Out of the Frying Pan

Uncle Hayes at the Campbell Mansion, Part 2

“I got up off the floor and put my pants on. I couldn’t find a single thing to use as a weapon, the dang place had nothing in it. All I could think of was my pocket knife. Whoever it was had stopped at the first landing, so I made my way into the front room. I had one hand on the light switch and in the other was my opened pocket knife.

“I heard footsteps coming up the next set of stairs. I was about five feet from the top step. I waited quietly, considered the advantages I had. The pocket knife, the sudden blinding light, and my ability to take the person by surprise and knock him down the stairs.

“In the shadows I could see a figure slowly moving up towards me, slightly backlit by the moonlight coming through the window above the first landing. As soon as the person reached the second step from the top, I flipped the switch, ready to make my move.

“I caught myself. There was standing in front of me – a woman.

“I yelled, ‘What in sam hell are you doing here?!’ She didn’t say a word, she just smiled and looked around the room.

“I asked again, ‘Who are you and what do you want?’ Still no reply or acknowledgement from the woman. It was as if she hadn’t even heard me.

"That’s when it hit me. She’s a haint.

"I could see her just as clearly as I can see the three of you. She came further into the room and I kept my distance and watched. She looked all around the place, then turned and headed back down the stairs. I followed her, staying a few steps behind. She stopped on the landing and looked out the window and I took notice that she didn’t cast a reflection in the glass, yet I could see my legs in it, reflected from where I was still standing on the steps.

"She went down the next flight and before I got around the corner, she was gone. I checked the door and it was still locked from the inside, even with a barrel bolt. The only thing down there by the door was a cabinet next to the stairs built right into the wall. I flung open the door and there was nothing inside but shelves. I even made sure none of those would move, like it was some kind of entrance to an underground passageway to the outside or something.

"I opened the front door. Nothing. She was not to be seen anywhere. That’s when I realized I was barefooted and the ground was like ice. I turned around and headed back in, making sure the door was locked. I went back upstairs, sat down on one of the crates, and rolled a cigarette.

"I tried to think of a way to explain what had just happened. I thought, Maybe it was the old house that got my mind thinking things and I must have gone to bed too soon after I had just eaten. But I’d seen the woman with my own eyes and I’d seen her lack of reflection in the glass. I made my mind up that if it was a haint, well, as long as I can do my work and it doesn’t bother me, I won’t bother it.

If it keeps bothering me at night, though, it’s gonna make me mad. And I’ll just... and I’ll... and hmmm. I’ll just have to move over into the big house, I guess. If this here is the haint’s stompin’ ground, it can have it. I’ll still stay here for a while, though, just to see first. Maybe it won’t come back at all. At least it was smiling, that’s a good sign, I reckon. Dad got me this job and I’m gonna make him proud, haints or not.

"I put my cigarette out and went to look at my watch. Eleven thirty! Dag burn haint, keeping me up and all. I turned off the lights and went back to bed. It was a little while before I could go back to sleep because I was hopping mad.

"I woke up the next morning at half past seven and thought for a moment it had been a dream. Nope, I went back to bed with my pants still on and my knife next to my wallet. I got up, ate breakfast, cleaned up, and headed over to the main house with pencil and paper in hand, to write down what needed fixing in each room."

...To be continued...