Not As They Seem

1

"That sounds good, but why is it so cheap?"2

"Well, Andy is it? The house is in very good condition, as you can see. There is only one major defect in the house. There are no stairs leading from the main floor to the basement."3

"Really?" Andy looked over to his wife, who was admiring the fireplace in the living room. "Did you hear that sweetie? No stairs." Andy turned and looked back at the real estate agent. "Why are there no stairs? Isn't that dangerous?"4

"No, not really." The real estate agent turned to face the basement door. "All of the important items, like the water heater, fuse box, and anything else usually kept in a basement are on the main floor. The only thing behind that door right now is a seven foot drop and a room full of dust."5

Andy slowly nodded his head. "Well, let me go talk to my wife. Wait here." The real estate agent smiled and nodded as Andy walked away. Andy entered the living room and saw his wife still looking over the fireplace. "Well Angela, what do you think?"6

"Andy, I love it. I absolutely love it. This house is right in our price range, and it's huge! We'll have no problem starting a family here. There's even an enormous backyard for Ziggy."7

"Yeah, more grass to cut." Andy smiled slightly. His wife gave him the look most wives give their husbands in situations like this.8

"C'mon, we can't pass this up. Plus, we don't have that much to store. I figure we won't even need the basement. The attic looked big enough to hold anything we'll need to put up there." She looked at her husband with pleading eyes. "Please Andy, it's perfect." 9

Andy sighed slightly, but then smiled. He secretly loved the house as much as Angela did, if not more. "Alright babe. If this is the house you want, then that's good enough for me."10

"Yes! Thank you, thank you, thank you, I'm so happy! I love you so much!" Angela wrapped her arms around Andy and whispered in his ear. "Tonight I'm gonna show you exactly how happy I am, lover." Andy smiled. His little plan worked. He turned and called to the real estate agent. "Okay, we'll take it." 11

* * *12

The next day, Andy and Angela Boznaski began moving. They hired movers, so they were able to get everything to the new house by evening. When eleven-thirty rolled around they were both exhausted. They decided to lay down some blankets in front of the fireplace and relax. The warmth and crackling of the fire brought a welcomed tranquility to the two.13

"Well baby-doll, I gotta tell you, this is really great. I really do love this house. Even Ziggy loves it. When I put him in the backyard, he instantly started chasing the squirrels. I just hope he doesn't start barking throughout the night."14

Angela snuggled in close to Andy. "He's never done it before, I don't think he'll start. He's a good dog." 15

"Yeah, you're probably right." Andy gently kissed his wife's forehead. "So how long do you think it's gonna take us to get settled in?"16

"I don't know. I don't think it'll take too long, we don't have that much stuff to... wait. What was that?" Angela sat up.17

"What was what honey?"18

"Shhh, hang on." A few seconds later a loud noise made them both jump. "I think it came from upstairs."19

Andy stood up. "Wait here, I'll go look. It's probably just a stray cat that managed to get in somehow."20

Angela grabbed Andy's ankle. "Wait, listen."21

"Listen to what?" It was then that Andy and Angela both heard it. Hurried footsteps followed by what sounded like a door slamming shut. It was definitely coming from upstairs. "Angela, wait here, I'm gonna go check it out."22

"No, please don't leave me down here alone. I'm scared."23

"Someone may have broken in, I don't want you getting hurt." Andy was petrified, but he didn't want Angela knowing that. He was supposed to be the strong one, the protector. "I'll be back soon, I promise."24

Angela sighed. "Please hurry." 25

Andy turned and left the living room. As he began to ascend the staircase, he felt the fear really start to set in. He pushed it back and kept going. He had to make sure it was safe. Once Andy reached the top of the staircase, he had to stop and let his eyes adjust to the overwhelming darkness. After a few seconds, Andy turned and made his way cautiously down the hall. He saw that only one of the doors in the hallway were closed, so he figured that was the one that was slammed. His heart was pounding as he got closer and closer. Andy didn't know what was on the other side of that door, and a big part of him didn't want to find out. The main thing on his mind was his wife's safety, so he kept going. When he made it to the door, he took a few deep breaths to regain his courage. He reached for the doorknob. Right as his middle and index fingers grazed the doorknob, Andy heard a scream that made his heart jump into his throat. It was coming from downstairs. It took him a second to recognize the scream was Angela's, but it only took him half a second to make it down the stairs and into the living room. He saw his wife sitting on the floor, holding her knees close to her chest. She had tears running down her face as Andy knelt down next to her. "Angela, what is it? Are you okay? What's wrong?"26

