The Little Blue Ribbon

A long time ago, a young couple built a house with just four rooms. It was a simple house wood slats, with smaller slats to cover the openings and two by fours to hold up the walls. The roof was equally tiny, with no room to store anything, just tin rafters, insulation, and sheetrock. The couple was deeply in love, laughing, talking, and struggling to keep their hands off each other.

The young girl finds out that she is pregnant, glowing, and excited. The start to her family is on its way! Her husband works for a sawmill and has to walk long distances to and from work. The snows begin to fall, the tiny house is warm, and the husband does a great job keeping them warm and fed. Then next year, this repeats she has a second child, two girls. The father beams full of happiness and love. In the third year, she finds herself again carrying her third child. We will have to place our baby in a hospital where someone can take care of her I can't take care of her I don't know what to do for her, she pleaded.

The father goes to work the same path he had gone for years to and from work. Now he is greeted by six girls and a new one on the way. They lived happily, but the mother started to wear down the father could tell she was becoming tired. One, however, stood out. She was different. She talked to walls. She spoke to things that were not there. She was in love with a tiny piece of ribbon, a blue ribbon tied in a bow. She was at child twelve and finally said, I cannot go any farther with any more children. He understood, sadly that night the child passed away before taking its first breath. Therefore devastating the mother and father, they then began to quarrel and fight. Bitter words passed where love once blossomed. Time wore on, the children grew up one by one married and moved away, some went off to war, others stayed home and worked, but there was something about that house. A presence that was one full of life was now bitter, harsh, and full of despise. Pain, bitterness, and illness fell on the couple. The love they once shared was gone. The rooms were full of laughter and children playing now empty, only the echoes of two older people angry with each other about things they never got to do. Then a tiny voice appears, scampering through the house.

The lady looks for a child, "There are no children here." She mutters to herself. Her husband hears her and says, "What?" She replies, "Nothing." He asks, "What?" louder. She shouts to the top of her lungs, "Nothing!" "Oh, well, excuse me." The phone rings her husband suddenly can hear and springs to his feet to answer, "Hello!" With a loud welcoming tone.

She looks around again. Out of the corner of her eyes, she sees a curtain moving as if a window was open. She stands up to get a better look, adjusting her stance. Then she walks into the bedroom, "there is nothing there. How strange."

She returns to her chair. "Who was that?" asking her husband, who was on the phone. He replied, "It was the hospital, they are closing down, and we will have to go get our daughter." Perplexed by this, she said, "When?" "They said as soon as possible." He added. She sat astounded. "That place was filthy in the first place." He jumps to the phone and begins calling, finding people with only the newest vehicles for such a long ride they may have to stay in a motel. A glimmer of excitement ran over her for a moment.

The next day the driver pulls up in a bright blue Chevrolet pickup. It could easily seat four people. It would be a long ride there and back, and it was. She gets in the car excited, still medicated, so coherent able to talk and laugh. She bounced in the seat they all laughed. Mother's heart was full of joy, Father's heart of thrilled. They were on their way home. In the wee hours of the morning, they arrive back at the tiny house. Only a porch light to guide them up the giant steps. Everyone gets in the door and off to bed. The following day they wake up laughing talking. A beautiful sense of family unites them. The Daughter says, "I need to take my medication." Mother says, "No, you don't need that stuff anymore." Worry overtakes her, but I do I need it. No, you are, okay now. Look at you. You are perfectly normal now. She gets up and walks into her room, and unpacks her clothes.

For weeks she was great, "Maybe I am normal now?" she thought. Maybe Mom was right. Then she heard a giggle as if a child were in the house. She looked through the house nothing. She walks into the living room and asks, "Where are those pills? I think I may need to start taking them." The mother responds, "No, you are doing great." "No, Mom, I may need them. I don't feel so good." She said with an urgent tone. "No, you are fine."

