Alisha

There’s a saying that children and animals have the ability to sense or see spirits. Only a few such as Spiritual Empaths, Mediums, and those who consider themselves sensitives are able to keep this ability into adult hood. If you where to take a survey about who believed in ghosts and those who didn't you'd most likely find a mixed bag. Some people do, while others don't. There are the few who had their life change due to a ghostly encounter such as Zak Bagans from the Ghost Adventures Crew or John Zaffis from The Haunted Collector.

I've always believed in ghosts. My love with for the paranormal and super natural started at a young age. Would I be this way now if it wasn't for my own experience? Who’s to say for sure. Two separate events took place in my life. One when I was 5, the other was when I was 23. Both of which involved my best friend; Alisha.

September 1986.

Since I was about to turn 5 the following month; along with the influence of my grandmother and mother; I was allowed to enroll into kindergarten. Looking back on it, I can see why this was the best option for me at the time. My great grandmother and grandfather where in their late 70s to early 80s. There for they did not have the energy to keep up with a rambunctious and active 4 year old. My grandmother was working at Reeders Chevrolet so a car dealer ship was no place for child, nor was the factory where my mom worked at as a seamstress making Levis Jeans.

Like most kids on their very first day at school I was anxious and scared. Being an only child I was used to finding ways to keep myself busy. Most of the time I would spend at my grate grandmothers house I would be outside in the front yard. There I would let my imagination run wild. I remember this really huge oak tree I loved playing at. During the Fall I would pretend to be a witch that lived in the woods. Using a stick and a bunch of leaves as my cauldron I would make honey, berry, or flower potions.

Now I was in a class room with at least 20 other kids that where older than me by a few months. The teacher looked at me as I seemed to keep still and quite.

“Kelly what would you like to do?”

The teacher asked me in a soft voice. Considering I really didn't know anyone, I looked around the room. When my eyes landed on a large white table that has crayons, markers, and paper, I pointed to it; asking in a shy voice:

“Can I color please?”

“Of course you can.”

The teacher smiled gently and walked me over to the table. Once there, she left me be and went to check on the other students. I picked up a sheet of paper and some crayons to start drawing. Once I had finished with some grass I started to draw a brown tabby I had seen hang around my grandmothers house. That's when I heard a soft voice say to me:

“Pretty kitty.”

Looking up I saw a girl around the age of 5 looking down at my drawing. She had long, straight blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

“Can I draw too?”

