My story begins when I was only 10 years old. I was visiting my aunt in British Columbia, Canada with my father. My aunt lives in a
large L-shaped bungalow next to a river. It is a beautiful house really, surrounded by trees on a large lot of land.
Anyway, around the outside of the L shaped house is a large concrete terrace with wrought iron furniture here and there. Very pretty.
I decided to ride my bike around the terrace behind the house. As I came back around to the front, I saw a tall woman standing at the
edge of the terrace, looking out at the swimming pool, or so it seemed to me.
Since the house is situated next to the river, a great spot for fishing, it wasn't uncommon for people to wander onto my aunt's
property looking for a restaurant or a better fishing spot. This woman, however, didn't look like a fisherman to me. She wore a
long-sleeved black dress which nearly touched the ground and a matching hat and boots. I had a tendency to stare at people back then,
taking everything in, so I clearly remember this. She had her back turned to me so I could not see her face.
Wanting to get better acquainted with the lady, I decided to walk up and talk to her. I was about a foot or so away from her when she
began to turn in my direction. I put on my nicest smile and opened my mouth to introduce myself when she suddenly dissapeared before
my eyes.
I stood there in shock for a couple of minutes not believing what had just happened. Then, I let out a scream that would put banshees
to shame and ran towards the house, calling for my Daddy. I found him in no time as he was at the door panting, looking around wildly
for the person or animal that had attacked me. When he saw me standing before him whole, he did look just a little annoyed. He asked
me what all the screaming was about.
In a rush I told him about the beautiful woman who had disappeared before my very eyes. I had decided she was beautiful based on the
profile I caught a glimpse of of just before she disappeared. My father said that beautiful women had a tendancy to do that. I didn't
quite understand what he meant by that and I told him so. He then got down before me and explained that I have a very over-active
imagination and was probably in the middle of my imaginings when I saw the woman and made it appear so real to myself that it in
fact became real to me.
Well, my Dad is 38 years older than me so I figured he had to know what he was talking about though I couldn't remember imagining
anything of the kind prior to seeing the lady.
I got over it and forgot all about it by the time I was 13 years old. I was living with my Mom in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and getting
ready for one of my very first outings as an independent adolescent. I was standing before the mirror in the hallway. To my left were
the stairs. I was fixing my unruly dark curls into a mass of straight fluff. Fluff wasn't exactly cool, but curls at that time
could not be worn on the head of anyone under 60.
Anyway, I heard someone running up the stairs towards me, and, thinking it was my friend, I turned to tell her I was ready. Only what
I saw was not my friend but that very same woman wearing the very same black dress that I saw in British Columbia more than three
years before. She was running towards me, holding the hem of her dress in her hands. She had long elegant fingers with long nails.
The veil which the last time I saw her had been over her face was now lifted over her hat. On her beautiful face, for I still
thought so, was the most angry and hateful expression I have ever seen. She disappeared just as she was close enough to touch me.
Following her dissapearance I felt a gust of cold air hit me, so cold I shivered.
Being little more mature than I was at 10, I screamed so loud my mother wasn't sure whether to run to me or to her expensive
crystal glasses. Luckily she ran to me and as I cried all over her I told her who I saw and that I had once seen the same person
before.
My mother tends to believe such things are possible and she pulled out every picture of every relative she knew, asking me if it was
any of them. It wasn't. To this day I have no idea who she might have been. I never saw her again during waking hours, but she was
at the center of many a nightmare. Those are more chilling than what I actually experienced.
