Chapter Eighteen

 You ever look at something, and when you do, your eyes almost feel like a shutter of a camera, well that’s what mine felt like when I looked at the man running away, because as he was about to disappear into the darkness I swear in a blink ...of an eye the next thing I saw was a black dog or possibly a wolf running in his place, I shook my head then squinted to see if I could somehow see further into the dark but I couldn’t, I turned and walked back into the house, not knowing what to do next I went back into the living room and sat down on the couch in front of the fire place, I was trying to figure out what the hell went on here but the more I ran it threw my head the more nuttier it sounded. I lay down on the couch and closed my eyes, I was still UN easy about all this and was thinking about calling 911 but I really felt like I needed to sleep, and if I were to call who knows when I could get any rest.
I must have dozed off pretty good because when I opened my eyes I had looked over at the fire place and it was just about out, Not that I needed a fire going but I kind of liked the feeling of it so I put a couple more logs on it just to keep that warm feeling in the room. I looked down at my arm and figured I better go find the local hospital or clinic and have them take a look at it just to make sure I hadn’t been bitten by a dog with rabies or something. After brushing my teeth and somewhat cleaning myself up I got in my truck and headed into town, as I drove thru main street I noticed one of those blue signs with the white H on it, so I knew I was on the right track another one was on the next corner with an arrow pointing to the left so I followed it, I had only driven about three blocks when I seen a Hospital sign and a large brick building in the back ground, I pulled up to the front of the building and went inside.
As I went through the lobby there was a receptionist sitting behind a desk I asked her if there was someone that could take a look at my arm, She paged someone then asked me for my insurance information and my name, I told her I had Blue Cross of Minnesota and that I didn’t have my card on me, she smiled and said that was fine, then after a few minutes she asked me if the address was 1406 Park drive, I said yes, then she had me sign something and then told me to take a seat, it couldn’t have been five minutes when a nurse poked her head out of a door and said Scott, I stood up and followed her back to a examination room, she asked me what was bothering me then took my blood pressure and asked me if I had any allergic reaction to anything, and if I had been taking any prescriptions or anything, I said no and then started to explain what I thought had happen, I didn’t tell her anything about the weird stuff, only that I had blacked out from hitting my head and that I thought a dog had bitten me when I was lying there, She stood up and told me that she would get the doctor, and that I should wait right here.
Several minutes went by when I heard a light knock on the door, then it opened, it was the doctor, he shook my hand and said his name was Donald Calhoun, then he sat down and read the notes the nurse had written down, then he turned to me and said, sounds like you had quite a night last night, then chuckled, I squinted my eyes and said yeah I guess, he asked me to see the bite mark, I rolled up my sleeve and showed him, I had some make shift bandage on, oh he said we will have to take those off, I started to tear away at the tape when the Doctor said wait a minute, let me get some gloves on and do that, he started to take off my bandages and laid them down on a little tray, His face was hard to read, but he kind of looked puzzled, I waited for him to say something but he kept turning my arm side to side then lifted it up so he could see the underside of my forearm, I finally asked him what he thought.
He crinkled his nose a little then looked at me and said he wasn’t sure what to think, what did you say bite you he asked, I shrugged my shoulders and said I wasn’t sure, but I had seen a large black dog earlier that day and had went to try and find it in this old building, when I was in there I hit my head on something and it kind of made me dizzy, I was on the way to my truck when I must have blacked out when I woke up I had these bite marks on my arm so I figured it must have bitten me when I was passed out. He paused and then picked up some kind of measuring tool, he said that it must have been a large dog because these larger marks look like they were made by the canines and on a normal dog they are about two and a half inches apart. These are close to four inches apart so it must have been a huge dog. Again I shrugged my shoulders and said I wasn’t sure, all I knew is that it was a big looking dog. Well he said it sure looks like it was something big, then he said he had a man come in here about three months ago with a similar size bite the man told me that he had a pet wolf and it had accidently bitten him when he was playing with it, my eyes lit up and I started to think about what I had seen last night when that man ran out of my house I remembered seeing what I thought was a large black dog, but maybe it was a wolf! The doctor cleaned out my wounds and bandaged me up, and then he said he was going to give me a prescription for infection so he wrote up one and handed it to me. I stood up and shook his hand and thanked him, Oh he said didn’t you say you hit your head too. Yes but it doesn’t hurt I told him, he asked me to sit back down and he would take a look at it, a few minutes later he said it looks like it doesn’t need stitches and that it’s more than a scrap than a cut. Again I stood up and told him thanks then headed out the door.
On the way back home I swung into the little café, I wanted to see if the waitress knew of any one that could help me unload the rest of my trailer. As I walked into the front door I noticed two young boys about eighteen so I walked over to them and introduced myself to them, I asked them if they could help me unload my trailer because I needed help carrying the larger items into my house, They looked at each other and said sure, then asked me where I lived. When I told them I lived in the old Crane place they looked at each other then back at me, the one kid said he had forgotten he had to do something , Oh ok I said, what about you, as I turned to the other one, his face turned red then he said he really couldn’t go either because he has to help his Dad with something, I thought that was strange but went and sat down at the counter, the waitress came up and asked me if I wanted a menu? I was a little hungry so I said sure, then I asked her if she knew anyone that could help me lift some things out of my trailer and into my house

Chapter Seventeen

As I walked back into the house I thought I heard a noise coming from the kitchen area or down possibly in the bathroom.  God, now what? I thought.  Was whoever pulled me into the house still in here?  I wanted to say something but, well,  to be honest I was a little scared at this point.  I slowly made my way down the hallway.  I passed the bathroom but nothing was there so I kept going toward the kitchen. At the doorway I peeked my head around the corner,  but again nothing was there.   I flipped on the light then stood there for a minute listening to see if I could hear anymore sounds, but all was quiet. Just then I heard the fridge turn on.  I thought maybe that is what I had heard.  I wasn’t sure,  but now after hearing the fridge It made me think of food so I walked over and opened it up to possibly get something to eat. It was pretty much empty though. The only thing in there was some cheese, ketchup, mustard and a few sticks of butter.  I hadn’t boughten any groceries yet so it was looking pretty grim as far as getting anything to eat.  I was thirsty too so I grabbed a glass from the cupboard and went to the sink. That’s when I damn near fell over because right next to the sink was that glass again! I slowly reached over to it and picked it up. Sure enough it was cold, and it had beads of water running down the sides of it, just as if someone had just finished drinking it.  I slowly put the glass down then walked toward the small bedroom and looked inside but no one was there so I made my way into the living room.  My heart was pounding so hard I could hear it.  I felt a bead of sweat drip down my cheek and I could taste the salt as it ran into my mouth.  I looked around the room and I froze when I saw the fireplace.  Someone had lit a fire and it looked like it had been burning for a long time.  There were hot coals spread all the way across the fire box, but what made my hair stand on end was the freshly placed log that sat on top of the hot coals with not even as much as a piece of its bark being burned.  I spun around the room looking in every corner. There had to be someone there.  Finally I holler out, "WHO IS IN HERE?" Then I listene.  Again I hollered, " I KNOW SOMEONE IS HERE SO COME OUT!!!"  But again it was silent. I walked back out into the hallway, then toward the stairs that lead upstairs.  I slowly walked step by step trying to listen to every sound. There was a small bedroom just as you came to the top of the stairs. I reached in and turned on the light, then walked over to the closet and opened it, but again nothing was there.  I knew someone was there and I also knew it was only a matter of time before I would find them. I checked the other bedroom and the small bathroom but nothing. There was only one room left, it was the master bedroom at the end of the hallway, the door was closed.  I had remembered earlier that I had put my bed frame and some other things in there so I knew I wouldn’t have shut the door.
I placed my hand on the knob and slowly turned it as a haunting screech filled the room from turning the knob.   I had a bad feeling about this.  I swung open the door, then I took a couple steps back,  then waited for something to happen.  I didn’t know what to expect,  if anything but whatever was in this house had to be in this room.  I slowly moved forward then reached around the door jamb and flipped on the light. I stepped into the room. There was a large walk in closet to my right and another small one just to the side of that one.  I opened the big closet door but there wasn't anything there.  I was beyond a nervous wreck at this point because in my mind I knew something was in this one.  I grabbed the knob and slowly turned it then pulled it open fast.  That’s when all hell broke loose. All I remember after that was being knocked backwards by something and being pushed to the floor. I tried to grab at whatever it was but it slipped through my fingers. I spun around on the floor, got up and then ran out into the hallway. I hollered STOP!! , but it kept going.  I ran toward the stairs then down them.  I just caught a glimpse of what looked like a man wearing a black trench coat running out the door.  As I went by the front door I reached over to turn on the outside lights.  What I saw next was something I didn’t even want to repeat in my own head, let alone say it out loud.

