Dream House

Words 1973

The young couple sat in their car and watched the realtor slap a SOLD sign on the For Sale board outside their new house.
         Abby grinned at her husband, in the driver’s seat. “Our dream house, Ross. Can you believe we’re actually home owners? I feel so grown up!”
          “A new home, new community and a new job.” He gave a contented smile. “It’s a new life for us, honey.”
          “And I think you’ll love being a teacher here. The school’s much smaller than in the city. “Abby squeezed his hand.
As they sat in the warmth of their car, considering their future life in the country town, they watched a group of local children going from house to house. They were trick or treating, dressed garishly in Halloween costumes, one carrying a basket already half filled with chocolates and cookies. When they reached the house that Abby and Ross had recently bought, they stopped at the front gate as if considering whether to knock on the door. They spoke between themselves before deciding to move on.

💀

Waves crashed over him, swamped him as he attempted to stay afloat in the cold, black water. Aware sharks patrolled the depths, he knew each time he kicked his legs to remain afloat he signalled his presence to the waiting jaws. He screamed but the wind whipped his voice away. His voice became harsher, weaker, as salt water abraded his throat. He was sinking, sinking …

Ross gasped for air, his throat sore from yelling out. The bedsheets and pillow were soaked, not from sea water but from his sweat.
         "You were having another of your nightmares, I've been trying to wake you.”
         "Oh, not again" Ross struggled to come back to reality. Breathing deeply, he at last managed to keep his eyes open and saw the concern on his wife's face. "I'm sorry." He gave a moan. "Maybe I should move into the spare room for a while."
         "Don't stress about disturbing me, darling. It's you I'm worried about." Abby passed him a glass of water. "Ever since we moved here, those dreams have got worse."
Ross took the glass and stood by the open window. He looked down on the dark garden below and dragged in a breath of the cool night air.
         "Perhaps we should have dug deeper into the history of this place."
         Abby stood next to him at the window. She squeezed his hand. "What do you mean?"
         He looked at her and said, "I can't understand why you don't feel it too." He paused before saying, "I think something bad happened here."
         Abby had known something had been troubling Ross for a few weeks, but she'd never thought him the person who believed in ghosts or bad vibes. "It's a lovely house, babe. We were so lucky to get it for the price we paid."
         "Yes, I know. I keep asking myself why wasn't it sold long before we bought it." He shivered and closed the window.

💀

The long passage seemed to have no end as he walked past the doors, turning brass doorknobs and finding each of them locked. As he walked, lights went out behind him. He turned to look back into the darkness, sure someone or something was closely following. Attempting to find an unlocked one, he moved on until at last a door knob turned under his shaking fingers. He slipped inside, quietly closing the door behind him. He stood in the blackness, his back to the door. Listening intently for any sign he wasn’t alone, he became aware of a presence. He couldn't see a thing but had a sensation of something slither over his feet and up his leg under the bottom of his jeans. He screamed loudly, thrashed around, trying to find the creature with his hands. It was cold, wet, slimy…

         "Shhh, it's okay, it's just a dream. Shhh. Shhh." Abby held her husband's thrashing body until he began to waken from the nightmare. The clock on the bedside table read 3.15 am. Ross sat on the edge of the bed before sliding on to the floor. He pulled his knees up to his chin, and clamped his hands over his ears, as if he was trying to shut out all sound.
         "This has gone on too long, Ross. You must go and see someone about these dreams." Abby wiped the sweat from his forehead with a damp washcloth from the bathroom, "I’ll make you an appointment with the doctor tomorrow."
         "No! Don't. I've only been teaching at the school for two months, I can't start taking time off. I'm not being a great example to the kids as it is. I'm always so tired. Anyway, what can a doctor do for bad dreams? He'll just suggest sleeping pills." He stood up, "I'm going downstairs to make some warm milk." He gave a halfhearted smile. "Go back to bed, sweetheart. I'll probably watch a bit of TV. The late night infomercials might send me to sleep."

💀

Over the following weeks, Ross' dreams became more vivid until he felt he was going mad. He spent hours researching the history of the house and the land it was built on in 1906, but found nothing extraordinary. He'd had thoughts that the land could have once been a burial ground, or there'd been a murder in the house. He'd even thought someone had been mistreated, tortured, or at least died painfully in their bedroom. He read the history of the town since the house had existed and the only odd story he'd found was in 1955 a bunch of kids had gone missing on Hallowe’en. They were never seen again, despite an extensive police investigation.
He found out information about the first family and the man who had commissioned the building of the house. A Mr Braithwaite, who had apparently been a respected member of the community, A pillar of society.

