by K. D. Peters
“Now now, you know it’s just a dream. Besides, that little boy isn’t real. And you said that the house looked like it was from the dark ages. It’s just an odd nightmare that won’t leave your mind for whatever reason. There’s nothing for you to be so worried about with it.” Mama assured me as she picked up the dishes to put them in the sink.
“I know.” I said. “But you know what's weird though? Today in my first class, I saw this new guy come in. And he looked so much like him. He was all grown up now, but he looked just like he could’ve been that boy. And he talked like he knew me.”
At my words, I saw my mother stiffen very noticeably, actually dropping one of the dishes into the sink. Remarkably, it didn't break. She quickly caught herself though, grabbing it back up and trying to act like it never happened. I had the distinct feeling that she was hoping I didn’t notice. “That’s impossible dear. That boy is just a dream. He's never been a real person.” She assured me after another moment of silence.
“I know. But he just looked so much like him that it kind of scared me. Anyways, he said that his name was Chris Liam. But he said that he wasn’t telling me his whole first name because he didn’t like it or something like that. Sounds dumb, doesn’t it?” I went on, trying to break the tension that had suddenly settled in the room around us. Obviously, Mama hadn’t taken what I’d said too well. I wondered why…
Mama nodded slightly. “Yes, yes it is. Boys are so silly at times. And fickle too. The littlest things can upset them. That’s why you shouldn’t bother with them or others. People in general are always fickle. And boys are always just looking with the wrong intentions. Especially with such beautiful girls like you. I told you before, you should always make sure to keep your guard up with them. You’re beautiful, and it attracts wolves.” She said.
This was nothing unusual with my mother. When I said that I thought she had mental issues, this is exactly what I meant. My mother hated people most of the time, especially men. She worked from home, although she tended to hide herself away in a private office to do so. And that was part of the reason why. Even when I was a child, I would witness this. For a long time, she even had our groceries delivered to the house instead of going out to the store. I never got to experience any of the normal childhood things like trick or treating or going to amusement parks. The only contact I ever really got with others was when I would occasionally go out to the park with her. And even then, it was never long enough for me to even make any friends, let alone meet a nice boy….
“I guess. But he did actually talk to me. He was a little strange though.” I finally managed to say.
“Like I said, you need to tell him to just stay away. You don’t need him coming around you and trying to fill your head with his silly ideas. He’ll only cause trouble.” Mama went on as she continued working on the dishes.
I found myself looking at her for a moment, not too sure of what to think with all of this. I knew at that moment deep inside that I was beginning to suspect that my mother knew a lot more about all of this then she’d ever let on. But at that time, I didn’t really have much of a heart to question her anymore either. So instead, I decided to just let it go. And I hoped that perhaps once I did, I would somehow make myself forget about Chris Liam and all of those crazy dreams.
Little did I know that all of this was just the beginning.
Two
It seemed as though my life hadn’t been normal for as long as I could remember.
Walking through the wooded path near my house two days later, I found myself looking back on this fact with some clarity. The weekend had finally come, and I was free to do what I wanted once again. Although I’ll admit that by then, nothing had felt normal all week . I’d gone back to the college the day after the incident with Chris, but had not seen him. In fact he didn’t show up again after our initial meeting. I began to wonder if he had even been there at all. Perhaps, somehow, I had just made him up in my mind. A visual hallucination? That was a terrifying thought, but seemed pretty likely at this point. I even came to reason that perhaps I’d done it because I wanted to give a name to that child in my dreams.
It wouldn’t have been too surprising to me if that was the case. After all, like I said before, I’d lived a rather lonely life. Perhaps I had even been born to live this way. If anything, Mama had made sure of that one after my daddy died. She moved us around a lot while I was growing up. I think I saw a good portion of the United States during that time, and I probably lived in just about every climate imaginable. But thankfully, we’d settled down two years earlier in this sleepy little town. We came to live on the outskirts of Fallsburg, in a cozy little house, and I would occasionally walk the wooded paths from my backyard whenever I wanted to. Even though by then I’d found that I was fairly unused to being the least bit social with people, I did like being there and having this little bit of freedom in my life. After all, it beat being stuck in that prison of a house with only Mama to talk to. And that, of course, had only been on her terms since we’d moved there.
I couldn’t help but shake my head again as I walked. Once again, I was thinking about Chris Liam, and his strange, sudden appearance at my class. My imagination. That was all he’d been, right? And yet, I found myself thinking back to my mother’s reaction when I told her about him. It was so strange, almost like she’d been afraid of hearing about him. Was she scared that I may have been losing my mind? Somehow, I really didn’t think so. There was something else there. Something she didn’t want to say out loud then….
