Spooky Stuff

For those of you who have followed my stories, I have a bit of a follow up to “the grannies” that Asher had been seeing in our yard. I had gotten some great advice from a few of you on how to process that with him in such a way as to not invalidate the fear, but empower him to speak to the “spirits” and ask them to leave if he felt unsafe. He seemed to manage that well and we had “moved on” in as such that those sightings had stopped (from what I could tell).

Today was different. We had a lazy morning and took our time waking up/getting ready until finally Wilson insisted that I go downstairs RIGHT AWAY for his breakfast. I told Asher to get dressed and come downstairs for breakfast when he was done. I let Wilson out, grabbed his food dish to start his meal prep, then thought I heard a noise from upstairs. *I realized I didn’t have my hearing aides in and totally thought it was the neighbors.*
But no. It wasn’t just noise, it was crying. Asher crying..
“Mommmmmyyyyy! Please mommy, please come up here NOW!!”
I ran upstairs to see Asher half dressed, cowering on his bed, in tears.
“Mommy, I was calling you… you weren’t coming… I saw something walking and I didn’t know what it was!” I started looking around the floor and asked if it was a bug or a mouse or something??
“No, it was a person.” *head snap to look around the room to make sure no one’s behind me*
“It was just black like a shape, but like a person, like Screensaver (from the Incredibles) and I saw him, then he walked into your room!” Asher said with big eyes.

He kept stumbling over his words trying to explain what he saw and was getting defensive like I wasn’t going to believe him. I gave him a big hug to comfort him, but also because I didn’t want him to see the look on my face as I processed this info… there’s a black shape in my room… ok breathe.

I told him first things first, we need to put pants on, then I’ll go take a look in my room. So he let me help him get dressed and kept an eye out over my shoulder at the door the whole time. I asked him if the shape acted like it wanted to say something to him/communicate or if he felt like it was just watching then decided to leave. He said he wasn’t sure, but he was surprised to see it and it scared him… but then I could see his wheels turning from our past “granny” conversations.

I reminded him that if he sees this black shape again that if he’s feeling brave, he has the power to talk to it/ask it what it wants and to communicate with it. BUT if he’s not feeling brave and just wants it to leave, he has the power to tell it to go also. I reminded him that this shape, this ghost/zombie (he kept calling it different things) had no power to hurt him, just is scary sometimes to see things like that.

He nodded very matter-of-factly and grabbed my hand to walk into my room to investigate.
“You first Mommy”, he said while squeezing my hand, hiding behind my leg..
We walked into my room and nothing appeared amiss. I sat on my bed and Asher crawled up to sit with me.
“He probably went into a portal in your closet.” *cue childhood fears being reborn*
“Or under your bed.” He smacks the bed and yelled “Anyone there!!??!!”
Nothing.
I looked at Asher and suggested that maybe the “being” is scared of adults. That sometimes things like that can only be seen by kiddos. So it’s possible that mommy may not ever see this black shape. BUT we should tell it that either you want to know what it wants or that it should leave.

Without skipping a beat he says, “I want it to talk to me, I want to know what it needs or wants to say. Then if I get scared, I’ll just go get my battle axe and fight it.”
*noooooo kiddo, no fighting spirits in my house!*

I told him that’s not a good idea and to just use kind words please. He shrugged. “Well I could fight zombies if I have to”. *hahaha*

“Yes buddy I’m sure you ‘could’ but the whole point of this is that you don’t HAVE to. You have enough power in your words and your spirit (pointed to his chest) to just TELL them to leave. But maybe, just maybe, you might be able to help them too. You’re pretty special like that.”

He seemed to take that as a final answer and decided it was time to go downstairs. And that was that.

But, I have to tell you that all day I’ve been seeing things out of the corner of my eye and jumping at random sounds in the house.. Jiminy!

I know that many people have many different thought/feelings/theories about ghosts or spirits or what have you. I’m not debating one theory over another. I’m more interested in making sure that my son feels validated and safe in an already scary world. Personally, I do believe that some people (mostly kids) have eyes that can see “otherworldly” things and I hope that he can maintain some of that “sight” as he gets older in a way that works for him.