I didn't say anything, shyness taking over me. Up until that point the only friends I ever had where either the ones I made up in my imagination or any fellow felines strays I managed to spot around my grandmothers suburban neighborhood. Instead I gave a small nod and scooted over, pushing the basket the crayons where in towards the middle.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I kept quite most of the time the girl sat next to me. That was until I reached for the pink crayon to draw a flower. I felt my hand bump something, looking over I saw the girl was also reaching for the same shade of pink I was.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Do you like pink too?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">She asked with a bright smile. I nodded and finally broke the silence I was keeping.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Y-yes”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Me too. Its such a pretty color huh?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I nodded again.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“My name's Alisha. Whats yours?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“K-Kelly”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I said shyly. I looked back at my drawing and once again reached for the pink crayon. Only to have my hand bump hers again. We looked at each other for a moment before we both started giggling. From that point on Alisha and I seemed to be joined at the hip. She managed to bring me out of the shell I had made for myself.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">We always sat at the same table together, had our sleeping mats next to each other, and when it came time for snacks just before school would let out, we each got the same thing. I had finally made a friend that wasn't made up and wasn't a stray cat. My mom seemed happy too.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">December 1986.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">As fate can be very kind and generous. It can also be cruel and unforgiving. It was just a few days before Christmas Brake. As Alisha and I said our goodbyes for the next two weeks she quickly told me she and her mom bought a Christmas present for me. I begged my mom to go by her house to pick it up. By this point I had been to Alisha's house after school a few times as long as both of our moms said it was okay. With a sigh my mom agreed to go by later this evening to pick it up. However I wasn't allowed to stay for long as my mom had to get to work the following day.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">With a happy nod we left the school building. After getting some of our own Christmas shopping done we went to Alisha's house. It was dark now, around 7 pm. As I sat in the back seat I felt a strange feeling wash over me. I looked around but didn't really see anything. When I looked up at the windshield however I saw thick black smoke trailing in the air.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Mommy? What's that?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">My mom didn't say anything but quickly parked the car on the side of the road.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Stay in the car!”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">She told me and quickly got out running to the house next door. I scooted up as far as my seat belt would allow to see what was going on. I could see bright orange flames flickering in the sky as well as Alisha's bedroom window on the 2nd floor. Through the choking smoke I could make out the shape of a human figure that seemed to be half way hanging out of the window, not moving an inch.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">That's when I herd sirens in the distance. My mom got back in the car. Though I didn't see it well I knew she was crying.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Mommy....?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I tried to ask. I found out later that my mom had pounded on the house next door to have them call 911. However by the time the fire truck and the ambulance had arrived, it was too late. Both Alisha and her mother have perished in the flames. It seems the fire started from the old fashion wooden stove that was in Alisha's living room. A dying ember fell out of the cracked door and ignited the Christmas tree. From there the fire spread very quickly, trapping both Alisha and her mother on the 2nd floor. It was only after my mom told me this that I came to realize the human shape I had seen hanging out the window that night was in fact Alisha's body. She had opened the door accidentally which caused her room to fill with smoke. The flames fed on the thick carpet in her room which then crept up her long pink night gown she had been wearing.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">That's all my mom would tell me. My guess she didn't want me haunted by memories. I wasn't allowed to go the funeral. Both my mom and grandmother deemed that I was too young. Seeing how I most likely wouldn't fully understand.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">January 1987.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">Time stands still for no one. You know how when your a kid it feels like Summer and Christmas vacation lasted a lot longer? However as an adult time seems to speed up. Well for me, knowing that my best friend was gone it seemed like time did in fact stood still.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">Once school started back I felt just as anxious as I did back in September. However this time I wouldn't have a little blond girl with me. I was pretty much back to square one. Or so I thought. My mom brought me into the class room to drop me off. The teacher looked at me with a soft smile. I looked up at my mom unsure of what I should do.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“You can always go to Granny's house if you don't wanna stay.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">Before I could answer my eye's grew wide. There she was. Alisha. She was sitting at our table waiting for me.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“I wanna stay mom”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I said and quickly walked over to join her. My mom waved good bye and I turned to look at her. She looked pale, sickly pale. Her blond hair was also dirty, like she hadn’t had a bath yet, and her deep blue eyes weren’t as bright as they would normally be. I also caught the soft sent of smoke oddly mixed with flowers around her.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Are you okay?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I asked curious. She gave a small nod.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“I am.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Why are you at school if you look like that?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“We're best friends Kelly. Just remember that okay.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“I know. But you look sick. Maybe you should go home.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“I will soon.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">The rest of that day went as normally as it could. Only none of the other kids seemed to know Alisha. They acted like she wasn't there. And I was started to get teased by the other kids; saying I was talking to air. I knew I wasn't. But I did find it strange that not even the teacher took note of her. At the end of the day I was the last one to be picked up.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">When my mom walked into the class room, my teacher spoke to her before I could leave.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Is Kelly okay?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">My mom asked. That’s when my teacher told her about what appeared to be strange behavior. About how I was talking to an invisible friend all day.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Now I'm sure its nothing to worry about. I knew her and Alisha where really close. This might her way of coping with the lost of someone close to her”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I looked up at my mom and tugged on her shirt.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“But Alisha is here! She's been with me all day!”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Kelly don't yell.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">My mom told me as she went back to talking to my teacher. I sighed. I knew I was telling the truth. How could I prove it though? I didn't want to get into trouble. Then I remembered the picture we drew. I let go of my moms hand and ran over to get it. This had to be the proof they needed. I picked it up and ran back over, waving it in front of my moms face.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Alisha drew the flower. I didn't.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">On the picture was a white flower that seemed to be sitting on top of a small hill that over looked the ground below. My mom sighed and took my hand again. It seemed neither her or my teacher believed me still. We left and went home. Up until I started first grade I kept seeing Alisha, however she kept quite and would only nod or smile as any sort of response to anything I asked. However by the time I went into 1st grade my mom said we had to move. By now she was putting her self through collage and eventually Law School, passing the bar and getting her own law office. I wound up transferring to another school. I never saw hide nor hair of Alisha again until 19 years later.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">July 4th 2006.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">19 years can fly by in the blink of a eye. If your not careful you might miss the one person who can save you from a terrible fate. I was now all grown up, married, with a little girl of my own. My husband was in the Army and stationed at Fort Knox at the time.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">We came down to visit family and friends for the Fourth. The last person we were going to visit was my grandmother who lives in Union County. To get there you had to drive on a lot of narrow, winding country roads. Sometimes even though I had traveled on these same roads a 1000 times before I felt a bit uneasy on.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">It was hot that day, and the van we had didn't have a very proper working air conditioner. So we had to keep the windows down or lightly cracked. Needless to say I was bored out my mind. There wasn't anything on the radio and I didn't really wanna talk much. Placing on my arm on the arm rest on the passenger side door I looked out the window, with my hand resting on my cheek.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">We had been on the road for about and hour or two by now and as my mind started to wonder; I heard a faint whispering in my right ear.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Keep your legs up”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">Instantly I pulled my legs up into my seat. After a moment or two of wondering what on earth I was doing I put them back down onto the floor bored. I chocked it up to the combo of the humming of the van's engine, the long road trip, and the cracked window. Once again I went back to looking out the window. We where getting close to the main turn off to road that leads to my grandmothers house.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">Another 30 minutes or so went by when I herd it again. However the whisper was more than just faint. It seemed a bit louder this time around.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Keep your legs up”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">Again I pulled my legs up seemly on command. This time I knew what I was doing wasn't of my own accord, so I put them back down. My eyes darted around the van. I didn't hear anything other the wind and the van's engine. Nor did I see anything other that lots of road a head of me and open fields to the side of me.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I let out a sigh and stretched as best as I could before looking back out the window. That's when I herd it again.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Keep your legs up”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">This time I looked around. My daughter was in the back and fast asleep. There was no way she was talking. I looked at my husband who was concentrating on the road. Just where in the hell was this whispering coming from? We where the only ones in this van. Was I losing my mind? Maybe I had been reading one too many ghost stories.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Did you say something?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I asked looking at my husband. He looked over at me. Due to the wind rushing past he couldn't hear me. He rolled up his window that was opened a crack and looked back at me.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Huh?"

