Bee-a De Los Muertos

On this year's Day of the D3@d, I have a *real-life* ghost story for y'all, pulled from my very own !i$@ bee™ life his- her-story...

This one concerns one of my ATL cousins, K@r33m. 

K@r33m's on my B!üñt side of The Fam & would often come up to DC during summer breaks for a change of scenery.

For whatever reason, our grandma Mi!!ie would always--& *quite* vocally--warn K@r33m to stay away from a young teenage YT boy who lived a few doors down from our family home, on the other side of the block.

I only really saw this kid whenever K@r33m would visit; outside of those times, the house this kid lived in looked vacant AF (i.e., No lights on in the evenings, car(s) in the driveway, yard work being done, etc.) & we never really saw anyone else in the kid's family on or around the property--just him, alone. 

Both K@r33m *AND* I thought it was our grandma being old, racist AF, & out-of-touch the way she treated this particular YT boy. We were beyond embarrassed whenever said YT boy would come to our side of the block looking for K@r33m to hang out with, but made to stand in the yard (not even on the porch, y'all 😓) by Grandma Mi!!ie as she intensely glared at him while K@r33m came to the door. 

To this boy's credit, though, he never got mad, irritated, agitated--*none* of that--from Grandma Mi!!ie's treatment of him... 

He'd just kind of stare back at her with a strangely wistful, knowing look on his face. 

Anyways. It was during one of these awkward AF visits that Grandma Mi!!ie sent me, !i$@ bee™, on a lil mission to get to the bottom of why exactly she treated this particular YT boy the way she did. 

Mi!!ie told me--then, an elementary school student--to tag-along with a teenaged K@r33m & his friend just to see what they were both up to when they hung out with one another.

And it really wasn't anything too extreme, y'all: 

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They'd ride skateboards through the streets & alleys--practicing what seemed to me, then, to be d3@th-defying moves.

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They'd hang out at a local playground, lazily draping themselves over the equipment while hittin' a d00bie.

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They'd strap a boombox to one of their bikes, zipping through the block blasting the latest hip-hop songs.

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...Typical teenage boy ish 🤷🏾‍♀️

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When K@r33m & I would return back to our family home, Mi!!ie would ask me for a full rundown of what those teen rascals were up to.

...I rarely, if ever, had anything of substance to report back to her.

That's when Grandma Mi!!ie shared some of her personal observations regarding the strange YT boy from up the block:

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• Apparently, some 20+ years prior to this time period, that YT boy's entire family perished in a house fire so devastating that it made the local newspapers (this was verified by looking at microfilm copies at the library back then)

• In modern day, the house *looked* fine & stately--just like the other properties surrounding it. But I, as a year-round DC resident as opposed to my cousin K@r33m's summertime-only visits, did notice that--while the boy would *speak of* having parents, a sibling, & a pet dog--neither of us actually ever *saw* said family members for ourselves... The boy pretty much exclusively visited *US,* not the other way around

• Whenever this kid would come around, Grandma Mi!!ie would tell me to pay attention to any strange smells around him. I didn't know what scent or scents I was smelling for (lol)--outside of the cloud of m@r!jü@ñ@ smoke that would encircle them both as we all just kicked it. But one day, it clicked for me: This kid--even before the bl33zy was lit, would smell distinctly of charred wood, or like a campfire or sum'n 😕

• While K@r33m & I would discuss various pop culture-type subjects (i.e., The latest sneakers, music, TV shows, etc.), this kid would smile & nod knowingly--but not really contribute any commentary of his own. It was weird, looking back: Almost as if the boy were a visitor from another time, just taking in all the new fangled ish "these kids today" are up to--even though the boy was dressed in a cosmopolitan way

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The more Grandma Mi!!ie shared about her own personal observations of this boy, the more I came to see *exactly* why she behaved the way she did towards him whenever he'd mosey on down to our side of the block.

Mi!!ie's observations almost started to unnerve me, before she reminded me that--between myself & my aunt P3ññy--she already had *TWO* ghostly individuals on her hands. 

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...She for *damn* sure didn't want any more! 

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Anyways. My cousin K@r33m & this boy were basically thick as thieves every summer up until K@r33m was about 16 or 17 years old. 

Without K@r33m knowing at the time, the YT boy up the street was about that same age when his family unfortunately perished in that devastating house fire two decades prior. 

K@r33m made an impromptu fall/wintertime visit to DC one year &--per usual--went up the block to the boy's house looking for him to come out & kick it how they normally did.

This time, a strange, unfamiliar person opened the door to the boy's house & said no one fitting that name or physical description lived there.

"How's that possible," K@r33m wondered aloud. 

"I just saw him this past summer?"

The strange, unfamiliar person who answered the door said they'd been living at the property for several years (!!!) at that point, & had *never* heard of or seen anyone fitting the YT boy's description at the house.

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Needless to say, my cousin K@r33m was *sp👀ked* 👻

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...Literally to the extent he had to be hospitalized for a time, thinking his best childhood/summertime visit friend had 'ghosted' him 😔💔

Being one of the *very* few people who'd actually met this boy & personally interacted with him--it?--on several occasions right alongside K@r33m, I was called in to sort of clarify the situation & explain to K@r33m's care team exactly why he was reacting this way.

...It was a spiritual crisis of sorts, of the kind rarely heard of in my & K@r33m's respective & extended social circles.

I don't know if K@r33m ever fully moved past that whole experience of, basically, befriending a ghost. I let him know back then that I'm technically a ghost, too, & it's fine... truly.

In present day--& with us *both* being B!üñts, of course--K@r33m & I just put a couple in the air from time to time & reminisce about our old ghost homie from up the block... 🌬☮️🍃