In
reference to Melody and her explorations, perhaps one of the most compelling
was the one where she and her friend Steve went to explore the Acacia Street
haunted house.
One
day, walking home from school, Steve said to Melody, “I found a haunted house;
wanna come see it?” Did she want to go see it? What a question! Of course she
wanted to see it! She tore into the house, put on her play clothes, tore back
out the door and caught up with Steve before he reached the corner: it was a
two house walk. She did shout out to Honey that she was going to Steve’s house,
so at least Honey knew what to name the cyclone that whipped through her living
room.
Steve
was already wearing jeans, but he also had his books with him, so they dropped
them off on the way to the haunted house on Acacia St. And then, they were off.
Acacia St. was just around the next corner after Steve’s house.
When
they arrived at the haunted “house” (it was really a trailer) Melody knew as
soon as she got there that it really was haunted, even if it wasn’t really a
house. The door was hanging on one hinge and it was screeching as the wind blew
it back and forth. It looked like a house from a typical cowboy movie ghost
town. With a miniscule bit of
trepidation – the atmosphere really was eerie, even in the bright sun – but,
tiptoeing quietly, they edged their way to the creaking door. Steve, ever the
gentleman, let Melody go in first. She carefully turned her head around the
corner and shrieked. Steve bumped into a paralyzed Melody in his hurry to see
what their exploration adventure had brought them to. The drops on the blood on
the floor stopped him for a moment, too, but then their intrepidity returned
and they entered the house and started following the trail of blood. The fabric
on the furniture in the house was torn and tufts of filling were strewn across
the creaky, rain-sodden floor of the trailer. Melody jumped back when she saw something
moving ghostlike from the corner of her eye; she landed on Steve’s foot,
causing him to shout in pain. Melody turned and glared at him and he shrugged his
shoulders. They avoided the ants and flies crawling around on the floor, but
Steve just couldn’t resist picking up the shed snake sin lying on the floor.
And
then, Melody froze as they reached the door into the kitchen. Steve also looked
into the room; the look of was horror that appeared on his face mirrored the
one on Melody’s. The blood on the kitchen floor, almost black from the presence
of flies and ants, seemed much fresher than the tiny drops dotting the other
floors, but it was the giant blood-stained knife lying in the center of the
floor that inspired their terror. The slamming door was too much for them: they
turned around and skedaddled out of the trailer as fast as their legs would
carry them. They didn’t stop running until just before they reached Steve’s
house.
Right
then and then, even before they could properly breathe, they vowed to each other
that they would never, ever tell another soul about what they had seen. Who
could they tell, anyway? Melody’s parents would shoot her if they knew she had
been on Acacia Street; she was only supposed to go as far as Steve’s house.
And, who would believe them? Melody’s imagination was well-known, and Steve was
just as imaginative as Melody. Or almost, anyway. Nah, it was better to just
leave things the way they were; now, if they could just convince their
imagination to leave it alone…
The
above story is true. I thought I had told Honey, but I guess I kept my word.
When I was talking to her last night, I said, “Who could we have told?” She
suggested, “Your parents, maybe?” And I said, “Right, and risk being grounded?
Are you nuts?”
There
you have it folks. Have you ever explored a haunted house in your lifetime? I
mean, other than the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland/ Disney World. I’d love to
hear about it.
Copyright© Mary Purpari. April 4, 2016. All Rights
Reserved.