That night she lay in bed and heard something strange whispering, but she couldn't tell what it was saying. She lep out of bed and screamed! "Mom!" Mother and Father both come rushing to her. "What is wrong, honey?" She explained, "It sounded like someone was trying to tell me something, and I couldn't understand what they were saying." Mother stands there in shock. Father says, "Honey, it's nothing lets go back to bed. It's just her imagination. Mother stands there still, looking at her Daughter.

In the night, Mother lays with her head facing the window where the curtain had moved. Her eyes are focused and in the glimmer of moonlight. A distorted shadow appears and is gone in a flash. She looks out at the moon, and bright white clouds are passing. "Maybe it's just the reflection of the clouds?" She pondered to herself. Her inner spirit trembled. The hairs on her neck were standing up.

She lay there for hours. Waiting for something to happen, nothing happened. The night turned into morning. Chickens begin to crow her husband gets up her Daughter soon after, she wanted to lay there and not move and just rest, "I hope there aren't many more nights like that one." Her feet hit the floor, and a tiny hand touches her leg. It was cold but a child's hand. She draws her feet back into the bed and screams.

Daughter and Father both come running to her. "What is wrong!" They shout worriedly. She answered. "Something touched my leg! It was cold and clammy. It was a tiny hand." Father speaks up and says, "You need to rest. You have been overdoing it lately."

You, my Daughter, get to cook breakfast, and I'll do the rest today. She's getting the day off. Mother puts her feet back in the bed and lays down. The sheets rise as if something is crawling under the covers. Father sees this and drops his cup of coffee, and mother looks down then screams! The sheets collapse, and it is gone. Father mutters, "in broad daylight." Mother sits up in bed and says I can't stay in this house one more minute! They grab their Daughter and drive to the Mothers' brothers' house. The tired couple is greeted at the door by a bewildered brother. He invites them in and says, "You can stay as long as you like." The Daughter looks at her mother and father. Here take one each follow the direction on the bottle.

They both look at her in shock. All this time, she was telling the truth. Mother became flush with guilt, and Father joined her in a family hug. Uncle, not understanding what was happening, knew it must have been profound, so he walks off and leaves them alone. While he's walking to the bathroom, he sees what he thinks is a tiny child's face in the glass of the window, and as fast as it appeared, it was gone. He thinks to himself, "That was strange." Shrugging it off, he continues closing the door. He turns on the water, grabs a towel. "Time for bed. I wonder what happened to them?"

He souters off to his bed Mother greets him, "Thank you for allowing us to stay awhile. I'll explain later." He smiled. "Don't worry about sis." It will be nice to have company in the house for a change. He closes the door. She goes to what will be her and her husband's room, and she prepares for bed. The Daughter is in the next room across, preparing for bed. Then laughter of a young child is heard in the hall moving up and down the wall. They all scream. The Daughter comes running. "Did you hear that?" Uncle burst through the door. What was that? Father says, "We don't know. It's tormented for days." Brother says, I call a preacher in the morning and have him bless this house, and we get someone over to your home to bless your house. A sigh of relief comes over them all. They all go back to their rooms, reluctantly closing the door Brother suggests leaving the lights on so they all lay in bed with the lights on.

Hour by hour was marked by the ding of the large Grandfather clock in the living room. No one was genuinely asleep. Everyone on edge is lying in bed trying to rest, terrified, their minds spinning. "What could that be? It sounded like a child." Mother asks Father, whispering. He answers, "I have no idea." "Think it was a demon?" She questioned him. He responded, "I don't think so. We shouldn't discuss things like this that might bring it back." Her lips purse in fear. Finally, morning light appears over the horizon. They get up, and she opens the door to find her Brother standing bewildered, looking at the walls of the hallway. "What is it?" she asks, "Look, he says," pointing to the walls—tiny handprints all over the walls on both sides of the hall. She gasps, "What on earth!" Father and Daughter join, in shock.

