Before Paul could respond, Connie spoke up. "Wait a minute... what Curtis place? What dark haired lady?" Connie was definitely beginning to get brushed the wrong way.
"Some couple disappeared from there a long time ago, I heard." Paul began, telling a little story of his own. "They said they found the guy dead... but they never found the woman. But I seen her! I seen her around! She got long dark brown hair... she's pretty... an she's sad just like that woman in your st--"
"That's enough for today, class!" Their teacher, who had been listening in, interrupted. She pointed a stern finger at Paul. "I'll talk to you when we get back to class!" Paul looked at his feet and shuffled his way out of the library following the rest of his classmates.
Connie had been shaken up by that story, but forgot about it by lunchtime. On her way home, she decided to treat herself to some Chinese food at the local Chinese restaurant. When she finally made it home, there was a message waiting for her on her answering machine. It was her husband, he sounded very tired.
"Hey baby, its me Don. Things went alright today, better than I thought at least. I hope your day at work went okay, though I'm sure you dazzled them all. Listen, I'm going to goto sleep in awhile and the hotel disconnects my phone when I goto bed so if you miss me, I'm sorry. I hope to talk to you soon, babe, and I hope to be back as soon as possible. Night sweetie, I love you."
Connie called Don's hotel, sure enough the phone had been disconnected. Shit if she had only eaten at home. She made a mental note to eat at home the next night. She was tired herself, and decided to skip reading for that night and to go straight to bed.
On her way up the stairs, however, she noticed a houseplant had been knocked over. Strange, what could have done that? Connie thought it over and decided just to clean it up and go to bed. She had probably knocked it over that morning in her rush out the door anyway. Sure she worried about it before she went to sleep... tossed and turned a few times... but eventually she made it to sleep. It would soon prove to be a greater challenge to stay asleep, however...
* * *
Chapter 5
That night, Connie dreamed. The dream started out normally enough. She was sitting in her recliner, reading her novel. She could hear rain tapping against the copper roof over the bay window. A stormy night, just like the night she heard the noise. She put down the book and thought about looking in the kitchen. Somehow she felt she needed to. Those thoughts were quickly replaced by a sound. The sound of someone knocking on the front door.
Who could that be at this time of night, Connie thought as she got up to answer the door. There was a lady at the door, about her age. She was drenched from the rain. Her long brown hair was pasted to her face, which was pale white. She was shivering.
"Could I please use your phone? My car has broken down, and I need to call my husband to pick me up." Connie looked past her onto the road. Sure enough, there was a white sedan parked on the road beside her driveway. She opened the door wider as to let the woman in. She said not a word to the woman, but started boiling a pot of water for tea. The woman called her husband as she did this, but she heard none of the conversation.
Connie quietly made the woman and herself cups of hot tea. They both sat down at the table. The woman had dried completely and was no longer shivering, yet was still pale as ever and cold to the touch. She began to speak again.
"I use to live here, you know. Everyone thinks I'm missing... I'm sure you know that by now, right?" Connie just stared at her, expressionless. The woman, however, had an excited look about her. "I was never lost, myself--the town lost me, but I know exactly where I am. Right here!" She giggled. Suddenly her face became stern and she leaned in closer to Connie. Connie, didn't move however... she just stared forward. "Let me tell you something. The town? They don't know jack shit! They misunderstand everything. You shouldn't believe all the rumors."
They both stood up from the table. The woman looked around, her eyes wide. A huge smile spread across her face. "I just love what you've done to the place." Connie made no response. The woman walked to the front door and opened it, looking outside. "Well, my husband is here to take me away, as usual. Thanks for the... hospitality." She walked out the door. Connie watched her walk down the driveway to her car. She couldn't see anyone waiting for her. Suddenly the woman vanished into thin air.
Suddenly, as if given permission, Connie could express her emotions once again. She did what she had wanted to do since she laid her eyes on the woman. She screamed.
The last bit of her dream woke her from her slumber. That was a crash of thunder. Connie gasped. What had she dreamed? Had Paul's story gotten to her that badly? She shook her head. The sound of thunder resonated in her mind. Suddenly she realized it wasn't thunder at all. Someone was banging, rather heavily, on her front door.
* * *
Chapter 6
Connie panicked. She could remember the dream as it had actually happened. She had actually watched that woman walk out her front door and disappear. The same front door that something was currently using as a punching bag. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't see the front door from her bedroom window so she couldn't very well see who was there. She wasn't about to go and look downstairs. Instead she locked her bedroom door and picked up the phone to call the police.
She got a hold of Sheriff Franklin, someone she knew. She breathed a small sigh of relief. She explained her situation and he said he would personally come down with another officer since it was a slow night. Connie thanked him and hung up.
Suddenly the banging stopped. Connie ventured over to her door and opened it slowly. The door downstairs was still closed, and she was pretty sure it was still locked tight. The person must have given up. Thinking quickly, she ran back to the phone and called Joan.
"Joan, quick! Run outside and see who's leaving my doorstep!" Connie spoke quickly when Joan groggily answered the phone.
