HOME AGAIN

HOME AGAIN

Standing outside the house where they grew up. Beck, and Cole did not seem happy about moving out because this place held a lot of their dear childhood memories. Yet, they had to leave to Texas due to their father’s promotion.

Beck was fourteen years old. Her long blond hair was pulled up in a ponytail, and her blue ocean eyes were filled with tears. She was wearing a black t-shirt, and blue jeans. She watched sadly as her dad brought their stuff out, getting ready to leave.

“Dad, do we really have to go?” Beck asked.

“Yes sweetie,” her dad said, picking up the bags, and placing them in the trunk of the car.

“Can’t you just go alone, and come back here once you are done with your work?” Beck said with a hint of hope in her voice.

“It’s not a business trip. I’ll be working there full time, that’s why we are moving there,” her dad said, walking past her into the house.

Beck stomped inside the house, and saw Susan, and John her parents, in the living room, packing the rest of the stuff.

“I don’t want to go to Texas!” Beck cried.

She saw her little brother coming downstairs with his bags. He placed them on the ground, and stood next to her quietly.

“We don’t have any other choice Beck. Now get your bags, and go to the car,” John said in a calm tone. He knew they were emotionally attached to this house, and moving out was hard for them.

“But, dad…”

“Don’t argue!” her mom said in a strict tone, staring at her sternly.

Beck ran outside straight to the car with tears flowing down her face. It wasn’t long before Cole got in, and sat next to her.

Cole was ten years old. He had the same curly blond hair with electric blue eyes. He stared at his upset sister.

“What do you want?” Beck asked, looking out the window.

“I don’t want to go there either, but we have to,” he said sadly.

“I know,” Beck muttered, resting her head back on the seat.

They sat there in silence for few minutes, until they heard a knock on the window. It was their dad, so Beck rolled the window down. “Did you guys take all your stuff?”

“Yes,” they both said without even looking at him.

“Okay good,” John said as he got in the driver seat.

Their mom got in the car, talking on her phone. She put her seatbelt on, and hanged up the call. “Finn will meet us at the airport.”

Finn was Susan’s older brother. He was the emergency man whenever they needed him, taking care of the whole family.

Since John’s company offered him to move to Texas with his family, they were providing everything a car, a house, and every other necessity. John couldn’t sell the house before leaving to Texas, so he left it to Finn, with the car.

As the car started moving away, Beck, and Cole kept their eyes glued on the house till it got out of their sight,

Beck closed her eyes, thinking of all the good days they spent in that house. It was more than just some walls; it was a sweet home where they always felt warmth, and comfort.

She opened her eyes, and saw Cole sleeping with a stiff expression on his face. She looked out the window as houses passed by. The familiar streets, the usual daily faces, her friends, everything, and everyone she knew was going to be badly missed.

While her mind was playing back every sweet scene from her childhood, her eyelids started getting heavy, and she fell asleep.

“Come on! Wake up!”

Beck’s eyes slowly opened to see who was calling them. As the blurriness dissipated, she saw Finn standing out the window.

“Hi,” Beck said, adjusting herself in a sitting position as she unbuckled her seatbelt.

“Hey,” Finn said, stepping aside for her to open the door, and get out.

Beck looked around; they were in the parking lot of the airport.

“So, you are going to miss me?” She heard Finn asking as they walked towards their family.

“Oh of course not uncle, why would I?” she replied, laughing at his expressions.

“Ah! It hurts,” he said, laughing back, and keeping a hand on his heart.

They reached where her parents, and Cole were standing.

“So this is it,” Finn said, looking at them.

“Oh don’t be ridiculous, we will visit you from time to time,” Susan said, smiling.

“Yeah man we will. Now come on, we should get inside,” John said, dropping an arm on Finn’s shoulder as they walked towards the entrance.

“Hey, come on, you sleepy head!” Beck said, holding her brother’s hand, and walking behind their parents.

Cole didn’t say anything. He just kept walking silently with his sister.

