The Illusion

This tale is so creepy, I have actually never shared it with anyone...until now. It bothered me so much that I couldn't even think about it for a long time. I didn't want to acknowledge it. But I believe enough time has passed that I can revisit it long enough to disturb you too.

Many years ago, when I was a single mom, I lived in a brand new condo complex. There were six condos in each building, three on the bottom and three on top. I lived in the bottom middle unit. The neighbors just to the right of me were a young married couple with no kids yet. I got to know them a little, but not much since I was single and didn't feel like I really had much in common with them.

One early evening when I was arriving home, I noticed a cute young guy sitting by their front door. I smiled at him and said, "hi" as I walked past. He smiled and said "hi" back, so I approached him and asked if he was waiting for someone. He said, "Oh, I'm living with my sister and her husband, actually. But I locked myself out."

Being the risk taker that I was, I offered to let him come over to my place and hang out while he waited for them to come home, but he declined and said he didn't want to bother me. I thought, "Oh, he's not interested. I'm being way too forward here." So I left him sitting there and went to my condo.

A couple of days later, I noticed him out front in the parking lot, hanging out by a truck. He smiled and waved and I smiled and waved. As I was unlocking my car, he called out to me and thanked me for inviting him to my place the other day. I noticed he had a guitar slung across his back in its case, so I said, "Oh, you play guitar?" He chuckled and said, "Yeah." I got all excited and said, "Me too!" So we talked music for a bit and he suggested we get together and jam some time. I was all for that and invited him to stop by any time with his guitar since I worked from home.

I was so excited as I drove off, conjuring up images in my head of hanging out with this cute guy and getting to know him better. Being the silly girl that I was back then, I imagined us falling in love somewhere in there and getting married and having a cute story. I love cute stories.

ANYWAY...some time passed and I didn't see him anymore. I started to get bummed, wondering where he was and why he wasn't stopping over and why I wasn't seeing him around anymore. I decided to stop by my neighbor's place and see if he was home since his truck was sitting in the parking lot. I thought perhaps if I formally invited him over, he'd actually come.

I knocked on the door and my neighbor lady answered. She seemed a little surprised to see me since I never just randomly showed up at her place, but she was friendly and invited me in. I stayed on her doorstep and said, "Actually, I was just stopping by to see if your brother was here."

Her smile dropped instantly and she looked a little shocked. "My b-brother? You mean Jake?"

I said, "Yeah?"

She hesitated for a moment and said, "Um...I, uh..." Then she put her hand over her heart and gulped and was just acting really strange. I furrowed my brow and watched her for a moment, wondering what was going on.

Just then her husband came up behind her to see what was going on and she walked away quick, leaving her husband standing there to deal with me, I guess. He asked me what was up and I said, "Oh, I was just stopping by because I haven't seen Jake for a few days and last time we spoke he said he wanted to come jam with me on guitars, so I was just stopping by to invite him over."

He furrowed his brow at me then and looked me hard in the eye for a moment before saying, "That's impossible."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Jake died like a month ago."

I just stared at him, completely dumb-founded. When I found my voice again, I said, "A month ago? He died a month ago? I just saw him a few days ago. I talked to him. I saw him more than one time. There's no way he...." I couldn't even finish my sentence. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. I was instantly sorry I had bothered to go over to their place at this point.

"Yeah, I'm sure he died a month ago. My poor wife has been so distraught over it. He came here to live with us for a bit while he got his act together, but he ended up getting a brain aneurysm and dying suddenly. It's just been a shock to the both of us, but especially to my wife."

I stared at the sidewalk next to the door where I had seen him sitting in complete disbelief. "But I - I talked to him. He was right there. He said he was locked out."

"Wow!" My neighbor exclaimed. "That's....wow. Yeah, he did that a lot. But, there's no way you saw him just a few days ago."

"Okay," I said, backing away. "Sorry to bother you." Just before I turned and fled back to my place, I called out, "Sorry for your loss."

When I got home, I sunk down into my couch and stared into oblivion for an unknown period of time. I kept picturing his face, his eyes, his smile. I kept thinking of his voice. Suddenly I recalled inviting him over, but he never did come over. He refused my invitation the first day and then suggested we jam on guitars, but I wondered why he'd even suggest it if he was never planning on coming over; if he was just a ghost now. I sat there wondering if his spirit could even enter my house and if at any point he'd suddenly disappear before my eyes or if I'd be able to see through him. I imagined all kinds of weird stuff and then freaked myself out and shuddered and decided I needed something to get my mind off of it, so I watched a comedy on TV and ate a good portion of the contents of my fridge.

About a week passed and I was pretty much done dwelling on my ghost encounter. It was evening, around 8:00 PM. The sun was down and I decided to go hang out at my parents' house. I grabbed my purse and keys off the kitchen counter and headed for the front door. My blinds had been left open on the long, narrow, rectangular window situated next to the front door. As I approached the door, I caught sight of a man standing on my front porch.

It was Jake.

I froze and the hair on my arms and neck stood straight up. I saw him just standing there very still like he was waiting for me to open the door, but he didn't see me. I immediately jumped out of view and stood with my back against the wall, panting as I tried to catch my breath. I was so freaked out. All I could think of was - what if he just walks right through my front door? Ghosts can do that, right? I grit my teeth and closed my eyes and said a little prayer - Please make him go away. Please make him go away. I don't want to see a ghost. After a few minutes, I got brave enough to peek around the corner so I could see through the little window by my door. There was nothing there, but I couldn't see the whole front porch area, so I tiptoed quickly to my door and peeped through the peep hole. There was nobody there. I drew in a deep breath and blew it out in relief, but I was still freaked out.

I thought I heard a noise behind me just then in the house, so I whipped around and frantically searched the space behind me with my eyes as best as I could in the dark. I saw nothing, but I was suddenly hyper sensitive to every sound and movement. Before I lost my mind completely, I ran around flipping all of the lights in my condo on. Then I ran to my room and climbed, fully clothed, into bed and pulled the covers up. I was so scared and felt so lonely and vulnerable then that I started to cry a little. Eventually, I fell asleep.

I never did see the apparition again, but I was always somewhat unnerved until my neighbors finally sold their place and moved to Tucson. At that point I felt like Jake's spirit would most likely follow them if he was still around and I never sensed his presence again.

But that has been my only up close and personal encounter with a ghost. I've never actually seen one or spoken to one like that - like it was a live person - since then. And I hope I never do.