It happened on Wednesday, the thirty first of August. I am currently working from home. I have a setup in the office with a computer, screen, keyboard, chair and all the necessities including coffee. That’s where I am right now. Next to here is the lounge with a television and couch, and next to that is a kitchen. Nothing terribly fancy, but it does show that I can see the kitchen from where I sit.
I write this in order to indicate just how normal everything is. Now, on that Wednesday, Wifey had left early on to do a few things and should have been out until past midday. It was 9:20, and I know that because the daily Scrum meeting had only just started and I was listening to a team-mate relate their current status. Coffee in hand, headphones on, sitting up straight, weather is cold.
I hear a clunk from the kitchen. My headphones are not noise-cancelling, and it definitely sounded like there was something in the hall. It’s not a terribly loud sound, like a bang, more of a shuffling clunk. Out of the corner of my eye I see a dark shape cross from the right, where the fridge is, to the left. Not lightning fast, or creepy slow, just moving at a brisk walking pace. OK.
I hold up my hand in salutation to Wifey and point to my headphones to indicate I’m in a meeting. I need to ask her about Joey, so when the meeting ends a few minutes later, I take off the headphones and toddle into the kitchen. I call out. She doesn’t respond, because she’s not there. OK, fine, then she’s in the bedroom.
“Did you forget something…” I begin, but when I get to the bedroom, she’s not there, either. OK. Fine. Great. It’s possible, though not probable, that she is in the bathroom. To get there, she’d need to cross through the lounge, and I would have seen her but, whatever, I go back and check. Nope, not there. OK, fine, great, whatever… no, really, where is she? I go to the front of the house. The car is not there. So, perhaps, maybe, she came in and went real quick and closed the door real quiet behind her? That must be it. Yeah, that’s it.
Only, when she came home at 12:30, I asked her about it. No, she had left that morning and didn’t come back. No, there was no one else in the house. No, she doesn’t have any explanation for it, and neither do I. I know what I heard and saw was real, there was something in the kitchen, and it couldn’t have been anyone or anything plausible.
Did the air feel cold? No. Granted, I didn’t go there straight away, so that doesn’t help. Was there a creepy feeling? Also no. It was just an odd situation that has me perplexed as to how it came about. Chalk up another odd experience.
Coincidentally, I might as well announce that I’m finalising the first draft of the new book in Paranormology. Parkford Rise Ghost is the current working title, and I haven’t really started on a front cover. Not to spoil anything, it is set in a boiler-maker factory and delves into the harsh conditions experienced by Victorian era workers. There’ll be more on that as I go through the various stages and all. Until then, I’m going to try and see if I can recreate the scenario from the other day. Maybe something fell and some paper flew across the room. Maybe something passed by a window and the shadow reflected off the wall and… yeah, I’ll give it a crack.
