The Sight

Chapter Two: The Package

     Clara awakens outside of the tub to the sound of the storm brewing. It appears there's a leak in the ceiling above her. She looks around to see if the girl she saw was still there, to her amazement she was not. "Why was her face so disfigured," Clara panics and fears to herself. She scours the bathroom and couldn't find a trace that anyone was there. Clara throws on her robe and then rushes to the bedroom to check on Twie, he's sleeping comfortably at the end of her bed. She then checks around the room, but still comes up with nothing. "I must've been imaging things by how hot the water was," Clara concludes as she retires for the night.

     Beep, beep, beep, awakens Clara. "Is it time for work already?," Clara dreads but nonetheless she pops right out of bed and into her work clothes. She heads for the stairs and Twie follows. Clara makes her way to the kitchen and brews a fresh, strong pot of coffee. "This'll definitely wake me up," Clara believes. She gives Twei some food, starts breakfast, and walks over to windows.

     As Clara looks out she realizes that the storm has ended, but is still a gloomy day. Gazing upon her land she notices a path leading into the woods. "I wonder what that could lead to," Clara contemplates. Ring, ring, goes Clara's phone. As Clara goes to pick it up she notices it's an unknown number. "Hello?," Clara unsure, speaks into the phone, however there was no reply. "Hello?!," Clara says once more louder, again no reply. As she hangs up the phone she figures it must've been a wrong number. It registers to Clara she needs to leave right away or she'll be late for work.

     Once Clara arrives to work she sees a package on her desk. She looks it over and notices it has no return label. "Who could this be from," Clara muses to herself. She unravels the brown paper wrapping the box. She then opens the box to find a dirty, porcelain doll that has a crack across the face and no eyes. Clara wonders why anyone would send this to her.

     "Well, that's just creepy," one of Clara's co-workers remarked. Clara jokingly replies, "You're telling me." "Let me introduce myself, I don't believe we've met, my names Anna. Do you know who sent you that?," asks Clara's new acquaintance. "Hey, I'm Clara and no, I'm not entirely sure. It is really creepy though," Clara replies brushing of the strange package. "Huh, well I go to lunch in a few hours, would you like to come with me?," asks Anna. "I'd love to," Clara says with excitement.

     Clara and Anna head to the towns family restaurant for lunch. "So, I have to ask, you're the woman who bought the house off of Ripley Mill Road, aren't ya?," Anna asks. "Yeah, just moved in a couple weeks ago," Clara answers. "I've heard a few others in the office say it's haunted and make whispers about me, I was actually surprised when you asked me to lunch," Clara adds. "Oh, I don't listen to rumors, I would've asked you before today, I just didn't know how exactly, well, that was until I saw that creepy package, I just had to add my two cents," Anna jokes. Clara replies with a smile, "I'm glad you did."

     After ordering lunch Clara can't help but wonder what Anna knows about the house. "I hate to ask, but do you know what the rumors of my house are?," Clara asks Anna. "Well, there's actually a lot, some say it's haunted, others say it's a hotspot for missing children, and others say the devil lives there," Anna replies. Clara's facial expression went from content to horror. Once Anna realizes this she tries to cheer up Clara by adding, "But, that's all speculation, I mean it's kind of a ridiculous if you ask me, seriously, the devil, who comes up with these things?" Clara knew Anna was just trying to calm her down, but regardless it did make her feel more easy. They continue to chat a little more until they have to head back to work.

     After a hard day of work Clara says goodbye to Anna and goes to head home. As she makes her way to her car Father Fletcher stops her. "Hey, Clara! How are you today?," he asks. "I'm fine, didn't really get that good of a sleep last night, the storm kept me up. How are you?," replies Clara. "I'm great, listen, I know I probably scared you yesterday about your house and I wanted to say I was sorry, it wasn't my place to say something like that," Father sincerely replies. Clara smiles and says, "You're fine Father, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued by what you said though, can I ask what you meant by nothing good comes out of my house?" Father nods and then cautiously says, "Of course, you see, about 30 years ago there was a family that lived in that house, a mother, a father, and their young son. The family was normal, except for the boy, his name was Henry. Well, a lot of animals would go missing around this time, no one knew why, until his parents saw him in the back yard one day. Henry was a sociopath, he would skin these animals, drown them, stab them to death, carve their eyes out, and contort their faces. He was a gruesome little boy-" "What happened to him," Clara interrupts. "Well, one day a little girl went missing, still to this day no one found her. However, his family knew what Henry did to those animals and they couldn't help but think he had to have something to do with this missing girl. Henry overheard his parents talking about putting him in a ward and he ran," responded Fletcher. "Did they ever find him?," Clara asks. "Unfortunately no, but he's probably long gone, no one's seen him around here since that day 30 years ago," replies Fletcher. After the long, intense conversation with the Father, they say their goodbyes and Clara makes her way home.

     As she pulls up to the driveway Clara notices a elder lady standing at the door to her house. Clara get out of her VW Beetle, the lady rushes over to Clara. "STOP HIM, STOP HIM, HE'S HERE!," screams the elder. Clara then tries to calm her down, with no luck. "HE'S EVIL, HE'S HERE!," the elderly woman screamed again. Becoming worried Clara asks, "Who's here?" The lady ignores Clara and starts to become violent, "YOU WILL DIE, HE WILL KILL YOU, YOU'LL SEE, YOU'LL SEE," she yells while shaking Clara. "You need to leave, right now," Clara demands while forcefully pushing the lady off of her. As the old lady begins to leave she says in a serious tone, "You will regret this, you'll see." Even though Clara is petrified she grabs enough strength to make her way inside the house she once saw so much potential in.