Angela looked up at her husband, then quickly over to the dining room. "It was in there. Andy, in the dining room. I...I..." Angela began to cry.27

"Sweetie, it's okay. I'm here now. I won't let anything hurt you." Andy put his arms around his wife and held her tightly. "What was in the dining room?"28

Angela took a second to calm down. When she stopped crying, she pulled away slightly so she could face her husband. "It's dark in the dining room, I couldn't make it out at first, but when it passed by, it was clear as day."29

"What, when what passed by?"30

"It...it was an old lady. She was crouched in the back of the dining room when I first saw her, but I could only make out an outline. Then she got up and ran toward me, and that's when I could really see her. She was short, about five feet tall at most. She was taking short, loud, wheezing breaths as she ran. She ran so fast, faster than I would have thought an old lady could run. Her arms barely moved from her sides. And her face, she looked so angry. I thought she was going to attack me, but she turned before she got to the living room and ran down the hallway, over there." Angela began to cry again.31

"It's okay, Angela. But I have to go and look. If someone broke in, they could be dangerous. I don't want to leave you alone again. Do you want to follow me into the dining room so I can see you from the hallway?" Angela nodded her head. Andy helped her up and held her hand as he slowly led her into the dining room. "Okay sweetheart, just stand right here. I'm just gonna go to the end of the hallway and back. All of the doors are open, so I should be able to see if anyone's in there."32

"Please be careful."33

"I will." Andy let go of Angela's hand and started walking down the hall. With Angela watching him, Andy found he wasn't as afraid as earlier. Andy looked into each of the three rooms. He saw nothing. When he reached the end of the hallway, he turned around. Looking at his wife, he shrugged his shoulders and began to walk back. Andy looked into each of the empty rooms again and still saw nothing. When he made it back to Angela, he gave her a hug. "Honey, I didn't see anything. Are you sure of what you saw."34

"Absolutely."35

"Okay. Well, whatever it was, it's gone now. Maybe we should try to get some sleep. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow." Angela nodded, so Andy led the way back to the blankets. After they both got situated and comfortable, Andy whispered in Angela's ear that he loved her, and he would never let anyone or anything hurt her.36

* * * 37

A few weeks later, Andy and Angela were settled in and started to feel more comfortable in their house. They were getting used to the sounds and the visions that occurred almost nightly. Though Angela insisted the house was haunted, Andy figured the noises were nothing more than squirrels and stray cats getting in the house somehow. He was also convinced the visions were nothing more than an overactive imagination. Andy eventually stopped looking for the source of the noises because he could never seem to locate them. It wasn't easy, but Andy and Angela learned to ignore the strange happenings, no matter how strange they were at times. They ignored the sound of footsteps coming from any given room in the house. They disregarded the whispers and noises they would sometimes hear coming from the basement. They also paid no mind to the rare occasion one of them would catch a glimpse of someone watching them through the upstairs window while they were outside. After many conversations, Andy and Angela agreed that these happenings weren't harming either of them, so there would be no use in worrying about it. After time, though, Angela's curiosity began to take hold. 38

"Andy, listen. These things are not as they seem. I think we should look up the history of the house and see if anyone died here. You've seen and heard things, same as me. You know I'm not crazy. Andy? Andy, are you listening to me?"39

Andy flipped through a couple more channels. Over nine-hundred channels and nothing to watch. He turned off the television and turned to his wife. "Baby, I'm listening, but we've had this conversation so many times before. I'm telling you, it's just animals. When I find out how they're getting in, I'll close it off. No more noises. And the stuff we see, I promise, it's just our imaginations. We have this huge house to ourselves, it's easy to get scared at night."40

"But Andy, we've both seen things in the daytime too. I know you don't buy into my ghost theory, but I have to say, I don't buy into your animal theory. I want to try to dig up some history on this house."41

Andy sighed and hung his head down. "Alright Angela. You can look up the history if you want, I'm not gonna try to stop you. But let's say you find out someone died here. Then what? Will knowing that stop the noises? Will it stop the visions? If anything, I think it'd make it worse. It would give your imagination something to feed on. I'm not saying anything against you, I promise. Even though I don't believe our house is haunted, knowing someone died here would work on my imagination too. But like I said, if you want to look up the history at the library or something, be my guest."42

