Showcase Magazine - Central and Southwest Virginia's Exclusive Entertainment Magazine

July 4, 2005

Things became pretty quiet after that night that Jess encountered Mrs. Williamson. There was the occasional odd occurrence such as a picture falling over or a strange noise. Nothing like we had experienced right after the incident with the Ouija board so I just chalked it up to the cat playing. Jess was not visited again and her attention had returned to her job and summer school.
It was July the 4th and it was extremely hot even for a July day. I believe the temperature was over 100 degrees. The heat was sweltering. Jess had taken a few days off from work to come celebrate the holiday. I was in the front yard watering the grass when she pulled up. A definite chill danced up my spin as she turned into the driveway. The chill made the hairs on my arm stand at attention as if I had just rubbed a dryer sheet over my arm. Jess pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. I hugged her but she sensed something was not right." What's wrong" she said. Not wanting to worry her with what just happened I said" Nothing, I just think the heat is getting to me." We went inside and I put Jess's bag in the bedroom. I felt that chill again but this time I heard a faint voice that said something like "Don't listen to him." I started to feel nauseous and went to the bathroom. I was in there for about 10 minutes when Jess came in to the bedroom to see what was taking me so long to put her bag away. "Are you OK?" she said. I replied with "Yeah, the heat just got to me." With everything that had happened to us I knew it wasn't the heat but I did not want to worry Jess. She went to the kitchen to get me a glass of water.

A few minutes later she came down the hall and that cliché "you look white as a ghost" was never any truer. Jess was pale. She told me that while she was getting the water she heard a voice say "he is lying." At that point she started to question me and my behavior. Jess was under the impression that the voice was referring to me as the one that was lying. I spent the entire day trying to convince her that I had not done anything to lie about. I even told her about the voice that I heard. In hindsight, I should have told her about that as soon as it happened because I got the distinct impression that she did not believe me. Jess seemed to believe that the voice was trying to warn her about me. We barely spoke the rest of the day.

That evening we were going to a friend's party. Thing between us had seemed to smooth out and we were socializing with a few friends when someone stuck their finger in my back and said "Don't move!" With me being on edge anyway I wheeled around to see who was there. It was Jeffrey (I will not post his last name out of respect), a childhood friend. Jeffrey was my neighbor for about 15 years growing up. He lived on the other side of Mrs. Williamson. We spent the next 20 or so minutes catching up while Jess talked with her friends. She came over and I introduced her to Jeffrey. I am not sure why but then I mentioned to her that Jeffrey had also been a neighbor of Mrs. Williamson. The conversation turned toward her when Jeffrey said "I remember that old battle axe, that bitch was mean." Jess took the opportunity to ask him if he knew anything about Mrs. Williamson's daughter. His answer shocked both of us beyond belief. He said "Yeah, I know her. I saw her about six months ago when I was in town for Mom's birthday." Stunned I said "You saw her, here, in town?" He laughed and said "Yeah, I saw her, here, in town. She was in town visiting Mrs. Williamson's grave." Then I remembered that Mrs. Williamson's and Jeffery's mother's birthday were within in days of each other. I looked at Jess and at that moment we both knew who the voice was talking about.

-William