Ghost House (7 page)

Sarah went to the door, sliding the lock into
place before saying “Mr. Witters, why are you here?”

“Stalking you, huh? You told them that I was
stalking you?”

“I did not say that, not exactly.”

“This is MY house!”

“And we are paying you quite well for our
family to rent it. Especially since it has no central air and one
of the bedrooms can’t be used in the summer because of it. Look,
Mr. Witters, all we ask is that you stop coming around here,
cutting the grass and doing other yard work.” Sarah tried to calmly
explain.

“Most people would appreciate that!” Mr.
Witters glared at her.

“We are renting the house, the yard, and the
garage. As it is, we are hesitant to let our dog out because we
never know when you are out there and by the way, Mr. Witters,
either give us a key or remote to that garage, or we will get that
one cut off and put our own on.”

“That will never happen.”

“Fine, then we will take $30.00 off of the
rent check each month and you can keep the garage to yourself, but
as long as we are renting this space from you, we do not want to
see you around here. If you need to do any major repairs or
whatever, please go through the management company. That is what
you are paying them for anyway, isn’t it? Now, Mr. Witters, my
dinner is on the stove, so, good-bye.” Sarah shut the door on
him.

She felt a little bit shaken, but she was not
sorry that she took that tone with him. The nerve of the man! When
she looked outside a good five minutes later, there he was,
watering the flowers. She decided to have Jim bring in the hose
after dinner.

By the time Jim came home from work, Sarah
had already worked herself up into quite a state.

“Hey, honey.” Jim said, knocking on the back
door. “The door is locked.” Sarah came to the door and opened it
for him. “Get used to it! War has just been declared!”

Jim looked at his wife and tried to lighten
her mood. He half turned while saying “Uh Huh, O.K. then, I guess
maybe I should go back to the office until things cool down
here.”

“Bring in that damn hose before you do!”
Sarah said, turning back and walking into their kitchen.

That evening Suzanne was playing school with
Freddie and Mr. Pickles. She told them how they had to raise their
hand if they wanted to say something and gave them other
instructions that her mother had told her to expect when she went
to school in September. “Don’t miss me when I go to school,
Freddie, because I will come right home when it’s over. “ Riley was
playing a game on the computer. Jim was watching the Tiger game on
TV while Sarah read. Cooper was laying on the floor next to Suzanne
looking at her like he understood every word she was saying.

Cooper walked over to the basement door and
started to growl. A slow growl at first, but then he ran to Jim and
jumped up onto his lap, then ran back to the top of the basement
stairs and started barking. “What is it Cooper?” Jim said.

They heard the sound of glass breaking. “What
was that?” Riley shouted.

Sarah called 911 while Jim checked the
bedroom windows and back door. Jim went downstairs to the basement.
“Sarah, turn on the kitchen light, this light won’t come on down
here.” Sarah turned on the light and then put her arms protectively
around Suzanne and Riley.

“A window in the basement is broken.” Jim
said, coming up the stairs a few minutes later. Just then the
police officers knocked on the back door. Suzanne let out a screech
and hugged her mother tightly. Jim let them in and together they
went downstairs, then one officer went to check the outside.

After a few minutes of questioning who was
downstairs and when, the officers looked at each other. “What is
it?” Sarah asked.

“The window downstairs is broken, but the
glass from the broken window is only on the outside.”

“How is that possible?” Jim asked. “It
appears that the window was broken from the inside of the basement,
not the outside. We didn’t see anything that could have been used
to break the window from either side, no rocks or anything laying
around. But there is definitely no glass laying in the basement, no
glass on the window ceil either. There would be if someone had,
say, shot a slingshot at it or smashed it with a rock.”

“So what are you saying, officer?” Sarah
asked.

“Are you positive that window was not broken
sometime earlier? Could it have been something else that you heard
tonight?” The second officer asked.

“No, we all heard it, our dog started to
growl and bark, then we heard the glass breaking. My wife called
you and I checked the doors and windows up here and then I went
downstairs.”

“Dog might have been barking at another dog,
or a squirrel.”

“He was not looking out the window, he was
laying on the floor next to our daughter.”