Chapter Sixteen

I felt myself getting weak and I thought I was about to pass out. I was just about to my truck when I fell to the ground.   I laid there for a few minutes then tried to get back up, then all of a sudden everything went black. I’m not sure how long I was out but when I opened my eyes it was dark outside.  I rolled over thinking I was on the ground but it felt like I was on something hard.   I pushed myself up to my knees and sat there looking around for a minute.  I was trying to figure out where the heck I was. I reached up and felt my head to see if I was still bleeding.  I couldn’t feel anything wet and it was too dark to see if there was any blood on my fingers.  I slowly stood up and looked around as my eyes started to adjust to the dark.  That’s when I could see I was in the house.   I tried to remember how I got in there.  I’m guessing I must have somehow crawled inside and never even realized it. I made my way to the front door and turned on the light, still a little light headed.   I stumbled my way into the bathroom so I could see how bad my head was cut.  That’s when I felt a pain in my left arm.  I was thinking I must have fell on it when I blacked out on the ground but when I turned the light on in the bathroom and took a closer look I could see it was bleeding.   I rolled up my shirt and examined it closer.  Oh my God, it looked as if something had cut my arm.  Then it dawned on me.  It looked like bite marks and  the cuts were about five or six inches long with two bigger cuts as if something had been pulling at my arm.  I looked in the mirror at my head to see if I thought I’d need stitches, but it really wasn’t that bad.  There was a small cut,  but it had stopped bleeding so I cleaned it up and took a closer look.  I thought to myself,  it will be fine, but my arm really hurt.   I went back to the front door to see if I could make out how I got in and  that’s when I noticed that there was blood smeared from the door to where I had woken up from.  It was like something had been drug across the floor.  I opened the front door and turned on the porch lights. The same trail of blood went across the porch and down the steps.  I walked outside and followed the trail to where my truck was.   I could see that someone had dragged me from where I had passed out, but who and why they just left me laying there without calling for help I couldn't figure out.  I knew I should go to the hospital to get checked out but didn’t really know where there was a hospital near there and I didn’t want to call 911 because it wasn’t that much of an emergency as far as I could tell.
I went back into the house and back into the bathroom to wash up everything really good so I wouldn’t get an infection, or at least try and stop one from starting.  I was pretty confident I had cleaned up everything pretty good, so then I put some iodine on the cuts and bandaged myself up.   I didn’t even know what time it was, so I went back out to my truck to get my cell phone.  Oh my God that can’t be, my cell phone said it was four thirty in the morning.   I did the math quickly in my head.  You mean to tell me I laid there for over fifteen hours?  Holy crap!   I tried to go through all my steps in my head, but couldn’t remember a thing until I opened my eyes laying on the floor in the house.  My best guess was that maybe that dog had attacked me when I was passed out, and someone had pulled me into the house to get me into a safe place.   Why would they have just left me there?   This was really starting to bother me, and I hate not knowing something, especially something like this.

Chapter Fifteen

I pulled up to the house and got out of my truck, I reached in the back of the box and grabbed a small two by four that was about three feet long I had it in there to chalk my tires of my trailer when I parked it, anyway I walked slowly over to the little shed.   I hollered a couple times to see if I could scare it away, but nothing ran.   I wanted to holler so I didn’t startle it and then it would attack me.   I walked up to the front of the small shed and tapped on the walls with the two by four, then I hollered again.  "Get out of there!"  Then I listened,  but all was quiet.  I slowly crept around the back of the shed and peeked around the corner. The shed was sticking out of the ground about three feet on three sides but on the back side there were retaining walls with a stairs going down to a door.   I thought it must have been a old well house or possibly a root cellar. The stairs were all grown over by weeds but I could see that something had a beaten path going into the building.  The door was open about a foot so I figured that the dog must be using this as his home.   I reached over and banged on the door with the two by four, but again there wasn’t any noise so I slowly went up to the door and gave it a quick kick.   The bottom of the door was jammed by the floor.   I figured it probably had heaved up from the frost in the winter months. I tried to peek inside to see if I could see anything but it was too dark. I gave the door a good shove with my shoulder and pushed my way in. I instantly smelled something that I couldn’t even describe. My eyes started burning almost as if someone had sprayed some kind of chemical in them.  I stepped back outside to clear my eyes and possibly let some fresh air into the building. I walked back over to my truck and grabbed a flash light that I kept under the seat. When I got back to the shed and walked into the small room the smell and the burning that I had felt was a lot better. I shined my flash light slowly from side to side.  It was bigger than I had thought.  It must have been dug under the ground and a concrete cap poured on top for a lid, almost like a vault. The first part of the building was around seven feet square and then went to a lower part that went back under the ground a good thirty feet toward the main house. That part was only around five feet tall.  I started my way back under the lower part.   I didn’t like the fact that I had to crouch down.  I figured if that dog was in there I would be down closer to his level.   I kept my two by four out in front of me, then made my way.   I looked for any lights, but there wasn’t any. The room was filled with old jars and cob webs everywhere.  It had shelves that seemed to encase the room so it must have been a old cellar for can goods.   It was quite cold too, and I could just about see my breath.
I was about ten feet from what seemed to be the end of the room when I heard something knock over,  something just to the left of me.  My heart jumped about out of my chest and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.  I wheeled around thinking the worst.  As I shined my light  across the room I caught a glimpse of something in the corner of the room. I hollered, "Get the heck out of here!"   I stopped moving and even held my breath so I could hear every possible sound.  I could hear something, but wasn’t sure what it was.   I walked closer to the corner of the room.  Of course my flash light wasn’t all that good but for now it was doing the trick.  When I got close enough to the corner of the room I found a hole in the back of the wall.  It had a brick entrance that looked like it was a half circle.   I wasn’t sure but I thought it could have been some kind of drain or old sewer system.  I slowly knelt down and shined my light into the hole.  It was about eighteen inches high and two feet wide. As I looked in it I could only see about twenty feet inside, and it looked like it went up hill. I hollered in the hole, "Come here boy,  I’m not going to hurt you."  Then I listened.  I thought I could hear a humming sound but it was hard to pinpoint where or what I was actually hearing it from. I stood back up then cracked my head on the ceiling.  I had forgotten that the room was only five feet tall.  Just my luck there was a jagged piece of concrete that cut my head.  I could feel blood running down my face so I knew I must have cut it pretty bad.  Oh,great I thought, first day at my new place and I already need stitches. As I was making my way back out of the shed or cellar I heard something from behind me.   I spun around and shined my light, the blood was running in my eyes and it was hard to see, I set the two by four between my legs and tried to whip the blood out of my eyes, then I heard something that made my throat damn near close up. It was a deep low growl;  I mean the kind that you only hear about when someone is about to be eaten by a bear. I quickly picked up my board and swung it without even looking, then shined the light back toward the sound.  I swore I could feel the warmth of its breath it was so close to me. I turned again looking all around the room for anything,  but there wasn’t anything there.  I ran out the door and up the stairs. Oh my god I thought,  what the heck was that. I ran toward my truck, I must have made it half way there when I started to feel dizzy.

