The House on Hayden Pond

by Jessica Monks

  “Are you sure it was him?” asked Emily.

  “I saw him when daddy opened the garage,” Lily insisted, trying to get her point across. “He was sitting on the shelf. He was all wet. After I saw him, the car started to roll. He was there.”

  “All right, we’ll have to think of something,” said Emily. “We’re not safe as long as he’s around. For now, we do everything together. Understand?”

  “All right,” said Lily. “But I’m still scared.”

  “Don’t worry,” said Emily. “We’ll think of something.”

  Chapter Ten

  Dinner and a Show

  Upstairs in the bathroom Sam was getting Jack ready for his bath, while Emily and Lily were in Lily’s bedroom trying on their clothes. It was to be an exciting day—the family was going to Uncle Ray’s house for a family dinner. It would be the break they needed to get away from the house for a while.

  “Emily what are we going to do about you-know-who?” asked Lily.

  Emily grinned at Lily. She had a plan, and all she needed to do was convince her frightened sister to join her. “We have to burn him,” she announced confidently. “It’s the only way to make sure it’s done this time.”

  “How are we supposed to do that?”

  “I don’t know yet. I’ll figure it out. Don’t worry, I’m working on it.”

  Paul was in the kitchen cleaning up. Today was Sam’s birthday, and he wanted to make sure she didn’t have to lift a finger. As he walked to the sink he slipped on the floor, whacking his head against the counter. “Ahhhhh!” he rubbed his head, and as he inspected the floor he saw something very curious. There were little muddy spots like small footprints leading from the garage door to the basement door. “What the hell?” he said, touching the mud and rubbing his fingers. He got up and took a roll of paper towels off the counter, which he used to wipe up the mud. Can’t have dirt on the floor on Sam’s birthday! After he had thrown away the towel he paused. This definitely warrants an investigation, he thought as he opened the basement door. The mud marks continued down the stairs into the darkness. Paul went into the garage to grab his flashlight. Determined to find the source of the footprints, he proceeded down the basement stairs. At the bottom he flicked the light switch. It made a clicking noise but none of the lights lit. There was a foul smell in the air, like nothing he had ever smelt before. “Oh my God,” he said, holding his hand over his nose.

  Upstairs, Sam felt the warm water in the tub. She turned the faucet off. “Perfect!” she said to Jack. “What do you think—time for a nice bath?” As she undressed him, from down the hall she heard a “thud” and the sound of breaking glass. Sam picked up Jack and opened the bathroom door. “What now?....Girls?” she called, heading down the hall to Emily’s room.

  In the bathroom a handle on the tub began to move. It turned and the faucet started to run.

  Sam opened the door to Emily’s room. All the pictures she had hung on the wall were on the floor. The posters were ripped up and thrown on the ground. Feathers littered the ground from ripped pillows. It was an incredible mess.

  “Emily Ann Bolton!” She yelled down the hall as Lily’s door cracked open. “What happened in here? Are you kidding me? Clean it up now!” She angrily turned around and walked back to the bathroom. Stopping halfway, she turned to face Emily. “We’re going to talk about this later. I’m serious—you’re in a lot of trouble.”

  Emily walked down the hall to her bedroom, and as she entered her jaw dropped. She hadn’t even been in her room all afternoon. “You’re going to pay for this,” she whispered. “I’m not afraid of you,” she said as she threw a picture frame across the room. “Lily come look,” she called down the hall.

  Lily jumped off her bed and came to Emily’s room. “Oh my gosh! What happened in here?” she asked.

  “Don’t you see he’s mad at us for trying to drown him in the pond? He did this to get back at me. Of course mom thinks I did it!”

  “What if we tell her the truth?” asked Lily.

  “No, Lil, we can’t. They would never believe us. We would just get in more trouble than we already are. We need to take care of this tonight.”

  Looking at the mess she nodded in agreement.

  Bending down, Sam picked up the clothes from the floor in the hallway. The faucet on the bathtub turned itself again, shutting off the running water. Sam threw the clothes in her bedroom hamper. She went back into the bathroom with Jack. “All right, little man, time to clean up,” she said, walking over to the tub with Jack in her arms. Before she could put him in the tub, she heard the phone ring in the bedroom. “Must be Uncle Ray wanting to know when we’re coming over. We can call him later,” she said, kissing Jack on the head. Jack just giggled.

