What a relief! Finally, away from the noise of the city, from the annoying calls of family, nothing but the calming sound of the waves on the beach.
“I have been planning this for months!”, said Amelia to herself as she walked up to the old house, her rental for the long weekend. “Hmm, much bigger than I expected,” she said aloud. And darker, she thought. And more isolated, she thought, as she looked around and felt a quick shiver. The nearest house was half a mile away with pretty thick forest between, although closer along the beach.
She looked down at the beach, across a big line of boulders with a very deep, narrow path through the middle. No one could see anyone in there, she thought idly.
The house looked ancient, and a bit run down. A fairly narrow, high-peaked 3-story wood-frame house, dark brown shingles with peeling black trim. Who does black trim? Amelia wondered. The door was in the middle, short and squat, with an old-fashioned peaked awning and square windows on both sides. “Looks like a face”, she said aloud. “And not a pleasant one.”
The upstairs windows were two groups of three small portals, appearing to slant to the middle, together looking to Amelia like frowning eyebrows. Did they do that on purpose, she wondered?
<“Well, its a great place to get away and relax,” Amelia told herself bravely. “No one will come here to bother me. Three days of total relaxation.“/p>
Amelia set her bags down and looked around the ground floor, feeling a little more comfortable and relaxed. The furniture was old, all wood, painted … uh … black (“Really??”, she wondered), a lot like at her great-grandmother’s house. There was an odd comfort in that, she had loved her great-grandmother, the storyteller. This is the kind of place she would use in a story, thought Amelia. Greying wallpaper, an intricate William Morris-style design but with the occasional startling, large raven peeking through the foliage. Not so attractively, the door framing, wainscot paneling, even some doors were black. Huh!
The kitchen did have a stove and fridge less than 20 years old, at least. But the dining room was the most odd. It had a small round table, covered with a sleek black cloth, set with 4 chairs. In the center was a tall, wide candle … and it was lit. Very odd, I guess the housekeeper forgot to put it out, thought Amelia, though almost no wax had been burnt and Amelia was certain she had not seen any light coming from the dining room when she first entered the house.
“Well, odd things happen in these old houses”, she reassured herself.
She grabbed her bag and tromped up the stairs exuding as much confidence as she could muster. Well, she looked confident.
Ah, at least the doors and trim upstairs weren’t all black! Dark wood, most of them. Upstairs was a U-shaped hallway, with a bathroom at the top of the stairs, and then three rooms on either side toward the front. Six bedrooms! Well, not quite, Amelia found a sitting room to the left of the bathroom and a library to the right.
Each of the four bedrooms was decorated differently, though the overwhelming feeling was, well, ‘Gothic’, I guess is the best adjective, she thought. Mostly some combination of deep reds and black. Deep reds. “I won’t say what that red reminds me of”, she said aloud. She decided to sleep in the sitting room, decorated in sand-colored stuffed furniture with a comfortable-looking Méridienne chaise longue, complete with tasseled fringe at the bottom.
At the front of the u-shaped hallway was a landing and narrow stairway leading to the third floor. The door from the landing to the stairs was closed. Amelia tried it. Locked. Well, that’s a relief, she thought.
As she went back out to the car to bring in her groceries for her stay, she noticed the sky. It had been clear, and the weather prediction had said clear for her weekend, but now the sun was setting out over the water, and the waves were much bigger and a layer of dark clouds had moved in across the horizon. It was suddenly much darker. And colder. And windy.
When she got back inside, the wind was whistling, and the house started to creak. It seemed to shudder. As she passed through the dining room into the kitchen, the candle on the table went out. She didn’t feel any breeze. Then, when she got to the kitchen …
the lights went out.
Amelia fumbled about to find the counter to put the groceries on, and opened the fridge, but there was no light in the fridge either. Seriously?? What is this, some kind of joke? she thought.
Amelia turned on her phone flashlight to look for the renter’s guide book. She looked all over the kitchen, dining room, and living room, but couldn’t find it.
“Well, I guess I have to go the basement to find the fuse box.” She knew it wouldn’t be circuit breakers, it would be the old fuses.
The stairs to the basement were open, and with each step, she hesitated, hoping no one would grab her foot. No one did, she made it to the bottom. Sweeping away cobwebs in front of her, she made it to the wall, and, big sigh, the fuse box was just there. Fortunately, her mom had taught her about fuses, so she could tell by looking at them carefully, which ones were blown. She looked carefully. None of them were. There was a big switch on the side, the main power switch. Just in case, she pulled it down, then back up. No change. So, the power is just, well, out. Great! Good way to start a vacation.
Back upstairs, she looked in the dining room buffet and, surprise! Not just matches in the center drawer, but dozens of large candles in one of the cabinets. She thought she had looked in these drawers for the renter’s guide book. “I guess not”, she reassured herself. She relit the one on the table, added two others, and put one on a dish to carry around.
