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     Susan had gotten use to the comings and goings of various construction workers and landscaping persons at the old house across the street over the weeks.  She had watched with interest as the house was transformed from the old, dwindling wreck it had been, into a lush, inviting home.  The roof and siding were redone, the lawn reseeded, and flowers and shrubs put in.  New, updated windows had been installed, and the house was lovely and alive again. 

 

   It wasn’t until a moving van arrived while she was outside pruning her own rose bushes one morning that she stood up and really paid attention again.  Moving guys jumped out of the truck and threw open the back door, exposing loads of gingerly wrapped furniture, which they immediately began unloading onto the front lawn.  Soon after they started, a taxi pulled up alongside the curb, and out stepped a petite, old woman.  She walked slowly with a cane, but her ease of pace seemed not to be due to any physical ailment, but rather to her attention being diverted to admiring her house as she approached. 

   Susan continued to watch the excitement (exciting to her, at least) across the street while she half pretended to prune her roses.  One of the men hustled over to the woman and offered to help her up the walkway.  Susan smiled as the woman politely waved off the offer, and instead handed the man her house keys to go ahead and open up the house so they could begin bringing the items inside.   The man dashed up the path and opened the house up, holding the door ajar as the woman passed inside.   Then the two men began the task of bringing all the woman’s belongings into her new residence. 

   Susan stood up and went back inside to wash her hands and tidy herself up a bit.  She then walked across the street and up to the front door.  She saw the old woman in the living room, surveying the area and deciding where to put the boxes of stuff, all neatly marked “Dishes” or “Linens” or “Bathroom”.  The furniture still had the plastic on it, and the breeze coming in through the open doors and windows made them rustle a bit.  Susan knocked lightly on the door, and the woman looked up startled at her, before breaking into a sweet smile. 

 

  “Hello, I’m Susan.” she said, extending her hand to the lady.  “I live in the house across from you.”  She gestured over to her own manicured yard.  “I just wanted to come over and welcome you to the neighborhood.”

  “Well, hello dear!” the woman exclaimed, taking her hand and giving it a well-gripped shake.  “And thank you kindly.  My name is Gladys.” 

  Susan almost blushed a bit.  ” I thought so.” she said, continuing on quickly when she saw Gladys’s confused look.  “I’m Dorothy’s great granddaughter.”  she explained.

 

  Gladys seemed a bit taken aback by that.  Her eyes widened a bit, and her small mouth even dropped some.  Susan had to stifle a giggle at the text-book startle reaction.  At that moment, one of the movers came in with what appeared to be a rather heavy box, and asked Gladys where it went, since it seemed to be unmarked.  She shook her head, and inspected the box, before telling him to go ahead and just set it in the family room. 

 

  Gladys returned to Susan, who had stepped out onto the lawn to be out of the way.   “I apologize dear, if I seemed startled.  Quite frankly, I was.”  she said.  “Dorothy has not spoken to me in many, many years.  I am surprised you know my name.’

  “Well, grandma has been ill.  I’m sure you are aware of the trauma she suffered after the … incident.. here.”  Susan stopped and looked up at the house, grimacing at the pain her great grandmother, and Gladys as well, had to go through in this place.  The house even seemed to darken a bit at the mention of it. 

  “Yes.” said Gladys, her voice dropping down to an almost whisper.  “That night is one I will never, ever forget.  Even if I become stricken with Alzheimer’s I don’t think I’ll forget that.” she said.  She too, stared at the house.

 

  “Her doctors try to get her to face that night, but she doesn’t budge.   Even after all these years, and all her medications, she still insists in demons and devils, and the fact that her own hand held the knife- well, she just can’t seem to forgive herself for that. “  said Susan.  “It didn’t help her when my mom bought the house across the road there, or when I got pregnant with my second daughter, Elizabeth.” 

 

  At the mention of Elizabeth, Gladys looked up sharply.  “You had another daughter?”  she asked, almost brusquely. 

