Jessie's Ghosts (6 page)

There were a
couple of interesting articles on the first couple of pages - one that listed a
number of ‘hauntings’ in Australian hotels, another that listed first hand
witness accounts of meetings with ghosts.

Further down
she came upon a link to a website that talked about a haunted painting.

‘Look at
that!’ she said, ‘Nanna’s isn’t the only one.’ Jessie clicked on the link and
went into the website.

Jessie and
Harmony both sat closer to the screen while Jessie read that a man named Bill
Stoneham had painted a boy and a girl in the 1970s called ‘Hands Resist Him’.
The painting had come alive and the children had fought.

‘I was right,’
Harmony stated, ‘Paintings can be haunted.’

Jessie shook
her head. Of
course
you were, she thought as she continued to read, ‘The
article says that the people who owned the painting had set up a hidden camera
to try to capture the boy and girl in action, and had actually filmed the
little boy ‘leaving’ the painting.’

‘Wow, that’s
unreal,’ said Harmony.

‘But how do I
stop it?’

‘Stop what?’
Fleur asked from the hallway. Jessie and Harmony both turned around, their
faces flushed.

‘Umm, nothing.
We were just … trying to get out of a computer game, that’s all.’

‘Sounds a bit
stressful to me,’ Fleur laughed as she continued down the hall.

‘Thanks,’ said
Jessie.

‘No problem.
Even though mum believes in ghosts and everything, if she heard us she’d
probably tell your Nanna.’

Jessie nodded
a big yes. ‘Can I print this?’

‘Sure. I never
really believed when mum said there were haunted houses around
here
.
It’s so boring around here. But I’m starting to change my mind.’

Another
website called ‘All About Ghosts’ grabbed their attention then.

‘Look at that,’
Jessie said, ‘That’s what we need - to find out about ghosts and
why
they haunt.’

Finding it
difficult to read together, Jessie said, ‘Can I print this one as well – it’s
seven pages.’

‘Sure.’

‘I can read it
later,’ Jessie said, ‘Maybe there’ll be some explanation about why Nanna’s
portrait is haunted - and maybe, just maybe, there might be some way of making
the ghosts go away.’

‘I might even
read it myself,’ Harmony said.

‘Did you want
to stay over at Nanna’s tonight’? Jessie said, ‘Then you can see for yourself,
about the ghosts I mean.’

‘Yeah, why
not?’

Fleur arrived
as Jessie was leaving.

‘Finished so
soon?’

‘Yes, I just
needed some information from the Internet,’ she said, holding out the articles
she had printed and then quickly turning them over so Fleur couldn’t see what
they were about.

And before
Fleur could ask what sort of information it was Harmony said, ‘Jessie’s asked
me to stay over there tonight. Okay?’

‘Of course,’
said Fleur. Just pack your overnight bag and I’ll walk you over after dinner.’

Nanna helped
Jessie carry a spare single mattress in from the garage and they set it down on
the floor of Jessie’s room.

‘What time will
Harmony be here?’ Nanna asked, as she made the mattress up with sheets and
blankets.

‘Fleur said
they’d be over after dinner.’

‘She could
have had dinner with us, in fact they both could.’

‘But they’re
vegetarians, Nanna. They don’t eat what we eat.’ Nanna always served meat,
whether it was in a casserole or just plain  chops or sausages.

‘Oh, I hadn’t
thought of that. Fleur has only ever been here for morning tea. Well, I’ll just
have to find some recipes for vegetarian dishes so I can invite them both over
in the future.’

Harmony and
Fleur arrived just before 7pm and Fleur and Nanna chatted in the kitchen while
Jessie took Harmony into her room.

‘When can we
read the stuff you printed out?’ Harmony asked.

‘Nanna takes
out her hearing aids and falls asleep in the lounge room every night,’ Jessie
said very matter-of-factly. ‘As soon as your mum goes she’ll probably take a
cup of tea in there and turn on the television.’

Fleur called
goodbye and they heard the back door close.

‘Are you girls
okay in there,’ Nanna called up the hall.

‘Yes, Nanna,
we’re fine.’

‘I’ll be in
the lounge room if you need me.’

Jessie nodded
and Harmony grinned as Jessie picked up the articles and they both settled on
top of Jessie’s bed. As soon as one finished reading, the other started until
they had both finished the articles.

‘So,’ Jessie
said as she pointed to a particular paragraph in the article, ‘It says here
that hauntings are associated with spirits who show some strong emotion for the
past - remorse, fear or terror of a violent death.’ She shivered again as she
reread this section and thought about her great-grandfather falling down the
loft ladder to his death.

‘What does
remorse mean?’ Harmony asked.

‘I don’t know.
We need a dictionary,’ Jessie replied, ‘Nanna must have one somewhere.’

‘Does she have
a bookcase?’

‘No,’ said
Jessie, ‘but she crossword puzzles in the kitchen and I think she uses a
dictionary. I’ll be right back.’

As Jessie
passed the lounge room she saw that as usual Nanna was asleep in her favourite
chair and her breathing was heavy. She smiled as she thought about the mystery
that was unfolding right here in Nanna’s house, but about which she knew
nothing.

CHAPTER 9

The dictionary was on the
sideboard. Jessie looked up the word ‘remorse’ and then walked back to her
room.

‘Well, that
makes sense,’ she said as she got back onto the bed. ‘Remorse means deep and
painful regret for wrong-doing. And Harold would definitely have felt that, for
accidentally killing his father.’

‘It also says
here that the spirits of the dead can hover between life and death for a very
long time, until they find their peace,’ Harmony said, ‘I wonder how they find
their peace?’

