Beyond(Connie Nye-Kaley) Beyond

Greg Jennings hesitated briefly before opening the door of the old, two story, red brick farmhouse that was his childhood home. First built by his grandparents, it was now a century home with a wrap around porch and white painted railing. It stood on an acre lot, among six large maple trees and healthy perennial gardens surrounding the concrete foundation. Greg noticed the peonies were in full bloom right next to the 3 grey concrete steps that led to the oversized red metal entrance door. He thought of how his mother loved to plant annuals, usually petunias, in the flower baskets that hung from hooks in the wooden roof of the front porch. She also had loved her raised vegetable gardens in the back yard, where she would grow radishes, lettuce, cucumber, and sweet peas. They now stood vacant with a few scattered weeds throughout. Greg unlocked the front door and slowly stepped inside. He stood there in the silence and half expected his mother to come from the kitchen saying, “Oh, I’m so glad to see you! How are the kids? How is Jessica? Would you like a homemade peanut butter cookie?” He could see her vividly in his mind and could almost smell the sweet scents of home baked butter tarts.

Greg casually walked down the dimly lit hallway and entered the oversized living room. The beige sofa, two dark blue recliners, the round oak coffee table, the 48 inch flat screen smart tv, all became warm attachments to his memories. He pictured his father sitting in his recliner trying to figure out which button on the remote controlled the volume and which one changed the channels. His entire childhood began flooding his thoughts. He sat down on the sofa, buried his head in his hands, tears swelling and an odd coolish feeling coming over him. He felt a calm presence in the room despite being totally alone. He stood up and walked sluggishly toward the kitchen. It had only been two weeks since his mother passed away from cancer, and his father died five years ago of a heart attack. He was an only child so the house, the estate, was all his. He loved this place and the memories it held, and the thoughts of selling it filled him with tremendous guilt. Greg decided to wait and think about it for a couple more weeks. Nothing had to be decided today.

As Greg began his drive home that evening his phone rang. He saw that it was his wife Jessica, so he pulled over to answer the call.
“Hi hon. How are you doing?” she asked full of sincerity.
Greg replied “I’m okay. I didn’t come to any decisions about the house yet.” There was an awkward silence that only lasted a few seconds. Greg thought that one of their connections was frozen.
“Are you there?” He asked loudly
“Yes, I’m here.” Jessica answered.
“Well, I was thinking, maybe you, me and the kids could relocate to Belleville. We could move into the house. The kids would love it! We could both find work there and I know there are some great high schools!” There was another moment of silence before Jessica calmly responded.
“Hon, I think this is a discussion to be had at home. We’ll talk about it tomorrow. Love you!”
“Love you too, I should be home around 10.”

It was a 2 ½ hr drive from Belleville to Ottawa and Greg was exhausted from the emotions of his day. He drove a little further, stopped at Tim Horton’s drive through for a coffee and continued home.

“I don’t want to move the family. We have good jobs here and the kids are so happy and doing well in school. We want to stay!” Jessica spoke with an empathetic tone and Greg listened attentively. It was Sunday afternoon and they were having the discussion about what to do with his parent’s house.
“Greg, I know you don’t want to sell it, but we could really use the money for the kid’s college fund and what’s left could pay off our mortgage or perhaps put into our retirement fund.”
Greg remained quiet. He could think of nothing to say. Jessica’s argument was solid and he knew it, and although he wanted to debate the pros and cons further, he knew he wouldn’t sway her. Besides, they had a good life in Ottawa, why would they just leave everything behind that they had worked so hard for? He began thinking of the idea of selling the house but still felt the enormous attachment he had to his family homestead and the idea was quite disturbing. The house had been part of their family for two generations. Perhaps they could rent the place out to a nice family who needs a place to stay. That way he could still own the house. His mind was spinning. He thought of the income from renting versus the upfront lump of cash they would get from the sale. It had to be worth around $700,000. He decided to agree with Jessica and sell his parent’s house.

