The Property

I sat in a dark and quiet slumber for so long until late. Many, many seasons ago it had been since a handful of men nailed boards to my doors and windows, bringing quiet and darkness to my halls for the first time since I came to be. For a while it was just lonely but slowly the paper began to degrade and peel from my walls, scattering prints of flowers all throughout my floors. A lonesome pain. The branches of trees around me started to push against my siding, scraping the paint away. Cold air would come and my wood contracted from every nail that held me together. After a time, slants of light would come from the gaps in the boards to pierce through my interior. The light brought warmth and again the wood expanded and hugged the supportive nails. It reminds me of the families that once lived in me. When they would close their eyes at night and their chests would rise and fall with their breath. My eyes have been closed and like a breath my walls expand and contract. 

My last occupants were two adults and at least three children in each of my four bedrooms. The children cycled through after varied points in time. One, sometimes two at a time would leave with other adults and only a brief amount of time passed before more children would begin to live here. There was never a moment of quiet. The adults would often embrace the children and this always made the children's mouth curve upward at the ends. It was a busy time but the air was light and my occupants moved throughout me with speed and energy. Unlike the family before them.

 The man who built me never seemed to have his mouth curve upwards at the ends and the woman with him only did on occasion. At this time though my walls had never been more decorated. Replications of themselves set in boxes would hang all throughout my walls alongside windows that reflected themselves back to them. They would eventually expand me with those four extra bedrooms to accommodate each new child they brought home. The man who built me was taken from me very suddenly one night and he never returned. After a time his companion would close her eyes for the night and her chest would stop rising and falling for some reason. When the light came up she was taken away. Their children had grown by this time but one of the boys came back just after this and he had a companion now. This pattern repeated until I was empty for many days. Eventually an old woman came back to me, alone. She looked faintly similar to the family that had been living in me since I was built but the cracks and lines on her face made her look unfamiliar. 

One day some men came to knock on my door and when the woman answered, her voice filled the entirety of me before slamming the door. Her mouth curved downward at the ends and her eyebrows scrunched together and nearly covered her eyes. This became routine for a while until the day she was taken, her arms swinging wildly about and gripping the edges of my front door. More men came to take everything from inside me. The places she would sit and sleep were taken away and I was left bare. The air inside my walls was thick and dense to those that came to do an inspection of me. They cut into my walls, changed wires and added things to me that brought light and blew air around me. This was when my final occupants arrived and lightened the air inside me with their children and smiles.  Though that too would come to an end.

The man and woman brought six children with them initially but the number quickly grew. Until one night when a heat came from inside my walls and smoke filled my rooms and halls. The flames raged quicker than the adults could gather the many children and two became trapped in their room. Men with large amounts of water came to douse me and the fires that tried to consume me. Those that made it out weeped on the street in front of me. My final occupants left and the boards went up. So began my slumber. Only interrupted a small number of times by younger people. 

They only came at night and they all held lights and boxes. They walked around my decrepit floors asking if someone was there with them or if anyone there wanted to talk to them. Sometimes their boxes would light up and they would raise their voices. They would all leave in a hurry. Someone would always come and put back up the boards these people tore down and even put up a wire barrier that future inquirers would climb to get to me. This was my state for a long time, until today. 

Today a man came to my door and took down the boards here as well as on my windows. This was the first time this had happened in the daylight. He had a light but no box and he asked no questions to my empty interior. His box started to make a sound and he held it up to his ear.

“Dave’s Construction this is Dave…Yeah I just got to the job about 20 minutes ago, why...you’ve got to be kidding me…does she know I’m the contractor…when is she supposed to be here…alright…yeah, thanks for the heads up Stace…mm, bye.” 

The man stood there for a while with his head down and his hands on his hips. He walked over to one of my windows and looked at himself in the reflection and ran his fingers through his hair before going out to his truck and placing something in his mouth that he began chewing. Soon another car stopped on the street outside my front door and Dave got out of his truck to greet them. The woman exited her car. 

“Hi Tina.” 

“David? Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I thought the same thing.”

“I didn’t think our office contracted with you anymore.” 

“We just got the bid back. Just for foreclosure remodels.” 

“Great and they just happened to put me in foreclosure last month. How am I supposed to sell this piece of junk?” 

The two walked through my front door and into the foyer. To the left was my kitchen, the walls full of mold and cabinet doors hanging off their hinges. In front of them was the staircase that led to my second floor and the bedrooms. To the right was the living room that was bare except my brick fireplace that had long since been missing many of its carved bricks. 

“Oh my god, this place is creepy.”

