Vacant

by S. Graham

  The sun starts to come up and shine, with the first bit of orange and pink showing in our room. It's a beautiful thing to wake up to. The reflection of the sun hitting the water projects dancing lights on our bedroom ceiling. It's so peaceful. My body is sore, and a good stretch is always enjoyable. I grab my housecoat to head down the hall and leave the boys to continue the well-deserved little sleep. Heading into the kitchen, I'm extremely grateful I unpacked the coffee maker yesterday. Today would be a coffee day, all day long. Plus, nothing starts my morning like fresh coffee beans brewing and filling the house with the aroma of pure heaven. I pour myself a coffee in my oversized mug and head outside to the backyard to enjoy peace and quiet before the craziness of children and unpacking begins. This moment is the perfect Mommy time.

  "Good morning, beautiful." I look over to see Mitch stepping outside with a coffee in his hand.

  "Good morning. Did you sleep okay?"

  "You mean after Logan gave me complete heart failure with the door launching open in the middle of the night? I was in a deep sleep when that happened, but fell back asleep right away once our little buddy snuggled in."

  "Yeah, he gave me a heart attack too, those zombies!" A little chuckle exists in my mouth. "Logan clearly hears stories from his older brother."

  Mitch bends over to kiss me. "Well, we have a busy day. TV, Internet and alarms are all being done today with the first person arriving in ten minutes, so let's get cracking."

  He is right; it's time to get started. I head in, get changed, and ready to tackle the big mess of boxes. The doorbell rings, and we are off to the races with Grand Central Station of activity. Mitch gets the door and lets a man into the house, clearly looking like the TV and internet installer with his company logo on his shirt. "Morning, ma'am," he says with a nod of the head. Mitch shows him around to the hookup locations. I turn around to see my little Logan rubbing his eyes and walking towards me.

  "Mom?" he says.

  "Let's get your brother up and get you both dressed!"

  "Can we go in the pool first?" My boys were born with gills pure-water babies.

  "How about right before lunch?"

  "Okay," he replies.

  Easy morning negotiations at its finest, I giggle. Both boys are up and eating cereal, with Connor bragging at how well he slept, "Like a baby, Mom."

  Logan pipes up and says, "Not me, I had a zombie standing in the middle of my room and he was just staring at me."

  "What?!" Connor seems concerned and instantly stops shoveling cereal in his mouth.

  "No one had anything in their room!" I interrupt. "It's just a new house and will take some getting used to. You will see, it's perfectly fine."

  Right? I think to myself. Positive. Last move and this house is perfect. Completely perfect.

  The doorbell goes again. Heading to the front door, I open it to see Carol standing there with two boys who look to be the same age as mine. "Good morning, Becca. I don't mean to bother you when I'm sure you're in the middle of unpacking, but I thought I could have the boys over to play with mine. This is Jacob and Michael." She taps them on the shoulders. "This way it can give you a bit of time to get settled and get some unpacking done with no interruptions. Mine are just itching to play with yours."

  "Oh… Umm, yeah sure… Yeah, that's totally fine."

  "Yay! Mom, can we show them our rooms?!" Connor asks while tugging at my shirt with excitement. Connor has always been a social boy ever since he was born. He has always been making friends and having endless playdates. Something I always enjoyed doing too.

  "Oh, no! My boys don't need to go in there. Oh, I mean while it's all crazy with boxes. Let's have you over to my house, we have a trampoline and a new puppy in the backyard!"

  Once again, the weird vibe that she doesn't like my house is back. "Yes, no problem. Let me know if you need anything, or I can come over while they play," I suggest.

  "I got this. Happy unpacking." Carol winks, then off she goes next door with all the kids full of excitement. I close the door and look at the house from the doorway.

  Yeah, maybe it is a maze of boxes. I tie my hair back, and I open the first box of many. Let's do this.

  "I don't understand. How is that possible? This makes no sense!" I hear Mitch in the other room rather angry an hour later. I walk in to see Mitch rubbing his head in confusion.

