Possessed House

Chapter 2

The siding is dingy white and green mossy vines climb the walls. In the distance, I notice a hill with a big, aged, weeping willow tree at the top. The flimsy branches sway in the evening air. Chad drives down the long driveway and parks at the end. Chad, my mom, and I step out of the car.

"Will you grab Emma's suitcase?" Mom says.

"Okay." I walk to the back of the white 1999 GMC Yukon SUV. I open up the hatch and pull out my purple suit case and my sisters pink suitcase. Emma’s suitcase is smaller than mine and mine has wheels. I sit mine down on the ground and pull up the handle. Chad picks up Emma and grabs a couple of bags and mom grabs a small cosmetic bag and her purse.

"Come Hunter." I say. Hunter jumps and starts sniffing the ground. He suddenly stops and stares at the Willow Tree. Hunter starts growling. "Stop Hunter!" I say.

We all go to the back door next to the driveway and chad sets the bags down on a small patio slab. He pulls a set of keys out of his pocket and puts a key into the door lock. When he opens the door, Hunter runs inside and sniffs everything inside.

"Welcome home everyone." Mom says. She rests her hand on her pregnant belly and sighs a sigh of relief.

When we walk in the back door, we are in the back porch. There is a pile of wood on one wall, but the rest of the room is empty. We carry our luggage through the back porch and into and entrance room.

"This house has nine bedrooms; one of them is an old servant’s room." Chad starts stating random trivia about the house. "The parents had two bedrooms; the one up stairs was for winter."

I tune him out as we walk up the stairs in the entry room. We turn right at the top of the stairs and  down the hallway past the stairs and on the right, there is a door.

"That's your room, Jamie." Chad opens the door and it squeaks as it opens.

"My own room?" A floor board squeaks as I step into the room. "That's a first." I say. The walls are covered in floral wall paper and the floors are old, squeaky, wooden floor boards. The room smells like mildew.

"Let’s go to Emma's room." Mom says. We turn around and walk back past the stairs. We go to the door on the left. Chad opens the door and walks in. A toy box sits lonesome in the back of the room, and two twin beds are placed in the room. The blankets are neatly pulled up on the bed. A cold draft blows in through the window, blowing the thin, tan window drape. Chad lays Emma down on the bed, closest to the door and shuts the window.

"Chad, you’re laying her down on that filthy bed?" Mom asks.

"Oh, it's just a bed. I’ll put new bedding on it before we go to sleep." Chad and my mom leave the room.

I put Emma’s suitcase next to her bed and follow my mom across the hall to their room. New wall paper covers the walls, and a small baby cradle rests dead center in the room.

"That wasn't there when we looked at the house." Mom says concerned.

"The people who came to get the old furniture probably moved it." Chad kisses the top of my mom’s head. "We can move it." He places one hand over her belly and uses her other hand to rub her back while kissing her neck.

"Gross." I whisper. I walk back across the hallway. I step into Emma's room to see if she woke up. When I walk in, I notice she is in the other bed, under the blankets. "Mom, I think Emma's awake!" I make my way over to the other bed where I find Emma, sound asleep.

"What?" My mom and Chad come into the room.

"Never mind..." I say.

"Why did you move her?"

"I didn't move her." I say.

"Oh, so she slept walked?" Mom asks getting angry.

"I don't know. Maybe, or maybe it was the ghost." I say.

"Emma!" Chad steps in.

"What? I didn't move her!"

"Mommy..." Emma starts to wake up.

"Now you woke her up. Just go to your room, Chad will put new bedding on the bed in your room." My mom sits down next to Emma and rubs her back.

"This is so stupid!" I stomp out of the room angrily and go to my room. I stand by the window and pull the phone out of my pocket. No signal. Why am I not surprised? I hear Chad walking down the creaky staircase. Something wet touch’s my leg. I slowly look down. My heart is pumping really fast, then I see hunter sniffing my leg. “Hunter! You scared me!” I reach down and pet the top of his head. “Where have you been?”

“Jamie, I know it’s all really hard on you and Emma.” My mom walks into my room and sits down on the bed. “A new house, I’m marrying Chad, new friends, a new baby, a new school. Chad and I are under a lot of pressure too. We want to get married before we have our baby, but I don’t think we have time. Chad just got a new job, and we want to pay off this house before winter. But I want you to know, this is what’s best for you and Emma.”

“Wow, nice speech.” I say, not making eye contact with her.

“It’s been a rough year. I know, for you and me, but we have to forget about you father.”

“I don’t want to talk about him.” I say holding back tears. I’m really good at hiding my emotions.

“Which bedding is for what bed?” Chad walks in to the bedroom.

My mom gets up and helps him find the right bedding, they give me my bedding and I strip the bed and remake it. The sheets are pink with rainbow polka dots. The mattress is white with rainbow polka dots. I change the pillow case to match the bedding too. Chad also put a box of my stuff in my room. I sit down next to the brown cardboard box and open up the flaps. I pull out a battery powered alarm clock, a table lamp, some books and magazines, my brown teddy bear I still sleep with at the age of 16, a battery radio, and a small jewelry box at the bottom.

“Jamie?” Chad walks in.

“Yes?”

“The bathroom isn’t working, so we are going to try and fix it sometime this week. The only other bathroom is the outhouse"

"I'm not using that!" I say.

"The bathroom will be fixed soon. Just use it for now."

I hate this palce!