The House on the Hill

Chapter 1: New House

There's nothing like moving to a new house. The new fresh smell of paint and flowers fills your nostrils, sunlight pouring in through the beautifully thin curtains, room after empty room to design and put your furniture in. New neighbors, new school, nice little neighborhood with trees lining the streets and tall, green grass in front of everybody's lawn. That's what Ava Denver pictured in her mind...but it's definitely not what she got. Instead of the light, refreshing road that had fall trees on either side of it, leaves bright red, orange and green falling into the road like rain, the car she currently shared with her mom and her three brothers turned away from the light road and onto a much less inviting one. The trees were bare, the leaves that had fallen were gray and dead, the thick bushes blocked out the sunlight and it suddenly became windy. Ava exchanged glances with her favorite brother, Harry, who actually kind of looked like Harry Potter without the glasses.
     "Mom? I....I think you made a wrong turn..." said the youngest of them all, William, who had his face pressed up against the window. It got so cold outside that his warm breath crystallized as soon as it hit the icy window.
     "No, no honey, don't worry, this is the right way," their mother replied in her sweet voice. James, on the other hand was bouncing up and down in his seat. He absolutely loves creepy things. Ava is not sure how he can possibly be so brave, like last year he had a scary story marathon at midnight where he and his two friends told each other as many scary stories as they could at a sleepover. The two friends he was with had extreme nightmares and a little paranoia about every little sound or shadow. James, on the contrary, was totally fine. The car jerked to the right and the little family turned on to a bumpy sand road.
"I-don't-think-w-we-are-going-to-t-the-right-h-house...mom!!" William exclaimed between little bumps. Now they were all bouncing up and down in their seats, and not just because they liked the creepy, lonely path they were taking (except for James). The road was so bumpy that the tires grabbed at the road, dust and dirt rising creating a thick sort of fog-like effect around them...

After what felt like hours on the bumpy road, they finally came to a clearing. The dust died away, leaving them transfixed in awe. In front of them stood a lone house; no neighboring houses for miles. It stood atop a hill, with two big trees towering over the front porch. Ava let a gasp escape her throat as she looked up to see the old victorian house. It looked about 100 years old, tattered and worn, but it also looked marvelous, it was big and had a lot of space to store things.
     "W-why did we move here?" croaked Will as he pulled at his mothers shirt. She simply looked down at him and smiled.
     "It was very cheap, and it was perfect for our budgets. The girl who was selling it told me that not a lot of people wanted to live here."
     "Yeah, huh, I wonder why?" Harry said in a sarcastic tone.
"How do you like it, James?" their mother asked, not taking her eyes off their new house. "..James?" She asked when she got no response. But no one needed any response because they already knew that James was completely and utterly delighted with their new house. He was already examining the front door. Their mother gave a light laugh as she followed James to the porch, Will at her trail. Ava looked back at Harry and raised an eyebrow. Harry was half expecting this to be a silly joke and half expecting them to end up walking further to a much nicer house beyond the grand, old, creepy one that was standing before him. But neither happened. Ava started walking and Harry followed.

     "Welcome to our new home!!" their mother said happily as she pushed open the door.
     "April fools?" Harry squeaked as he tip-toed inside, looking around fearfully.
     "Harry, it's October," James called from upstairs.
     "James you act like I care!!" Harry turned frantically on his heels and stared up at his mom. "October fools?"
Ava laughed as she flipped her hair over her shoulder and began to climb the stairs.

It was an odd sort of place; to her, it smelled faintly of fruitcake and stale Cheez-its. There were spiderwebs hung in corners and under tables. As Ava reached the top stair, she felt an uneasy feeling in her chest. She ignored it. But something caught her eye on a little table propped neatly against the wall....it was a photograph. Ava picked it up cautiously and blew on it. Dust flew in every direction, making her cough. The photo was in an old picture frame with little flowers and candles engraved on it. The picture was of an old man standing with two young girls...they looked about 12-13 at the most. Ava tilted her head as she gazed curiously at the old man and his mysterious eyes. A spark of familiarity flickered on inside the back of her head. She knew she had seen this man before...but where? She couldn't put her mind to it...it was like the answer was on the tip of her tongue. Who could he be?
"AH!!" Thud.
Ava whipped around in alarm as she dropped the photograph, and the glass shattered.
"James!!" Ava hissed as she bent down to fix the broken picture frame.
"Sorry, I just..." James pushed himself up from the floor and rubbed his knee. "...I just tripped."
Ava rolled her eyes. "On what?"
"That rock right..." he turned around, again and again, searching for the rock he had tripped on. But it wasn't there.
"I swear to god, there was a rock..." His voice trailed off.
"Sure, there was a rock, it was just invisible, that's all," Ava squinted her eyes at her brother and put the broken pieces of the frame on the table. "And you made me brake this!!"
"I'm sorry!!" he said, and for the first time in his life, he seemed to be pale with confusion. James was always the one who knew the explanation to every little thing, who knew every single ghost story by heart, who knew what to say if anything weird happened. But this time? He looked stumped. He kept scratching his head and feeling around for the rock with his foot. Ava could see that James was truly confused, but she didn't know how an invisible rock could end up in the middle of the floor.
"Well, we'll have to fix that later," Ava said as she walked passed James and into the bathroom. James made a weird mangled sound from thee back if his throat as she passed, still not giving up on his search for the rock. Ava rolled her eyes as she stepped into the bathroom. There was an elegant mirror and water blue walls. The tile was black and the rim of the sink faucet was light gray.
"Wow," Ava whispered as she ran her hand across the soft towels that hung from bars. It was huge. She stepped out and looked down the hall.

There was one last room at the very end if it, that Ava felt a strong urge to explore. She walked, almost as if her feet were carrying themselves. She pushed open the door and peered inside. It was big and dark, and plaster was peeling off the walls. It had a single lightbulb dangling from the ceiling and a large window that had a perfect view of the front. The curtains were ripped and dirty. This was the only room in the whole house that looked beat up and sad. The others had an elegant sort of feel to it, but this one have Ava the chills. In an instant, the air grew cold in the room. She shivered. Her breath crystallized at the window. She began to feel a rising heat in her chest...it was fear. Then she glanced at the corner. It held one single bed with covers that looked like would turn to dust at any second. There was a bedside table, and it had yet another photograph of the same old man. Ava began to feel uncomfortable. She knew she had seen him before. She was certain of it. She began to feel uneasy, as she backed slowly out of the room and grasped the door knob. It was weird and bumpy, not like a regular smooth one. And it was not cold like usual metal doorknobs, instead it was mushy and warm. She quickly shut the door and hurried off to the next room.

She did not like that room at all. She took a deep breath and turned around to see Harry, face to face with her.

     "Harry! You nearly have me a heart attack!!" She gasped.
     "Sorry," he said as he looked at the ground. "But guess what? I found a room I think you'll like! Come downstairs!" He smiled as he grabbed Ava's wrist.