         When he told Abby what he'd been doing, at first she'd humoured him. "You think the house is haunted?"
         "Someone is trying to tell me something. I'm sure of it," he looked at her so earnestly her heart melted.
         "We should go away for the end of term break. We've both been working too hard. Let's go and visit your parents. The change would do you good." She put her arms around his neck and tried to kiss his frown away. "You could catch up on some rest there."
         "Maybe you're right. I just need a few good nights undisturbed sleep."

💀

They left for the city the following weekend. Ross' parents had been thrilled to hear they were coming for a visit. As they drove away from the house, Ross looked in the rear-view mirror and thought he saw someone in the attic window watching them leave. He didn't mention it to Abby. He knew she was nearly out of her mind with concern for him.
         When they reached the outskirts of the city, the traffic was barely crawling along. "I'd forgotten how crazy the roads are here." Abby sighed, "I'm pleased we followed through on our decision to go to the country. It was a good move for us. Got us out of the rat race." She put her hand on his knee. "Once you stop having those crazy dreams, you'll love it too."
As she chatted on about all the renovations she wanted to do, Ross zoned out. His thoughts went instead to how crazy the house made him feel. But the more miles he put between himself and the house, the better he began to feel.
         "So, what do you think, honey?” Abby was asking him a question.
         "Yeah, sounds great."
         "You never heard a word I was saying." She gave him a sideways glance.
         "Yeah, I did. You said that we'd start on the second floor as soon as we can afford it."
         "Mm, okay, but your mind was some place else, admit it."
Ross grinned, he knew she was right, part of him was still back at the house, worrying if the dreams would follow him here to the city.

💀

         "You were right, sweetheart. A week away from the house was just what the doctor ordered."
They had been home for a few days and there had been no more dreams.
         "Oh, aren't I always?" She laughed. "A few good nights' sleep and a bit of your mum's home cooking were all you needed."
         "I think it was getting away from all the work which needs doing here. I think sometimes we bit off more than we can chew when we bought this huge place."
         "We've got plenty of time to finish what needs doing." Abby didn't want her husband to feel under pressure to complete what she knew was a big project.

💀

Tethered to the rough brick wall in complete darkness, he yanked ineffectually at the restraints. The air was stale; he felt light headed as he took desperate gulps of air. Sweat stung his eyes and pasted his shirt to his back, He slowed his breathing and tried to think, to listen. Where was this place? How could he get free, escape? Shout loudly, someone will hear you, save you. Scream. Yell. Help! Help!…

He woke. The dreams were back.

💀

A few day later, Ross decided to check out the second floor and at least make some decisions on the renovations. He wandered down the passage, checking out the state of the five bedrooms on this floor. He hoped Abby didn’t have any ideas about filling these up with kids.
The bedrooms were all large and airy, but needed painting, new carpets and curtains and he wondered about the state of the wiring. While Ross mentally tallied up what it might cost, he heard scratching, scuffling sounds. They seemed to coming from the wall in the bedroom at the end of the passage.
“Oh, great. Don’t tell me we have rats?” He spoke aloud. He banged on the wall and realised it wasn’t brick unlike the rest of the house. It sounded hollow. He banged again and heard scurrying. Puzzled, he went downstairs to the garage to fetch his flexible inspection torch which had a three inch illuminated screen.
He made a small hole with a screwdriver, in what appeared to be plasterboard, just big enough to slip in the torch. A putrid, musty smell drifted into the room. Dead rats?
At first he couldn’t figure out the image on the screen. He thought it could be a grinning clown face, although upside down. He enlarged the hole, determined now to discover what else was hidden behind the false wall.

         "What's wrong, Ross?" Abby stared at her husband's white face when he ran into the kitchen, "You look like you've seen a ghost."
Ross didn't answer but went to the sink for a drink. As he filled it, the glass rattled against the tap.
         "Ross?"
         He turned to Abby and with a shaking voice he said, "You're not going to believe this…"

Slowly, with trepidation, Abby followed Ross up to the last room on the second floor. Panels of broken plasterboard were strewn across the threadbare carpet. Neither spoke as they stood holding hands in front of a scene of indescribable horror. The complete skeleton of what appeared to be a child hung upside down. Its bare boned feet were attached to the wall by a pair of manacles. A hallowe’en mask hung crookedly from the skull allowing one empty eye socket to stare vacantly into the faces of the horror struck pair. There were three other smaller skeletons clothed in halloween costumes. They were covered with a thick layer of dust after being interred for over sixty five years. A small wicker basket with the words: trick or treat, lay tossed in there, beside the bones.