her feel sick. A cold fear swept over her, and she became frightened at the scary feeling that was dominating her senses.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you want to play?” asked Sophie quietly. “I wanna go upstairs and see mommy and daddy!” Stacy cried out frantically. “You can go upstairs when I say we’re done playing!” said Sophie. “When’s that?” asked Stacy, worried at how sick she was feeling. “Not until I say! Now, let’s get started with our tea party.” Stacy started to whimper and cry, even though she felt gravely sick and dizzy at that point. As she cried aloud, ignoring the mean things Sophie was yelling at her because she wanted them to start the party, she started to cough vehemently as blood spurted from her lungs. Stacy died three minutes later—a painful mass of sobs and fear—clutching the dead hand of Sophie’s body.
When the new owners of the Ludley house—the Orsen’s—moved in, Jenny Orsen was still lamenting the loss of the friends she’d never see again. With all the moving boxes caging her into her new home and seeing no escape from the prison she’d been placed in, she ran from the sight of her mother, father, fifteen year-old brother Tim—and the movers—and tried to find a place where she would never be seen again. Being only four years and eight months old, she could only find the most obvious places to hide. That is, until she found the disjointed foot and a half space separating the front and back of the house, between the two wooden doors.
She found it by accident when she dropped her smiling lion hair pain between the open doors, hidden away in the isolating pyramid that was created when both doors were opened simultaneously. She crept into the space and was content in the perfectly dark and prime location to hide in. She pulled the doors together, cancelling out all light and noise on the other side with the final click of the rusted skull knob. Then she sat down flatly, tucking her knees into her chin, and started to cry.
As any four your old would, she cried for the things she loved and would miss now that she lived six and a half hours away from her old home in Amston. Not only for her friends—Jimmy, Stephen, Layla, Minnie, Laura, Maddy, and Tori—but she also cried for the playground at Rusell Park, the flower garden in Old Lady Tammy’s front lawn, the bakery on 17th Street that made her favorite French bread, and the grave site for her pet frog George that sat under the big oak tree in her backyard as if she had lost the entire world to an unnatural calamity.
And as she sat there, hating her mom and dad and Tim for making them move, she thought she heard giggles in the darkness of her new sanctum. She looked up frantically, scared her parents or Tim had found her and would make her watch more boxes flood into the home, serving as more reminders that her family could care less about what she wanted—which was to stay in Amston and never leave—and never gave a second thought to her.
She listened quietly to the darkness around her, shivering a little in nervousness at how silent her new hiding place was. She started to whimper when she heard more giggles fill the space right in front of her. She tucked her head into her knees as she heard a voice say “Hi. I’m Stacy, and this is my friend Sophie. Do you wanna be our friend?” Jenny looked up fearfully, straining her eyes to make out shapes in the blackness, but none formed before her. After a few seconds of silence, Jenny asked the blackness “Who are you? Are you ghosts?”
Sophie responded quickly, saying “No. We’re not ghosts; we’re friends. Do you want to play with us?” There was something kind about Sophie’s voice that made Jenny feel as though she’d known her for a long time. In her calm, Jenny wiped her tears on the sleeve of her purple sweater and said, “Okay. What do you wanna play?”
Stacy replied, “We were having a tea party earlier. Do you wanna join us?” Jenny nodded and excitedly replied, “Yes! I love tea parties! But there’s nothing here to have a party with.” Sophie replied warmly and said, “Everything is downstairs. If you follow my voice, I can help you get to the party room downstairs.”
Jenny smiled in wonder and asked, “There’s a party room? How do I get down there?” Stacy replied happily, saying “Listen to Sophie’s voice, and she can get you there. We already have everything set up for you.” Jenny stood and consented to the girls’ offer. Then Sophie said, “Follow me.” Jenny listened attentively as the voice had her feel around the wall for a hole. Jenny found it quickly and almost jumped down before Stacy yelled, “Wait, don’t jump! You could get hurt! You need to grab onto the big metal pipe inside and slide down. Be careful!”
Jenny nodded in the dark and followed the directions carefully. She found the metal pipe and wrapped around it firmly. It was cold and rough, but she was too excited to care. She slid down quickly, coming to a stop when her butt thudded against the concrete floor at the bottom.
As Jenny’s eyes adjusted to the dark, she saw some wood walls, a dirt-caked concrete floor, and two figures on the far end of the five-foot room. “Good! You’re here! Come on over! We’re just about to serve the tea!” said Sophie and Stacy in unison. Jenny crawled over to the girls excitedly, ready to enjoy a nice tea party with her new friends.
And Jenny gasped in the horror of seeing two corpses, one on the floor and one sitting propped up on the wall in a puffy dress, holding hands against the dirt-caked and rotting wood.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this story. I hope you enjoyed it and will look forward to the others I bring forth in the future.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
To my family, for all of their support and encouragement.
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