“So, you’re telling me you’re being shadowed by ghosts?”
Gwen and I were sitting before the fire in Hart House library absorbing the ambiance of the book-lined room.
She looked skeptical but in the glow from the fire seemed caught in the amber of the moment and half-inclined to willing suspend all disbelief.
”It’s not your traditional haunting,” I protested, “it feels part of the ancient history of the place. It’s almost as if the stones themselves were trying to speak.”
Her eyes were dancing. “That sounds very poetic, Daniel, but you may have allowed your imagination to run wild. It easily happens. We’re all impressionable.”
I came over and wrapped my arms around her. “Perhaps you’re right, Love, but you’re moving to my village soon and you may think differently after joining me on my walks.”
“I can’t wait,” she smiled, “a Victorian village right beside the Bruce Trail? Sounds heavenly.”
“Well then we’ll reserve all judgment until you arrive and can scope out things for yourself.”
Gwen moved to the village the following weekend.
We were too preoccupied with the details of the move and getting her settled to check out the terrain, but after a few days she decided to join Mollie and me on our twilight jaunts.
It was a bit of an adjustment for me and especially Mollie since she had gotten used to running off-leash through the underbrush, but Gwen put a quick stop to that concerned that she might pick up a tick.
“Lyme disease has been reported in the area,” Gwen cautioned. Obviously, she had already done her research.
I began having misgivings about including her on our walks since she seemed so rules conscious, but those fears were quickly quashed when she brought along a frisbee for Mollie to retrieve at the school field and Mollie seemed to prefer the game to simply running through the chilly woods.
I was hoping to prove to Gwen that something supernatural was going on, but our first few walks proved uneventful.
I was actually beginning to think I had embellished the whole idea of ghosts and sacred places, but it turned out, that line of thinking was a bit premature on my part.
An incident occurred on our Friday night walk. We had been caught in traffic on our commute home and by the time we started our hike it was getting close to sunset sunset.
We cut short Mollie’s frisbee play and headed off toward the woods and just as happened to me several times before, I spotted a dark figure at the bend in the crescent leading down to the woods.
Gwen saw it too and we both kept the shadowy outline in view until we didn’t. It simply dissolved into the gathering darkness.
“I don’t believe it,” she whispered hoarsely.
She had grabbed my arm and was squeezing it so tightly it hurt.
“It didn’t even blink. the figure just disappeared.”
“Do you want to turn back?” I asked.
“No way,” she growled, her lips set in a firm line. “I want to see the woman you mentioned too.”
Sure enough, as soon as we crossed the small foot bridge and turned onto the path through the woods we could discern the form of a woman about a hundred yards ahead.
“Are you sure you really want to do this?” I asked.
“C’mon,” she said running, “I don’t want to just spot ghosts. I want to chase them.”
All three of us took off after the dark form heading towards the bend in the path.
Gwen was holding tight to Mollie’s leash but suddenly let go and we watched while Mollie closed the distance between us and the woman.
Neither of us were prepared for what happened next.