"Alright, tomorrow I'm gonna see what I can find out. I know it won't stop anything, it's more of a curiosity thing. I'm wondering if someone died in the basement. Haven't you noticed that's where most of the sounds are coming from? The scratching and whispering, you know what I'm talking about. Whenever I hear that and open the door, the noises immediately stop."43

"The noises are coming from the basement because it's dark and cool in there. If the animals are gonna hide out anywhere in the house, it'd be there. When you open the door, you let light into the basement. That's why the noises stop, the light probably scares the animals. It doesn't matter anyway. The noises and our imaginations aren't hurting us."44

"I just have one question, Andy."45

"What honey."46

"We've both seen the old lady, the little boy, and the tall man on many occasions, even if only for an instant. But Andy, neither of us have ever seen any kind of animal in the house except Ziggy. If it was animals, don't you think we would have seen one by now?"47

Andy didn't have an answer. 48

* * *49

Angela held up to her promise and the next day she left to find the history of the house. Andy chose not to go with her, he had some other things to take care of. Andy had always said their house was not haunted, but the thought of it still burned in the back of his head. He began to doubt himself. Since Angela was gone, Andy was left alone with his thoughts. Can this house really be full of ghosts? Would they have to call an exorcist, or would they just deal with it? What is Angela going to find out? Andy couldn't let himself have these thoughts. He refused to believe he was living with ghosts. Animals, that was the most logical answer, and Andy knew how to prove it.50

He had it all planned out the night before. The noises primarily came from the basement, so that's probably where the animals were getting in from. Maybe through a broken window or a wood chute. He didn't know what was in the basement. Until now there was no reason to go down there. He figured he could jump into the basement, but take a chair with him so he could get back up to the main floor when he wanted to. He would then look around for any animals, or an opening they could get through. After he found the opening, he would close it off and presto, no more noises. As for the animals that would now be trapped in the house, he would figure something out for them later.51

So there he stood, in front of the basement door with a chair and a flashlight. Andy couldn't deny it, he was frightened. He would finally find the source of the noises, but he was beginning to wonder if he still wanted to. Andy knew he had to. He couldn't be afraid of his own basement. He set down the chair and put the flashlight in the other hand as he reached for the doorknob. A sudden scratching noise from downstairs made him recoil. Andy couldn't take this anymore. He was sick of being frightened. Andy grabbed the doorknob, pulled it open as hard as he could, and turned on the flashlight. 52

At first he couldn't see anything, just a dirty cement floor on the bottom of the seven foot drop. He heard the scratching sound again, coming from the left side of the basement. As he moved the flashlight to see what the noise was, the beam caught a glimpse of a little boy standing near the back of the basement, looking at Andy. Andy gasped and dropped the flashlight into the basement. He then heard the familiar footsteps, like a child running across the concrete floor with bare feet. It's not a kid, it's only my imagination, Andy thought. He then crouched down and jumped into the basement.53

From the very instant of impact, Andy felt cold. Incredibly cold. The air in the basement hung heavier than Andy would have ever thought. He looked around for the flashlight, but couldn't find it. Shoot, it must have turned off when it fell, Andy thought. The only light in the basement was that which came through the open door. As Andy looked up to the main floor, he realized something. He left the chair upstairs. It was going to be difficult for Andy to get back up now. Andy turned around suddenly. He thought he heard something. "What's to be done? He doesn't belong." Andy suddenly became very frightened. He couldn't tell exactly where the raspy voice was coming from. "He...Hello? Is someone in here?" Laughter. Barely audible, yet distinct. Andy just stood in the same spot, paralyzed by fear. He heard coughing from the other side of the room. It was a man's cough. "Get out! Get out of here! Leave us alone!" Okay, Andy thought, there is no way this is coming from animals. Andy took a couple deep breaths, and replied to the unknown voice. "Who are you?"54

"Nevermind boy, get out. You're scaring the child."55

"I'm not leaving" Andy replied in a rather shaky voice.56

"Fine by me, guess you're gonna have to stay down here with us." The voice was silent for what seemed like an eternity. Andy gathered up his courage and began walking in the direction where he heard the voice. He was totally blind now. Andy walked with his hands feeling through the darkness, until he felt something. It felt like a tablecloth draped over something. He grabbed the sides of the object and looked closer, trying to see through the darkness. The thing moved. As his eyes adjusted slightly, he saw what looked like a face. Wrinkled, distorted by age, and full of pain. Andy let go suddenly and fell backward. The old lady he'd seen so many times slowly stood up and pointed down at him. She smiled slightly. Andy turned around and started to stand up. Something immediately struck the back of his head, sending him back to the ground. "Boy, I told you you're gonna have to stay here with us, and now you've gone and upset Maw. That's not very gentlemanly of you." Andy felt something kick him in the stomach as he tried to get up. "You just come in here, try to take our house, and expect everything to be okay? You've already driven us to the basement, but you had to try to take that away from us too, didn't you?" Another kick to the stomach. 57