"Alright, hold on," Joan answered. Moments went by. Then Joan returned. "Connie, honey. I didn't see anyone. What's going on?"
"God, Joan. Someone was just banging on my door."
"Huh? Knocking on your door? Who would come by at this time of night?"
"Not just knocking, banging. I've never heard anybody bang as relentlessly as this! And right after this creepy dream I had. Let me tell you--" At that moment, something slammed up against the door. This time it sounded like someone was ramming their body up against it. "JOAN NOW! CHECK NOW!" Connie screamed. She heard the phone drop. This tone of voice wasn't one to be argued with. Soon she heard the click of another phone pick up.
"Connie, honey? I'm in your hedges with my cordless. There's nobody here, I'm telling you."
"They must have just run away! Damn!"
"No, honey. The only places they can hide are these hedges... I'm telling you, they aren't here! I mean, really... where else could they go?"
As if to answer Joan's question, a sound comes from downstairs. This time, however, it was from within the house. Connie knew exactly what it was, too. It was the potted plant from downstairs. Her door was still open from when she checked the door the last time and sure enough... the plant was on its side. However, no one was around to have knocked it over. It just fell over on its own.
"Connie? Connie? What's up, what's happening?"
"A plant fell down downstairs, that's all."
"Fell down? You don't have any pets... oh my god! Did the person get in your house?"
"No... no... I don't see anyone. Wait!" Connie heard something outside again... a car! "Joan! Who's there!? The car!!!"
Joan chuckled a bit. "Well Mrs. High-strung, that would be Sheriff Franky."
Sheriff Franklin and one of his men, Officer Dean, made their way up the driveway. The Sheriff knew what was going on already... some kids out to spook the tenants of the Curtis place again. Suddenly he heard a noise in the hedges. I actually get to catch one of them this time, he thought.
"Just me! Just a neighbor!" Joan jumped out from the bushes. "I have Connie here o
n the cordless, I was watching her door for her."
"Kinda dangerous, don't you think?" the Sheriff responded. "So, who were the little brats this time?"
"Actually... I didn't see anything."
"Nothing? Ah... must have been a terrorize-and-run effort," Franklin snorted.
Connie had finally come out of her house and heard this. "No... they did it a second time."
"A second time, eh? More banging?" The Sheriff looked mildly interested now.
"No... not banging. They sounded like they were throwing themselves against the door."
The Sheriff chuckled at this. "Throwing themselves against the door now, are they? Goddamn brats never cease to amaze me. What you have here, darlin', is a case of the little neighborhood brats deciding to take advantage of all the little ghost stories they make up about your home and terrorize the hell out of you. Its happened before, trust me."
Connie wasn't very convinced, but the Sheriff went on to tell her that he and his man would poke around the neighborhood starting with her house to see if they could find out who did this. This was enough to calm her down. She thanked Joan and the Sheriff and went inside.
Once inside Connie sighed. This week just wasn't going very well, and she was sure it was because Donald was gone. She had been so dependent on him sleeping by her and being with her that she was going stir crazy with him being gone. She had to do something to keep her mind off of everything. She decided tomorrow she would hold a women's poker night at her house. She had played poker with the neighborhood women before and enjoyed their company... she was sure she could get them together again.
She was about to make her way upstairs when she stopped at her plant that had fallen over. It was a rather small plant on a tall stand. I need to get another stand Connie thought as she swept up the soil and replaced the plant. She then looked at the plant and gave it a little push. It didn't fall over. In fact, the stand was rather sturdy. Besides that, the stand had never fallen over in the first place. That's odd, she thought. She shuddered.
She then finally went to bed, but she barely slept. She was too wound up from the night's events. Could the kids who knocked on the door be the same kids who talked to Paul in class? Not likely, they didn't seem smart enough to be able to hide from the Sheriff that easily. Then Connie thought about the slamming body against the door... that couldn't have been a little kid. She shuddered again. Must be teenagers, she told herself. But no matter how much she told herself that, she couldn't bring herself to go to sleep until the late hours of the morning. And she never again that night heard banging on her door.
* * *
Chapter 7
August 19, 1998
Connie didn't feel her love of teaching pulling her out of bed that morning. Instead she could barely even raise her hand to shut off the alarm clock. She had been asleep when it rang, but the last time she had looked at the clock was two hours before. She had never had a sleep that bad. She simply felt terrible.
She really didn't want to bail on her job, it being her third day. She decided she would go in, and if she felt bad enough she could always leave early. She would definitely take a nap when she got home, before the women came over for poker. She drug herself over to the shower and then made her way downstairs for two cups of coffee and some toast.
The coffee didn't make her feel that much better, but kept her awake enough to drive at least. She made it to school late, she must have thought about coming in for just a little too long that morning. The first bell rang as she entered the library and it brought to her attention the headache that was slowly forming in her head. It soon became a splitting, throbbing nightmare within itself.
She shook her head to get her bearings and realized that Joe was talking to her. "You ok, Connie?" He asked.
"Yeah, yeah I'm fine... just a little headache... I'll take some aspirin. So what's on the agenda for today?"
