by Tracee Ford
Curtis took in a deep breath and then exhaled. “Well, the house sat empty for about 12 years or so when you folks decided to buy it. The people that lived there before kept to themselves. They said ‘hello’ to us maybe twice the entire time they lived there; never said anything to us about anything strange though. Everything okay?”
“I was just curious.” He didn’t hide his unsettledness well because Curtis caught on quickly.
“You sure you two are okay?” he asked with concern in his tone.
“Oh yes. It’s nothing serious, but Robin and I hear things sometimes. And I’ve been feeling a little strange too.”
“I don’t know anything for sure, but that house,” he said as he lifted his chin toward the daunting structure, “has a long history. You might want to research it. Maybe that’ll help you understand what’s happening.”
“Okay, Curt. Well, um, thanks. I better get back to work though. I’ll send Olivia over when she gets here,” Matt concluded as he waved and headed back to the mower.
Diligently, he continued mowing the grass. He saw Sheryl’s car pulling up the drive and watched as Robin walked off of the porch. Her arms were outstretched as Olivia leapt into them. He saw Sheryl wave as she drove back down the long lane to the main road.
Things had calmed down with Sheryl, which delighted him. Time had played a large part in her adjusting to the current situation. Matt figured Sheryl had realized there was no point in fighting about Robin. After all, she had never been a trooper for lost causes and Matt’s hopeless love for Robin would trump anything Sheryl could throw his way.
As his eyes remained fixed on the house, something in the window of the study seemed unusual. Someone stood there. He studied the figure industriously trying to determine whether it was male or female. The figure stared right into his eyes. He felt it.
Without hesitation, he jumped off of the mower and ran up to the porch, throwing open the screen door. After kicking off his grass covered shoes, he flew passed Robin and Olivia, running up the stairs. He heard Robin trailing behind saying,
“What’s wrong? Are you okay?”
He felt the anger swell within him as he neared the study. He burst into the room to find no one.
“What the hell is going on here!”
“Matt, what’s wrong?” she asked calmly.
He plopped into his rolling desk chair and shook his head. Expressionless, he gazed up at Robin who stood in the doorway.
“Okay, Robin,” he began, “I am starting to wonder if you’re right. Something’s going on here.”
“What happened?” she whispered as she walked toward him. She pulled her own rolling chair over and sat facing him, her hands resting his thighs.
The words didn’t pass through his lips easily. His healthy skepticism failed him this time.
“I was in the field. I saw someone here, in this room, looking out the window at me. I got the distinct feeling it was the man that stood in our doorway the other night.”
“My dad is coming tomorrow to bless the house.” Her hand touched his warm cheek. “Everything will be okay after that.”
“There has to be an explanation for all of this!” His training and common sense forced him to backpedal. It wasn’t possible for him to give up on logic yet.
“We’ll figure it out together,” she concluded
****
The day wore on. Troubled by the conversation with her husband, Robin knew staying busy was her best option for keeping her mind off of things. So she continued with her laundry chores. Standing in the basement at the long table with towels scattered about, she listened to the music playing on her phone. Suddenly, the music faded out and then stopped. She grabbed the device and shook it. “Damn,” she whispered. She assumed the battery went dead.
Quickly, the room temperature dropped and the hair on her arms and neck stood up as the goose bumps peppered her skin. The fog from her lungs expelled from her mouth. She realized she was seeing her breath. An invisible strength wrapped around her neck unexpectedly and the gasps for air were futile. Terrified, she clutched her throat trying to remove whatever was choking her. Coughing and panting, the tears began falling down her face. Her feet felt as if they were lifting from the ground and the grip around her neck worsened. Unable to scream or even speak, she realized the urgency of the moment. Finally, she felt the grip release and bent over the table trying desperately to catch her breath. When her ability to speak returned, she screamed for Matt and heard him running through the house. The basement door swung open so hard it shook the drywall at the top of the stairs. He thundered toward her as she continued resting her elbows and torso on the laundry table.
“Robin!” he shouted.
She still struggled to breathe. “I felt like I was being hung.”
“Hung?”
“Yes. My music on my phone completely stopped and the next thing I knew the room got cold. I felt like something was hanging me. I felt my feet lift off of the ground,” she cried.
She stood up and dropped into Matt’s chest, sobbing uncontrollably.
“I’m here now,” he said softly as he caressed her hair. “It’s okay. I’m here.”
With such a terrifying event, Robin knew she needed to meditate and find her balance. Later that night, she sat in the floor of the master bedroom, legs crossed with her eyes closed. She let the peace surround her as she tuned out the stimuli around her. The breathing came easy as she stretched out her hands on her knees.
After 15 minutes, she got up and snuggled into bed. She grabbed a book from the nightstand and began reading.
She felt someone staring at her and looked up, unsure what she might see. It was just Matt standing at the end of the bed with a peculiar look on his face.
“What were you doing?” he asked.
“When?” she asked curiously.
“Well, I walked by and you were sitting on the floor,” he clarified.
“I was meditating.”
