It's Autumn, and the fall air is crisp, a wonderful contrast to the summer heat and humidity that had dampened the town well into September. It was mid October, but finally fall had set in. The neighborhood houses had decorated with wreaths and some had Halloween sprawled across their yards: spiderwebs stretched between the tree branches, spiders and window clings of bloody handprints in windows.
I walked past and took mental notes to determine who had the best decorations, not that my opinion mattered, just a little game to pass time on the way home from school. My mom and I had moved to the sleepy little town a few months ago, when the last school year had let out and I'd said goodbyes to all my friends. My mom had needed a change after getting fired from her job and we moved back to her hometown.
About halfway along my journey, I spotted an old lighthouse in the distance. I had passed it every day on this same trek home from school, but something held my eyes there. My walking slowed, but I didn't stop. A few steps farther, and the lighthouse flickered, suddenly illuminating the port. I furrowed my brow, this had never happened before, I thought. As I continued, the silhouette of a tall broad shouldered man stood watch, never wavering from the window facing the road. I shook off the eerie feeling clouding me and assumed a new lighthouse guard had been hired.
My pace quickened and I soon made it to the dark red door that lead into my house. I hurried inside, finding my mom in the kitchen making a soup or stew of some sort, stirring something in a big pot on the stove. She glanced up at me as I walked into the room, smiling.
"How was your day, honey? Ready for the weekend?" she asked cheerfully.
"It was good, I got to see the lighthouse in action on the way home! They must've finally found someone to run it." I replied, setting down my backpack at the dining room table and pulling out my books. I looked up and saw my mom frozen, spoon held out and face pressed into a concerned expression.
"Mom? What's wrong?"
"Um, nothing." she quickly stirred the pot a few times before turning off the burner and moving the pot to cool down. The expression stayed, though.
"Mom, tell me please. Should I be worried? What happened?" I walked closer to her so that she couldn't just look away and she obliged, taking my hands.
"That lighthouse only turns on one day a year. I forgot about it, I thought it was just a tale they told us to make sure we were home before dark but.." she trailed off, gazing off at something behind me.
Now I was puzzled, what does a lighthouse have to do with being in before dark? Now I needed to know more. Luckily I didn't have to ask, and my mom continued on her own, shaking her head before looking directly into my eyes.
"You have to stay indoors at night, as soon as the sun starts going down, get inside!" She said it with conviction and a tone I had never heard her use before. I nodded, still puzzled and started to ask more questions but she shushed me, smiling and asking me to set the table as she grabbed the food from the stove.
We sat down and ate, talking about her new job, my classmates, homework, upcoming events, among a few other things. When we finished, I cleared the table and she did the dishes. I went to the pantry to grab some microwave popcorn and started it, before going to the living room to find a movie for us to watch.
After scrolling for a few minutes, I found one right as my mom came in with the popcorn and we sat together on the couch, starting the movie.
Before long, I heard a soft knocking on the door and glanced at the clock.
10:11pm
I turn my head towards my mom, who's now sleeping, leaning to one side with her head on the back of the couch.
The knock comes again, a little louder this time. I decide to get up, slowly creeping towards the window, grabbing a baseball bat on my way. The window looks out onto to the front yard and standing to one side you can see the other side of the door. I peeked through the blinds carefully, so no one outside could see me, but only darkness stared back at me.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
I jumped back at the now banging sounds. The doorknob rattled violently for a few seconds before stopping abruptly, and I held my breath.
Silence.
After about 5 minutes there were still no sounds from the front door, so I decided to take a look outside, to see if there were any footprints or other hints to tell me who it could have been banging on my door.
I took a deep breath and turned the knob, letting in a rush of fall air. I peeked out but saw nothing, so I took a few steps into the crisp stillness, unable to see anything in the dark
. That was where I messed up. I should've just listened to my mom.
