The Ghost at 217 South (standard:mystery, 617 words)
Author: Fanny11	Added: Jul 02 2009	Views/Reads: 5153/2	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Janice moved into an apartment. The building was built in the eithteenth as a home. Something just wasn't right in the apartment.

The Ghost at 217 South         word count 616 

It was the oldest street in our small, historic town. The street was
lined with large shade trees and beautiful old houses. I felt like I 
lived in the eighteenth century.  The houses loomed over modern day 
housing with their unusual architecture and large wrap-around porches. 
Many of the houses had steeple style roofs with small square windows. 
While walking down the street during the evening hours I could look up 
at the small, dark windows and almost see someone peering down at me. 

The sidewalk was inlayed with red brick, which gave it a cobblestone
affect. Most of the old houses were made into apartments they had a 
fireplace in every room including the foyer, because in the eighteenth 
century this was all they had for heating and cooking. When the houses 
were remolded and made into apartments a small bath and kitchen were 
added. The rooms all had 12-14 ft. ceilings, and the windows had 
decorative trim from that era. I think what I liked best were  the 
windowsills they were a foot or more deep so I could sit plants to 
catch the morning sun. 

The apartment I rented at 217 south had the old pocket doors that
separated the bedroom from the sunny, spacious living room. The first 
night I spent in the apartment I felt a presence,  although I didn't 
feel frightened or threatened by the presence.  I noticed a smell in 
the living room where my recliner sat. The smell was faint but it was 
like a perfume that an older lady would wear. It smelled something like 
lilac. I thought the lady who lived upstairs with her young daughter 
must have sprayed air freshener but I never said anything to her about 
the smell. 

As time passed I became accustomed to the smell, other than that I
didn't noticed anything out of the ordinary in the apartment. The woman 
and her young daughter moved out of the building, but the smell 
remained. 

My mother was in a nursing home and I would bring her to visit often.
From the first day I brought mom to visit she made weird remarks.  One 
day she look at me and said.” This old place seems creepy don't you 
think so Janice”? One day while sitting in the recliner she said, “ I 
see an old man and a pretty young girl standing at the bathroom door 
looking straight at me”. Janice don't you see them? I didn't see anyone 
I told her. 

One day my younger sister Ellen called and said she needed a place to
live I told her that there was an efficiency on the second floor 
available, so she called my landlord and rented the apartment. My 
schedule was hectic and I didn't get up to visit my sister right away. 
One day I had some free time to visit. We had just been talking for a 
few minutes when she mentioned a sweet smell in her apartment. “ Is it 
like a perfume that an old lady would wear I asked”.  She looked at me 
with a look of shock “yes, how did you know”. I then told her about the 
smell in my apartment. She went on to say, that sometimes late at night 
she hears foot steps going up to the third floor apartment, and we both 
knew that apartment had been vacant for a couple of months. 

I had to wondered, was there someone still  there  from the past?  As
for me I really do believe in ghosts. Someday I want to go to our local 
library and courthouse, to try and find information about the house at 
217 south. 


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