My Sister's Tormentor

Igrew up in the small town of Tala, Jalisco, Mexico, surrounded by people that believe strongly that we are not the only beings that roam this earth.

The house I grew up in was purchased by my Father and then torn down. It was originally a small house with a water well and many fruit trees. Before my Father purchased the house, it had been alone for quite a while. Neighbors would help themselves to water from the well, but they refused to do so at night stating that they would see an old man sitting at the base of an orange tree near the well. My father rebuilt our home, making it quite large and beautiful. The well became hidden beneath a trap door in our living room floor, and where the orange tree once stood is the corner of my bedroom.

Before the house was entirely finished we were already occupying the premises. My younger brother, who was 8, and myself, who was 10, slept in his room, while my parents and two-year-old sister occupied my room. One night as I was falling asleep I could hear my sister talking. This was not unusual as the rooms were across from one another and I could hear her nightly routine of talking herself to sleep. She learned to speak at nine months of age and spoke very well by age two.

The next morning my mother told me what had happened. It seems that some nights before my sister had been speaking as if holding a conversation with an individual instead of herself or my mother. She was saying hello to someone and asking where they would be going to go and for what. She then told my Mom that an old man wanted to know if she could go with him because he wanted to show her something. My mother, half-asleep told her no and requested that she go to sleep. With that my sister said goodbye to her visitor, informing him that she would get into to trouble if she didn't go to sleep. My sister's friend returned initiating a conversation with her, similar to the previous one they had held, only this time he seemed more persistent, my sister raising her voice and saying no. Then the visitor offered my sister candy, her favorite thing in the whole world. My sister once again informed my mother that the old man was there and offered her candy to go with him so that he could show her something, my sister insisted that she wanted to accompany him so that she could receive the candy. My mother told her no and that she should quiet down and go to sleep or she would wake my father and he would not be happy. My sister informed the old man that she could not go and this seemed to upset him. He seemed to be insisting for my sister to accompany him to the point that it was frightening her. All of a sudden my sister jumped up, from her laying position between my parents, towards the headboard of the bed, screaming no. At the same time my mother felt pressure on the foot of the bed as if someone had just knelt onto it, which is what my sister insists the old man did while trying to reach for her.

I was shocked at what my mother had told me. We agreed that the house should be blessed. I myself had not experienced anything out of the ordinary in our new home, and would not until the summer I was fourteen. My sister never saw the man again but still remembers what he looks like, she is now 19.