The Brown House

by Christy Sloat

  For the rest of class I only had one thing on my mind, Ephraim. It was a nice break from all the emotional things I had been thinking of. Unfortunately, it was very distracting to be thinking about him. I could not focus on my work, which consisted of helping my art teacher, Mr. Coombs. It was easy work as usual, so when the bell rang I grabbed my bag and filed away all the students’ papers.

  “You’re doing a great job Branson,” Mr. Coombs told me. I thanked him and met Ephraim outside the class.

  “Yeah Branson, you’re doing so well passing out paper,” he joked.

  “Shut up, I do more than that.” I punched his arm as he walked to his lunchroom and I walked to meet Lyn. “Bye.” I waved. We would see each other in P.E. and Psych class. I could hardly wait.

  Lyn and I ate lunch with Miles and I could see how he made her feel. Her face lit up when he spoke to her. She seemed completely comfortable in his gaze. It was nice to see her happy. Even though girls like Marcy made her feel like a dork, Miles made her feel beautiful. She deserved that, because she was beautiful.

  After lunch I hurried to the gym, seeing Marcy and her so called “slut pack” on the way. I noticed Ephraim’s ex, Amber, hanging with them. Her long blonde hair pulled up in the same bouffant style as Marcy and her pack. I laughed because it was funny how fast she conformed to their style now that she was a single girl again. I didn’t see Ephraim, we were playing volleyball again and he was in the weight room, but I did see him seventh period for Psych. I slid into my seat, right behind him.

  He turned and smiled at me. “Hey, how was U.S Lit?” I blushed. He remembered my schedule.

  “It was good I guess, it’s U.S Lit. At lunch I sat with Miles and Lyn.” I figured he would like to hear a bit of good news.

  “Oh yeah? Good, I am glad she made a new friend. I worry about her,” he admitted.

  “You don’t need to, she’s strong. Stronger than I think you and I both realize.” The teacher shushed us and we sat straight in our seats. About halfway into the class Ephraim stretched and dropped a swan letter on my desk again.

  I pulled the wing opening it up and it read:

  Do you wear corsages? If so what color? Do you want to talk tonight about the house? I have some things I want to talk about.

  I wrote back:

  Corsages are not my style. And, I would love to talk about the house tonight, what time?

  His response:

  I’ll throw a rock at your window around 9:00

  I giggled and tucked the letter in my back pocket. After class he waited for me again by the door and grabbed my bag. I let him have it; it was a romantic gesture to hold it for me. I couldn’t help but wonder as we walked to his truck, was he my boyfriend or were we just still friends? After all, it was me who had just told him I needed time. And it was me who kissed him today. I confused myself, poor Ephraim must be totally thrown for a loop. Luckily, when we got to the truck the Mayhew boys were not waiting for us and we drove home laughing about this morning’s events. It felt nice to hear Lyn and Ephraim joke about it. I couldn’t imagine fighting with my family over something so trivial. John and the other cousins needed to let it go. It wasn’t like Ephraim did anything wrong, not in my eyes anyway.

  Nine o’ clock couldn’t possibly come fast enough. I had to sit through dinner with my parents, listening to them bicker about the new cabinets and counters. Mom loved them, but Dad didn’t care for the dark wood. Ugh, were adults ever happy?

  “Brylee, have you seen the smoke detectors?” It was such a strange question that I didn’t answer. I just shrugged; I didn’t do anything to them. “I came home today and they aren’t up anymore.”

  “Mom, can I go upstairs to my room? I have homework.” It was almost eight and I still needed a bath.

  “Sure, sweetie.”

  “Thanks Mom.” I kissed her and ran upstairs. I grabbed a comfy sweatshirt, one that Kayla would definitely call ‘Cali style’, and headed to soak in the tub. I ran the water and once it was super-hot I stepped in. Unfortunately, as soon as the bubbles covered my body and I was nice and warm, the lights turned off and the room grew cold.