Saying their last goodbyes to Finn, the family went to check in.

Getting on the plane, each of them took his given seat; Cole was seated next to Beck, and their parents were behind them.

“Do you think we will like it there?” Cole asked.

“I don’t know, maybe… I guess,” she replied.

When they heard the announcement of the plane taking off, Cole held his sister’s hand, and closed his eyes.

“Hey, it’s okay, look,” Beck said, trying to distract him by showing him the view out the window.

“Look! We are flying,” Cole said excitedly.

They both stared out the window.

“Maybe it won’t be that bad,” Cole said, looking at his sister.

“Maybe.”

The flight from Canada to Texas would take around three hours. Therefore, Beck decided to get some sleep because she woke up early, and she felt tired.

Cole was writing something in his journal, he always did that whenever he felt sad.

John and Susan were already asleep.

When the plane reached its destination, everyone was already awake except Cole.

“Hey, wake up! We are landing,” Beck said, poking his cheeks.

“Ugh, stop it Beck,” he said, a little annoyed at his sister’s laughter.

“Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to land in few minutes,” the hostess said.

They both watched as the plane started getting closer to the ground, Cole, once again, gripped his sister’s hand.

The plane landed safely, and everyone was getting out, making their way to the exit with their luggage.

Several people were holding boards with the names of persons they were supposed to pick up.

Beck spotted a young man in a black suit, holding up a sign ‘Mr. John Scott and family’.

“I think it’s for us,” Beck said, pointing at the man.

“Yes, you are right,” John said, walking to the man.

Adam smiled when they walked towards him, then walked them to the car. Adam, and John helped each other putting the luggage in the car, and got in. On their way to the new house. John, and Adam kept chatting, Susan took out her phone, and called Finn to tell him they have arrived safely.

Cole was playing games on his dad’s phone, and Beck was looking around, admiring the beautiful city.

After driving for a couple of hours, the car stopped in front of a big three-floors house. It had a vast area around it.

They got out of the car, and started making their way to the house.

“They just renewed it, I don’t know much about it, but it is really old,” Adam said while taking out the key, and opening the door.

The moment the kids stepped inside the house, their hearts started beating like a drum. They knew it would never be home for them because it didn’t have the warm feeling their old house had. They felt some weird coldness that they didn’t like at all.

Beck’s eyes started wandering around, a modern interior design with white walls, a TV placed in front of a big L-shaped couch in the living room which was next to the kitchen, a large set of stairs on the right side of the living room leading to the first floor, and a backyard entrance from the kitchen.

Beck watched her parents, and Adam making their way up, so she followed them with her brother. There was an uneasy feeling in the house, and it was suffocating her.

“Do you like it?” she asked Cole who was just as uncomfortable as she was.

“No,” he said, shaking his head.

The first floor was so vast with multiple doors surrounding a long corridor. Susan pushed the first door open; it was a big bathroom with a hanging mirror, right beside a beautiful cabinet.

Beck walked in, and saw a square shower room. It had glass doors, and a bathtub next to it. Everything in there was awkwardly foggy as if someone had just been in there. Her parents, and Adam got out, and walked to the other room.

Cole noticed it too, and was about to ask his parents about it. However, he rushed to the window first when he saw it open. He bent his head to look outside, swinging all of his upper body. Suddenly, he felt someone pushing him out, so he screamed as loud as he could.

Beck’s head snapped back, only to see her brother about to fall out of the window. She ran, and pulled him so hard until they both fell to the floor.

Running footsteps approached them, her parents, and Adam showed up terrorized.

“What happened?” Susan asked, kneeling in front of her children who were trying to sit up.

“I… was looking out the window, and I felt someone pushing me, I lost my balance, and if not Beck, I wouldn’t be able to pull myself back,” Cole said, out of breath.

“Who pushed you?” John asked.

“I don’t know, there was no one here, but me,” Cole said, standing up.

“I heard him scream, and saw him hanging out the window, so I quickly pulled him in,” Beck said, looking for any injuries on her brother.

