The Old Mill
“Hello? You know you don’t scare me!” Sarah tried to sound strong but there was a definite creak to her voice.
Sarah had been in the new apartment for just under two weeks now and everyday, objects would move, fall over or make weird banging noises.
“I wish you would show yourself or talk to me properly” Sarah asked out loud. There was no reply, no loud bang and no moving of ornaments. The apartment had two bedrooms and was part of an old mill conversion. Sarah had loved it since seeing it in the estate agents window and had worked hard to get to where she was now, standing in the kitchen of her own place.
Sarah's curiosity got the better of her and this led her to the town hall and copies of the original building plans. Going by the plans, Sarah worked out that the kitchen / diner would have been part of the managers office of what was once a hot, dusty, thriving mill producing jute and providing work for hundreds of locals, mainly women and children.
She hadn’t really wanted to share her new home with a ghost or spirit but this is not the sort of thing you choose. It started of as small pieces of decoration being moved along shelves or being turned around, then moved on to larger items like lamps being knocked over or coats falling from hooks.
“Do you want me to leave? Pick up my coat and go?” asked Sarah, “This is my home now and I have no where else to go, you will have to take me as part of the old building. And to be honest, I don’t want to go anywhere, I like it here” Sarah added in a confident manner hoping that this would be enough for a show of support from whatever was in her apartment. There were never actual answers or replies but Sarah liked to greet the ghost or spirit every morning when she woke and would ask questions about things in her life hoping that something would trigger a response.
“Good morning, what are you up to today?”
“are you the ghost of someone who worked in the mill?”
“are you a friendly spirit that is trapped in the building?”
“am I a nice person” Sarah would ask before turning it around “are you a nice person?”
“What is your name?, my name is Sarah and I am 28 years old, I work in a café in the high street, it has been there for a while but probably not as long as when you were last there!”
As the weeks passed, the moving ornaments and noises continued with some days being more active than others. Sarah really wanted to learn more about what was present in her home so started thinking up ways to get the ghost or spirit to message her so she could do some research online. So far, any searches of the old mill were fruitless other than there were some old photos of crowds of people leaving the mill at a shift change but not much on individuals who may have died in the mill. Not wanting to give the impression she was going mad, Sarah had not told anyone about the goings on in the apartment much as though she had wanted to tell everyone to find out more about the mill.
Sarah left out several ways of communicating to try and encourage a dialogue or even just a name, starting with pens, pencils and bits of paper on all the surfaces. This was then joined by two small blackboards and some randomly placed pieces of chalk.
“Now then, I would like a name, initials or a clue of some sort! Anything to help me find out who you are. I’ve left things for you to write on if you can. Hopefully you can, please, I would love to know who you are and learn something about you”
“Feel free to ask anything about me” Sarah laughed, although you probably know most things about me by now! So fairs fair, its your turn! I’m off out, catch you later.” Sarah picked up her satchel and walked towards the front door, as she reached for the lock, a noise made Sarah stop and sent her heart racing. Every hair stood on her body stood on end as the colour and heat drained away. It sounded like bits of metal being dropped onto a hard surface, slowly and rhythmically. Turning round slowly, Sarah looked up and down the hall and into the living room but couldn’t see anything out of place. "what the hell was that, you don't need to scare me" taking a few, long, deep breadths, " I just about had a heart attack" She slowly walked up the hall, looking around until her body had almost returned to normal, the sound had faded and everything looked untouched.
“Okay, you got me! Just write a note next time, please. Bye!” Sarah let out a big sigh and shut the door on her way to work.
Sarah continued to look into the mill and its employees via the internet and the local library but there were so many people that worked there that narrowing it down to one person in her apartment with no name, age or gender, was like finding a piece of hay in a straw stack.
“it would be a lot easier if you could give me a clue!” Sarah exclaimed as she looked up from her laptop, “I have spent hours looking for someone that died or had an accident in the factory but there is nothing. An initial, first name, anything for goodness sake.” There was no reply. “Okay, I am going for a shower if you wont talk to me”
As she went through to the bathroom, Sarah continued to talk out loud and ask questions of her unknown guest. “People will think I am mad, talking to myself. If you were to talk back I would no that I’m not mad and could get on with my life. Not that my life is full or that I have a life other than work and finding out about you. That’s all there is to my life”. Sarah hung her head in the shower as the hot water rained down. “That’s all there is” she sighed.
Sarah finished her shower, and reached out for a towel and stepped out into the bathroom. The room was well lit and the bathroom mirrors were covered in condensation. Sarah put on her dressing gown and wrapped her hair in a small towel. She picked up a small towel and turned to the mirror and almost stopped breathing. A rush of hot and cold ran through her body, there were pins and needles from the back of her head down to her end of toes, her heart racing, hands trembling.
Sarah took a step back and lowered herself onto the edge of the bath to try and calm her breathing and take in what had just happened. After a few seconds, Sarah looked up at the mirror which by now was starting to clear and written in the condensation was ‘J T, Mrs’
Sarah, still in shock, stood up and ran to get her phone from the dressing table in her room and came back for a photo. By the time she returned the mirror was clear and the there were no marks, not even a streak, as though the mirror had been professionally cleaned. Sarah went through to the bedroom and lay back on her bed, taking in a few deep breaths and letting out a large blow with her mouth.
“Oh my God, what was that, who was that? It definitely said JT Mrs. Eeeeek, this is so exciting” she shrieked. “Thank you Mrs J T, who ever you are!”
Sketch by KLCW
Thank you for reading this story and I do hope you enjoy it. I enjoyed writing it and the many others I will write in the future. To support me and my writing, you can buy me a much needed writing book or a coffee, this would be very much appreciated to continue my love of writing.