The next trip to Belleville was the following Saturday afternoon. He was to meet with the real estate agent at the house and talk about selling. The agent’s name was Sarah. She was a tall woman with short black hair and a thin build. She had been highly recommended to him by an old high school friend who still lived in the town. Sarah and Greg first toured upstairs where the bedrooms were. They then came back downstairs and Greg showed Sarah the living room. They barely said a word until they finally reached the kitchen.
“It’s a beautiful home Greg. I think this won’t last long on the market and you can expect to get well above the asking price.
Greg hadn’t had the place appraised yet. That was next Wednesday’s appointment.
“Thank you so much for coming” Greg said. “I’m still feeling uneasy about the whole process so please give me a little time to adjust.”
Just then, the lights in the kitchen began to flicker. “Well, that’s odd.” Greg said with surprise in his voice. “I’ll have to replace the light bulbs I guess.” It was a strange occurrence and Greg decided he would replace the light bulbs that afternoon.

The next day Greg was at the house assessing the amount of furniture and nick-nacks he was going to have to sell or send to the local thrift shop. It was going to be quite an ordeal as there was 50 years’ worth of his parent’s belongings to get rid of. The thought was slightly overwhelming. As he trapsed downstairs and entered the basement, he stopped briefly to turn on the light. Just as his eyes began to adjust to the dimly lit room, his phone rang. It was Jessica calling.
“Hi hon, how did it go with the real estate agent yesterday?”
“Okay I guess” Greg replied. “I’m still feeling uneasy about selling the place. Give me some time to get used to the idea.”
Just as Greg finished speaking the lights in the basement began to flicker.
“Well, that’s strange! The lights in the basement are flickering. It did this in the kitchen yesterday as well! I guess I’ll have to replace the light bulbs down here too!” he told her.
Jessica was quick to respond, “Maybe the house is trying to tell you something Greg.”
Greg laughed a little and then they proceeded to have a quick conversation about what she had done that day and what the kids had been up to over the past two days.

After he hung up, Greg looked through some old broken-down boxes. There were five boxes of just books, several larger boxes of Christmas decorations and several smaller boxes of old photo albums documenting his entire childhood. Greg took the albums upstairs and sat in the living room. The windows were small with dark blue curtains draping down to the floor, so Greg turned on the brass lamp on the side table and began turning the pages looking at all the great memories that had been captured. His mom had been quite the photographer. Greg thought about how the pictures of his own kids, taken by cell phones over the years were all digital. He was saddened by the thought of having no photo albums for his kids to look through one day. Just as he was about to pick up the second album, the light in the living room began to flicker. Greg figured it lasted about five seconds this time. He didn’t know what to think. It seemed like someone was playing with the light switch. He wasn’t one to believe in spirits and ghosts so the thought of the house speaking to him was difficult to ponder, but he had no explanation for the lights. He wondered if there was a problem with the electrical panel. Perhaps he should call in an electrician, he thought. He would have to get this fixed before he put the house up for sale. Greg suddenly felt a coolness come over his shoulders. He put the albums back in the box and stood up. He had the strangest feeling. It was like someone was in the house with him. He walked from room to room with the lights flickering in every room for the same five seconds. This was beyond weird.

When he got back to Ottawa that night, he told Jessica of the odd occurrences at the house.
“Maybe there really is a spirit in there. Maybe its your Mom and Dad.” Jessica commented.
Greg thought this was crazy talk but he did consider the possibility. That night there wasn’t a lot of sleep to be had. He tossed and turned for several hours, just thinking about his parents. What if they were trying to reach out to him? He spent several hours that night wondering what his parents would think of him selling the house and wondered if they would be upset. It was 2am when Greg finally settled on a plan. On Wednesday when he went back to Belleville, he would attempt to communicate with them. He felt foolish for even thinking this way, but he had this overwhelming feeling that something bizarre was happening.

Wednesday was a rainy and a bit cool for a spring day. Jessica decided to accompany Greg on his trip to Belleville. Greg had told her about his plan to see if there were any spirits in the house, and she was beyond curious. The appraisal had gone smoothly that morning and the appraiser left saying he would send Greg an email by Friday with an official document stating what the house was worth. While all went well, there were still two instances that the lights had flickered. Once in the kitchen when Greg was telling the appraiser how difficult it was to be selling his family home. And again, in the basement when they talked about his parents’ accumulation of belongings that sat in boxes. Each time the flickering lasted about five seconds. Greg told the appraiser that he had some light bulbs to change and that it was no big deal. They both ignored the strange occurrence but Greg could not stop his mind from racing. He couldn’t wait to execute his plan.

