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by Leona Keyoko Pink

  Mandy sat up in bed realizing she’d fallen asleep. She quickly turned off her alarm and lay back in bed. The dream she had was strange. It danced across her mind for a moment before she rolled over and got up. She needed to move if she was going to get dressed, eat breakfast, and catch her buses. She still wanted to talk to her parents but there was no time for that now. She’d have to wait until tonight.

  Mandy quickly went to the bathroom, washing her face and brushing her teeth. She got dressed and then brushed her hair. As she was heading downstairs to eat breakfast she passed her mother. She shuffled to the bathroom mumbling for Mandy to have a good day and be safe. Mandy wanted to ask her how her anniversary went but knew she was only half awake and again there was no time. She told her mother she loved her and to have a good day.

  Then Mandy rushed downstairs and made breakfast. She ate a quick bowl of cereal over the sink before gathering everything she needed. She bundle up tight and rushed out into the cold morning air. Her first bus was a few minutes early but her second bus was a few minutes late. She did her best to stay focus not wanting to miss work. She clocked in just two minute late. Even though there was snow outside the cafe was busier than ever. She barely had time to think, having to run back and forth. Someone called in sick so it was only two people working the cafe until nearly noon.

  By the time she got off at one she was exhausted. She had a pounding headache and took some medicine before she went to get her things. She couldn’t wait to get home and she was almost eager to talk to her parents now just wanting to get it over with. As she put one arm into her coat she heard the front door bell ring and looked to see a familiar face walk in. Mandy completely forgot she’d promised to spend the afternoon with her best friend, Tilly Duch.

  Tilly had moved to Mellbri when Mandy was in middle school. She was outspoken and wacky. Nearly every other week she was dyeing her hair strange colors and was always reading books on the occult. When she wasn’t reading she was telling others about her conspiracy theories, anything from the lunch ladies being from another planet to the English teacher being a time traveler.

  Most people found her strange but Mandy liked her. She enjoyed listening to her stories. Sometimes she wondered if Tilly really believed they were true or if it was just a way for her to pass time. Tilly’s parents weren’t around much and when they were they were always fighting like cats and dogs. Tilly often had to take care of her four little brothers who more than a handful. They were always driving her up the wall and getting into trouble. Mandy figured her conspiracies were her escape, a way to spice up her life.

  All through middle school and high school they were best friends. After graduation they promised to stay in touch. Mandy was going to college and Tilly would be staying behind. She barely graduated and her grades weren’t the best. Mandy was going to miss her but Tilly said she’d be fine. She had plans to work and save up some money so she could be a writer and a detective that travel the world. She wanted to search out the true occult. She was going to find a vampire and become immortal. They promised to write each other every week.

  However when Mandy's college plans fell through and she had to work for a year, they made a pack to instead meet once a week and hang out. With everything going on Mandy had completely forgotten about their plans. She didn’t think she’d be the best of company right now. She finished putting on her coat and walked up to Tilly. “I’m so sorry, Till. I completely forgot about our plans. Can we reschedule?”

  “You got other plans...With a guy?” asked Tilly taking off her knitted hat that looked like a cat. Last week her short wavy hair was magenta but now it was teal with bits of faded magenta shinning through. She had several facial piercings and a tattoo of a butterfly on her neck.

  Mandy was used to Tilly changing her style all the time and barely batted an eye “No, no, nothing like that. I’m just not feeling well,”

  “You getting sick? I thought you got the flu shot.”

  “I did, I’m not sick, sick. I just have a lot on my mind...”

  “Like what?” asked Tilly taking off her gloves.

  “It’s nothing...”

  “Oh come on! I didn’t drudge through half an hour of snow, so you could tell me you have a lot on your mind and then tell me it’s nothing!”

  “I’m sorry...I’ve just been frazzled all day...I don’t think I’d be the best of company right now.”

