Seeing how consumed she had become, I began to worry. Jess is stubborn and when she sets her mind to something she sees it through. I knew that any type of intervention would prove futile. So, I decided to ride along instead of fighting her. I suggested that we try to contact Mrs. Williamson again to see if she could give us any clues on where to begin the search for her family. That night after dinner I got the board out and Jess lit the candles.

Jess suggested that I just watch since she had been successful in gaining contact. I reluctantly agreed. My mind was cluttered with worry over her infatuation with Mrs. Williamson. I realized it would not be a good idea for me to participate. We sat there for well over an hour. Jess frantically tried to contact the old lady to no avail. Jess was dejected and I must say I was too. While growing up I was always fond of the paranormal so it was disappointing that we were not able to make contact.

I am not exactly sure what time we went to bed; though, I do remember what time I woke up. It was 4:17. Jess came running into the room and shook me. She almost scared me to death considering I thought that she was in bed asleep next to me.

I sat straight up and gathered my bearings. “What the hell is wrong, Jess” I said. Jess told me that she couldn’t sleep so she went downstairs and tried to contact Mrs. Williamson again. This time she was successful. I didn’t know what to think because we had tried for over an hour with no success. My initial reaction was that Jess was sleepwalking and imagining the recent contact. However, I had a feeling of unease. You know that feeling that makes your spine tingle and the hairs on your arms raise? Yeah that feeling…Jess told me the reason that Mrs. Williamson did not make contact earlier was because of me.

The old lady told her that she didn’t like me because as kids we called her “the mean old lady.” She explained to Jess that she wasn’t mean and that it just scared her whenever we would play close to her house. We were loud kids, I admit that. It made sense now that I am an adult. What floored me though was when Jess said “she was genuinely concerned when you fell off of your bike and got that concussion.” My jaw dropped! When I was 12, I had a bad accident on my bike. I had never mentioned it to Jess. There was no way that she could have known about it. It just never came up. She asked “are you OK?” I can only assume the look on my face was of shock. Jess went on to tell me that I needed to apologize to Mrs. Williamson. She said the whole time she talked with her all she did was talk about how I had her pegged wrong. Jess asked me to get up out of bed and go downstairs to apologize to Mrs. Williamson.

Jess’s stubbornness combined with the fact that there was obviously a spirit in my house that knew me left me no choice. I got up and went downstairs. The candles were still burning as Jess sat in front of the board. She tried to communicate with Mrs. Williamson for close to 20 minutes without success. Finally, frustrated she looked at me and said “just apologize.” Now I have to admit I felt silly apologizing to a spirit that I have never conversed with, but I did it anyway. Not a minute later the oracle spelled out I FORGIVE HIM. I stood in complete bewilderment.

That was it though. The board just died. I could sense a relief in Jess.