Later that evening Greg and Jessica arrived back at the house with a Home Hardware bag containing two red, plastic flashlights and two sets of Duracell batteries. He thought his experiment would be best performed by lights unattached to the electrical grid, just to avoid the possibility of strange coincidences. They each sat in his parent’s arm chairs in the living room and put a set of batteries into each flashlight. Greg tested each one and they shone brightly against the light blue painted wall.
“Are you ready for this?” Jessica asked inquisitively.
Greg nodded as Jessica walked quickly across the living room, and then drew the curtains closed. Once she sat down again, he reached over to the side table and eagerly turned out the light. It was still raining outside and the dark clouds had taken over the evening sky so there was very little light coming through the windows. Greg quickly turned on one flashlight and pointed it directly had the dark wall on the other side of the living room. He suddenly felt a cool chill against his shoulders and felt the calming presence as he had done before. Jessica sat quietly looking directly at the flashlight as Greg began to speak.
“Hello is anyone here? Please flick the flashlight once for no and twice for yes.” There was no initial reaction so he asked again, his voice quivering slightly as he spoke.
Just then, the flashlight flickered off and on twice. Greg and Jessica looked at each other.
“Oh my God!” Jessica spoke with a faint whisper.
Greg remained quiet for a few seconds, shining the flashlight steadily at the wall.
“Are you a spirit?” Greg asked. Immediately after he spoke, the flashlight flickered twice. “Who are you? Are you my mother, Grace Jennings?”
The flashlight flickered off and on twice. Greg’s body stiffened in his seat and he sat up on the edge of the chair with the flashlight still on.
“How are you? Are you scared?”
The flashlight flickered once. Greg looked at the astonished expression on Jessica’s face. She gently smiled, which helped Greg relax a little. Greg thought for a minute about what he wanted to say next. He had only planned on buying the flashlights but he had not planned on what he was going to say.
“Is Dad with you?” The flashlight flickered twice.
“Holy, they’re both here in this house!” Jessica exclaimed, this time with a much louder voice than previously.
Just then, Greg reached for the second flashlight, turned it on and turned off the first flashlight. This one seemed to shine a little brighter against the wall. This would be the test to make sure it wasn’t just some glitch, some sort of coincidence that the lights just happened to flicker when he asked questions.
Greg spoke again, “Are you stuck in this house?”
The second flashlight flickered once. Greg could hardly believe this was really happening.
“I miss you guys terribly! But I am going to be selling our family home soon. Is that okay?” Greg was especially attentive to this answer.
The flashlight flickered twice. Greg gently sat back with a great sense of relief. Jessica smiled and reached over placing her hand on Gregs for a few moments before also sitting back in her chair.
“Will you be staying in the house when a new family moves in?” This time Jessica asked the question while Greg stared at the wall. He was careful not to blink. The flashlight flickered once.
“Where will you go? Is there a nice place you can go to?” Jessica asked with a sense of calm.
The flashlight flickered twice. Greg turned off the flashlight satisfied with his experiment, and reached over to turn on the lamp. Jessica and Greg looked at each other with huge smiles. They were in complete awe of what had just occurred. Greg had successfully communicated with the spirit of his mother.
“It’s all okay. I can sell the house now.” Greg happily exclaimed.
Jessica pulled out her cell phone to check the time. “It’s getting late. We should probably pack up and head back to Ottawa.”

Four weeks passed by and Greg found himself in the house once again. The house had sold only ten days after being listed for sale. He had cleaned out all the rooms, sold the furniture and sent several truckloads of “stuff” to the local thrift shop. The house was completely empty. He visited each room one last time before taking the keys to the real estate agent to hand over to the new family. When he came to the kitchen he paused for a few minutes and then quietly said,
“Goodbye Mom and Dad, I’ll miss you.”
The lights no longer flickered.
Greg left the house, completely content with the thought that his parents had now moved on.

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