February 17th, 2009
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February 17th, 2009
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.