  She started to lower him into the tub. Again the phone rang. Sighing, she pulled Jack back to her chest, muttering “Or maybe not” as she walked back into the bedroom. She picked up the phone and answered.

  “Hello?”

  All she heard was the sound of static. “Hello? Can you hear me?” she said, but there was no one there.

  From the bathroom came a loud bang and a splash, causing her to drop the phone and hold Jack tightly. She ran back into the bathroom. Her four-tiered shelf she used for towels had fallen into the tub and all the towels were floating in the water. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she said putting Jack down on the floor. Grabbing a wet floating towel, she felt the stinging burn of the water and quickly pulled her hand back. Placing her hand over her mouth she began to cry. She picked up Jack, hugging him and sobbing as she fell to her knees.

  Lily appeared in the doorway. “Mommy what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”

  Sam couldn’t talk she was sobbing so hard. I almost burned him. I almost burned my baby. It would have been all my fault. He would have had go to the hospital. “I checked the water!” she exclaimed. “I checked it. It was fine!” She turned and wrapped Jack up in a towel. “Lily, take Jack into my room. I need to clean up this mess.”

  Lily, confused but not wanting to question her mother any further, picked up Jack and brought him into her parents’ room. In the bathroom, Sam pulled the drain to the tub and put the shelf upright. Her mind was racing. She looked into the mirror. “What’s happening here?” she said, trying to wrap her mind around the near-tragedy.

  In the basement, Paul was following the muddy footprints. Shining his light around the gloomy cellar he stopped dead when it landed on the well. The thick wooden board that had covered the well was broken in half. Half the board was on the ground and the other half was still across the top. He walked over and shone his light on the board. He slid aside the board on top. Looking down into the well, he saw dark water below. All along sides of the well were long deep marks. Picking up the other piece of board, he scanned it with his flashlight. The underneath was covered in thousands of deeply lined scratches. He put his fingers on the scratches and ran his hand down, feeling them.

  What kind of rats would do this?

  The flashlight fell from his hand and turned off. With a sigh, Paul put the board down and as he felt around for the flashlight he heard the sound of footsteps running by him. He froze to listen. Again he heard the sound, now behind him. His heart pounded and his breathing quickened. He felt for the flashlight and found it. Standing up, he pressed the button on the flashlight but it didn’t illuminate. Taking a step towards the stairs he felt something grab his leg, and as he fell to the dirt floor the flashlight lit up. He scanned the dank basement but saw nothing.

  Suddenly Kingston came bounding down the basement stairs, stopped at the bottom, and stood looking at Paul. He started to bark.

  “What?” said Paul as he looked at Kingston, but Kingston continued to bark intensely at him. Paul walked over to him. Kingston barked and barked until Paul was only a step away, and then Kingston ran up the stairs. At the top he turned around and barked again.

  “What is your problem?” Paul said, climbing the stairs and wiping the dirt off h
is pants. Whimpering, Kingston looked back down the basement stairs. Paul shut the door. “Come on, we have to get ready to go,” said Paul.

  He went upstairs to the master bedroom, where Lily and Jack were playing on the floor.

  “Something’s wrong with mommy,” said Lily.

  Paul walked over to the bathroom and pushed the door open. Sam was kneeling on the floor. She looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Paul.

  “I don’t know I just don’t know. I don’t understand. I checked the water and it was warm so I turned it off. I checked the water—I know I did. Then I went to see what the noise was in Emily’s room. When I came back I almost put Jack in the tub, but the phone rang.”

  Paul walked over and helped her to her feet. He hugged her tightly.

  “The old shelf with the towels fell into the water. When I picked up one of the towels, the water was scalding,” sobbed Sam. “I burned my fingers!”

  “It’s all right,” said Paul. “It’s ok, Jack is fine. You didn’t hurt him. It was just an accident.” The words he had lately said much too often resounded in his mind.