“Ok, come on out now!” Susan said, leading them out of there.

“Are you okay?” Beck asked as he walked out of the bathroom with her.

“Yes, thank you,” Cole replied, smiling at his sister.

Beck stood outside, and kept looking around, and Cole went in, and stood beside his father who was checking the other rooms with Adam. Each had a bed, a TV, and a study table.

Cole decided to take the first one, which had a king size bed, while Beck took the one next to it, with a small yet fancy girly closet.

As they were still discovering the floor, they saw one more room in front of theirs, so they went in. They were shocked to see the beautiful large bed, and the fancy private bathroom inside.

John, and Susan decided to take this one, good thing it was close to their kids.

At the end of the corridor, there were stairs that led to the second floor, which was like an attic. It had stuff inside, including a sewing machine that excited Susan.

“Can we take this down to that empty room?” she asked Adam.

“Yes sure, and there are some fabric too,” Adam walked further in that room, and took out the box of fabric that was on top of two more boxes.

They took the machine down, and placed it where Susan wanted. Then, they all went to the living room.

Cole ran to the fridge, it was full of food.

It was past seven when Adam took a leave. Susan decided to order a Pizza, since she was too tired to cook.

It was time to relax in the new house. So, the kids sat on the couch, switching the TV, their father went to his phone, talking to someone, and their mother was in the kitchen, looking at her new stuff.

Beck heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs with loud thuds. There was nobody at sight. When she looked at her brother, she found him gazing at the stairs too, yet her parents didn’t seem to notice.

“Did you hear that?” Cole asked Beck who was still staring at the stairs.

“Yes I did, but there is no one,” she said, just as confused as Cole.

The sound stopped. So, they diverted their minds back to the TV, and ignored what they heard.

Thirty minutes later, their doorbell rang.

“Beck, get the door please?” Susan yelled from the kitchen.

“Okay,” Beck said, standing up, and walking towards the door. It was the delivery boy, holding out the pizza box. Taking it, she paid him, walked back, and closed the door behind her.

On her way to the kitchen, her eyes caught a small movement of a chair. When she checked, there was nothing. So, blinking, she thought it was just her imagination as she placed the pizza on the counter.

Susan was going through the cabinets of crockeries, she seemed so happy.

“Mom, the pizza is on the counter,” Beck said.

“Guys, get yourselves some plates, and help yourselves,” Susan yelled.

Everyone responded to the call, and went to the kitchen, taking their slices of pizza.

Susan did the same. Then, she went into the living room, sat on the couch, and started flipping through the channels.

She stopped on some entertainment channel.

Beck finished her pizza, and washed her plate before taking her bags upstairs.

She got to the first floor. As she was walking towards her room, she saw the door of the room before her wide open. She didn’t give it much attention for she thought someone must have forgotten it open. However, when she was walking by, it slammed shut loudly, which made her look at it confused. She dropped her bags on the floor, and tried to open it, but in vain.

She heard Cole call her name from down stairs. She gave the door a last glance, then went to check on her brother, who was standing with his bags at the bottom stairs.

“Can you, please, help me take these upstairs?” Cole asked.

“Yeah, sure, wait a second,”

Beck went down to give her brother a hand.

“Thank you,” Cole said, and started making his way up, Beck right behind him.

Once they reached the first floor, Cole noticed his sister’s bags on the floor, with her clothes scattered everywhere.

“Why are your things on the floor?” Cole asked.

“What?”

“Your clothes.”

She hurried up, and saw the mess in front of her room. She remembered dropping her bags on the floor, but they were locked, there was no way the clothes could have fallen off the bags by themselves.

She looked around, but there was no one. She noticed that the slammed door was now wide open.

She walked inside to check. Everything was normal, and the window was closed. For some reason, she felt uneasy, so she quickly got out. She closed the door, and started collecting her stuff as her brother stared at her weird behavior. Then, he helped her before going to his room.