Chapter Fourteen

It felt like I had barely fallen asleep when I heard a knock at the door.  Half dazed and not really knowing where I was,  I opened my eyes, then listened.  Again I heard a soft knock on the door.  I hated to even get out of bed.  Reluctantly I crawled out from the soft covers and made my way to the door.  I opened it to find a young lady with a small cart standing there.  Before I could say a word she said,  "Good morning!  I have your breakfast for you."  I looked puzzled at what she was saying.  My voice was still scratchy from sleeping.  I cleared my throat and said, "I didn’t order any so it must be for someone else."  I smiled and was about to close the door when she said, "Oh no its our complimentary breakfast and everyone gets it." She took a few steps forward pushing the cart so I opened the door and let her in.
"Well this is nice", I said.  She smiled and headed back out the door. I lifted the lid to find a smorgasbord of different things, poached eggs,  a bowl of hot oatmeal, bacon and ham plus coffee and orange juice, and the morning paper.  I sure didn’t expect all of this but wasn’t about to complain.  I walked over to the patio door and looked outside. It was cloudy and it looked like a light drizzle was coming down.  There was a small covered deck with a table and some of those soft cushion chairs.  I grabbed my tray of goodies and stepped out to have my breakfast on the deck.  I sat down and just took in all the beauty around me.  The wind was just a breeze this morning and it must have pushed the smoke from the fire place down across the small valley.  I could smell the wood scent in the air as it drifted by. As I sipped on my morning coffee I heard a quiet rumble of thunder rolling through the mountains that surrounded me. I’m telling you what, you couldn’t have had a more peaceful feeling in the world than what I was feeling right then.  After a half hour I finished my breakfast,  then went back inside and got dressed.  It was close to check out time which was eleven o’clock so I had better get going.   I thought to myself  that this would really be a great place to bring someone special to share it with.
As I handed the key to the front desk, I told the gentleman that I thought they had a wonderful place and I would definitely stay here again. He smiled and said thank you. As I was driving away I kept thinking about that warm feeling I had.  Just the surroundings of that place were amazing.  I wanted to somehow bring that feeling into my new place.  I knew I didn’t want to change the Victorian style to the house, but I wanted to bring in a cozy kind of feeling that I got from this place.
I went through town, then turned up willow street, about a half mile before I turned onto Shallow Pine Ridge.  I noticed a large dog standing on someone’s front porch. I slowed down just a little to get a closer look. I wasn’t totally sure,  but I thought it looked like that dog the Krinkletin’s had with them. I thought to myself it must be because they had walked to my place so they had to have lived close to me. Anyway,  I had turned onto Shallow Pine Ridge and had just pulled into my driveway when suddenly I saw a black dog run from my front porch and go toward the little shed on the back part of my property.  It looked as if it was the same dog I had just seen on the front steps of who I thought was the Krinkletin’s, but that was impossible.  I watched as it stopped just for a second and look back at me, then it seemed like it had went in the back of that little shed. Great, I thought, now what? Was it a female dog that had some pups in that old shed, or was it someone’s dog that had lived here and just left it.

Chapter Thirteen

He sat me in a small booth next to a large window.  He asked me what I would like to drink and then told me a few specials that they had. The roast beef and gravy with homemade potatoes sounded good, so I ordered that and a glass of red wine and a small glass of water.  "Sure thing.",  he said. It wasn’t long and he brought me over my water and a small basket of homemade bread. The smell was so good I could almost taste it before I actually did.  I was sitting there enjoying my meal when the waiter came over and asked me if everything was alright with my meal.  "oh yes, this really hit the spot." I said as I smiled.  He was about to walk away, when I said,  "Excuse me,  can I ask you a question?" He turned to me and said,  "Of course."   "Well,  I was wondering about the name of your restaurant."  "Where did they come up with its name?" "Is there a stream that runs nearby?"   I knew I crossed a small bridge but that looked more like a small creek.  "Oh", he said.  "Yes,  there is a small stream running right by the Inn.",  he said. "They have lights that they usually have on." "I will go turn them on."  I was watching out the window when the whole area lit up.  It was beautiful.  There was a large deck and a small walk bridge that looked like it went over the stream to a sitting area.  The massive trees towered over the stream almost cradling it as it flowed past the Inn. I heard the waiter say, "It’s pretty nice isn’t it?" I replied, "Yes it sure is."   I told him I bet it was  breathtaking in the winter months too. "Yes," he said, "They get a lot of skiers that stay here in the winter and people really love it."  He came back over to my table and asked me if I was finished with my meal. "Yes, and thank you,  it was wonderful. Then I asked him , "How much does it cost to stay here?"  He paused, then told me that for a single room it was eighty nine dollars. "Are  there any rooms open for tonight?" I asked.   "Sure thing! This is our slow season. We don’t fill up until closer to fall.  A lot of people come here to look at the fall colors and in the winter we get all the skiers so then we are very busy." nHe asked me if I wanted a room. I thought about going to my place but I hadn’t really finished even setting up my bed yet so I said yes I think I will.
Ok, he said that’s great, I finished my glass of wine, then went up to the front desk where he was standing.  I filled out a little card with my information, then gave him my credit card to pay for the room. He handed me a key and said that he gave me one of the suites for the same cost as a single.  I smiled and said thank you. Then he handed me back my credit card and said have a good night.   I was about to go up to my room when I remembered I hadn’t paid for my meal.  "Excuse me," I said.  I forgot to pay for my meal. The gentleman smiled and said,  "Oh,  no,  your fine, the meals come with the room." "Really?", I said. "Wow that’s a pretty good deal, thank you."  He shook his head and said you’re welcome.
I walked up the stairs and followed a narrow hallway to the room said T-11 on it. I came to the end of the hall but there was no T-11.  I checked every door again but there wasn’t any with that number on it so I went back downstairs to talk to the waiter.  "Excuse me,  but I can’t find room T-11."  "Oh, I’m sorry",  he said. "That room doesn’t have a number on it.  Just go to the end of the hall and it’s the last door in the hall.  I thanked him and  went back upstairs and followed the hallway to the end.  There was a door at the end of the hall, kind of looked to me like it was a broom closet. I slipped in the key and it opened.  I turned on the light and gazed with amazement.  It was absolutely beautiful. Bold wood surrounded the room, a hard wood floor shined as if it had just been polished, there was a large brick and stone fire place with a huge log mantle, the king sized bed sat at an angle from one of the corners of the room, it had large log posts on each corner and at the foot of the bed and there was one of those old trunks.  The head of the bed was I believe red maple,  the colors were so deep that I couldn’t help but to touch.  I walked over to the fire place.  There were some kindling and newspapers there so I started a fire. After the kindling was going good I placed a few pieces of wood on it.  The wood was white birch, it burns with a bluish color to it.  I was thinking that I needed to get some of that for my fireplace.  I couldn’t believe the size of this room. There was a small kitchen that had one of those hanging things over an island.  You know,  with all the pots and pans hanging from it.  On the island there was a small basket with a small bottle of wine and some crackers.  Wow this place really was amazing.  I found a glass in a cabinet and poured myself some wine.  I took the little box of crackers,  then went over to the fireplace and nestled into a small couch.  I just sat there totally relaxed, even thoughts of my house disappeared.  I really needed this. Smiling to myself I knew everything was going to be alright.

Chapter Twelve

 

Oh well, yet another strange thing to go along with the house, I laughed and then went back upstairs to finish putting together the bed, I didn’t have much left to bring in the house, it was mostly the larger things I was going to need hel...p with carrying, the TV and couch and a couple larger dressers a large freezer ,fridge and my desk, I was getting pretty tired so after finishing the bed and re arranging some things around the house I thought about going into town for a bite to eat, I had brought things from back home but didn’t really feel like making a mess quite yet so I unhooked my trailer and headed on into town, It was pushing close to ten o clock so I figured maybe everything would be closed, as I drove by the little café I noticed the close sign was up, there were some people still in there but I’m sure that they were the last customers for the day, so I drove up the street to check out the other café but the windows were dark. Well it looks like I’ll be making something after all, I drove up to the next street so I could turn around and headed back across town, The gas stations lights were on and thought maybe I could grab one of those microwavable sandwiches to tie me over until morning, that sounded good so I pulled in and went inside there was a older woman working behind the counter so I asked her if she was still open for business, She smiled and said yes and that they were open until eleven, oh that’s good to know, then I walked over to the coolers where the sandwiches were, I guess I must have been standing there a few minutes when I heard the lady from behind the counter ask me if there were something she could help me find? I smiled and said that I was kind of hungry and was going to go to the café but they had closed so I thought I’d try one of these delicious looking heat me up kind of sandwiches, She laughed and said well if you’re looking for a place to eat the old Stream bound inn serves meals, and they are open until eleven. I walked over to the counter that sounds good to me, where can I find it. She pointed out toward the road and said just go out to the main drive and turn left, it’s about two miles out, you will come to a dip in the road and cross an old bridge right past the bridge take another left and go a half mile, you can’t miss it. I thanked her for the information and that I sure appreciate it she smiled and said have a nice evening, same to you I said.
I had driven close to two miles when sure enough I came to a dip in the road, I crossed the bridge and took a left, It was a darken road with trees close to the edge on both sides, I could see a yard light up ahead filtering through the trees as I made my way up the darken road, I came to a small clearing with a sign that had one light flickering in it, kind of like the bates motel scene in that movie, oh great another creepy thing to add to my list of creepies, I actually couldn’t help but laugh out loud at my silliness, anyway the sign said Old Stream Bound Inn so at least I had found the right place, there were a few cars in the parking lot so that made me feel better. I walked in and looked around a few people were up at a little bar and a couple at a table, there was a little sign that said please wait to be seated so I stood there, shortly a man wearing a nice shirt and pants with a leisure walked up to me and said you must be the man looking for a home cooked meal, my eyes squinted excuse me I said, he laughed and said that Eleanor from the Hoffman’s gas station called us and said that there was someone coming to get something to eat, so I figure that someone must be you. Wow that was nice of her I thought, I told the gentleman that he was right and that I just didn’t feel like a microwavable meal tonight.

