Moving Out
“Hey, honey, I've got the paint,” Ray shouted as he entered his home, the door giving a squeak as he pushed it shut. He dropped his burden of paint cans and rollers next to the umbrella bin. “Lauren? Mollie?”
“Shh, Dad! I'm trying to win.” A frustrated shout came from the direction of the living room. Ray went in there first. His seven-year-old daughter bobbed and swayed with her on screen character as together they parried and attacked monstrous enemies. The wooden floor creaked with each stab she made. “Where's your Mom?”
“Answer-” she paused to yell in victory as the last monster fell to the ground, “unknown.”
“Thanks.”
“Yep.”
Ray shook his head before shouting again. “Lauren?”
“Up here.”
This call came from the master bedroom. Ray walked passed the kitchen, hearing piping bang in a slow melodious melody. Every other stair groaned as he made his way to the second floor. He opened his bedroom door to find Lauren laying on the bed staring up at the ceiling. Her sole focus was a set of knots in the wooden slats above her that almost formed the number five. He laid next to her. “What are you doing?”
“Thinking, I guess.”
“About what?”
Lauren turned away from her husband. “Moving.”
Ray cuddled and reassured her, “It really is a great job offer. Very secure with plenty of chances for promotion. A good school-”
Lauren sighed causing him to stop. She wiggled until she faced him so she could respond, “I know. It’s just our friends are here and our families. And I love this house with all its weird sounds. Mollie spoke her first words here, her first steps here.”
“Maybe the next house will be quieter.”
“Oh come on, with a house this loud no intruder stands a chance. We know every creak and moan.”
They both grew silent and remained that way until a girlish scream of “Hiiiiiiiyaaaaaaah!” caused them both to start chuckling.
“And there’s a martials school?”
Ray nodded. “Within walking distance of the elementary school.”
“How long till you have to tell them yes or no?”
“Another week.”
“Can I have two more days to think about it?” Lauren asked putting her head against Ray’s.
“You can have the whole week,” he said.
Lauren kissed him before gracefully rolling out his arms and into a standing position next to the bed. “Alright. Did you find all the paint we needed?”
“Yeah. Are you ready to paint the bathroom?” Ray asked.
“I think the question is, are you ready to paint the bathroom? I’m going to make dinner.” Lauren started toward the door.
“But I bought all the paint.”
“Do you want to make dinner?”
Lauren didn’t wait for the grumbled response of ‘No’ before she left Ray alone in the room. He contemplated the knots a moment longer. Lauren always said they gave the house character, each flaw was something unique for them. His wife was one for finding beauty in the not so normal or pretty.
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
Ray wasn't sure what woke him, just that he was suddenly awake. His eyes adjusted quickly to the dark from a small glow that filled the room. When they did, he shouted. “Jesus Christ, Mollie!” His daughter, who was standing at the foot of his bed eyes locked on the ceiling, jumped.
“What!” Lauren shouted hand over her heart and trying to slow her breathing. “What's wrong?”
“I had a bad dream,” Mollie said quietly.
“And you decided to scare us as well?” Ray demanded trying to slow his own breathing. Mollie's lip started to tremble. Ray immediately softened his tone and held out his arms. “Come here. I'm sorry. Next time shake me or something. Don't try to give your Dad a heart attack.”
Mollie climbed over Ray so that she was in between Lauren and him. They began to slowly fall back to sleep when Mollie asked hesitantly, “What would make a ceiling glow?”
“What, sweetie?” Ray mumbled trying to latch onto the dream he had been in.
“Is our ceiling radioactive?”
“What?” Ray opened his eyes slowly and tensed as he focused them on the ceiling. He had been so startled by his daughter that he hadn’t realized the glow lighting the room came from the ceiling. The knots in their vaguely number five shaped formation all pulsed with a pale yellow-green light. “Lauren.” Ray gasped grabbing his wife’s shoulder. She was already looking at the luminescent wooden slats. As the family stared at the knots they began to shift and move until they relocated into a position that looked like the number four. “Let's just go outside for a moment,” Ray said getting out of bed. “Come on Mollie.”
The bedroom door, which was open, slammed shut. Mollie let out a scream before latching on to Lauren. “It's okay. I'm sure it was just the wind. Come on, let's go outside.” Ray held out his hands to take Mollie.
“Daddy, the ceiling,” Mollie said, transfixed.
Ray gasped falling back onto the bed beside his wife and child. More knots began to appear in the wood all glowing in the same light. They moved like water trickling through paper until they stopped, forming words.
NO
DO NOT LEAVE ME
STAY WITH ME TIL YOU DIE
STAY WITH ME FOREVER
“I don't want to die!” Mollie shrieked.
The glow disappeared at the girl’s shout leaving the bedroom dark as it should have been. Three seconds went by before the glow came back showing a different knot pattern.
WHAT
“Please don't kill my family,” Ray pleaded, “Take me but let them go.”
The glow pulsed twice on the word WHAT before the knots began to move faster like a waterfall. They settled taking up about the same amount of space as the bed below it.
KILL YOU
I WOULD NEVER
I HAVE TAKEN CARE OF YOU
FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS
WHY WOULD I EVER KILL YOU
A great gush of wind rushed through the house and the boards began to creak while the downstairs pipes banged. “Daddy,” Mollie turned to Ray and whispered loudly, “is the house crying?”
“I don't- Maybe?” Ray said slowly. The knots moved again, this time slowly.
YOU HAVE TAKEN SUCH GOOD CARE OF ME
BUT NOW YOU ARE LEAVING ME
LIKE THE OTHERS
ONLY 4 FAMILIES HAVE STAYED WITH ME TO THE END
I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE THE FIFTH
Ray looked at Lauren, who was just as bewildered, and then back to the ceiling. “Um. Listen it's not you, it's me.” The glow went out again causing Ray to stop talking. A tense ten seconds went by before the ceiling illuminated with a new knot message.
ARE YOU GIVING ME A BREAK UP SPEECH
“Really, Daddy?”
This was enough to break Lauren out of her stupor to stare at him. “Honestly, Ray.”
Ray glared at his family and then the ceiling. “Well it's true. I got a really great job offer but it's in another state. We still haven’t totally decided what we are doing yet. I like this house... or, um, you. But we do need the money and there are a lot of things to consider.” The knots pulsed on their last statement before moving in their slower manner until they reached a final position. The wind died down and the rest of the mourning sounds from the house faded into normal night noises of an odd creak here and there and crickets chirping from outside.
I WAS HOPING YOU WOULD STAY IF I SPOKE TO YOU
I DID NOT MEAN TO FRIGHTEN YOU
GOODBYE
GOODLUCK
The family was silent as the knots were absorbed back into the woodwork until only a number four pulsed four times before going dim leaving them in darkness. Both adults were silent until they felt Mollie crawl up to the headboard and awkwardly pat the wall. “Goodnight, house. I love you.”
In the darkness Ray could feel Lauren snuggled down back under the covers. “Lauren?” he asked gently.
“Maybe you should try to see if you can work there as a telecommuter.”
“What?!”
“I like spooky houses,” she mumbled.
“I mean, they might be open to it. It can’t hurt to ask.” Ray settled down in a more comfortable position. His wife and daughter’s breathing slowed and Ray began to feel the adrenaline leave his own system. He glanced at the ceiling to see a quick burst of soft white light showing the number five.
“Don’t get cocky, house.”