Katy was twelve when she first knew that aside from her family, there was another presence in the house. It was almost dusk, and she was sitting alone at the swing out front. She had been waiting for Penny, the nanny, to call her in for dinner when she saw a lady in the kitchen window. The lady was wearing a long white dress, her hair was pitch black, and her skin pale in contrast. Even though she couldn't quite see the lady's face, she knew she was pretty. Katy was still looking at the lady when she turned her head and smiled. She headed back to the house but stopped in her tracks when she saw the lady up close, around the corner.
Where the lady's eyes should have been, were deep, dark and empty sockets. Her head was still inclined towards Katy, and on her mouth was a plastered smile. Katy almost uttered a scream when Penny came out to call her in, "Katy! There you are. What are you doing?"
"Hi, Penny! I'm starving..." She looked back into the kitchen, but the lady was no longer there.
*****
"Please pass the peas, Katy. Katy? Katy!" her mom, Mrs. Marie, snapped her fingers.
"Oh. Yes, Mum?" Katy had been in a daze, thinking about her earlier encounter with their other resident.
"The peas, dearest darling," Katy did as she was asked. "Is there anything you'd like to talk about, darling? You've hardly touched your food."
She hesitated for a moment, in light of the possibility that if she told her mom what had transpired that afternoon, they might think her silly. But her mind wouldn't keep her at peace. "Mom, who owned this place before we moved in?"
Mr. and Mrs. Marie looked taken aback. After a bout of silence, her dad was first to speak.
"This place was empty for many years. The last occupants had left 13 years before we moved in. They were the Lucans. Why do you ask, Katy?"
"Hmm, is there any chance they had a daughter? Maybe about 20 years of age?"
"Where are all these questions coming from dear?" there was a hint of strain and panic in Mrs. Marie's voice.
"There was someone this afternoon, in the kitchen..."
Creak. Creak. Creak. They all turned to look at the stairs. After a few long moments, the creaking stopped, but the air in the house suddenly felt chilly, if only slightly.
"Dad, maybe we ought to move out tomorrow. Please, Dad." She had never seen her mom so frightened. Her dad agreed and told them to pack their things tonight.
Without asking, Katy figured out what was happening. After dinner, her mom helped her pack in her room. They went into bed together while her father was out to arrange their move tomorrow.
But Katy couldn't sleep that night. She felt as if someone was in the room with them, and someone was watching them both. That night, the house seemed cold despite it being summer, and noises were becoming more and more prominent as the night grew older.
Katy could not restrain herself any longer and decided to come down to the kitchen. She wanted to run back up when she saw the lady sitting quietly on the kitchen counter. Despite the hesitation in her legs, she mustered the last ounce of any courage she had left and approached the lady. She peered through the lady's dark hair and looked at her as though she actually had eyes. The lady smiled again.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Katy implored.
Even though the lady did not have eyes, she appeared sad and stood up. She took Katy by the arm and started leading her outside. While they were moving Katy felt the heat in her body slowly draining out where the lady's hand held her. She was scared but would not let her curiosity have her.
The lady knelt down beside the swing without saying a word. She sat still for a few moments, then started digging with both her hands, scraping her fingernails into the cold, damp earth. After a few minutes of what felt like an eternity, Katy started to see bones of a hand emerging from the dirt. And then she noticed that one finger had a ring. She helped dig with the lady after what seemed like an hour. The earth revealed bones of a young woman who passed away a long time ago. Katy looked over to where the lady was sitting, but all she saw was the swing. And empty earth. Her mother woke up and came looking for her, and all that they had seen, they reported to the police.
The body was of Carol Lucan, a 22-year old lady who was to be married. On the eve of her wedding, she was kidnapped and brutally murdered. The police had to file her case unsolved after many years of fruitless searching. With Katy's discovery of her remains, the police could open her file again. Katy's family gave her a proper burial on auspicious land, and from then on, the ghost of the young lady never appeared before them again.
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