Brother looks at them and says, "You all have some explaining to do. What have you done?" Mother speaks up, "That's just it. We don't know!" she begins to go over the times she's seen and heard things. Father soon after follows her saying he too has heard something." The Daughter says, "They sent me off to nuthouse because I saw it." Mother says, "Shut up. Just shut up. We had no idea. And now is not the time for that." They stood bewildered.

Brother sits down and says, I knew when you bought that place you were getting into a mess. "What? What has our home got to do with this? He said, "Let me finish." She pulls up a chair. When we were children, we used to walk by that place a long time ago. She nods and says I remember. The men in the family told me he was an old Indian man who lived there for years, then later on a man named Walter. The Indian man vanished without a trace. No one knows what happened to him. Walter, however, died there, and boy was he a "Bad Cat." Walter told people he would curse them and that the old Indian showed him how to use dark magic to get even with anyone that hurt him or bothered him. Mother interjected, what does that have to do with us, and why would we need to know this now?

Brother says, "I don't know if he cursed the house. Maybe he caught something there or did something spiritual to it?" I think we need to ask a preacher. I don't know how we fix things like this. The Daughter then says, "Why was it here then?" He says, "You brought stuff with you, didn't you?" "Yes, our clothes and trinkets just what we could take with us." She adds, suddenly having the urge to throw everything away. Mother shutters, "Chills," Father says. "It did get cold, didn't it?" Brother says, "Yes, it did." Let me make some calls. Moments later, a man pulls up with a bible, dressed very nicely. He walks up to the door. Knock knock, "Hello anyone here?" his strong voice echoed. Brother dashes to the door and opens it. The Preacher hands him across a Golden Cross. "Thank you, Sir." They talk for a moment going over the night's happenings. The Preacher says, "I have never heard of anything like this before in my life. What I can do, however, is bless the house. He opens the Bible up and begins speaking randomly, using verses that he thinks will fit at first. While he is talking, the wind starts to blow. The front door slams closed. They all stand there again. Shocked, Father says, "Right in broad daylight again." The Preachers voice grows louder. Now his words are more precise more focused. His parables are more geared toward casting out demons.

Then silence eerie silence, the room warms up, and they all start to relax for a moment. The Preacher closes the Bible and says, "That was scary. I have never had anything happen like that before." Everyone in harmony, "We haven't either." a sense of relief falls over the family. The Preacher says, "Now, where is your house?" Father says, "Oh, we live miles from here, it would take hours to get there, and it would cost a fortune." The Preacher says, "Nonsense, that's why I do this, to help people." The whole family perked up. "Momma, we can go home?" The Daughter asks, whispering filled with hope. "Maybe." Momma answers.

They start driving an hour later, Mother and Father in one car, Preacher and Daugther in the Other Mother's Brother trailing behind. They travel for what feels like an eternity until they come to their small town and their small hollow to their tiny house. They park, get out and look around; everything looks normal lifeless, and empty but ordinary as it did when they left.

They enter the door. The house feels dead inside like never before. Before, it was full of life memories of funny things that the children had done, bright, fun things now all of them were gone. Father makes his way through the door soon behind the Preacher and Brother. They stand around the room. The Preacher opens the Bible and begins to speak, like before randomly at first, then more precisely as time went on. "Nothing is happening." They sit down and rest. Father looks at Brother and says, "Think that did it?" Brother says, "Does look like it." Mother says, "Time will tell." The Daughter says, "It will be back." "What! Why would you say that!" Mother shouts! "Momma, it always comes back." Father then scolds Daughter and says, "Hush." stomping his foot. The Preacher says, "I'll stay a few days to make sure if that's okay with you all." Mother and Father agree, and Mother then dashes to the bedroom to make the extra bed.

