He Came Home

This story takes place in a very small town called Walla Walla, Washington.

When I was 15, I started to have problems at home with my mother, so it was decided that I move in with my sister, Andee, and nephew, Levi, who had just arrived from Alaska.

My sister is 12 years older than me, and my nephew was 4 at the time. I loved the house my sister was in, it had a magical quality to it. When you walk in the front door, immediately to the right is a small set of stairs, going up to a hallway, which led to a bedroom on the right, a bathroom at the very end and my sisters room to the left, and a very large living room. Directly in front of entering, is a step down that is like a large platform, which was the dining room and it had ceiling to floor windows that went from one end of the house to the other. Looking out of those windows there is a creek that runs through the yard. To the left of entering the house was a step up, which was the kitchen. On the other side of the kitchen was a set of stairs leading to the basement/laundry room.

I moved into the house the same day my sister moved in. I shared the first bedroom with Levi. We had a bunk bed and he was on the top. My sisters dog, Bear, a cinnamon colored Chow, slept in the room with Levi and I.

The first night we were there, we all wee settling down in bed. Levi was afraid of the dark, so we slept with the door cracked and a night-light on. About two hours after falling asleep, I woke up to hearing someone walking up the stairs to the hallway, and Bear started to growl at the door. Thinking it was my sister; I got out of bed, and peeked my head out the door. I didn't see anything, so I let Bear out of the room, and went back to bed. Bear ended up in my sister's room at the foot of her bed. I knew after I had not seen anyone in the hall that something was strange about this house, but I was not afraid of it.

The next morning, I went to the bathroom to get ready for school. I turned the shower on to warm it up, and started to brush my teeth. I was getting ready to step into the shower, when something very cold touched my bare bum. I turned around very quickly, but nothing was there. When I turned back around to get into the shower, there was a massive amount of steam coming from the shower. I stuck my hand in there to see how hot it was, and it was nearly boiling. What ever had touched my bum, stopped me from scolding myself in the shower.

After school, my mother picked me up and was driving me to my sister's house. I asked her point blank, "Did anyone die in Sissy's house?"

She said "No, not that I know of."

I asked her "What happened to the people that lived there before us?"

She said, "Well, to my understanding, the father had gone to the hospital and passed away, and after that happened, the rest of his family packed up and moved out of town."

Then I asked her, "Do you think it is possible that after the father died, he went home?"

She replied, " I think it is possible, but I don't know for sure? why do you ask?"

I told her about the experience I had the night before, and that morning.

She said, "Well, I didn't want to scare you, but Andee called me this morning saying that something entered her room last night, and touched her on the shoulder, and it was very cold. She said Bear would not stop growling all night." My mother asked me, "Were you scared?"

I said, "No, it doesn't feel scary to me. It feels like he is looking for his family."

My mother was shocked at my reaction to all of this. I asked my mother if Andee was afraid. She replied, that she was frightened. Out of my entire family, I think I was the only one who was not afraid. A lot of the previous families belongings were in the basement. They were using it as storage, and my sister was only renting the house. Every time I had to do laundry, I would take Bear downstairs with me. Every single time, Bear would go to a certain area of the basement and poop in the exact same spot.

This was getting on my nerves, cause I hate cleaning up poop. The area that Bear was pooping in was the room that the mans stuff was in. The basement had a very sad feeling about it. The air was very dense and muggy. Later, we found out the man's name was Jim.

So, everyday I would come home from school, and say, "Hello Jim, I am home."

I believe that Jim spent the majority of his time in the basement. When I would come home from school, I know that he would come up stairs to greet me, and then he would go back down stairs. This routine continued for several weeks. Until one day, while I was at school, the owners came to town to pick up their remaining items. My sister was talking with the family, and they said their goodbyes, and as the daughter got into the U-Haul, my sister saw Jim leave the house, sit on his daughters lap, and they left together. We never had another experience with Jim again. My nephew was never directly effected by this either, to our knowledge.