The House of the Haunted

Bethany and Derek ventured from room to room, intrigued by everything they saw. Their flashlights shone brightly, the only sources of light in the otherwise pitch-black house.

I walked behind them, staying quiet and close.

“Can’t believe someone would abandon a house like this,” Derek stated.

“Yeah, it’s too bad. Isn’t this place incredible?” Bethany asked excitedly, spinning around and shining her flashlight in all directions.

I smiled gleefully and concurred with her, though she did not acknowledge my response.

Derek pressed on and cautiously approached a large, unknown, sheet-covered object at the end of the hallway. Reaching it, he shot a mischievous look over his shoulder before grabbing onto the sheet with one hand. He hesitated briefly, allowing suspense to build.

“Now, what could possibly be hidden underneath this?” He asked, mimicking a game show host. “Do we care to take a guess?”

Bethany and I stopped and observed him, only a few feet away. Bethany rolled her eyes as she snickered. I gave no response.

“No? Really? Well, my guess is a statue of the naked man.”

Bethany laughed heartily. “You mean the David statue?”

“Yeah, sure, David. That’s the one,” Derek responded with a cheeky grin as he finally unveiled the mystery object.

The sheet, along with a copious amount of dust, fell away to reveal a beautiful wooden sculpture of what appeared to be a mother and child looking lovingly at one another.

Bethany and Derek gasped quietly in awe. I simply stared wide-eyed at the art, mostly gazing at the child figure with her sweet, adoring smile. I felt the strangest slight dull ache within my chest. It grew stronger with each passing second. Soon enough, I had to turn away, unable to continue fawning over the sculpture.

I left Bethany and Derek to examine the figures and continued into the next room behind them. They did not voice any objection to me leaving them, or suggest that we all stay together. Perhaps it was the artwork that distracted them. I wouldn’t be away from the two for too long anyway.

In this room, the window allowed the moonlight to illuminate what appeared to be many other hand-crafted objects. There were small and large clay bowls, mugs and various sorts of carved, wooden tables. From what I could see, they all looked like they were made by someone with a very skilled hand. My heart was filled with unexplainable joy as I took in all these wonderful things.

But then, I felt an inexplicable ache once more in my chest the longer I looked over everything. The feeling grew stronger as I approached what looked like a specially-made wooden sign hanging on the wall. It read ‘Home Sweet Home’, and on either side of the sign was a handprint: one big and one small. I felt there was something significant about this one; somehow it was special.

Yet, there was something off about the sign. Something did not belong. As I curiously drew closer, I could see now that it had been defaced and damaged. Obscene objects and words had been etched and drawn. Someone had come in here and disrespected the amount of time and effort spent on this incredible work of art.

I took a better look around and noticed that, in fact, many of this room’s treasures had been vandalized. There was a corner in the room I had overlooked before that I could see now was filled with broken, spray-painted clay bowls and shattered mugs. It broke my heart to see how such beauty could quickly turn so ugly.

A surprising amount of pain and anguish crashed over me as my eyes brimmed with tears. This feeling confused me, but I couldn’t suppress it. I held a hand over my mouth to muffle my cries. Feeling a new sense of anger slowly building up in me, I turned to leave the room. I just couldn’t stay here any longer.

That’s when I came face-to-face with a large wooden bowl that sat upon a shelf. I froze. It was now heavily damaged with how much graffiti was on it, but I knew as soon as I saw it. This bowl was… hers.

Yes, that’s right. It had been her favorite out of the many things I had made, so it became my gift to her. I’d painted those white flowers and the sun’s rays shining down on them. She used that bowl to store all her little treasures and trinkets in. Oh, how she had loved it. All of my memories with her came flooding back to me, along with the pain I had worked so hard to block out.

Suddenly it was her little face I was seeing in front of me instead of the wooden bowl. The face with that sweet, adoring smile. I reached out a hand to her, yearning to hold her in my arms once more. Instead, my hand knocked the bowl off of the shelf. The resulting thud was as loud as could be in the ever so silent house.

I stepped back, stunned, looking down at the bowl. Startled screams came from behind me in the hallway.

“What was that?” Derek’s voice was shaky, and seconds later he appeared at the doorway of the room. He shined his flashlight all around as he tried to find the source of the sudden noise.

I looked at him just as his bright light reached me, and then it continued on, illuminating the rest of the room. It was like he didn’t even see me.

“We are the only ones here right now, aren’t we?” Bethany asked in a hushed, scared tone.

“I-I’m pretty sure we are.”

There was a brief moment of silence as Derek looked nervously toward Bethany, who was out of my line of sight.

“Maybe we should go,” Bethany suggested, and my eyes widened. “Come on. If someone else IS in here, I really think we should leave.”

“Okay, okay,” Derek sighed, giving in to his friend’s plea. Both he and his light disappeared from the doorway to the room, leaving me to stand once more in darkness as I heard their footsteps begin to recede toward the front of the house.

‘No. No, no, no.’

Feeling a sudden urge to follow after them, I gave in, not wanting to be left alone any longer in this house of darkness and ruin. I couldn’t be left alone with these memories again, not after trying so hard to bury them before.

“Wait!” I cried out as I hurried to catch up with them. My voice, however, did not seem to reach their ears as they quickened their steps to the front door.

The door flew open and my newfound companions hurried out. They scurried down the steps, onto the wet grass that displayed the imprints of their shoes, and continued on down the road.

I rushed to the opened door, fully prepared to follow after the two. But, to my dismay, I found I was not able to go after them. Some sort of invisible barrier prevented me from leaving, acting as a wall to keep me confined in here… I’m all alone.

Screaming in frustration, I pounded my fists against the invisible barrier, desperately hoping to break free. I cried out to the two fleeing friends, who I knew would not hear me. Closing my eyes, I sighed in defeat.

Haunted by the vast number of memories within this house, I had long ago taught myself to hide away in the walls. In doing so, I had figured out how to clear my mind, forget who I was and forget my past. I found that this method only worked for a short amount of time, but it was better than the alternative. The memories were just all too painful to constantly reflect on.

This is what I had been doing when I discovered Derek and Bethany wandering the house’s halls. They had seemed so adventurous and jovial; I used to be like that. So, I couldn’t help but partake in their adventure. Then, all it took was something small to bring back the memories.

I took one deep breath after another, letting myself and my memories be cleared from my mind. My daughter’s small, smiling face popped into my head, and then I watched it slowly fade. If this is what I had to do to be at peace, so be it. I began to feel myself fading, too. I smiled, knowing I could find temporary freedom from this now dark and gloomy house that I used to know as home.