The Red Light (3 page)

Teddy laid there for a long time,
until he heard his mother and Mary come out of the bathroom and
down the hall to Mary’s room; he uncovered his head and watched
them walk past. He wondered if he was the only one to hear and see
things, was whatever that was in this house just bothering him? He
lay there thinking about these things until Sarah came in his room
and said goodnight to him, she gave him a kiss on the head and
pulled the covers up around him, she started to turn the light out
but Teddy stopped her.

“
I wanna leave the light
on tonight, this new house is scary to me still,” Teddy said
nervously.

“
Ok sweetie, I understand
we will leave it on if it helps.”

Sarah went back downstairs with Mike
and sat at the table with him. “So, do you think that things will
be up and running in another week or so?” She asked.

“
I hope so, we have
savings but that won’t last forever, I have to get money coming in
soon, and we have to get this house in order so you can start
writing again.”

“
I know, I can’t wait; I
have a couple of stories that are in my head to start on, maybe
this next book will get accepted by a big publisher and bring in
some money to help with things,” Sarah said.

“
I’m sure whatever you
write will do just fine, let’s get to bed ok? I’m worn
out.”

“
Ok, I’m tired too,” Sarah
answered.

They turned off the lights and went to
their bedroom; they talked for a while and finally slipped off to
sleep.

Teddy was lying there in bed, even
though he hadn’t heard any more footsteps, he was still scared and
couldn’t sleep. The light in his room was on the wall above his
headboard, there was no cover on it yet, and he figured they would
eventually get to it after getting everything unpacked. He could
feel the cold in the room and see his breathe every time he
exhaled. Suddenly there was a shadow on the wall toward the bottom
of his bed, a figure was walking back and forth, the shadow of a
figure to be more accurate, like someone was walking right in front
of the light above his headboard and making a shadow on the
opposite wall. How could this be he wondered, he couldn’t see
anything in front of the light, he closed his eyes and covered his
head, he never heard a noise and was too afraid to look. Then, he
heard Mary scream.

Chapter 5

Teddy heard his Mother running up the
stairs to Mary’s room; he got up and walked to Mary’s door and seen
Sarah holding Mary on the edge of the bed. “Go back to bed sweetie,
she just had a nightmare,” Sarah said to Teddy.

Teddy went back to bed and so did
Sarah after getting Mary back asleep. “I got Mary back in bed,”
Sarah said sleepily to Mike while getting under the
covers.

“
Well, maybe she’ll get
some rest. Goodnight, Sarah,” Mike said giving her a
kiss.

No one slept much that night; they all
had nightmares except for Mike, who lay awake in bed, hearing the
sound of chains rattling from the basement.

The next morning they were all quiet
and sleepy, even Mary who was usually talkative and active, was
sitting at the table half asleep.

After Mike was off to work, and the
kids were on the bus to school Sarah went back inside and sat at
the table drinking coffee thinking of all that has happened in the
short time they’ve been here. She remembered the diaries that she
found in the secret room and thought about getting them out to see
what was written inside.

Sarah went through the house cleaning
and unpacking for a couple of hours but couldn’t get the diaries
out of her mind and decided to take a break and look through one.
She made herself some coffee, got the diaries and went outside to
sit at the table on the deck; she opened the most recent one and
began reading the last entry.

“
They have been getting
worse lately, I have a hard time sleeping and they now won’t leave
me alone during the day. After all these years he still isn’t
satisfied. The strongest one demands more and more, the more… blood
he gets the more he wants, and he is getting meaner every day, I
don’t know what to do, I am in this deep now and he has control of
me, the things he makes me do are horrible, but I cannot resist. I
must go tomorrow and change the will, I must not let Mike bring the
children here, I will have the house sold and they can have the
money. I must keep them away from Silas.”

Sarah felt a chill go up her spine;
was Mike’s Aunt Penny just crazy or is there something supernatural
in this house? And one demands blood? This was too much for her to
take in; she wasn’t sure what to think. As she sat there staring
toward the creek, she heard a tapping noise, she looked around but
didn’t see anything or anyone, it sounded like someone tapping on a
window from inside trying to get her attention, but she was alone.
There was another tap and she looked up at the covered window of
the secret room, for a split second she saw a face in the window, a
woman with a pale white face and long black hair.

This startled her and gave her cold
chills all over her body, Sarah refused to go back inside the house
immediately, she walked to the creek that ran nearby and kept
looking back, having the feeling that someone was watching her. She
sat on the bank and listened to the water flowing over the rocks,
this relaxed her and she almost forgot about the face she seen,
every time she thought about it, she got chills all over again.
Then she heard a scream coming from the direction of the
house.

Sarah was scared but also tired of
being too frightened to go in her own house; she ran up to the
corner of the house beside the deck and started yelling up toward
the window. “Why are you doing this? What did I do to you? Just go
away leave us alone!” Sarah screamed.

She walked around the corner of the
house and ran into someone, it was Mike who had come home early,
Sarah fell back onto the ground afraid to look up, and she was
screaming and kicking at the ground trying to push herself
backwards. “Sarah what is wrong with you?” Mike asked her, reaching
down trying to grab her hands to help her up and calm her
down.

“
Mike?”

“
I told you I would try to
come home early to help you out today.”

“
But you haven’t been gone
long at all; I didn’t expect you back so soon.”

“
I went in and made sure
that things were getting done, and told them I would be back later
on today or tomorrow morning.”

