That summer of 1998 Minni was 15 years old when she arrived at the confirmation camp that her church had organized. She wasn't really into religion but she was excited to spend a week with her friends. Her best friend, Hanna, was already waiting there for her. They were schoolmates and teammates and had known each other for a couple of years now. Hanna's family had this summer cottage across the lake and in fact, Minni was invited to visit there at the end of the summer.
After all the mandatory getting-to-know-each-other -stuff and going through house rules the girls had some free time on their own. On that evening Minni and a couple of other girls headed to a sauna just by the lake. Hanna wasn't feeling very well and decided to stay in the tent she shared with Minni.
On the sauna porch, the girls were joking and laughing, the sun was setting and the scene would have made a perfect summer photo. If someone would have taken that photo, you wouldn't believe that years later, on one tragic morning in 2008, one of these girls would murder her own children and would be committed to a mental hospital for ages.
After they had wiped the tears of laughter from their eyes they had this moment of silence. A moment in which everyone just sunk into their own thoughts and with glazed eyes stared at the lake.
Minni saw Hanna's dad rowing a boat not very far from them. He stopped the boat and started to pull up fishing nets. Minni recognized him very well. Even though their families weren't that close, their dads always talked about the game during Hanna's and Minni's basketball matches. Minni thought that Hanna's dad's jokes were as lame as the ones her own father told to embarrass her in front of her friends.
Hanna's dad smiled and waved at the girls and they waved back. The girls returned to the warmth of the sauna and the boat disappeared into the evening mist.
Later on, Minni returned to their tent where Hanna was reading a book. She told Minni that she was feeling a little bit better now. While brushing her hair Minni casually told Hanna they'd seen her dad checking up the fishing nets and they had waved at each other.
Hanna had this strange expression on her face almost like she wanted to ask about something. Before Minni could say anything, Hanna went from silent sobbing into uncontrollable crying and fell into a fetal position on her sleeping bag. After many "whatsthematters" and "pleasetellmes", Hanna managed to tell Minni that her dad had died a few weeks ago. Police suspected that he had accidentally fallen from the boat and tangled up in the fishing net and drowned.
Minni was confused. She obviously thought about the encounter on the shore but also why Hanna hadn't told her. Maybe they wanted to keep it within the family. Maybe it was too soon. Or maybe it was just the Finnish way - to wrap up everything in silence. To lock the sorrow somewhere inside.
Back in the day, I remember thinking that maybe some people are just very sensitive on certain levels, on some frequencies and the restless spirits are drawn to them, trying to pass some message to their loved ones.
Minni was my girlfriend when I was younger. We were telling ghost stories to each other and she told me this one and another one that actually happened to her and Hanna as well while this time in Denmark. But that's another, much darker, much scarier story.
Free to use thumbnail image by konstantin rotkevich Pixabay
Free to use Lantern pic by Bany_MM Pixabay
