, something that she couldn't do in her mother's presence.

  "Idleness, child!" boomed the familiar voice of the old lady. "Go and help your mother!"

  Katie, startled, looked up at the ugly specter with haste. "Leave me alone! Double-cross, ghost get lost!" Mrs. Smith came running into the room with tears streaming down her face. She embraced the little girl knowing deep down that the only option would be to have her admitted.

  Old Mrs. McDonald's gaunt apparition remained, though to Katrina's eyes, only air was between her and the closet door. "And by the way, thats not how the silly rhyme goes." Katie looked up once more and stuck out her tongue, before her wreck of a mother struggled to carry her downstairs.

  "You wouldn't DARE!"

  Mrs. Smith turned around, for the first time seeing the spirit. She quickly put her sixty-five pound daughter down (which did much good for her arms) and in a daze, she reached for the cordless phone and dialed 9-1-1. Katie wished that she hadn't done so. Now, everyone was going to think that not only she, but also her mother was insane.

  Everything was a blur until the police came. They were, of course, unable to locate an intruder on the premises. Unshaken by the worthlessly pathetic trip, they left. The ghost, now proud enough to be seen by all, stalked back and forth across the floor like she owned the place. Technically, she had, just over forty years before.

  "Honestly, Katrina. Why don't you just ask Andrew what's happening; he knows all about it? After all, he is my great-grandson.”

  Mrs. Smith had had enough. She picked up a phone book from the coffee table and threw it at the crone. The woman's image disappeared, then returned almost in the same spot as before. She knew that she had to listen. After all, she had suspected him of knowing something herself. So, the poltergeist told her story:

  " If you looked back into my records, you would find that my children had passed before me." She paused. " But, that isn't completely true. Our first daughter was illegitimate, so she was given up for adoption promptly after her birth. I was already accused of being involved in witchcraft, which was true, and I didn't need anything to add to it."

  Katie and her mother were listening intently as she continued.

  " For years, I didn't know where she was. Then, just days before I died, she had wrote me a letter telling me that she was a grandmother. Her next grandson, born a few years later, was the man you both know well."

  "That doesn't solve our problem," Katie replied curtly. The hag smiled a ghostly smile and said: "Let me speak."

  They waited what seemed like forever. The clock ticked in the background of silence as they, along with the nonphysical being, stared at the walls, lost in thought. Finally, she was ready to go on.

  Chapter Thirteen

  " My great-great grandmother put a curse on it, dooming those outside of the family who touched it, to death. That's what happened to one of the men who helped raid my grave."

  Now it was coming into place. So, that was why it was lying astray by the graveyard.

  " They left right away to only who knows where; took the body with them. And that's where you found it." She glanced towards Katie, then continued.

  " I know that since you're part of the family, you're supposed to have the right to keep the necklace, but you are just way too young an
d that thing can kill. Don't get too involved and, I repeat, DO NOT in any way try to get those thugs in trouble. They're dangerous."

  "What do you want us to do then?" The youngster questioned.

  " I want you to return it to where it came from." And with that, she vanished.

  That night, Katrina drove her daughter to the cemetery, parking the car near the sidewalk. Little Katie retrieved her small sand shovel and started digging a small hole in the corner near the tombstone. After forty-five minutes or so, she reached the top of the coffin, and next to it a small pit. She stuffed her hand into the pocket of her shorts and grasped hold of the necklace. Hesitating, the girl slowly dropped it down the hole forever. She struggled to cover up the hole herself, then gazed at it for a moment. Then, turning to meet her mother halfway to the car, she looked back at tjie stone and whispered:

  "Rest in peace, Ellen Mary McDonald."

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