The Presence

Chapter Two: Megan's Encounter

*** Saturday, the next morning ***

Waking up out of a deep sleep I hear the moving truck backing up the driveway. After getting dressed I head downstairs to find Megan and Mom on the back porch talking to the men.  She asks them to unload the refrigerator, washer, and dryer, the TV and help us get the boxes full of our personal items off the truck. She's decided to keep the antique furniture (no big surprise) and to donate what we don't want to charity.  Megan wasn't thrilled about the idea but had to admit she really liked her antique bedroom suite.

After three hours of unloading and unpacking Mom has left to follow the movers back into town.  She's going to donate our old furniture to the local Goodwill.  This gives Megan and I time to clean up and rest.

I grab an apple and decide to walk outside on the front porch.  There's only five houses on our dead-end street and the nearest one is across from us. It's a two story like ours but much newer. I notice someone sitting in a swing watching me.  I wave and she suddenly looks very afraid.  She quickly gets up and hurries inside.

"Okay, that was weird," I think.  With nothing to do I go back inside and sit down on the couch.

Megan's upstairs lying on her bed reading a book.  She has her earbuds on listening to music when she has that uneasy feeling again.  The stench of stagnant water begins to fill the room and she can see her breath.  Slowly, she looks up over her book at the bedroom window. 

Easing up onto her knees, she jerks her earbuds out.  There's someone standing in between the curtains and the window.  The figure appears to be a little boy and he's soaking wet, and has the blackest eyes she's ever seen.

As she stares at him he reaches through the curtains toward her and opens his mouth extremely wide just as Megan screams.

Hearing her I jump up off the couch and run upstairs to her room. As I get there I see the curtains fly out from the window and feel a burst of cold air hit me. Instantly she jumps off the bed and lands in my arms trembling.

"What is it sis?  What did you see?"

Megan just stares at the window. I start to move toward it and she pulls me back.

"Hey, it's alright.  Let me check it out." She hesitantly lets go and I walk over to it.  Examining the window I find it closed and locked. The curtains have two black stains on them shaped like small hand prints and a terrible smell which is impossible. Megan just washed and put up her curtains from our old house.

Looking down I see two spots on the floor. I get down on one knee for a better look and to my surprise they appear to be child's footprints. Reaching down I touch one of them, and it's wet.

Getting up I walk my sister downstairs and out onto the front porch. By this time she's calmed down, a little. 

"Sis, tell me. What did you see?"

"You saw the little boy, didn't you?" I turn to see the girl from across the street standing at the bottom of our steps.

"You saw him too?" Megan asks.

"Yeah, I've seen him. Too many times I'm sorry to say.  By the way my name is Hailey, Hailey Winters."

"I think we've kind of already met.  I'm Max and this is Megan."

"I'm sorry if I acted rude earlier.  I wasn't ignoring you Max," she looks up. "I was looking, at the upstairs window," Hailey says.

We hear a car and see Mom pulling up into the driveway.  "Hey, can you guys give me a hand?" she asks.

"Sis, take a deep breath and get hold of yourself.  Let's not upset mom."

"Easy for you to say." She closes her eyes for a moment and follows me out to the car. As we arrive at to the porch mom stops.

"Well, hello, and who is this?"

"This is Hailey.  She's our neighbor from across the street," I answer.

"Its nice to meet you.  Since you're already here, will you join us for supper. I'm fixing spaghetti."

She hesitates, but doesn't want to be rude.  "Yeah I will.  Thank you."

"My pleasure.  I'm glad Megan and Max has someone nearby their own age to be friends with."  Hailey smiles at her as Mom walks away.  But her smile fades as she looks at the house.

We continue inside, sit the bags down and walk back out onto the porch.  She's still standing at the foot of the stairs. 

"Are you coming in?" Megan asks.  Hailey looks up at Megan's bedroom window and slowly climbs the stairs. 

"I haven't been inside this house in years." she says and continues inside to the arch at the living room.  "You still have their old furniture too."

"Yeah, mom is a sucker for antiques," Megan answers as we go inside and sit down.

"If you don't mind me asking, how were you able to see the little boy?" I have to ask.  We haven't met anyone else that can see what we do.  Hailey pauses looking toward the doorway.  "Don't worry.  Mom can't hear us from the kitchen."

"I've lived across the road all my life.  Growing up I've heard stories about this house and who used to live here.  At first I didn't believe them, but as time went on," she looks around the room. "I started to, experience things."

"Like what?" Megan asks softly.

"Shadows in the windows, hearing screams and sometimes even laughter from the house.  One evening I was sitting on the front porch swing reading and I happened to look over.  The little boy was in full view standing in the front yard, staring at me."

"I was scared out of my mind, but at the same time, very curious, so I slowly got up and walked to the edge of the road.  As we stared at each other I blinked and was startled."

"He was now standing on the edge of your property across from me.  He looked like he was soaking wet, and had a foul stench," she stops for a second and shudders. "He had the blackest eyes, I've ever seen."

Megan closes her eyes as the memory of her encounter chills her to the bone.

"We stood there staring at each other for a moment.  Then he raised both arms toward me and opened his mouth wider than anyone should be able to.  I shut my eyes and screamed, and when I opened them, he was gone. 

She sighs, "I've seen him several times since then," she shakes her head. "I guess you could say we've grown up together or at least, I have.  He seems to always stay on his or I guess I should say your side of the road as well.  I don't know why."

"Has anyone else seen him?" Megan asks.

"A few of my friends claim to have seen him very briefly.  I don't know if they're lying or not.  I think sometimes it's just their imagination from hearing the old stories."

Megan and I exchange a glance.

"What stories?" I ask.

"I know that there are two different versions about the little boy. The first is several years ago he drowned in the pond on your property behind the old barn. His twin sister died young as well. I'm not sure how."

"Twins?" Megan asks.

Hailey nods, "The second, is that he was murdered along with his sister. They say their spirits are suppose to still be here. I haven't seen the girl but I know his spirit's here.  I've seen him too many times," she pauses a few seconds looking at us. "The two of you are twins too, aren't you?"

"Yeah, we are," I answer as Megan and I exchange a glance.

This is too much of a coincidence if it's true.  With the gifts we possess, I'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of the little boy very soon.  Megan and I turn back to our new friend and I wonder, what surprises lie ahead...