31 Days of Halloween

Haunted

In the quiet upstairs bedroom, she thought she heard footsteps on the stairs. What was that? Paige thought to herself. Moving into the new house was supposed to be fun. She would finally have a bigger bedroom to herself, more privacy, easier to have friends sleep over. Being there only a few short hours had proven to be no fun at all. Her mom left to return the rental truck, leaving Paige to begin unpacking boxes in her room. Alone in the stately eighteenth-century home, she set about emptying the first box when the noise down the hall captured her attention. She knew no one was there, but thought maybe her mom had come back for some reason.

"Mom, is that you?" she called out.

Silence. Setting the books down on top of the box next to her, Paige slowly made her way to the door. The hair on her arms stood on end, as the icy fingers of fear grasped her.

Quit being stupid, there's no one here, she told herself.

Peering out into the empty hall, she looked both directions and walked to the edge of the loft, looking into the living room below. Nothing. Returning to her room, she went about the task at hand. Before long she heard the front door open

"Paige, I'm home. Could you come help me for a minute, please?" her mother yelled up the stairs.

"Coming, Mom."

Laying her earlier fears aside, she ran downstairs. Since her dad passed away several years ago, fifteen-year-old Paige and her mother, Nina, lived on their own, just the two of them. Whatever needed to be done, they did together. Up until now, it worked flawlessly. After he died they could no longer afford the mortgage on the home her dad had bought the land for, and with the help of a couple friends, had built with his own hands. Losing their home after losing her father had been heartbreaking, knowing they still had each other made it easier to handle, and Paige had grown to accept it. When the two sat down to talk about being able to lease a bigger home she became ecstatic. Learning it was one of the old historic homes in town piqued her interest even more.

Often gazing at the houses on her way home from school, she often wondered what stories they could tell, what families and ideas had been born within the walls. What secrets had been stashed away generations ago? Now, she would be able to investigate on her own.

"Hey, Mom, can I tell you something?"

"Of course, you can tell me anything."

"While you were gone this afternoon, I swear I thought I heard someone in the hallway. I even called out for you."

Nina smiled, "Honey, I think your imagination was playing with you. It's an old home, and it's new to us. The house will shift and settle, any home does, especially one this age. I don't believe you have anything to worry about. Mr. Pinkard told me about the previous tenants and he never mentioned anything out of the ordinary. We're going to have to get used to being in a new place."

She smiled back at her mom, unsure of what she really believed. She knew that once their Internet service was installed, she would research to see what she could find. For now, she concentrated on getting the few groceries from the car so she could get back upstairs to her room.

After dinner, she told her mom she would be upstairs. With so much work to be done all around the house, unpacking each room, decorating, it would take some time to get it finished.

Two weeks later, and almost settled in, Nina told Paige she had a meeting to go to after work, and she would leave her dinner in the microwave. Since summer had arrived and school was out, Paige asked if her best friend Jami could stay over. Deciding the following night would be better, she resigned herself to spending the day alone. The terrifying memory of the first day in the house had vanished, and she no longer feared to be there. As her mom left for work, she took a bowl of cereal to the living room and turned on the television. A day of reality TV and movies, maybe writing in her bedroom later on.