"We held hands for a few minutes before Joke – our dog – started barking wildly outside. We stood up and listened hoping it wasn’t our parents coming after us, we never told them we were here – another big mistake. There were voices in the dark still distant from the house and by the laugh we heard we knew that parents were no longer our problem. Without making any noise we run to the closet under the rotten stairs and hid in the dark. Through the keyhole Jim stared at the front door hoping it would not open but then the one laugh became two, then three, and then many weird voices speaking in different languages were talking in front of the house very loud, strong powerful voices. The dog was barking furious now, but it stoped in a sudden cry, the laughter coming from behind the door was stronger and amused. I WAS TERRIFEID!
Suddenly Jim let go of my hand and started walking to the door, I wanted to scream to him. Beg him to stay with me but in his eyes I saw such confidence, - ass if he was telling me to stay put - “I’ll be right back“ is what he said. I trusted him so much that wall I did was stand alone in the dark waiting for him to be with me again. He opened the close door slowly and got out never looking back. As the front door opened the closet door closed leaving me only one inch to look through before it closed, in those seconds when the door was open I could see where the voices came from.
Three men dressed like they were from a different era, with boots and hats, holding swords and pistols looked at Jim with their faces so old and young at the same time like they were maps of fights and scars of time with empty eyes and husky voices, but what really caught my attention was the big bull standing up beside those men wearing the same kind of clothes, instead of a hat he wore golden chains connecting his sharp horns, earrings all over his face and his voice low and deep.
The door finally closed, and I kept repeating in my head James’s last words to me – “I’ll be right back” seemed like a big anecdote right now. He never did….. I don’t know what happened after the door closed that night. I remember hearing him screaming and the men hitting him so he fell on the ground and I felt like the walls were closing in on me leaving me no air to breathe. After that it’s all a blur. The darkness from that little closet under the stairs faded as the sun rose in the horizon. But I stayed there I didn’t move at all waiting for him, I knew he wouldn’t come back but still I didn’t want to move. I hoped I would wake up at any moment and realize it was all a nightmare. What I didn’t know was that this nightmare would haunt me forever.
That’s the memory that follows me wherever I go. That’s the memory that keeps my eyes open most every minute of every night… that’s my own personal ghost."
