What difference does it make?

I came to the front door of my mother's house, my hands were clammy and my face wet with perspiration. I haven't seen her in awhile and the thought of doing just that frightened me. My mother had always been stuck up, thinking higher of herself than she should. Not to mention the fact that she was very judgemental. Both factors doubled when she married some new guy with tons of money.

 I twisted the doorknob and walked inside looking around at yet another large house. I often wondered if my mother would tire of such a lifestyle but alas she still seemed to find this way of living quite enjoyable. My mindset was quite different from hers. I found the simpler life to be much more worthwhile. And I didn’t much care for the material things that tempted the common person.

 “Mom” I called out as I trudged up the stairs, the wheels of my suitcase bumping against each step as I went. Even though I was quite sure that I could be heard there was no answer. Nevertheless I yelled it out again, “Mom!” Still no answer. By now I was at the top of the stairs and It would be quite easy for my mother to hear me.

 I checked her room thinking that she might possibly be sleeping, although it was quite unlikely seeing as she didn’t much like to sleep at this hour. Unsurprisingly she was not in her bed.  I had checked almost every room, I still seemed to find that she wasn’t present. Finally I came to the door of the last room, my hand on the doorknob as I pushed it open. Although I searched the room thoroughly there seemed to be no sign of my mother. I slumped against the wall, my vision blurring as I tried to steady myself.

 My hands wrapped around the light fixture that was mounted to the wall struggling to keep steady. My hands fell off the cold metal below the lightbulb and I stumbled to the ground. When I finally came to, I noticed something different about the room. There was a portion of the wall missing and a small room that was only about the size of a closet. At closer inspection, I found a trap door at the base of the room.

 I lifted it up to reveal a ladder. I climbed down the ladder to find myself in a room that was not much bigger than the previous one. Sitting on a small table in the middle of the room there was a video camera. I grabbed the camera and scurried up the ladder hoisting myself up. I set the camera on the bed and opened it up to see what the video was.

 But all I found on the film was me climbing down the rungs of the ladder. Which meant someone else was here, someone who shouldn’t be. I threw myself off the bed and locked the door, leaning against it. Where was this mystery person? I quickly unlocked the door, what if they were still in the room?

 I dashed down the stairs abandoning any thoughts of bringing my suitcase. My sweaty hands reached the door handle trying frantically to unlock it. But the nob wouldn’t turn, now I was even more afraid as my eyes darted around the room. “Show yourself ” I yelled as I pressed my back against the door trying to find a sense of security in this terrifying situation.  “Are you looking for me” said a male voice from nowhere in particular.

And then the man that accompanied the voice appeared in front of me as if out of thin air. I tried to press myself closer to the door but seemed to find no space as he drew closer, I covered my eyes. And when I opened them again he was gone. Then suddenly he was next to me so close that I could feel his breath against my neck. “What’s going on here?” I said  “who are you?”

“Well you see this is my house” he said “so I technically don’t have to tell you anything”. “What do you mean?” I asked as I reached for his wrist but I guessed I missed because I wasn’t able to catch a hold of him. 

“This is my mother's house” I continued “So you need to leave”. I tried grabbing his wrist again but I missed it , this time I was sure that I had been grabbing his wrist. 

“Trust me” he said “ I’ve been trying  to leave for a long time”.

And then I put two and two together if I took a better look at his clothes I could see that they were definitely not from this era. And it explained all the disappearing and reappearing and the fact that I couldn’t touch him. He was a ghost. But how? this wasn’t possible, how could he be a ghost.

“Are you a ghost?” I asked backing away from the wall that once gave me a sense of security but if he were to be able to trust me he would have to see that I was being confident. 

“Depends” he said from behind me “who’s asking” “me” I replied back. “And who is that, may I ask?” he said, appearing in front of me. 

“My name is Selena Roy,” I said, extending my hand out before seeing  how silly of a thing to do that was. He seemed to think so as well because I heard him chuckle lightly. 

 “Well then yes” he said looking at his nails. 

“Who are you?” I asked, taking a risk . 

“My name” he said, “Is William Stewart Lodge”. “And at the moment although you amuse me I am annoyed by your tireless games” he said as he drew closer to me.  “And pretty soon my patience will wear thin and you don’t want to be there when that happens” he finished. 

“What do I have to do then” I asked as I once again pressed my body against the front door.

 “The answer is quite simple really” he said as if it would be an expression of pure ease on his face. “All you have to do is burn this house and everything in it and then you can do as you please” he said. His voice so cold that I could feel chills running down my back as he looked at me. What was I supposed to do? Abandon my family or face a thing that I don’t know how to defeat.