The police officers said that they would keep
an eye out on the house and that they should pick up the glass from
outside before letting the dog out again. Jim told Riley that she
was going to sleep upstairs tonight. “No problem, dad.” Riley said,
still afraid.

Sarah and Jim looked up the number for a
replacement window to be put in. “So, do we tell Mr. Witters, or
what, exactly?” Sarah asked her husband. “I am sure he has home
owners insurance, but to be honest with you, I’d just rather pay to
get the new window in myself. I don’t want to give that nutcase any
reason to cause us more grief.” Jim left a message on the machine
and was surprised when the window replacement company called back
so soon afterwards.

An hour and a half later, Jim looked around
the basement again while the window was being installed.
It just
does not make sense
.
The light is working again too
now.

“All set, Mr. Gaunter. You know, we could
replace all of these basement windows with glass blocks. They are
thicker and not easy to break or look through.” The installer
suggested.

“This will be fine, thank you for coming out
so quickly.”

“I checked the messages before I locked up. I
usually check it every hour because of the nature of the business.
Windows need to be replaced right away. We do car windows and
larger orders like living room replacement windows as well. I could
be wrong, but I believe our company replaced your dining room
window a year or so back. We have better prices and faster service
than the larger companies. We are lucky I got the message so soon
after you called. It’s supposed to storm tonight.”

Sarah looked outside the front window. The
trees were swaying and the street looked deserted. Only three long
blocks down to the right was the shopping mall, all lit up and
busy, but none of that light or activity extended down to their
house. There were two trees on the city strip in front of the
house. One blocked out the light from the lamppost on the opposite
corner from their house. Sarah thought she saw something in one of
the trees for just a moment, but then it went away.
My nerves
are getting the best of me tonight.

“It is a good night to turn in early.” Jim
said, turning off the television. For once, neither daughter put up
a fuss. “Take your showers and let’s call it a night.”

Sarah woke up in a cold sweat. She wasn’t
sure what woke her, but she felt very uneasy. She then heard the
sound of the basketball being bounced again against the cement. She
sat up in bed and there on the blanket close to her she saw a
horrible skeleton like face. The lightening flash that came in from
the top of the bedroom window illuminated it and it seemed to glow
a ghostly white color. Sarah kicked it as she began screaming.

Chapter 9

“You know, you could have given me a heart
attack screaming like that when I was sound asleep.” Jim complained
the next morning, pouring himself another cup of coffee.

“You? How do you think I felt, waking up and
seeing that thing on the bed?” Sarah pointed out, defending
herself.

“Why were you afraid of Mr. Pickles, mom? I
wanted him to protect you because you were talking in your sleep
when I got up to go to the bathroom.” Suzanne said. “Riley and I
had Cooper and Freddie in our room, but you just had Daddy.”

Jim’s eyebrow raised at that statement.

“I couldn’t help it. It was so dark in the
room that the lightening made the white plastic on Mr. Pickle’s
face look evil. Like it was glowing or something.” Sarah said. “I’m
sorry I woke all of you up. I must have had the basement window on
my mind when I fell asleep. I did hear a noise like someone was
bouncing a ball against the house or cement when I first woke up.”
She added.

“It was the thunder. You girls have a good
day.” Jim said, giving each a kiss on the cheek before leaving for
work.

Sarah and the girls decided to go to an early
movie. They stopped in at the drugstore down the street to load up
on goodies to take with them. Sarah liked coming here, the
saleslady was always so nice to her. In fact, she had been the only
one so far, besides Julia’s mother Victoria, who was friendly
towards her.

“Good morning, Dawn.” Sarah greeted her at
the check-out. “Good morning.” Dawn smiled at them. “Did you find
everything that you were looking for today?” “Yes, thank you.”
Sarah smiled back. She noticed one of the other sales girl looking
at them oddly. It wasn’t the first time that they had gotten these
strange looks. Sarah didn’t know why and it never bothered her
before, but she had yet to regain her pre-horror night good nature.
She looked at the young girl and said “Excuse me, do I know you?”
The young girl turned and mumbled something that sounded like “I
don’t think so.” As she walked away.

