Shoes...Shoes...Where were her shoes? As if moving into a new house, in a new town wasn't hard enough, now she couldn't find her shoes to complete her outfit for her first day in her new school tomorrow. The only place she hadn't checked was the garage.
She hated that garage. She was always terrified of it but never knew why. It was brand new, but she was a 10 year old girl and, to her, it was huge. There was also a big window in it that looked out over the empty fields behind her home. Fields that were swallowed up by an endless darkness once the sun went down.
Maybe it was from the feeling of constantly being watched when she was in the garage. Maybe it was the deafening silence that surrounded her while she rummaged through the boxes that were left to unpack. Maybe, just maybe, it was all in her head. Whatever it was, she just knew the feeling of unease crept up on her the second she knew she was going to step foot in that garage.
And on this night - she would find out why.
Working up all the courage she had, she started out of her bedroom and down the long hallway that led straight to the garage door. The hallway had 2 light switches - one that happened to be right by her bedroom door - and she switched that on immediately. Once she grabbed the doorknob to the garage door, she paused, took a deep breath & slowly pulled as the door came open with a creak.
Her eyes were met with darkness. The garage lights were off and the black of night flooded through the window directly across from her. She quickly stepped out into the garage, flicked the light on and let out a sigh of relief as she saw her shoes sitting there just on the other side of her parents deep freezer, in the middle of the garage.
As she bent down to grab the shoes, the feeling of being watched hit her like a ton of bricks. She wanted to turn and run but fear held her in place while something else was beckoning her to look in the direction of the window. It seemed the only thing she could turn at the moment was her head & when she did, she was met with something she never expected to see.
The once dark window, was now illuminated with the clear apparition of a man. Not just any man though, a Native American Chief - and he was looking right at her with a scowl. Frozen & mouth agape, but unable to scream, she was petrified. She wanted to run but had seen plenty of horror movies & the minute you ran was the same minute you were chased, captured or worse.
She knew she had to get out of there. She didn't think he wanted to hurt her but she couldn't be certain. Then, as quickly as the fear had gripped her, it released its hold and she turned and bolted for the door. She threw the door open and barged into the house as quickly as she could, slamming the door behind her, locking and leaning her back up against it. She slid to the floor with her head in her hands.
Her heart pounded in her ears. She was in shock but she now understood where the feeling of fear came from every time she stepped foot in the garage. She had never seen an apparition before. She was born into a Christian family and was always told ghosts did not exist. Her parents, who were sitting on the couch just across the room, knew nothing of what just happened and there was no way she could tell them.
Once she felt like her legs could carry her again, she stood up slowly and made her way to her bedroom. Thank goodness the light in the hallway was still on because truthfully, that hallway scared her just as much as the garage. As she made it into the safety of her room, she sat down on her bed and peered back out the doorway, half expecting to see the Chief floating down the hallway.
The feeling of unease stayed with her long into the night & when she eventually fell asleep, it was with the TV and her bedroom light on. She didn't know it, but this would be the first of many unexplained experiences in her new home. Experiences that would shake her to her core and stay with her the rest of her life.