Seeing Ghosts

Growing Up

My name is Eres. I was born on July eighth to Aries and Thea Spielman. My twin brother was born moments before me. We already had three older brothers. Denny, Jason, and Theo. My parents thought I was just like the rest of my family when I was born, normal. Boy were they wrong! When I was four I started to acknowledge the fact that I could see people the rest of them couldn't.

None of them believed me, they all pushed it off as though I was just seeing imaginary friends. The only one that did believe me, is my twin, Hermes. We stick together with everything. We both have black hair and blue eyes like our dad, and if it weren't for our opposite genders, we could have been identical twins. He's always there for me.

"Eres?" I look up. I'm eight years old, sitting at the base of my favorite tree. "Mom wants you to go inside. She said it smells like rain." I nod. Herm walks with me back. "Have you seen any today?" I shake my head.

"No. Have you heard any?" He shakes his head. We learned last year that while he can't see ghosts like me, he can hear them. I feel like that's even scarier. He takes my hand. "I wonder why they are hiding?" I look at him.

"Oh." He looks at me. "What?" I swallow and point behind him. "There's one right behind you." He nods. "Oh." The ghost moves closer. I squeeze his hand. "Guys! What's taking you so long? Hurry up! Mom's worried!" We look at Denny standing in the doorway. The ghost backs away. I look at Herm. "Race you there?"

He nods. "Go!" I let go of his hand and run. He beats me by a few seconds. Denny pulls us inside and closes the door behind us. "What were you doing just standing out there?" I look up at him. "There was a ghost." He rolls his eyes. "Right, a ghost. Whatever. Just hurry up." We take off our shoes and follow him to the living room.

  Dad is looking out the window and pacing around. Mom is sitting on the couch with our little sister Lysie on her lap. She's two years old. Denny walks over to where Jason and Theo are sitting. I think they're playing a board game.

  Herm and I sit by mom on the couch. "Were you reading?" I look at her. "No ma'am. Just thinking." She nods. "Don't wonder off so far, I get worried about you. Hermes is the the only one that seems to be able to find you any more." I nod. "Yes ma'am." Herm smiles. "We have a connection, right Eres?" I nod.

  Mom smiles. Dad walks over to us. "Well, you two stay that way. It's good that the two of you get along so well. Unlike those three." I smile. It's not like our older brothers never get along, but they always seem to get along for only short periods of time. Dad takes Lysie from mom.

"We've got to wait out the storm." Mom nods. I look behind dad and grab Herm's hand. He looks at me. I squeeze it. The ghost is standing right behind dad. She looks at me and smiles. "Hello there little girl. Want to play?" I shake my head. Herm frowns. Mom looks at me.

"What's wrong Eres?" I glance at her, but can't speak. Whenever there's a ghost around I freeze up. "She's just scared of the weather Thea." Mom looks up at dad. "I see. Why don't you children go to bed? The storm should pass over us in the night, then clear up by morning."

I look at Herm. He squeezes my hand. We stand. "Goodnight." Mom nods. He leads me to our room. The three older boys share a room, then Herm and I, and mom and dad keep Lysie in their room for now. When she gets older, she'll probably share with us. Or get her own room.

The ghost follows us into the room. Herm looks at me. "Is she still here?" I nod. He climbs into his bed, moving so that I can climb in too. The ghost smiles. "Come on now child, I only want to play with you. I wouldn't mind playing with the boy too." I shake my head and squeeze my eyes shut.

Hermes pulls the blanket up over us. "Sorry, we don't want to play with you. Can you please leave us alone?" She laughs at his words. "No, I think I'll stay for a while." I can feel her eyes on me as I try to fall asleep. Herm holds my hand and tells me it will be fine. Eventually, I relax and fall asleep.