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Where you talking to me?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I asked. I had a serious look in my eye. He glanced at me for a moment and shook his head.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Nah I wasn't.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“I could swear I herd you trying to tell me something.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Nope, not me”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I said and went back to looking out the window. We made a right turn and went down another long stretch of road. As we where coming close to a gas station that my grandmother would stop often I heard it again. This time it was right in my ear. It was like someone was sitting right behind me, and got up close to whisper something.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Keep your legs up”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">This time I did I was told and felt this sudden urge to brace for impact. A car on the on coming lane was swerving in and out. My husband had a split dissension to make. Either hit the other car head on, or take our chances with the ditch. We became air born for about 30 seconds before the tires touched grass and hit a tree going 55 miles per hour. My head hit the dashboard upon impact, causing me to black out.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">When I awoke my vision was blurry and my whole body was throbbing with pain. The first thing I heard was my husband calling to me.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Wifey! Wifey! Are you okay?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">This was accommodated by my daughters terrified screams and crying. My intimidate burly eyes was turned towards my daughter.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Iris its okay honey. Everything is okay. Please dear god tell me shes alright.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Yeah shes fine. Are you okay?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">My husband told me. I nodded rubbing my head

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Yeah I think so. God I hurt all over. Are you okay?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Yeah I'm find. Just banged up my knee.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">My vision was slowly clearing. My legs up where in up in a very uncomfortable position, right over my lower body. That had to be the reason why they hurt the most, so I tired to put them back down in order to help with the pain. However I couldn't. By now my vision had cleared so I looked around to see why I couldn't them back down into the floor bored.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">Due to the impact the front part of the van looked like empty stepped on soda can. The entire passenger side floor board had been pushed up so far it was spilling into my seat. Then I herd voices of two good Samaritans that had stopped to help. They managed to get my daughter out first. Then my husband, followed by me.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">Walking up to the upper part of the ditch I could see just how bad it really was. I held my daughter tight in my arms, trying my best to clam her down. I had never seen so scared before or sense that day. The Emts arrived shortly after. I was put on a stretcher with a neck brace, answering all the usual questions. As They where lifting me up to take to UT hospital I saw a girl around the age of 5 looking at me with a smile upon her pale face, from the passenger side window. She had long straight blond hair and deep blue eyes and wore a pink night gown that looked like it had been scorched by fire.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Alisha?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I whispered to myself. That’s when one of the Emts looked at me puzzled.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Whats that?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I looked up at him then back at my side of the van. Only the girl was gone. Then I remembered her words from all those years ago.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“We're best friends Kelly. Just remember that okay”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I smiled before I returned to the Emts response.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Nothing”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">Even though I was in a neck brace I remember my phone in my pocket. I pulled it out when I heard the ring gone go off. It was my grandmother who was wondering what was taking so long or if we where even coming to her house at all. I told her what happened and where we where being taken and that we where going to be alright. So naturally her, my mom, my aunt, my uncle, my mother in law, brother and sister in law all came to see us.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">That evening I was laying in the bed when the doctor came in, looking over my chart.

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“It seems you are going to be fine with just some bruised mussels. You are very lucky young lady you and your family lived. More so you kept your legs up when you did.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“How so?”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“well you most likely would've lost your ability to walk. Your legs from the knee down would've been crushed. And from that trauma you suffered you would've miss carried.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Miss carried?!”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">“Yes. Your about 4 and half weeks pregnant.”

<p style="text-align: LEFT; margin-bottom:0in">I laid my head back against the pillow in utter shock. The doctor was talking to me still, but it just sounded like noise at this point. Now I knew just who or what that whispering came from. It had to be Alisha. It was the only thing that made sense at this point. All I can say now is thank you. Not only did you save me from being wheel chaired bound, but as well as my son who is alive today. Thank you Alisha.

Written by Wolf Bane