She was just 12 years old, and had recently suffered the loss of her beloved grandmother to cancer. Grieving and unable to sleep, Amanda tossed and turned, her tortured thoughts gravitating toward the events of the last few days, her mind replaying still-sharp memories and emotions over and over like a 45 rpm record with a scratch.
Amanda’s twin sisters, Jamie and Jill, were sleeping soundly in the other end of the large bedroom, too young to comprehend the reality and finality of death. The only door led to the hallway, and was located between her and her sisters’ beds.
Amanda was lying on her back, arms crossed over her and her fingers pressed together, perhaps unconsciously imitating how her grandmother looked in her coffin, when she caught a glimpse of light at the doorway. She thought for a split second someone had gotten up and turned on the hall light. The light caught her attention, however, when it seemed to change and move toward her! She was not frightened, and sat up, rubbing her eyes, to take a closer look
Just then, spotting the light moving and taking form, her sister Jamie sat up and cried out in fear and promptly dove under her covers, visibly shaking. Amanda, although momentarily amused by her sister’s predicament, watched in fascination as the form arrived at her bedside, now glowing and shimmering with a brilliant white light.
The ghostly form, which to Amanda resembled the Mother Mary of her Catholic upbringing, gently took her arm, and seemingly without words, requested her to “come with me.” The words, as she would later describe, appeared in Amanda’s head as “blue and gold letters.” Amanda knew the ghost wanted to show her something, but what?
A little afraid, and not knowing what might happen, Amanda detached herself from the ghost’s grasp, and turned down the offer with a squeaky “no.” At that moment, it seemed to Amanda that she was caught up in a vortex of emotions, and was somehow a witness to the entire world’s sadness and pain, past, present and future. As quickly as they had come, the visions and emotions disappeared, but they left their invisible mark on Amanda forever. The ghost looked at Amanda sadly, then turned and disappeared, floating though the wall to the outside, never to be seen again.
The next morning, Jamie admitted she had witnessed the entire incident. It seemed that not only had Amanda been impacted by the incident, but so had her sister. All of their lives, the two sisters have had an invisible connection, each feeling the other’s emotions, and both occasional witnesses to a largely unseen spiritual universe.