The House at the End of the Lane

This is a work in progress.  I will add chapters hopefully on a regular basis.  This story will probably be posted to goodreads eventually.  Please feel free to leave a comment or any questions Thanks :)

A fix me up project, a ghost and a teenage girl.  Will Anissa and her family survive the move to the house at the end of the lane. 

The House at the End of the Lane

By Kaylynn 

Copyright 2012

Chapter 1 

The house at the end of the lane, that’s where I lived now.  Mother had insisted on moving us and this was the best “bang for our buck.”  Though when I first saw it, I wondered what had been going through her head, and why she would have ever, and I mean ever, considered taking this monstrosity on.  But she loved fix me up projects.  This is why she probably took on my father as well, in the beginning.  When she found she couldn’t change him the way she changed everything else around her, she’d given up and left. 

The house was old, maybe that’s putting it kindly.  It would have been an antique in the fifties.  The one great quality it did have was a beautiful wrap around porch but the windows were dark and most of them shuttered.  Some on the second floor were broken.  Mother didn’t seem to mind.  She’d fixed up other houses before and I guess this was a challenge to her.  I pulled my bags out of the car.  The mover would be here the following day, with the rest of our things.  The yard definitely needed work.  It was partially fenced, the rusted iron slats standing as sentinels in the front of the garden.  There was a small amount of grass but it looked like it hadn’t been mowed in quite some time, the blades brown and drooping every which way.  As I stepped onto the porch a gust of wind pushed me forward and made me shiver in the sudden shade.  My mom had opened the door and I walked in.  The room was fairly dark and there seemed to be a fair amount of dust on the hardwood floor silencing my steps.  I stepped forward into the gloom.  The entry way opened into a foyer. I heard noises from upstairs and looked up.  A huge brass chandelier hung suspended over my head, cobwebs dancing in the slight breeze. 

The massive marble stair case must have once been very grand but seemed out of proportion to the rest of the room.  It was probably the feature that had sold my mother on the property.  She’d told me many times about how as a girl she always wanted to host a ball but her family was too poor to accommodate that kind of dream and how she dreamed of sweeping down a huge staircase in a beautiful bejeweled dress, tiara sitting proudly on her head to greet her guests.  It was just idle fantasy I’d thought, but it seemed now she might be trying to live out that dream.  I wondered who her handsome prince would be, maybe my brother Steven.    Although, she might find the right fix up project in town, I was sure there would be any number of men who would volunteer for a project this size, my mother always paid well.  She had a reputation because of her cable show.  I’m sure this project would end up on her website and the twitter account would have a full report about what we were accomplishing.  I looked up again and noticed the beautiful mosaic on the ceiling.  I wondered who’d lived here before us.  My mother called to me from the balcony above. 

“What do you think Anissa?”  I was sure she couldn’t see my expression of worry. 

“It’s great mom.” I lied.  She must have heard the doubt in my voice. 

“Just wait till we get everything sorted, dusted and put in order.  You’ll see this place has real potential.” 

Potential for what I thought a haunted house? The moment I thought it I wished I hadn’t. This house looked perfect for haunting and I wondered about the previous owners and us getting the place so cheap. 

“Come on up.  I’ll show you which room I think you should take.”  I hoped that I’d remembered to pack my allergy pills because it looked as if our cleanup was really going to make me suffer.  Steven had started to pile our things in the entry way as I made my way up the stairs.  

Chapter 2

The room she thought should be mine was at the end of the hall on the right hand side.  The door stood ajar.  And for a second I saw a flickering of light from the darkness beyond.  I dismissed it immediately.  It must have been some of the light from one of the shutters shifting outside of the windows.  Mom felt along the door jamb and flicked the switch and the light flickered to life.  The room was carpeted although it looked grey and dingy and maybe had had some sort of floral pattern in it.  There was one chair sitting in the middle of the room, its silk covering was tattered and looked forlorn. 

“I don’t know mum. Do you think all my stuff will fit in here?” 

“Sure honey you could put your bed by the window.  That way you could feel the breeze at night if you wanted to, and your desk could go by the closet wall.”

“I’ll think about it.”  I glanced over my shoulder.  I almost felt as if someone had been watching me for a moment.  The thought was unsettling but I knew my mum, she wouldn’t rest until her project was finished, or she got bored with it.  I went to find Steven. I wondered which room she’d “chosen” for him. 

He had dragged almost all of our things into the foyer and I was really starting to wonder why we’d brought so much cr- stuff with us.  Knowing mum though, she‘d say it was all stuff we needed; nothing was ever classified as crap.  I found my sleeping bag and lugged it upstairs, ready to investigate the other rooms. Steven followed me silently, I knew he was upset.  It was supposed to be his senior year this year and mom had pulled this on him. I felt sorry for him having to start fresh with only one year left.  I’d still have at least two more to go.  Classes didn’t start for two weeks though so I hoped we’d have enough time to meet some of the locals and make friends before we started.  Steven was currently giving mum the silent treatment.  I wondered if he ever wanted to go live with dad, when mum did stuff like this.  Unfortunately dad was out of the country for the moment he’d decided to take a sabbatical from work and had joined up with the peace corp.  Mum called to both of us. 