Chapter Eleven

Well after leaving the restaurant I made my way down the street to the bank, I wanted to get the transfer done before I changed my mind about even buying the house. I kept shaking my head in disbelief because of everything I had heard from Red, and to be honest I was kind of nervous about the whole thing.
I walked into the bank and went to the first teller that was available, It was about four thirty and the bank was kind of busy, The young lady asked me what she could help me with, so I told her I needed to make a bank transfer, Oh ok she said, do you have your account numbers, I had then written down on a piece of paper so I handed it to her, she wrote in the first number then asked me how much did I want to transfer, I told her to turn the paper over and that was the amount, her eyes lit up, oh fifty five thousand dollars, she looked up at me and said that she will need two forms of Id, Ok I said, I pulled out my license and my social security card, she looked it over and then started writing the rest of the transfer out. I was feeling pretty good about things again, even though I haven’t heard to many good things about the house, the actual design was exactly what I had hoped for.
Well that was done, After leaving the bank I was thinking of what is next, I had a week or so before the paper work would be final and I needed to get my things packed up at home, I got in my car and started my way back to Minnesota, I figured I could get at least to Chicago then crash for the night before I made the rest of the trip, On the way out of town I pulled into Clarks Construction, I wanted to stop in and talk with Carl for a few minutes Carl was my soon to be boss, and I wanted to tell him that I found a house and that I am looking forward to coming to work for him, We shook hands , then he showed me around the office. After a few minutes I told Carl I was going to get going, I had a long road ahead of me, we talked a few more minutes then He said have a safe trip and he will see me when I get back. Sounds good, and I headed out.
Around two weeks went by and I finally made back to Pennsylvania, I guess there was a lot more to pack up than I realized, God where does a guy find so much stuff. Anyway as I pulled into the driveway of my new home I felt a sense of relief, Mostly because all the while I was home I could think about anything but getting back here and getting settled in, Oh and I haven’t forgotten all the things that Red had told me, but I was trying to keep that stuff in the back of my mind, I grabbed a small bag, then jumped out of the truck, the bag had the paperwork I had done with Samuel plus the two keys that he had given me, there was a nice sized covered deck with two pillars that held up a huge wooden beam, the top stringers were made of rod iron that had a green tinge to it so It might have been copper but I wasn’t sure at this point, the trim work around the edges where covered with a rolled wooden molding covering the bottom of the soffit, this house just gets better and better the more I look at it, I was about to open the door when I remembered the day I was driving away and I had thought that I had saw words in the rear view mirror, but looking at it up close it just looked like a bunch of designs or maybe some letters but I really couldn’t make anything out of it, well anyway I stepped in and just stood in the door way for a minute, I gazed at the beautiful stairway and thought to myself I couldn’t believe I own this place, I walked in and then walked from room to room trying to get a feel for where I wanted to put certain things, the house was very clean, When I was back home in Minnesota Samuel had called me and told me that he was getting a cleaning service in to clean the house because it had never been cleaned for years, and he wanted to do that as a house warming gift from his office.
Well they did a wonderful job because everything looked detailed and show room ready, I was so happy too because I was figuring I had to come and clean before I could even move in. as I made my way around the house in the kitchen I found a note with a bottle of wine on the little island, I figured it was from Samuel so I opened it up, The hand writing was hard to read, but I managed to get most of it figured out, It said Welcome to the area, and a new beginning, I wish you the best, sincerely Red,
Well I’ll be darn, that sure was nice of him, I smiled and then picked up the bottle, It had a old label on the bottle I think it said Chateau de Beaucas, but I wasn’t sure, anyway it sure looked old, Wow this was pretty nice of him, I carefully put the bottle down then finished looking around the house.
It was getting close to mid afternoon and I wanted to get something’s off the trailer, I opened the doors of my trailer and started hauling things in the house, I figured I would place things close to where I thought they would go, then later rearrange everything to fit, I must have been working on it for at least five hours when I heard I thought I heard a knock at the front door, I was upstairs putting a small bed together, I stepped out into the hallway before the stairs and glanced down at the front door to see a man and a woman standing in front of my trailer, I thought it must be someone that was curious as to who was moving in, so I hurried up down the stairs, about halfway down the stairs I noticed that the man was holding a leash with a big black dog on the end of it, I stepped out on the deck, and cleared my throat, Hi there I said, they both turned around and said hello back, Just then the dog came wheeling out from behind the man and started snapping and barking wildly toward me, I made a couple steps back and said whoa, he looks kind of hungry there, My heart was racing a little but I tried to stay calm, The man pulled back on the leash and said, settle down Samson, then told me I had nothing to worry about and that his bark is worse than his bite, I laughed and said well ill stick with the bark if you don’t mind, I don’t think I want to feel his bite, a few minutes of listening to the dog bark then he finally settled down, I asked the Man what I could help him with, oh he said pardon me for being so rude, My name is Thomas Krinkletin and this is my wife Sarah ann, We heard someone was moving in so we wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood , Well thank you, My name is Scotty Anderson, it’s good to meet you, he told me that he had moved here three years ago and that he and his wife were thinking about buying this house but decided not to, Oh I may I ask why? They looked at each other then Sarah said haven’t you heard of all the rumors about this place, I smiled and laughed, yes I have I said, but I’m not going to let it bother me, besides I fell in love this place the moment I saw it and just couldn’t pass it up, then right out of the blue his dog started barking like mad, it looked as if he was looking up toward the upstairs window, it was if he had seen something, Thomas patted the dog on the side hard and told him to settle down, Wow he’s a loud one isn’t he, I asked what kind of dog is he anyway, the Man yanked hard on the leash and then looked at his wife, then said I think we had better go, I started to say I wasn’t worried about the dog but they turned and started walking away, Puzzled to why they were acting so strange, I watched them walk down the driveway, every few steps they would look back toward the house as if they were spooked by something, I turned and looked up at the window the dog had been barking at but as far as I could see there wasn’t anything there.

