The house that holds

                            The house that holds

The startling thing is that Samantha had completely disappeared.

It seemed odd… very odd. Martha, Samanatha’s favorite aunt, had immediately rushed over at the urgent call of her two nieces -  Alice and Margaret.

“Girls,” Martha said, “let’s go back over the whole story again.” “How long has she been gone? When did you last see her? Are you certain she didn’t go down to Josephine’s house?” 

Josephine was Samantha’s (Sam’s) best friend and had been since the family had moved to the village. Sam and Josephine had bonded immediately when they met and both were obsessed with a love of mystery books and young female detectives as portrayed on TV befitting imaginative girls of 12. They were always up to some secret game – writing and acting out plays, escaping to the nearby woods and sleeping outside, experimenting with chemistry sets, investigating the old vacant house two miles away…… 

All the girls loved that old house mostly because it was the mirror image of their own home but it was only Sam and Josephine who dared to enter it and concoct stories of ghosts and mysteries that set their parents heads spinning. 

Sam’s parents had been warned against buying their house as the villages told them that theirs was just one of two identical houses where strange things had happened 20 years ago.

“Like two peas in a pod,” said Mrs. Thomas who lived in town, “those houses were built by Mr. Marshall for his daughters 40 years ago. They were exactly the same in every way. Anne had one house and Ellen had the other. All seemed well but one day, the girls just disappeared.” 

“Carried off by spirits,” declared Mrs. Thomas, “they were never seen again.”

Both houses and the nearby country side had been scoured by the villagers but Anne and Ellen had vanished. 

Aunt Martha knew the story and although gifted with an excellent imagination herself, she believed that it seemed entirely possible that Samantha and Josephine had merely gone off on some adventure and were waiting ‘til everyone was beside themselves with worry before appearing and wondering what all the fuss was about.

Her nieces were adamant. “She has been gone for 2 days,” said Margaret, “it is very unusual – even for Sam.” Margaret was the oldest of the three girls - very practical and determined. “She has been kidnapped,” Margaret declared. “It is the only explanation.” 

Truly Sam had only once vanished from home for one night and had been discovered sleeping in the hayloft at Josephine’s. This had not gone over well.

“We just don’t understand it,” chimmed in Alice. Alice the youngest of the three – calm and gentle. Alice was always willing to look for the reasons why and to understand Sam whom she idolized.

Martha quizzed the girls on any left behind signs, messages, strange behaviors that might give a hint to Sam’s disappearance – nothing provided a clue or direction where they could start looking.

“Have you talked to Josephine?” she asked Margaret and Alice, “what does she say about it?”

Margaret and Alice admitted their mother had called Josephine’s house and her mother also reported Josephine had vanished too.

“We were desperate,” said Margaret, “we knew you would be able to find Sam and Josephine. Please, please help. 

Margaret knew that her sister Cecilia, the mother of the three girls, would be useless in a crisis. The girls had duly reported their mother had collapsed on the sofa on Day 1 of Samantha’s disappearance after a frantic call to the police. Josephine’s mother was not any more help that Cecilia. The police had assured both mothers to not worry for at least 48 hours as Sam and Josephine were known for their rather daring adventures which had included searches by the police that had proven a waste of their time. 

Margaret realized that it was time to go down to that house and do some investigation. 

It was a cool autumn day. Margaret walked through the riot of colourful fallen leaves down the path to the empty, old house. It has started to get dark earlier now but she figured she had at least three hours before the early evening gloom would make being in the house too much even for her.

Martha entered the house by the front entrance and started down the hall towards the kitchen. She found an old candle which was stubby but functional. But she was happy she had remembered to bring her flashlight as the cool, dusty and dingy house was gloomy. She shone the high beam over the walls and found the light switch. She tried it and although the lights hesitated they came on albeit not the brightest but functional. Clearly, someone had kept the power going despite the house being vacant. Then, she recalled Cecilia saying that some how both houses were included in the power provision and billing and the trouble of separating them was not worth the minor monthly cost.

Martha switched off the flashlight and continued down the hallway. The dusty floors revealed a few foot prints of sizes that would suit Sam and Josephine – Martha carried on and arrived at the kitchen complete with an old and valuable Aga and dilapidated furniture – kitchen table and chairs – but the footprints did not enter this room.

Martha returned to the hallway and saw a few prints leading upstairs. Some of which looked like they could be those of the girls and others were strange whisps and mysterious trails that looked like someone had dragged a piece of fabric along the stairwell. Ascending the staircase, Martha felt her heartbeat increasing as despite her considerable courage this was an unnerving place to be and she was very worried about her niece and her friend.

At the top of the stairs, Martha saw the prints leading towards one of the bedrooms. Some marks looked human and the others less so. Perhaps it was an animal or bird that had somehow gotten into the house. Maybe a bird had hurt its wing and struggled along the hall and got into the room facing Martha now.   Martha clutched the flashlight determined to use it as a weapon if necessary and slowly pushed open the door. It creaked ominously.

She entered a large room that had been decorated with a dark floral wall paper in a deep bluish green. The room was dark and Martha turned on the flashlight to enhance the flickering lights. A dead magpie was near a window and Martha thought she had found what had created the odd shapes on the stairs.

