By Lisa Burton
The night was hot and humid. Only a hint of a breeze blew, not enough to cool the house. It was quiet, only the crickets and frogs gave sound to the night. My sister, Lucy, asked me to watch her two girls while she and Tom went out for the evening. I enjoyed watching my nieces, but my sister’s house was haunted. I have experienced many creepy phenomena in the past month.
My nieces, Lynn and Lisa, both toddlers, were sitting on the kitchen floor playing with some toys, which had become little land mines to bare feet. Lucy had told me that I would have to make dinner for the girls, which was no big deal. I had done it many times.
I turned on the radio to my favorite country music station and a Garth Brooks tune came from the speakers. I decided to scramble some eggs with toast and jam - the girls’ favorite. Lynn and Lisa sat at the table eating and giggling. I sat with the girls, giggling as well at their jam smeared faces. For two toddlers eating a meal is a long, drawn-out affair. When they were finally finished eating I washed their tiny faces and hands, and sat them down to play.
The girls sat in the doorway to the next room, playing and being amused with themselves. I raked out the dishes and ran water in the sink. I had just started washing the dishes when the radio station changed all by itself. The radio sat on top of the refrigerator, out of the girls’ reach.
I turned off the water and dried my hands. My heart was beating a little faster as I walked through the tiny house. I found nothing and returned to washing the dishes. After a couple minutes, again the radio station changed. However, this time there was not any looking around; I just turned off the radio. I did not have an explanation for the radio, so I did not think about it.
I got the girls ready for bath time, which went off without a hitch. Although I still felt as if something was watching us, I went on as if nothing were wrong. I put Lynn and Lisa to bed and an eerie silence came over the house. I sat on the couch with a Stephen King novel that had held my attention since I bought it, and I was looking forward to getting back to it. I sat down, got comfortable and started reading.
After several chapters, I took a break, checked on my sleeping nieces and got a soda. Again, I was engrossed in my book when I heard the footsteps of something very heavy above me. The problem was that above me was the attic and only part of the attic was floored. The other problem was the attic would not hold a lot of weight, and the ceilings were too low in most of it to walk the full length of the house.
For a while, I sat frozen, just following the sound with my eyes. The sound started at the end of the living room and went through two rooms and back. I watched the ceiling, following the agitated footsteps, and the longer it walked, the faster the pace. Now the walking seemed to vibrate throughout the house and it made me wonder if my imagination was playing tricks on me. I worked up my courage to check on Lynn and Lisa. I counted to three, got up and ran to the girls’ door. I took a breath, held it and opened the door, the girls were still sound asleep.
Now I walked with the footsteps, down and back several times, and as I did, the drawer and cabinet doors open and closed. It was as if someone were searching for something. Then the overhead lights went out. The light switch was within my reach on the wall and I turned them back on. This went on several more times, but I finally won and the lights stayed on.
I don’t know what haunts this house but it had taken form. I didn’t want to lay my eyes on it that, I knew for sure. I didn’t know if I would keep my sanity if I saw what ever it was. I watched it make its route one more time, ending at the top of the stairs that lay beyond. I stood in the middle of the room, staring at the door. My skin grew cold and I debated if I should open the door or not.
Slowly I walked towards the door, feeling terrified and a little nauseated. I reached out and put my hand on the doorknob. I could feel the knob moving under my hand. I grabbed with it with both hands, trying not to let the knob turn. The door shook violently and the knob rattled back and forth. Something wanted out badly. Finally, I felt a thud against the door and then nothing. I jerked my hand away as if the knob would bite me. Now a sense of calm filled the room and I wanted to see what lay behind the door.
I reached towards the door but before I could lay my hand on the doorknob, I heard screams coming from all around me. All I could think about was my nieces. I started for the door and everything went in slow motion. I struggled to reach the door, I turned the knob and threw open the door. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dark and what I saw made my blood run cold.
Both of the girls’ necks were slit, the blood gelled on their pillows and their faces had already turned blue. I knew whatever did this must be in the attic - that’s where all the noises were coming from. Again, I went back to the attic but I felt a foreboding sense that my ruin lay behind the door.
I could no longer delay the inevitable; I was going up those stairs to challenge whatever IT was. I opened the door, stepped on the first step and looked up. I saw a wild-looking man with a large knife in his hand. He was yelling at someone but I couldn’t tell who. Why had I not heard them yelling?
In a blink of an eye, I was standing at the top of the stairs. I don’t know how I got there but the man with the knife was yelling at me. I tried to run, to get away, but I couldn’t move. The man rushed towards me, stabbing me in the chest. I screamed, grabbed my heart and fell down the attic stairs, ending up at the bottom by the door.
I lay there staring at the ceiling, breathing hard. I laid there for a long time hoping someone would come. I closed my eyes, telling myself it was going to be okay. When I opened my eyes there were two men and a woman standing over me talking as if they hadn’t seen me laying there gasping for breath. Did they see my poor nieces lying in their beds with blood on their pillows?
I lay there quietly, straining to hear them; I couldn’t make sense of what they were saying. The longer I lay there the only thing that changed was that I was no longer in pain and I could breath. I didn’t understand was wrong with me or these dense people. But, the most unbelievable thing happened - I could hear my nieces laughing. I thought they were dead! Nothing was going to keep me laying there; I jumped up, ran towards their room and flung open the door. I couldn’t conceive what I was seeing, had everything been a dream. Lynn and Lisa jumped up and down on the bed together holding hands. I was so happy that I laughed and cried; my nieces were alive. I went back to the doorway to see if the three people were still by the attic stairs and they were. I only understood one thing I heard before I shut the door. And that was two words: residue haunting, and with that, I shut the door.