Mike helped her up and they walked
over and sat on the deck, she showed him the diary entry that she
had read, and told him about what happened after reading it. He
kept trying to explain it away, maybe it was a reflection that just
happened to look like a face, and the scream could have been a bird
or any number of the animals that lived in the area.

Mike helped her calm down, they went
inside and began moving the furniture around and unpacking. They
went to the basement to hook up the washer and dryer, she felt a
little better with Mike down there with her but she still felt like
someone was watching them. She didn’t hear any noises like before
so she was happy about that. She loaded the washing machine and
turned it on, there was no water going into it.

“
Oh, I didn’t turn on the
water,” Mike said.

“
Some plumber you are,”
Sarah said laughing.

He turned it on and the hose flew off,
water was spraying straight out onto both of them, he turned the
shut off valve and it stopped, there they stood in the cold
basement, drenched and shaking.

“
I never claimed to be a
plumber,” Mike said.

“
Well, you shouldn’t ever
claim to be one after this either,” Sarah said jokingly.

They went upstairs to their bedroom
and changed their clothes, Sarah kept picking on Mike about being a
plumber, and he went back into the basement and fixed the washing
machine problem, while she made some coffee and
sandwiches.

“
I still can’t get over
what your aunt wrote in that diary, that really is some freaky
stuff Mike, “Sarah said.

“
Maybe she was just
writing a story or something, you know like you when you
write.”

“
Yeah, maybe, but it’s
still freaky. I would like to get that board off the window and
clean that room up; it would make a good writing room.”

After eating they went up to the
secret room, Mike was impressed with how the door was hidden and
with the book collection his aunt had inside the room. Mike took a
hammer up with them so he could try to remove the board, he pried
at it and finally got one side to pull back, he grabbed the board
and pulled it around and something fell down out of the window onto
his feet. Mike screamed and ran backwards falling back against a
book shelf, he thought it was a snake, but luckily it was just a
snake skin, a big one.

“
Oh my God, there are
snakes in here?” Sarah asked as she glanced around the room
paranoid and looking for a snake to come out and wrap around
her.

“
Look at it, it’s all
dried up it looks like it has been there for a long time, so the
snake is probably long gone,” Mike answered.

Sarah agreed but still was paranoid
and watching out behind everything she moved, Mike pulled the board
the rest of the way off and the light came in brightly, they could
see the dust in the air and it got dustier as they began pulling
out old books and cleaning them off.

“
I’ll go get another light
bulb,” Mike said.

“
Okay, I’ll stay here and
check these books out.”

Sarah was looking at books when she
heard Mike step back into the room. “Back so soon?” Sarah asked and
turned around, but there was no one there, she could swear she
heard his footsteps and felt his presence in the room, and then
Mike stepped into the room.

“
I got the light
bulbs.”

Sarah jumped and let out a little
scream, then hugged him.

“
You have got to calm
down, don’t let this old house scare you to death, it’s just a
house,” Mike said trying to calming her down.

“
You’re right, with all
the stress of moving and being in this big old house and working on
little sleep, it all is just getting to me.”

“
Why don’t we go into town
and look around, it will be good for you to get away from here for
a little while.”

“
That’s a great idea,”
Sarah said smiling.

They turned off the lights and went
outside and got in the car, while going down the driveway Sarah
still felt like something was watching her from the house, she
didn’t look back but she still had that feeling.

They road they live on is narrow and
there is nothing but farmland around them; even after turning onto
the highway there were farms on both sides of the road. Moving into
this sprawling rural town is certainly going to be an adjustment
for them all. The town was small but had most everything they
needed, a library, and small shopping centers. Sarah seen an
antique store and wanted to stop in, they went there and to many of
the other small shops of the downtown area. Sarah was happy to get
away and forgot about the house for a little while.

Chapter 6

For two weeks nothing else happened in
the house, there was a calm, normal feeling and everyone was
getting sleep again. Sarah still could not get used to the
basement, she would always feel like someone was watching her, and
she would even run up the stairs after doing laundry, she felt
silly, like a child but she couldn’t help it.

Sarah had cleaned up the secret room
and moved her laptop there to start writing again. She used to
write almost every day, even if it was something short, she missed
that and was happy to be writing regularly again. She had refused
to read anymore of Aunt Penny’s diaries, after seeing the face in
the window and hearing the scream, and the things that were written
in it, she didn’t want any more to do with them.

After another normal day, Mike was
working on paperwork at the table, Mary and Teddy had taken their
baths and was getting ready to go to bed, Sarah was setting out
their school clothes for the next day.

Teddy lay there in bed staring at the
ceiling, he was starting to feel better about living there, and had
made a couple of new friends at school, he heard his parents going
through the house turning off the lights for the night and the
sound of their door close. Teddy now had a night light in the
outlet close to his bed, he was thinking of how safe it made him
feel when it started blinking, and he leaned over and made sure it
was plugged in tight, and then it started flashing again and it
finally went out. He lay there in the darkness in fear; he felt a
cold breeze go over his bed so he pulled the covers up to his
nose.

He closed his eyes and kept telling
himself, ‘it’s not real, it’s not real.’ Teddy opened his eyes and
there was a face right next to him, he could feel the breath on his
neck, but it wasn’t warm it was so cold, like ice against his skin.
The red light coming from under the bed was shining bright like it
had before and causing a reflection on head that was sitting beside
his pillow. Teddy lay there motionless staring at it, it looked
almost to be like clown makeup on the face that was smeared over
it, it had huge eyes that were a dark red, and a big smile that
showed rotten, stained teeth.