A Ghost in the Attic/The Ink Well Fiction Prompt #131

It was almost 7 o'clock at night, when Susana heard again that strange noise, then she decided to find out what was happening; without fear she took a flashlight and hurried up the stairs that led to the attic of the old Jimenez's house.

After 5 years, Susana returned to her home, from where she left, with much sadness at the age of 13, when her parents took her to live at Aunt Martha's house, so that she could finish her high school studies and enter the university.

She stepped hard, which made the old wooden steps squeak.

"Ghosts don't exist," she repeated this phrase to herself.

She leaned back against the wall, closed her eyes and a flood of memories flooded her mind. She clearly imagined her mother, sitting in the rocking chair, that she loved so much and her father riding a horse.

"Why did they have to die?"

Susana hardly ever came to town, it was her parents who visited her; it was on one of those trips, to the city, that they died in a car accident.

The woman finished climbing the stairs, opened the door, turned on the light bulb, upon entering, the first thing she saw was an old family portrait, framed in wood.

"How much I miss them," she said holding the portrait, her big green eyes flooded with tears, she let out a long sigh and continued to walk around the room.

"This place must be infested with mice, they must be the cause of the noises that I have been hearing".
That room was cluttered with things that had been stored there for years; now that Susana was selling the house, she had to get rid of most of them.

"I'll have to, hire some people, to take care of cleaning this place", she said looking around, "Tomorrow, myself, I'll take care of that". Susanna was in a hurry to sell the old house and return to her duties in the city.

She retired to sleep, the next day, she went back up to the attic.

"What is this?", the woman asked herself, when she looked at a colorful box on the floor, she bent down and picked it up, when she touched it, a shiver ran through her body, she felt that someone was approaching her and she turned around abruptly; there was no one, she was forewarned, because the former tenants of the house had told her that a ghost lived in the attic.

She left the box there, got up and walked to the window, which had some broken glass.
"This needs to be repaired," he thought.

Suddenly she heard, as if someone was opening the door, being alone, she was scared, but went to investigate, although Susana did not believe that the paranormal existed, she was still afraid of meeting the ghost, which according to rumors, had been seen there.
According to the nearest neighbor, she always saw a woman standing at the attic window.

"This is not possible, my imagination, it's playing a joke on me".

She squeezed her eyes, looked again, and that long-haired woman was still there; Her heart was racing, she lost the strength in her legs, slowly she let herself fall to the floor.
"What do I do, I don't want to be alone at home anymore?"

There were still a few days left, to finalize the sale of the house, so Susana, could not leave yet; After a while, thinking what to do, she looked at the window again, this time, she could detail the woman in the window.

"That woman was my mother, when she was young", she said with astonishment.

At that moment she decided, to go back to the house, she entered and went straight to the attic, she opened the door, but no one was there, she took her mother's rocking chair and sat down in front of the window, there she stayed for a couple of hours, immersed in her memories.

When the afternoon fell, she got ready to go down, but she felt someone rocking the chair, fear paralyzed her, she didn't want to turn around, then she saw a shadow approaching her.

"Don't be afraid, Susy".

Hearing this, she turned and saw her mother, standing there, looking at her tenderly.
"I knew that at some point, you would come".

Susana could not articulate a word because of the shock.

"I couldn't leave without giving you this," said her mother's ghost, handing her the colorful box that Susana had seen before.

"Apart from you, this is my most precious treasure, keep it always".

It was a music box, Susana opened it, the music began to play and the dancer began to dance.

As soon as Susana took the box, the ghost of her mother evaporated little by little until it disappeared completely in front of her eyes; she hugged the music box tightly and cried inconsolably.

That was the last time the Phantom of the Attic was seen.