  “Oh please,” said Tilly pulling off her coat. “Did you forget I was with you the winter of freshman year when you had the bubonic plague and were blowing mega chunks on your couch? Whatever you’ve got on your mind can’t be that bad. Now buy me a latte with your discount and spill,”

  Mandy looked at the floor and considered telling Tilly about her problem. They were best friends but she had never talked to her about this. When Mandy had first realized what was happening her sophomore year, she had planned to tell Tilly. However before Mandy could talk to her about it Tilly’s mother had overdosed on some drugs. Tilly’s father was nowhere to be found for weeks. Tilly and her brothers had to stay with their grandparents until Tilly’s mother recovered. They’d kept in touch by phone but Mandy didn’t want to add more to her plate. By the time Tilly came back to school Mandy had already told her parents about it and had decided to handle things on her own.

  Maybe it was time to tell Tilly what was going on... Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to see what she thought. Mandy took off her coat and bought Tilly a latte and herself a hot chocolate before they picked a private table in the corner of the cafe. It was still pretty busy but mostly people were coming and going. No one was really sticking around. Still, Mandy looked around. She wanted to make sure no one would hear them.

  Tilly must have picked up on her tension. She flipped her hair and said, “Hey...what do you think of my new ‘do?”

  “Oh...it looks good,” said Mandy.

  “Great! Now what’s up?”

  Mandy sighed and bit her lip. “I’ll tell you but it’s really strange and kind of... crazy,”

  “Great! You know me. I love strange and especially crazy. The more crazy the more true it could be! That's my motto!”

  “I’m serious, Tilly. I’m scared.”

  Tilly leaned back in her chair. Her happy, playful mood quickly hardened as she got serious. She focused on Mandy and it was almost frightening how quickly she could switch over, “Okay I’m listening. What’s wrong? What’s got you so scared?”

  Mandy looked at her friend and then looked around the room once more. She tried to think or how to tell her and decided to start from the beginning. “I...I guess it started in junior high. I’d zone out and end up wandering sometimes. I’d get lost...Since it didn’t happen all the time I didn’t really pay attention to it. But it kept happening more and more and I started to realize our sophomore year that when I zone out...or go on auto pilot I’m actually...going...somewhere...”

  Mandy looked at Tilly trying to gauge her reaction but her face was expressionless. Mandy looked down at her hot chocolate and took a sip before she continued, “I don’t know why but I seem to be going to a particular house. Yesterday I actually made it all the way to the front door before I caught myself and realized what I was doing... I thought I could control this but I realized now I can’t. I’m worried it’s getting worse. Nothing bad has happened yet but what if one day I don’t catch myself. What if I try to go inside that house...Or what if something else happens...I’m really worried and I’m scared.”

  Tilly was quiet for a moment as she let out a low, “Hmm,” Mandy watched her waiting for her to respond. When she finally spoke she asked a question. “How often does it happen?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. Maybe five or six times a winter, at the most. It’s pretty spread out. Though last year it happened twice in one month,”

  “Hmm... you should keep track, like start a journal. Put in all the dates you can remember and write down whenever it happens. Does it only happen in the winter?”

  “So
far yeah,”

  “So it’s just like your weird colds and strange dreams then,”

  “Oh...I guess,” said Mandy. She’d almost forgotten she’d told Tilly some of her dreams. Mandy didn’t take much stalk in dreams. Only that sometimes they could be interesting. Like this morning dream. She wondered what those letters had written on them. After a few seconds Mandy sighed and thought it didn’t matter. “So what do you think? Do you think I’m losing my mind?”

  “I think it’s pretty interesting,” said Tilly before taking a sip of her latte.

  “Pretty interesting...Is that good or bad?”

  “Ehh I’ve heard worse. One guy would sleep walk and murder people,”

  “Yeah but that’s not real right? I mean it’s just a story.”

  “It might be true.”

  Mandy picked up her hot chocolate and drank several large gulps. If Tilly was trying to reassure her somehow, this didn’t make her feel better.

  Tilly yawned before she said, “I’m curious if you’ve known about this for a while now. Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?”

