Haunted Canada 12 by Joel A. Sutherland

Author:Joel A. Sutherland [Sutherland, Joel A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Canada
Published: 2023-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

SHE FOLLOWS

Sussex and Hampton, New Brunswick

Diane Hodgin was relaxing in her apartment one October day when a decorative brass bell mounted on the wall in the hallway rang frantically. She went to see what all the commotion was about, but there was no one there.

The bell rang again.

Then the hall doors slammed shut and swung open on their own.

It was clear to Diane that her apartment was haunted, and it was equally clear who the ghost was. Diane and her family had lived in the apartment building on Essex Street for many years, and they loved it there. So too did an elderly woman named Mrs. King who had lived in one of the other apartments before her death in 1989. Diane had a feeling that the commotion was Mrs. King’s way of announcing she hadn’t left the building, nor would she any time soon.

Later that year, every bloom was mysteriously ripped off Diane’s Christmas cactus for no apparent reason, so she assumed Mrs. King was to blame. Then the pervasive smell of lavender — Mrs. King’s favourite scent — began to fill the family’s dining room. And doors swung open and slammed shut at all hours of the day and night. Diane, her husband and their children became accustomed to the ghostly disturbances. The family chalked it up to Mrs. King not wanting to be ignored — she seemed to like the attention, or at the very least she wanted her presence to be noted. In a manner of speaking, she became a part of the household, always there, never forgotten.

A few years later, Diane and her family had a new house built forty kilometres southwest, in Hampton, and moved out of their apartment in Sussex. A young couple, the landlord’s daughter and her husband, moved in, but Mrs. King … she stayed put.

A year later Diane and her husband were visiting friends in their old building when she happened to bump into the landlord. As they chatted, Diane got the impression something was on his mind. Soon he revealed what was bothering him.

“I wish you would take Mrs. King with you,” he said.

This caught Diane off guard, so he explained that his daughter had been living in fear for the past year. The ghost of Mrs. King scared the living daylights out of her. She was on the verge of a breakdown. Out of compassion, Diane agreed to talk with her.

She visited the apartment and told the landlord’s daughter that Mrs. King was harmless and that her presence was nothing to be afraid of. But nothing she said provided the young woman any comfort. Like the Hodgins, the young couple was planning on building their own house so they could get out of the haunted apartment, but the woman doubted she’d be able to stay there until their new house was ready. Was there anything Diane could do?

Diane saw the desperation in the woman’s eyes and heard it in her voice. She suggested that she could invite the ghost to leave Sussex and move in with her family in Hampton.

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