Read The Silent Ghost for Free Online Page A

and called a friend to cancel our plans for the day. I was too worn out to go.”
    “But if you can’t hear the ghost, why didn’t you just go to sleep and forget about it?”
    Tanisha turned to her, the corners of her mouth turned downward. “You’d think it would be that easy, wouldn’t you? And I sure tried. If I’d had sleeping pills in the house, I would have taken them. As it was, I drank half a bottle of wine, but it didn’t help, only made me feel worse.”
    Granny moved next to Tanisha and put a ghostly hand on the young woman’s shoulder in comfort. “Poor child.” She turned to Kelly. “I told you that spirit is transferring its misery to her. She doesn’t need to hear it to be disturbed. It’s the emotion the ghost is communicating.”
    “Granny has a hand on your shoulder. She’s very concerned about you.”
    Tanisha managed a weak smile in Granny’s direction.
    “She says,” Kelly continued, “that this ghost is transferring its emotions to you. You feel what it does. That’s how it’s forcing you to help it.”
    “If that’s true, then that ghost is at the bottom of a deep, dark well, because that’s exactly how I feel when it’s around.” Tanisha went to the refrigerator and pulled out a container of low-fat cream cheese, some butter, and a jar of raspberry jam. She put them on the counter, along with knives and napkins.
    Kelly fetched her mug from the coffee table and refilled it from the pot on the counter. She topped off Tanisha’s while she was at it. When the toaster popped, Tanisha put the bagels on two plates, andplaced them on the counter. The two women took stools next to each other.
    Kelly smeared jam on her bagel. “So tell us everything you can about this ghost.”
    “I’m pretty sure it’s female. At least that’s the sense I get.”
    Granny nodded. “I got that impression myself.”
    “If the dimensions of the cloudy image are any indication,” Tanisha continued after swallowing a bit of bagel, “she might be sort of on the tall side. Although next to me, everyone seems tall.” She smiled, “Except your Granny.”
    “Yes, Granny’s petite, like you.” Kelly stood up. “Is your ghost about my height or close?”
    Tanisha eyed her, trying to size Kelly’s height up with her recollection of the ghost. “Possibly. The haze always seems to tower over me when it’s near.” She took a drink of her coffee. “How does this ghost thing work? Can you call to them and ask them to appear? Or do you just wait around and they do, or don’t, return?”
    “I don’t know exactly how it works,” Kelly answered, taking her seat again. “It’s not like spirits are dogs we can order to come to us whenever we want, but it does seem like they can be called or summoned. Though I think it’s up to them if they want to respond. According to my mom, once they attach themselves to a place or a person, they can visit anytime they want without an invitation.”
    “How do they attach themselves?”
    Kelly tried to remember what Emma had told her. Ever since Granny Apples had become a fixture in their lives, she’d taken Granny’s presence for granted and not really given the hows or whys much consideration.
    “I think they just have to go to a place or meet someone once. After that, they can go to that place or visit that person anytime they want, unless they are told to go away. Like once Granny connected with you the other night, she was able to find you and follow you here.”
    Tanisha straightened, zeroing in on something Kelly said. “You mean, you can tell them to go away?”
    “That’s what I understand. They might still be around, but they probably won’t bother you if you ask them to leave you alone. At least the nice ones won’t. I don’t know about ghosts with a specific agenda. That’s more something my mom would know.”
    “This ghost,” Granny commented, “is reaching out for some specific purpose. She might not have gone over to the other side