 

  “Why, yes.”  said Susan, a bit taken aback.  “Elizabeth is 5 now.” 

 

  “Forgive me, again, dear heart.” said Susan, softening.  “It’s just, I was best friends with Dorothy, and I know your family’s heritage.  Alice was a “freak” of nature, so they said.  I can see how your dear daughter’s arrival would send Dorothy back downwards again.”  She patted Susan kindly on the shoulder.  “If you don’t mind my asking,” she went on carefully, “is she…. ok?”

 

  Susan looked at Gladys for a long time before replying.  She felt so comfortable with her, as if she’d known her forever.  Yet, she was realistic too, and protective of her youngest daughter.  “She is okay so far.”  she said, smiling brightly. 

 

 Gladys patted her on the shoulder and smiled in return.  “Then that is just fantastic, isn’t it?” she said.  “Would you like to come in for some tea?  I’m sure they’ve brought my tea supplies in already.”  Susan agreed, and spent an hour or so visiting with Gladys, talking about her older daughter, Victoria, who was 10 and becoming a young lady already.  About grandma and how she was doing, and her reactions to the work being done on the house again.  “It took the doctors awhile to calm her down.” she said of when Dorothy first heard the news.  “And when she came to stay with me the weekend the renovations first started, all she did was sit in the window drinking her coffee and staring across the street at the work.  If I hadn’t known about her history with the house, I would have sworn she was watching the cute construction workers.” 

  Susan looked up from her morning coffee and paper to see what was going on outside her kitchen window.   A van had pulled up to the old, neglected house across the street- the one all the rumors surrounding her family centered on.  Growing up across the street from it, she has always loved looking at it, imagining what it must have looked like when it was still maintained.  Now, it had the drooping, weathered look of  long abandonment, complete with the ivy that grew up its sides and the overgrown grass in the front yard.  The windows looked like tired eyes that just wanted to sleep.  She had heard of people who tried to buy the property and at one point the county had tried to have it torn down,   The owner of it – an old friend of Susan’s great, great,  grandmother- refused to sell. 

 

  Now Susan watched as a handful of landscapers jumped out of the van and began pulling out various equipment.  The sound of a lawnmower being started up reached her ears and she noticed one of the men starting to mow the lawn.  She took her cup of coffee outside, leaving the paper forgotten on the kitchen table, and sat on the porch swing to watch the beginning transformation to the outside of the house. 

  Grandma Dorothy had suffered great trauma in losing her sister at that house, and throughout all of her rantings, she always insisted that she be told if activity started up at the house again.  Picking up the phone,  Susan stopped briefly to debate whether telling Grandma Dorothy was the best thing to do.  Instead she dialed the number to Dorothy’s doctor. The brisk, high pitched voice answered.  “Dr. Christensen”, it said.

“Good morning, Dr. Christensen, this is Susan Rochester.”

“Yes, Ms. Dorothy’s granddaughter. What can I do for you?” he replied. Dr. Christensen was a small, high-strung man who spoke very quickly and was always moving. While he was always pleasant, he also seemed somehow off-kilter. Susan sometimes wondered if he related so well to his patients because he was one of them- just undiagnosed.

“Well, Grandma always insists that I tell her if any activity starts up at “the house”, and well, a van of landscapers are there cleaning up the yard now. I figured I should tell you first, and see what you think.” Susan explained.

Susan could hear him sit back and the tapping of what might have been a pen or pencil on his desk. “Is there someone moving in, or just working the yard?” he asked.

“From what I can tell, just the yard.” she said.

“Hmph.. it could well be someone decided the place could at least look nicer. I wouldn’t worry her about it for just that, Ms. Rochester.” the doctor said.

Susan felt her cheeks redden slightly at what she took as a bit of an insult. “I wouldn’t, Doctor” she said, “but Grandma is scheduled to visit this weekend, and I’m not sure if she shouldn’t be forewarned that there has been some activity over there.”