Andy heard the front door open and close upstairs. "Andy, are you home sweetie?"58

"Angela! Don't come down here! Get help! Hurry!" Another kick to the stomach. Andy felt something lift him halfway off the ground by his hair. "Why'd you have to do that? Now there's two people I gotta kill."59

"No Paw! Please don't kill him!" Andy figured that was the little boy in the back of the basement.60

"Got to son, it's the only way." Andy's face was then slammed into the concrete. The last thing Andy heard was the dry, raspy laugh of the old woman before he lost consciousness. 61

* * *62

"Now pay close attention, Kenny. This is where it gets very interesting." Sitting in his favorite chair, the old man leaned close to the attentive child kneeling on the floor. "Your grandma is a very smart woman. Instead of climbing down into the basement and trying to rescue me, she grabbed the telephone and called the police. Within five minutes of her call, they were at the house and calling for me through the open basement door, but I was still unconscious. When they didn't hear me reply, they came in after me. They found me laying there, alone and beaten. As I woke up, I began rambling something about ghosts. I remember mentioning the old lady and the little boy, then I remembered the man and the attack. Well, the police immediately called in for backup to search the woods behind our house. I didn't understand why they did that until two hours later. 63

'I kept slipping in and out of consciousness as an ambulance drove me to the hospital. The next thing I remember is waking up in a hospital bed with a terrible headache. Angela was sitting there by me with my hand in hers. She smiled and told me I suffered a mild concussion, but I would be alright. 64

'No more than ten minutes after I woke up, a police officer entered the hospital room with some rather interesting news. He told me the search was a success, they had apprehended three individuals. A tall, middle aged man, an old lady, and a young boy. As it turns out, they were the previous owners of the house, right before us. They fell on some hard times and couldn't make the house payments, the man lost his job for some reason. Over time all of their possessions, including the house, had to get repossessed. Since they were the only three people left in their family, they had no where they could go. They lived in the woods for a short time, using the animals of the woods for their food. Then they decided they were going to break into the basement of their old house and live there. 65

'Well, they had the place to themselves until we moved in. They didn't like that too much, so they tried scaring us out. When that didn't work, they tried removing us with force. I'd probably be dead right now if it wasn't for your grandma's smart thinking. We found out later that the scratching sounds we heard all the time was really those people moving around from room to room. There were a lot of hidden passages and escape chutes in the walls that your grandma and I didn't know about when we first moved in. Needless to say, after the police caught those people, the sounds and visions in the house stopped. We never heard or saw anything like that again."66

"What happened to that family, Grandpa?"67

The old man leaned back in his chair and sighed. 'Well, they hauled off the man to jail, and the old lady ended up in an old folks home. As for the boy, they put him in a foster home."68

"Wow, do you ever think the little boy will come back?"69

"No. I figure if he was going to, he probably would have by now. And anyway, he was really young, couldn't have been any older than five. He probably doesn't even remember where the house is." The old man and the child heard the front door open and close.70

"Andy, Kenny, we're back. Did you two have fun?" Angela and her son walked into the living room. Kenny ran to the man and wrapped his arms around him. "Daddy!"71

The man picked up the child. "Hey sport, whatcha doin?"72

"Grandpa was just telling me a story about the people who used to live here."73

The man gave Andy a slightly disapproving look. "Dad, are you sure that's a story for a child. You're gonna give him nightmares. I remember that story used to scare the living daylights out of me."74

"Ahhh, he'll be fine. He's a strong kid."75

The man set the child back down on the ground. "Well, thanks for watching Kenny while me and mom went to the store. I think we should get going though, it's getting late."76

"Alright son. It was good seeing you again, as always." Andy then looked at Kenny and motioned for him to come closer. "Just remember why I told you that story, Kenny. Keep your head on straight at all times. When you start thinking crazy things, your judgement goes out of whack and you can get yourself into trouble. I mean, look at what happened to me. If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, just remember what I've told you. Things are not always as they seem." 77