Chapter Ten

I didn’t even know what to say, What the heck kind of place was I buying for goodness sakes, I asked Red how he knew so much about things that went on up there, well it actually was my father that was really into getting to the bottom of it..., bottom of what I asked, oh, all the disappearances and story’s about the goings on up there. I asked Red why his father would have been so interested in that, Well it started when a family named Shrilenger moved in, my dad ran the local lumber yard and Mr Shrilenger had came into the store to get a bid on a garage. After a few days my Dad went up to the old Crane place to deliver the bid to Mr Shrilenger, He said he had talked to him and Shrilenger said he liked the bid and to order the materials, He also gave my Dad a partial payment for the materials and said he would have the rest by the time the order is in. about a week went by and everything was in for the garage, Dad didn’t have a phone number for him so he went out to his house to tell him the news. Dad said he knocked on the door for a while then figured no one was home; he didn’t want to keep running back and forth up there so he wrote a note and stuck it between the jamb on the front door. He said another week had gone by so Dad drove up to Shrilengers place to see what was up, when he pulled up to the house the first thing he noticed was the not still stuck in the door, thinking to himself that was strange, he knocked on the door but again no one answered so he went to the windows and peaked inside to see if he could see anything , he said that it had looked like everything was gone from the house, it seemed to be empty, When my Dad came back into town he went over to the Sheriff’s office and told them what had happen and maybe they could go take a look, One of the deputies was sent up there to check it out, when he came back he said that there was no one home and that the house looked empty, but here is the strange thing, I chuckled well if it gets any stranger I think I’m going to really start to worry, Red looked at me with a sober face, then said oh it gets stranger, I was starting to think that this guy had the wind of a hurricane as much as he is talking, but I really wanted to hear what he knows about the house, even if they are just rumors, Red started in again, he told me that when the deputy was driving out of the driveway and he swears he saw a large black wolf just standing there looking at him, the deputy stopped and watched it for awhile, he said his dispatcher had made a call to him so he picked up the call, when he looked back up the wolf was gone, A black wolf I said, It must have been a big dog or something, Red shook his head, no I knew the guy that saw it and he wasn’t a one to make up story’s, Well is it possible one just wandered down from the hills, Red looked at me again with a cross face, and said there has never been any wolves around these parts before, but I’m not saying it couldn’t happen. I asked him what happen then; did the guy finally get hold of your Dad? No Red said that’s the strange thing months went by and still nothing, finally the Sheriff’s department went out to see what was going on, when they went to the front door my Dads note was still between the jamb, They tried the door and it was open, when they got inside they found the house empty. Wow that is strange I said, Did anyone ever hear from them again, and what ever happen to the check that he gave your Dad,
Well that was why my Dad started looking into things, at first he went to the bank and turned in the check, Dad asked the bank manager if Shrilenger had closed out his account, the banker was a close friend of my Dads and told him that he didn’t and hasn’t seen him around or heard anything from him for several months, Dad also asked him if they were getting any other checks coming in from Mr Shrilenger, the bank manager said no and he had actually tried calling him but no one answered. Dad spent the next several years researching everything he could about that place, and what happen to the Shrilenger family.
I asked Red if he is still trying to find out anything else, and that I would like to talk with him sometime. Red looked down at his cup of coffee then turned to me and said his Dad had passed away close to twenty years ago. Oh I’m sorry, I didn’t know. Awe that’s ok, he had a heart attack sitting in this very restaurant; I guess that’s why I like coming here. We sat in silence for a few minutes, Well again I’m sorry to hear about your Dad, and thank you for taking the time and telling me all about the house but I had better get over to the bank, I have some business with them and I want to get there before they close their doors. Red stood up and reached out his hand to shake mine, he had a firm grip, it was as if he was saying be careful and good by all at the same time.

Chapter Nine

Red kind of quietly put his head down and said I haven’t even begun to tell you any stories, and then he took a sip of his coffee and looked up at the waitress. I nudged him and said its ok you’re not scaring me, besides I like to know everything about the house, good or bad. No I’ll keep quiet about it; I wouldn’t want miss noisy to think I was making up any stories. I laughed Oh common Red tell me more about the place, I would love to know everything I can. Well Ok he said, Evert Crane wasn’t the only one to come up missing from that place, Red paused a little as he looked up at the waitress, Really, What do you mean, Come up missing, from the house or around the area, No I mean from the house, shortly after Evert disappeared a young family from Kansas moved in, at first people would see them around town shopping or whatever, But after about a month or so no one had seen them, People said they could see lights on at night so they figured someone must be around, three months went by when people started to worry, so the sheriff went up there to check it out, the door was part way opened so he went in, but no one was around, It was if no one had even been there. I shrugged my shoulders and said, well maybe they didn’t like the place, Red shook his head no, and then told me that there family from Kansas had contacted the sheriff about a month later looking for them, as far as any of us know they just vanished. Good God, that doesn’t sound to good, Red went on to tell me that there were three other families that did the same thing, they would live there for a short period of time, then just up and move out without even a trace. Ok now I was getting a little uneasy feeling in my stomach, you mean to tell me that four different families lived there and no one knows what happen to them, Yep that’s what I’m telling you, The Sheriff went up there with a bunch of higher ups from down in D.C. but they never found anything.
Well I wonder why the Realtor hadn’t mentioned anything to me, Red looked over the top of his glasses and chuckled, would you think he would be able to sell it if he did, I suppose not, I sat there in silence starring at my burger, then Red said well the good thing is nothing has happen like that in over five years so I’m sure everything will be fine, I looked over at him and rolled my eyes, oh that’s assuring. I asked him what he thought had happen to the people, I’m not really sure, Some people think that they all just got spooked and took off to another area, but others think it’s a deeper subject, Like what I asked, well the people that lived there, the Vagunes, were said to have the gift of the night, What does that mean? Well the gift of the night means that when night falls you hunger for the hunt of souls, like a satanic cult? No more like when a pack of wolves that can smell blood from miles away, it was said years ago old man Vagunes was seen down by the river dragging something, when the people hollered at him to see what he was dragging, they heard a loud blood curling screaming sound, It terrified the people and they ran, but the Story grew into something far worse, the next morning they found the remains of a large dog half eaten in the same area that they had seen Vagunes, for years people shunned away from their place, because it was said that he had eaten the dog

Chapter Eight

It didn’t take us long to get back to his office. We talked a little bit about the legalities and when I could actually gain full rights to the property.  Samuel told me it would probably be a week or so before he could get everything done on the abstract.  I asked him how many people had owned the home prior to me.  He told me no one had actually purchased the house, although a few people had rented it.   "Really?That seems odd, wasn’t the house built in 1817?", I asked.   "Yes, it was, he replied. "The family had lived there for many years and when they left no one knew if they were coming back. In those days people would leave for months at a time, sometimes years and then one day just show up like they had never left."  Puzzled, I asked Samuel if he knew of anything that was wrong with the house;  things like argon gasses or mold or radon gas.  "No, nothing at all ,Scott.  We have never had any kind of complaint of that nature.", he said nervously.   "So what kind of complaints do you get then?", I asked.  He laughed out loud. "Well..... we have had a few people say they think the house is haunted,  but that’s just people talking, that’s all, it’s nothing to worry about."   I laughed and said that I had better get my séance set up so we could chase all the ghosts away.   We both laughed out loud then went back to talking about the paper work that had to be done.   I told Samuel that I would have the money wired from my account to the city’s as soon as we finished.
After about two hours of signing and talking things out, Samuel shook my hand and said,  "Congratulations Scott!  "You’re the new owner of a beautiful Victorian home. I wish you all the best."  I thanked him for his time and headed toward the door. 

Just before I stepped outside, I turned and asked him if it was ok if I had some things delivered to the house before the paper work was final.  "Oh yes,  that won't be a problem", he told me.  "The house is as good as yours right now.  "All I have to do is get the abstract notarized." "Oh wait a minute, Scott, I have your keys to the house." You wouldn’t get too far without these",  he said as he handed me two keys, one large one and one smaller.  "Oh",  I said.  "I thought there was only one key for the house." "Yes, you are right." he told me. "The large one is for the front door and the smaller one we aren't sure about."  "All we know is that it was in the house when we were looking at the house."  He said that I could just as well take it with because it has to be for something to do with the house since it was found there.  I agreed, thanked him again,  and headed out the door.
My heart was pounding like crazy.  I couldn’t believe that I owned such a magnificent home, one that I had dreamt about for years and really never thought I would ever own. I was getting a little hungryso I figured I would go have a quick hamburger before I went to the bank to make the transfer.   I had liked the little café that I had breakfast at so I pulled over and went inside, Again a smiley waitress met me at the door and said good afternoon.  I smiled and said it sure is. I made my way to the counter and sat down.  She asked me if I wanted to see a menu.  "No,  that’s ok.  "I think I would like to have a cheese burger with extra pickles and a glass of milk."  "Sure thing", she said.  "I will be right back with your milk."  I quickly asked her to wait with the milk until my meal came.  "Oh of course", she said. There was a little flyer stuck between the napkin holder so I picked it up and started to glance through it.  I was really just trying to pass the time until my meal came when all at once I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder.  I looked up to see who it was when I heard that distinct voice of Red say,  "Back for some more grub,  huh?" He had a huge smile and a twinkle in his eye like he had just got away with something, I smiled and said, "I sure am. "I thought I’d try and see if I ate something else if I would get a hole burned through my stomach or not."  Red laughed,  then asked me if it was alright if he sat next to me, "Sure thing , Red!", I smiled.   "Oh,  you remember my name, huh?" I smiled and told him it wasn’t too hard sincee his hair was red.   He smiled again and said,  "Well, it's mostly gray now but I get what you’re saying."   He told the waitress he would have his regular and a cup of coffee, then he turned toward me and asked if I had found the house I was looking for earlier.  "I sure did.  "Thanks for telling me how to get to it." "Oh ,guess what? I’m a proud owner of a 1817 Victorian house." Really he said well congratulations, he asked me if I had seen any spooks up there, then he laughed, I said only one but he seemed nice so it should all be good, Well you never know he said, I’ve heard all kinds of stories about the old Cranes place for years, Puzzled, I said I wasn’t sure if we were talking about the same place, because this house was owned by a Charles Vagune and as far as I knew he was the only one that owned it, Oh yes it’s the same place, we call it the old Crane place around here because there was a man named Evert Crane that lived there after the Vagunes had moved out, People say he was there butler and they had left the house to him. After ten years or so after Vagunes left the city tried to evict him because he hadn’t paid taxes on the property. Story has it that he went mad people could hear screams from inside the home, then one day all was silence, for months no one dared to enter the house figuring he was either dead or he was waiting for someone to come. The crazy thing is the house sat empty for another ten years before someone actually went up there. Wow that’s crazy I said, so what, did they find him dead then, a skeleton laying in a bed or what? No, they didn’t find anything, so the locals figured he must have slipped away at night. Well that’s a weird thing to do, I suppose he figured he owed a bunch of money and just skipped out before having to pay; Red shrugged his shoulders and said that could be the case. Just then the waitress placed out food down and reached over and tapped me on the arm, She said don’t let that Old man scare you, he just likes to make up stories.