"Well, there's three classes coming in, the first should be arriving any minute. Would you like to teach them? You did such a good job yesterday."
"Sure, sure," Connie said, sort of warily, "that'll be fine." Joe had a look of concern on his face but he shrugged it off and turned to notice the class coming in through the door.
Connie began as she did the day before, telling the students about the basic library services. As she was leading up to the part where she had been excited the day before, where she would get to really interact with the students, she did not feel the same. This time, she just wanted to get the job done and out of her mind.
"So, does anyone have a favorite subject?" Nothing. "...Anything? Come on, you guys must have something you'd want to read about..."
One kid perked up. "Space?" he ventured. Connie brought them over to the very same place she did when the little girl had asked. Only this time she replied with a simple "And here's where you would find books on space!"
"Anything else?" She asked. She brought them from isle to isle showing them where to find the books on dogs, horses, and cars that they wanted to find. Then one child spoke out and said the inevitable.
"Ya got any books on ghosts?" It was an honest enough question, at least it was the day before.
"Why do you ask?" Connie snapped back. "Do you want to torture me too?" She felt like taking back that response as soon as it left her mouth. The kid blinked, obviously not knowing what was wrong with her. "I'm sorry, here... they're over here... now you'll have to excuse me class, just for a moment."
Joe was already waiting for her by the door to the office, he had heard. "Connie, what's wrong with you? Why did you snap like that?"
"Shit, Joe... I'm sorry," Connie was starting to cry a little. Snapping at a child like that was the last thing that she'd even dream of doing. "It's just I've got a lot of things going on, that's all."
Joe motioned for another member of the library staff to take over the class. He shut the door of the office. "Tell me, what's on your mind?"
She told him everything, starting with what happened the day before in the library with the whole ghosts topic. "And all of the sudden, I get a banging on my door... and the Sheriff said it was kids bothering me because I supposedly live in a haunted house. And maybe I'm starting to think I do but I don't believe in shit like that. Its just gotten me wound up, that's all. I'm starting to think that everyone is out to get me."
Joe seemed to be a bit relieved. "Connie, don't let that stuff get to you. Nobody in this school beat on your doors and your house isn't haunted. The older kids in the neighborhood made up that rumor. They tend to bother whoever lives there at times and they tell the younger children that its haunted. I hear they use it to hang out at when it's vacant. Who knows, maybe they're just annoyed that someone is living in it now."
"Well... when we bought the house, they did have to fix a broken window and the front lock was busted too... maybe that's how they got in. Still, I shouldn't have snapped at that poor kid."
Joe smiled. "No harm was done, trust me. Maybe you ought to stay off teaching classes for the rest of the day, and take a short break until the next class comes in. Then Robert over there can teach that class and you can take over what he's doing. That sound alright with you?"
Connie smiled. "That sounds fine."
Connie left the office with a small weight lifted off her shoulders, but she still felt terrible. She wasn't about to ask to go home early now, she felt as if that privilege had been taken from her when she screwed up and snapped at the little boy. She needed desperately to wind down before she got back to work but she didn't want to just sit around. She decided to read a book... after all she was in a library.
She walked along the isles of books, picking up one here and there. Nothing grabbed her interest however. Then, all of the sudden, she found herself in the section that seemed to be a popular place lately... the section on ghosts. It was the last section that she wanted to be in at that moment, yet she couldn't help but to pick up a book and begin to read it.
She flipped through the pages, it
was full of alleged ghost stories. She flipped to one story, which was a mirror image of the one she had told the class. She chuckled. I guess you can't give me any points for originality, she thought to herself. She flipped by that story, she already knew how it ended. The next story caught her eye, however.
"The Bishop family, Robert and Julie with their two kids Sarah and Katherine, moved into their mountain home on September 10, 1979. The house was quite old, dating to around 1920. It was one floor, and had a beautiful screened in deck out back that had been added after the house had been built. The Bishops commented that they were very happy with the house... that is until a week after they had moved in.
"A week after they moved in, they commented that they started to feel uneasy. Julie mentioned that when she was in a room by herself, it felt as if eyes were staring at her... watching her every move. Visitors to the house shared the same feeling. Then the knocking began."
Connie perked at this last sentence. She thought to herself that she should really put the book down. Instead, she read on.
"At first various members of the house mentioned hearing slight taps in the hallway. This was about a month after they had moved in. Then they heard footsteps. Then finally, two weeks after the tapping began, a heavy banging on the walls started. It went up and down the hallway, and was sometimes accompanied by heavy footsteps as if someone were running. They talked to the homeowners association about this, and could get no explanation. Then, one day, Julie achieved visual contact.
"She explained that she saw a man, possibly in his late 50's, staring at her through the window as she read. When she ran outside to confront the man, he was gone. Days later, both children saw a man matching the same description walking in the front yard. They commented that he was wearing gray coveralls and looked as if he was 'one of those people that work on the old trains [a conductor].' In the months that followed, all members of the family as well as several visitors saw him various places in the yard, especially on or near the porch... usually just standing there.
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