My train of thought about this was interrupted though as I looked over to my side. There was something strange looking sticking out of the tall brush. The off white color of it set it apart from the dark green of the leaves. Feeling a little curious, considering I hadn’t noticed this before on this path, I walked over to take a closer look. Carefully moving the bushes and vines aside, I was surprised to see that it looked like an old stone pillar that someone might have put at the end of a driveway. It was cracked and wrapped partially in the vines, but looked like it had once been solid white marble and very high end. Now this was a curious find for me. Like I said, I hadn’t noticed it before. And looking farther up the path now, I could see that there was an old back road about ten feet away. It made me wonder if perhaps there was an old abandoned house near there. I couldn’t say that it would’ve been that unusual for this area. After all, it was pretty old itself. But the idea of an abandoned house out there was fascinating to me, and made me curious enough to take a better look. It was always a hobby of mine anyways to explore the woods in general. So finding an old abandoned house would have been quite an amazing discovery.
There was a lot of tall grass and brush, but I could see as I made my way through it that there was remains of an old gravel driveway there. Several feet from where I saw the old pillar, I finally saw a dilapidated looking house emerge from the parting trees. Though it was still standing very well, one could tell that it had definitely seen better days. But standing there and looking at it, I had the strangest sense of déjà vu come over me. There was something very familiar about this house to me, although I couldn’t make myself place it. Slowly, I walked up to the front, hearing the crunch of the pine needles and dead leaves under my feet. There were broken and cracked cobble stones leading up to the front door, and looking over to the side of the house, I could actually see what appeared to be an attached garage there. I wonder when this place was built, I thought. I didn’t think that it was that extremely old, given its style and the fact that there must have once been a car for that garage to have been there. At least, that's what I reasoned to myself.
The front entrance had double doors. Pulling on them, I tried to get them open so that I could get inside. But they were stuck hard, and nothing I did seemed to budge them. Feeling a little more determined now, I walked around the side and to the back. To my surprise, I saw a deck and an old in ground pool back there. The pool itself had definitely seen better days. The foundation ar
ound it was cracking and it was filled with dirty water. Carefully, I made my way up the three steps onto the half rotting back deck of the house. There were old glass doors that separated the deck from the main house, and I could see an old screened in porch that had also seen better days sticking out on the other side of the house. The screens around the porch were weathered and torn, and there was old furniture inside that looked to be rotting away. Turning back to the glass doors, I found that they were cracked and broken. Carefully, I reached my hand through one of the breaks and felt around for the handle. Finally, I felt the lock there. It was definitely stiff, but I felt like maybe I could unlock it if I tried. It took a bit, but I finally managed to do it. The door slowly creaked open as I pushed on it, and I was then greeted with the stale smell of a house that had been closed up for decades.
Peeking inside, I wrinkled my nose at the dank, musty smell that filled the air. It was obvious now that this house had been abandoned for a long time. The inside was covered with a layer of dust on the hardwood floor, and there was more old furniture in there, although it didn’t look anywhere near as bad as the weathered furniture outside on that porch. Stepping inside and seeing the old kitchen, I looked around slowly. I felt so odd about being there now. Just why did this place feel like it was so familiar to me? I really didn’t get it.
Looking around me, I let myself take it all in. The house was definitely old and had been abandoned for quite a while, but I was sure that when it was new, it had been beautiful. Coming in through those doors, I stood in a large kitchen, and to my left was an opening that led into what must have once been a den room. But walking through the kitchen towards it, I found myself stopping to see the center island in there. Even though most of the marble seemed old and cracked, this one piece actually looked like it had been damaged long before nature had begun taking its toll. Putting my hand in my sleeve, I wiped the dust and dirt away from it. To my surprise, it looked like there were indentations deep within the marble. There were cracks that had formed around it, but the indents were definitely there. I felt a chill come over me as I looked at it. They almost looked like handprint indentations. Could someone have actually slammed their hands down on it that hard to have done this?
I shivered slightly, making myself move away from it and into the den room. It was fairly large, and I saw that a lot of the old furniture left in there was covered by dust filled sheets. Looking to my right, I saw a narrow hallway leading to the back, and the entrance to the foyer that I hadn’t been able to get into when I’d first walked up to the house. Taking my chances, and being careful about where I walked, I made my way over to that foyer. To my surprise, it looked like there was a small bedroom off of it. Once again, I had the strangest feeling of déjà vu as I looked at it. It was like a memory in the back of my mind was replaying. Someone familiar had once had this room. But who? In spite of myself, I walked over and peeked through the doorway. The door itself was actually missing now, and I didn’t see a sign of it, although the hinges looked like they’d been ripped off at some point. Again, there were signs of violence in this house. What in the world could’ve happened here?
The room itself was dim, but I could still see fairly decently with the day’s sunlight pouring in through the tattered curtained window. It was funny, but looking in there, I almost felt like I was expecting someone to say hi to me. Someone I should’ve known well. But I shook my head at the odd feeling. I was letting my overactive imagination run away with me. That’s all this was. Still, I felt curious enough to step inside and take a good look around anyway. May as well, beings I was there.
The room itself was small but seemed like it would’ve been comfortable. A bed sat there with its headboard placed against the far wall, and there was an old dresser on one side of it, with bookshelves on the other. The books themselves looked pretty decrepit as I took a closer look at them. I tried to pull one out, but it fell apart in my hand. Coughing a little bit at the dust it churned up, I then turned to the dresser. Maybe I could find something in there that would help me understand this place a little bit better. So I walked over and quietly began opening the drawers. Yes, this was giving me the feeling that I was probably somewhere that I really shouldn‘t have been now, but I really wanted to know why this house, this room in particular, felt so familiar to me. Not to mention just what could’ve happened there. I did reason that maybe I’d heard something about it somewhere in town. And if there was something left behind, it may just jog my memory.
