In Browns Town, St. Ann, Jamaica, there was a big, old house that had been turned into a boarding facility.
A young woman named let’s call her Annakay lived there for a while with her aunt, who ran the place. The house was huge, with wooden floors and narrow hallways that seemed to creak with secrets. It had once been a family home, but after the original owners passed away and their children moved away, it became a place for boarders.
Annakay was different from most people. She could see and hear things others couldn’t, spirits. At night, she would hear clear footsteps walking on the wooden floors, even though no one was there.
In her mind, she could picture them: tall, slender figures, like ghostly women, wandering the halls. She wondered if they were the spirits of people who used to hold church meetings there long ago. Maybe they never left.
There was a big, empty hall at the end of a narrow hallway, and Annakay loved to go there in the evenings to sing. The sound of her voice echoed in the empty space, and it felt magical.
But she noticed something strange: if she didn’t go to sing, the double doors to the hall would burst open on their own. It was as if the spirits were calling her to come and sing for them.
Her mother, who was staying there at the time, would laugh and say, “Q de duppy dem a call yuh fi sing.” The spirits weren’t mean or dangerous, but they were playful and liked to cause trouble, like starting arguments among the living.
Even though Annakay was used to spirits, there was something in the house that felt different darker. It wasn’t like the others. It felt heavy and scary, like a shadow watching her.
One early morning, on a weekend when she didn’t have school, Annakay woke up to a cold, dark house. It felt wrong, like the warmth had been sucked out of the air. She called for her aunt, Auntie M, but there was no answer.
Her aunt’s daughter was still asleep, so Annakay went to the living room and called again, “Auntie M?” This time, she heard a voice reply, “Yes.” Annakay asked, “Auntie M, weh u de?” The voice answered, “Me up here suh”. Annakay followed the voice, even though it led her to the one room she always avoided.
This room was terrifying. It felt like it didn’t belong in the normal world, like it was trapped in some other place. When Annakay stepped inside, her head felt like it was swelling, and every hair on her body stood up.
The room was empty, but it felt so heavy she could barely move. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. She ran out as fast as she could, her heart racing.
When she got back to her room, her aunt’s daughter was awake and looking at her. “Where is Auntie?” Annakay asked. The girl replied, “Mommy gone from 5 o’clock dis mawning” Annakay’s stomach dropped.
The voice she had heard wasn’t her aunt’s. It was something else—something pretending to be her aunt. Deep down, Annakay had known it wasn’t her, but hearing it out loud made her skin crawl.
That house was full of stories, so many that Annakay felt she could write a book about them. But for now, those memories stayed with her, a reminder of the eerie and unsettling world she had once lived in.