New Year

This happened to me one new year, I think it was 2002.

My family and I went to my cousin's house to celebrate the arrival of the new year. As we parked our white car in front of her garage, I could see that my other cousins had beaten us to her house. The wind blew whispers of joy as I made my way to the white steps that led to her mahogany door. Her tree made the whispers more audible when it danced to the clear sky. As I turned the cold knob I could feel the warmth of her house and hear my cousins playing. My cousins rushed to the door to see what I was holding. They marveled at the candy decorating a small chocolate cake. I told them it was for after the count down to the new year. We had a great time and enjoyed the count down.

I thought we would leave after that but to my surprise we stayed longer. It was about four-o-clock when my parents decided it was time to leave. The first born of my cousins and I were the only ones left so I had to wake my brother from his slumber. I put my jacket back on and said my goodbyes. It was much more cold than it was when we had just arrived and the streets were eerily quiet. I could see the living room light on as we drove home.

I sighed at thought of the long ride back home. There were woods on either side of the two lane road. My parents were silent as we continued to drive. About two minutes into the ride we stopped at a lonely traffic light. We were the only car on that road at the time. The only light was coming from the traffic light and the car. I could make out a street light that was off. I looked at my feet and then looked back up. I felt the hair stick up on the back of my neck as I looked at an old woman walking on the side of the street. The thing that frightened me the most was the fact that she was wearing a wedding gown and she looked just like my grandmother!

I excitedly told my mom to look at the lady. She appeared to be emanating a soft white glow as she easily strode on the sidewalk. My mom and I both turned to our left to tell my dad and my brother.
"Look, she looks just like your mother".
"Where"?
"Carlos, look at that lady in white"!
We all looked in unison to see only the darkness stare back. At that moment I Knew that it was impossible for an old lady to disappear like that. We continued to drive home. All the way back we talked about her and how she couldn't have been there.But that wasn't the end of it.

A year or so later my mom was taking a shower and my brother and I were watching T.V. downstairs. It was just the three of us that afternoon. I heard the ding dong of our doorbell and rushed to see who it was. It was my cousins who I said had beaten us to my other cousins' house. I opened the door and my aunt asked for my mom. I told her that she was in the shower and she slightly jerked her head back in disbelief. I asked her what was wrong but she said it was nothing. Suddenly I heard my mom behind me.
"You changed", asked my aunt.
"Huh"?
"I just saw you through the kitchen window in a white dress".
I couldn't help but eavesdrop on their conversation. I hate when they hide things like that in an attempt to not scare you. They fail most of the time and I end up figuring it out. We never saw her her after that and to this day I continue to talk about her.