“Ahh.. that is right. I had forgotten. Of course, of course. I will bring it up to her before she comes out.” he said, hastily.

“Thank you, Doctor.” said Susan.

  She hung up as the workers began setting up the ladders to pull down the ivy.   Finishing up her coffee, she reluctantly went back inside to her home office to get some work done.

 

  After the occurrence at the house just under a hundred years prior, Dorothy had been committed to a mental hospital.  She had lost her sanity and blubbered on about how the devil had made her kill her sister.  When the other three women were interviewed, they told about how a man dressed in a devil suit had brought young Alice to their house, and had then tried to rob and assault them.  They told the police that Dorothy had grabbed a knife when the man threatened Alice, and the devil man had overpowered Dorothy, causing her to instead hurt Alice.  The man had then fled.   

People at the festival remembered seeing the man dressed in the devil outfit, and remembered him handing out balloons.  No one knew who the man behind the mask was, and all avenues of finding him turned up nothing.  The girls’  mother left town quietly one day shortly after the incident, and no one ever heard from her again.  Rumors circled that their mother was having an affair with this devil man and had convinced him to get rid of her daughters.  This wasn’t the truth, but many of the townsfolk believed it to be true.   Their father wound up committing suicide later on that year.

  Grandma Dorothy had gotten out of the hospital a few years later, and ended up getting married and having a daughter of her own.  Her mental state was continually questioned and watched, as she remained horribly fearful and overprotective.  She insisted that there was a demon out to kill her, and that the Devil wanted her family dead.  However, after awhile she was able to keep these outbursts under control, and she just became wacky ol’ Grandma Dorothy.   

Susan’s mother, a product of the 60’s and 70’s and definately a flower child experimenting with all there was to experiment with, had actually ventured into the house during one particular acid trip.  She had come back with stories of writing on the walls, and the feeling that something lived within the house itself.  It was this experience that enticed Susan’s mother to purchase the house across the street from the place, as she became obsessed with the house.  Susan had often heard her mother tell stories of the house, until Grandma Dorothy wound up once again in the mental hospital for a couple weeks with another breakdown. 

  Susan had inherited the house after her mother passed away from cancer two years ago, when Susan was pregnant with her second child.  The second pregnancy sent Grandma Dorothy into a downward spiral.  She wound up once again in the mental institution, and this time seemed content to just stay there.

 

*****  about 100 years ago ****

 CHAPTER ONE

   Dorothy and Gladys stood in the living room, both trembling a bit, with torrents of butterflies in their stomachs.  Today was the day they had been waiting for… this was the day that would start the events that would transform their lives.  The next couple days would completely change their outlook on life and it’s intricacies.  But they had no idea just how dramatically it would change…

 

  ” That dream is bothering me-  I can’t stop thinking about it.” Dorothy said nervously.  Gladys took Dorothy’s hand in hers and squeezed it. 

“It will be okay.  Remember, the Samhain festival is tomorrow night, and everyone will be there.  Your parents aren’t going to let Alice out on her own on a night like that, anyway.  Particularly not to come all the way out here.” she assured her. 

  ”Yeah, I know- you’re right.  But it was so vivid..  It’s scary.” said Dorothy, a shiver passing through her body. 

” Well, that’s one of the cons of having a photographic memory.” frowned Gladys, giving her best friend’s hand another squeeze. 

 

  Dorothy squeezed back, but her thoughts returned to the horrible dream she had had a few nights prior.

  In the dream, it was tomorrow night- Halloween night.  They had been wrestling with the demon, and suddenly Dorothy’s little sister Alice had been there, smiling her sideways smile and holding a balloon.  She held the balloon out to her.  “Look what the devil man gave me for you, Sissy!”   In that instance, Dorothy saw her hand come up on it’s own, holding a large knife.  Even as in her mind she screamed “NO”, and fought with herself, she still watched in horror as her hand brought the knife down into her smiling sister’s chest.  She saw the balloon float off as her sister let go and crumbled to the floor in slow motion.  She saw the wide eyes, and still that smile as Alice slid to the ground. 

