Echoes

Chapter 3

As the sun came up, Leah stretched her aching limbs and headed through to have a hot shower. After a large breakfast, she decided she needed to go out and have a good long walk, so pulled her pops' hunting rifle and ammo from the safe and checked her handgun. "May as well see if I can get something fresh for dinner" she murmured as she grabbed her bag and jacket.

It was a bright, sunny day, which immediately lifted her mood as she wandered through the forest paths. As she searched through the undergrowth and glanced around at her surroundings, she couldn't help but be drawn back to the mysterious figure. She knew she should still be freaked out at the reality of having a ghost visiting her cabin, but her curiosity and need for understanding, had pushed that away. 

Now her focus was on finding out as much about the figure as possible. Who was he? Where was he from? How did he die? How long had he been here? What was stopping him from moving on? The questions seemed endless.

Many of the pieces of advice, suggested that 'lost souls' were looking for answers or needed their story to be heard. The idea of unfinished business, predominated in people's language when discussing spirits and hauntings. 

Leah never considered herself sensitive to these things and was pretty sure she had never seen a ghost before, so was utterly perplexed as to why she of all people, could see him and talk to him. Problem was, he seemed extremely sad and didn't appear to remember much. So how could she get him to answer questions?

Feeling much more invigorated and having bagged herself a wild turkey, Leah headed back through the forest to the cabin. Taking full advantage of the sunshine, she set herself up on the picnic table and plucked and prepared the turkey for cooking. The actions brought back so many memories of hunting trips with pops, how he had patiently taught her how to dress and prepare different sizes of game, how to get the best cuts from the meat, and how to store food for off season. The process now seemed ingrained in her muscles as she finished her work.

Once the turkey pieces were seasoned and in the oven, Leah turned her attention to pops' bedroom, flinging open the windows to air the space, before taking a deep breath and opening the wardrobe. When pops had been taken into hospital and then onto the nursing home, Leah had gathered up some of his clothes and possessions to take to him, so there was a lot less than she had anticipated. 

Filling two black sacks, she quickly emptied the wardrobe and the dresser before stripping the bed and putting everything on the porch. Aside from a few items of paperwork, some spare reading glasses and a couple of paperbacks, there was nothing left of pops in the room now.

Leah sat on the edge of the mattress and looked around at the space. Even without his personal effects, it still felt like pop's space and therefore wrong to be removing anything. After having a cry, Leah gathered herself and powered on. With some effort, she managed to get his double mattress outside and dumped it down the porch steps and dragged it over to a bare spot by the fire pit. 

With no thrift stores nearby, the best option was to build a fire and burn everything. The black sacks went into the pit and she headed back to the cabin to start cleaning. By the time the sun was starting to set, Leah had scrubbed everything from the furniture, the base boards, windows and walls.

Over dinner, she started making a list of things she needed to redecorate the room, along with buying a new mattress, new pillows and bedding. Her pops wasn't one to dwell in the past, so she knew that not matter how hard it was to clear the space of him, he would've had no issues with her making the room her own. With plans to head for a small strip mall at a nearby town the next morning, Leah washed up, grabbed a bottle of bourbon and a glass, and headed outside to build a bonfire.