Cole opened his door, and placed his bag on the bed followed by his worried, and scared sister.

She looked at Cole who was opening his closet.

“Hey, Cole,” Beck said.

“Yes?”

“If you need anything, or if you feel uneasy, you can come to my room, okay?”

“Okay sis, thank you.”

“Ok,” she said, standing up, and walking out the room, leaving her brother behind to unpack his things.

As she walked inside her pitch dark room, a shiver ran down her spine. Her hands searched blindly for the switch while keeping her back to the wall. In an instant, her hand bumped into the switch, or that was what she thought at least. As she tried to click it, she felt a hand that grabbed hers. She was so frightened that she screamed on top of her lungs, and slid down the wall.

Cole came running, and quickly found the switch beside the door. Switching the light on, he saw Beck sitting on the floor.

Their parents came after Cole.

“What Happened, Beck?” Cole asked, looking at his sister.

“There is someone here!” she gasped for breath as she looked around the room, “Someone grabbed my… my hand.”

“Beck, there’s no one here. All the windows are closed, and Cole was in his room,” John said, crouching down before her.

“No dad, it was a hand with long boney fingers,”

“Are you doing this on purpose, so we can go back to Canada?” Susan asked, looking at her with a frown.

“What? No! I’m not lying!” she yelled, looking at her mother in disbelief.

John, and Susan never believed in ghosts. For them, they didn’t exist, or they simply can’t harm humans. Reading so many real stories never changed their minds about it.

“Beck, you should go to bed. I think you are just exhausted,” John said, standing up, and walking out the door with Susan.

Cole was standing there, looking at them. He believed his sister because he already knew something was wrong about the house, but he also knew their parents wouldn’t believe it.

“Are you okay?” Cole asked. She was still breathing heavily while looking all around the room, the air was so thick.

“Yes.”

“Do you want me to stay with you?”

“No, it’s okay Cole. I will be fine.”

“Ok!”

He walked out, and gave his sister a sad smile before closing the door behind him.

Beck was left alone in the room. She tried to forget about it, so she took out her iPod from her bag, and plugged it in her headphones, trying to distract herself with music.

As she started unpacking her things, her eyes never stopped looking around her room. She picked her clothes, folded them properly, and bundled them on her bed.

She walked slowly to her closet, and tried to open its door. But, before she could even touch it, it slid slightly open, and a blow of wind came from her right side. She looked at the window, it was closed.

Beck took a deep breath. She closed her eyes tightly while opening the closet door. Taking a sneak peek inside, she saw that it was empty, so she sighed in relief, and started hanging her clothes.

It was past ten when Beck finished. That night, she decided to keep the lights on, and she went to sleep.

When Cole heard his sister screaming, he was making his bed. Now that he was back in his room, he found everything so messed up, the sheets on the ground, pillows thrown to the side of the door, and his clothes were all over the floor. He froze at the slightly open door, looking around petrified. The feeling of someone staring at him was getting stronger. He tried to push his door all the way open, but no matter how hard he tried, it was stuck.

His heart rate was increasing as his eyes roamed around his room. He heard his parents’ voice coming closer so he tried to call them, but he couldn’t find his voice. John and Susan were walking up the stairs. Cole was trying to push the door over, and over again. Suddenly the door flung open, and Cole landed on his face with a loud thud.

His parents ran to him in panic.

“Cole! What happened?” Susan yelled.

“Cole, get up buddy, what Happened?” John asked while picking him up.

Cole was groaning in pain, blood was flowing down his nose, and his eyes were shut.

“Oh, shit!” John said with a worried expression.

He carried him to their room, followed by Beck, and Susan, and placed him on their bed.

“Go bring an ice pack,” John told to Susan.

Susan ran downstairs, leaving everyone else wondering about what happened. John pinched Cole’s nose to stop the heavily flowing blood, wiping it with a towel. Few moments later, Susan came in with an ice pack.

Cole was gaining back his consciousness. Susan placed the ice pack slowly on his nose, he flinched a little. Luckily, it didn’t take long before he took the pack from his mom, and started doing it himself.

