text: The dark-haired woman walked away from the graveside, wiping her eyes with a crumpled tissue. Her two young children, a boy and a girl, clung tightly to her long, black woolen coat, unsure why their mummy was sad, and and not liking the feeling of the light rain on their faces. They were too young to understand the concept of death, or funerals, but they didn't like seeing mummy upset. She led them, in silence, back to the car, opening the rear doors in turn and securing them into their seats, before walking around the car and climbing into the driver's seat. She wiped away one last tear with the back of her hand, before starting the engine and slowly pulling the car away. As she drove carefully down the quiet lane, she was unaware of the white mist trailing behind the car. The two young children stared out of their car windows for the entire journey home. Neither she, nor they, said a single word until the car finally arrived outside their home. As she turned off the engine, the white mist gently floated, unseen, up towards the roof of the house. “I'm hungry, mummy!” the little girl wailed. “Me too!” the little boy agreed, with a mischievous smile. Wearily, she got out of the car, and then opened each of the rear doors alternately, helping her children to unfasten their seatbelts, and watching as they raced up to the porch. She locked the car, then followed behind them, unlocking the front door and ushering them inside, out of the drizzle. It was just beginning to get dark on this late October afternoon, so she switched on the hallway light and let out a light laugh, despite her sadness, as her children ran eagerly into the kitchen. As the siblings settled themselves at the kitchen table, she began to prepare tea for everyone, and the three of them were soon eating in silence. As she ate, with her back towards the kitchen door, she did not notice the white mist lingering there, having made its way down from the attic. After tea, the dark-haired woman ushered her children upstairs for their baths, allowing her son to watch television in her bedroom whilst she bathed her daughter. Then, having supervised the little girl getting into her pyjamas and putting her to bed, she called her son into the bathroom. As soon as her son was ready for bed, she kissed both children goodnight and headed downstairs. The dark-haired woman switched on the television, and began to watch a movie, but due to the stress of the day, and the darkness of the living room, she soon fell asleep. Whilst she slept, she was unaware of the mist hovering silently above her, seeming to watch over her. A couple of hours later, she was awoken by the sound of 'white noise' on the television, indicating that the night's programs on that channel had come to an end. Rubbing her eyes, she glanced at the clock on the fireplace. It was almost 2am, so she wearily stood up from the sofa, turned off the television and crossed the room. Turning off the one single table lamp, she made her way up to her bedroom. On the way, she glanced into each of her children's rooms in turn, and saw that they were both sleeping peacefully. With a contented sigh, she crept into her own bedroom, closed the door, undressed quickly and slipped into bed. Turning off the bedside lamp, she lay down, pulling the duvet up over herself, and was asleep within seconds. * The following day, Sunday, was the second day of the half-term holidays, and it was the day before Halloween. After breakfast, the dark-haired woman asked her children if they would like to decorate the house, ready for the big day. Of course, they were very excited by the idea, so she went up into the attic and began to bring down various bags and boxes of decorations. Despite many trips up and down the attic ladder, she did not notice a faint, white glow in the far corner. Grandma's ghost watched in silence as her daughter carried the boxes down, feeling proud at the fantastic job the dark-haired woman was doing of raising her children alone. She really wanted to reveal her presence to her daughter, but did not know how she might react, so she decided to wait until later. For the next few hours, the trio busied themselves with a mountain of Halloween decorations, and by the time they had finished, they had the best-decorated house in the entire street (in their opinion, of course!) * Everything had faded to black for the old woman at first, as she left her old life behind, but then the light had slowly returned. Now Grandma found herself back in her daughter's house once again, this time unseen by anyone. 