Tobie walks down the flight of stairs that make a creaking sound, like a cat screeching. She doesn’t think twice about it, and goes into the kitchen. Tobie has lived in the same house for fifteen years. As you can imagine, she knows everything about it, except for one room. No one has ever entered the room. No one thought it was unusual, it was simply a room they didn’t need.
Tobie grabbed a soft chocolate chip cookie and headed back upstairs. But, before she reached the first step, she heard a whisper.
“Hello?’ Tobie asks, “Who’s there?” She creeps slowly down the long hallway, filled with old pictures and mementos. At the end of the hall, is the room no one has entered. Tobie reaches her hand out towards the shiny gold colored knob.
“Tobie,” a woman’s voice yells, “come help bring in the groceries!” Tobie jerks her am back from the door
“Coming mom!” Tobie yells. She runs toward the front door, forgetting all about the whisper she had heard.
Later in the day Tobie was in her room getting ready for bed. Tobie’s room was located on the second floor of the two story house. The walls of the room were painted a baby blue color with Christmas lights hanging all around. She was wearing her mint colored pajamas with her fuzzy brown slippers. Her long blonde hair was put up in a messy bun. She had just taken out her contacts and replaced them with her glasses. Now she heads out of her room to go downstairs for a snack. As her feet reach the last step, a cold breeze sweeps into the house. The front door was wide open. She quietly stepped down onto the rickety wood floor, heading to shut the door. Tobie locked the door, and turning around she saw the door to the back room standing open.
Tobie had never been very curious, but she felt something drawing her to that room. Slowly she trudged down the hall until she reached the room. She leans in her head, needing to know what’s inside. Suddenly, she felt herself jerked back away from the room.
“Get away from there!” an unfamiliar voice yells. A girl, slightly smaller than Tobie, steps in front of her quickly closing the door.
“Who are you?” Tobie questions, “and what are you doing in my house?”
“Too many questions, so little time,” the girl frantically answers,”but right now I need to get you back upstairs!”
As Tobie gets rushed up the stairs, the front door opened. Tobie looks behind her and sees her mom hanging up her coat.
“Mom!” Tobie yells from the top of the stairs. Her mother glances up and waves.
“I can see you met your cousin,” gesturing to the mysterious girl, “Maris, you can stay in the room down this hall.”
Maria smiles and says, “Thank you Mrs. Martin.”
“Oh, no problem and it’s Miss Jones now,” Miss Jones replies, looking down. Tobie’s dad left them when she was eight, and her mom never really got over it.
“Well if you’ll excuse me,” Miss Jones says making her way up the stairs, “I’m off to bed.”
“Goodnight.” Tobie replies as her mom makes her way past them.
“Whew, that was close,” Maria says relieved, “well as you now know, I’m Maria your cousin.”
Tobie blinks, confused regarding everything that had just happened. Suddenly everything went black, for Tobie.
The room was filled with the sounds of birds chirping and the sun was peeking through the window. Tobie groggily sat up in her bed, scratching her head. She turned at the sound of the door being opened, and Maria walks in with a mug in her hand.
“Here,” She says holding out the mug, “This will help with your head.”
Tobie takes the mug and took a sip
“Ugh what happened last night?” Tobie asks.
“You fainted,” Maria answers, “I guess you were just surprised.”
Tobie let out a laugh saying, Yeah, I guess.”
“Well if you need me, I’ll be downstairs,” Maria says, leaving the room.
Tobie listens to the squeaking of the steps, as Maria goes down the stairs.
Later that day, Tobie was on her laptop finishing up an assignment. The house was quiet. You could hear the flies buzzing. A high pitch scream echoes through the house. Tobie frantically gets up and rushes down the stairs. The screams continued, coming from the room at the end of the hallway. Sprinting down the hall, Tobie opens the door. The room had a wooden floor, with green wallpaper. The walls were bare, and there was a bed in the middle of the room. Maria was standing by the bed, pointing under the bed.
“Maria!” Tobie yells, “what happened?”
“Under the bed!” Maria shouts
At this point, Maria had stopped screaming, but there was quiet whispering. Tobie walks slowly to the bed. Bending down, she peeks her head under the bed. She saw a fuzzy grey tail and beady black eyes. Underneath the bed, was a squirrel making squeaking sounds like whispers. Tobie stands up laughing
“Maria,” she giggles, “it’s just a squirrel.”
“Oh!” Maria replies, “that explains the sounds I heard all the time.”
Tobie lets out another laugh of relief. All this time it was simply a squirrel, in a room they simply didn’t use. As Maria and Tobie walk out of the room, the closet door creaks open slightly and a small boy peers out from behind the door.
By Summer Staiger
