Come Back Aunt Thelma

COME BACK AUNT THELMA

From the outset of my story, I must tell you that my Aunt Thelma was the most miserable woman that you can imagine. I didn't like her. My brother didn't like her. As a matter of fact, when I think back to those days of my childhood no one including animals liked her. Pit bulls would see her and rush to cross the street pulling their leashes and forcing their owners along with them! I have no doubt that you wouldn't like her either. There was something about the way she looked at you that made you want to look away. There was a strong suspicion that the old woman was a witch but we couldn't prove it. I took some consolation in the fact that she was my mother's step-sister so that meant that there was no blood relation there.

I remember that summer of 1962 as being the most frightening one of my life. It began with my younger brother barging into my room and completely ruining my train of thought. I was lying on my bed reading the latest adventures of my favourite comic book hero.

“I found something hidden in the attic!” Bryan shouted as he raced in and startled the daylights out of me.

“What is it now?” I asked while lowering my glasses and staring menacingly into his eyes.

“When I was looking for my old baseball glove my flashlight reflected off something in between the beams near the attic window. It looks like it's been hidden there for years. I saw the edge of an old dusty book. The reflection came from a small glass bead shaped like a diamond on its binding. It was supposed to look like a real diamond I guess.”

“OK what's so special about this book?” I asked cautiously, knowing that he was forever coming up with all sorts of crackpot ideas.

His eyes lit up.

“Well, it has all kinds of spells in it!” he answered excitedly.

With a wide grin he handed me an old weather-worn and dust-covered black book. I distinctly remember reaching out for it and just as I touched it a tiny spark jumped and made contact with the ring on my finger. I automatically pulled back and let out a yell.

“What the heck was that? Did you see the spark, Bryan?” I shouted.

“I-I sure did. Wow! That was weird.”

“It sure was!,” I said looking down at the unusual title printed in faded gold lettering across the front cover.

“Charges-Chants And Invocations Of The Sixteenth Century”

“Why would anyone hide this in the attic of this house?” I wondered aloud.

“I don't know but I know that this house is old. Dad and Mom said that it was built in the early nineteen twenties. Who knows what went on here in this old house years before we moved in,” wondered Bryan aloud. I watched as he flipped slowly through the pages until he came to a section with an odd heading.

“Magical Words Of Disappearance”

“Hmm,” he said.

“Hmm-what?” I asked. “What is it?”

“This looks interesting. It says that it's possible to get rid of someone and then bring them back.”

“Bring them back from where?”

“That I don't know,” he answered. “But it does have a couple of sentences that someone underlined in pencil and they made some side notes. It says to read them out loud being sure to speak the name of the person who you want to get rid of”.

“Hah! Aunt Thelma is coming to visit us again this weekend. We should try it out on her,” I laughed.

Bryan's face suddenly lit up.

“You know, that's a good idea! We'll use her name at the end of the sentence. She's coming over again today.”

I thought for a moment.

“Whenever she comes over Mom and Dad always have an argument after she leaves.”

“Actually, they usually have an argument before she gets here too!” joked Bryan.

“I suppose no one is ever really happy to see Aunt Thelma. She's such a downer. Besides her constant complaining she's always talking about this person dying or that person dying. Or how she wishes that this person or that person were dead! No wonder she doesn't have any friends left. Nothing Mom and Dad do for her is ever good enough. She's really not a happy person.”

“Yeah,I know that Dad doesn't want her here. He usually comes up with an excuse to leave the house or go down to his basement workshop. But Aunt Thelma is Mom's step-sister so I guess Mom has to put up with her every once in a while,” I said.

“OK let's try it!” said Bryan excitedly.

“But what if something goes wrong and Aunt Thelma doesn't come back?” I asked.

“You know what they say, ‘Be careful what you wish for’. First of all it might not even work and if it does who will know that we were the ones who did it?” replied Bryan.

After a few seconds of thinking it over I decided to go along with my brother. I asked Bryan to show me the spot where he had found the book in the attic. With the flashlight I checked out the entire area. There seemed to be nothing else hidden in there. When I happened to glance out the small window that faced the front of the house, I saw a woman below walking up to our front porch.

“I see Aunt Thelma coming up our walkway. Quick! Say the words!” I whispered.

“Here goes,” Bryan answered. “It says to face north and say out loud:

'Oh, Goddess of Doom, Goddess of Gloom

We are gathered before you in this room

Pain and suffering we've had to bear

But because of these words

Aunt Thelma is no longer there!'”

“Holy cow! She's gone!” I shouted as I stared outside in astonishment through the tiny attic window.

“You say she just disappeared?” asked Bryan.

“Yeah. I was watching her as she walked towards the front porch. She looked up and I think she might have seen me! It looked like she stumbled and simply disappeared before my eyes.” I said excitedly.

Then I paused to think.

