Strange Afterlife

A Strange Afterlife
By Clyde Joseph


Day was falling. In the awakening darkness a stranger walked down a pathway. In the distance he saw a house, where a dim light glittered through the corner window. The man walked towards the house. Upon arriving on the door, he knocked..

A tall woman opened the door. There was an unusual expression of gratitude on her face. It were almost as if she had been waiting for him. To explain his situation, he told the woman that his transport had broken down. The woman stood there for a moment, and finally realized her thoughts. She told him to come inside the house. It seemed as if there was an unknown meaning behind this hospitality. He told her his name. She told him that her name was Sarah Posh . He finally took a deep breath and entered the house. Too kind.

There was a mysterious essence to this house. The furniture were covered with plastic sheets, as if no one had lived here for years. He looked around to notice more strange things, there were unusual objects hanging from the ceiling. Objects with symbols on them. He felt a bit uneasy. The woman told him that the phone was on the table, and went into the kitchen. He picked up the phone, but it was not working. He tried to check the wiring. Nothing. He put the receiver down and glanced at a picture on the table, it was a man standing next to Sarah Posh. "Coffee ?" She came back with a cup of coffee and handed it to him. There was something about the picture that bothered him. He stared at the picture. Sarah told him it was her husband, who had died 2 years ago. The look on her face, made it seem as if it did not bother her. "I'm sorry" the man said. He became certain it didn't bother her after her reply to his apology. "But, I'm not" the woman said. There was something wrong here.

She walked away, into the basement. He then turned around to look at the picture once more. He stared at it, the woman looked beautiful in it. But, now...now, something had changed about her. Maybe it was her husband's death that caused this change. Just then, during that internal conversation, a hand clasped his shoulder. It felt as if the hand would never let go. He turned around, It was the man from the picture. It was Mr. Posh.

This house was surely haunted, he had to leave- to run away as far as he could. There was a strange restlessness in him. Death embraces us as a friend, on a journey- we all know the end of. This house was haunted. he had to leave- to run away as far as he could. Sarah Posh's husband, who was supposedly dead asked him, who had let him in the house. He looked at the dead man and told him, who let him in the house. It was Sarah Posh, this man's wife. "What kind of shallow joke is this ?" Mr. Posh yelled. The man could barely speak, the shock of this man's presence had him stutter, he could not say anything. Mr. Posh yelled again, "my wife died two years ago."

This was a nightmare, it had to be. The man froze, he could not speak nor could he move. He looked towards the basement door, and just when everything could not seem to be any more frightening, the woman, Sarah Posh was walking towards him. But, she was supposed to be dead! He yelled-screamed, what else could he have done. He grabbed Mr. Posh and screamed, telling him the woman was right in front of them. The woman was getting closer. But, Posh did not see anyone. This could not be, he was starting to lose the few traces of sanity left in him. Then during this unearthly moment, laughter filled the room. The couple was laughing. They embraced each other, pointed at the man and laughed. They told him whatever had happened to him in the house, was planned by both of them. They wanted to scare him. A simple prank- A fun and frolic misunderstanding. He did not know what to say, but there was a sense of relief. They apologized to him and invited him to the basement.

He thought he was a fool for staying this long in the house. The basement was gloomy, with one dim candle burning in the middle of a strange symbol drawn on the floor. It was a star with an eye inside. It was black magic on the floor. Posh explained how he was summoning spirits, before the man came into the house. The man thought that surely this family was insane. He had to leave as fast as he could. Just then Posh told him he will call the spirit of a mechanic to fix his car. This was not the right time for absurd jokes; he had to leave as soon as he could. The stranger told Mr. Posh that he was a fool for believing in such superstition. But, Mr. Posh thought differently, "Spirits are real..........They come when you call them.........but sometimes we don't know its them", he said. There was a calm reserve in the room, but not for long. Posh yelled out, he was calling for the mechanics spirit. He had an unpleasant excitement to his voice, he yelled "he is here!." He ran upstairs and asked for the other two to follow him outside, he told them the mechanic's spirit was waiting outside.

They went out through the front door. It was planned to be another joke, it would be played on the stranger. They looked behind to finish the joke and confess once again. But, there was nothing behind them, the man wasn’t there. They thought he must have ran away, after all, there is a limit to a persons patience and tolerance for such jokes. Sarah Posh walked outside while the husband looked inside for the stranger. Just then, Sarah screamed out to her husband, she had seen something. The husband ran outside. The couple walked towards a burgundy car. It was smashed into a tree. They both looked inside the car and saw a familiar person. It was the man who they so graciously had welcomed into their house..............