The Cough

Before I begin, I would like to inform all of you that I am 14 years old and have never relayed this experience to anyone, not even family.

Ever since I was little, I have been a sucker for ghost stories. I don't know why, but I like being scared. As to whether I believe in these stories or not, the answer would always be no. The idea of ghosts always seemed outrageous to me, and if I was going to believe, I needed some proof.
I always wanted to be one of those people that had a first-hand account of the paranormal, but I knew it would probably never happen to me.

Fast forward about a year later..my grandpop was very ill and close to death in his own home. Eventually, he succumbed to his sickness, and my family (especially my grandmother) was very shaken. A couple weeks later, I went along with my mom to one of her routine visits to my grandmother's house. I was pretty excited because we were spending the night there and I had unlimited access to digital cable television and soda for the whole night. At around 2 AM, I was on Youtube on my laptop, when I decided to just chill and think for awhile. I started to think about my grandpop, whom I missed very much. In my last few visits of him, he would just cough uncontrollably and I would be very disturbed by it, just how much pain he was in. I then remembered that he had died in the adjacent room, and I wondered of possibly his spirit was still there.
A little embarrassed at myself, I forgot about that thought until a few minutes later. I just came down from the bathroom, when I heard a few loud, violent coughs..eerily similar to that of my grandfather's, and it definitely came from one of the basement rooms. I knew I was alone down there. The house was down a long driveway and nearly secluded, so it couldn't have been a neighbor. The thought of a robber crossed my mind, so I checked every room in the house, except those of my mother and grandmother, but to no avail. Shaken, I slowly fell asleep.

As my mother and I were leaving the next day, we said our goodbyes to my grandmother. My mom told her that she really hates the thought of her being alone. My grandmother's next few words are what changed me into a believer of the paranormal. "Don't worry about me, I still feel that Harry is here with me, I hear his cough all too often, it's so real..". While my mother probably felt that this was just a part of the mourning process, I believe that this was the proof I needed to believe in ghosts, or the unknown for that matter.

Since that event last Summer, I have not stayed over my grandmother's house, but I am grateful for being able to experience what I definitely consider paranormal activity.