Ghosts Next Door

Ghosts Next Door
by Lopaka Kapanui

Aug 8, 2021

100 Ghost Stories Counting Down To Halloween 2021 #84

84


 Yesterday 8:03 a.m.

Whatever it is it presses down on the bed between my feet and places what feels like a hand on my ankle. It doesn't do anything else.

The disembodied palm does not apply pressure nor does it caress, it's just there. Other times I can simultaneously hear and feel the sheets beneath my body undo itself from the tightly tucked military corners as it attempts to find release from the mattress but it just can't seem to pull away. I try to make sense of it because finding the logic in this situation will prevent me from screaming at the top of my lungs and falling into abject madness. Maybe that's whatever this thing is.....maybe that's what it wants? Maybe it's feeding off of my fear? Is there a body buried beneath the place where I sleep? Can't be. I checked the history of the house before I bought it, no murder, no suicide, no ghostly residue. Can't be the mattress or blankets harboring a dead corpse; I got everything brand new from Macy's. Then what is it? It takes a while before I can correctly discern the uncommon problem of my invisible friend who seems to enjoy freaking me out by pitter-pattering around my feet at the most ungodly time of night. The only person I can consult who doesn't think I'm half-baked is my Aunt. When I honestly present my dilemma to her she only utters one word,

"Noho," She's talking about possession. She goes on to say that someone sent a destructive spirit to possess my body and wreak havoc in my personal life.

"The Kahu," she begins, "the keeper of the spirit sends it to enter your body feet first and it immediately takes over. You won't even realize it happened. In your case, it's taking a while for some reason; that explains why you feel activity around or on your feet but no real possession."

"What about the sheets moving around under my mattress?" I asked.

"That's frustration," my Aunt added. "It can't enter through your feet so it's trying to figure out another way to take over your body. Not to worry though"

"Not to worry? Really?" I was almost screeching at her but when I realized what I was doing I apologized immediately. "I'm sorry Aunty, I didn't mean to raise my voice to you."

"It's okay," she assured me. "Soon, this destructive spirit will realize that it can't get to you and that's when it will return to its keeper and destroy him or her,"

"Why would someone want to do this to me? I don't recall doing anybody so wrong that they would want to destroy me; I mean I'm not perfect but damn," I said.

"We never really know why people resort to such things, sometimes it's a real or imagined slight, but sometimes a person's heart is so black that they are always looking for reasons to cast evil on the innocent," sometimes my Aunt was too straight forward. Her explanation raised the hairs on the back of her neck.

"How will I know who did it?" I was half asking and half pleading.

"Because whoever did it will be covered by human bite marks from head to toe and they will fall very ill or even die within the next few days; that's how you'll know," she was confident. I could feel my skin crawl.

"You still don't fully understand your situation do you?" She asked.

"My situation?" I was lost.

"Even after I have told you, you still haven't asked me why you were not completely possessed by this destructive spirit," she stated.

"You're right, I haven't," I replied.

"None of us are perfect my dear and we all have our faults just the same way that you have imperfections and faults and shortcomings... but your heart......your heart is pure. It's filled with understanding and compassion and love. That's why this thing cannot harm you....that's why."


..........


Today 3:345 p.m.


Here's where it all comes together. Less than two years ago, a Hawaiian man by the name of Ikaika Mc Very became terribly angry at me when a Hilton subsidiary awarded me a contract instead of him. I remember that he stormed out of that meeting and promised me that he would bring my house down and ruin my life if it was the last thing he did. He flipped me the bird and spit in his shoes and threw it at me. I had nothing to do with the decision of the contract and who it would go to. Frankly, everyone at the meeting thought the contract would naturally go to Ikaika since he'd been in the business twenty years longer than I had. It was an incident that I had forgotten about until this morning. It was swathed all over social media;

"Without warning a single occupant of a 1993 Ford Mustang stopped his vehicle in the middle of the L.A. freeway and ran into oncoming traffic where he was struck by a vehicle and killed instantly. Authorities report that his face, arms, and torso were covered with what appeared to be bruised human bite marks"

I think to myself that's it's a coincidence and that it couldn't have had anything to do with what was happening to me, except that my Aunt's warning kept repeating itself in my head. I put my headphones on because I have a deadline and I have to get these manuscripts done. The music drones along in my head as I begin hitting the keys, "Only shadows ahead, barely clearing the roof, get to know the feeling of liberation and release." It's never over, not for me. Something makes me slide my chair over to my bed where I lift the foot of the mattress and find the answer. A braided Ti Leaf and a packet of Hawaiian salt. Next to the items is a small note from my Aunt,


I had a dream, I didn't mean

to sneak into your house but

I had to make sure that you

were not harmed. Don' be mad.


Aloha

Aunty




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