There is no such thing as ghosts. They are only figments of our imagination. There has been no scientific prove that they even exist. Yet, people want to believe that the door that suddenly closed or that sudden cold draft of wind is a ghost trying to communicate. Many hope for a departed relative to drop in and discuss the weather for a while, but they don't because then we would be dead.

I don't believe in ghosts. My belief is that those shadows of the night are intruders from other worlds, existing with us, and amusing themselves by playing on our weaknesses. They have experimented on us without our knowledge. Why? I do not know. Yet, from time to time, we emerge from our lack of consciousness and surprise these aliens. Here is a short piece of terror. The only difference is that this story is true, believe it or not.

"Man, I'm so tired." I say aloud. I'm looking at the high ceiling in our room, thinking. All that getting up in the middle of the night is wearing me thin. It's my lady's final month of her pregnancy and I've been working hard every day. I have to work, for being a veteran in the late 70's doesn't mean anything. Yet, I don't mind. It's our first child she is carrying and we still don't know what it'll be, even after I took my wife to the doctor. He was smiling when he showed us the X-rays. As luck would have it, the baby was covering his or her pubic area with the left hand. Yet, what got us laughing was that with the other hand the baby held out two fingers out, the sign of peace. The doctor wanted to know if we wanted some more X-rays, but we declined. We don't know what this child will be, but it is ours, for it was conceived by our love. We went home smiling.

The night is peaceful and everything feels quiet in this old house we rent. I just hope our neighbors don't start their shooting war like they have had these past few nights. That's probably another reason I haven't slept well. I had my dog, a beautiful white female German shepherd, which always gave me warning when someone was around the house. She died suddenly; I think someone poisoned her. Now, I'm the guard dog and will catch anyone trying to break into the house.

I turned off all the lights, except the light to the bathroom and a small night light in the hallway, kissed my wife tenderly and jump over her to get by the window. The night sky was radiant with stars; they seemed to be dancing before my eyes. It was about 11 o'clock when I finally go to sleep. Suddenly, my eyes just open. I'm wide awake, seeing a figure bending over my wife as if checking her stomach. Well, I just reacted; threw the pillow I had under my head at the intruder and jump out of bed. Everything happened so fast. Yet, I saw the pillow pass through whatever it was. My wife was startled out of her sleep because I'm acting like a madman, turning on all the lights and looking in every corner of the house. I went outside and checked all the surrounding area. Finding nothing, I told my wife what I saw. She said I must have been dreaming. I did not say anything; I didn't want to worry her too much in her condition. I agreed with her, and we went back to bed. Only now, she was sleeping by the window, and if she wanted to go to the bathroom, she had to wake me up. It was 3:30 in the morning. Nothing much happened the rest of the night, and I finally slept.

The next day, my wife tells me that she had a bad dream. She dreamt of an old lady, on a rocking chair, in a house that she was taking care of. The old lady looked so beautiful that my wife just had to caress her face. On taking her hand away, attached to it was the old lady's skin, and when the old lady got angry, my wife woke up. Well, I do not know if you've ever had a pregnant wife, but she started crying and I had a hard time calming her down. After she calmed down, we talked about what I thought I saw, and we had a good laugh at my heroics.

Needless to say, night comes after day, and on that this night, there was a gunfight across the street. My wife and I were already in bed when we heard shots from a 22 caliber rifle, then a man running for his life because he had just shot up the neighbor's house. We could hear the entire racket as lights turned on, and people began yelling. Nobody seemed to have gotten hurt, but the neighbors got an air-conditioned home.

The police arrived about half an hour later to take a report. After they left, so did the neighbors.

My wife and I are used to this kind of life, for we live in the West - the west side of town that is. Every Friday or Saturday night, if there are no shootings, someone is stabbed or robbed. There's also loud music as the locos get drunk. Nothing more exciting happened that night, and both my wife and I slept well.

I was off the next day, so I mowed the grass and watered the marijuana plant that I found growing in the back yard. I told my wife that it was an avocado tree and she started watering it also. How I love her innocence. It was a beautiful day, and I took my wife out riding around. It's great to be young and in love. My wife told me that our child is kicking harder and soon it will want freedom. Then, on a sour note, she also told me that she dreamed the old lady again, and she was a little afraid. I told her not to worry because what she did, she didn't do it on purpose.

I make a mental note to pray hard and ask that old lady to forgive my wife. We went to visit the mother-in-law for a while and came home. It was getting dark, and I had to work the next day. We slept, and nothing happened that night. I woke up in the morning, feeling refreshed and thinking what happened a few nights past was all in my mind. Man, did I have a lot to learn.

I worked all day, and after coming home to a good meal, we watched some TV. There were so many good shows in the late seventies that when we went to sleep it was around 12 p. m. My wife was ready for bed. I turn off the TV, put my wife to sleep by the window, turn over and fell asleep. I recalled a peaceful feeling as I lay in the comfort of my bed with my wife sleeping next to me. That didn't last.

I awakened suddenly to see that same figure from a few nights before, bending over me to reach my wife. My hands were on my pillow and ... I couldn't move, no matter how hard I strained, I couldn't move! I looked at that figure and saw it staring at me; it wore some sort of suit made of a yellowish material like a personal protective suit that looked transparent. It had a human-like shape, but I couldn't see its face. I could not move and could barely speak, but I whined curses at that unholy horror.

I felt the bonds that held me loosen and threw the pillow, only to see it pass right through. I jumped out of the bed onto the floor, turning on the lights in every room... nothing. I checked everywhere, but if it was anywhere, that sorry son was laughing at me. I didn't want to scare my wife, but she knows me too well, so I told her what I saw. This time she tried to calm my nerves, for they were running wild. I was angry and scared. Two nights, and at the same hour, 3:30 in the morning, I saw this figure in my room. On the second night, it held me in place, I could not move. What was I to do? After some coffee, my anger, nerves settled down, and we went back to bed. My wife was asleep by the time she her head hit the pillow, while I waited the whole night for my ghost.

The sun was rising when my wife woke up; I gave her a kiss and some breakfast. It was going to be a long day because we were going house hunting, although, she didn't know it. We passed the day finding houses beyond our means, for the minimum wage was very low in Brownsville, Texas. We didn't find anything that we could afford, so we went back to that old house. Maybe I was too tired, or just didn't give a damn, but I slept like a log (for I snore) and dreamed. In my dream, I meet my wife's old lady, and she takes a liking to me. I told her that my wife did not mean to hurt her in anyway and that she was sorry. She then informed me that the house was a gateway, and if we didn't move something bad was going to happen.

I woke up with that dream on my mind, went, and found another house that same day. In my prayers, I still give thanks to that sweet old lady. She was a fond figment of my imagination.