A spirit will sometimes attach itself to an object. Often this happens with an item the spirit had a strong personal connection to in life.
A spirit can also attach itself to a living person.
This can become quite troublesome, even dangerous. If you are experiencing missing time, blackouts, or nightmares, or find yourself acting in ways that are not normal for you, it may be that a spirit has taken hold of you.
Helen chuckled. “Pretty crazy stuff, huh?”
“Helen, do you think that’s possible? That a spirit can attach itself to an object or a person? And, like, make them possessed or something?”
Helen smiled. “I think those books have a lot of strange ideas, some based in reality, some not so much. But me, I’ve come to believe there’s more to this world than meets the eye, so I try to take it all in with an open mind.”
“But if there was a haunted object and you carried it around, could it make you do things that you normally wouldn’t do?”
“Some might believe it would. But I think that an object, even a haunted one, can only have the power you give it. You can choose what effect it may or may not have on you.”
Olive thought over what she’d said. She believed her mom’s necklace had some sort of power. But maybe it was also kind of cursed. Maybe that was where her nightmares came from.
Or maybe they came from something far worse.
“And what about a spirit attaching itself to a person?” Olive asked, her throat dry, voice crackly. “Do you think that ever actually happens?”
Helen leaned forward, brushed a chunk of unruly hair back from Olive’s forehead. “I don’t think that’s anything you or I have to worry about.”
Olive swallowed hard, forcing ayou’re absolutely rightsmile. “Do you think I could borrow some of these books?” she asked.
“Sure. They’re mostly library books. I keep checking them out, then returning them, then checking them out again. They’re due again in another week, but I’m done with them.”
“I can bring them back to the library for you,” Olive said.
“Great,” Helen said. “They’re yours. Hey, how’s the treasure hunting going?” Helen gave Olive a tired-looking smile. “Found anything yet?”
Let’s see, I found my mom’s necklace, so now I think she didn’t run off with a guy at all and that maybe something else happened, maybe something bad; I found the same image chalked on the floor of this creepy old hotel where my mom maybe used to go have séances with this totally weird dude who thinks he’s a cowboy; oh, and I found out I can communicate with a dead lady, except sometimes she messes with me and shows me a rusty old ax head instead of treasure.
“I’ve found stuff. Not the actual treasure, but other things,” Olive said. “Actually, I brought you a present.” She went and got her backpack, unzipped it, and pulled out the rusty old ax head. “I found this the night before last. It was over at the other end of the bog, near where Hattie’s house used to be. I’ve found lots of stuff over there—a few old coins, a cast-iron pot, nails and hinges, and a horseshoe. But this ax head is way cool, isn’t it?”
She got an image from one of her recent nightmares: hacking at her mother with an ax.
Please take it,she thought now, feeling queasy.I never want to see this thing again.
Helen reached out, took the rusted metal ax head. “It sure is.”
“I bet it was hers,” Olive said. “I bet it was Hattie’s.”
“You could be right,” Helen said, looking it over. “I’m no expert on ax heads, but it certainly looks very old.”
“So old the wooden handle rotted away. It’s a hewing ax. You can tell because of the wide blade on the head. I looked it up,” she said, and Helen smiled at her.
“I bet Hattie used it to shape the logs when she built her little house,” Olive said.
Helen nodded.
“I want you to have it. I thought maybe you could clean it up, sharpen it, get a new handle. You’ll have a nice ax for splitting kindling and stuff. Maybe you can even use it to help you build your house. Shape a piece of lumber or something. Like Hattie did.”
“Are you sure?” Helen said.
“Absolutely,” Olive said.
Helen leaned over and hugged her. “Thank you, sweetie,” she said. “It’s an amazing gift.”
