Frank (2)

At the end of May, my step-grandfather Frank, passed away from cancer. He'd been fighting it for the last ten years, and actually lived a year and a half past what the doctors said he would.

The night Frank passed, I left for my brother-in-law's graduation down state. I never did get to say goodbye to him. He deteriorated rather quickly. In a week he went from standing up straight and tall to being bed ridden not able to move at all.

I spent time with my in-laws but in the back of my mind the entire time was Frank's funeral that was scheduled for the following Tuesday. It'd been decided earlier in the week that I would be a pallbearer.

So after a full day of shopping with my mother and sister-in-law I tried to get to bed early so I'd be ready to go to the graduation the next day. Being a night owl naturally, didn't help me sleep at all at Eleven PM when I'm used to going to bed at five AM. I'm laying on the air mattress trying to fall asleep and in my mind's eye I can see Frank standing there just looking at me with the same slightly hunched over figure I'd last seen him in. I didn't find it all that strange seeing him as I'd been thinking about him a lot.

I'm not sure how long he stayed in my mind when I started feeling like I wasn't alone in the room. I sleep with ear plugs in and I was so focused on Frank that I wasn't sure if my husband had come into the room. After I didn't feel his weight on the mattress for a few moments I rolled over and looked at the doorway. There standing at the end of the bed was a sort of shadow with Frank's same hunched over outline. Though it never moved and nothing was ever said, I could feel just this comforting presence with me in the room. Like he'd come to watch over me for a few moments, to say goodbye, as I am convinced that he knew that I felt horribly about never getting to see him before he passed. I closed my eyes again in I continued to see Frank for a few more moments before he simply smiled and faded away.

The day of the funeral I performed my duty as Pallbearer and afterward went to my mom's house and I told her what had happened that night. She looked at me with a sort of awe on her face as she told me that my cousin who lives in the South had had a similar encounter in a park earlier in the day. I've always believed in the paranormal and all things spooky but I truly believe that Frank -grandpa- visited me that night, to say goodbye and to let me know he'd be watching over me.