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| It was a dark, lonely night. There was a breeze in the air. I was sitting by the fireplace when I heard it, the voice of another person in my house. The date was August 28, 2021, and it was a Tuesday. I had lived by myself for about a year, so it was unusal for another voice to be in the house. I walked around all the rooms and and returned to the fireplace. As I sat down, I looked up at the clock, it was 3:10am. Then I heard the voice again, more clear, as if it was coming from right behind me. As I turned around, I saw the image I can never forget. It was a ghost! It stood about 6 foot. It had short brown hair, and blue eyes. It was wearing Navy blue carpenter pants, and a Korn t-shirt. It was glowing so beautifully. Then it uttered out, "Do not be afraid, for I am here to tell you a story. A story of depression and loneliness of a young man." So my reply was "What do you want with me?" To my surprise, it said "I want to help you, for I see you are alone now, and always keep to yourself. It is not a good thing." I told the ghost that it was none of its business. Well, the ghost said "I was once in your shoes, and now because of it I have unfinished business and can't leave the Earth until my work is done." So I asked what was the one thing it still needed to do. "I have to find someone. For I am so lonely, that I can not take the trip myself, to the afterlife. Now I will begin my story, so that you will see what loneliness is really about," was his answer. I decided that I had nothing else to do, so I said "Ok, proceed now, for I am listening." The ghost started telling his story "It all started when I was young. I was always the little runt of everyone. I had such low self-esteem. I figured there was nothing I could do for myself to make me any better so I didn't take care of myself. I never combed my hair, and I got made fun of because of it. I figured that I wouldn't live a very long life, so what did it matter if I took care of myself anyway. I was always a loner. Even when I was in a crowd, I would be the last one in the group to say anything. As I grew up, I started changing and developing a sense of humor." "When I was 10, we moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. That is when friends started mattering to me. I made friends with a couple of people. They were good friends to me, and then they would mistreat me. I got in a fight with my best friend, Jon, 4 times. Then another one of my friends, Jason, and I always used to get in trouble for starting fires everywhere. We got into a fight one time. Then I started a relationship with a wonderful girl that I thought I was in love with, but it was 'puppy love,' as some would call it. Her name was Shelby. I thought I was so in love with her, that I was willing to do anything for her. We went out for a year, before I moved in 1994. In 1995 Shelby cheated on me with Jon." "Well, in 1994 I moved and lived in Rome, Georgia. It was like a whole other country. The people were so different from the rest of the people I had met. I made friends there that would stick with me to this day. I lived there for a total of three years. My last year there I started writing poetry. It took me about 6 months to make friends because I was shy. One of my first friends was Lynn. She was very nice. We dated for about 2 weeks and shortly thereafter I made more friends. Well, I really liked all of my friends. I really cherished our friendship. I had such great friends, like Lois and Leanne, who were also known as the twins. I became friends with Nick Samson, Nick Stone, Beth, anorexic Sue, and so many others. Leanne and I started dating the year I left. Then I had to move." "I moved to Gaston, Louisiana in 1997. I had a hard time making friends. Drugs were very common, and it was the route I took to getting friends. I made a lot of friends. I missed all of my old friends because these new ones were nothing like my old ones. My old ones were so intelligent. Then Leanne broke up with me in December of 2000. It broke my heart, and I was totally different. I didn't see life the same. I just wanted to die. I started smoking cigarettes more frequently to help relieve my stress. Drugs helped to cover up the problems I was having at school, and at home. After I graduated from high school, I started partying all the time. I would get stoned before or at work. I even got drunk a couple of times at work. I worked at Burger King. Then I started working at a factory job. I got stoned a couple times before and at my factory job . I was in horrible shape. I tried to start up another relationship with a girl that reminded me of Leanne, but it didn't work out. I decided to stop writing poetry. I stopped telling people of how I was depressed." "I got to see my friends from Rome, Georgia one last time before I died. A lot of them moved to Miami Beach. I drove down to Miami Beach, and we decided to hold a reunion every year during Spring Break. I saw April, who always wanted to try manna, for she had heard it was the best food ever, Brandon, who reminded me of Bruce Lee, because he knew some Martial Arts, Nick Samson, who went out with Beth for a while, Lois, who is really cool, but plays tough, Leanne, who really loves to eat candy, Diane, who loved reading Emily Dickinson poems, Monique, who was in college to be a lawyer, Wilma, who was pretty shy in Rome, Georgia, and Omar, who was taking Wilma to prom." "Well, after I got back from seeing them I was never the same. I was shunned by Leanne. Nick, left the little group we had made on the web. I decided that it wasn't worth it. My friends in Miami Beach might care about me, but they weren't there to comfort me. My friends in Gaston walked all over me, and I was just used for different things. On August 28, 2001 I took my own life." After the story was finished, I started thinking. This could apply to my life, for I am a loner, too. Why don't I go out and find some true friends that will be there for me when I need them. So that left me with one question. "What have you done for the past 20 years?" I asked the ghost. "I have been roaming around watching my friends," the ghost replied. Which left me with another question to ask. "So what have you seen in those twenty years?" "My friends in Gaston mourned my death for a couple of months. They still bring me up to this day. My friends from Miami Beach just went on with their lives unphased. They acted as if I were still alive, and just too busy to keep in touch. Leanne married at the age of 24, had a couple of kids, and is doing very good. Lois married at 26, had no kids, but is still content with life. Nick Samson never married, and is spending his days in jail for the murder of his father. April and Monique, both, became lawyers and have offices next to each other. April married when she was 22, and had three kids, and is so happy. Monique married at 23, had 1 kid, and is happy. Wilma and Omar got married and had two kids of their own. Brandon married at 22, had no kids, and owns his own martial arts training facility. Diane married at 21 divorced at 27, and got remarried at 29. She has two kids, and is very successful in her career." "My friends here in Gaston still party. Every once in a while they will pour out some liqour for me. They still talk about the fun they had with me. 'You remember the time that Josh got so trashed that he started tackling everybody.' So it turns out that to some, you mean the world, to others you mean nothing." "So be careful who you trust. Let others know how you feel before it is too late. Never give up on life. Live long and prosperous." With that the ghost was gone. He had only stayed exactly an hour. It made me start thinking. I decided I would give a couple of my old high school friends a call. We went and hung out all the time. I was telling my friend Jerry Gray about what had happened. He said that his father had lived in Gaston, but moved to Springfield in 2002. The next day, I ran into Jerry. Jerry and I started hanging out on regular basis after I saw the ghost. His father remembered a guy named Josh that took his own life in the end of August. He said that his father, Jeremy, was best friends with Josh. He was so sad after Josh's death, and that was the reason he left Gaston. The next year, on August 28, Jerry was sleeping in my living room. He woke up startled, for Josh had reappeared. He immediately came to my room and woke me up. Well, I told Josh about Jeremy being Jerry's father. We immediately called Jeremy. We told him about the spirit. He said he would be over in ten minutes. He arrived at 4 am. Josh and Jerry started talking about everything. At 4:10am, Josh looked at the three of us and said "Thank you for being there for me. Your care has given me so much strength. Give your mind to all who will listen. Give your trust to the few that deserve it. Give your heart to one that will appreciate it, and nurture it. Live long and prosperous...." Said one last line and was gone. I never saw him after that. The last words that he said haunt me to this day, for they are words only ghosts would know if they were true. Those words were "Love Alwayz and Forever, to you and all your kinsman." |
| Memories of a ghost By Jason Fisher |
| Didn't understand it? I will have an explanation soon. |
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