Then she saw what appeared to be a large pile of clothing lying beside the bed with a big fur blanket over top.  She cautiously started towards the pile which suddenly started to move. It could be an animal that had found a cozy nesting place – a homeless person or people searching for warmth from the coming cold days.  Martha raised the flashlight to defend herself as she bent over to lift an edge of the blanket.

Sam and Josephine slowly sat up, dislodging themselves from the blanket. Both seemed dazed and disoriented and looked extremely pale.

“Girls,” said Aunt Martha, “what is going on? Where have you been? Everyone has been looking for you for the last two days. Are you alright?”

Martha helped the girls to their feet and all three sat on one of the old beds in the centre of the room.

“We don’t know what happened,” said Sam, “we came to the house on Tuesday and suddenly we couldn’t get out again.” At that moment, Martha and the girls heard a sudden whoosh of air which stirred the dust on the floor. The bedroom door which Martha had left ajar slammed shut and from the distance they could hear the main door of the house close with a large bang. Martha recalled she had left it open as the house, quite frankly, gave her the creeps.

“Ok girls,” Martha said, “tell me everything.”

Both girls were shivering so Martha picked up the big fur blanket and put it around their shoulders. “You are safe now,” she said, “tell me the story and then we will go home.”

Sam started the story again.

“We came to the house on Tuesday afternoon. We just thought we would look around like we always do,” she said. “But that day was different. The house seemed spooky than ever before.”

“I felt like we were being watched,” said Josephine, “it was eery and strange. We heard the kitchen door open and close a couple of times and we thought we would just come upstairs and look in this bedroom. Suddenly, we couldn’t open the door to get out. We didn’t know what to do.”

Martha recalled the story of the missing sisters from 20 years ago. This had been Anne and Ellen’s room when they were young and the last place they had been seen.

“We saw them!” exclaimed Sam.

“You saw who?” asked Martha.

“Anne and Ellen,” said Josephine and Sam together. “They were sitting over by the dressing table both in white dresses. They asked us if we wanted to join them.“

Martha was sure this was impossible. Anne and Ellen had been gone for years when they were 20 and 21 years old. Everyone believed they had either run away or been kidnapped and likely done away with. It was impossible for them to be captive in this old house.

“They live here,” said Sam, “they vanish into the walls if someone comes and come out when there is no one here. We are the only people they have seen.”

“But how did they get here? What happened to them and what kept them in the house?” asked Martha.

“They said their father cast a spell on the old house and thus on his daughters,” Sam explained. Apparently, their father had been strong believer in the mystic arts and he saw that they had grown up and wanted to leave home so he cast a spell so that they could never leave and never get older. 

Martha wondered if the girls had fallen and hit their heads but they seemed adamant about their experience.

“Ok,” she recounted, “when you tried to leave, what happened?”

“Ellen and Anne didn’t want us to go,” said Josephine, “they want to leave themselves and want to be free and they are lonely.”

“When we tried to leave, they slammed the doors,” said Sam, “we couldn’t get out and suddenly we felt very sleepy and we collapsed on the floor.”

“We must have looked cold because somehow this blanket was put on top of us,” said Josephine. “We did wake up a couple of times but suddenly we couldn’t move.”

“So why could I get into the house and upstairs if they were so in control,” asked Martha.

“They said the only way we could be free was if someone came who wanted us to be free,” said Sam, “their father didn’t want that for them so they thought they would never get out.”

“But when you came, Ellen and Anne believed they had lost but had hope that if we got free of them, they would be free of the house. They could move on to the next level because actually, they are dead,” said Sam, “their father did poison them and all we saw was their ghosts.”

Martha had a distinct feeling that it was time to get out of there and she urged the girls to their wobbly feet and started towards the door.

Suddenly, two visions appeared before them. Ellen and Anne were suddenly there and were crying inconsolably. “Please,” they chorused, “there is only one way we can be free. The house needs to be destroyed so we can leave.”

Martha grabbed the door and yanked it open, hurrying the girls down the stairs and out of the house into the dark and windy night. She rushed them home to safety. But the horror of the experience stayed with her and she couldn’t forget the desperation of Ellen and Anne. Late that night, she thought heard the sound of fire trucks and she got up and walked out towards the old house.

The old house which Martha could see was now completely engulfed in flames. There would be nothing left by morning. She couldn’t recall if she had blown out that candle that she had found in the kitchen. She knew it was close to a damp pile of old towels and papers. She was sure she had blown it out before she had gone upstairs, flashlight in hand. Had it smoldered and caught late at night? 

As she looked up into the dark sky, Martha felt she could see two whispy images floating towards the heavens. Ellen and Anne – maybe.

Martha woke up to bright sunlight and went downstairs where Josephine, Sam, Alice and Margaret were having breakfast. “What are you doing here?” asked Sam.

 “Don’t you remember last night?” asked Martha in some confusion. “I rescued you girls from the old house. Remember Ellen and Anne and their story?” 

Josephine and Sam exchanged glances and said, “We weren’t at the old house Auntie Martha. We were visiting Josephine’s auntie 10 miles away. You have been having nightmares.”