The Children and the House of Spirits

A long time ago, my family moved into a new house. Almost immediately, strange things began to happen. My oldest brother, about 13, refused to sleep alone. He said the eyes were always watching him. My middle brother began sleepwalking. He would skip in circles in the living room, laughing at someone no one else could see. Sometimes he would scream about fire trying to hurt him. My mom had to wake him and calm him down.

I was very young at the time. One night, my parents heard me giggling in my room. When they checked, I was sitting on the floor, facing my closet, wide awake. I told them I was talking to my new friend. My oldest brother warned them I was talking to the eyes. I called my invisible friend “Jeffery.”

My mom later discovered that a little boy named Jeffery had lived in the house long ago. She could not find out what had happened to him. She also heard rumors that the previous owners were involved in dark practices. To protect the house, my grandmother blessed it with holy water, and my dad made a cross for the front door. After that, the sleepwalking and some of the disturbances stopped. My oldest brother became calmer, though my friend Jeffery stayed with me until I was seven.

Even now, the house still feels strange. My family has seen and sensed at least five spirits there. Sometimes you can hear them, sometimes smell them, and sometimes feel them walking past. I watch my own children play, and occasionally they stop, staring at something invisible, as if someone is walking by.

The house has a long memory, and we are still part of its story.