The House Next Door (11 page)

IF YOU ARE PATIENT, YOU WILL HAVE YOUR CHANCE TO LEAVE TOO.

THE ONLY NIGHT YOU WILL BECOME VISIBLE TO PEOPLE THAT LIVE OUTSIDE OF THIS HOUSE WILL BE ON NEW YEAR'S EVE . . .
IN FIFTY YEARS
. THEN IT WILL BE YOUR TURN TO FIND YOUR REPLACEMENTS. IF YOU CHOOSE, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO EXCHANGE YOUR SPOT IN THE HOUSE WITH TWO NEW PEOPLE. YOUR REPLACEMENTS MUST BE INSIDE THE HOUSE AT THE TWELFTH STROKE OF MIDNIGHT ON THE GRANDFATHER CLOCK THAT TICKS IN THIS ROOM. YOU MUST BE OUTSIDE. THOSE ARE THE RULES.

WE ARE SO SORRY TO HAVE DONE WHAT WE DID TO YOU. SOMEDAY WE HOPE YOU'LL UNDERSTAND WHY WE DID IT.

JOHN AND MICHAEL

Amanda jumped off the couch in anger. “Is this their sick idea of a joke?” she shouted. “I've heard of all sorts of crazy magicians. This has to be a trick!”

Now it was Alyssa's turn to slump down onto the sofa. She continued to stare at the letter. Then, she felt that overwhelming and now familiar sense that someone was watching her. She lifted her eyes from the page.
Her gaze drifted over to the large archway leading into the foyer.

A small girl stood before her. The small black cat weaved between her legs.

Alyssa could barely move. She tried to speak, but she could not form any words.

“Who are you?” Amanda asked in a trembling voice.

“I'm Charlotte,” the small child answered. “Charlotte Goodwin.” She reached out to grab the hand of the man who had suddenly appeared next to her. Beside him was a small boy and a woman holding a baby. They looked like they had come straight out of the old photographs on the nearby table.

The woman swayed and cooed at the baby, lightly patting its back. She smiled at Alyssa. To her surprise, Alyssa felt strangely comforted. “Welcome,” the woman said.

“Is it true what this note says? That we can't leave?” Alyssa asked.

“This all must be very confusing for you,” the man said. He spoke with a hint of a Texas twang, but Alyssa had never heard an accent exactly like his.

“We built this house over a hundred years ago,” he
continued. “We tried to make it the perfect home. And over time it was perfect. But whenever we would go out, something would go wrong with the house. A door would fall off its hinges, or the roof would leak. It got to the point where if we even set one foot out the door, something would collapse inside the house. It became clear that the house didn't ever want us to leave. So we didn't. We preserved enough food so we would hardly ever have to leave. We spent all our time in our perfect house. Then one day, not long after the new year exactly one hundred years ago, a letter was pushed under our front door, informing us of a mandatory meeting in the newly built town hall for all of Glory's residents. We dressed to go into town. But when we stepped over the threshold, we were instantly transported back inside the house, looking out into the vast meadows. Just like you, the house would not let us leave.”

“But how can a house do that?” Amanda asked.

“It's not the house so much as the land it was built on. We were as surprised and saddened as you are now,” Mrs. Goodwin replied. “We searched and searched until we found an answer. And it was hidden right before our very eyes. We found the original deed from the bank.
In fine print, was a paragraph explaining that the land was historic and sacred . . . and cursed. If we built a house here, we were also responsible for the upkeep of the land. Of course we didn't realize that the land also had certain supernatural elements that would require us to stay here forever.”

“But what can
we
do?” moaned Alyssa. “We can't stay here forever! We can't even stay here overnight.”

Mrs. Goodwin looked at the sisters with sympathy. She nodded, understanding. “This is our home,” she explained. “We are happy to stay here as a family forever. It turned out that the curse was actually a blessing for us, but that doesn't have to be your fate.”

“John and Michael had the misfortune of wandering into the house fifty years ago on New Year's Eve,” Mr. Goodwin continued. “When the clock struck twelve, the curse was triggered, and they were trapped here with us just as you are now.

“But John and Michael were not happy with their situation. They tried everything to get out of the house. They even tried to burn it down once, but the house found a way to extinguish itself. Then, maybe thirty years ago, the bank hired a psychic. The townspeople
must not have wanted to tear down the house since it was the first house built in Glory, but they didn't want it to be abandoned either. They wanted someone to buy it, but no one would, not until the rumors that it was haunted were squashed. Surprisingly, we were able to communicate with this psychic. And she was able to sense things about the curse—things we never could have known. We all listened, including John and Michael, as she explained about the curse taking hold every fifty years. And she explained about the loophole with replacements. Then all John and Michael had to do was wait for their turn to escape.

“Like them, you will have just one opportunity to escape the curse—in fifty years on New Year's Eve—but only if you find replacements. Once the house has claimed more souls, the number of souls has to remain the same.

“We tried to warn you. We knew the boys planned to find replacements. Did you hear us calling out to you tonight? Telling you to stay away?”

