The Red Light (2 page)

Sarah pulled up to the school lot and
parked; she walked to the office and was directed to the nurses’
station. She found Teddy sitting on a big cushioned chair holding
an unopened bottle of water; she squatted down to be face level
with him and asked what happened.

“
Mom,” he said and gave
her a hug.

“
Ma’am, just sign here to
take him out of school today,” the secretary said to Sarah while
handing her a clipboard with a form attached.

“
Ok, I’ll get him home and
calm him down and try find out what is wrong.”

“
Probably just the new
school, new classmates and teachers, getting thrown in with all
these strangers can be traumatic,” the school principal
said.

“
I’d say you’re right,
I’ll have a long talk with him today and try to work it
out.”

Teddy was silent the whole way home;
he just sat and stared out the car window with his arms around his
school back pack. Sarah looked over at him while driving and has
such compassion for him; she was so worried for what he was going
through.

When they pulled up to the house he
felt nervous, “Can we sit outside on the deck for a while mom?” He
asked with a shaky voice and staring at the windows of the
house.

“
Yes, we can sweetie,
what’s wrong?” She asked with concern.

“
Nothing, I just wanna sit
outside and get some air for a while.”

“
Of course, you go on and
sit down and I’ll get us something to drink and take your stuff
inside, OK?”

“
OK, mom,” he said smiling
at her.

Sarah took his back pack inside and
got two glasses of lemonade for them and went out with Teddy, they
sat there for a long time talking about nothing important and
sipping lemonade.

“
So, honey, tell me what
happened at school today, what got you so upset?”

He sat there for a while looking down,
he could see in his head how the blood was coming toward his feet,
he also remembered the voice the night before telling him not to
say anything or he would kill them.

“
Oh, it was nothing mom,
it’s like you said, just a new school and new kids all around me,
it’s a lot to get used to, a big change. You know?”

“
I know sweetie,” she said
rubbing her fingers through his sandy blond hair.

She knew exactly what he meant about a
big change, it was totally different for all of them. After getting
Teddy to go inside and get something to eat, she called Mike’s cell
phone, she didn’t want to bother him at work, knowing that he was
going to be so busy setting up his new office, but he should know
what was going on with Teddy. Sarah talked to Mike, he was clearly
concerned but was unable to leave the office; he was very busy
today overseeing the remodeling and with the paperwork he needed to
finish in order to open his office.

Chapter 4

Teddy was lying on the couch watching
cartoons while his mother worked on getting the house in order; he
eventually went to sleep.

He awoke with Sarah and Mary walking
in the front door, his mother had walked down to meet her when she
got home from school.

“
Look, what I made,” she
said excitedly to Teddy holding up a drawing she did in class; it
was a roughly drawn picture of their new house.

“
That’s nice,” he said
sleepily.

“
Come on, let’s hang it up
on the regirator,” Mary said while dragging her mother into the
kitchen.

“
It’s pronounced
‘refrigerator,’ sweetie,” Sarah told Mary while giggling to
herself.

“
Regirator,” Mary said.
Sarah just agreed with her and hung the picture on the refrigerator
door, Mary was very pleased with it; she then went down the hallway
to the stairs and went up to her room.

“
Are you going to un-pack
some of your room tonight, Teddy?” Sarah asked.

“
I… I will tomorrow mom,”
he answered nervously.

“
Is something wrong,
honey?” Sarah asked while sitting next to him on the
couch.

“
No, I’m fine,
really.”

“
Okay, why don’t you watch
your cartoons and rest, you’ve had a rough day. I’ll let you know
when dinner is ready.”

Teddy was lying on the couch watching
cartoons and soon fell back asleep; meanwhile Mary was upstairs in
her room playing. She was unpacking some of her toys and placing
them on a shelf in her room; she had a large collection of dolls
and barely had enough space for them. She was talking to her dolls
while she was arranging them, like many little girls she would
pretend that she was their mother and is taking care of their
needs. Mary thought she was hearing a bump in the closet and would
stop, too scared to move; she could only stare at the door hoping
the noises would go away.

Sarah was preparing dinner and kept
hearing something down the hallway, she thought it was Mary playing
when suddenly she heard what sounded like heavy work boots going up
the stairs; she turned down the burner on the stove and went to
stairway looking up.

“
Mary, are you okay?” She
asked, but there was only silence. “Mary, what are you doing up
there?” She said a little bit louder.

“
I’m playing with my dolls
mommy,” she answered.

“
Okay, come down soon,
dinner is almost finished.”

“
Okay,” she answered
back.

Sarah went back to the kitchen and
resumed cooking, she looked at the clock and noticed that it was
almost seven; she thought Mike should be home soon. She knew he
would be spending long hours at the office while everything is
getting set up. She was thinking about all that happened to her
earlier and how she was getting jumpy and nervous at every little
sound; feeling like this it will be hard to know if it was just her
nerves or if it is real.

Mary came running down the steps and
into the kitchen. “Mommy, it’s cold in my room,” she said holding
her hands together like they were freezing. Sarah bent down and
held her hands.

“
Oh my, you really are
freezing, why don’t you go into the living room and stand by the
vent where the heat blows out.”

She nodded her head and went to warm
her hands. The house was huge and old; the stone held in the cold
and made it feel like there was no heat at all at times. In the
living room there was a very large fireplace, big enough to put
long logs into, Mike’s aunt had once told him that the double front
doors would be opened back in the house’s early days, and they
would have horses drag logs into the living room in front of the
fireplace, and roll them in.

Winter was getting close and Sarah
wondered how well the gas furnace in the basement was going to heat
the house, it would be nice to use the fireplace but where would
they get the wood for it. She would have to talk to Mike and figure
out something or they were going to freeze this winter.

