The secrets a house keeps

This is the story of how a house's life changed thanks to all the memories I recorded. It all started with the Hamptons moving in. 

The Hampton arrived on the 30th of August 2020, around midday, from NYC. They were a lovely family. There was a girl Natalie; she had big, silvery eyes, brown hair, and a beautiful smile. I would typically see her reading or drawing. There was also a boy whose name was Thomas. He had those same silvery eyes Natalie had and beautiful wavy brown hair, and he had a pet snake. This curious creature was enormous, and its eyes were as green as its skin. The mom's name was Layla Rodriguez; she had green eyes and wavy, blonde hair. She took good care of me. She would always make me smell like Lavender. The dad's name was Anthony Hampton; he had beautiful ocean eyes; his hair was dark brown, and I would mostly see him drinking Coke or practicing his Karate moves. 

The day they moved Natalie and Thomas looked a bit blue, based on a conversation I heard they missed their friends in NYC very much. They all spent the rest of the day unpacking and making me look delightful. It was my favorite part when families started unpacking and decorating me because everyone had their unique taste and scent. 

The first two days, everything was about unpacking, decorating, the kids getting ready for their new school, and Layla getting prepared for her new role. Every morning the kids and Layla left, and Anthony worked from home, although once a month, he had to travel to NYC to the company from which he was a CEO. In the afternoon, they will all have dinner together and talk about their day. In one of their family dinners, I heard that Anthony's boss had invited Anthony to a gala hosted by the company he worked for in NYC and asked Layla to go. The kids were thrilled because they were staying alone the whole weekend. 

On Friday evening the parents left, Thomas had planned a party for Saturday evening in which he would invite their friends from New York and their new school. The guests started to arrive on Saturday. They were twenty at first, but as time passed by, the amount seemed to grow. 

Everything seemed to have gone out of control. Everyone wasted, and have started throwing up around me, some of the flowerpots in the living room broke, there were broken cups in the floor, and a guy was trying to fit himself into the fridge. At the sight of this disaster, Natalie realized it was time to stop the party. She set the music off and yelled at everybody to go. When everyone left, Natalie started cleaning the disaster they had made on me and picking up all the broken cups and flowerpots. She was going to go the next morning to get some new ones. When she went upstairs, Thomas was inside the tub; he was filled with his vomit and had passed out. 

There was also a guy still there puking in my favorite wall. 

Nathalie stayed up the rest of the night cleaning me and making me smell like Lavender like her mom did. Then she helped her brother clean himself and tuck him into his bed. 

Just when Natalie was going to bed, she saw the wall where the guy had vomited upon, and she saw that it was still dirty. When she cleaned, she saw that this wall was very particular. This wall was not like the other walls. It almost seemed like there was something inside. But she was too tired, so she decided to finish cleaning and go to sleep. 

The next morning Natalie woke up and ran to the shop to get the replacements, and when she came back, she started examining this particular. She heard that something was inside. Natalie wanted to know. So she decided to break this wall. It hurt so much. When she finished breaking the wall, she saw it. 

My room of memories, this room keeps all the beautiful and essential memories of every person/creature that has ever lived inside me. Nobody knows this. We houses keep the memories. 

What is in this memory room, you might ask? Well, as soon as you come in, you see a long, long hall with doors, and if you open these doors and go through them, you will see some memories. At the end of the room, there is a little library. I'm the author of all these books. You'll find each of the stories and memories from everyone who has lived here. On the left, colorful and very well decorated books for the ones that I liked, and on the right, we have boring black and white for the ones that I didn't like. In the middle, there is a big golden book. This book contains my favorite memories, the most treasured memories. 

When Natalie walked through the hall, she drifted towards the right section, dropping immediately into the Müller's family's saddest memory. The day that the father of the little girls died in the second world war. A man from the German army entered the living room and asked to speak to Mrs. Müller. Then, struggling to find the right words, he delivered the dreadful message. They burst into tears while gravitating toward their mother, a feeble embrace woven through shaking arms and broken hearts held the girls together.