  “I know, but I almost did something terrible, and I feel like I’m losing my mind,” said Sam.

  Paul wiped the tears from her eyes. “You’re not losing your mind. Things are just really stressful. We have had a run of bad luck and you haven’t had a good night’s sleep in a long time.”

  Sam nodded her head.

  “How about let’s get ready and go have dinner with Ray,” said Paul, cracking a smile. “Then when we get home we can put the girls to bed early and relax.”

  Sam smiled back. Paul was always so good at making her feel better.

  “All right, I’m going to go get Jack ready and round up the girls,” said Paul, kissing Sam on the forehead. He went into the bedroom and picked up Jack. “Lily, go get ready and leave mommy alone. She needs sometime to herself.”

  “Ok, daddy,” said Lily, running out of the room. Paul stood for a moment looking at Jack. His dreams of living in this beautiful home were becoming a nightmare. At every turn there were dangers. Seeing Sam fall apart over and over was almost more than he could bear.

  When the family was all ready to go they climbed into the car. “Can we take Kingston?” said Lilly, worried about leaving him home alone with Edgar on the loose—but of course she wouldn’t say that to her dad.

  “Um, yeah, I don’t see why not,” shrugged Paul, opening the back of the car. Kingston took no time to jump in. He loved family rides.

  When Paul got into the car he noticed that Sam was quiet and still seemed a little distraught. He placed his hand on her leg. “Ready for some time with your favorite cousin?” he said sarcastically.

  “Oh yeah, can’t wait,” replied Sam, cracking a smile.

  “Oh, wait,” said Paul. “I’ll just be a minute.” He exited the car and opened the drawer to his workbench. He wanted to surprise Sam at dinner with her birthday present. He looked thoroughly through the drawer but the little black box was gone.

  “Everything ok?” said Sam.

  “Yeah, everything is fine—I just misplaced something,” replied Paul.

  “What?” asked Sam.

  “Oh, nothing—just a tool Ray wanted,” said Paul casually. As Paul got into the car he ran through his mind what he did with the gift.

  Sam stared suspiciously at the old house as they pulled out of the driveway and started down the road. It was all too surreal. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong.

  Walking along the road, Glenn Stuart and his mother Ellen waved at the car. Paul slowed to stop as Sam and Emily rolled down their windows. Glenn approached the car while Ellen stared at the girls in the back seat.

  “Out for a nice family drive, I see,” said Glenn.

  “We’re going to our cousin’s house for an early dinner,” said Sam. She looked over at a rather perplexed Paul. Remembering they had not met, she said, “Glenn, this is my husband Paul,” rather embarrassed for forgetting to tell Paul she had met them.

  “Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” said Glenn reaching into the car past Sam, shaking Paul’s hand. “This is my mother Ellen. You’ll have to forgive her. She is a woman of few words these days. If you ever need anything don’t hesitate to ask.”

  “Get them away from this place!” hissed Ellen, approaching the car as Glenn grabbed her shoulders. “Take those babies and leave.”

  “That’s enough, mom,” said Glenn. “Leave them be.”

  “Why should we leave?” Sam asked, searching for answers herself.

  “Because he won’t ever let you leave,” replied Ellen.

  “Ok, that’s quite enough,” said Glenn. “Don’t listen to her—she’s having a bad week. Ever since that day she wondered off, all she talks about is your house. She doesn’t like change. Don’t mind her.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It was nice meeting you,” said Paul as he put the car in gear.

  “Have fun at your dinner. I’m sure we will see you around,” said Glenn waving goodbye.

  The car was uncomfortably silent for a few moments when Paul decided to speak up. “Wow, somebody’s checked out of the institution early,” he said with a grin, looking over at Sam, who was biting her fingernails while thinking intensely about what Ellen had said.

  “Just a harmless old woman,” said Sam. “She has Alzheimer’s.”

  In the back seat, Emily leaned over to Lily and whispered in her ear, “We’ve got to be careful.”

  “Yeah, real careful,” replied Lily as they stared at each other wide-eyed. Ellen’s words, as crazy as they seemed to their parents, made perfect sense to the girls. They knew she was not as crazy as everyone thought. Her warnings were heard loud and clear.