  Chapter Nineteen

  “Who’s there? Pearl, can I have the lights back on please?” I asked, but no one responded. I got up carefully, hoping to not slip on the tile flooring. I reached for the switch but froze when I felt a hand across my shoulder. It was cold and firm. I didn’t want to turn on the light and see anyone here with me. The hand was not natural, it was ghastly. I flipped the switch anyway and the hand pulled away. I tried to ignore it but felt someone in the room with me. There was no doubt that I wasn’t alone. I turned fast and got back into the tub, sinking deep back down in the water, and shut my eyes firmly. Blocking my sense of sight didn’t quite help my case, I still could hear and smell. The sound was breathing, heavily in my ear. The smell was of cool lavender mixed with a hint of vanilla. Not very intimidating, but still scary nonetheless.

  “Brylee…” it was a woman’s voice. She said my name so quietly, as if to test my hearing. I shivered and went under the water to hide, still sticking to the “pretend they aren’t here” scheme. When I opened my eyes under the water, I saw two beautiful delicate eyes peering in at me from above the water. There was no pretending, I let out a scream under the water and she smiled like she accomplished something. I sat up and rubbed the water out of my eyes. She sat on the edge of the tub as I tried to cover my body with my hands. She cocked her head to the side, like a dog trying to understand what the human was doing.

  “Who are you?”

  “Oh, so you do see me then. Well then there is no pretending anymore I suppose.” I nodded and she continued, “I am Violet Brown, this is my house that you are living in. I came here to speak with you about your conversations with Pearl.” She was the same woman I had seen in my room Saturday night. The one I had tried desperately to pretend wasn’t there. She was regal and elegant in her ghost form. Her hair carefully pinned up and her make-up painted perfectly.

  “You came to talk to me while I take a bath? I’m naked.” I still tried to cover myself with bubbles.

  “It’s not as if I have not seen it before, I raised two daughters. Now, tell me what you have said to Pearl,” she asked again. She was definitely used to getting her way, wasn’t she?

  “What does it matter to you? She told me not to speak with you or anyone else; she said you didn’t want me here. So get out and let me finish my bath.” I applauded my momentary bravery. I was starting to get used to seeing ghosts in my house, so I wasn’t taking their crap anymore. “Oh, by the way, this isn’t your home any longer because you’re dead!”

  Once I said it I regretted it, but she didn’t seem to think that my own regret was enough. She put her hand in the water, making it turn ice cold, and her face turned from regal to terrifying. Her skin sagged and her eyes fell dark. I wrapped my arms around myself as she rose up and stared down upon me.

  “Don’t ever say that again!” she shouted. “You do not know anything about this house, yet you think you are capable of understanding the curse that killed me and my whole family. You aren’t!”

  “Please, I didn’t mean to…” I begged. My body shivered from fear and the cold water.

  “Don’t ask me to help you, young girl. I asked you to tell me about Pearl because you have no idea who you are dealing with. You will not survive if you keep meddling with things you cannot understand.” She started to fade and her face turned back to its normal state. “I only came here to warn you to stop talking to her.”

  “Why? I only want to help you to move on.” My voice shook as she started to turn to mist again. I was terrified but I wanted to know what she meant.

  “Just stop and go on with your life.”

  Once she faded and I was sure she was gone I slowly got out of the bath. I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around myself and buried my face in its softness. I cried and screamed into the towel. I wanted so much to just be able to live here in peace and to
help them move on to where ever it was they were supposed to go. I didn’t understand why she didn’t want me to talk to her daughter any longer. Unless she was afraid Pearl would tell me too much. Pearl did warn me that they would not like it if I talked to her. I just didn’t know how they were going to react. Now that I knew I felt like I should stop talking to Pearl.

  Once Ephraim threw the first rock I slowly opened the window. He was late by fifteen minutes, but I was happy. It gave me time to calm down enough to be able to visit with him. I peered down and instantly seeing him made me feel safe. I knew the Brown’s didn’t like him so I could only hope that with him here they would leave me alone. I waved and he started to climb the tree outside my window.

