My Last Halloween

Chapter 6: Family Time

   "David dinner is ready." my dad called out from the bottom of the stairs.

I was in my room finishing up my Law essay that was due the next day. I lived with my dad, step-mom, and little sister; she was only 8 years-old. My mom had passed away when I was 11 from cancer. Took my family a while to adjust but for the past few years we'd been doing pretty well for ourselves. My dad remarried about a year ago, her names Sarah. I actually like my step-mom; she's almost like a best friend.

"David come on, come on." my little sister said while jumping in my door way.

Lili was energized almost 24/7. Little girl just never knew when to sit still but I loved her. She's small and likes to bounce around a lot; mainly because she liked to wear her hair in pigtails. Lili had nice hair; it was an autumn color just like our mom's. She has a thing for sun dresses too, something else they had in common.

We walked down stairs and sat around the table. Dad was putting the food on our plates in the kitchen and my step-mom was getting the drinks. My parents reminded me of one of those married couples you would see in commercials. They were always joyful and joking around with each other. My dad usually dressed business casual. He liked to style his hair like Superman with those few strands hanging in the front. My step-mom liked wearing jeans with colorful blouses. Her hair is blonde so she usually looked pretty bright.

"Hey you two." my step-mom said

"We're having lasagna." my dad said bringing the food.

We all sat down and starting eating while Lili told my parents what she did at school that day.

"So anything interesting happen at your school today?" my dad said pointing his fork at me.

"No not really but we did get a new student in my lit class." I replied.

"What's her name?" Sarah asked, smirking at me.

"How do you know they're a girl?" I said with a stunned look on my face.

"You wouldn't have smiled if it wasn't." she said with a smile.

"Her name is Tatiana, but it isn't like that. She's just a friend, plus I just met her."

"Uh huh." my parents said simultaneously.

All I could do was shake my head.

"Oh honey, don't forget to come straight to Karla's Halloween party after work, Lili and I will go after I pick her up from school." Sarah said to my dad.

"Yeah sure, no problem. David are you going to ride with them?" my dad said directing his attention to me.

"Actually the guys and I decided to go out tomorrow." I said

"Oh yeah? Well that's a nice change, you going out again." my dad said, he looked relieved.

"Daniel don't tease him, David's a party animal at heart." Sarah said jokingly as she winked at me.

My parents always wanted me to get out more since I spent most of my days in the house.

"Alright, so I'll head over after work and Sarah you can lock up here before you go since David is going out after school." My dad declared.

We moved on to small talk and soon after finished our dinner. My parents went in the living room with my sister to watch TV and I went up to my room to finish my homework. All throughout dinner something kept bothering me. I found myself sitting at my computer staring out the window at the old house down the street. What did I see earlier?

It was still pouring rain throughout the night. It didn't seem like it was letting up any time soon. I stared at the house wondering if I would see the figure again but nothing. Maybe it was just my imagination, yet I couldn't stop looking out the window. Who would ever live in a house like that?

The white paint was peeling, the windows were dirty with a few of them being broken, and the foundation didn't look that strong. The front porch looked as if it was falling apart and the lawn looked like it hadn't been cut in years. Why hasn't it been torn down yet?

I decided to look up the place on my computer; maybe there would be some information on it or who use to live there.

"Old house at the end of Baldwin Hills." I muttered to myself while typing it in the computer.

"Haunted." of course that would be the first thing that came up.

According to this the house had been abandoned for 6 years. It was never torn down because apparently a family died there so it was considered a burial ground. No one has been on the property ever since the incident.

This was unreal I thought to myself. I live down the street from this place and I never knew. I wanted to know more about this place. I needed to know what happened to the family. How did they die?