  "What's going on?" I ask.

  "They say there is no copper in the walls of this house, and this has to be done to get everything running."

  "What? That makes no sense!"

  "I know! He's calling someone else that can help get things done, but we are looking at a good delay in everything now!"

  "Great!" I said sarcastically in complete disbelief and relieved the kids are at the neighbor's and not here upset they can't play their games or watch Netflix on their iPads. I head outside in our backyard to hear the boys all playing together in Carol's backyard. The squealing of pure laughter and new friends makes me feel so happy amongst all this mess. It is promising to have a nice neighbor who especially wants to lend a hand.

  "Becca, that's not just it either!" Mitch storms outside with a phone to his ear. "I'm on hold with the rental company for this house. We have no pool heater on the side of the house, just an empty space."

  "What?" I say in complete confusion. The heater for the pool and hot tub were completely removed. "It was here four weeks ago, wasn't it?" I ask.

  "I have no idea, this is a complete mess and now I've been on the phone with this stupid rental company for this house explaining the problem, and they have the nerve to say it's not mandatory!" Mitch is getting more and more upset by the minute.

  "Not mandatory?" I whisper to myself. "That's ridiculous!"

  "Listen, this backyard has a pool and hot tub, it's not a bloody pond. This is false advertising, and these items were here before, so they need to come back now!" Mitch screams into the phone. Good grief, here we go; let's just add to the craziness. Thank God I'm a professional unpacker and have managed to bang out almost all the first-floor boxes. Then, the doorbell rings again.

  Chapter 3

  A rather short older lady in an oversized sundress is at my door.

  "Hi!" I say while watching the lady staring at me.

  "Oh, sorry. I was shocked the door opened. There hasn't been anyone in the house here for a very long time. I heard backyard noises from my house. We share a back fence."

  "We moved in yesterday."

  "We?" The lady questions.

  "Yes, my husband and two kids."

  "Oh… I see!" She says with a concerned tone.

  What is with every one and this house? Yes, we have moved here. We know it's been empty, and I'm right in the middle of dealing with a complete nightmare of things that have all gone wrong in just a couple of hours, so what do you need?

  "Since there's someone in this house now, I should tell you about the rats."

  "Rats?" I say with a shocked tone of voice.

  "This house has been empty, and it pours out such a negative energy that rats have been attracted to it. It is infesting our neighborhood."

  "I can assure you… I'm sorry your name was?"

  "It doesn't matter what my name is, I didn't give it to you. I'm just telling you your rats are running along the fence line and I've called this company." She points to the lease rental sign leaning up against the house. "They need to do something about it, and they won't".

  "I will look into this and thanks so much for coming over and checking on the house," I say.

  She lets out a snort in the air from her nose and turns her back to me as she starts to walk away. "Bye now," I say while closing the door.

  "Who was that?" Mitch asks.

  "Some crazy lady said we have rats; she was so rude."

  "I was going to call an exterminator anyway just to look and spray for the fire ants too." Living in Texas has shined some light on exterminators; they are our best friends.

  "We have someone here now
doing the wiring and the hot tub heater should be going in within a couple of days," Mitch continues.

  "What a draining first day! I'm going to run next door and get the boys." I head out our front door, leaving Mitch to start breaking down the unpacked boxes. I walk up Carol's driveway, and I ring the doorbell.

  "Becca, come on in. The kids are having so much fun they can stay longer, and I can make hot dogs for dinner."

  "Awe, thanks Carol, you are kind, but we are going to get cleaned up and explore some restaurants in the area for dinner. You have helped so much with the kids today."

  The boys run to the door, begging to stay longer.

  "Nope, not today, we are going to go out for dinner." I help them put on their shoes.

  "You know, Becca, I didn't want to come off strange with the group introduction yesterday. The whole street was buzzing. The house was rented, and we were so happy it was going to be filled with a happy family. I look at your house next door everyday being vacant and almost sad. I'm so glad you and your family are here." She touches my arm.