she heard a thump. It sounded like a knock on the door, but surely that can’t be right. She decided to look before opening the door. She started up the stairs with the idea of looking down from one of the windows, but then a loud knock made her jump. And then, someone called "Amelia, it’s me, Ketanji.” Amelia opened the door, “Ketanji? What are you doing here?” “Crashing your party, of course!” “What party? Amelia said, closing the door. “Oh, I thought you were having a party. I got this invitation,” as she pulled out her phone and found the text message from Amelia “Halloween party at a scary isolated house on the beech. Don’t miss it!” With the address below, "666 Lonely Point, Hurricane Beach”. “What? I didn’t send that!” Amelia mumbled. But there it was. Did someone hack her phone? “Well, you had better come in and help me get something hot to drink. It is suddenly getting cold, and that wind is nasty.” As soon as they had the kettle on, there was another knock on the door. Amelia gave the kettle an angry stare, then dragged herself to the front door. When she opened it, a windblown Indira said “Hi, Meel. I guess I got the right house.” Amelia said lamely, “Uh, you got an invitation?” “Of course. I wouldn’t come here for any reason on earth except for one of your parties! 666, really!? The devil’s number? Did you make that up just for tonight?” “No, it is the address, right there next to the door. Well, come on in. Ketanji is here.” As soon as she closed the door and walked two steps toward the kitchen, she heard pounding on the door. When she went back to open the door, Daria rushed in with a terrified look on her face, and quickly turned and shut the door, leaning against it, breathing heavily. “What’s the matter?”, asked Ketanji, coming from the kitchen, munching on a chocolate chip cookie. After a pause, Daria said haltingly, “It…something…large, black shape … passed in front of my car as I parked it. … Then I heard a big ‘whoosh’ as it went into the woods when I opened the car door. So I rushed to the house.” Amelia opened the door and looked around. Very dark, but no movement and no sound except the wind, now blowing in big gusts. She quickly shut and locked the door. Daria took off her coat and they all went into the kitchen to finish making the tea and putting snacks on plates. “Let’s eat at that cool table in the other room. Funny that it is set for four places. Did you invite anyone else?” asked Indira. “I didn’t invite anyone. I think someone hacked my phone. I came here for a weekend away to think about stuff, not for a party. But since we are here … good place for a Halloween party, I guess.” She trailed off lamely. They sat and sipped their tea, nibbled at the tea cakes.
Yes it was all Hallows Eve, and it started to rain. It was a dark and stormy night, and the rain fell in torrents. The wind rattled the windows and the rain drummed on the awning. The tide was in, and they could hear the high surf pounding the rocks. The house trembled, whined, and a door slammed upstairs. The girls jumped. Abruptly, Ketanji jumped up, went over to the buffet, and brought a game board back to the table. “I think we need to do the Ouija Board,” she said. “Where did you get that?” Amelia asked. “It was just there. I saw it when I stood up.” “It wasn’t there before, was it?” They all waved their heads slowly and looked at each other warily. “OK, fine,” Amelia said a little too sharply. “Daria, you and I will do it first.” No one argued. They sat with their fingers on the planchette, and as the seconds ticked by, nothing happened except heavy rain, thunder, pounding surf they could feel, and the house creaking ceaselessly. Then the planchette started circling slowly, hesitatingly, and spelled out “Uncle Martin.” Amelia pulled her hand away and stood up, shaking. Uncle Martin had died a month ago. There had been no funeral because he said he didn’t want anyone crying over him. He was such fun, but always playing practical jokes. Always just a little scary. Then Ketanji grabbed the planchette and said “Indira, you and I have to find out what Uncle Martin wants.” Amelia didn’t like the way this was going, but didn’t want to be rude. After a long hesitation, Indira put her hands in place, her hands shaking a little. “Help me.” The Ouija spelled out. Then it didn’t move for several very long minutes, until it spelled out “attic”. They heard it, a big thump upstairs. “What was that?” they all said together. “This isn’t funny,” said Indira. “No, it isn’t,” Amelia replied. “I swear I have nothing to do with this.” Ketanji looked at her with raised eyebrows, but no one said anything. Then they heard a scraping across the floor, as if some heavy furniture was being moved. “We had better see,” said Ketanji. “Must be a window open.” No one except Ketanji moved. “Come on,” she said. “There is no such thing as ghosts. Let’s see what game someone is playing. Probably some neighbor kid hiding out in the house to scare us,” she said, picking up the candle from the table and heading for the stairs. Amelia grabbed a spare candle and matches. They went up the stairs huddled tightly together. They checked every room, nothing was obviously out of place, nothing obviously disturbed. Then they heard it again, louder. “Must be coming from the attic,” said Ketanji. “But the door to the attic is locked,” said Amelia as they moved to the landing. Ketanji tried the door, and it swung open easily. They looked up the stairs and saw a faint flickering light coming from the attic. “Must be lightning,” said Amelia, but they all knew it wasn’t. Ketanji started up boldly, and they all crowded after her, no one wanted to be behind. When they got to the top, they looked around. There was nothing in the attic but many spider webs and one long thin wooden box, about 6 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 15 inches high. Yeah, just like a coffin. With a small candle on top. A lighted candle. Amelia heard a scuffle, turned around, and saw a shadow moving quickly down the stairs. She didn’t hear anyone on the stairs. “Hey, where is Indira?” They all looked around, there was no place to hide. Then they heard a heavy door slam, and a car start and drive away. And then there were three. Amelia went to the window to see if she could see the car drive away, but it was completely dark. When she turned back, she looked around again, puzzled, and asked “What happened to Daria?” And then there were two. Ketanji looked right back at her with excruciatingly wide eyes and an awful, huge, open-mouthed grimace. There was a blinding flash of lightning and all the candles blew out. In her fright, Amelia dropped the candles and matches she was carrying, and had to scramble around on the floor to find them. By the time she had the candles lit, she knew what she would find. Or … wouldn’t find. And then there was one. But now a note was on top of the box. She recognized the large, angular and erratic handwriting of Uncle Martin. The note said “Help me. Get me out.” As she sat there, numb, her mind screamed “No!!” But she knew that she would. The top wasn’t nailed, but there were three latches. To get it over with, she she unhooked the latches then opened it quickly as she stood up. And screamed. There was Uncle Martin, made up like a clown, a dead clown, ghastly. She screamed again, and covered her eyes. Silence. Then someone grabbed her ankle, and she jumped and opened her eyes and mouth wide in a frozen scream that wouldn’t come out. He was sitting up, looking as terrifyingly dead as ever. As she stared at him, trying to scream, he started laughing hysterically. And then he said … “Gotcha!”