“We tried to contact you in other ways,” Mrs. Goodwin added. “To scare you even, so you'd run from the house. The dolls' eyes blinking open. The rocking
chair and wheelchair. We wanted to do more; to appear and simply tell you to leave.” She looked regretfully at the girls. “The house's power is strong. All of our more substantial attempts at communication were blocked.”

Amanda and Alyssa nodded, taking in and trying to believe all that they had heard.

Suddenly, the front door swung open. Anne ran inside. Carrie was right behind her. They pointed their flashlights into each room, searching frantically for Alyssa and Amanda. Amanda ran over and tried to grab her younger sister. But her hand went right through Anne's arm.

“Alyssa! Amanda!” cried Carrie. She ran into the kitchen and continued searching for her friends. “I thought you said you left them here!” she yelled to Anne.

“I did!” Anne replied. Tears started to spill from her eyes. “Where are they?”

“Anne! Carrie!” Alyssa shouted. “We're here!”

Alyssa stood in front of Anne, so close she could feel her warm breath. She waved and flung her arms around wildly while screaming into her sister's ear. But no matter how loudly Alyssa and Amanda shouted, it was useless—Anne and Carrie could not see or hear them. When she
did gaze in their direction, Anne looked right through her two older sisters.

Alyssa looked at the Goodwins with pleading eyes. They stood silently, shaking their heads. It was no use. The curse was too strong. Alyssa and Amanda stopped moving and yelling as they watched Anne and Carrie walk out the door and into the night—back to the Petersons' home.

“You cannot communicate with the outside world,” Mrs. Goodwin said. “In time, you may learn how to send whispers across the meadow, show your shadow to those outside the house, or even open and close the doors and shutters. But there will be no significant contact.”

“Until New Year's Eve in fifty years,” Alyssa said. “When we find our replacements.”

December 27th

The rain poured down angrily on the old roof. The two sisters looked out of dingy window and watched the water splash against the glass. Amanda gazed longingly at the lush meadow in front of her; it separated the house she was in from the house next door. It was winter in Glory, Texas, and wildflowers were in bloom.

“You'll get to see them close-up soon enough,” Alyssa told her sister.

“Hmm,” Amanda replied. She was hardly listening.

“I thought you'd be more excited,” Alyssa replied. “After all, think of all the things we'll see on the other side. There must be so many changes, and we're still so
young. Who knows? Maybe we can find everyone again.”

Amanda walked over to the faded sofa. She opened a book she'd already read a million times, flipping through the pages and not really reading any of the words.

“Seriously, why aren't you more excited?” Alyssa asked.

“I'm just not convinced that it's fair,” Amanda said. “Think about it. We didn't have a choice.”

Alyssa looked away from the window and then walked over to join her sister on the sofa.

“I just can't stay here anymore,” Alyssa said. “We have to do it. We have to move forward with the plan!”

“How do we know that all will be okay?” Amanda asked her.

“It just will,” Alyssa replied. “And we
know
that it will work. It did with us.” And with that, Alyssa stood up anxiously. She couldn't bear the thought of her sister backing out of the plan now. They had waited so long, and she didn't want to face the outside world alone. They were destined to face it together. The house next door had remained empty for many, many years. Then one day last year, the
FOR SALE
sign was removed, and the girls excitedly watched a family moving boxes into
it—a family with four teenage boys.

The girls had known then that their turn was upon them. Alyssa went back to the window. The rain had lifted and was now just pitter-pattering on the grass.

“Don't you want to be out there again?” Alyssa asked pointing to the fields. “We've waited long enough!”

Amanda rose from the sofa and then walked over to the window. She wrote an
A
in the foggy glass. “I guess we should try.”

Alyssa grabbed Amanda's hand. “That's what I want to hear. Come on. We only have a few days, and there's still so much to be done. Timing is everything.”

 

“You don't have to wait, Mom,” Kristi Chen said firmly.

Mrs. Chen pursed her lips. “Are you sure, honey?” she asked. “It looks like the other parents are staying until the buses leave.”

“But don't you have an important meeting?” Kristi replied.

“Yes,” Mrs. Chen admitted. As one of the busiest lawyers in the state, Mrs. Chen was always rushing off to a big meeting or a court date.

“So go!” Kristi exclaimed. “Seriously, why waste your time standing around breathing in bus fumes?”

“Okay,” Mrs. Chen finally gave in. She wrapped her arms around Kristi for a big hug. “Be careful, Kristi.
Don't go off by yourself; listen to your teachers; stay safe.”

“Okay, Mom! Love you! Bye!” Kristi cried. She grabbed her overnight bag and backpack and bolted from the car before her mom could change her mind.

The rest of the seventh graders at Jefferson Middle School milled around the two buses that were idling by the curb. Kristi had never seen her classmates so excited to be at school on a Monday morning. She adjusted her backpack as she moved toward the crowd, looking for her best friend, Olivia Papas. But, as usual, Olivia found Kristi first.