It was a very dark night. A storm had been brewing all day long and into the night. The thunder made the big old house shake. The lightning lit up the room like it was daylight. The storm was starting to scare Mary. She had never liked storms. When she was little storms scared her and they still did.
Mary checked on the children to make sure they were okay. All four of them were sleeping soundly. Mary didn’t know how they could sleep with the noise the storm was making. Her husband Chad was sound asleep. She knew he could sleep through anything. He had proved that on numerous occasions.
Mary had inherited the big old mansion from her deceased Aunt Meg. Mary missed their apartment back in Philadelphia. It had been such a cozy place to live. She never wanted to move to this big house. Mary wanted to pack up her family and move back there. Her husband Chad had wanted to move to the big house. His idea was that they would save on rent. Money was always tight with 4 children. Mary would have rather worked two jobs than to live here.
The town they lived in was beautiful. It was an old New England town. Mary thought the town was nice but she just didn’t like the house. She knew the minute they pulled up to it that she wouldn’t be happy here. There was a waterfall not far from the house. She could here the water crashing over the rocks. It was a strange sound for someone from Philadelphia. Chad liked it but Mary didn’t and she told him this every chance she got.
When they had unlocked the front door to the house something didn’t seem right. She didn’t even want to go inside. The children ran in and started checking out all the rooms. They thought it was wonderful. There was a big alcove and rooms on either side. On the left side was a big old living room. On the right side was a large dining room with a big chandelier. Everytime the children would run through the room the chandelier would move. Once it started moving it made sounds like glasses moving together. Mary had never had a chandelier before and didn’t know if that was normal or not.
Mary did love to cook and the kitchen was really big. There was even a walk-in pantry. Even Mary had to admit that it was nice. The funny thing about it though was that every time Mary was working in the kitchen she felt like someone was watching her. She told Chad about it but he dismissed it as if it was nothing. Right outside the back door was a herb garden. Mary had started using a lot of the herbs in her recipes. In Philadelphia they could never afford the prices for fresh herbs. She was enjoying having the fresh herbs to use.
One afternoon when the children were all at school Mary decided to take her basket and gather some fresh herbs. She was making spaghetti sauce for dinner and fresh oregano would be a nice added touch to her recipe. Mary put on her jacket because the fall weather was becoming very chilly. She had found an old basket in the pantry. It was perfect for gathering the fresh herbs. Mary always used scissors to trim the herb plants. She was very careful not to hurt the plants. Chad had gone into town to look for some new locks for the doors. Mary had insisted that they needed new locks on all the doors. Chad had told her if someone wanted to come in they’d find a way. Mary had told him she didn’t care. She wanted new locks. So off her husband went to find a hardware store.
When Mary went outside she shut the back door to keep the heat in the kitchen. She had a cake baking and the heat from the oven would warm up the kitchen. She walked down the steps and walked over by the herb garden. She bent down to pick some parsley when she heard a noise behind her. She stood up and turned around. There was a young lady standing behind her. Mary gasped because she didn’t expect to see anyone there. It turned out to be their neighbor. She introduced herself and said her name was Jennifer. Mary liked her right away. She had a very pleasant smile. Jennifer said that they’d lived next door to this house for five years. The house had always been empty. Jennifer was so happy that someone had finally moved in. Mary invited her in for a cup of coffee. Jennifer declined the offer. She said that she had just wanted to say hi and she was just going to get the mail. Mary smiled as Jennifer walked down the drive. She would pick another day to invite Jennifer over to visit. Jennifer had two children and lived with her husband and mother. She was a stay at home mom. Mary looked forward to becoming good friends with her. If she had to live in this big old house at least she could fill it with friends.
Mary picked her herbs and went back into the kitchen. The cake was almost done. Just as she had thought the kitchen was warm and inviting. She got her oven mitts on to remove the cake from the oven. She turned the timer off on the stove and started to open the oven door. Just then there was a knock at the back door. Mary turned off the oven and went to see who was at the door. At gentleman was standing in the doorway. He said that he had been the old caretaker of her aunt’s house. He introduced himself as Sam. She smiled and invited him in. He had a worried expression on his face. He also declined her offer to enter the house.
Sam told Mary that he had just stopped by to make sure the family was okay. When he turned to leave he almost fell on the steps. It seemed like he wanted to get away from the house as soon as he could. That seemed odd to Mary. Did everyone know something about this house that she didn’t? That was a question she would need to find an answer for.