At first, it seemed like I wasn’t having very much luck though. The dresser was empty for the most part. But coming to the last bottom drawer, I realized that there was something pushed to the very back of it. It was a small, ordinate box. Pulling it out, I shook the covers on the bed off to free the dust and sat down to take a better look at it. The box itself reminded me of an old fashioned jewelry box, and there was an intricate pattern carved onto the top of it. It seemed to be made of solid wood as well, and was painted with a dark finish. I carefully played with the top, considering that it seemed to be stuck. Finally, I had some luck. The top popped off for me. Inside, there was a small book and what looked like two old envelopes with old photos. Here we go, I thought as I carefully opened the first envelope. Inside, there was one photo. It was rather old looking, perhaps from the twenties or thirties, and it had been done like a portrait. In it was a beautiful woman with light colored hair. Looking at the back, I found a name in spidery looking handwriting.
Faith Evans, 1931.
Once again, a familiarity nagged at the back of my mind. This name was one I should’ve known somewhere. But I couldn’t place her. Putting the photo back, I opened the second envelope. To my surprise, there were three pictures in this one. The first was once again of the woman. But this time, she was standing in the house I was now in. The second was of a man. He was very handsome, with dark hair and dressed in dark clothing. Turning the picture around, I saw that there was nothing on the back. That was kind of disappointing. I’d hoped to at least get a name to go with him as well. Maybe to help jog my memory.
But the third picture I came to startled me. In it was another man. It looked like he was standing outside on the deck of the house. He had dark hair as well, but seemed a bit smaller in stature then the other man. He was very handsome too. But staring at his face, I couldn’t help but touch my own. This man…
This man looked like he could’ve been related to me.
Turning the picture over, I saw that there was a faded scribble on the back. This handwriting looked different from the other’s, and seemed to have a personal touch to it. I squinted my eyes a bit to read it.
I told you this picture would turn out nice. We should take them more often Saffron.
I reread the note several times once I made it out. Saffron. That name resounded through my mind over and over again. I knew that name. Something deep inside of me knew it. This man meant something to me that I couldn’t possibly understand at this time….
Suddenly, I felt something warm against my chest. Looking down, I realized that the heat was coming from the pendant I always wore. I felt my eyes widen in shock as I pulled it out of my shirt.
It was glowing.
I’d had this pendant from as far back as I could remember, and had always worn it, although I didn’t know where it came from or even who had given it to me. The stone itself was smooth and round, and the deepest black I’d ever seen. It was on a silver chain, and held by vines of silver in place. I was certain that it was actually worth quite a bit of money. But I never took it off. There was just something so uncomfortable to me when I even thought about it, almost like I'd lose a piece of myself.
But in all these years that I’d had it, I’d never seen it do anything like this. Staring at it, I again wondered if maybe I was losing it. But then, I heard a voice.
“Get out of that house now.”
I sat perfectly still, not quite believing my own ears. The voice was very stern and commanding, a deep echo seemi
ngly coming from within my glowing pendant. Suddenly feeling very scared, I quickly threw the stuff back into the box and grabbed it up as I hurried out of the room. But as I came back into the den, I stopped dead in my tracks. The glass doors were once again shut tight. It felt like my heart was going to beat right out of my chest at the mere sight of it. Something was very wrong here. In fact, the whole house now felt a lot heavier. Listening closely, I made out a strange sound coming from the very back room as the door began creaking open. It sounded like snapping and cracking. I wasn’t alone in there….
I stood very still, feeling like I was bolted to the floor. The weird sounds moved closer and closer, and I could now feel a slight breeze as something reached for the back of my neck. A low, painful moan filled the air. It was right behind me now. Summoning all of my will power, I managed to take off running. I didn’t know where I’d go. All I really knew was that I had to get away from whatever this was after me now.
I ended up running to the far door in the kitchen. Somehow, I managed to wrench it open. Getting myself inside the next room, I quickly slammed it closed behind me, then looked around in the semi darkness and tried to catch my breath. It looked like I’d made it into the garage. At a quick glance, I could see that it was lined with old rotting boxes and even more furniture that had apparently just been stored there. Hurrying over to the side door that lead outside, I tried to open it. But it too was stuck hard. All at once, I heard the sound of creaking again. The door to the kitchen was slowly opening. I quickly ducked myself back behind some boxes to hide, praying that I wouldn’t be seen.
As I forced myself to stay as quiet as I could, I heard the door creak all the way open. The cracking sounds continued as something moved itself in there. I curled up tight in my hidden corner, closing my eyes and trying my best not to be seen or heard. I should’ve at least tried for the patio doors, I thought. But I’d panicked in those moments of terror. And now, I was trapped with whatever this thing was. I heard it move around the garage, and right past my hiding place. Apparently, it was searching now. Carefully, I forced myself to open my eyes and slightly peeked out from my hiding place to get at good look at it.