“Steven, would you mind bringing my sleeping bag up here as well?”  He scrunched his face up a little but then I caught a mischievous glint in his eye.   Suddenly, I almost felt sorry for mum.  He ran down the steps and unrolled mum’s bag then he let it drag as he pulled it up the dusty staircase.  Mom was going to have a sneezing fit when she finally got it, then she’d want to  air it out at least an hour after she figured out what Steven had done to it.  She wasn’t going to get much shut eye tonight.  I started opening doors on my way down the hall.  There was a music room up here with a dust cloth covered piano, and what looked like a library.  Mum had chosen a room on the left side of the gallery away from where she thought our rooms should be.  And I finally located the bathroom. I’d been worried that we’d have to use an outhouse tonight, but it looked as if the previous tenants had at least put one in, before they’d given up on the place.  I was relieved literally.  I went back down stairs and found my pillow and sleeping bag and hefted them up the stairs before Steven came to my rescue.  Did I mention he was a great older brother?  Sure, sometimes he did get on my nerves, but for the most part, we usually got along. 

“Which one did you choose?” he asked. 

“I haven’t yet.” I told him. “Did you choose yet?”

“Yep,” he replied. “The one in the corner.” he pointed down the hall. 

“Can I see it?” I asked.

“Sure why not, not much in there right now.” 

“You mind if I choose a room close to yours?” I asked.

“Nah knock yourself out.” he replied. I considered taking one of the other corner rooms after I’d seen his, because wow it was beautiful, spacious and soothing. I examined the rooms on either side of his and found they seemed much more comfortable than the one mom had tried to get me to take.  I took the one that was closest to the bathroom.  I put my things near the door way and went to find a broom, the vacuum would be here tomorrow.  I found the Windex and some paper towels and the broom and dust pan as well and brought them up.  Then I swept as much of the dust off the floor as I could.  I opened the window and the shutters and figured out how to make them stay open.  Then I spritzed the window and let the fresh autumn air in.  I worked for quite a while and then found a rag and basin and began the process of washing down the walls.  I hadn’t really noticed how dark it was getting outside until sometime later.  Steven had been busy as well.  I could hear his iPod blaring out his favorite rock band.  Finally my room was somewhat more presentable and I unrolled my sleeping bag near the window.  I hoped it wouldn’t be too cold out tonight because I hadn’t yet found my allergy pills and laying on dusty carpet didn’t bode well for me.  I figured the night air would probably help. 

I went to Steven’s room to see if he needed any help, but he wasn’t in there.  Maybe he was down stairs, I thought.  My stomach reminded me that we hadn’t eaten in some time.  Maybe he was in the kitchen.  It occurred to me then, I didn’t know where that was.  I guessed I was going to have to talk to mum.  I walked around the gallery till I came to her room.  She wasn’t there either but I could see she’d been just as busy as I had.  Her room was pink. It suited her I thought to myself.  I turned back towards the stairs. It was as I glanced back toward my room that I saw something move out of the corner of my eye.  I took a second look, thinking it was Steven.  There was a boy standing over by my room but it wasn’t my brother. Steven had long blond curly hair that almost covered his ears. This boy, whoever he was, had dark hair.  I wondered if one of the neighbors had wandered in to see who we were.  No time like the present to make new friends I decided.  I made my way over to him the floorboards creaked as I neared him.  He turned towards me and froze and uncertain look in his grey eyes.  I smiled at him.  He was gorgeous I thought to myself.  With an apologetic look he vanished in front of me.  All of the thoughts about this being a haunted house came rushing back to me and I freaked and started hyperventilating.  Steven came up right then and saw I was in distress and yelled for mum.  She came on the run tugging out an inhaler she kept on her at all times.  She pressed it into my mouth and gave me the prescribed dosage.  Then she talked soothingly to me to calm me down. I didn’t have any idea what she was saying for a few minutes,  as I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing slow and deep.  It was when she mentioned food that I finally found my voice. 

“How can you think about food when our house is haunted?” I asked incredulously.

“What are you talking about?” Steven asked. 

“Didn’t you see him?” I questioned.  “He was right in front of me as you came up. Then he vanished.” 

“There wasn’t anything in front of you.” he told me.  “I just saw you gasping for air and knew you were having an attack.”  

“There was a ghost there, I promise, Steven.  He had dark hair.  When he vanished that’s when I had the attack.”  Steven looked from me to mum uncertainly. It was clear he didn’t believe me, but I knew what I’d seen. 

