The Brown House

by Christy Sloat

  “Anything.”

  “Find our family tree; it has been missing for years. In this state,” she motioned to her faded self, “I can’t seem to find it. It is very important that if you want to find peace with the others that you be the one to locate it.” And with that said she was gone. I rushed to my window looking down upon a car that drove itself right into the tree outside. I ran down the steps and outside to find out that car was my dad’s, with him in it.

  “Oh Dad! Oh my God are you okay?” He stumbled out of the car and held his hand to his head. I pulled it away to find a large open gash. “What happened?”

  “I don’t really know. I was leaving to go to the store and when I put the car into reverse it went straight ahead. Geez, look at the car.” He looked sad. Our car was totaled and the tree was unharmed. I pulled him inside. Mom met us at the door, she took over and sat him at the kitchen table to inspect his head. I let her take care of his injury while I jumped on the laptop and got the number to our insurance company. It wasn’t anything new to me to help take care of things like this. Back home Mom had me calling the cable, gas, and electric company to help lower or make arrangements for our bill. I was very used to taking on adult responsibilities.

  “Brylee I have to get him to the ER, he will need stitches. I called your aunt and she is on her way. Will you be okay here alone?” The way she asked me that made my stomach do a flip flop. Alone.

  “Yeah totally, I’ll watch TV and hang out.” She gave me a saddened look. From me sleeping in bed with her I could tell she knew something was up. “It was only a bad dream, Mom. Really, I’m fine.” This seemed to do the trick and Mom smiled and patted my arm. With them gone I would have time to look for the one thing that might help us get peace in this house, their family tree. I didn’t know why it was important or why they couldn’t find it themselves. There was the fact that they lived in their own realm here, but if they could move our furniture around couldn’t they find a piece of paper? Aunt Leona finally showed up and Mom and Dad scurried out to the car. Beeping the horn at me she waved from the window and I waved back. I hadn’t spent any time with my aunt at all since I moved here. Come to think of it, I really hadn’t seen much of New Jersey. They pulled away and I was really alone in the house. It was quiet, not a spooky quiet, more like a still silence. I looked out the window and toward Ephraim and Lyn’s house and I saw an orange head bobbing up and down through the woods.

  I ran outside into the wind, which blew wildly. It was much noisier than inside the house. I wanted to catch Ephraim before he went inside. I wanted to tell him about the phone call this morning and my talk with Pearl. I couldn’t talk to him about it if he was anywhere near Lyn though.

  “Hey,” I yelled. He whipped around and came through the briars and trees. They tugged and tore at his hunting clothes, he didn’t seem to mind. His smile was just what I needed to see. “My dad crashed his car into our tree, so I’m all alone today in the house.” I didn’t know why I had said it that way. I meant to just ask him to come over and hang with me.

  “Oh, he hit the big oak tree?” Concern flooded his face. “He okay?”

  “Yeah he needs stitches but he’s okay. Some things happened this morning, I need someone to talk to about it.”

  “Let me shower and then I’ll come over. Lyn’s with my mom at some church function, it will just be me. Hopefully that’s okay.”

  “Perfect,” I said excitedly.

  “Give me about fifteen minutes.” He turned and went back through to his side. I had fifteen minutes to get started on my search. I went inside and pulled on a sweater. It was starting to get colder and now the house had a bit of a chill to it. I stood in the middle of the living room, without any clue as to where to start my exploration. I knew there was the basement and it was very possible that it was there. So I walked over to the basement door. On the day of our arrival this door had given me an uneasy feeling. It still did now, as I pulled it open and a breeze blew past me. The stairs were short but dark nonetheless. I pulled on the little lamp above my head, which gave only half of the room light.

  Part of the floor was concrete and the rest was dirt, it smelled like mold and something else I couldn’t describe. I buttoned my sweater up, hoping it kept me a bit warmer, because it was even colder down here. I looked around for boxes but all I could find was an old roll top desk and mattresses piled on top of each other. The old coal furnace sat on the wall looking horribly scary. I didn’t stare at it too long. I then headed out feeling completely unaccomplished. How hard was it to find this family tree? If it was even in this house at all. What would happen if I couldn’t find it? I was too afraid to know the answer to that question, since they already hated me.