'So this is what it feels like to be dead'. Grandma had thought to herself. She had often wondered whether the 'afterlife' actually existed, and now she knew for sure. The family had no idea she was now watching over them. She was 'sitting' on the stairs in the hallway, watching them through the open kitchen door. They all looked so happy! They were laughing and joking, flicking flour at each other as they now made spooky biscuits and other treats for a little Halloween party, and for any Trick or Treaters who might pay them a visit. “Stay here, I'll be back in a minute. Be good!” the dark-haired woman smiled, as she left the kitchen briefly, to use the bathroom. As soon as she entered the hallway, the white mist that had been hovering on the stairs instantly faded away. Seconds later, it reappeared in the kitchen, floating above the kitchen table, glowing slightly under the overhead light. The two young children gazed up at the mist, but were unafraid. “Hi Grandma!” the little girl said brightly. The little boy said nothing, but he smiled as he saw the mist seeming to glow more intensely in response to his sister's voice. Minutes later , the dark-haired woman returned to the kitchen, but as she reached the open door, she paused, and listened. She could hear her children talking and laughing with someone, but it was clear that they were definitely not talking to each other. She frowned and walked back into the room, just as the mist vanished again. “Hey, guys. Who were you talking to?” The dark-haired woman asked. The children glanced at each other and shrugged. “No-one.” They answered in unison. She could tell from their expressions that they were hiding something, but, not wanting to upset them after such a sad day yesterday, she did not press them. “OK, come on guys, bedtime!” the dark-haired woman said, firmly but with a kind smile. So the children pushed their chairs back from the table, with a loud scraping sound, and ran obediently from the room and up the stairs. Within half an hour, both children were safely tucked up in their beds, reading their favourite books, and the dark-haired woman went downstairs to tidy the kitchen. Later that night, when the family were asleep, the glowing mist floated gently back and forth between their three bedrooms, seemingly making sure they were all safe and sound. Then, apparently satisfied, it floated up through the ceiling, to take up residence in the attic. * The following day was Halloween, and the two children could not wait to go out 'Trick or Treating'. It was dark by 4pm, so the dark-haired woman helped them to put on their coats, gave them each a Halloween bag to put their goodies in, then ushered them out the front door. Thankfully, it was a dry afternoon, although it was very cold. The dark-haired woman blew hot breath into her hands, rubbing them together as she led the children down the road. Not wanting to wear the children out completely, they simply walked around the block, and were back home again within an hour. The children eagerly ran into the living room to examine their impressive haul, whilst the dark-haired woman slipped into the kitchen to prepare their tea. * Grandma's misty form floated a few inches over the fireplace, looking down on them as they emptied their 'Trick or Treat' sacks onto the living room rug. She smiled warmly at them, watching in silence as they sorted through their booty. The little girl held up a sweet, offering it to her relative, but the spectral old lady slowly shook her head. So the little girl shrugged, and popped it into her own mouth with a giggle. “K-I-I-I-D-S! TEA'S READY!” The dark-haired woman yelled suddenly, from the kitchen. When she got no response, she walked out of the kitchen, across the hallway and into the living room to fetch them. As she did so, the white mist floated up through the ceiling, out of sight. Then, as she returned to the kitchen, the mist reappeared in the passage, and followed silently behind her. Finally, the dark-haired woman heard her offspring trotting into the kitchen behind her, and she turned around to face them. The dark-haired woman gazed in horror at the white cloud, now floating in the kitchen doorway, and she dropped the open bottle of fizzy orange drink that she had been about to pour into spooky plastic glasses for her children. Just as the liquid began to spread across the kitchen floor, the doorbell rang. The children instantly ran back into the hallway, to answer the door. ”Damn!” she thought, snapping back to reality. “It can't be the party guests already, surely?!” A fraction of a second before the doorbell rang, Grandma's ghost, apparently sensing the visitors' approach, vanished into thin air. The dark-haired woman quickly mopped up the spillage and put the bottle on the kitchen table, then she walked quickly into the hallway, just as her children began to open the front door. “TRICK OR TREAT?!” came a loud shout from behind the front door. It wasn't the party guests after all; merely some hopeful children from down the street. Suddenly, the