Sarah got finished with dinner and had
it on the table, it was dark outside she seen the headlights
flashing through the windows, it was Mike, he was home. He came
inside and hung his coat on the antique coat rack at the door. “It
sure is getting cold outside,” Mike said as he sat down his
briefcase and made his way into the kitchen.

“
Come on and eat, it will
warm you up,” Sarah put her arms around Mike’s shoulders and gave
him a kiss on the cheek.

“
It was a long day; the
painters didn’t show so I was on the phone trying to find out where
they were. It was just a mess today.”

“
I found a secret room
today on the third floor,” Sarah said smiling while putting food on
her plate.

“
Oh, really, what did you
find in there?” Mike asked.

“
There are a lot of books,
and I found some notebooks that your aunt kept as diaries
and…”

“
Oh, how interesting, you
found diaries? What else?”

“
Nothing, I’ll tell you
later, it’s not important.” Sarah didn’t want to say anything in
front of the children and scare them, it’s hard enough to get used
to this huge austere house without her telling stories of what
scared her. “Do you think you will have time to help hook up the
washer and dryer soon, we’ll need clothes washed within the next
day or so?”

“
I’ll see what I can do,
maybe tomorrow I’ll be able to come home early and help you out
some.”

“
Thank you, I could use a
lot of help straightening everything out here, it’s such a mess and
one person can only do so much.”

“
Teddy came home early
today, I tried to call but you must have been busy,” Sarah
said.

“
What happened, son?” Mike
asked Teddy with a concerned look.

“
Oh, nothing Dad, new
school, new house, just hard to get used to,” Teddy
answered.

“
I can understand that,”
Mike said with a smile and rubbed Teddy’s head.

“
Daddy, I put a picture on
the regirator see,” Mary said excitedly pointing at the
picture.

“
Oh my, that is a great
picture sweetie you did well.”

When they finished dinner, Sarah sent
Teddy to take a bath and get ready for bed, Mary was on the couch
watching a children’s show, and Mike was in the kitchen drinking
coffee and talking with Sarah.

“
So, about this secret
room, what else happened?” Mike asked.

“
Well, after I found the
diaries I opened one, and the light blew out, it scared me to
death.” Mike laughed and Sarah lightly bumped his arm smiling. “No,
really, then there was this cold breeze blowing through the room
but the window was closed and had been covered over by a board, oh,
by the way I need you to help get that board off the window, when
we get everything straightened up I would like to use that room as
my office.”

“
I remember her talking
about her writing room years ago, but I never knew it was secret,”
Mike said.

“
Oh, it is secret, the
door is made into the wall, the only way I knew it was there is
because I was outside walking around the house and seen the window
on the third floor. I could tell that it was covered with something
on the inside; it took some searching along that wall to even find
the door. There were so many books, old dusty books it is amazing,
but I just felt like someone was watching me, I felt the same way
in the basement, maybe it’s just an old house and freaking me out,
but it felt real at the time.”

“
I’m sure it’s nothing
hon, this is just an old intimidating house, you will get used to
it in no time.”

“
Yeah, I guess you’re
right,” Sarah said smiling and finished putting the dishes in the
dish washer. “Come on Mary; let’s go see if Teddy is finished in
the bathroom so you can take your bath.”

“
Ok, mommy,” Mary said and
got up running to Sarah.

Sarah and Mary went upstairs and to
the bathroom door, Sarah knocked and asked if he was about
finished. “Yeah mom, I’ll be out in just a minute,” Teddy yelled
from the other side of the bathroom door.

“
While he’s finishing up,
let’s go to your room and get your pajamas,” Sarah told Mary as
they walked toward her room; when they passed Teddy’s room Mary
stopped her mother and pointed at his bed.

“
Mommy look, he’s in bed,
he’s fast,” Mary said.

Sarah looked and seen Teddy lying in
his bed covered up, but she just talked to him at the bathroom
door, she gasped and tried to gain control, trying not to panic and
scare Mary.

“
Teddy, weren’t you just
in the bathroom? Didn’t I just talk to you in there?” Sarah
asked.

“
No mom, I’ve been out of
the bathroom for like ten minutes,” Teddy said rubbing his eyes
sleepily.

Sarah went in and gathered Mary’s
clothes and tried not to think about what happened, but it was
foremost on her mind. She walked back down the hall and looked in
Teddy’s room again and seen him lying there in bed and wondered
what was going on in this house. When she and Mary got to the
bathroom door Sarah slowly went in with Mary behind her, looking
around for anything out of place but it all seemed
normal.

Mike was at the table downstairs; he
had gotten his briefcase and was going over some paperwork when he
heard a door down the hall shut, there was a linen closet past the
basement door where the blankets and sheets would be stored. He
walked down the hall and stood at the door listening closely but
heard nothing, he opened the door; it was musty smelling and full
of cobwebs, but otherwise empty. He closed the door, shrugged it
off and went back to the table to continue going over his
paperwork, old houses made sounds and he wasn’t going to let it get
to him.

Teddy was lying in bed staring at his
ceiling, he had turned his light on wasn’t going to turn his light
off tonight; he was too afraid that the same thing would happen
like the night before. He could hear the water running in the
bathroom, and his mother talking to Mary but couldn’t make out what
they were saying. There was a thump, Teddy jumped and lay there
very still, and then there was another loud thump, it sounded like
heavy footsteps on the floor above him, he could hear the steps
going down the stairs and down the hall to his room, then they
stopped. Teddy covered up his head, if there was something or
someone there he didn’t want to see it, he could feel the cold air
coming under his covers but heard not one sound.