   Dorothy had woken from the dream screaming, drenched in sweat.  She looked over to her sister, who lay next to her, staring at her in a just-woken stupor.  “Are you ok, Sissy?” she asked quietly, reaching out to caress her wet hair back out of her face.  It was a gesture that Dorothy usually did to her when Alice woke from a nightmare.  Dorothy smiled and hugged her sister.  “Yes, yes I am now.” she said.  But she lay awake for the rest of that night, watching the rise and fall of Alice’s slow breathing as she slept. 

 

   Dorothy was startled out of her reverie by the old ones, Sarah and Mary, coming down the stairs.  She shook herself out of it, and let go of her friend’s hand.  Sarah and Mary were both semi-celebrities in the town, as they were both 100 years old, but still as spry and active as they were in their 70s.  They had moved into the house on the edge of town 6 years ago when the girls were both 10 years old.  By the time they were 14 the girls were regulars over to visit the “Old Ones” as they were known in town.  They helped them out with the chores around the grand house they lived in.  Some folks thought it strange that two young girls would spend so much time with such company, instead of doing the normal things young teen-aged girls do, but then again, these two girls had always been a bit apart from their peers anyways. 

 

   What the townsfolk didn’t know was that Gladys and Dorothy had been hand picked by the two older women- or maybe by Destiny herself-  for a very serious and very special job.  When the girls first started going over there, Sarah and Mary had been doing a sort of inconspicuous “interview”.  When determined that these were the two, they had begun to integrate them into regular teachings by using stories and some history.  By the time they were 15, Dorothy and Gladys were doing full time studies for that which they had been chosen (or destined, if you will) for. 

   The four of them exchanged happy hellos, and hugs.  The old women smiled at the younger one’s resolve to keep the fact that they were trembling under cover.  Sarah and Alice had remarked to each other before about how impressive the two young girls’ resolve was.  They seemed far wiser than their young 16 years belied.   Sarah hobbled into the kitchen to prepare them all some tea as the other three settled themselves upon the couches and chairs in the living room.  Once Sarah had returned, and they all held a nice hot cup of tea in their hands, Alice began to speak. 

 

   “As you well know, this is the beginning of the next couple days.  They are going to be very tough, and exhausting.  I hope you two got plenty of sleep over the past few days?”  She raised her eyebrows at them, with that classic questioning look. 

 

   The next several hours the four of them spent preparing for the next night.  Runes and other protective spells or symbols were drawn onto the walls in a disappearing solution made of various herbs – invisible to the human eye.  Final touches were made by the two old women on the special box that was essential to tomorrow’s success.  The two young ones spent the day doing all of the physical preparations- the wall work, the moving of furniture, packing away the last of the breakables.  The older women, once satisfied with the box, moved on to chanting the incantations that would keep people away from the house, and ones that would render the house unexitable for the immortal force they were soon to battle. 

 

   They finished in the early afternoon of All Hallow’s Eve.   Exhausted they lie on couches and chairs, catching wisps of naps to renew for the hardest part to come.  As day crept into evening, they were each individually awoken by the sounds of the house creaking and groaning, as if something massive had awaken in the attic upstairs.  This, actually, was not far from the truth.  One at a time, the women sat up, and prepared themselves mentally for the work ahead.  They knew it would be hard, but doable.  The two young ones trembled with anticipation of the new journey, while the older two relaxed with the knowledge that this was thier last.

   

 

 

CHAPTER TWO

 

 Alice stood at the town’s center, her eyes aglow with all the festivities.  The night had grown dark and cool.  There was a bonfire in the middle of town square, to which she walked over to, reveling in it’s glow and somewhat conscious of it’s warmth.  Music played all over, and everyone from the town mingled here and there – most dressed in costume.  Halloween was a celebrated event here in town, and everyone got into the scheme of it.  There were stands of wares, the smell of food from the various venders lent the air the scent of celebration.   The grounds were covered with decorations of haystacks, pumpkins and other gourds, scarecrows, and other harvest ornamentals. 