entire group screamed in terror and ran back up the path, most of them dropping their bags of sweets in their haste to get away. The dark-haired woman and her children turned around, to see her mum's ghost floating in the middle of the hallway behind them, silently laughing to herself. Realizing that the white cloud she had seen earlier, in the kitchen, was in fact also the ghost of her dear mum, the dark-haired woman heaved a sigh of relief, tinged with sorrow. The sight of Grandma's ghost laughing, coupled with the sweets littering the path, caused the two children to giggle. Seeing the two of them so happy, and 'reunited' with Grandma, the dark-haired woman began laughing, too. As they went back indoors, the dark-haired woman began to wonder if they could have some fun with Grandma's ghost during the party. She noticed that the mist had floated up into the attic after scaring the Trick or Treaters, so she made up her mind to go up there later, and see if she could persuade the spirit to make an appearance downstairs again, in front of all of the party guests. * Ten minutes later, everyone finally began to arrive for the party, and soon the house was ringing with laughter, and almost trembling with the rhythmn of spooky party tunes coming from the stereo. After making sure all of her guests were supplied with snacks and drinks, and encouraging them to mingle, she quietly slipped into the hallway again. Having overcome her initial fears, and sadness, at seeing her mother's ghost, the dark-haired woman now found herself actively seeking out the entity, whilst the Halloween party continued in the living room and the kitchen. As she heard laughter, and shrieks of delight in the kitchen, she crept back upstairs, opened the attic hatch, pulled down the ladder, and climbed up. “Mum? Are you up here?” She asked, hesitantly. As she waited, her heart pounded nervously in her chest. After a few moments, the mist slowly reappeared in the corner of the attic, glowing brightly. “We're having a little Halloween party downstairs, with the kids and a few friends.” The dark-haired woman said to the mist. “Would you like to...join us?” It felt a bit strange asking a ghost to come to a party but, after a few seconds the mist began to pulse slowly with a bright white glow. She still had no idea that her children had already been communicating with her mum's ghost earlier in the day, but something told her that the pulsing light within the mist was, indeed, the spirit's way of responding to her offer. “OK, see you later”, the dark-haired woman said, before heading back down the attic ladder and making her way to the kitchen. The party was in full swing now, and so the dark-haired woman decided to play a game with the visiting children. “Hey, kids.” She asked playfully. “Who wants to see...a real life ghost?” A few of the children shook their heads nervously, but the rest began jumping up and down, raising their hands, and calling out, “Me! Me! Me!” The dark-haired woman laughed, and then tried to quieten the children down. “Shush, shush, shush! OK, let's see if we can make her appear then, shall we?” she said. “I want everyone to shout out 'Grandma, where are you?' as loudly as possible, OK? After three. One...Two... Three!” “GRANDMA-A-A! WHERE A-A-ARE YOU-U-U?!” The children called in unison. Seconds later, the ceiling light began to flicker repeatedly, causing one or two of the children to scream, and then, a white mist began to seep through the ceiling, getting larger and larger. In spite of their fear, the visiting children watched open-mouthed, as the mist suddenly began to take the shape of an elderly woman. The ghost hovered just above the floor in front of the children, smiling, then she began to wave slowly at them. Sensing that this was a 'good' ghost, rather than a 'bad' one, the children soon began to wave back. So Grandma's ghost began to put on a show for them, gliding through the walls and the ceiling, changing shape into various animals and cartoon characters, and pulling ridiculous faces. The party guests were soon laughing and dancing around the room as Grandma's ghost entertained them, and, before they knew it, it was time for everyone to go home. As they left the house, each of the departing guests, including the adults, called out, “Bye Grandma!” * A few hours later, after all the guests had gone home, and her children were safely tucked up in bed, the dark-haired woman returned to the attic. As she knelt on the floor, the glowing white mist enveloped her entire body, giving her an immense feeling of euphoria. Finally at peace, the dark-haired woman crossed the attic, and made her way slowly back down the ladder to the hallway, just as the mist faded away for the very last time. “Goodbye Mum,” The young woman said quietly. “I love you.” THE END