“Are you sure it wasn’t just a trick of the dust in the air?” Mum asked.  I was frustrated but I decided to let it go.

“Sure mum, whatever.”  I didn’t want to argue we’d already had enough the past two days, and Steven was finally talking to mum again.  We decided to go into town to eat then and found a fast food restaurant that stayed open pretty late.  We sat down in one of the booths and a pretty waitress came to take our order.  Steven was smitten I could tell, and for a few moments was speechless.  Mum could see the “disconnect” between his brain and eyes and ordered for him while he gaped at the pert figure taking our orders.  Meanwhile she just smiled at him when she brought his order. His eyes followed her as she went back to the kitchen. 

"Hey mum," I said. "I guess Steven just forgave you for moving us here."  I grinned as he started to blush, but he didn’t protest and mum smiled to herself knowing she’d won a victory, however small.

Chapter 3

It was late when we returned to our new house.  It wasn’t home yet, to me.  The moon was sliding behind clouds as we turned in the drive-way and the massive dark silhouette of our house gave me goose-bumps as I stared at it from the car window.  We stopped near the porch and got out.  I looked up at the windows above us and saw the drapes move.  Someone had been watching us.  I knew mum wouldn’t believe me so I kept my mouth shut.  I tried to convince myself it could have been a trick of the moonlight, but the figure of the ghost boy kept coming back to my mind.  I’ll just think about something else I told myself.  Ghosts can’t harm you after all, can they?  I went to my room and got ready for bed and slipped into my sleeping bag.  The breeze filtered in through the window cooling my face and I watched the stars outside until I drifted into oblivion. 

It was around two in the morning that I was awakened.  I could distinctly hear someone talking.  Maybe it was Steven.  Brayden might have called him on his cell phone.  Brayden was Steven’s best friend before we moved.  Steven sounded pretty insistent about something although I could only hear one side of the conversation.  I got up and opened my door.  The gallery was pretty dark and I could still hear the voice.  Then Steven’s door opened and he poked his head out. 

“Do you hear that?” he whispered. 

“I thought it was you talking.” 

“Nope.” he said with false cheer and a frightened look in his eyes. 

“I guess right now it’s the wrong time to say I told you there was a ghost?”  He gave me the ‘what do you think’ look.  “Where do you think it’s coming from?” 

We moved quietly down the gallery towards mum’s room.  The voice seemed to get louder.   We paused outside her door and the sounds stopped.  I gently turned the handle and peered in the darkened room.  The window was open and moonlight was streaming in, bathing my mother in its glow.  Her hair hung loose down her back as she stood at the sill gazing at something outside.   

“Mum,” I whispered softly, “are you okay?”  She slowly turned toward us a blank stare upon her face.   

“Mum?” She moved toward us and stopped in front of me.  She lifted her hand to my face.

“She does have a certain sort of charm doesn’t she?” She said peering over her shoulder at the window. The way she said it made me think she was dreaming.  The moment she touched my skin I could suddenly see what she saw. The room took on an unearthly glow and was filled with furniture, a canopied bed, a dresser and armoire.  There were figures moving in the room also, only they were too fuzzy to make out who they were.  A love seat was being brought in as well.  I looked to see who she was talking to.

“Mum?” I questioned again.  My breath catching

  “She is a bit young though.” She said to the voice.  My chest started to feel tight.  

My skin began to tingle and instinctively I stepped back out of her reach. The room became dark again.  “Steven, help!” I managed to gasp out before I couldn’t breathe any more.  Then I felt myself tipping forward as the light flicked on and my brother yanked me back out of her grasp.

“Mum!”  He yelled angrily as she collapsed in a heap.  My vision was getting dim.  I heard him scrambling through a box near the door as I leaned against the door frame.  Then, he was pushing the inhaler into my mouth and I wheezed drawing the medicine into my lungs.  Relief was almost instantaneous as the pressure eased in my chest. I closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing slowly.  Meanwhile I could hear Steven trying to awaken my mom.  He was very insistent.  Patting her cheeks and then I heard her gasp as she swatted his hands away from her face. 

“What! What do you want Steven?” she said annoyance creeping into her voice.  Steven breathed a sigh of relief. 

“You’re okay, mum?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?  Now please let me get some rest.  We all have a big day tomorrow.” 

“Aren’t you going to sleep in your sleeping bag?”  I asked. 

“What, how did I get over here?” she said confusion apparent on her face as she realized where she was.  Steven looked at me and I shook my head. 

“We heard some noise” I paused.

“We think you were sleep-walking then you collapsed.”  Steven said.

“You sure you’re okay mum?”

“I’ll be fine just let me get back to sleep.”  We left her then and Steven and I went back to our rooms. I locked my door. I hoped that would be enough to keep the ghosts out.  I curled up under the window again and slept until morning.