Lenny

Lenny
There was no response to her greeting. Clumsily, she closed and locked the door. On edge, she hurried to her room. Halfway up the steps, she heard footsteps behind her. Every step she took, someone took one behind her. She whirled around to see who was in her house. Nothing was behind her. Even more uncomfortable than before, she took the remaining steps to the hall as fast as she could. The footsteps sounded like they were right behind her now. As quickly as she could, she dashed down the hall to her room, slamming her bedroom door behind her. There was a thud as if someone had hit the door. Frantic, she grabbed her bible from the nightstand and began reciting Psalms. Silence filled the house. She laid in bed the rest of the night, afraid to close her eyes, praying for daylight.

Over the next few days, she felt cold spots where Lenny liked to sit. Then she started hearing voices in the rooms on the back of the house on the ground floor. It sounded as if a man was whispering in her ear. Again, she was convinced it had to be Lenny. He would always sneak out the back doors to hide while smoking a forbidden cigar. She gave a sad shake of her head. “Blasted cigars is what killed him. If he had just listened to his doctor, he could celebrate our anniversaries with me without scaring me half to death!”

I gave a polite nod and she returned to her story. Wanting to know what Lenny was trying so hard to tell her, she went out and bought a digital recorder. A silent groan escaped me. No. Not EVP’s. Electronic Voice Phenomenon or as I called it Everyone Vants Phantoms. “EVPs are not that reliable Mrs. Meyer-Hutton.”

“Maybe not for you!” Her brown eyes flashed fire at me. “I know what I heard.”

She pulled the recorder out of the drawer of an ancient-looking end table beside her far more comfortable looking Queen Ann sofa she was sitting on. I shifted in my chair. The cushion had probably flattened out decades ago. I swore she always made me sit here out of spite. “Listen.”

She pushed the button on the recorder. There was the expected static. Occasionally what sounded like it might be a voice but, I couldn’t make out any words. “What do you have to say for yourself now?”

Somehow, I managed to put on my polite and professional smile. “What do you hear?”

There was a superior gleam in her brown eyes that complemented the sneer in her voice. “Clearly it is Lenny telling me that he loves me and he will miss me while he is gone. Surely you can hear that! You are a physic.”

The irritated sigh I’d been holding in escaped. “I am a medium. Not a psychic. I can see and hear the dead. IF there were any ghostly voices on there, I would hear it just as clear as I hear you. That is nothing but noise.” Her mouth dropped open. I was usually nicer to her. More gently I continued. “You miss Lenny. You want to hear his voice again. But he has crossed over. He’s where he is supposed to be.”

“How do you explain the voices? The cold spots? The footsteps?”  She was growing agitated.

I’d investigated this house on multiple occasions. The first time Jesse had been with me. Neither of us had sensed any paranormal activity. I had never sensed anything on subsequent visits. “You said nine days ago?” Her nod was barely perceivable. “We had a cool front come through. Your heater probably kicked on.”

If my memory served, there was an air vent in the kitchen where she was probably making breakfast. There was another one by the dining room table. The cold spots and breath could easily have been caused by the frigid air being pushed out of the vents. I figured the footsteps had just been her own echoing and since she was already on edge, they scared her. Since the voices were only in the back of the house, I suggested they might be her neighbors. The lots here were so small they might as well be zero lots.

“What about the flickering lights young lady? How do you explain those?”