The Ghost Named Charlie by K. E. Ward - HTML preview

The Ghost Named Charlie

By K. E. Ward

KW

©2025 By K. E. Ward. All rights reserved.

Cover art by iStock images and K. E. Ward.

You do not have the right to copy, distribute, or sell by any electronic means, by paper copy, or by word of mouth this original work of fiction, without written consent from the author. This was an original idea inspired by an actual series of near-death experiences.

The Ghost Named Charlie By K. E. Ward

Acknowledgments:

Sentiments of thanks and appreciation go to the Shoreline Historical Museum and the local library system. Thank you the museum with helping me with my research and for inspiring me. Also, thank you to the residents of this city. Last but not least, thank you to the community college… they were an incredible backdrop to my latest writing adventures.

Thank you goes to the Foo Fighters, for being an inspiration for paranormal material.

For “Charlie Brown”

This is a near-death experience account about a friendly ghost and his beloved companion.

I.

I have heard of near-death experience accounts before, but none so chilling as the one involving the ghost named Charlie.

You see, Charlie was a friendly kind of a guy. He didn’t like to frighten people, so he didn’t want to appear to me right away. Call him shy. I’d like to call him my best friend.

“Charlie,” as he wanted to be called, appeared to me one evening as I was smoking a cigarette. It was the evening, in an August, and it was close to twilight. The temperature was pleasant in my area of the country. So, I was from the Pacific Northwest. It was not too bright, and the breeze was cool and felt nice. I looked up when I heard a rustling. Who’s there? I wondered.

I heard a low voice, kind of a whisper, say the name, “Charlie.” I looked down at my cigarette, and it was like someone invisible was pulling a drag. What?!!

Where had he come from? I was a little frightened. But I knew what I knew that it was a haunting. This “Charlie” character was a ghost.

I went inside that evening and had supper. I was talking to my caregiver as she finished the meal preparation and served the household. I was busy trying to enjoy the vegetables when I realized that everyone was engaged in conversation, with the local news on the TV in the background, but I wasn’t feeling very talkative. I was distracted by my visitation just earlier.

As soon as I finished my dinner of fried chicken, potatoes and corn, I took the plate into the kitchen and quickly excused myself to go back to my room.

“Charlie?” I asked, quietly, when I was alone, sitting down on the bed, with my pillows at my back.

It took him a second to come up to me.

I sort of saw the transparent outline of a figure moving towards me. I was not really scared.

“Charlie? Is that you?” It was. It was a real ghost, and it gave me the chills.

I began to be able to see him. He was shy, quiet, and yet scared. I didn’t want to scare him. We started to have a conversation.

We spoke quietly. He explained to me that he was a ghost, that he was a person who had died, but he didn’t really know what to do next.

I felt so bad for him. I started to pray, really hard, about what to tell him to do. I didn’t want to make a mistake. I wanted to be able to tell him how to get to the right place.

I started to cry and I thought about it a lot. The night passed.

The next day, I thought about consulting a psychic. I didn’t want to go to the wrong place, so I wanted to be able to find a trustworthy person. I looked online. I looked at an online marketplace and read descriptions of the sellers and what exactly they offered. I did choose someone who was very helpful. We didn’t talk about him, out loud, at all, or through the written (typed) word. But I privately asked them how to help my little friend.

There was advice that came to me. An unspoken message, Keep comforting him and continue to be friendly…

Months went by, and I kept up a long-term friendship with him, but we I still couldn’t figure out how to tell him where to go. Was it that he belonged on Earth? I suppose not every person was up to going to Heaven. I really didn’t think he belonged in Hell, but he needed a permanent, safe home.

I had a problem with my care home. I didn’t want to live there anymore because I kept getting frustrated. I had a bad fight with my caregiver and we had me move. My family was upset and worried that I might not be able to take care of myself, but I moved and we worked on self-maintenance and the practical details of living independently.

They said I had a mental illness. It was the kind where I had, you know, strong emotions, and also unique thoughts. People often told me I was really weird. But I knew that I was very smart and creative. It’s just that people didn’t understand me. I wanted to go somewhere where someone would understand me.

In my new apartment, Charlie and I had a nice time. I decorated things with cute furniture and decorations, like my art and photographs, candles, and pillows.

I learned how to cook, but I forgot to test the food temperatures. I tried all kinds of things, like omelets, fish dinners, and even steak night, but I was having what they said was “too much fun.” I had renewed personal

direction, but the cost of living was going to get higher and higher, the longer I lived there.

One night I panicked when I realized we would need to leave. I was worried about Charlie.

I had what they said was a relapse. I tried to die and go be a ghost with Charlie, but it just wouldn’t work. I had several near-death experiences, and I went to the hospital once.

But they kept on reviving me. They were going to give me a new diagnosis called schizophrenia. One of the times I tried to die, Charlie was trying to be helpful. It thought he was trying to pull me out of my body, but it was a tug of war that just wouldn’t work.

Finally, I agreed to get help, but there was one

thing I was worried about: would I get to die and go be with Charlie someday?

Well, that’s not going to be a problem.

Not anymore. You know, I really wish it didn’t have to be so complicated to learn how to have an out-of-body experience in the first place. But it works out in the end when you finally realize that it has to be the right time and place.

The End.

End Note: K. E. Ward has been previously published with Free-ebooks.net. Her novel, The Incident, and her novellas, including Novacadia, I’m Watching You, and Streetwalker, earned attention as popular free downloads, and have also been found on the E-Go Library series. She is published, not only in e-book format, but also in print, having earned some local fame in the city of Shoreline, Washington. Check out her author pages on social media. She is happily living in Greater Seattle with a new interest, which is touring the sidewalks of the area. This place has already earned a place on the map as home of the filming of a movie that flopped at the box office, and yet the beloved “Studio 666” will always (cringe) have a place in our

hearts. For a long time, this area has been known for its paranormal mystery, and local places have been known to be haunted. There are even ghost tours nearby, for tourists. There are many palmists and tarot readers around…

the most famous of which is at the Pike Place Market, the gypsy vending machine, who has mysteriously changed genders. The magic of this area, which is shrouded in secrecy, is very multicultural friendly, but the movie was of concern, despite its comedic value, because of its references to Occult tools and magic related violence. K. E. Ward’s identity is very Seattle friendly, but the mystery behind it is all in the memories people have kept for so long having to do with the Pike Place Market.

Karyn, who was also known as Annie, used to

“haunt” the Pike Place since the 1990’s. She dressed like a gypsy woman, with four rings on each of her hands, a faux diamond passed down from her grandma, a mood ring, and semiprecious ones, made of silver and less precious metals. She might have had a ring with a secret compartment, but inside of the tiny drawer was not a celebrity hair, but it might have been the illegal drug back then in 1996, LSD. Unfortunately, high school kids used to panic about urban legends having to do with strict prosecution and a mild amount of street drug use. So, Annie hid and hung out for a while, but it was mysterious as to why she was always coming back. She says it cheered her up. It was good to see the flowers and the people, coming from all the different

countries. The cafes were good, and so were all the treasures. But most of all she kept in her heart a glass sphere that looks like the world…

it was in the storefront window to the shop she frequented the most since the 1990’s. To go into a magic shop… all they had to do was figure out the magic code. Look, the material item was someone’s, once… it would be a shame to have to sell treasured goods.

Because some shops have secondhand things, it does become complicated, when nothing of value should be based on money.

But Charlie Brown is so cool that he knows the secret to the unsolvable puzzle… to let bygones be bygones… they’re supposed to learn how to let material items go… but that is

the legend of Charlie, the Ghost. And Kit Kat, his sidekick friend.

⌀

The End.