  "Thanks Carol, we are happy to be here. Thanks again." I usher the boys out. Carol stood at the door with an almost sad smile on her face. Thank goodness this long day is coming to an end.

  We head out for dinner and enjoy a rather delicious Mexican restaurant not far from us. The boys love fajitas; they would eat them every day if they could. Pulling back into our driveway, I don't even look at the second-floor window, not wanting to feed back into my imagination.

  "I'm so glad this day is over," Mitch says. "It was complete hell. How about we take these sleepy heads upstairs to bed and watch the Redbox movie I grabbed?"

  The boys must have played hard at Carol's. They were fast asleep in their seats. The ten-minute drive from the restaurant knocked them out.

  "Sounds good," I reply.

  Mitch unlocks the front door, and the lights from inside the house illuminate our entry.

  "I thought we turned the lights off," I said.

  "I guess you didn't." He shrugs as he carries Logan upstairs, with sleepy Connor walking not far behind. I swear I turned them all off, didn't I? I head up the stairs to kiss both boys goodnight starting with Logan's room.

  Logan wakes up from his sleep and completely freaks out, kicking his hands and feet. "Nooooo! I'm not sleeping in here; he's going to come back! I want to sleep with Connor."

  "Yeah, Mom, can we have a sleepover tonight? I want him to sleep in my bed," Connor yells from his room. Connor had taken our old queen bed, so he was excited to have his brother sleeping in his big boy bed with him.

  "Okay, then! Tonight only." I'm the worst negotiator. We tuck them both in and turn the lights off. Mitch heads downstairs to put on the movie, and as I start to descend the stairs, I stop and look towards Logan's bedroom as the door slowly creaks closed on its own. Choosing to ignore it completely, I walk straight downstairs, not looking back. We have the air conditioner on, or maybe there's just something wrong with that door.

  Mitch and I snuggle up to watch the Redbox movie, and I fall asleep 30 minutes into it. Mitch nudges me awake not long after I doze off, smiling, knowing he busted me not making it through a movie, yet again. Admitting defeat to falling asleep on the couch, I head to our bedroom, crawling into bed rather fast, wanting to chase my deep sleep I just minutes ago achieved. Mitch crawls in not long after me, and I have a feeling he feels the same after such an exhausting day.

  Many hours later, the sound of "Mom… Dad…" whispered in our room again, and it woke me up. Sitting up, I adjust my eyes to the darkness of the room and glance at the alarm clock. It reads 3:39 am. "Logan?" I look around. The fan blowing on high is moving my hair slightly. Our bedroom door is wide open. Since we sleep with our door closed, I know Logan is in here somewhere. Once again, I call out "Logan?"

  My eyes start to adjust to the darkness a bit more, and I notice Logan is standing behind the open door, almost tucked in between the wall and the door. "Logan? What's wrong, baby?" He is whimpering and playing with the door handle turning it open and close, making a clicking sound with each twist over and over. He's not responding to me; he is just playing with the door handle. I shake Mitch.

  "Mitch, turn on your lamp. Logan is here upset." Mitch stirs out of sleep and fumbles for the lamp, knocking other items off the nightstand in the process. A burst of light illuminates the entire room, not leaving a single shadow.

  "Where?" asks Mitch. Looking towards the door and there's no one there.

  Is Logan gone? "What? He was just there, I saw him."

  Mitch gets up to use the washroom and says, "I think you were dreaming."

  My heart starts racing, but I heard him whispering our names. I grab my housecoat and walk through the open bedroom door and past the living room. Maybe he ran back upstairs? I'm nervous and can feel my palms start to sweat with anxiety. I turn on the living room lights, and I call out, "Logan?" Nothing. Checking to the front door where the stairs to the second-floor start, the lights are all off; Logan would have turned them all on to see. I turn on the hall lights and walk up towards Connor's room. Their bedroom door is closed, just how I left it. With my hand on the doorknob, I slowly turn it to the right, and gently pushing the door open.