He looked at Beck, who was sitting beside him. She looked back at him with a scared, and worried expression.

He tried to smile at her, but it only caused him more pain. She smiled back.

“You should go back to bed, he is okay now,” John said, looking at Beck.

Nodding, she left. She walked inside her room, and closed the door behind her. She got in bed, and pulled up her sheets. She laid there, looking at the ceiling, she couldn’t sleep, even though it was around midnight.

She felt a movement under her bed which made her heart pound loudly. She got up, and ran to the door, trying to open it, but it was locked. She banged her fists on it, hoping her parents would hear her, but no one came.

She looked back at her bed when she heard a crack coming from there. Her heart stopped when she saw a black figure with white eyes staring at her from underneath the bed. She screamed, closing her eyes, but that was of no use. She opened her eyes, and the figure was gone.

She looked around, searching for it. The door was still locked, and the lights started flickering. Suddenly, she felt something crawling up her legs. She screamed again with eyes full of tears, but the weird sensation didn’t stop, because this time something grabbed her neck, chocking her tightly. She flew in the air, and was slammed on her bed. She crawled back until her back met the headboard.

The room went silent with thick heavy air. She clinched her sheets to herself as if it was going to save her.

All she could hear was her breathing. Her body started burning hot when she felt a presence beside her, then her legs were grabbed, dragged out of bed, and thrown on the floor.

Slammed against the wall again, she felt long boney fingers slapping across her cheeks multiple times until she felt them burning, so she screamed again.

Her body was getting tired, and her eyes were struggling to stay open. She didn’t know what would happen if she closed them, so she fought against it. Eventually, she gave up, and she passed out on the floor.

In the morning, John found Beck’s bedroom door slightly open. So, he went to wake her up. He knocked, but Beck didn’t reply. He pushed the door open, and stepped in, only to see his daughter lying on the floor, rolled on herself terrorized.

Noticing red marks on her cheeks, he bent down in front of her, he carried her head slightly in his hands; the marks were faded, but they seemed like slaps.

“Beck, wake up, Beck,” John said, shaking her shoulder, “Sweetie, open your eyes!”

He felt a little bit guilty for not believing what she said last night. Beck slowly opened her swollen eyes in pain. Her vision was blurry, and her whole body ached. As she felt a hand on her face, she started screaming.

“Sh… Beck it’s me, dad, look sweetie,” John said, his voice cracking.

“Dad… dad!” She opened her eyes to see her father in front of her. She hugged him tightly for her dear life.

“Yes Beck, it’s dad. Don’t be scared. Can you tell me what happened?”

Tears were running down her face as she told him everything. It was hard to believe, but he had no choice. After all, she could not do that to herself. It was unbelievable, yet believable.

He scooped her in his arms, and carried her out of the room, all the way downstairs, and placed her on the couch.

Susan looked at them coming down. When she saw her daughter, her eyes widened, and she went running towards them.

“What happened to her?” Susan yelled with tearful eyes.

Cole was still in his room when he woke up on his mother’s scream. He got out of bed, and dashed outside towards the living room, where he saw his sister barely conscious on the couch.

He was running down stairs, but stopped dead in his tracks when he met a horrifying view. He saw his sister’s body cracking, making a disturbing sound. Her head reached to her lower back. Her eyes went white just like that thing in her room last night.

Susan screamed at the sight of her daughter, while John’s eyes went wide open. He pulled his wife away from Beck for it was the only thing he could think of.

“Don’t come closer, Cole!” John yelled at his son.

Susan was screaming loudly. Cole ran to his father crying, and clutching John’s hand.

Beck dropped on the floor as her body slowly stood on the knuckles of her feet, making the cracking sound even heavier, her head hanging back, her skin pale, and badly bruised, her body marked with long scratches, black-bleeding tears, and cuts appearing on her arms, her head swinging forward, and her mouth stretching wide open, and bleeding.

