My name Ayanna Sol-Odinaya and I see ghosts, I had always been able to see the undead. My mum says I used to stare into a spot in a room and could just stare at it for hours. They thought I had schizophrenia and I was hospitalised, I made the decision on my fifth birthday to act like I stopped seeing them. I learned to ignore the figure in the corner of the room, across the street, the one who stood staring into the classroom with sad eyes or the one that kept jumping from the bridge over the river. When I turned eight they started to talk; "You see me don't you?" I remember the first one had said to me, a middle aged woman with a straight no nonsense bob, "You hear me too, don't you young lady?" I walked around her keeping my face neutral though my heart was beating so hard I could have sworn it was trying to escape my chest. Dealing with the talking and the shimmer of an apparition was fine but the cold chill I got from walking through them I could not. I'd been allowed back home by this time, my family was constantly watching me, making sure I wasn't staring at a particular spot for too long or speaking into the air although I hadn't done that in quite a few years.
"Want more pasta honey?" my mother asked, she had cut her hair into a small afro, it suited her small pretty elfish face despite the fact she seemed to age 10 years every time she was in the room with me. her large dark brown eyes watched me carefully, waiting for me to do something crazy. I stared blankly back at her shaking my head "I'm fine," I meant this in every way. As soon as the words left my lips there was a sudden movement in corner of the room that nearly made me turn my head. I picked up my plate and placed it in the dish washer. "Thank you for the meal," I muttered looking anywhere but my mothers eyes as though feeling awkward, but in reality I wanted to see who had come to see me today. A little boy stood looking around lost his hooded jumper hanging off his shoulders, he couldn't have been older than 5 years old, his eyes met mine and I turned to walk up the stairs. I could sense him following me, "Excuse me," his voice was very soft and full of desperation wavering slightly as he tried to to hold back tears "I can't find my mummy, they took my mummy," I opened the door to my room and he followed me inside. "Please," he whimpered and I couldn't stop my heart breaking, I took a deep breath and turned to him "What's your name?" his eyes widened, tears forming already as he ran towards me and tried to wrap his arms around my thighs, I felt the ice cold sensation and I held back a shiver. I wrapped a tentative arm around him "It's okay," I smiled softly, and rocked him back and forth cooing gently allowing time for him to calm down, and as we sat on my bed I watched him run his hands over the bed cover over and over again. "So what's your name sweet pea?" I asked smiling kindly, "Trey," his voice barely higher than a whisper. His large eyes stared at me both in awe and relief. "How did you get here?" he watched me carefully and shrugged his shoulders, running his hands over the cover "I was in the field, then I walked," he turned his head and looked towards the window where it was becoming dark, "My mummy is there," his body began to shimmer "...I..." and as suddenly as he appeared he was gone. I leaned back onto my pillow letting out a shaky breath, I hadn't noticed how my heart was hammering in my chest, how my hands shook. I could feel it deep in my stomach something had changed in me, I hadn't known what I was getting myself into.
