Ghosting Family

      Creeeeek! The house was always making weird noses and Lila was used to it. She lived in a small countryside house with her grandparents. They lived on a small farm in Texas where the sun was always shining even when it was raining. The only problem was their house was full of shadows no matter how many lights were on. Every now and then Lila swore she saw something move. This was one of those days. Lila had been on red alert since this morning when she saw a shadow in the kitchen move. So, when the floorboards creaked she jumped so far and so quick that she could’ve won the long jump. She looked around everywhere and screamed when the shadow behind the couch moved. “What on this goll darn earth are you screaming about.” Lila’s grand mother, Anne, was in a bath robe and her hair, which was usually in long braids, was down and wet. She did not seem happy about her bath being cut short. Especially after an extra long day in the fields. Lila was scared of all the shadows, but she was even more scared of her grandmother when her bath was cut short. “There.... was....a.... I mean....and... oh, nothing.” Lila didn’t expect her grandmother to believe her. She was the type of grandmother that was all stories and cookies until someone does something wrong; then, she is all wooden spoons and burnt bread. “Well, if nothings wrong then I’ll get back to my bath,”she said with a skeptical look. “Preheat the oven for me will you suga’?” Lila couldn’t get words out, so she just nodded. Lila heated the oven to 375 and checked to made sure the meat was thawing out good enough. Lila went to take a long bath to calm herself down. When she got out her hands were so pruned and red that they looked like the tomatoes on the pasta that their neighbor dropped off. That pasta never got eaten. Lila put on some comfy pajamas and went to meet her grandparents in the kitchen. When she walked in her grandmother looked real mad. “Lila O’Moore, are you trying to poison me?!” Lila was confused. “No ma’am, what’s wrong?” Lila took a few more steps and got a whiff of what was wrong. “You put the meat out for 2 hours! It went bad! You didn’t even thaw the peas out at all!” Lila felt so stupid. She had put the meat out of the fridge to thaw and the peas in the fridge instead of other way around. She told her grandmother and she looked ready to smack her. “No dinner for you tonight.” As Lila turned to leave her grandmother said, “Actually, we can’t have this sitting in the fridge forever. You will have one serving of this. You will eat all of it. Then, you will go to bed. I’m gonna go get some supper for me and your granddaddy. Where is that man?” Lila said, “He milking Daisy.” Anne left and Sarah obediently ate that nasty pasta and went to bed. When she woke up that next morning she knew she heard voices. Her grandmother must have been having one of those church meetings in the living room that Lila got kicked out of. Lila rolled her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Her grandparents were supposed to be setting for her birthday party this afternoon. The voices were to annoying. She grabbed her phone and checked to see if she had any texts. Her WiFi was acting weird. She never had great WiFi but this was different. It was going up and down. She didn’t want to leave, so she played a game. She found that old ghost finder app that she got when she first started hearing noises and seeing shadows. As she got older, she realized it was fake. She decided to play on it. The “ghost levels” were extremely high. Lila just laughed at it. She put her phone down and grabbed a book. Soon, she realized the church group voices weren’t speaking English. It wasn’t a language Lila ever heard of. Why, of all days did this have to happen on her birthday?She got out of bed and crept into the living room. The shadows were moving so much. Lila was frozen with fear. She, finally, regained movement in her body and crept back to grab her phone. She pulled up the ghost app and found the “language converter” setting. She started recording for about 15 minutes. Then, while still recording she put her phone on a chair and crept back to her grandparents room. They looked dead asleep. They were snoring so loud though. She went back to the living room and grabbed her phone. She stopped recording and listened back to it. She heard the words they were saying in English. “We must move houses. This one has been so good to us for many years, but the girl is on the verge of figuring out our secret.” Another more feminine voice came on then. “We should leave. If the girl figures out that there are ghosts in her house there’s no telling what would happen.” The first, more male, voice came back. “What is that dreadful noise?” The other voice came back. “It’s the recording noise. She knows.” Then, all the voices stop and all you can hear is snoring. Lila drops her phone and runs to her grandparents. She shakes them awake and says “There are ghosts in our house!” Her grandparents look at each other and then look back at her and say, “We know.”They get up and lead her to the living room. They say, “Lila, meet your great grandmother Pia.” She heard the female voice in English and then saw a very beautiful lady that looked like Anne fade into view. She still was slightly transparent. “Umm, hi?” Lila was scared and confused. This was all new to her. “Lila, don’t be scared. Give her a hug.” Lila stepped forward and tried to give Pia a hug. Instead of feeling a solid body she fell right through her. She felt cold for a split second. Pia and Anne just laughed so hard. Pia looked around then said, “Elijah, come meet her.” Suddenly, a man that looked straight out of World War 2 came into sight. He had graying brown hair, a mustache that curled at the ends, and a smoke pipe in hand. He became completely solid and gave her a good grandpa hug, just like the ones that her grandpa, John, gave her. Then, Pia did the exact same thing. These hugs were both warm. Lila felt tears forming in her eyes and blinked them away. She wondered if her late parents were here as ghosts. Apparently, Anne could tell what she was thinking and said, “Your parents aren’t here. I’m sorry, Sweets.” This time, Lila didn’t try to hold back her tears. She gripped her grandmother like her life depended on it. Earlier, she had been worried because she was having her first middle school birthday party, now all she wanted was her parents. “There in Denver, though.” Lila looked up so fast. “We’re going, now!” Lila pulled her grandparents and told Pia and Elijah to follow. She grabbed the keys and shoved them into her grandmother’s hands. “Lila wait, go get some clothes for all of us.” Pia and Elijah shook their hands and said, “None for us, we don’t change.” Lila sprinted around grabbing clothes and food. When she came back, Anne was holding three plane tickets to Denver. Apparently she had them for a while and they were special because they didn’t have a date on them. They rode to the planes and boarded. It was a very boring flight. All Lila did was read. Ghosts can take the form of many different things, Pia and Elijah both took the form of earbuds so that they could still talk to them. When they got off the plane Lila ran to the rental car place in the airport. “It’s either under Anne and John O’Moore or Pia and Willis Carter. Here’s the card.” The lady at the desk said “It is under Anne and John O’Moore. I’m guessing you’re excited.” Lila vigorously nodded her head an the lady laughed. “You’re gonna need an adults signature.” Lila ran to Anne and dragged her to the cast and pointed at the sheet of paper and said “Sign!” Anne laughed and signed. They got the keys and found the car. They drove to this house that looked extremely old. Lila tried to run to the house but was held back by John. “You can’t go yet. There’s a special knock. Anne went and did the knock. Lila was let free and she ran up to the door. She yelled “Mom, Dad, please come out! It’s me Lila O’Moore, your daughter!” Suddenly, a man with Lila’s deep, blue eyes and hooked nose came into sight. Then, a lady came into view with Lila’s black hair and long legs. Her hair was braided into long black braids like Lila’s and Anne’s. Lila had known she had an Native American heritage, but this was even more proof. Lila’s mom was tearing up and trying not to cry. She stuttered over and over again trying to say Lila. She finally said, “Lila, my baby.” Her father gave her mom a hug and motioned for Lila to join them. “Happy Birthday!”She didn’t know how long she hugged them. All she knew, was that she was with her parents and that was all she cared about.