  As I reached the steps the basement door slammed shut. I jumped back and screamed. My hands shook instantly and my legs felt that familiar wobble. I ran up the steps and pulled and pushed to open it. It would not open at all. Frustration and fear set in. I gave one good push and the light above my head went out as the bulb sparked and died. Tears filled my eyes as the fear of being stuck down here in the blackness consumed me. I didn’t know who or what closed the door and there was a good chance someone was behind me in the room watching me. Maybe Pearl had tricked me into looking for the family tree hoping I would come down here. This could all be a set up. I pulled on the door and yelled, “Open the door, please.”

  With a sigh the door opened and the light above my head went back on, as if it never even burnt out. I tumbled out of the door and fell to the floor, sobbing. Arms grabbed me from around my waist and pulled me up. “No!” I screamed and tried to fight. It was fight or flight at this point.

  “Brylee it’s just me, what happened?” I didn’t answer I just cried. He wrapped me into a hug and I told him what happened between terrified tears. “I’m here now I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

  “Oh God Ephraim I was so scared.” I sniffed and he handed me a tissue from our coffee table. I cleaned up my face and we sat at the couch. I had to calm down enough to tell him about earlier. He left me sitting there as he made a fire for us and then went to the kitchen to make tea. I talked and he kept busy, nodding from time to time. He handed me my peppermint tea and then I told him about what Pearl had said about his dad. How she and the others thought he was trying to go into the room to do something bad. That’s when it donned on me that they were mad at me that I invited him here today. That’s why they locked me in the basement. It wasn’t a good excuse, but it was their way of saying they were pissed.

  “So you said they left messages on your phone, right? So let’s listen to them, let’s see what they have to say.” I had been focusing on my thoughts that this sort of jarred me. It took me a second to find my phone, when I did I handed it to him.

  “Here you listen to them.” I sat down and finished my tea.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I didn’t want to listen to the messages even though Ephraim said they weren’t that bad. I had heard the real thing this morning and I didn’t want to hear it again. It was bad and he was just trying to sugar coat it to protect me. I told him I had to start looking for the family tree and he offered his help, promising to stay by my side at all times and not letting anyone lock me in any rooms.

  “By the way, you look really pretty today,” he said, as we climbed the stairs to my floor. “Is that inappropriate?”

  I giggled like a little girl. “No it’s not, it’s nice, thank you. You look good but I think you should have worn your orange hat. You look totally hot in it.” He tickled my side and I laughed harder. We felt comfortable together. It was nice to feel that way with him. It reminded me of how I felt with Ethan, we could joke together and also be completely serious.

  “Okay, let’s start in your room. Look for loose floorboards or any crevices. Obviously someone hid this thing and doesn’t want anyone to find it. So think like a detective.” He started looking in my closet as I tried to mimic his moves; hitting the floorboards on the edges. I scanned
the floor and started in the corner, doing the same technique as he did. After we scoured the whole room we went out into the other room and did the same. The first two rooms and bedrooms came up empty, so I unlocked the bathroom door and we went to the other end of the house. Ephraim completely ignored Pearl’s room and went into the room with the fireplace. He started on the closet and I did the floors. “What happens when you find it?” he asked, as he felt for loose edges. “Do they leave you alone?”

  “She didn’t say, she just said it would help if I found it. Trust me, after being locked in the basement I am totally willing to look for it. I don’t ever want that to happen to me again.” Just thinking about it again made me sick to my stomach. They were playing with me and I didn’t like their games. If they wanted this stupid paper I would find it, no matter what I had to do.

  We didn’t find it in the fireplace room or in any of the rooms on my parent’s floor either. After we searched the whole house, top to bottom, we sat on the porch exhausted. It wasn’t physical work, but it was draining and I felt like I failed their test.