When Chad came back with the new locks Mary told him about their two visitors. Chad thought that maybe if Mary made friends this would start feeling more like a home to her. She complained over and over again that she wanted to leave. Chad liked it here and wanted to stay. He did feel the house was way too big for them but at least they didn’t have to pay rent.
Mary frosted the cake and put the finishing touches on her sauce. She had to make a lot of spaghetti noodles for her family. The children were big eaters and spaghetti was their favorite. Every night since moving in they had eaten in the big dining room. There was plenty of room around the big old table for the six of them. The chandelier did cast a nice light on the table at dinnertime.
The children were starving by the time they sat down for dinner. Everyone had a different story to tell about school. Samantha was in the 5th grade and was a brilliant student. She was 10 years old. Things came easy to Samantha. She didn’t have to study hard. She was a quick learner. They were doing fractions in school. Samantha had gotten an A on her first test. It was no surprise to her mother and father. This was the way it always was with her.
Janie was the social butterfly in the group. She was 8 years old. She made friends wherever she went. Today she talked about her friend Lulu. She wanted to invite her over to spend the night. She used to have sleep overs when they lived in Philadelphia. This was so like her. Her parents thought it would be fine. They wanted their children to be happy.
Liza was quiet and reserved but she did make friends easily. She was 7 years old. There was one particular little girl that she really liked. They walked home from school together. It turned out that Lulu lived right next door. She was Jennifer’s daughter. Liza was so excited to have a friend so close. Mary told Liza to invite her in after school tomorrow. She even told Liza to invite her for dinner. Liza was very happy about having a new friend. She still missed her old friends from back in Philadelphia.
Then there was Mark. Her was the only boy in the group. Mark was 6 years old. He was all boy. He liked to run and play. School was not his favorite thing. He went to school because his parents made him. If they had said Mark stay home he would have been as happy as could be. He did like gym though. He loved all sports. He always watched Sunday football with his dad. They would have the best time. They would eat popcorn and watch every game that was televised. Sometimes Mary felt sorry for Mark because he was the only boy. He did get along fairly well with his sisters though.
Of all the children Mark disliked this big old house the most. It was scary to him. He was always afraid that something scary was going to come out of his closet. His mom would turn out his light at night and he would jump out of bed and go turn it on again. She would have to wait till he went to sleep to turn it out for the night. Chad said Mark would outgrow being afraid of the dark. Mary wondered just exactly when that would be.
When dinner was almost finished Liza said something very strange. She said that some kids at school were calling their house haunted. Mary didn’t like the sound of that one bit. Mark’s ears perked up. Chad thought they’d never get Mark to sleep in his room again after hearing that. Mary and Chad both said that it was silly talk and nobody should listen.
The next morning Mary decided to go next door and talk to Jennifer. She knocked on their front door. Jennifer opened the door with a big smile on her face. She welcomed Mary with a hug. They went into the kitchen for a cup of tea. Mary told Jennifer was was being said about their old house.
Jennifer was not surprised. She told Mary what little she knew. The house had been built back in the 1800’s. There was supposed to be an old Indian burial ground on the property. Jennifer did say she saw the upstairs lights flicker on and off once in awhile. That was all she knew. She said there’d been rumors about the old house for years.
Mary left Jennifer’s house and went back home. She went into the den and turned on her computer. She googled her town. On the town site she carefully went through all the articles she could find. There was nothing written about her particular house. Her next step was to google old burial grounds. Sure enough just like Jennifer said there had been an old burial ground right here on the property.
When Chad got home she told him what she had discovered. He didn’t know what to think. He really didn’t want to live near an old burial ground. This was something he wasn’t familiar with. Chad walked out back and started looking around the yard. There was a section of the property that was overgrown. It didn’t look like anyone had been back in that area for a long time. He got closer to the area and stood on the edge of the overgrowth. He just didn’t know what to do. It didn’t look like a burial ground but then again he’d never seen a burial ground. He didn’t know how to investigate this. He went back in the house. It was starting to get really cold and it looked like a storm was headed toward them.
By the time Chad came in the back door the kids were coming in the front door from school. Evidently there had been more talk about the house at school. Mark wouldn’t even go to his room. He sat down in the living room and refused to move. The girls went up to their rooms but Mark stayed put. He was a stubborn little boy.
