Deena had been shocked to learn the week before that she had inherited her Uncle's house on Orcas Island. Deena had loved her Uncle Robert dearly, but she never imagined that he would leave her his home.
The old house stood on a bluff overlooking the Puget Sound. The house was over one hundred years old and it was said that a steamboat captain was the original owner.
For the time being, Deena would have to keep her job at the bank in Tacoma, but her long-term plan was to convert the house to a bed and breakfast.
A month after her Uncle's funeral, Deena decided to clean up the old house. Deena accumulated an amazing collection of junk during her cleaning and planned for a garage sale.
During the sale, an older woman approached her and held out her hand. "I'm Laura, your next door neighbor." the woman smiled. Deena shook her hand "I'm Uncle Robert's niece" Laura
nodded."We met when you were a little girl." but I wasn't sure that you remembered." Deena shook her head "I'm sorry I don't. I wish that we had visited the island more." Laura looked at the house. "I knew Robert for more then thirty years, but I only saw him a few times a year.That's just the way he was."
Laura abruptly changed the subject. "Have you seen the ghost ship?" she asked Deena. "Ghost ship?" Deena asked. Laura smiled, "a hundred years ago, the steamship "Yukon Joy" went down in these waters.The legend goes that the ship appears to those who are doomed." Deena shivered. "Is that true?" Laura grew serious for a moment. "My father saw the ship when I was a little girl. not long after he was killed in an accident." Laura shook her head, "I'm sorry, I don't know why I brought that up. Just an old woman rambling about the past." Deena suddenly felt sorry for Laura. She was probably very lonely now that one of her friends had died.
"How about if we have lunch tomorrow?" Deena asked. The tragedy of the past left Laura's face. "That would be very nice. I better be going now." Deena watched the old woman walk to her distant home.
Deena made several hundred dollars at the garage sale. She decided to place it in an envelope in her Uncle's desk before she took it to the bank on Monday. When Deena opened the main drawer, she found a book that she hadn't noticed before. The book was her Uncle's journal. Deena flipped through it and found that most of the entries were about weather and other mundane topics. The last entry was different: As usual Uncle Robert recorded the weather and then this: " I saw the ship last night." Her Uncle died a few days after that last entry.
Deena refused to believe in superstitious nonsense, but a feeling of dread would not leave her. To make things worse, a heavy rain began before she left on the ferry to go back home.
All that week, rain pelted the Puget Sound region and it was still storming when Deena returned to the island the next Saturday. Deena stayed indoors all day reading and went to bed early. The rain woke Deena and she got up and walked to the window overlooking the sound. A ship was making its way past the island. Deena looked closer. The ship was an old-fashioned steamer and it was transparent! Suddenly, Deena felt the house move and heard a cracking noise. A few moments later, the movement was more violent. Something was terribly wrong and Deena knew that she had to get out.
Deena just made it outside, when the heavily saturated foundation gave way and the house began to slide down the hill to the sound. Deena looked to the sound and watched the ghost steamer slowly fade away.
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