  “What are you doing? You’re going to get killed.”

  “Nah, I’m really good at climbing trees,” he said, as he maneuvered the tree cautiously. “Out of the way I’m coming in.”

  I got out of the way like I was told and he climbed in the window. He was so cute it made my heart skip a few beats. He pulled his beanie off and closed the window behind him. “What’s wrong, you look upset?”

  I stared down at my feet. “I just got another visit and let’s just say it wasn’t pleasant.” He grabbed me instantly and hugged me. The way he hugged me tonight was more than friends for sure. He wove his hands through my hair and nestled his nose on my neck. If we stayed like this I could forget all about the crazy stuff. We couldn’t though; we had to talk about it. I had to get them to stop harassing me. They hadn’t bothered my mom and dad yet, but they would eventually. I pulled from him and tried my best to tell him about Violet’s visit. “Violet just gave me a little visit in the bathroom. She was nice at first, but I guess I got a little too cocky for her.”

  “What did she do? I don’t know how to protect you but I will try my best Brylee.” He intently looked me in the eyes.

  “She turned dark; it’s the only way to describe it. She told me to stop talking to Pearl.” I continued to tell him Violet’s warning and how she made my hot tub turn to ice water. He sat and listened and I could see his jaw flexing as I went on. It showed me he did care about me, because he was getting mad that she did this. He was protective over me, and I liked it. I needed to be protected but I refused to give up on this house. I had hated it when we moved here, but now I wanted to stay here and fight for it.

  “Where is the family tree?” he asked me. I grabbed it out of my sketchpad and handed it to him. He looked it over and pulled a piece of paper from his back pocket. After carefully unfolding it he laid them both on my bed and stood looking at them. His paper looked a lot like mine. It was a tree as well, but it was a Mayhew family tree.

  “My family tree,” he spoke. “I found it last night after you left. I had to really dig to find it, but once I did I copied it on my printer. That’s why I wanted to come over tonight. Look at the similarities in them both.” They were very comparable, drawn by hand and both seeming to be from the same artist.

  “They’re both from the same artist,” I pointed out.

  “How can you tell?” He looked at me in awe.

  “Well, you can see how the artist draws the trees in the same fluid motion. The trees are almost identical, except for the gothic feel of the Brown tree. The Mayhew tree is surrounded by thorns on the base of the tree,” I pointed out.

  “Maybe suggesting that they were the thorns in the sides of many families in this area,” he added.

  “Yeah, good observation. Also, the writing of their names is almost suggesting that they were worth more. Like they were rich and they wanted it to show on the tree.” He laughed at my suggestion. I almost forgot I was speaking of his family. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to say anything bad, just pointing out the things I see in the picture.”

  “No, you are absolutely right. That is how my family felt and still feels. Don’t be sorry, I want your opinion, you are the artist here.” I blushed and felt proud of myself.

  “Now, why did one artist do both family trees and why isn’t the Brown family tree finished? Did the artist die before finishing it?”

  I hadn’t even noticed that the Brown’s was incomplete. I looked at it closely and noticed he was right. Where his family’s tree went on and on, theirs stopped at a certain era. It stopped with Caroline, Richard, and Renee Brown, but did not include these family members spouses or their children. The Mayhew tree included Ephraim, Lynley, and all of his cousin’s. Strangely, the artist seemed to have been the one to write their names in the tree. Like this same artist, who made both trees was the one to complete it once a new family member arrived.

  “Wait, Ephraim look at the writing carefully, whoever did this tree did it recently.” He looked at it carefully and nodded. “This artist had to be around to add your names to it. So there’s no way this artist did this at the same time as the Brown’s, they would have to be super old. They would have had to draw this tree and add to it every time someone was born. So maybe it’s a different artist altogether. Why is this even important anyway?”

  “You don’t get it, do you?” He looked at me like I had two heads. “Whoever did this drawing had to know the Brown’s personally. They had to be able to talk to someone to get the genealogy information and construct the drawing.”