They read on
together. Apparently a ‘glow’ was quite a normal occurrence - hauntings could
be associated with lights, sometimes moving, sometimes flickering, sometimes
standing still. Even changes of temperature could be associated with hauntings
they read, sudden cold or even just a strange atmospheric feeling.

‘At least,’
Jessie said, ‘There was only the light, and the voices. Although it was really
cold out there, but then in the middle of night it would be, wouldn’t it? It
says too that haunting ghosts seem to return to re-enact some crisis from their
former lives - usually their own death. But some stories tell of ghosts
appearing because of something dramatic that had happened to the person
before
their death.’

‘That would
make sense, wouldn’t it?’ Harmony said, ‘if Harold killed your
great-grandfather then he would have been in all sorts of crises, wouldn’t he.’

The article
said that people had tried to communicate with ghosts over the years in various
ways, some successful, some not,’ Jessie said, ‘It says they mostly they
communicated using a medium. Do you know what a medium is?’

‘Yeah, it’s a
person who talks to dead people. I heard mum talking about it once with
someone.’

‘Dead people?’

‘Yeah, their
spirits. They usually go into a sort of trance and then the spirits of the dead
people talk through them.’

Jessie’s eyes
opened wide. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Sounds …
interesting.’ She had almost said scary but she didn’t want Harmony to get the
wrong idea about her.

‘Anyway,’
Harmony said, ‘That’s what a medium is.’

‘But we don’t
have one,’ Jessie said, ‘So how are we going to communicate with my …
ancestors?’

Harmony yawned
and stretched her arms out wide. ‘That bike ride really wore me out today. Can
we talk about this tomorrow?’

‘Sure. We’d
better get some sleep.’

Harmony
changed into black silk pyjamas. Jessie shook her head as she turned off the
bedside lamp. Does she ever wear anything that isn’t black? she wondered.

The room had
plunged into darkness except for a thin line of moonlight that streaked through
the window and across the floor. Jessie could hear the wind outside, and
tonight the shadows on the wall weaved back and forth, with the trees. She
realised she could no longer hear the television.

‘Are you girls
okay in there?’ Nanna yelled as she poked her head in through the open doorway.

‘Yes Nanna,’
Jessie yelled back, knowing Nanna wouldn’t be able to hear her if she didn’t
yell, ‘We’re just tired.’

‘Fine then,
you both have a good night’s sleep and I’ll have breakfast ready for you in the
morning.’

It didn’t seem
to matter what time Nanna went to bed, she was always up earlier than Jessie.
It must have something to do with living in the country, Jessie decided.

‘Why were you
yelling?’ Harmony asked in the darkness.

‘Because Nanna
can’t hear without her hearing aids.’

‘Oh. Well, I
just wanted to say I’m a pretty heavy sleeper. You’d better wake me if you hear
… anything.’

‘Okay,’
replied Jessie as she settled back onto the pillow and closed her eyes.

Now that she
knew who the voices belonged to and why they were speaking, she wasn’t worried
anymore. She just wanted to find a way to help them. Maybe a good night’s sleep
would clear her head and an idea would present itself in the morning.

But before
long she was woken again.

She sighed.

I have to do
this, she thought, not just for Harmony but for myself.

The moonlight
silhouetted Harmony asleep on her side as Jessie walked over and gently shook
her shoulder.

‘What?’
Harmony said, her voice thick with sleep.

‘Sshh,’ Jessie
whispered. ‘It’s the voices, do you want to hear them and see the portrait?’

‘All right,’
Harmony whispered back.

‘C’mon. But we
have to be very quiet or they’ll stop.’

‘Okay.’

Jessie led the
way out to the hall, as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
Great-grandmother was speaking.

‘Can you hear
her?’ she whispered so softly she barely heard her own voice.

‘Yes,’ Harmony
whispered back.

Still
whispering, Jessie said, ‘We need to move further down the hall, but we mustn’t
make a sound. Okay?’

In single file
they crept along, one careful step after another until they were within a metre
of the portrait. The portrait was glowing and Harold was speaking and gesturing
with his hands. Jessie stopped and Harmony ran into her, knocking her to the
side and forcing an ‘ouch’ from her lips. The glow went out and the voices
stopped.

‘Sorry,’
Harmony whispered, ‘I couldn’t see you.’

‘It’s okay –
and we don’t have to whisper anymore. Did you see the portrait?’

‘Yeah,’
Harmony said as they turned to walk back to the bedroom, ‘I saw it. And that’s
why I ran into you. I guess I didn’t really believe you when you told me about
it, but now that I’ve seen it for myself … well ...’

‘I’m glad you
saw it and heard the voices. They may not have woken you, but I’m not a heavy
sleeper and I can’t stand this much longer. There has to be a way to stop
them.’

‘I think it’s
kind of cute they talk like that.’

‘But what
about Harold and the remorse he’s feeling?’

‘He’s dead,
Jessie. What difference does it make?’

‘Well, I’m
sure it makes a difference to him, and I want to find a way to make his remorse
go away.’

Harmony
yawned. ‘Yeah, well, can you do it tomorrow? I’m beat.’

Nanna came
into Jessie’s bedroom as the girls were waking up.

‘Harmony, your
mum just called. She’s going into town and wondered if we’d like a lift. I
wouldn’t mind picking up a few things so I said we’d go with her.’

Fleur’s car
came bouncing down the drive, leaving a trail of dust behind it. Nanna got in
the front and Jessie and Harmony in the back. Nanna asked Fleur if she could
drop her at the supermarket.

‘No problem,
Ruth. I needed to meet with the exhibition co-ordinator, and since I’ve
just about completed the four paintings I plan to show this was a good
opportunity to talk about their placement at the gallery. I wondered too if
you’d be interested in helping out during the exhibition.’

‘Me?’ said
Nanna, her voice sounding a little concerned, ‘what could I do?’