Her body started shaking violently, her feet knuckles started cracking, then she fell on her face.

When John saw she wasn’t moving, he told Cole, and Susan to go out, and get in the car, so they did, but before they could even reach it, they saw the cops’ cars pulling up to their driveway, and all the neighbors were outside.

“Stop,” a cop said, pointing a gun at Susan.

“Please, save my daughter, something is happening to her, please. She is inside with my husband, please save them, please,” she screamed, and cried for help while raising her hands up in the air.

The cops saw Cole crying, and clinging to his mother’s clothes.

The cops nodded at each other, and started making their way inside. John came running through the door, carrying Beck.

The cops pointed their guns at him.

“No, that’s my husband, please don’t shoot,” Susan screamed.

“Come forward slowly. Don’t make any sudden movement,” a cop told John.

“Please, call an ambulance, please,” John begged, his voice cracking, and his eyes full of tears.

“Put her down, slowly,” another cop said.

John followed their orders, his heart was hurting while looking at this little girl in this state.

For fear of weapons, a cop came, and searched him. There was none. So, they started to interrogate him. Meanwhile, an ambulance came, and took Beck straight to the hospital.

“Can we talk at the hospital please? I need to see if my baby is ok,” John said to the cop, and looked at Cole, and Susan who were crying, and talking to another one.

“We will take you there,” the officer replied. He, then, led the mother, and her son to their car, and drove off.

John looked back at the house, and saw some cops going in.

“They are going to bring your important stuff out, then the house will be sealed,” a cop said to them.

“Who called you? And what’s in that house?” John asked, still worried, and desperate to know what happened to his daughter.

“A neighbor of yours called us, saying he could hear screaming, and crying.”

“Oh!”

“And about the house, it’s a really old house. In 1990, a man named Steve Moller bought it. He used to kidnap children, and torture them to death in there. We counted up to 24 victims. So we eventually found him, and shot him to death. Few years later, a family, just like you, bought the house. They only lived there for 24 days before the husband shot himself, the pregnant wife jumped out of the roof, and died, their fourteen year-old son hanged himself, and his little sister was possessed when she was brought out of the house. Luckily, she gained back her normal life now. That’s why nobody thinks about living there anymore. They say Steve Moller’s soul is trapped in this house, and he likes to torture kids,” a cop explained.

“Why did you buy the house?” another cop asked.

“My company offered me a job here, and the house was provided by them,” John replied.

“We will need your company’s information,” the cop added.

“Yeah, sure.”

Cole and Susan were still crying in silence. They were feeling so bad for what happened to Beck.

The cars stopped in front of the hospital. They all got out, and ran inside.

John asked about his daughter on the counter, the reception lady showed him how to get to her room, so they all went there.

They all rushed towards the doctor who just came out.

“How is she? Is she going to be fine? Can we see her?” John bombarded the doctor with his questions.

“She will be alright, hopefully. She will need some stitches. Her body is badly bruised, so she is in a lot of pain, we gave her some medicines to help reduce the pain. That’s why you can’t see her now, she needs to rest.”

“When will we be able to take her home?” Susan asked.

“Within two weeks,” the doctor replied, before talking to the cops.

Cole was looking at his sister from the glass door, he couldn’t stop crying.

Two weeks later, Beck, Cole, and their parents went back to Canada, to their old house. Beck was still recovering.

Susan told Finn everything. He was shocked, and worried, but he was extremely happy they came back.

John told Beck everything the cops said about the house, he also told her that it was now sealed, and it became a government property. Such incident would never happen to anyone again.

Beck took a deep breath as she stepped inside her room, with a wide smile on her face. She felt the comfort of being home again.

Beck and Cole would always have nightmares, but they knew they were safe in their old house. John’s company was fooled by a man named Jordan who sold them the house, claiming it was his. Good thing they arrested him.

As their father promised them to never allow such a thing to happen again, Cole and Beck were extremely happy to be home again, where they lived happily ever after.

THE END