What Emma was saying sounded impossible to believe. She was wrong. I knew she was. She just couldn't accept she was dead.

"Emma..." I tried to speak, but chocked on my words.

"I left this village with my heart full of pain and regret," she continued. "But on my return, strange things began to occur. I could feel your presence everywhere. First, in my dreams. You were calling me to your house. And your house looked different; it looked like before it was consumed by fire. In my dreams, we were having long walks in your garden, just as we did this evening. You were telling me how much you were regretting leaving without telling your feelings...

Then, I began feeling your presence even when I was awake. When I was rocking to sleep my newborn girl and singing to her. Yes, I have a little girl who loves me and she's waiting for me. My stepdaughter also needs me. At that time, I began to feel you everywhere. I could feel you when I was alone in my room, trying to put my mind in order. I could feel you when I was walking down the streets when I couldn't bear the heaviness of my house. I could feel you following me everywhere. Like a warm spirit, yet one which couldn't bring the peace in my life.Soon, everyone in the house, starting with my husband and finishing with the servants, were noticing my absence and apathy in everything I was doing. Or better said, I wasn't doing. My husband brought doctors; he even tried to put me into an asylum. I had to follow treatments that tormented and weakened me more. But, even with the passing of time, my way of being remained the same. I could not find peace. Nothing could bring me rest. I felt the only way was to visit the place you had lived in. I took this decision when I received a letter from a woman I had never met. She pretended to have met you on your short staying at the house on the cliff. It was the Captain's widow.

And so I have arrived here. I knew your spirit was still captive in this world. Everybody in the village knew about the oddities happening at the house on the cliff. They've seen it with their own eyes. They didn't have to practice spiritism like the Stan sisters to know something weird was happening in that house. Lights were appearing out of nowhere. The storeroom was filling with supplies by itself. And the grocer was always missing the supplies that were in the storeroom. Sheets of paper and inkpots were all over the house without anyone knowing where they were coming from.

The ones that visited the house, whether by accident or by curiosity, were saying that they were suddenly taken over by a strange sensation. As if someone was watching them. Cold drifts, objects moving by themselves... Some even tried to move this burnt sofa. And they were put to the ground by an unseen force. Those were clear signs the house was haunted and they didn't want that dangerous presence come into their village.

But soon, that's exactly what happened. Apart from the grocery store, the back streets have also turned out to be haunted. Sometimes, the people who had the misfortune to wander those streets at the late hours of the night could swear that they were meeting a translucid figure, smoke coming out of it, leaving a smell of burnt and ashes behind. It couldn't be anyone but you. Then, you started visiting the Stan sisters. You came to them almost every night. Your spirit took over one of them, and she began to automatically write what should have been the work of your life. Your unfinished book. 

That's when they've decided to call for me because I was the only one who attended your funeral. I was supposed to prepare you for the big journey to beyond.

At first, I found it difficult to believe and understand such phenomena. Once, I would have probably laughed of such situations and people who believed they could occur. But then, I saw the papers the sisters showed me. I even attended a seance where a few sheets of paper were written right under my eyes. And then, I had no doubt about it -- it was your handwriting.When I first met you as a spirit, I realized I had the most difficult task of my life. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to you. Not yet... You were showing yourself to me just the way I used to remember you. Warm, kind, and with so much love to share. You were looking the same, not the frightening presence I was told about. You were the same Daniel I sent away from my life more than five years ago. That's why it was so difficult to part from you. Yet I was aware that putting off why I came to you, my burden would have become even heavier. And your torment bigger. And you did not deserve to be tied to this world, just because I couldn't let you go... Now you know..."

She was shivering. She slowly got up from the sofa and came to me. I stepped away from her as if facing an enemy. What was she saying? What in the world was she saying?!

"No, that can't be true," I kept repeating, shaking my head. "I can't be dead..."

"Daniel, please, try to understand," she begged, tears in her eyes. "I know it isn't easy..."

But I moved even further away from her, "It's not true! You're lying! Why are you doing this to me?"

Then, I heard a rustle behind me. It was coming from the darkest corner of the room where the moonlight couldn't reach out. I turned, feeling my head spinning.

"It's true, Daniel," I could hear a husky, familiar voice.

And Martha and Bertha Stan came out of the shadows, haunting apparitions themselves.

So, what do you think? Did you enjoy this chapter? Let me know in the comment section below. Thank you!