“I’m sorry, Dawn, but we seem to get such
funny looks when we come in here, do I have lettuce in my hair or
something?” Sarah teased.

“It’s the house.” Dawn whispered, before
continuing to ring up the rest of Sarah’s purchases. Sarah was so
shocked, she wasn’t sure she had heard her correctly. “Excuse me,
what house?” Sarah asked. “You are renting that house on the corner
a few blocks down from here, right?” “Why, yes, but how would you
know that?” Sarah asked, startled and a little annoyed that anyone
would be keeping tabs on her family.

“We have had people coming in here before
talking about that house. It is supposed to be haunted.” Dawn
explained.

“HAUNTED?” Suzanne yelled. “No, Suzanne, Dawn
is just kidding, aren’t you?” Dawn looked down at Suzanne and
handed her a lollypop. “Here, Suzanne, I was just teasing your
mother, I hope you have a good time at the show, what movie are you
going to see?” “Shawn The Sheep.” Suzanne said, forgetting all
about the word ‘haunted’ as she took the candy. “Thank you.”

Sarah wanted to ask her for details, if there
were any. However, a line started to form behind her and they
didn’t want to miss the start of the show. “Thank you, Dawn, see
you later.” Sarah said. “I’m sorry if…..” Dawn started to say. “No,
no, it’s alright, honestly, I will have to stop in again soon, we
can chat then perhaps.” Sarah said, not wanting Dawn to think she
was angry. She wasn’t happy that Suzanne heard that bit of news,
but she herself was very curious why anyone would think that the
house was haunted.

When they got back from their movie they let
Cooper outside to run around and Sarah started making BLTs. “Riley,
have you given any more thought to what you want to do for your
birthday party?” Sarah asked.

“Yes, I figure if we can’t go home and
Brianna can’t come here, then just a cookout in the back yard will
have to do. I was thinking though, since I only know Julia, would
it be O.K. if I also invited a couple of friends I have met of hers
when I go over there?” Riley said. “This is a big back yard and it
would look like a loser’s birthday party with only two people
coming.” Riley reasoned.

“I can understand that, sure, you can invite
some of Julia’s friends to come. Next year will be different, you
will meet a lot of new friends once school starts.” Sarah said.
“What do you want for your birthday?”

“I know, I know” Suzanne said in an excited
voice, holding her hand up and waving it. “What, Suzanne?” “A
swimming pool, and a Tennessee house, and a new friend for Freddie
and Mr. Pickles.” She finished, half out of breath. “Oh yeah, just
what I want for MY birthday, butthead.” Riley said.

“A pool would be nice. I am just not sure if
a pool would be a practical investment given the weather here.”
Sarah said, thinking out loud. “But it is very hot, so whenever we
start to look for a new house to buy that will be ours, maybe we
can get one with a pool.” She said.

“Or how about we just go back home?” Riley
said on her way outside.

Dinner was almost ready when Jim walked in
the door. “Something smells good in here.” He said. “Pot roast,
call the girls in for me, will you?” Jim yelled out the door to
come and get it. Cooper and Riley came in looking hungry. “Where is
Suzanne?” Sarah asked. “I didn’t see her outside just now.” Jim
said. “She wasn’t with me and Cooper.” Riley said.

“Oh my God! Jim?” Sarah said, panic in her
voice. Jim looked at his wife and wondered why she was so upset.
“She is probably just playing with her evil Pickle doll.” He said,
trying to lighten the mood. Sarah went into the bathroom and both
bedrooms calling her name. No Suzanne.

Sarah’s throat constricted and she had tears
in her eyes as she screamed at the top of her lungs
“SUZANNE!!!!”

“I’m here, mommy.” Sarah threw open the door
that led to the upstairs bedroom and there was Suzanne, sitting on
a step near the top. The sun was coming in the window and it made
Suzanne’s light blond hair shine almost like a hallo.

“Get down here right this minute!” Sarah
yelled. Suzanne looked at her mother, her blue eyes open wide.
“Why, mommy? What did I do wrong?” “You could have died up there!”
Sarah screamed.