Short Scary Stories

The House.

First of all, I want to stress the fact that this is a real happening. This is not some story written to get what I write on to a public medium. I am only doing this because I think the story needs to be told. The events that I am about to describe took place by the account of my brother in law. All I have is his story and the fear on his face when he entered my house that afternoon in the fall of 2007. The story is as follows.

My sister, along with her new husband and child, had just moved into a house about a half a mile down the road from my own. A month had passed and, from what they had told me, they were settling in nicely. At the time I was living with my parents after just graduating high school and trying to build up money for college. I was busy doing the dishes when I saw my brother in law, Richard, walking in a hurried fashion from his car, up my dirt driveway, under the porch and stopping in front of the door. The entranceway was a French door so anyone walking towards the house was easily seen. He looked at me and sweat was pouring from his face. Concerned, I walked over and let him in asking if everything was ok. He pushed his way around me and made his way to the sink, where he quickly grabbed a cup and poured a glass from the tap. He moved over to table and took a seat guzzling the water down as if he had just run a marathon, then abruptly set down the cup and stared into nothing. My sister walked through the door next. She had been taking the car seat from the back of her Dodge neon and was a few steps behind her husband. She came in, gave me a look of concern, and went about setting her child, who was sitting in the car seat, and diaper bag on the table. She sat down and clasped her hands together looking at Richard with a frown on her face.

"What's going on?" I asked as I slid the chair at the tables head and sat down with caution. Richard never looked at me. Cassie, my sister, turned her head towards me, her eyes welling with tears.

"You're not going to believe it." She said. Her voice cracked as she placed her hand over her mouth. She turned to her husband and nudged his shoulder. "Tell him Rich."

Richard just sat there. His eyes focused on a point in space only he could see. His mind, as far as I could tell, was trying to puzzle out what had just taken place. I leaned my head in the path of his starring and broke him free of his thoughts.

"Rich?" I said in a calm tone. "What happened?" He took a deep breath and told me the following.

He had been raking leaves in his yard for the better part of the day, arranging them in piles to be picked up later and placed into a garbage pail. The goal was to arrange all of the leaves in a large pile and burn it during the winter when friends and family come over for coffee and general visiting. This was common practice of families in my town and Richard wanted a piece of that nostalgia for himself. After sectioning off the small piles he took a seat on the stairs that led to his front door and admired his work. He told me that he was thinking about how he was finally a homeowner and his thoughts at the time were of the future for his family and himself. The story continued. He sat there on his stoop for a few minutes when his father's car entered the driveway and parked. His father got out and walked over to sit with him on the stairs.

"Yard work huh?" His father asked as he bent his knees to rest on the step beside his son with a grunt of old age. Richard nodded his head and his father began to talk to him. He spoke about how difficult it was to raise a family and how, if he could do it over again, he would have washed his hands of the whole ordeal entirely and lived his life alone. He said to Richard that it would be better to live alone. Richard grew uncomfortable and began to tell his father about how he was happy and wouldn't have it any other way, that he loved his wife and daughter and how they were the best thing to ever happen to him. His father smirked, patted him on the shoulder and with a low tone in his voice stated. "You keep them safe. You never know what could happen. "After saying this, his father walked to his car, opened the door and left still smirking at he exited the driveway. Richard sat there watching his father leave his house with a chill running up his spine. He felt a hand touch his shoulder and a familiar voice call out to him. It was Cassie.