 

  Alice stepped up to the fire and spread her hands before it.  She had lost track of her mother some time earlier in the evening, but was not worried about it.  At 11 years old, she was already well use to her mom  ”forgetting” about her.  It didn’t even really register in her brain that she was alone.  There were so many costumes and sights to see.  She watched the townsfolk pass, and her goofy grin stayed splayed across her face as she delighted in the sights. 

 

  A breeze of cold air swept past her, and she shivered, but it went unnoticed.  Suddenly she noticed the devil sitting across from her, holding a bunch of balloons.  They sparkled in the firelight, and caught her complete attention.  Her mouth fell slack as she stared at them.  The devil spoke in a pleasant voice to her.

“Would you like a balloon, Alice?” he asked.   She nodded vehemently at the man.  He motioned for her to come on over, and she obeyed, almost running over to him.  He handed her a beautiful blue one, tying it loosely around her wrist. 

“There.” he said to her.  “That way it won’t get lost.”  he smiled behind his painted devil persona.  Alice grinned stupidly back at him;  her young, slow mind caught up in the giddiness of her new prize. 

“And where is your sister, Dorothy,  tonight?”  he asked, his voice become a bit more rugged.  Alice, oblivious to the change in tone, answered.  “She’s with the old women.  They couldn’t come out tonite so she is keeping them company.” 

The devil’s eyebrow raised, and he sighed.  “Well, isn’t that too bad that she has to miss out on all the fun?  I tell ya what-  here. ”  he handed her a bright red balloon.  “Why don’t you go take this to her.  I bet it will make her smile.”  

 

“I’m not suppose to go anywhere by myself.”  said Alice, a frown coming to her face for the first time, as she realized she would not be able to treat her sister. 

“Well,  what if I walked you out there.  Then you wouldn’t be all by yourself.” said the devil, grinning, well, devilishly. 

 

“Ok!” said Alice.  The man held out his hand and she took it, and they walked out of the town’s square and onto the darkened road towards the old women’s house.  No one took notice as the dull-witted child left with the stranger.  Soon they disappeared into the darkness.. the sound of the band’s music fading behind them. 

 *******************************************************************************

 

 

  Alice’s birth had been a huge shock for Dorothy’s mother.  Throughout thier history, the women of the family had always only had one child, and always a girl.  It had been that way for as far back as their history could be traced.  There had never been a second child.  So when Dorothy’s mom had gotten pregnant with Alice, she was astonished and frightened as well.  She fretted whether this was a gift or a punishment for her promiscuous ways. 

 

  Dorothy, of course, was thrilled with the thought of having a baby brother or sister to play with.  At five years old, she was already much more intelligent than other children her age, and she was often shunned by them.  She longed for a playmate, and had always wanted a sibling.  She hoped deep down that it was a sister, but she was thrilled at the prospect of either one.   When Alice was born, Dorothy couldn’t have been more excited.  She fell instantly in love with her baby sister, and vowed that she would never let anything bad happen to her. 

 

  It didn’t take long for the family to realize that Alice was no where near Dorothy’s peer in brains.  As a matter of fact, it became quickly apparant that she was just the opposite.  Her feeble mind kept her far behind the other children, and thier mother found herself believing that Alice was a punishment, and she began to despise her.  She hated the fact that she had this dumb kid while all the other moms had beautiful, smart children.  On the other hand, her other daughter was a black sheep of the town.  She was a loner, and others talked about her behind their hands.  She knew her family was the subject of gossip around the town.  Her two freak children. 

 

  But she did notice how Dorothy took to her sister, and how she treated her like a little doll.  She took care of her, so her mother left it to her to care for the little one.  She did not want to be bothered with it.  Instead she took to drinking to try and not have to think about her abnormal children. 