“Do you do that a lot?”
“I do it when I have time, but I’ve been trying to make time each day lately. It makes me feel calm and I rest better. After today, I needed it. It seems to help me make sense of things sometimes.”
“Do you pray, too?”
His curiosity seemed heartfelt. Robin didn’t feel he was patronizing her.
“Sort of. I give thanks to the Creator and then I just let the Creator talk to me. I also commune with my spirit guides during my meditation.”
“Wow,” he said shaking his head, “I don’t understand any of this.”
“I have some books about meditation if you want to read them.”
“I think I’ll pass. I don’t know if I’m ready to buy into all this, but if it makes you feel happier, I’m all for it.”
Matt struggled to find sleep. Disturbed by the events of the day, for which no rational explanation could be found, he knew he had seen a man standing in the study. Then Robin telling him about her encounter didn’t help matters
He glanced over at her as she slept peacefully, but the atmosphere in the room felt anything but calm. In fact, he felt angry and very aggressive.
As he drifted in and out of sleep, he heard talking. It sounded like Olivia. He listened more carefully. She sounded as if she were having a conversation with another person.
Throwing the covers off, he sat up on the side of the bed. He grabbed his cell phone and looked at the clock. It was 4:00 a.m. Matt stood up, walked toward the hallway, and then stood in Olivia’s doorway.
“What’s up princess?” he asked. “Can’t sleep?”
“I was just talking to my friend,” she answered. “She woke me up.”
He walked in and sat on the side of the bed.
“It’s four in the morning Olly. You need to go back to sleep.” Finally, what Olivia said to him registered in his brain. “Who’s your friend?”
“She’s a little girl that says her mommy and daddy don’t live here anymore,” she replied factually as she traced
the lines on her comforter.
Matt knew imaginary friends were common among children her age. He even remembered going through such a phase as a young boy. So, he entertained her notion.
“Really? What does your friend look like?”
“She is older than me. She’s got long curly black hair with a really pretty red ribbon. She’s really nice, but sometimes she gets scared.”
“Oh,” he said continuing to humor her.
“She said one of her favorite things is to watch you and Robin dance in the kitchen.”
He felt his heart thump and his stomach sank to his knees as he processed the statement. Olivia had never been in the house to see the two of them dancing; he was very aware of this fact. Sheer panic gripped him, but his face remained calm for the sake of his daughter.
Olivia continued, “She says she misses her mommy really bad, but Robin makes her feel safe. Cookie sees her, too. She likes him. She says he’s funny.”
This was horrific. Matt couldn’t find words as he searched for a way to deal with the information. Something he couldn’t see was forming a relationship with his very vulnerable, young daughter. There seemed to be no rationalization now, especially with the details she gave.
“Olly, honey, is she in here with us right now?”
“No. She left when she heard you get up. You scared her away,” she answered.
“Where does she live? What’s her name?”
“Her name is Emma and she lives in the woods out back.” She continued, “She says she hears you and Robin talking a lot about the others that live here. She said that Robin is scared sometimes and you get mad. She says that the man that lives here sometimes hurts her and won’t let her come in and play all of the time. She says there’s a lady that lives here, too. She said that the lady has asked Robin for help, but Robin won’t help her. The woman tells Emma that the bad man hurt her and her baby. And there’s something else here, but Emma won’t tell me what it is. She said it’s really scary.”
Shock filled Matt’s face as his mouth gaped open. Olivia knew too many details and he didn’t want her to be traumatized by the crazy things going on. He planned to send her away before Richard and Amy arrived.
“Go back to sleep honey. And if Emma comes back tell her you need to get some rest, okay?”
“Okay Daddy.”
Matt walked downstairs very shaken by the conversation with Olivia. Walking to the sink, he felt his body trembling as he looked out the window into the woods. Consumed by fear, he then felt the comfort of Robin’s arms wrapping around his waist. A relieved sigh left his lips as he closed his eyes and reached down to touch her hands, but nothing was there. He felt the embrace, but no warm arms or skin or flesh. He jumped and pinned himself against the countertop, his eyes wide with fear. He felt the color leave his face.
“Who are you?” he whispered. “What do you want from us?”
No one answered, but he heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Then he saw Robin rubbing her eyes as she walked into the kitchen.
“Matt, what’s wrong honey?” Robin walked to him and put her arms around him. “You’re shaking. Baby, what is it? What’s wrong? Are you sick”
“It… it… it touched me,” he bit out as he pulled away from her.
“What touched you?”
He stammered. “I… I got up because I h.. I heard Olly talking. She… she told me that a little girl has been talking to her; said her name was Emma and she lives in the woods. She also said that Emma has watched us dancing… in the kitchen. Olly couldn’t know that.” He shook his head. “Olly also said Emma told her that there was a man here who is mean to her and that there is also a woman on the property. The woman has asked you for help, but you won’t help her. And the little girl told her there’s something else here, but it’s even scarier.”
Robin clasped her hand over her mouth, her eyes wide.
