The House on the Hill

Chapter 2: Will and the Empty Chair

Harry led Ava down the stairs, his hands sliding across the handrail.
     "This house is kinda cool! I mean, it gives me the creeps but there's so much to explore!" he says as he pulls Ava into a dark room. It small and cold, and there's no windows. She couldn't make out what she was seeing, it was so dark.
     "Where's the light switch?" she asked, running her hands along the wall aimlessly, trying to find the light.
     "There is no light switch silly, there's a lamp," Harry giggled as he walked into the depths of the darkness and out of view.

Suddenly the whole room lit up and Ava let a gasp escape her throat. Millions and millions of little action figures occupied shelves that lined the walls. There were comic drawings carelessly stacked in the corner and containers of clay and ceramic materials stacked on a desk.
"Whoa..."
"I know right!!" Exclaimed Harry, picking up a clay action figure and fiddling with it's arms."The door was locked but James helped me open it."

Ava turned from an action figure that looked like a kitten in pink tights and purple boots with a cape.
"And how exactly did James help?"
Harry smiled and pulled out a mangled paper clip from his pocket.
"You picked the lock!!?" Ava exclaimed. Harry winced at her tone and shrunk back, expecting another lecture from her sister, but to his surprise, Ava's face softened.

"That's awesome! You guys need to teach me how to do that!" Ava giggled. Harry beamed up at her as he put the action figure back on it's shelf. "I thought this place was cool, I don't know about you."
"Oh, I think it's awesome!!" Ava smiled as she picked up one of the comic drawings. Just then, she didn't feel right. She seemed to be almost in a trance. Her muscles moved involuntarily as she pressed her lips together tightly, forming a pink, thin line. She set the paper down and walked almost robotically towards the desk. She moved the clay container and opened the second drawer. Then she gasped. There were more photographs of the same old man she saw in the other rooms, only younger and happier. Ava examined his face...no wrinkles, very handsome and had a great posture. She didn't know how she could tell, but she just knew it was the same person she had seen in the other photographs. There weren't any girls in the pictures this time, it was only of him holding awards. The photographs on the desk was in a frame, the others in the second drawer were not.
"Ava?"
Harry got no reply from her. Instead, she whipped around, her hair flying over her back. She had a look of concerned on her face.
"Ava?"
"Do you recognize this man?" She asked, pushing the photograph in his face. Harry grabbed the photograph and squinted, brow furrowed, trying to recall the image before him from somewhere. But he couldn't. He had never seen--or at least remembered seeing--the mysterious man in the photograph. He looked up at Ava and shook his head.
"Never seen him in my life."

Recognition and deception seemed to have filled Ava and she stood, deep in thought, staring at the man in the photo that she could've sworn she knew. But it was at the tip of her tongue, slipping away with every breath. She let the photograph slip out of her fingers and back onto the desk.
     "Is something wrong?..."
     "No, forget it, I'm just...I don't really know..." Ava tried to find the right words but they wouldn't come out. Harry shrugged and bounded off to the next room. As shrugged it off and went off to explore the rest of the rooms as well. There were elegant colors and furniture all around, and she came across another bedroom, another bathroom, the dinning area and a small little room with a rocking chair and and a large mirror on the wall.

It was overall a beautiful home and her mother seemed to like it a lot. Will, on the other hand, stayed by his mothers side the whole time, flinching at every single creak and groan if the floorboards, every swift movement of a cloth from the wind, any sound at all. He was obviously paranoid. Ava tried not to get annoyed by her little brother's immature fears and had to constantly remind herself that Will was just a little boy, not a teenager like herself.

.................

A few days have passed since the family has moved to the house. Ava is walking down the stairs early one morning, covering herself with a thick purple blanket from the chill air. She's about to enter the kitchen when she overhears a conversation between her mom and Will. Her feet stop at the doorway as she hides herself from sight. Her eyes move from her mom to Will, both standing at the doorway to the kitchen.
     "Mommy, don't go in the kitchen.." Will whispered at an almost inaudible voice.
     "But Will, mommy has to go make breakfast for everyone," her mom said in an almost amused tone of voice.
     "No..." Suddenly Will's eyes filled with tears.
     "No! Mommy, that old man will hurt you!" Will said pointing to an empty chair at the kitchen table. Ava's heart skipped a beat. An old man? Could Will have recognized the old man in the photographs too?
     "What? You mean your imaginary friend? Why'd you bring him over? I thought you had enough friends..." his mother laughed as she set foot in the kitchen.
     "Mommy, he told me last night. He told me that if we get to nosy in his business that he'll hurt us and send us to hell," Will said quietly as he backed away from the kitchen. His mother suddenly grew serious, a look of shock on her face.
     "H-has James or Harry taught you that...that word? Hell?"
     "No. I don't know what it means, but the old man said that. The old man said it was a very bad place," Will kept pointing at the one empty seat at the table. Ringing filled Ava's ears as she suddenly felt light headed.
     "Will, there's no one there. The chair is empty, see?" his mother walked over to the chair and pulled it out.
     "The old man is really mad mommy! You pulled out his chair!!" Will said on the verge of tears.
     "Will, sweety, calm down okay? Look, it's empty. See? Look it's alright," she said in a calming voice. Will began trembling with fear.
     "Mommy n-no!" He whispered loudly but the mother was determined to let him know that there was nothing there. The began to sit on the chair so show him that there's nothing on it.
     "Look, it's empty," she said calmly, but Will's eyes widened in fear. As soon as the mother's rear sat on the chair, William covered his ears, shut his eyes tightly, and burst out screaming.

His shrill, ear-piercing screams echoed through the house, bouncing off the walls and bounding up the stairs. Ava dropped the blanket in alarm and covered her ears. Will's shrieks and screams, they wouldn't stop, and they sounded desperate, like someone trying to escape from something, or like someone being tortured. Ava peered around the corner and saw Will, who's cheeks were drowning in his own tears and his face twisted in a look of mortal terror. Her mother bounced up in alarm and ran over to Will, trying to get him to be quiet.
     "Whoa is Will alright!?" Harry said as he skidded to a stop from sprinting down the stairs with his socks on. He looked tired, and his hair was messy from sleep.
     "Yeah, I heard him scream!" Ava said as she walked into the room, pretending as if she just woke up and never even heard the conversation at all. She re-wrapped her purple blanket around herself as she stepped next to Harry. 
     *SNORE*
     "Well, it looks like the scream didn't wake James up," Harry laughed as he plopped down on a chair in the living room. Their mother laughed lightly with him, but Ava could tell it was forced. Her face was pale and alarmed, and she reached out for William, who was no longer screaming, but was curled up in a ball on the floor in front of Harry's feet, trembling and sobbing quietly.
     "Holy smokes, are you okay little man?" Harry asked as he outstretched his hand to feel Will's forehead. Well, the part of his forehead that wasn't hidden away by his hands anyways. Harry's face filled with concern and it turned as pale as his mother's.

      "H-he's ice cold..." Harry whispered. "You o-okay, Will?"
Will didn't answer. Ava felt an unusual pang of fear in her chest. Will had mentioned an old man. He had mentioned that he was going to hurt them. And he mentioned that the old man was not afraid to send them to hell. Ava knew for a fact that, that type of vocabulary doesn't just pop up inside a little boy's head. Someone must've told him. And part of Ava's heart believed it.  But her brain told her it was all just nonsense and that it was all in his head  because if it was one thing Ava knew, it was that ghosts aren't real. Nor are invisible old men who sit in chairs and terrorize little boys' minds.

...right?