Handprints

In 1991 at the age of 11, my family moved into a larger house in a different city. I never had an all-American happy family. We were like any other dysfunctional family.

When we moved into the 4 bedroom house (This time 6 kids) we were all happy. I remember walking in excited. Things were normal. We grew up having CPS (Child Protective Services) on our tails since I was in the 3rd grade. I'd rather not get into that as I finally put it behind me. I can remember things slowly coming about.

One day my friend was over. The dining room and living room connected together and we were all at the table talking when the TV turned on by itself. My friend thought we were playing around and said "ok...who did that? Who has the remote?" My mom says "We don't have a remote." It freaked her out and she left. After this incident more and more things started to occur. By this time I was a teen. I would come home from school and hear things clinging around upstairs. I thought 'ok...maybe my brothers are home' and I'd go upstairs and check it out to find nobody there. I would hear things throughout the house when nobody was home. It became a routine that I never felt alone and I NEVER stayed there alone.

I would wake up probably between 3:30-4am for a drink of water. As I'd go to turn out the kitchen light, I'd see an old lady in the reflection of the window just staring back at me. So I would not turn off the light and just go back to bed. I have seen this for many years.

We would have a set bedtime and it usually takes me over a half an hour to fall asleep. Everybody else would be asleep, except for my mom who was always at the table. I would hear footsteps come up the stairs and I would count the steps (as I always had a thing for counting the steps on the stairs) and as Id count with it as it reached the top of the stairs it would stop and I would be waiting for my mom to come in and say something to me.

One night after hearing it every night and waiting for someone to come in my room, I got out of bed and asked my mom. "Mom, did you just come upstairs? "She would say "No, Now go back to bed". It left me puzzled. CPS ended up removing what was now 7 children from the home, placing us with family. We were able to come home after 7 months and 2 months later taken out again. In order to get and keep us in the house my parents had to do some work in it and that included repainting all the bedrooms.

I was placed back with my aunt, as the rest of the kids went to foster care allowing only supervised visitations. My aunt was awesome and would take me to visit without the states' knowledge/approval.

One day we stopped by my parents house. My dad was the only 1 home. He said "Come here. I want to show you guys something "and he led us upstairs to my bedroom. He was repainting it. He said" I was bending over to get more paint on the roller and I thought I hit the wall. So I start checking my shirt for paint." He always wore black t-shirts. He continued to say" And that's when I noticed this..." and he pointed to the half size wall that was the opening to my room. He pointed to little kids handprints that looked like a 4 or 5 year old. He said "The kids weren't here for any visits, your mom was gone." It shined perfectly from the glare from the window. The handprints weren't smudged; the fingers were spreaded out as if the child used the wall to break its fall.

I would hear my siblings toys going off before this and didn't think anything of it. My mom experienced things while we were placed out of the home as well as my father, and brothers. I will never forget this as it was my first haunting experience.