Matt continued, “I was so shaken up, I came down here to catch my breath and get something to drink. I thought you might have followed me because I felt… I felt… I know I felt your arms wrap around me, but… it wasn’t you… it… it was something else. It was someone else.”
“Honey, it’s okay,” she said as she pulled him in close to her again.
His heart pounded against the walls of his chest.
“Daddy’s coming tomorrow. It’s going to be okay,” she assured him.
They embraced quietly until she broke the silence.
“Honey, stop it,” she insisted.
“Stop what?” he asked.
“Stop pulling my hair.”
“Baby,” he began, “I’m not pulling your hair. My hands are right here,” he said as he raised his hands in the air.
“Something just pulled my hair.”
It couldn’t be denied that the activity in the house was intensifying.
“What is happening?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he answered as he pulled her back into his arms. “I don’t know.”
Chapter Eight
Real
Robin stood at the top of the stairs looking down into the hallway. A large red ball bounced down the stairs. She felt herself running down the stairs to catch it, but then felt as if she were falling. As she toppled end over end, she felt a jerk in her neck and heard a loud crack. Everything went black.
Eyes wide open and her hand to her chest, Robin woke up from the dream abruptly. She looked beside her to see Matt still asleep. The sunlight beamed into the room. She closed her eyes trying to calm herself. The dreams meant something, just as they did when she was a child. She just wanted to understand.
Olivia returned to Sheryl’s in preparation for Richard and Amy’s arrival. Matt gave Sheryl an excuse that the home was being sprayed for pests
It was noon as Robin prepared some cold cut sandwiches and a vegetable tray for her parents. The outdoor table on the east porch was covered with condiments.
As they enjoyed their lunch with Richard and Amy, Robin and Matt made small talk about the weather and how beautiful the trees on the property were. But, in spite of the chit chat, Robin knew she couldn’t fool Richard for long. His discernment always amazed her.
“You guys doing okay?” he asked with concern in his tone.
She nodded. “We’re okay.”
He shook his head, “Little girl, you can’t lie to me.”
He pulled the napkin from his lap and put it on the table.
“I’m your daddy and I can always tell when you’re not telling the truth. Ever since you were small, you get a look on your face that lets me know you want to say more, but you either don’t know how or you don’t want to tell me what’s really going on.”
She dropped her head and rested her hands on the tabletop. Then she felt Matt’s hand on top of hers. She listened as her husband took the lead.
“Richard, there are strange things happening in the house,” he began, “Things that have scared both of us. After what happened last night I’m not sure what to believe anymore or what to believe in for that matter. In fact, if it keeps up, I might just put this place up for sale and move.”
“Son,” Richard said, “there’s a fine line between what we can see and what we can’t; what’s real in this world and what’s real in the next one. It says in the Bible that we don’t fight against flesh and blood, but against principalities and things unseen.”
Robin could tell by the scowl on Matt’s face he was out of his element.
“You’ll have to forgive me,” Matt said, “but I don’t know much about the Bible. What does that mean?”
“It means that each day we struggle against the spiritual world; a world we can’t see. Things that we think are just coincidence or luck… well they aren’t. We fight a spiritual battle each day. Sounds to me like that’s what you’ve been doing. It explains why you both look so tired.”
“I don’t know what is going on. I know that at times both of us feel like we’ve lost our minds. And, I’m not a religious man
; so really, I’m at a complete loss with this stuff.”
“Matthew, tell me what’s been happening.”
Listening carefully as Matt recounted all of the situations and events in the house, Robin couldn’t believe how outlandish everything sounded. It sounded made up. Robin added details in here and there as Matt continued to explain everything. After hearing the summary of events, Richard got up and grabbed his bag and his Bible. All of them walked into the house. They stood in the living room.
“Son,” he started again, “I know you don’t believe, but try. And Robin, I know you still believe in a power of a greater source, so please use that. Both of you try to pray with us.”
They nodded.
Robin watched the ritual that she had been brought up understanding. The confidence her stepfather exuded changed him from the back-woodsy man who raised her to an accomplished man of God.
Richard put a drop of olive oil on his finger and touched the door frame of the east entrance. “Right now, what I’m doing is blessing the house. We use oil to drive out any unclean or unwelcome spirits and we pray blessings on the home,” he explained as he turned looking at Matt.
Matt and Robin followed hand in hand through the house. Richard said the same prayer as he walked from room to room:
“I bless this house in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May His presence always dwell here and may His blanket of protection keep Matt and Robin safe. May He bless their union and keep them always.”
When they reached the study the chill in the air made it difficult to ignore that something spiritual was present. Robin glanced over at her mother. Her face contorted, it was as if she could read her mother’s thoughts.
“Honey it’s freezing in here,” Amy said as she rubbed her arms frantically.
“This is the coldest room in the house,” Matt answered. “Always has been.”
“There’s a reason for that,” she replied.
The blessing of the study yielded no unusual activity. Robin fully expected the entities to manifest and then attack, but they didn’t. Relief swept over her as they made their way back down the stairs into the heart of the house.
