The Reassuring Light

My Grandma died around 7 years ago now. For those who have read my other stories you will know that she spent her last 6 months in Hospital. My mum, along with her brother and sister, sold my Grandma's house not long after she had died.

My mum experienced a lot of spooky stuff while she was sorting the house out ready to sell which I have also explained in a previous story. I feel that my Grandma never really left us after she had gone; she was the kind of woman who was very in touch with her spiritual side. I remember being younger, me my sisters and cousins would go to her house every Sunday. Her house was always full of books about fairies and witches. She had weird paintings on the wall that lead up the stairs, of people whose eyes would feel as though they were following you all the time. We were never allowed upstairs except if we needed the bathroom and all the bedroom doors would be closed constantly. We used to make up stories to the kids on her road that she was a witch (a nice one though) and they'd believe us.

We were sad when our parents decided to sell the house, it felt like all the memories of our Grandma circulated only around that house and now the magic was gone. I'd love to go back to that house and see it looking how I remembered it.

5 days before she passed away my sister gave birth to her second son, William. Unfortunately due to a change in our Grandma's personality of paranoia and miss-trusting, she never got chance to see her great grandson. We left her a photo at the end of her bed so she could see him but she never remembered who he was.

6 months had passed and my sister had William lying in his pram, she was walking him to the local supermarket when she purposely took a detour down the road heading towards our Grandma's old house. She admitted that she just wanted to see how it looked. She was walking towards it debating whether or not to cross the road and walk past the drive when a bright light flashed from the front door at her.

She excitedly told us all about it and was convinced it was Grandma saying Hello. After that, whenever we would talk about my Grandma, my sister would always bring up that story.

About 2 years ago I was coming home from work, passing the road that she had lived on when I thought of the story that my sister used to share with us. It was dark as it was winter but I wanted to see for myself about the bright light and see what my chances were of seeing it. I turned down the road and drove to the end, butterflies sprang in my stomach. The house sat in front of me shadowed by the large conifer that stood tall in the front garden.

I was about 3 houses away when a bright light flashed from the front door, I eventually pulled up right outside in my car blocking the drive way. The light was coming from the security light that was attached to the wall next to the front door. The butterflies left as soon as they'd came and I felt a sharp twang of disappointment. It was just the sensitivity of the light that had caused it to come on, it had sensed the movement of my car close by and had done what it was designed to do. The light went off after around 10 seconds.

I didn't drive off straight away as I was admiring the house too much and thinking about the memories. I heard a car coming down the road and saw its headlights as it turned the corner and headed towards my Grandma's house, taking the same route I had just come from. I looked back at the light presuming it would sense the moving car and come back on, but it didn't. The car drove further down the road and round the next corner. I then heard the murmur of people talking and looked in my wing mirror; it was an old couple with a dog. Any second they would be walking right past the house and the light would come on. Past they went and still the light stayed off.

I realized I must look a bit strange parked up outside someone's house and maybe they would be home soon and want to park their car on the driveway I was blocking. I started my engine and took one last look and began to drive away, I moved around a foot forward when the light flashed on. I smiled to myself, the butterflies coming slowly back. The light remained on until I turned the corner and out of sight from the house.

The same week I was round at my sisters after work, we were going shopping. I excitedly told her about the light outside Grandma's. 'Told you!' She said.

As we drove off to go shopping we decided to divert... I turned down the road and drove to the end, the light flickered on brightly. We both nervously smiled and looked at each other. By the time I'd pulled up the light had gone off. 'Move the car just to make sure it's not the censor.' I rolled forward slightly. Nothing. I reversed about a meter. Nothing. I rolled forward this time about 3 meters. Nothing. About 5 times I rolled forwards and backwards, each time moving a little further than the last. The light just did not come on.

We giggled at how daft we must look and came to the conclusion that this time she just wasn't going to cooperate. Stubborn as usual! We decided to leave so we had plenty of time to shop before the shops closed for the night. I drove off past the house and down the road. 'Bye Grandma!' We both said aloud as we left. The light instantly flashed at us and we both looked at each other surprised. I stopped the car and we both looked back, it slowly began to die out then it brightly lit up again. It stayed on until we drove around the corner and out of sight...

Every time she's on my mind I always take that little detour to see the light flashing and every time it has. But refused to come on when ever another car or person is passing by.

I've not visited for a while, we scattered her ashes recently and I don't know if that's made a change, I'll have to go and see.