“Bryan, I was the last person she saw before she disappeared! Something bad is going to happen. I know it is!”

I could tell that my younger brother was trying to act calm about the whole thing but I knew he was as worried as I was.

Hours passed. Bryan and I listened intently to every word our parents said that night. They spoke mainly about Aunt Thelma and how she was late to arrive. It was dark and they didn't know where she was. They didn't seem too concerned, though. They made a few telephone calls but still didn't find out why Aunt Thelma hadn't shown up. Bryan and I just kept quiet. We were in a real predicament and we knew it.

“We're in trouble now,” I later said to Bryan when we were up in the attic. “Let me see that old book again.”

“I'm way ahead of you,” he answered as he feverishly thumbed through the old book.

“I've been trying to find out if it says how to get a person to come back again!”

“Now listen carefully Bryan,” I began, “Make sure that you read all of the instructions first before you read them out loud. We don't want to make any mistakes. This could be dangerous.”

Bryan nodded in agreement. I waited anxiously until suddenly he called out.

“I've found it! It's under... 'Magical Words Of Returns'. It says to face south this time. I'll add Aunt Thelma's name to the end of it.

Listen to this...

'Oh, Goddess of Doom, Goddess of Gloom, We are gathered before you in this room. Pain and suffering we've had to bear. But because of these words Aunt Thelma is once again here'.”

At that very moment Bryan suddenly disappeared and that's when the front doorbell rang! I did a double-take. I looked outside and then back at the attic room. My brother disappeared right in front of me while we were in the attic and guess who was standing on our front porch- Aunt Thelma! I could hardly breathe! My mind was racing. Was this all really happening to me or was I having a nightmare?

I must have nervously paced back and forth a dozen times in that attic. The doorbell rang again.

“Mom and Dad were out. That's why no one was answering the doorbell,” I realized.

I somehow forced myself to muster up the courage to race downstairs and open the door. My Aunt Thelma was standing before me with the strangest of expressions I had ever seen.

“What's happening? Where am I?” she asked.

“Aunt Thelma, you're here at my house,” I offered.

“Aunt Thelma? I'm Bryan. Why are you calling me 'Aunt Thelma'?” 'she' asked.

“If you don't believe me, go look into a mirror,” I replied.

Well, you never heard such a long and loud shrieking sound as I heard that day. I was afraid that all of the neighbours would be on their way over! When I took my hands away from my ears, I tried to calm her...er... him down.

“Is that really you Bryan?” I cautiously asked.

“Who else do you think I am you dork?”

I knew right away that 'she' was my brother because of that 'endearing' name he always called me.

“Quick, follow me up to the attic. We've got to read that book and try to find a way to reverse all of this!” I said.

As I frantically flipped through the pages of that dusty old book I came across a heading.

'UNDOING THE DAMAGES OF WORDS'

Pencilled in at the bottom of the page were the words... 'You will change more than you expect!'

Here I was in this very odd predicament. The body of my aunt was standing in front of me with the spirit of my brother inside of her! What an incredibly strange feeling that was. I was willing to try anything. I read each word slowly and carefully, filling in the names of my brother and aunt where they were needed.

“'Oh, Goddess of Doom, Goddess of Gloom,

We are gathered before you in this room.

For time has no distance and space has no border

Return the spirits of Bryan and Aunt Thelma in their proper order”

PHZZT!

Instantly my flashlight went out and I was knocked down to the dusty floor of the attic. I couldn't see a thing except the stars in my head. And the only sound I heard were bells but they weren't in my head. I finally realized that they were coming from downstairs- it was the doorbell again. I quickly brushed myself off and hurried down the stairs. Slowly I opened the door. It was Aunt Thelma and she was smiling! I don't recall my Aunt Thelma ever smiling.

“Oh, it's so good to see you again. My you are growing up so fast Andrew. Where's your brother and your mother and father?” she asked.

“Mm-my parents are out. They shouldn't be much longer because it's getting dark. Where Bryan is...I...I don't know...” before I was able to finish the sentence I heard my 'name' being called from the upstairs area.

“Hey dork, get up here,” came the words that I knew were my brother's.

I rushed upstairs to find Bryan holding a dusty old black book in his hand.

“Guess what I found in the attic,” he said.

Obviously, he didn't remember anything about the trouble that book had gotten us into in the first place.

Before you can say 'hocus-pocus' I grabbed the book from his hand and ran down the stairs and out the front door as fast as I could. There was an open-backed truck passing by and I threw the book into the back of it and ran back into the house. Bryan met me at the front door but it was too late for him to retrieve the book.

“Why the heck did you do that?” he yelled.

“Bryan,” I began, “I really hope that you can spare a few minutes. I know that you probably won't believe me but I have a very interesting story to tell you.”

Now it may just have been my imagination but I thought I saw our Aunt Thelma wink at us!