It was one of those rainy Saturday mornings where everything feels like slow motion. I was halfway through making coffee when I heard the soft scrape-scrape of a broom on the floor.
I peeked around the corner and saw my son, Mateo, sweeping up a mess scattered all over the kitchen like they’d exploded out of the box. He wasn’t crying. Wasn’t panicked. Just… focused. Calm.
I should’ve been annoyed—he knows the rule about the cereal box. But something about the way he was sweeping made me stop.
He was whispering to himself.
Not like gibberish or kid mumbling—actual words. I crouched down to listen.
“She doesn’t like it messy,” he said.
I blinked. “Who doesn’t?”
He looked up, totally serious. “The lady who stands on the deck.”
I turned around, a chill running down my spine. The lady on the deck? I scanned the kitchen, my eyes darting to the window above the sink. The rain was coming down in sheets, so hard that the deck outside was practically a blur. But no one was standing there.
I shook my head, telling myself I was imagining things. “Mateo,” I said, kneeling beside him, “what lady are you talking about?”
He paused for a moment, looking up at me with wide, innocent eyes. “The lady who’s always there when I wake up. She’s on the deck, just standing. Watching.”
I felt a lump form in my throat. Mateo had been an imaginative child, always making up stories or playing with invisible friends. I’d learned to just let it be, thinking it was part of growing up. But this felt different. He seemed so sure. So calm.
“Mateo,” I repeated gently, “I don’t see anyone out there. Are you sure she’s there? Maybe it’s just the rain.”
He shook his head, his little face serious. “No, Mommy. She’s always there. She just doesn’t like when the kitchen is messy.”
I swallowed hard. There was something unsettling about how matter-of-fact he was, like he wasn’t talking about an imaginary person, but someone real. I glanced out the window again, trying to convince myself there was nothing there. But the feeling of being watched lingered.
Trying to keep my voice steady, I asked, “What does she look like?”
Mateo took a deep breath, as though gathering his thoughts, before he said, “She has long, dark hair and a white dress. She looks kind of sad.”
I stood up, trying not to let the unease show on my face. “Okay, well, how about we finish cleaning up this cereal and make some breakfast? We’ll forget about the lady, alright?”
He didn’t argue. Instead, he picked up the broom again and resumed sweeping, his little face calm as he continued muttering under his breath. I was still trying to process what had just happened, but the rain, the darkness outside, and the eerie feeling of being watched made it hard to focus.
Later that morning, I found myself staring out the window, unable to shake the image of Mateo’s words. A lady on the deck? In all the years we’d lived in this house, I had never seen anyone out there. We were in a quiet neighborhood, surrounded by trees and mostly empty lots. No one ever visited. It was just us, and the occasional delivery person. So who could he be talking about?
That afternoon, I decided to take a walk around the property. I needed to clear my mind, to get some perspective on everything. The rain had let up a bit, but the sky was still overcast, casting a dull light over the yard. As I walked toward the back deck, I couldn’t help but feel a strange pull toward it. I couldn’t explain it, but I needed to check.
I stepped outside, the cool air hitting my face. There was no one there. The deck was as empty as it always had been. I frowned, wondering if I was just being overly dramatic. But something felt off, like I was missing something.
I turned to go back inside when I noticed something strange on the wooden railing—a small, delicate white feather. I froze. My heart skipped a beat. It didn’t make sense. There were no birds in sight, no sign of anything that would explain how the feather got there.
I picked it up carefully, almost afraid to touch it. My thoughts raced. Could it be a sign? Was this somehow connected to what Mateo had said? I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was happening here—something I wasn’t ready to understand.
Later that evening, as I was tucking Mateo into bed, I decided to ask him more about the lady. “Mateo,” I began, “can you tell me more about her? The lady on the deck.”
He looked up at me, his small face soft in the dim light. “She’s nice,” he said quietly. “She doesn’t want to hurt anyone. She just wants things to be clean. I think… she wants to be remembered.”
I felt a chill run down my spine at his words. Remembered? But remembered by who? And why?
Before I could ask any more questions, Mateo rolled over and closed his eyes. “Good night, Mommy,” he said, as though the conversation had never happened.
I sat by his bedside for a while, staring at the faint moonlight filtering in through the curtains. I couldn’t make sense of what was happening. But deep down, I knew I had to figure it out.
The next day, I decided to do some research. I went online, searching for any local legends or stories about ghosts, spirits, or anything that might explain Mateo’s strange behavior. I found nothing. But then, I remembered something: when we first moved into the house, the previous owners had mentioned something about a family member passing away here. It was brief—just a casual mention at the closing table—but it stuck with me.
I called the real estate agent who had helped us buy the house. After some back-and-forth, she told me that the house had once belonged to an older woman who had lived alone for years. She had passed away peacefully in her sleep, and her family had sold the house shortly after. The woman, it seemed, had no children of her own, but there had always been whispers in the neighborhood about her being a bit of a recluse.
I couldn’t help but make the connection. The lady on the deck. The one Mateo had described. Could it be her? Could the spirit of this woman be lingering around the house?
That night, I sat in the kitchen, just thinking, when I heard the familiar sound of Mateo’s voice again. Softly, from the hallway. “She doesn’t like it messy,” he was whispering, his little feet padding down the hall toward me.
I turned to face him, my heart pounding in my chest. “Mateo,” I said gently, “are you still talking about the lady?”
He nodded, his face solemn. “She wants us to be happy. And she wants to be remembered. She wants to know we care.”
A wave of realization washed over me. It wasn’t just about the house or the mess. This woman, this spirit, had been trying to tell me something all along. She wanted to be remembered, not just by me, but by the people who had come after her. She wanted to leave a mark, even if it was small.
That night, I placed the feather on the windowsill, where I thought she might see it, and whispered a simple thank you. For her story. For the quiet, unnoticed life she had lived. And for the reminder to keep things clean—not just the house, but our hearts, our memories.
The next morning, as I sat drinking my coffee, I glanced out the window. The deck was empty again. But this time, I felt a sense of peace. A calm that I hadn’t felt before. It wasn’t fear that had been haunting me; it was a plea for recognition. And, in a strange way, it had given me a new perspective on life.
Sometimes, things aren’t as simple as they seem. What seems like an oddity or an unexplained event might just be a sign—a chance to reconnect with something or someone who needs to be remembered.
If there’s one thing I learned, it’s that it’s never too late to acknowledge the past, to honor those who have come before us, and to make space for those who need to be seen. I’m grateful for the lesson.
So, share this story with someone who might need a reminder to look a little closer, to pay attention to the signs around them. You never know when someone, or something, is waiting to be remembered.