“It’s not pretty. Your office is paying a pretty penny for this remodel. It’s nearly a brand new build considering how long this place has been sitting for.”

“How long is that going to take?”

“3 months minimum.”

“Oh my god David.”

“Yeah we're going to have to be in touch for a while.”

She looked down at her phone and he spoke again.

“Are you going to be ok with that?”

“I guess I have to be. I need the commission.”

“Are you doing ok, money wise?”

“Yeah, I mean, well…look David I don’t want to talk to you about this. Plus since when do you actually want to talk about finances with me? You hated it when we were married.”

“Yeah I really did, didn't I. I just mean, if you need anything. I’d be happy to help.”

“Oh you’re so generous David. Well I don’t need anything. Doing just fine, thank you.”

“Hey…”. 

“What?”

“I..uh, I’m actually glad that you’re the realtor on this one.”

“You..are? Why?”

“I’ve wanted to talk to you for a while.” 

She looked shocked. “You have?”

The two looked at each other. 

“Hey, maybe we should take a walk and get the generals figured first here.”

They both seemed to snap out of some kind of trance and she responded.

“Yeah…yeah lets do that.”

She walked away towards the kitchen while David’s eyes stuck to her the whole way. 

They walked around me. All through my rooms, some in better condition than others, and each took their own notes. Pointing out flaws, calculating their repair cost and even laughing along the tour. 

Tina left and David’s crew showed up to begin my reconstruction. A week went by and my walls began to turn into tarps. They smashed, pried and dug out my insides. Tina returned one morning and David had brought her a coffee.

“You still like the iced caramel latte?”

“Oh my god thank you, I had to rush this morning and forgot my coffee on my counter. How are things going?”

“Still in full demo but it’s coming along faster than we expected.”

He looked at Tina and her face was twisted into something that said she didn’t believe him.

“Look I know it’s all tarps and hammers right now but trust me, it’s going to be beautiful when we're through.”

“Trust you?”

“OK, I’m trying here. I know you don’t love seeing me but I’m trying to make amends. I’m sorry, I’ll just focus on the work.”

He started towards me.

“No. I’m sorry. You’ve actually been really sweet. I shouldn’t be so rude.”

“Thank you but if you really don’t want me to try and fix this, I don’t want to push.”

“David, you asked to leave ME, not the other way around. I shouldn’t treat you poorly but that’s based on my own principles. I don’t think everyone in my position would be the same.”

“I know. I’m sorry for how I ended things. It was dumb luck we got stuck on the same job together and I just thought maybe we should take that as some kind of…I don’t know. I just don’t think many people get the chance to apologize and I didn’t want to miss that. I really am sorry Tina.” 

“You are?”

“I really am. My life hasn’t been the same since we divorced. I thought I knew what I wanted but I was wrong. I’m not saying jump back into my arms. I genuinely just want you to know I messed up.”

“Well I appreciate that David. I really do.” 

A man on my second floor called out one of my windows down to Dave. He apologized and went to the man. Tina stood on the street by her car looking at me for a while before getting in her car and leaving.

The next few months I went through many changes. 

David and Tina would reconvene to discuss my progress throughout the months. I saw Tina for a period after my completion but David never came around after one last meeting in front of my newly masoned fireplace. 

“I really didn’t think you would be able to pull this off David, I really didn’t.”

“Well thank you for your honesty.” They shared a laugh.

“Seriously though, you did an amazing job. You can’t even tell this used to be some eerie run down house teenagers used to come to ghost hunt.” 

“Yeah it really is a beautiful house. We have a new job across town. We start next week and I’m actually going to miss this place.”

Tina noticed something on a table in the corner of the room.

“What is that?”

“That there? Just a parting gift.”

“Is that a record player?” She walked over to it.

“Sure is. But the gift is what’s in it.”

He walked over to it and turned on the record player and placed the needle on the spinning record. A man began to sing the words: “When the night has come, and the land is dark, and the moon is the only light we’ll see, no I won’t be afraid, oh I won’t be afraid, just as long as you stand, stand by me…”

“This is my favorite song, David.”

“I know.”

He walked towards her as the song rang out from the tiny speakers of the record player and took her hand. She took his hand and they embraced. She rested her head on his shoulder and they started to slowly rock to and fro and spin to the beat of the music. 

 I had almost every part of me renewed. Fresh nails in new planks of wood. New paint and windows on my walls. New cabinets and counters.  The trees trimmed away from my new siding. The parts of me that crumbled away were swept up and hauled far away. Those looking to find the haunts inside my walls were never to return. I was brand new once again. Rebuilt anew.