Get Together

In the summer of 1995, Scott had a sort of family get together with his cousins and one of his aunts. Most of them lived around Dublin, except for his aunts and her son, who lived in England. They had been up till three in the morning sitting in the living room, drinking and watching old movies and had only retired when Stella, his youngest cousin aged fifteen, had fallen asleep on her mother's lap. They had turned in, his aunts going to her room, the other five staying in the living room, lying on every available surface there was. Has his parents been there, Scott would have gotten a scolding.

Less than an hour later, everyone except their aunts was awoken by a scream. It jerked Scott awake with such great force that he was on his feet and looking down on everyone else within a matter of seconds. Everyone's eyes were open by the time seventeen year old Jenine came running in as white as a sheet. Scott, Stella, George and Gary all started asking what was wrong at the same time. Jenine said that she had been in the toilet when she saw the reflection of a lady in red looking back at her from the mirror. She had screamed and spun around to find no one behind her. She had run out of the toilet almost in tears and had come straight back to the living room. Stella, not fully awake, looked at her rather confused. George and Gary, who were in their early twenties, tried not to smile, as both knew how badly Jenine held her alcohol. Scott, who fell right in the middle when it came to age, stared at her with blatant cynicism. He had lived in the house for four years and no one had ever complained of any strange happenings. He personally did not believe in ghosts and, as far as he knew, there were none that lived in his house. He asked her to bring him back to the bathroom to show him exactly where the woman would have been standing had she actually been there. Upset that no one seemed to believe her, or even seemed to be concerned in the first place, she pulled him to the kitchen and into the bathroom. Being awake already, the other three followed close behind.

Scott and Jenine walked into the bathroom. Their voices could he heard from the outside. They got louder and louder after awhile, it became apparent that they were arguing. The door suddenly burst open and Jenine came storming out, her eyes red. Scott came out after her, looking more irritated than he had ever been in his life. Jenine headed straight for the living room and picked up her bag. 'Jenine,' Scott had said, impatiently. 'Jenine, be reasonable!' She unlocked the front door, left and slammed it behind her. Giving an annoyed grunt, he raised his hands in the air in a frustrated gesture and walked back into the living room. He looked back into the kitchen and ask everyone to go to sleep. Jenine was just doing what she had been born to do: look for attention.

'Good morning, all,' his aunt said as she walked into the kitchen in her nightgown. They all replied in unison, without looking up from whatever it was they were doing. 'where's your mom, Scott?' 'My mom?' He asked, surprised. 'She won't be back till tomorrow.' His aunt stopped in her tracks and turned white. She said she had seen his mom when she got up in the middle of the night. She had sat up in her bed and looked out the window to see her walking around in the garden. Thinking she had wanted some quiet time alone, she had not gotten up. She had been wearing a red dress.