As Natalie made her way out, she could only wonder who those girls were and why were those girls in her house. Natalie didn't understand what that place was or why that place was there. She kept walking and getting into other doors, she saw all different kinds of weird, sad, lovely things that had happened in the same house she was living in, and while confused and slightly scared, she couldn't resist lurking through more episodes. The memory that made her the most confused was a memory of a woman in the 20s called Taylor, she was a very famous artist, she had earned a lot of money with her paintings, had everything she wanted. Taylor had made her dream come true. One night a man came in and shot her in her sleep; she never woke up again. This memory felt familiar to Natalie. She could see in her head memories of Taylor as if it was her. 

In the end, she reached my little library; the first thing that caught her eye was the big golden book; she decided to open it. There she could read my favorite memories along with pictures and the number of the door. 

The front door opened, and Natalie hurried out of my memory room and covered the hole she had made in me so nobody else would notice. I didn't understand at first, but then I realized that she also had memories she wanted to keep safe. She would come every evening with pictures, albums, diaries, and even weird things that I guess reminded her of something. It felt nice to share my memory room with somebody else. It helped me realize that I have been kind of lonely over the years. I witnessed families, love, friendship, but never had I received any of these.

One evening Natalie came in and sat on a couch. She read some books like she always did. I had decided that I could trust her. So I opened a door next to her. Natalie was amazed but also very curious. Natalie decided to enter, and when she came in, she saw a beautiful living room with a white couch and some pink cushions. On the walls, there were some of my favorite paintings she had made. There was also a beautiful area where Natalie could paint and a little kitchen with tacos. I had seen how she enjoyed them. 

I wanted to talk to her and to get to know her more because I had seen that we both had similar opinions, and we both thought about people the same way. But I couldn't talk to her being a house. I could only do that if I created a portal because, in my portals, I can do and create whatever I want. So I did this little space in which I would be a human.

Hello, Natalie. - I said while approaching her. Although, in retrospect, this wasn't a good idea either because she freaked out and started punching me. 

Natalie, stop, listen. - I said trying to calm her down 

She looked surprised - Who are you, and how do you know my name? 

Look, this might sound a little weird to you, but I'm the house your living in now. I collect memories of all the creatures that have once lived in me, and you are the first person that has ever discovered my memory room. That surprised me because there have been a lot of people living in me. I have been observing you these past days, and it appears to me that you are a fascinating person. I wanted to talk to you. - She seemed to be taking this well.

If you are a house, why do you look like a human? - Of course, she is a bright girl.

In this portal, I became a human so we could talk. I'm sorry I scared you. 

It's okay.

Just there, our friendship started. We would always talk, and read and investigate the other memories, Specially the memories of Taylor, to which Natalie felt related. It wasn't until two years later that we realized Natalie had once been Taylor. That's how our investigation grew, and we used the memories I had to investigate humanity and reincarnation. When Natalie was 18, she left for college, and I honestly felt lonelier than I have ever felt. I felt the most alone when I realized that one year after Natalie left, her parents were selling me. An older man Albert bought me. Three years later, I was on the market once more, and guess who bought me? That's right, Natalie. 

After four years she returned, she decorated me beautifully and took care of me. She left to work in the morning, but in the evening, when she returned, we would always talk and continue with our investigation. Our friendship lasted a very long time. It was beautiful. We created new memories and had a lot of fun. But I had forgotten something crucial about humans; their time on earth doesn't last forever.

On a Saturday afternoon after her evening tea, Natalie had a heart attack and died. Everything felt empty, sad, all the plants started dying, and I felt like I was dying a little bit too. 

A young woman that worked as a preschool teacher bought me. It felt nice because she loved to paint as Natalie did. One day I came to the portal I made for Natalie to remember our old times, and to my surprise, I found Ella, the woman that had currently moved in.

Hey! I was wondering when you were coming!! - Ella said as she walked towards me.

What? What are you doing....? - I started saying until I realized it was Natalie, but she came as another person the weird thing is she remembered everything about our friendship. I was happy again.

We started a new investigation of why when she came as another person did she remember everything, and it turns out I did it. I have the power to transcend memories. So after Ella died, it was Isabella, a 10-year-old. When she grew and eventually died, Sarah came and then Gabriella and so on. They looked different, but they all were Natalie; they all thought like her and acted like her. That way, I was never lonely again.