  “I wanted to...but I realized around the same time that thing happened with your mom. I didn’t want to bother you,”

  “Hmm I get that but it’s been years since then. Why did you wait until now to tell me?”

  Mandy tried to hide her frustration. She began to doodle on her napkin. She was getting the feeling that Tilly cared more about the fact that Mandy had waited so long to tell her about her problem versus Mandy’s actual problem. “Because...up until yesterday I thought I could handle it myself.”

  “Hmmm,” said Tilly. She seemed to accept Mandy’s answer and moved on. “So what you space out and just keep going to a house until you catch yourself and go home?

  “Yeah,” said Mandy thinking it sounded simpler then it was.

  “So nothing else strange happens?”

  “Isn’t that strange enough?”

  “I guess. Have you talked to your parents about it?”

  “I mentioned it to them when I first realized and couldn’t talk to you,” said Mandy moving her hot chocolate around on the table.

  “And?”

  “My dad thought I was being silly.”

  “And your mom?”

  “She was worried and wanted me to see someone. I got worried they might think I was crazy. I thought maybe I could handle this on my own but...I can’t.”

  “Hmmm,” said Tilly thinking as she sipped some of her latte

  Mandy sighed feeling depressed. She thought talking to Tilly might help but it only seemed to make her feel worse. “I’m gonna talk to them again tonight. Maybe see if I can get set up with a doctor... or a councilor.”

  “Before you do, mind if I take a whack at it?”

  Mandy raised her eyebrow and said, “No offense but how can you help?”

  “Give me a chance. Your parents are at work for a few more hours. And I’m here now. So let’s see this house of yours,”

  “You want to see it?”

  “Yeah,”

  “I...well. How will that help?”

  “Well how many people have you shown it too?”

  “No one,”

  “Well there you go. For all you know it’s not even real. You could have like a brain tumor and be imagining the whole thing. I read a book on that once.”

  Again Mandy wasn’t reassured by this. The thought that she was crazy was one thing but the realization she could be sick. That the house might not exist beyond her diseased mind was horrifying. “A tumor...”

  “Yeah people can see all sorts of stuff given where it’s at in the brain.”

  “That’s horrible,”

  “I know...so let’s rule it out. Take me to the house. Let me see it for myself. What have you got to lose? Besides from what you’ve been telling me, there is always a good chance you might have ended up spacing out and going there yourself. At least now you wouldn’t be alone,”

  “Uhh…” said Mandy. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond to that. Leave it to Tilly to be blunt. “I...I... guess...it wouldn’t hurt” At least if Tilly saw the house it would rule out a brain tumor...As if Mandy didn’t have enough to worry about.

  **********

  They finished their drinks and then got bundled up to go outside. It wasn’t snowing and didn’t take them long to catch a bus. Mandy was quiet for most of the trip even though Tilly tried to make conversation. Tilly seemed excited and Mandy couldn’t help but think this must have been fun for her. She probably thought it was an adventure.

  Like the summer they explored Burrows Cave, looking for vampires. As it turned out the cave didn’t even have a single bat. It did however have a ton of beer cans. Apparently the locals liked to party there late at night. Mandy smiled when she remembered Tilly justifying the lack of vampires. She’d said they must not have liked all the noise and gone elsewhere. For some reason the idea of vampires moving out because of too much noise always made Mandy laugh.

  As they drew closer to their destination, Mandy found herself worried that the house might not actually be there, that all of this really might just be in her head. After all, she’d never taken anyone to the house and as they traveled she realized she’d never purposely gone there. Up until this point she’d only ever gone by spacing out.

  It was strange making her way to the house instead of from it. She bit her lip when they finally reached Maple Street. It felt like a long walk but when she was standing in front of the house, Mandy almost felt relieved to see it. She took it in and somehow it seemed...different. She noticed details she hadn’t before.