Chapter Seven

The first thing I saw was a large chandelier hanging just at the top of the stairs. It was made from black iron and had porcelain sconces over the lights. The base of the chandelier was formed to look like a hammer.  I kind of looked it over then followed Samuel to the first room.  I was so excited to see inside,  but when he opened the door all was lost. What I mean by that, what I was looking for, the dormers, were not even there! I couldn’t believe it, the room had one single window in the center of the room, and the walls were made of straight shiplap boards standing vertical all the way around the room,  The corner where what should have been a dormer was an angled corner with some shelves built in it. I just couldn’t understand why the carpenter wouldn’t have incorporated the dormers into the room.

 

Samuel asked me to come to the far room with him because he was sure I would like what I would see.  Excited as to what he had to show me,  I hurried quickly behind him. As we entered the room, there was no dormer in the corner.  With disappointment I asked Samuel what was so great about this room. "Well, I’m surprised you didn’t notice.", he said.  "Notice what?", I asked.  He pointed up to the ceiling.  He was right,  I was impressed.  It was a skylight with hand cut glass formed in the shape of a bird. It was about four feet across and three feet long, the glass was blackened on the edges and a cream color streaked throughout the rest of the glass, it was truly magnificent.  "My god, it's amazing!",  I told him. He said, "I’m glad you like it, now look down." When I looked down at the floor I was speechless. What I had been standing on was exactly what was on the ceiling but was placed in different types of wood; maple, white oak ,cherry and maybe some walnut.  It also had bits of marble or Cortez. "Well",  he said.  "We have to go into the office and sign the papers and that’s about it, if you are still interested."  I asked him how long the closing would take.  He smiled and said,  "The property is owned by the city,  so all you have to do is transfer the money to the city and that’s it."   Awesome, I couldn’t wait to get the paper work done. I started to follow Samuel down the stairs when I stepped on one of the steps that sounded hollow. I stopped and tapped on it for a second.  Samuel turned around and asked me if everything was ok.  "Yes,  I said. " I just thought one of the steps sounded funny."  He shrugged his shoulders and said,  "Well,  it was built in the eighteen hundreds.",  then chuckled a little.   I laughed too then followed him out of the house and into the yard.  I told him I would follow him back to his office.

 

As we drove away I glanced at my rearview mirror to look at the house.  I guess I was just looking at what could be my future.  It was then that  I noticed the front door.  The writing on the door seemed different than before.  I stopped my car and looked at it closer.  I was sure of it now; I just couldn’t read it because it was too far away.   I got out of my car and looked at it closer but I still couldn’t read what it said.  Frustrated,  I got back in my car and followed Samuel.

Chapter Six

That’s when I remembered.  When I was checking out the house earlier I was bending down listening to the vent pipe when I thought I had seen something or someone in the window. I wasn’t sure at that moment but now after seeing this glass I thought that someone had to be in here. I didn’t want to say anything to Samuel about me being here earlier so I again shrugged it off and asked him if we could check out the rest of the house.  He smiled and said of course.  The next room was a small bedroom with a open closet in it.  I told him I thought it would work good for an office.  He shook his head and said the next room is the living area. When we entered the room I was somewhat taken aback on how big it was.   It had a huge fireplace centered in the room.  It stuck out a good four feet, had a large firebox on the left side and a ash box on the right.  The mantle had carvings on it and the sconces that held it up were statues of ravens.  Their wings looked as if they were holding the mantle in place. 

Samuel spoke up and said,  "Pretty impressive fireplace isn’t it?"   "Oh, my, god, yes!" "It’s amazing !" "What kind of wood is it?"   He looked at some notes he had, then said,  "It is red maple, cut from a tree they had taken out when they built the house."   WOW! Again I was very impressed.  This really was a beautiful room.  There were two large windows on each side of the fireplace that went from the ceiling to the floor. The wood work in this room took my breath away.  It looked like it was hand crafted with raised markings on the edges. As I rubbed my hand across the top of the mantle my fingers felt something cold.   I stood on my tippy toes to see what it was.  Wow , for cool!  Samuel asked me what I was looking at and I said,  "It looks like it’s a key carved into the top of the mantel."  "Really?",  he said, "Yes  but I’m not sure what it is for.", I told him.   There was an old chair sitting just off to the side of the room,  so I got it so I could possibly get a better view of  the key. Once I got up higher I could see it perfectly.  It was an old skeleton key carved into the wood.   I mean it fit perfectly,  just as if someone had pressed it into the wood without a mark on any edge, The key had some kind of writing on it, but I couldn’t read what it was.  I think it was the same writing that was on the front door. Anyway,  I could see it was supposed to be there so I jumped down from the chair and said that I thought it was a strange place for a key.   Samuel told me that he didn’t even know it was there.

We looked around a little more then headed to the next room.  It was the master bedroom, and again it was nagnificent.  This room had a different type of wood inlaid in the floor. It looked as if it was red maple and white oak but I wasn’t really sure.   I asked Samuel if he knew,  but he wasn’t sure because there were no specs on the home.  The only reason he knew anything about the mantel or the siding and other parts of the house, was because they had found the original prints from the house and that there were hand written notes on the print itself.   Wow that was cool, I couldn't wait to see those. He said if I bought the house they would be all mine.  We both had a little chuckle about that. Well,  after looking at the rest of the main level I thought we would be making our way upstairs to check out those dormers that have been driving me crazy.
But instead Samuel said he wanted to show me the cellar next.  I wasn’t too happy about it but said ok sounds good to me.   The cellar door was under that huge stairway.  As Samuel opened the door and walked in he said,  "There’s a light in here,  but it’s one of those pull string ones."  I heard the tingling of the chain rub against the bulb so I knew he had found it.  With a little tug we had lights.  Wow,  another small room.  This was cool too.  What was this?  A walk-in pantry? It had shelves on both sides running the distance of the room.  Samuel said he thought that this was used for can goods because it's right off the backside of the kitchen. Samuel reached down and pulled open a door that was kind of like a hatch back to a car.  He turned back at me and said,  "This isn’t the only entrance to the basement." "There is one that I showed you on the outside of the house, too."  I shook my head then followed him down some steep steps.  Once we got to the bottom, I could smell a mustiness in the air.  I told him that there must be water leaking in for it to smell like this.   He reached up again and pulled a switch and a light came on. Wow,  it was really small down here. I walked over to the foundation and right away noticed that the stones of the foundation were sitting on what looked like a dirt footing.  There were thick boards that were forming the rest of the cellar.  Almost likely, the bottom part of the room had been dug out later,  then shored up to hold the dirt from caving in.   I didn’t really like that at all.  I also noticed that the rain gutters had been all joined together into one big pipe that ran back through the lower part of the foundation and out to who knows where.  I pointed this out to Samuel and he said that it runs into a cistern that is right outside the foundation, and that is where all the water comes into the house for the bathroom and wash water.   I was puzzled.   "What do you mean?" "Where does the drinking water come from?"  He turned and pointed to a small circular shaped thing in the center of the room.  It was about three feet high and had some boards covering the top.   There was a small pipe that ran through the center of the top and up through the floor.  I asked him what it was. He chuckled and smiled.  "Remember the kitchen sink with the pump?" "This is where that runs.  "This is your well."  "The well ?" "What do you mean?", I asked.   He said,  "The well was hand dug prior to the house being built, and then the  house was built around it."  I wasn’t sure if I liked that idea but went along with it for now.  I figured if it works for now I could manage to punch a new one later on. Well I had seen enough of this, and asked if we could go upstairs because I couldn't wait to see the rest of the house.  Samuel agreed,  so we made our way out of the dungeon and up to the main level.  We started up the stairs.   It was massive and  I loved the feeling I had when walking up it.  It’s as if you felt like you were a royalty. As we made our way to the top floor....