  “It has to still be here Brylee, think about it, they asked you to look for it. They know it’s here, maybe they can sense it but can’t reach it in there.” Ephraim suggested.

  It made sense in a way, why would they ask me to look for it unless they themselves believed it was here. Maybe wherever it was they couldn’t reach. I jumped up and decided to look in one last place, a place I was before, but was shooed out of. Ephraim was up and behind me as I opened up the basement door, not letting me go alone. I turned on the overhead light and went over to the roll top desk I had seen earlier. I pulled it up and there were tons of papers, pictures, and books. Ephraim and I pulled them all out and left the basement quickly. I didn’t want to stay down there and look through them. We sat by the fire and warmed our backs as we looked through all the pictures and papers.

  “Good idea looking in there,” Ephraim said as he looked at old black and white photos. “What made you think to look there? Who do you think these people are?”

  “I don’t know why I thought about it, maybe because of what Pearl said to me this morning.”

  “Which was?” He looked at me like I was the smartest girl he ever knew.

  “She said that the other relatives of hers that were claimed by the curse are angry and want revenge, they’re the ones who want me and my parents out of the house, and they think we will hurt them. I was down here earlier and someone locked me in, right?” I thumbed through the papers in my hand.

  “Yeah so what, they locked you in to mess with you. What does that have to do with you finding these papers?”

  “They are the ones who are stuck in the realm of the dead or spirit world; they couldn’t manipulate the desk like the others could. They knew where the family tree was, and by locking me in the room, they were telling me to stay there and not to leave. They were trying to tell me it was in that room.” It was at that moment I came across an old paper that was faded and the writing was barely legible, but the words at the top were bold, The Brown Family Tree. I pulled it free from the other papers gently and laid it out on the floor by our feet. “They were right, it was in there and here it is.” The excitement in my voice was undeniable and even Ephraim got excited, even though we had no idea why it was so exciting to find a paper this ancient.

  “What to do now? Hmm, do I call them back and tell them I have it?” We laughed at my comment. “I don’t know how they can use the phone but they couldn’t open the desk.”

  “Simple, phones don’t need to be picked up and dialed by them, they use it by using the electricity in it. Ghosts can use electricity because they are pure energy and they use the vibrations of the electricity. It probably explains how they shut off the light while you were down there and how the corner room light goes on by itself.” I didn’t speak; I was sort of impressed by his explanations. I had no idea how he knew all of that but it made total sense to me. They were energy, and by using that energy they manipulated the electric current from the phone to call me. Goodness knows how much more they could use it for, but I tried not to think about that.

  “So, now that we know that, what do we do?” As soon as I asked the question my house phone rang. We sat in silence for a few minutes before I stood up. My legs were weak and rubbery as I walked toward it. I picked it up and, with a raspy voice, answered, “Hello.”

  “Brylee, it’s Mom, I am just checking in to see if you’re okay.” I sighed and after assuring her I was fine a hundred times, we hung up. My dad hadn’t even been seen yet by the doctors, so they would be there a while longer.

  I sat back down with Ephraim by the fire. We continued to look through the photos and papers for the next hour. Neither of us touching the family tree, it wasn’t something we really wanted to mess with just yet. Most of the papers were legal papers about the house and stuff we didn’t understand. The photos were probably family members but none of them were of Pearl. I piled everything up and took it quickly back to the desk and finally shut the door tight. Ephraim was in the kitchen looking through our fridge.

  “You hungry?” he asked after coming up empty handed.

  “Yes I’m starved; I think my stomach is eating itself.”

  “Okay grab a coat. I’m taking you out for lunch,” he said and grabbed his keys. I ran upstairs and grabbed the coat he gave me and pulled it on, setting the family tree on my bed. It was hand drawn very carefully, that was apparent. It was an actual tree on the page, the base of the tree holding William and Violets names. The branches were the children and their children. The Brown’s children I learned about; Pearl, Homer, and Edith were all listed on the branches. I saw other names too, but I didn’t know about them yet. I hoped I would learn about them at some point, it seemed as though I felt a connection to this family. A connection that was more than me living in their house. So in a split decision I tucked the paper in my sketchpad. If Pearl needed it she could come and ask me for it.