She returns, relieved, full of joy, and filled with hope this event might be over. Her brother says, "Oh, I found this at the house yesterday. It must be your daughters," and hands her a tiny blue ribbon tied in a knot. Mother says, "Oh, she will love it. She was looking for it, never mind she is as old as she is she still loves that silly thing." Mother looks over the tiny ribbon. "This looks familiar. I wonder where she got it from?" She questioned. Daughter! Here is your bow! She rushes to her mother. "I am so glad you found it! I was beginning to worry I would never see it again." "She fumbled with for a moment and mumbled. They are almost gone." Her mother turns her head, "Almost gone? How odd? Even for her."

Moments later, a breeze blows through the house one, of those lovely breezes that isn't too cold but isn't warm either.

Then the laughter returns, this time louder than before, closer to everyone. The Preacher springs to his feet, grabs his Bible, opens it, and begins to read anything at first, then becomes more focused. The family huddles in the corner, getting out of his way, outside thunder appears. The house begins to shake, the thin walls barely holding the rain out. The Preacher continued to shout parables the storm continued to rage on. Then the fog came like breathing water. It was so thick. The trees swayed in the wind and rain, and a tiny voice laughing could be heard echoing in the small house. They all stood terrified. Then a flash of lightning so bright it knocks the electricity out, throwing them into the complete dark.

Momma grabs the Hurricane Lamps and lights one, and over her shoulder, a tiny face appears, then disappears as soon as it appeared. The Daughter holds Father's hand and says, "Daddy did you see that!" Father says, "Yes." Momma, come here quick. It's behind you! The Preacher continues to recite the bible verses loud and clear as the storm rages on the tiny house vibrating. They stood there shaking and trembling. Then a large tree falls against the house throwing everyone into utter panic. One tree limb pierces the roof and goes through the ceiling into the bed where Mother and Father would be sleeping. Rain pours into the house. They grab what they can to decrease the water damage. The Preacher is still reciting verses but slowing his vocal cords, losing their stamina.

Laughter then comes again. Tiny wet hands then appear on the ceiling as if a child were crawling on the wall and then the ceiling. They watch the wet marks appear.

They huddle close in the living room, wet, cold and terrified. Momma gets a blanket, wraps it around herself and her Daughter. Then one of the lamps begins to smoke, and in the smoke, a child's face appears. It looks from side to side, smiles, and disappears. "What is that!" Father screams to the top of his lungs. The Preacher answers, "I don't know!" Seconds later, he opens the Bible up and starts to read again. A tiny voice says, "You have to believe that before it will truly work." He shouts back, "I. Do."

The laughter magnifies. "No, you don't." The house once again vibrates with thunder so loud you can't hear. The windows shudder, the walls shake.

Father stands up and holds up his Gold Cross and says, "I believe." Holding his cross to the night air. For a moment, things got quiet. "You know nothing, old man." a child laughing echos again. "Get out of my house in the name of GOD! I command it." In that split second, something happened. Everything started to quieten down and quickly end. The sun begins to rise. They all walk outside as soon as it's light enough to see. "We have to see the damage." Father was telling Mother to sit still. She wraps the blanket around herself to keep warm. They walk out taking surveying the damage of the tree.

Brother says, "Well, there's plenty of firewood for winter, and you won't have to go far to get it." The Preacher says, "that was one hell of a night." with a gulp, and adds, "Forgive my language." The men start to laugh.

Back in the house, the daughter says, "I'll cook this morning, Momma. You take a break, okay?" Momma sits on the couch with the blanket wrapped around her. She feels something touching her; she opens the veil, a tiny face lurches at her and screams, "You are going to die!" and in a puff of smoke, it is gone. Mother Screams and falls back on the couch. Everyone comes running to her. "What happened!" The Daughter answers I don't know I was making breakfast. Hours pass. The mother explains what happened, and the Preacher says, I have to ask someone what to do about this, I am going to leave my Bible with you, and I am going to try to get answers for this. I. Will. Be. Back.

They watch him drive off into the woods, leaving the older couple and disabled Daughter alone to battle this thing. The Daughter notices mother has the blue ribbon. She said, "Here, you dropped that last night, honey."