Chapter Five

As we walked around the house he pointed out that the wood siding was shipped in from England and was made out of Dutch cedar.  He also commented that all the window treatments were made out of the same material. As we made our way around to the back of the house, I stopped him and asked him if he knew what that old vent pipe was for.  He scraped the leaves from around it , then tapped on it with his foot,   "I’m not sure." "Maybe it’s a vent for the sewer system.", he said.  I hadn’t even thought about that, it could be I guess.   I shrugged my shoulders then told him I was just wondering.

As we made our way around the house, me listening to him rattle on and on about how much this house should be worth but because of the area the market just wasn't here for this kind of house. Then we finally made it to the front door. He told me that no one had lived here for many years so it might need a good cleaning, and that he hadn’t been up here for about two years. The front door was beautiful with fine detailing on it.   There were some scrolls on it,  but I didn’t know what they meant. The lock looked like it had been hand forged so I asked Samuel if he knew anything about the handle and if he knew if it was the original one or not,  He turned toward me holding up an old skeleton key, then smiled and said it sure looks like it to me.  With a little chuckle he slipped it in the lock and said it sure works good too. As the door opened we walked into a large parlor.  Just in front of us lay a huge staircase that made a half circle as it made its way toward the upper level.  It had bold wooden railings and a huge newel post with a carving of the same thing that was on the pillars in the driveway, but now I could see it was a Raven.  Ok,  now that again was kind of creepy, but that’s how they used to ward off evil spirits back then; by placing some kind of statue at the entrance of the home. The wood to the staircase had a reddish tinge to it and had a real richness to its look.  Samuel asked me if I had any questions about the house so far.  I told him no.   I was excited to see the upstairs, mostly because of those corner dormers.  I wanted to see how they were incorporated into the design of the rooms. He said ok, then started walking and I followed, listening to what he was saying about how this room was the great room and that it was said to be one of the family’s favorite rooms because of all the natural light that came in through the large windows.   I agreed,  but wanted him to push on so I could get upstairs.  

 

The next room was a large bathroom with a large walk-in laundry room in it.  I immediately noticed that there were no lights in the laundry part of the room and it had a lock on the door.   I asked Samuel,  "I wonder why they wouldn’t have lights in this room, and it was funny that they had a lock on this door". He said he wasn’t sure and that maybe they kept valuables in it,  but he really wasn’t sure. The bathroom had a old claw foot tub with a matching sink, nothing to impressive as far as I could see in here, I asked him if we could see the kitchen area so he headed down a small hallway with me following close behind him.  I had been watching my step as it was a little dark in the hallway when all at once I was startled by something.  I felt something brush against the back of my leg. I looked down to see what it was but nothing was there. Samuel started talking about the kitchen.  I didn’t want to miss anything so I just blew it off as jitters about possibly buying the house, The kitchen had a nice layout, with a good sized island with an old still sink in the center of it. The faucet was one of those old pumping kind and  I asked Samuel if that was just for looks. That’s when he told me that there was an old cistern that was in the basement and this was the only source of water that was in the kitchen area. He quickly tried to change the subject and tried to tell me about the nice cabinets.  I told him that I thought they were nice, but then went quickly back to the sink and started pumping the handle, There was a glass that had been sitting next to the sink.  At first I thought nothing about it,  but then something caught my eye. On the edge of the glass there was a single drop of water.  It was moving down the glass as if someone had just poured some water out of it .  The water was just starting to settle to the bottom of the glass by running down its edge.   I looked at Samuel and said, "Do you see this?" "I...." He kind of stumbled with his words and said, "What?" " Look",  I said.  "There seems to be water running down this glass  as if someone has taken a drink from it or something." He quickly grabbed the glass, then said,  "It must be condensation or something."  "Condensation ?"I said. "There isn’t any humidity today!"  I asked him for the glass back. When he gave it to me I noticed it was cold. "See?",  I said.  "It’s cold."   He again tried to change the subject and started talking about how the home was heated with a coal stove and wood fire place, I set the glass down and then asked him if anyone has a key to the house, or if he had shown the house to someone earlier, I knew that wasn’t the case since I was here not even a hour ago, "No,  I don’t think anyone has been here",  he said. "As far as I know I have the only key.

Chapter Four

Wow!  I didn’t see that one coming.  I wonder what they meant by that. Was it something to do with what Red had told me earlier? Oh, well I wasn’t going to let it bother me too much,  so I pinned the flier back up and went in and got a bottle of water.  I was in line when a woman in front of me turned and said hi, then smiled.  I smiled back and said good morning. She asked if I had heard if it was going to rain today.  I kind of shrugged my shoulders and said I wasn’t sure and that I wasn't from around here. Oh, she said, "Your just passing through our little town then, huh?"  I smiled again and said that I was planning on moving here. That I had a job with Clarks Construction. "That’s nice", she said, then asked me where I was staying.  I paused slightly, then told her I was going to be looking at a house today, and was hoping to maybe make an offer if it was something I like.  She said that was nice, then asked me where the house was located, With hesitation I said,  "It’s a Victorian house up on Shallow Pine Ridge." You could have heard a pin drop.  I swear every sound shut off in that little store. I heard her swallow as though someone was choking her, then she said,  "Really? I thought that the city was condemning that house?"  "Really?" I said, why would they do that? Is there something wrong with it?" She placed her things on the counter,  then looked up at the clerk , then back at me as if she didn’t really want to say anything. "Wow!", I said. "I hope there isn’t something seriously wrong with that house; like radon gas or maybe a mold, or a lead problem."   She looked back at me,  paused for just a second or two,  then said, "It's much worse." Then she grabbed her things and rushed out the door leaving me standing there with a stunned face. 

 I put my water on the counter and asked the clerk if he had heard anything about the house.  He was a young kid with a slouchy posture,  baggy pants, a tee shirt and a button shirt over that. As he snapped his gum he said he heard that it was haunted. I chuckled and said "Yeah,  I’ve heard that a few times now. "What do you mean by that?", I asked him. He just shrugged his shoulders and said his family had just moved there about four months ago.   His dad had looked at the house at first but decided not to buy it after hearing all the stories around town about it. "Really?",  I said. "Well I hope the stories were just that,  because I might be buying it."  Again he snapped his gum and shrugged his shoulders, then told me good luck.  I told him thanks and headed out the door.   

On my way through the lobby area I looked back at the flyer hanging on the bulletin board.  I couldn’t help but think about what that note had said, and why someone would write that. Just then my phone rang, It was a private number.  I answered.  "Hello,  this is Scott."   It was the realtor telling me he was at the house.  "Ok, I’ll be right there." "I’m just at the gas station in town." I jumped in my car and headed back up to the house to meet him.  It was only about five minutes away so it wasn’t long and I was there.   As I pulled in to the  driveway I noticed something I hadn’t earlier.  There was what looked like a small building off toward the back side of the property.   It looked like it was only about two feet tall.   In my mind I was thinking it must be a well house or something like that.  I got out of my car and walked over to where the realtor was standing, He turned toward me and said, "Good morning! " "You must be Scotty."  I said yes and then he said his name was Samuel.  "Good to meet you." he said enthusiastically.  Likewise I told him. After a few brief seconds he asked me if I wanted to check out the exterior first. "Sounds good to me",  I said. He started by telling me the house was built by a old English carpenter named Sterling Budueo and that he had been hired by Charles Vagune to build his home. He was a rich business man from England and moved here with his wife and three children,  He then told me that Sterling Budueo had built a few homes in the area and this one was one of the last homes he built before he passed away. "The house was built in 1817. It is around thirty seven hundred square feet and has five bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms. It has a small pantry and a nice size kitchen, but I will get into that once we get inside."