  We pulled into a diner about twenty minutes away from my house and it seemed like a totally different atmosphere than what I was used to. The people in this town drove really expensive cars and all the women wore high heels with their high-end jeans. It was like Cali, but without the palm trees. It was funny how there would always be the same type of people everywhere you went. I hopped out of the truck as Ephraim came to open my door for me. Never had anyone opened a door for me, ever. I smiled all the way into the diner as we chose a booth near the back. It was the cutest diner I had ever been too. The 50’s theme was strong in here, and I liked it. Music blared from the speakers and the waitresses rolled around in their adorable pink and black roller skates. It was nice to leave the house and go out to see the sights of my new home. I wanted to learn the cool hangouts and this seemed like one of them. We ordered milkshakes and burgers, mine with extra avocado, and we dug in. The food was so good we didn’t do much talking at first, but after we started to get full Ephraim spoke, “So, why do you think they want the family tree?” I wondered this myself but I hadn’t the slightest clue what the tree could do for them. I didn’t think it would help them to move on, or even be at peace in their existence.

  “I will have to ask Pearl if I see her again I guess.” I realized how strange it was to refer to a dead girl. “Let’s talk about something else if you don’t mind.” I had enough haunted house talk for today. I wanted to enjoy my time with Ephraim.

  “Okay, let’s talk about the dance.” He looked up at me with his beautiful blue eyes, his hair sweeping his forehead. I could tell he hadn’t shaved in a few days, and I liked the way the stubble sat on his chin.

  “Let’s talk about that dance.” I smiled back, feeling my cheeks blush at his adorable face. “I’m looking forward to it, I love to dance. Have you been to school dances before?” It was a stupid question and I knew it as soon as I asked. Of course he had been to them with Amber.

  “Um, yeah I have been to a few; the school does a good job. The music is pretty
decent, too. Last year they had a band and they were local, this year though I think it will be a D.J. Have you been to a school dance at your old school?” I was forced to think of Ethan as he asked me just as I forced him to think about Amber. I had been to a few school dances, one in particular stuck out in my mind. Last year’s dance I had went with my friends and Ethan danced with me all night. I was no longer hungry. I pushed my food away from me. “Yeah, I’ve been to a few.”

  Ephraim looked up and his once twinkling eyes now looked hard and angry. I turned my head in the direction he was looking and I saw them, his cousins. My stomach did a flip-flop, and I knew neither one of us would eat the rest of our food.

  “Shit,” he said quietly. “Sorry I shouldn’t cuss around you. We have to go, this could turn ugly.” I liked how he apologized for cussing, but it wasn’t like I hadn’t heard the word before. He waved down the waitress and asked for our bill, but we had been spotted. His cousin John was already on his way over to our booth. I was starting to get nervous as I saw Ephraim’s jaw clench. I didn’t know what was going to happen and I didn’t want to see him get into a fight.

  “Cuz, long time no see,” John said as he reached our table. He was a smug jerk and it showed on his smiling face. “Didn’t know you came to my hangout.”

  When Ephraim stood he was at least a foot taller than John, but he didn’t seem to care about Ephraim’s size. Ephraim’s veins in his thick arms were pulsing as he clenched his fists. “We were just leaving John, and I didn’t know you hung here. If I did I wouldn’t have come.”

  John eyed me as I stood up and put on my coat. He looked at me as if I was something he could conquer. I knew I was a pretty girl, I had been told that I should be a model. I was built like one and my face was flawless. But I was happy being a normal teenager. I just didn’t like it when guys thought they could look at me like John was now. They thought just because I was pretty that they could use me as their eye candy. He licked his lips and winked at me. “Gross!” was my response to his disgusting maneuver.