  My heart is now beating out of my chest. The door is open enough to place my head in and peak. Connor and Logan are fast asleep. A gasp gets out, and I take a step back, feeling the hair on the back of my neck stand up. The hall starts to spin, and my hand is on the wall to stabilize myself. I know what I saw and what I heard. I pull myself together, take a deep breath, and close the door quietly. As I was walking away from Connor's room towards the landing, I noticed Logan's bedroom door closed. A blue light was shining from underneath his door, recognizing the colors right away. It's from his night light projection lamp. I only turn on when I tuck him in. My hands reach the railings to the first stair.

  Suddenly, feeling light-headed again, the room starts to spin, and my body heats up with nausea. Then, a child's giggle erupts from Logan's room and I know that's not my son.

  "Logan must have left this on," Mitch says, and he passes me coming up the stairs and heading to Logan's room. His voice breaks me out of the shock I was feeling, and the room suddenly stops abruptly spinning around me. Mitch turns the doorknob, opens Logan's door, walks right in, and turns off the night light. Following behind him slowly, I approached the room to see no one; nothing to explain the child's giggling coming from the room moments ago. Speechless, I stand in the center of the room with a blank look on my face.

  "Kids asleep?" Mitch asks. "Hello? Kids asleep?"

  "Umm, yes," I respond, snapping out of this uncertain moment. Then, heading downstairs in disbelief, I leave Mitch following behind.

  "Looks like you were the one dreaming tonight," he laughs as he wraps his arm around my shoulders. "Come on, let's get some sleep."

  Letting out a fake smile in agreement, however, I know sleep is out of the question tonight after this.

  Chapter 4

  Exhausted is not a strong enough word for how I feel this morning. There isn't enough coffee I can ingest that can possibly give me the extra kick needed. This is my third cup, and absolutely nothing is giving me the energy needed. Today we must head over to the new school with our proof of registration and take a private tour with the kids. Connor is excited for his first day at school, and the boys are playing nicely this morning. I dread breaking it up. This uninterrupted time is much needed, a moment to replay last night. Putting my coffee cup down, I start to head up to Logan's room. The door is open from the boys running in and out of it, with the light shining brightly from the window giving it an inviting and pleasant feeling during the day. It's hard to imagine the fear in this room hours ago. As I am glancing at my watch, I realize that it's time to get the boys to put on their shoes and head out the door.

  We take the kids to the elementary school and are very pleased with the staff and teachers. The school was built just a few years ago and still has
the new-school smell. Logan will be going to a preschool two days a week to make some new friends; he's not at the age to join his brother in elementary school yet, but it's a great time to take baby steps towards socializing and being away from mom. It works well because it gives me the time to run errands and get some uninterrupted cleaning time done. After signing the kids up for their new schools, we head back home with the plan of hitting the pool. One great thing about Texas is that the sun is always shining, making everything that much better. It was always overcast and dreary at our last home in Canada, and let's face it, everyone needs some sunshine. It is the kind of change we can all take advantage of with a cool dip in the pool and the sun on our back.

  As I was opening the front door, kids blast past me heading straight upstairs to get changed for the pool. In the meantime, I grab the towels and some juice boxes for extra hydration. I open the back door, and as I'm standing in front of the pool, I yell, "What on earth is that? Mitch?" pointing into the pool.

  Floating at the surface of the entire pool are what look like strings of balls.

  "Is it a plant of some sort?" Mitch steps out towards the pool. "What the heck is that?". He grabs the pool net and gets underneath the strand; the black balls float in every direction. "They are eggs of some sort, the whole pool is full of them."

  "This is gross, I'm calling the exterminator right now. I want to know what the heck this is." I grab my phone.

  "Let's get a pool company here too to clean this all up, I've never seen anything like this, there must be millions."

  The kids come running out, ready to dive into the pool. Mitch stops them right before Connor's leap.

  "Nope, boys, not today. The pool has something yucky in it. Let's head over to the neighborhood pool. We can go for a walk."