There once lived a man and a woman in a beautiful home on the edge of a Lincoln, Pennsylvania. The man was named Stefan Coolidge and the woman Fiona Coolidge. They had been married for twenty five years and they were still deeply in love with each other. Both husband and wife were retired physicians and they enjoyed living a quiet life.


One ordinary morning Stefan awoke with a cramp in his leg. He sat bolt up in bed and waited a few minutes for the cramp to pass. Once his leg was feeling back to normal he tried to go back to sleep, but he was already wide awake, so instead he got out of bed and went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of tea. He reached into the kitchen cupboard for the tea bag when he saw his wife sitting at the table. How could I have not heard her get up he thought, but now wasn’t the time to be thinking because when he looked at his wife he knew something was wrong. She was thrashing about in her chair as if fighting some invisible creature.


Stefan stood motionless for a few seconds not knowing what on Earth was happening or what to do. Then as suddenly as it started, the movement from his wife stopped and she collapsed to the floor making a loud thud. Oh my Lord, oh my Lord, oh my Lord thought Stefan helplessly to himself. He had no idea what to do, so he went with his instinct and decided to get a glass of water to pour on her. He filled up a glass of icy water and he poured it on his unconscious wife. As he poured the icy water he watched her begin to stir. She then opened her eyes and slowly got to her feet.


The moment Stefan looked into his wife’s eyes he knew something was definitely wrong. His wife’s usual chestnut colored eyes had turned a vivid blue. At first he thought that he was imagining things so he closed his eyes and opened them again, but to his dismay they remained the same icy blue. He looked at her and he suddenly flashed back to when his mother was alive.


Stefan had loved his mother; she had been the only thing he had while growing up. His father had left when he was a baby and the two never met. Throughout his life his mother had always agreed and supported him in almost every decision that he made. However, the one decision that was most important to him she had not agreed on; and that had been Fiona. From the moment he brought her over to the house his mother had disapproved. At first Stefan ignored it thinking that she would eventually learn to love Fiona like a daughter, but as the days turned to weeks the hostility stayed the same. Somehow he had the feeling that this was a personal loathing that came deep down from the heart, but he had no idea why. Before their wedding day Stefan’s mother had pleaded with him to call off the wedding, but Stefan refused to do such a thing. It turned out to be her last wish because she died unexpectedly the very next day. For years Stefan had tried to block out that memory, but now as he stared at his “new” wife he noticed the resemblance between her and his deceased mother.


The resemblance was creepy and he felt chills run down his spine. He bent down to where his wife was and he said in a worried tone “Fiona, are you okay, what happened?” He waited for a response and even though her eyes were open she seemed to be asleep. Stefan shook her gently and said “Fiona, can you hear me?” Again he heard nothing. Finally, getting so desperate he refilled the glass with icy water and he poured it on her face. It was then that she spluttered and gasped and said in an eerie voice quite unlike her own “Stefan darling, it’s me your mother. You see, I am back, I have returned, and you need to listen to me. Get rid of your wife any way you can think of. Dismiss her, force her to leave. I don’t care how you manage it, but you must do it, otherwise bad things will happen to you.” The moment Stefan tried to reply, to question, to even think his wife started thrashing about, and then all became silent.


He shook her awake and said in a frantic voice “Fiona, my love can you hear me? Are you alright?” He waited for a response and then heard in her soft, sweet voice “Yes darling, I’m perfectly fine. Are you, you look shaken? How did I end up on the floor?” Oh, she must have not realized that she was possessed he thought. He then replied “Yes I am fine.” He hesitated before saying “You just… fell.”

“Oh, in that case honey I’m going back to bed. I’m awfully tired.” she said.

And with that she made her way back upstairs to the bedroom where she fell asleep instantly.

Stefan then sat down in the kitchen with his hand rested on his chin. He had no idea what to make of the conversation that he had just had with his mother. Why was she back from the dead as a ghost possessing Fiona? It didn’t make any sense at all. He tried to piece things together by recalling what she had said, but there wasn’t much to piece together. He wished she hadn’t been so curt with him because he didn’t really understand what she had meant. Why did he need to get rid of Fiona? He couldn’t, he wouldn’t, there was just no way. For the time being he would ignore this threat, I mean what could his dead mother do anyways? He would forget about that conversation, never tell Fiona, and he would get on with his life.

The very next day Stefan went downstairs early to feed his two cats, Prince and Princess. He walked down the steps quietly so as not to wake Fiona. He went over to the kitchen to where they usually slept and he found them sprawled out on the floor dead. On top of Prince was a note that looked something like this:

The Prince and Princess are dead and the Queen will be too if you don't do as I say.
Hugs and Kisses
Your dear mother











Now this was beginning to really bother Stefan because he had really loved those two cats, but he still refused to do as the note said. He loved his wife too much to let her go for something like this. Instead later that day Stefan went into town to hire the local medium to come get and rid of his mother’s ghost.

Later that evening the medium came and did his thing and said that he sensed no spirits of any kind in the house. Stefan took his word for it and paid him before biding him farewell. However, that evening something unusual happened. Fiona and Stefan had just finished eating a delicious dinner of spaghetti and meatballs made by Fiona and now they were off to bed. Fiona fell asleep and slowly Stefan too fell asleep, but he woke suddenly in the middle of the night because he smelled smoke. He hurried downstairs and went to the dining room where he had smelled it coming from. He walked into the room and saw it was in complete disarray. Something had been burnt into the wall and it said:

You can't get rid of me. I'll always be here, but she won't stick around if you don't do as I say.
-Your loving mother















































































































































Sure Stefan was scared, but what on Earth could he do? He couldn’t just tell her to leave, what would he do without someone to love? He would be a lonely man with no one, no one but his horrid mother. He thought of an idea, He would move away from this house; go to a hotel, as long as Fiona was with him he could care less. So the next morning Stefan told Fiona that they were going on a mini vacation. They would be staying in Philadelphia for the night; it would be a quick getaway. That day they drove to Philadelphia and they enjoyed the sites and the wonderful food of the city. Later that day, they checked into a hotel room and a few hours later they fell asleep. All Stefan could help thinking was that they were safe, safe at last from his lunatic mother’s wrath.

In the morning Stefan awoke as the birds were chirping. He got out of bed stretched and looked around the room; no one was there except for him. Where was Fiona? He looked around the room panicky and frantic. He then made his way to the bathroom and to his horror he saw his wife laying on the floor, stone cold and pale. He called her name countless times, but there was no response. He began to weep over her dead body and it was then that he noticed a note in her hand. He opened it up and read it. It said:

My Dearest son why didn't you listen to me? I didn't have to hurt the girl, but you left me with little choice. I warned you from the day you brought her home. She stole you, the only thing I ever had, from me. She had to go! Oh why, oh why didn't you listen; it was my last wish.