  My eyes went wide. “You’re saying you want to find this person and ask them about the family aren’t you?”

  “Yep. If they’re still around, like you said.” My stomach clenched at the thought of tracking down the artist. I did want to see if they knew anything, but what if what they had to say wasn’t helpful.

  “Don’t you find it odd that the Brown’s branches stop at maybe, let’s see, 1970? And my trees branches still go on.” It was totally true, it was odd.

  “Yeah, you’re right it’s definitely strange. But Ephraim, what am I going to do about these ghosts? I can’t keep getting threatening phone calls and bathtub visits from them. What is this person going to tell us that we can’t find out ourselves? I think we need to find out about this curse and see how to set them free.”

  Once again he looked at me funny. He sat down on the bed and looked up at me. “Brylee, this artist may know how we can get a hold of one of the existing members of this family. For some reason they all disappeared, like they ran away. If we find one of them then maybe we can get our answers. Then we can do what we have to do to get them out of your house.”

  He had a valid point, finding a member of the family may help me out. In the same token, what if they didn’t know anything about the family’s true history? Then we would be searching for a dead end.

  “So we will start there, but I still want to see what Kayla has to say about that night she went missing.” I paced nervously. “She was going to tell me yesterday, but my parents came home and she disappeared like she always does. So I got nothing.”

  “Why is it that you’re the only one who can see her? I mean, she would stick out like a sore thumb with that blue hair.” Another good point. Then it hit me, she had blue hair!

  “Ephraim, if she had to get her hair dyed and keep up that color wouldn’t she have to go to a salon to get it done?” Knowing his mother was a hairdresser I wondered if he would put two and two together.

  “Yeah, how is she keeping up with her color for two years? She used to go to my mom’s salon to get it done. Where does she go now?” I nervously chewed my fingernails.

  “I don’t know but it seems like whoever is doing her hair would know who she is right?” He nodded and then stood up and grabbed me by the arms.

  “I know why no one knows she’s back.” He hung his head, and then hugged me tightly. “It’s because she’s dead Brylee,” he whispered in my ear. I pulled away from him and stumbled over my own feet.

  “No she isn’t,” I said defensively.

  “Brylee, no one else can see the Brown’s except for you. It makes sense, think about it. She disappears when other people come around, you told me yourself.”

  It was true, no one seemed to se
e her but me. It all started at the pizza place, my mom hadn’t seen her that night. Then at the mall, she disappeared into thin air when the shop girl came over. He was right! Kayla was dead, she had to be.

  “Yes, you’re right. Why me, what is it about me that makes me able to see ghosts?” I asked, still trying to take in the fact that Kayla was really a ghost.

  “Because, you’re special Brylee. There is no other way of explaining it. I don’t know why you don’t see how exceptional you are.”

  I sat on my window seat and Ephraim sat next to me and held my hand. It shook wildly and he rubbed it gently to try to get me to calm down. “We need to ask Lynley to help us find this artist. She is really good at stuff like this.”

  “No way, she will freak out!” I shook my head and he tried to reassure me.

  “She’ll be fine once I talk to her about it, the most she will be is mad we waited so long to tell her.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Lyn yelled at Ephraim and me on the drive home from school the next day. “You know, I knew something was going on. I knew it!”

  “I am so sorry Lyn, I should have told you sooner. I just didn’t want to freak you out.” She in fact did freak out a when we told her everything. She sat quietly for the first few minutes, and then she started to cry when we told her about her dad.

  “Who wouldn’t freak out about this? This is crazy! Here I thought life was going pretty good, I finally have a boyfriend. Now I have to fight ghosts in your house.”

  “A boyfriend, huh?” Ephraim asked.

  “Shut up, Ephraim, it’s not like you and Brylee aren’t going out. I can be happy too you know.” She crossed her arms and sat back. Were Ephraim and I a couple? I really had no clue. We seemed happy to be around each other, but there was no promise of a relationship.