  As the car pulled into the driveway, Ray looked up from the engine of his truck. He smiled and waved at them. Paul and Sam smiled and waved back. “Oh boy, here we go,” said Sam. Paul laughed and got out of the car. Bursting from the doors, the girls ran up the driveway “Ray!,” said Emily as the girls hugged him. With no children of his own, Ray loved to spoil the girls.

  “Girls,” said Ray, “Why don’t you go inside and ask Debbie for some of those cookies she just baked?”

  “Yes!” the girls shouted, running to the door.

  With raised eyebrows, Sam gave Ray a look.

  “Ummm, just one girls, it’s almost time for dinner,” called Ray, acknowledging Sam’s look and the fact he probably shouldn’t have offered cookies before dinner. “How are you, Sam?” he then said, giving her a big hug.

  “Pretty good,” she replied. “I’d better go make sure they only take one. Come on, Jack.” She held Jack’s hand as he toddled to the front door.

  “Everybody seems happy,” said Ray to Paul as they watched Sam and Jack go into the house. Once the front door was shut, Paul turned to Ray.

  “Yeah, well, to be honest it’s been a rough week,” he said.

  “How so?” asked Ray.

  “It’s just seems like bad things keep happening over and over, and there’s no end to it. It’s making life very hard. Sam hasn’t slept right since we moved in.”

  “Well, there’s bound to be an adjustment period with the kids being so young,” said Ray reassuringly. “Maybe you just need to give it some time.”

  “Yeah, and hopefully we’ll make it out alive,” said Paul jokingly.

  “Let’s go in and see if dinner’s done. You can put Kingston in the pen with Sheldon so they can play.” Ray nodded at his beagle jumping up and down in excitement upon seeing Kingston.

  “Umm, I’d better not. Kingston is still healing. He had an accident,” said Paul as he motioned for Kingston to come forward to show Ray his stitches.

  “What happened to him?” said Ray, petting Kingston on the head.

  “A pair of hedge clippers fell off a shelf in the garage.”

  “You are having yourselves a bit of bad luck. He can come in the house. He
’s such a good boy I’m sure he won’t be any trouble.”

  They turned and, leading Kingston, walked into the house. The smell of turkey filled the air and they both breathed deeply. “Ahhh, is dinner ready?” said Ray, leaning over to give Debbie a kiss.

  “Almost. Just finishing setting the table,” said Debbie. Sam was laying out silverware while the girls watched TV with Jack.

  “Paul, can you grab the highchair from the car, please?” said Sam. “Come on girls, time to eat.” The family sat down together at the table. Kingston sat by the girls, just in case they wanted to sneak him some food.

  For Sam and Paul, the meal was a much-needed break. They laughed as Ray told stories about when he was a kid. Near the end of dinner Sam decided to do a little digging of her own. “Ray how did you get the house again?” she asked.

  “We got a notice of unpaid taxes from the town,” he replied, “and I had them look up the records. We thought it was a mistake. Sure enough, dad bought the house thirty-three years ago. He never told us about it. Momma figured it must have been a place he went to relax and have a couple of… sodas,” he said, changing his words to reflect the younger audience in the room.

  Sam knew all about Jon Bolton’s drinking problems. Everyone suspected that’s why he had killed himself a couple of years ago. “Do you know anything else about the house?” inquired Sam as she dabbed Jack’s mouth with a napkin.

  “No, not really. It was nice finding out there was a little something extra. I was happy we could—”

  Suddenly a loud noise came from the basement, sending Ray and Paul shooting up from their chairs. “What the hell?” exclaimed Ray as he hustled towards the basement door with Paul following close behind.

  They went down to the basement as the girls stood up. “Girls, stay here,” said Sam, walking over to the basement door to listen for an update on the situation.

  A moment later, Paul came to the bottom of the stairs. “A pipe burst. The basement is flooding. We’re going to need to repair it now.”

  Sam could hear Ray in the background having words about the predicament. Sam was just about to walk away from the door when Ray appeared. “Sam, I’m going to need to repair this. Can you take Henry’s plate of food to him?” he said.