The lady At The Window...

 

 

Hi everyone! My name is Jeff, and today I am going to tell you about an incident that changed my life forever. It was when I was 15. There was a peculiar old woman in the apartment, I lived in. At first, I thought it was my mind playing tricks on me, but slowly things started getting worse...

 

Small, weird things started happening. Like, for example, I am walking down the street and I see an old woman walking... I was talking on the phone when, all of a sudden, the lady vanished! I thought she took the next lane. So, I casually went on walking. However, I could continuously feel that someone was following me. When I turned back, I saw the lady grinning at me. She was wearing her usual magenta-colored evening gown. She had deep blue eyes. Surprisingly, though, every time I saw her, that was the only dress she was wearing. Even though I thought it was odd, I would say to myself that it was none of my concern.

 

I could feel my heart skipping a beat when I saw her grinning at me. She was in front of me a minute ago. How the heck could she have come back so fast without my noticing? The only thing I could do was to smile back and walk away.

 

After a few days, I couldn’t see the old lady at all. I tried asking a few people around me. But they said that they didn’t know of any such lady. I was surprised. I tried to go to her house, but it was locked. Soon, I forgot all about the old lady. The lady used to live on the second floor, and I used to live on the first floor. One day, I was completing my homework when, all of a sudden, I heard a scream. I was so shocked that I didn’t realize the scream was a continuous one. After I was back to my senses, I ran out and asked the watchman what was happening. He said he didn’t hear anything. Our apartment was divided into sectors. Each sector had 2 floors. I was to share my sector with the old lady. I didn’t expect anyone else to hear the noise, since each sector had a 2 km distance between them...

 

That evening, when I went down to play, I saw a certain figure standing at the window of the old lady. I didn’t bother at first, but this thing went on for many days. Finally, I asked one of my friends, Samantha, about this odd figure. "Hey! What’s with that person standing on the balcony every day at this time, staring blankly in one direction, wearing the same clothes?" I asked. To which she replied, something quite unexpected: "Are you dreaming? There is no one over there. "

 

The next day, I took a pair of binoculars and looked at the same window. Once I found out who the figure was, I felt as if I would faint. It was the old lady! And she was staring right into my binoculars!!! With her usual spine-chilling smile, she was wearing the same clothes! I don’t know why, but I found myself rushing to the old lady’s house the next second. But, when I reached there, I got the biggest shock of my life...

 

The door of her house was locked with a rusted lock! My mind felt like it was going to explode. I immediately made up my mind to go see Miss Lyna. She lived in our society for many years. Maybe she knew something about the mysterious old lady. After I reached Ms. Lyna’s residence, I narrated all the strange happenings to her. She simply asked which sector I lived in, to which I replied, "Sector A." She asked me more questions. Finally, she asked if my name was Jeff. I said, "Yes."

 

She then narrated the entire story, "Jeff, listen to me. The old lady by the window used to be your babysitter, Mrs. Quillen. You used to call her Mrs. Q. After your parents died in a plane crash, she took care of you as her own. She had a daughter who was much older than you-she was 13 when you were 8. However, despite the age gap, you used to play with her a lot. Both of you were inseparable. The three of you used to live together in your babysitter’s flat — the one above yours. Her husband left her when their daughter was born. Their house caught fire one day while you and her daughter were playing... Your babysitter quickly rushed you and her daughter out of the house by sliding both of you down the window into your house. However, before she could climb down the window herself, a burning wooden log fell on her, and she met her end.

 

Her daughter was traumatized by her demise. For years, she kept blaming you for her mother’s death. But she was wrong. Many years later, it was revealed that the fire started due to a gas accident. Someone had forgotten to turn off the gas after cooking. Do you know who was using the gas last time in the house?

"No", I replied.

"It was her daughter. It's ironic how she blamed you for it. Don’t you think so? " She asked. By now, her eyes were filled with tears. I wondered why she was crying. It’s not like they were related. So, finally, I asked her.

 

"Oh. But why are you crying? "

"Do you know the name of your babysitter’s daughter?" She asked.

I shook my head.

"Her name is Lyna," she replied.

It would be an understatement to say that I was shocked after hearing this.

Do y-y-you see her? "M-my m-m-mother?" she asked, her voice trembling now.

After finally finding my voice back, I replied, "Yes."

Lyna burst into tears. "But how do I not remember any of this?" I asked.

"You were too young to bear such a loss, especially after the demise of your parents. So, I took you to a hypnotist to erase your memory. Then, I never spoke to you again. I still thought that you were the reason for my mom’s death. Until the fire department told me the actual cause of the fire many years later. I was too ashamed to come and own up to you. Besides, you had forgotten everything. "So, I didn’t see the point of telling you all this," she replied. I don’t understand whether I should be upset with you for hiding all this from me or hug you tightly with the joy of finally finding someone close to "family." I said in tears. Then, I said something quite unexpected: "Do you want to go and see if she is still there? Like, in the house? " She was as shocked as I was, the second after I completed the sentence.

"Really? "Let's go now!" "Let me get the keys," she said.

We went straight to the old lady’s apartment after she grabbed the keys.

After reaching there, I found that my hands were trembling; I literally couldn’t open the lock. That’s when Lyna stepped in. She held my hand and we both unlocked the door together. When we went in, we couldn’t believe our eyes. We saw my babysitter standing by the same window from which I saw her, from the garden, the other day.

Lyna was so overwhelmed by seeing her mother after so many years, she couldn’t utter a single word. My babysitter gazed at us with a smile on her face for about 30 seconds. After that, she disappeared in front of our eyes within a fraction of a second! We were so startled that we didn’t move for a few seconds. Then, we ran to the place where she was standing. We looked around, but we couldn’t find her.

 

All of a sudden, a piece of paper lying on the floor caught my attention. It was surprisingly clean, considering that it was lying in a room filled with dust. I picked it up. It had something written on it. It read:

 

"I was just waiting for you both to reunite. Now, I can finally find peace. Always look out for each other. Be each other’s strength. Lyna don’t blame yourself for what happened. At the end of the day, we are all slaves to our fate. I will always be with you both. "

                                                                             Mrs. Q

 

 "Lyna!" I shouted, after reading the note. She came rushing out. "What happened?" she asked. I showed her the note. After reading it, she was speechless. After a while, we found each other hugging and crying for hours. When we were finally comforted, we both went home (I went to my home, and she went to hers).

 

Since then, we meet every day in the evening for tea. Either at her place or mine. All I can say is, out of all this, I am very grateful to have found an elder sister...