  In her mind it was always beautiful, perfect. She closed her eyes and pictured it in the summer. She could imagine herself running up to it. The freshly painted wooden fence. The green grass. Running through the sprinkler with her best friend. Mandy opened her eyes. The fence wasn’t wooden. It was metal. The house while still beautiful was a different color. It was older then she realized. She could see where time had played its hand along the bricks and siding. It also wasn’t summer...It was winter...

  Tilly had gone on a few steps before she realized Mandy wasn’t with her. She walked back to her and asked, “Are you okay?”

  Mandy shook the strange thoughts from her head and said, “Yeah...we’re here. This is it. Can you see it?”

  “I sure can!” said Tilly excitedly. “We can rule out a brain tumor.”

  “Great, so now I’m just crazy,”

  “We’ll see,” said Tilly before stepping forward. Mandy watched as her best friend opened the gate and walked through it. Mandy’s eyes widened as Tilly’s feet pounded across the snow covered stone path. Mandy realized what she was doing and quickly dashed after her.

  Frantically she called out to her, “Tilly, Tilly get back here!”

  Tilly continued down the path and marched up the wooden steps of the front porch. She came to a stop before the screen door. Mandy scurried to get to her as she urged Tilly to stop. Her heart pounded in her chest as she watched Tilly raise her hand and knock on the screen door as if it was nothing at all.

  Mandy nearly slipped up the stairs as she made it to her friend. She grabbed Tilly’s arm and yanked it as she cried out, “What are you doing?!”

  “Obviously getting answers,” said Tilly casually, “Now shh,”

  Mandy couldn’t believe she was doing this. “Til-”

  The front door began to open and Mandy froze, her heart exploding in her chest. She wasn’t sure what or who to expect. An elderly woman opened the door and peered through the screen door. She looked the two girls over before asking, “Can I help you?”

  “Yes! Hello, uhh, do you know my friend?” asked Tilly suddenly pointing to Mandy.

  Mandy’s mouth fell open. She couldn’t believe Tilly was putting her on the spot. The elderly woman put on some glasses she had hanging on a chain around her neck. Then she opened her screen door a bit and looked Mandy up and down. After a few seconds she shook her head and sa
id, “No...I don’t believe so,”

  “Ah, okay. I’m sorry. We don’t mean to bother you.” said Tilly. Mandy shut her mouth wanting to leave but Tilly wasn’t done just yet. “My friend here, Mandy, thinks she might have been here before. Maybe when she was a kid. She might have known someone who lives here or used to live here,”

  “Ahh, well, I suppose that is possible. We bought this house about...let’s see...ten years back. From the Crans. I think they might have had some kids,”

  “Hmm… that could be it,” said Tilly. “Do you happen to know where they might be now? Where they might have moved?”

  “Oh no...I’m sorry. It was such a long time ago. We didn’t stay in touch. I don’t know where they would be now,”

  Before Tilly could ask any more questions, Mandy took charge of the situation. She clenched her fists and said, “That’s okay. Thank you so much for your time. Have a nice day,”

  “You too! Have a nice day and stay warm,” said the woman.

  Tilly opened her mouth to ask a quick question but Mandy grabbed her and pulled her to the stairs. The woman called out to them, “Be careful on the stairs. They can be slippery,”

  “Thank you,” said Mandy as she practically dragged Tilly down the stairs and onto the path.

  Tilly admitted defeat and called out to the woman, “Thank you for being so helpful!”

  Mandy dragged Tilly down the path and to the gate. Once they were through and it was shut she didn’t stop. She dragged Tilly nearly an entire block before she finally stopped. She let go of Tilly and yelled at her, “WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU JUST DID THAT!”

  Tilly straightened her winter coat. “What did it hurt? We needed answers and now we got some. We know the woman who lives there doesn’t know you and she’s been there for ten years. We know she bought the house from a family named the Crans, who had some kids. Did you know the Crans? Does that name sound familiar?”

  “No, they don’t sound familiar! And I-I’ve never been here before!” said Mandy. Even though she could picture the house in the summer, there was no way she’d been here before. She didn’t move to the area until she was eight and she would have definitely remembered that house.