Art Winner: Chinenye Ezemonye

Short Story Winner: “The Architect” by Jessler Lemus Castillo

There was once a man named Bill, who designed and built his own perfect house. He lived in it for many years until he eventually passed away due to a heart attack. A new family moved in 12 years later, but whenever they went into the basement where Edward’s personal study had been they would get the feeling that someone was watching them. One day, the father of the new family decided to fix up an old jacket, which every tailor in town had told him was beyond repair. So he went down to the old study, laid his jacket on a chair and then tried to see if there was anything in the old desk that could help him mend it. But the drawers were all locked, and he couldn’t find a key anywhere. The next morning, he came back down to find the key on the desk, all the drawers open and his jacket completely fixed. Stunned and puzzled, he looked around for any clues–but didn’t find anything—until he checked the jacket. It said, “This is MY house”.

Frightened, he shows the note to his wife. She said it was probably the kids who wrote the note and that he had nothing to worry about. But the handwriting was nothing like his kids handwriting. He contacted some paranormal investigators and when they arrived started preparing the setup. They told the family to exit the house for a while, and 1 hour later they came out. They showed them the results and they were shocked. The spirit’s name was Edward Wilkens and he claimed to have died in the rocking chair that was in the corner. They said that the next step was to call a priest to bless the house. Over the weeks objects moved on their own, chairs randomly scooted out from their positions, and doors would slam shut. 

A few weeks later the priest came. The priest walked from room to room, sprinkling each with holy water. As he walks, he recites one or more passages from the holy gospel. Then he said that the jacket was a beacon for the spirit. He said that the best thing to do was to put the jacked in a glass box and he was going to bless it once a month. After several months there was no sign of paranormal activity in the house. The family lived happily in their house for 30 more years until the dad died due to a heart attack–in the exact same spot where Edward Wilkens died 42 years earlier.