 

  So Dorothy became more of a mother to Alice than her own mother was.  She fed and bathed her, she gave her tons of attention and helped her learn with a patience that was heroic.  She applauded and praised as Alice learned to talk and to walk.  She played with her continuously, teaching her sister how to do simple daily activities through their play, such as dressing and feeding herself. 

 

  Perhaps if their mother had paid more attention to her children instead of herself the next events could have been prevented.  If she had cared even the slightest about these children that were not talked about as poorly as she thought they were.  In fact, if she had paid any attention at all, she would have realized that the townsfolk gossiped more about her, and her lack of being a good mother, than they did about the children.  Their talk about the children veered more towards sympathy.  As it happened though, their mother was a drunk and a bad mother, and it was Dorothy who would suffer the greatest because of it.

 

 

CHAPTER THREE

 

  Day grew into night, and the battle had begun.  The women fought to keep the demon contained within the walls of the house.  They struggled to keep it from the unsuspecting and unprepared people in town.  To let the demon lose would mean chaos and ruin for life as they knew it.   The two old women brought down the box, carrying it between them gingerly, despite the cacophony that blew around them as the angry demon slammed and destroyed everything in it’s path in it’s attempt to escape it’s prison. 

 

Gladys and Dorothy used all of their strength to keep their minds strong and blocked from the ravaging mind of the demon.  They pushed it with their will, and wrapped it in chains.  They barred the walls with their minds, and shoved it towards the box.  The demon was strong, but the minds of the four women, young innocent energy and old, wise energy kept it enough at bay. 

The old women had the box down, and lifted the lid.  Inside was where the demon would reside for the next hundred years- as if a genie in a bottle.  However, this genie was not going to grant any wishes. 

 

As the women struggled to push the demon into the box,  Dorothy was pushed back up to a table that held an array of knives they had used to finish the carvings in the box.  It was from there that she heard a voice she recognized calling her name.  She looked over to see her sister, Alice, standing there holding a red balloon out to her. 

 

“Dorothy- look what the devil gave me to give to you!”  Alice said, proudly.

 

A torrent of dismay washed over Dorothy as she recognized the scene from her dream.  She felt her mind start to float away as if again dreaming, and then she watched in horror as her mind was pushed to the back and another , terrible one came in and took over.  She watched as her hand grasped the knife behind her, and rose it above her sister’s chest, and screamed in her head at the demon as it used her hand to plunge the knife into the heart of the innocent little girl she had so loved before her.  Her mind snapped as she felt the intruder leave her body, heard it’s hateful laugh as he left, and she forgot everything else around her as she crawled to her sister’s body, limp and lifeless on the floor, her eyes still open wide, seemingly staring at the red balloon that floated above her.  She could still hear her saying the Devil had given her the balloon, to give to her.  She cradled her sister’s head in her arms, as her lap filled with blood, and she screamed.  Over and over she screamed. 

 

 Gladys saw Dorothy’s attention suddenly switch to something else.   She saw Alice walk up to Dorothy and hand her something, and then she saw as the demon flew into Dorothy.  She then directed all of her energy into pulling it out of her.  She sank to the floor as she poured everything she had into releasing Dorothy from the demon’s embrace, and in some part of her conscious, she heard the two old ladies begin to chant.  She vaguely saw as the demon used Dorothy’s own hand to plunge the knife into Alice.  She just focused on the demon, and eventually was able to wrench it from her friend, and flung it into the box.  The two ladies slammed the lid closed, and they all sat- completely drained.

 

The four women sat on the floor, three of them from mental and physical exhaustion, and one from grief.  They listened as Dorothy weeped and moaned, rocking her sister in her arms.  Eventually they heard as help came to the door.  Fists pounded upon it.  The women took the box quickly back upstairs as Gladys got to her feet to let the men in.