Obscura Fabula (Dark Shorts)

Colonel Ghost

Colonel Ghost

It was a happy Sunday afternoon. The sun was setting behind the green hills giving the sky iridescent tones of orange and yellow on the light blue heavenly canvas. My family and I were in the back yard's terrace enjoying an outdoor dinner and conversing. Summer barbecue is always fun. The kids ran and played in the yard and we sat under the roofed terrace and watched them having the beautiful scenery of the mountains as a background view.

It was already beginning to get dark, when we finished eating. I helped my mother to clean the table. Then I I walked into the house to wash the dishes. When I was rinsing the last plates, when I felt the strange sensation of being observed. A cold current ran up my spine and goose bumps rose all over my skin. I knew that feeling well. Someone, or something was behind me.

I placed the plate I had in my hands back in the sink. When I turned around I saw a man sitting on the leather armchair in the family room. He was dressed in a white tailor suit, like those made of cotton used by the landlords or 'hacendados' of sugar cane plantations by the end of the 19th century. The man wore a white wide brim hat trimmed with a black silk ribbon and a matching tie. He looked a lot like Colonel Sanders, until I trailed his legs and found no feet.

Oh God! I felt like dying. He was sitting straight looking to some point in the family room. It was terrifying. I couldn't help but to stare at him fixedly. I didn't move... I wasn't able to move, or breath.

Suddenly the 'man' reacted. He remained sitting up straight, but he spun his neck ninety degrees to look straight at me. I opened my eyes wide for I couldn't believe what I was seeing. His face serene only stared at me, no emotions whatsoever were reflected on the entities facade. Strangely, that calmed me down. It was as if he was telling me he wouldn't cause me any harm. I felt my heart beating again. And in that precise moment, the 'he' turned his face again away from me, stood up and walked away to disappear in some point of the hallway.

***This one wasn't that creepy, but not all encounters with ghosts are.