SPOTLIGHT BOOK: Did you know?

Have you ever seen a ghost? The Third Warrior, A Nicky Matthews Mystery, book 2

The Third Warrior was inspired by this true-life event from 2018.

I keep my cell phone by my bed and use it as an alarm to wake me up in the morning, set for 4:25 AM since I wrote before work. My husband gets up even earlier, so he’s already out in the den working on his computer. There are only two of us in the house. The bedroom’s dark, but the phone’s screen lights up when the alarm goes off. That morning, I faced away from the phone and had to roll over to hit the snooze button.

And she was there, standing by my bed. A girl with brown hair to above her shoulders, parted on one side, the other side caught up with a small ribbon, wearing a dress, and eating something from a paper bag she held in her hand. Just standing there in that bubble of light from my phone. I could’ve reached out and touched her. I remember thinking it was peanuts or popcorn she was eating and that I wasn’t afraid.

We both froze, her hand halfway to her mouth, eyes wide—I don’t think she expected me to see her. We stared at each other. Then I did something I regret. I touched the phone and turned the alarm off. And she was gone. I wish to this day that I’d said hi, what’s your name, and greeted her in some way.

I got up and walked down the hall to my husband, “Do you know how I’ve never seen a ghost? I did this morning.” And I told him what had happened. I told my friend at work when we walked to lunch that afternoon.

But that’s not the most astonishing part of this story. Because later that day, is when I realized who the little girl was.

At work that afternoon, after lunch, at my desk, I received a call from my dad. My mother was “actively dying.” She’d had a stroke years before and was in 24/7 care, but I had no notice that she was near passing. I went home. My husband and I made plans to drive to see her the next day, and I texted my friend what had happened and that I would be away.

She immediately texted me back. “Could that little girl you saw this morning be your mother visiting you one last time?”

I froze. It hadn’t crossed my mind until then. But I truly think that was her saying good-bye. Remember, I wasn’t afraid.

Although I add paranormal to my books, I’m not really a believer in ghosts, and one of my reasons is more my own logic. I think that if ghosts did exist, there would be more mothers wishing to stay on earth to watch over their children. That might sound odd, but if given the choice at death to remain with my kids or leave them, maybe never see them again, I might choose to stay, even if it meant forever. I’m sure fathers feel the same way.

If that little girl eating popcorn or peanuts by my bed was my mom coming to see me before she passed, then it was a true gift.