Mary called everybody for dinner. She’d made beef stew for dinner. The children were excited because in two days it would be Halloween. They were going to have some fun activities at school. Mary was going to make cupcakes for the children. She had always liked this time of year. She liked to carve pumpkins with the children.
Mark was now sleeping in their room. He had refused to go back in his room after what he’d heard at school. Mary hadn’t noticed anything odd around the house. Chad had gone outside looking around but he didn’t find anything out of the way. If there had been an ancient burial ground he didn’t know where it was. This was the year 20ll and the 1800’s was a very long time ago. They may never figure out where on the property these grounds were.
Mary was up early on October 31, she wanted to begin her cupcakes for the neighborhood children. She was going to make chocolate cupcakes, white cupcakes and yellow ones too. There was a candy shop in town that sold orange sprinkles. She was going to use them on the top of her cupcakes. They had carved the pumpkins and put them on the front porch. Brad put candles inside and was going to light them when it got dark. The children were going to have parties in their classrooms. By the time this day was over they were going to have enough sugar to last them for days. Mark’s class was going to have apple bobbing contests. He was so excited.
Mary would have loved having the neighbors over for special treats. She really didn’t know that many people yet so that idea wasn’t going to work. Mary was going to drop off her cupcakes at the school. Since she was going that way anyway she was going to drive the children to school. Mark had asked if he could take some apples to school for the contest. Mary sent him with a big bag of apples. He was really looking forward to bobbing for apples. His teacher was going to give out prizes for the winners. Jennifer had sent caramel apples for Lulu’s class. Mary thought that was really nice.
Mary dropped the cupcakes off in the cafeteria. As she passed by the principal’s office the secretary motioned for her to come in. Mary walked up to her desk. The secretary told Mary how much everyone enjoyed the children. She said the were very polite and kind. That made Mary feel very good. Mary saw this as a good opportunity to ask her if she knew any background about their house. The secretary smiled at Mary. She told her there had been speculation about the house for a long time. Mrs. Lewis, the secretary had known Mary’s Aunt Meg. She said that up until the time her aunt had gotten sick she had lived in the house. Mrs. Lewis had visited her on many occasions and nothing strange had ever happened. It was such a big house that some people may have thought it was haunted but Mrs. Lewis didn’t agree. Mary’s Aunt Meg had been very happy in that house. She loved cooking with herbs. Her husband had been a lighthouse keeper and spent many hours at the lighthouse. It was true that their was an old Indian burial ground on the property but she wasn’t sure where it was located. There was acres and acres of property and it could be anywhere. Mary felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. From what Mrs. Lewis said the house was fine. The many rumors had grown over the years and evidently a lot of people believed the rumors. That just showed how people could be. They really believed what they heard.
Mary went straight to Jennifer’s house and told her everything she’d learned from Mrs. Lewis. The next thing she did was invite Jennifer over for a special treat. Mary got all the numbers of all the neighbors. She called them and invited them over to join them for a special evening. When the children got home from school she told them everything she learned. Then she sent Chad to the local bakery to buy donuts, pies, cakes and even some cinnamon, raisin bread with icing. That was always a special treat for her family.
At dusk Chad went out to light the pumpkins on the porch. When Mary went outside to see them she thought they looked very festive. The neighbors started arriving at about 6:30. By 7:00 the house was filled with laughter. Chad had taken a big barrel and put lots of apples in it. The children were bobbing for apples. They gave out fun prizes to all the children.
By the time the evening was over and the last person had left everyone was exhausted. They were also very happy. This was the first time they all felt like they belonged in the small New England town. Chad gave Mary a big hug and said that he felt as though they were really home. Mary couldn’t believe how rumors had almost convinced her that she should pack up her family and leave. The house still seemed too big. Mary would always miss her little apartment in philadelpia. It was a nice feeling to know that they had wonderful neighbors and friends. She made a mental note to have someone come and look at the electricity. She had remembered what her friend Jennifer had said about the lights. It was clear to her that it was just an electrical problem. If she would have thought that through from the beginning she would have had it checked earlier.
That night Mark slept in his own bed. Mary still had to go in after he went to sleep to turn his light out but that was just because he was a little boy that was afraid of the dark. Mary went to bed and slept better than she had slept since they moved in.
Their house was now a home. It was a place of shelter and a place for family and friends. Mary had a feeling this was what Aunt Meg had wanted all along.