What You Don't Know

Everyone knows about the abandoned house on Valley Avenue. Everyone in town wants to tear it down. It's a big eye sore compared to the rest of the town. The city owns it and keeps up with the lawn and making sure the house isn't a safety hazard. I think having an empty house that no one lives in is what creeps people out the most.

I was walking home from work and, as always, I passed the house on my way home. It's only a few blocks from my house. I glanced at the house and stopped, chills creeping up my spine. A candle in a window was lit like a beacon. No lights were every lit in the house. No movement. The doors were always locked as well. How could someone get in the house to even be able to put the candle in the window? It didn't make sense.

After a few minutes a started walking, picking up my speed to get farther and farther from the house. As soon as I got home I ran to the front door and quickly let myself in.

"Mom! Where are you?" I yelled.

"I'm upstairs, Sweetie!" She yelled back.

I raced up the stairs. When I finally got to my mom's room I was gasping for air and I must have looked washed out because my mom looked at me kind of funny.

"Are you okay, Sweetie?" She asked in her concerned mom voice.

"Mom. I saw a candle being lit in the window of the abandoned Valley house. No one was there. It lit by itself." I used my serious voice so she understood how scared I was.

"Sit down, Sweetie." My mom said in a comforting voice. "I need to tell you a story."

I sat next to my mom on her bed. She played with my hair as she told me the story.

"About thirty years ago there was a very nice family that lived in that house. It was a nice couple with two kids and a dog. They had an older son that didn't live with them anymore. One day, their son decided to pay them a visit. Their neighbors heard screams late at night and called the police. Their son had escaped the mental institution he was in and killed his whole family, and then himself. He had paranoid schizophrenia and I guess he had visions that he needed to kill his family to save them."

"Oh my god, mom! That's crazy!" I exclaimed.

"Well, that's not exactly where the story ends." My mom said.

"You mean there's more!" I shouted.

My mom nodded her head as she finished the story. "About ten years ago a group of kids broke into the house. They had heard about the murder and decided they wanted to visit the house. They were in their early twenties and into some pretty weird things."

"What kind of weird things?" I asked.

"They were supposedly into witch craft and the police suspect they may have been involved with a cult." My mom explained. "They brought a Ouija board and had some sort of spell book. In the police report, it says they were performing some sort of ritual. They think they were trying to contact the murderer. The neighbors heard screams and called the police. The police rushed over. They were pretty concerned since no one is supposed to be able to get into the house. The ritual must have worked because their bodies were never found, only their belongings. It's rumored the murderer did something to them."

"How is that possible? The murderer died when the family died." I was so confused.

"Sometimes, mysterious things happen that you can't explain." My mom assured me. "Some people report seeing something moving in the house, or seeing a lit candle in the window. Some people think it's the group of kids waiting for someone to come and find their bodies. Others think it's the house trying to lure new people in so it can claim their lives too. Whatever you do, Sweetie, never go inside that house!" My mom's warning was enough to send chills down my spine. From the day on, I never looked at that damn house when I passed it!