Chapter Three

As I walk around the back of the house I tripped over something sticking out of the ground, I wasn’t really sure what it was but looked like it might be a vent pipe for something it was about two inches in diameter and had a ninety degree elbow on the end of with a screen covering the end of it. I thought it could be something to vent the cistern but again I didn’t really know, I don’t know why but I knelt down and placed my ear close to it just to see if I could hear something just then as I had my head tilted to the side I noticed some kind of movement in the upstairs window, it looked as if a shadow had moved in front of it, I acted like I didn’t notice it and kept my head close to the vent pipe but nothing moved, Ok now I’m grasping for straws here I thought, so I got back up and started to look over the house in more detail. One thing I really liked about the house were the two dormers that were on each corner of the roof, I’ve never seen dormers built like that before, they were either above the main entrance or at least centered somewhat in the middle of the roof, I couldn’t wait to get into the house to check out exactly how they were being used or how they were built as far as that goes. As I walked around to the last side of the house I was getting really excited about calling the realtor and hoped he could come out today and show me the place.
I looked over my little note pad once again, then I made the call, a couple rings later a gentle man answered and said Samuels Realtors may I help you, I told him that I had talked to him a few times about the Victorian home that was on Shallow Pine Ridge and was wondering if I could take a look at it today if he was available to show it?, OH yes I remember talking with you, Yes I would love to show it to you. I was so excited! That’s great, What time would you be able to come I asked, He told me in about an hour he could meet me there, Great I’ll see you then, I clicked my phone off then just sat there looking at the house for a few more minutes, wow this could be mine and the price was right too, Well I’d better get out of here and come back later, I didn’t really want him to think I’ve been here yet, I don’t know why but I just think first impressions are everything. Anyway I headed back into town to check out the area a little more. I was a little thirsty so I pulled into a small gas station and went inside to get a water, as I was walking through the entrance lobby I noticed some flyers of some houses hanging on the wall, one of the flyers was of the house I was looking at someone had written a line with a arrow pointing to the edge of the paper , and above the line it read look on the back, so curiosity got the best of me so I took the pin out of the cork board and flipped it over, It said don’t wake the dead don’t buy this home.

Chapter Two

Chapter II

I rolled down my window and asked if there were something wrong. " Oh, no." he said.  I was just wondering if you needed help finding Clarks.   I shook my head no,  then told him I had seen it when I drove into town, "Oh" he said, "Well good luck then,...".  He was about to turn and walk away when I said, "Excuse me Red. "I was wondering if you could help me with something else." "Sure thing", he said, "If I can."  I asked him if he knew where Shallow pine ridge is and if he knew of a house that was for sale. He paused for a minute and then asked me if it was the Old Crane place.  I told him I wasn’t sure who had owned it and that the only thing I knew was it was a Victorian home built back in the early 1800’s. He again paused some then said, "Yes, that’s the Old Crane place, why do you ask?"  I told him I was thinking about buying it. His eyes opened a little wider then he said something strange. He told me no one has lived there for fifty years because people say there is a curse on the property. "A curse?",  I said, "What do you mean by that?"   He replied, "Well, rumor has it that years ago the people that built the house were from somewhere overseas and that no one knew much about them other than they never left the house except at night."  "It’s also said that they had three children and a old woman living with them.  "The strange thing about that is that after about sixty years people started to notice that the man and woman hadn’t aged.  "When the people of the town started asking questions, the family just up and left without saying a word to anyone.  They left everything in the house as if they were coming back. Years went by and then the city took the home for back taxes. There have been several people that were interested in buying it but were scared away by rumors it was haunted."  He looked at me and asked me if I was scared of ghosts; then he laughed. I told him the things he told me were interesting, but I wasn’t afraid of ghosts. At least I hoped not. We talked for a few more minutes, then he explained to me where to find the property.  I thanked him and said, "If you don’t see me again the ghosts probably got me."We both smiled and then I waved as I drove off to find the place.
Red had told me to turn south down Willow Street until I came to the top of the hill, then take a left on Shallow Pine ridge and go about a half mile.  He said it was the only house out there at the end of the road so I couldn’t miss it. As I turned onto Shallow Pine Ridge I noticed there weren’t any street lights. I just figured this must be out of city limits so no big deal, though it would have been nice to have them. I could see the house just up ahead and it looked awesome.  Just at the entrance of the property there were two large pillars and rod iron posts with a rounded head piece that clear spaded the drive.  On the two pillars there were statues of what looked like crows on them and the head piece said "Home of the Night." I will tell you one thing, that was a little creepy. I slowly made my way up the driveway,  There were weeds and vines everywhere but I had kind of figured I would have to do some major landscaping anyway.
I pulled up to the house and turned off my car. I just sat there looking things over.  I noticed that the house had a deep look to it, with broad boards surrounding every window and door. I opened my door and stepped out.  I wanted to take a look at the exterior of the house before I talked to the realtor. That way I coul have my own take on things.  I had a little scratch pad along so I could write things down about the house.  As I walked around the side of the house I noticed there was a outside entrance to the basement. The doors looked like they needed some work.  I also looked at the foundation.  It was stone so I’m sure that it would need some work as well.  As I looked over the siding and trim,  everything looked in pretty good shape other than the fascia and soffits.  There were eave troughs on the house that seemed to be turned in toward the house.  I was thinking they ran in to an old cistern but couldn’t be sure until I went in to the house to see.

Chapter I

                                             

It was early summer, and I had just moved to a small town in Pennsylvania to start a new job, and a new start on life. I had just been hired on to a small government contracting firm as a project manager.  

I loved the idea of building commercial buildings because;  for one money never seemed to be an issue on the design end of the project and two;  I would be in charge of every aspect of the job. I didn’t have to be to work out here for another month but I wanted to get settled into a place and get to know the people and the area just to make sure this is where I wanted to live.

I had been looking online for homes in the area for about six months and I always seemed to end up coming back to one in particular. It was a old Victorian Home built in the early eighteen hundreds.  It needed a lot of work according to the description I had read online but I thought it would be a good ongoing project to do in my spare time and maybe a good investment in the long run. I had contacted the realtor that had the listing and was to meet with him once I arrived,

It was Saturday, June 21st when I finally reached my new beginning.  Almost instantly I felt a warm feeling about this place; beautiful trees lined the streets with old street lights on every corner, every yard looked well kept,  and most of the homes looked cozy.  It was pushing close to nine am and I was getting a little hungry,  so I figured I would stop at a cafe.  As I turned on to main street I noticed a café sign about half way down the block, so I pulled my car over and headed over to see what I would find.  I hadn’t even stepped two feet into the door when a smiley little waitress asked me if she could seat me.  I told her yes and if I could I wanted to sit at the counter.  She again smiled and said that would be fine. I figured that way I could try and get some local gossip.

As I sat down a man next to me turned and said good morning.  I smiled and said good morning. Well that was a nice welcome kind of feeling to things. The waitress asked me if I needed to see a menu and what I wanted to drink.  I said, "Coffee, please,  then I paused for a second, and asked her if they had any early morning specials.  The man next to me piped up and said, "I’d try the number 3 if I were you. Anything else will just burn a hole in your stomach."  The waitress said, "Stop it Red! You are going to scare the young man off before he has time to enjoy his coffee." I smiled,  then said, " I think I’ll try the number 3."  A slight chuckle came from the old man next to me.  I turned to him and said thanks for the warning. We both laughed a little then he said, "By the way,  my name is Red."  As I shook his hand,  I said it was good to meet him and that my name was Scotty and that I had just moved here from out west to start work for the Clarks Construction firm as project manager. "Well it’s good to meet you Scotty, he said. "I wish you the best on the new job." "I think you will like this little town". " It's quiet and there isn’t much crime".  I smiled. Well that sounded good to me. Everything so far seemed wonderful.

I was just going to tell him about the old home I was looking at when the waitress placed my number 3 in front of me, which consisted of  two eggs,  ham and toast, and a side of grits, I looked over at Red and said, "So this is the famous number 3 huh?" I chuckled again as he nodded. I finished my breakfast, paid the bill and added a nice tip for Mrs. Smiley.  As I was about to leave I thought about asking where this home was,  but I didn’t want to sound like a bother to anyone so I just went out the door and headed to my car. As I started to back out I heard a tapping on the front of my car.  I looked in the direction of the noise and saw that it was Red. and that he was  tapping on the hood of my car.