#theatredeslestat

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Spooky Stories

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The old white house 🫣👻❣️

Summary: Lacy Lovett finally moved into her dream home after craving some independence from her family. The house was old and falling apart but it was everything. She was willing to rebuild its decrepit walls and ignore all the creaks and sounds that came along with it, until she couldn’t anymore. Will the old White House be the one thing to crack through the non believers hard exterior?

Word count: 6244

The banshee in the mountains 🫣👻❣️

Summary: Brothers, David and Henry Moore were avid hikers. They spent most of their lives hiking through the Appalachian Mountains. They knew it like the back of their hands. They grew up hearing all the stories and tales of what lies within the mountains but they never wanted to believe any of it, that is until one sunny day when they took the hike that changed their lives.

Word count: 2949

The Wendigo in Algonquin Park 🫣 👾❣️

Summary: Élodie and Olivia took a weekend trip out to Algonquin Park every year since they were in high school. All the trips were the same, they’d camp in the same spot, do the same activities and eat the same foods…but this one was different. They were being hunted.

Word count: 7289

The inescapable guilt 🫣👻❣️

Summary: Since William's fathers tragic death, it was up to him to keep the family afloat. His good for nothing, violent, drunk of a brother was useless and with his poor mother's health declining as the months went on, the financial burden fell solely on him. He was only 20 years old, but he took it in stride. He worked hard to finally be able to improve their situation, only for it to all come crashing down in one fateful night. The night that would haunt John for the rest of his life.

Word count: 8519

     In the middle of nowhere somewhere up in the Appalachian Mountains, brothers Henry and David Moore decided to spend the day hiking. Walking along a trail they’ve been on way too many times to count. They were sure they knew every tree and every bush up there as they spent most of their childhoods playing and hiking up in the mountains. They grew up hearing the stories and tales about what lives in the mountain; which are forever ingrained in their brains, even though they didn’t necessarily believe in the stories; they still were cautious. During these hikes, they've seen and heard plenty of unexplainable things, but nothing could ever stop them from going back. Up in the mountains was the one place they felt truly free. The breeze that blew through the trees, and the chirping of the bugs was a rare comfort for them. The sights, smells, and the sounds of the mountains made them feel at home.  

     This day was no different than any other hiking day for them, the sky was bright and blue, the sun was warm, and the forecast was clear. It was perfect. The brothers headed out early in the morning as they planned to spend almost the whole day up there. Double checking their bags for everything they needed before leaving the house. They discussed their game plan for which routes they were going to take and which lookouts to stop at as they made their way to the beginning of the trail. The boys were almost giddy as it had been a little while since the last time they did this. It had been raining every day for the last few weeks, and it didn’t feel safe to go up there. The risk of landslides during the rainfall was extremely high, and they didn't want to get stranded up in the mountains, or worse. Since this was the first day back on the mountain for them, the boys made sure to be extra cautious.  

    As they made their ascent, the older boy, Henry, took it upon himself to talk about all the scary stories he knew about the mountains. Knowing it would make poor David nervous, he described the Mimic he supposedly heard one night coming from the trees. He told him about how it changed its voice to sound like David’s as it tried to lure him far off the path, but being the smart, quick thinker he is, Henry knew not to follow it. David kindly reminding him that that story doesn’t scare him anymore as he’s told it nearly a thousand times now and he didn’t believe him anymore. David also made sure to point out that he’s never heard a real mimic or anything like it. The only thing he heard was Henry getting smacked by their grandmother after pretending to be the mimic to scare him late one night. Henry rolled his eyes after being reminded and huffed as he began to walk a little faster, pointing out the clearing up ahead. The two of them stopped to look out over the small clearing, waiting to see if any wildlife was there. To their disappointment, nothing was there, not even a bug making sound or a bird chirping could be heard. The ground had clearly been torn up from heavy rain fall, so they assumed the animals left it for now to settle. They swiftly moved on and continued on the path, bickering as they did so. They walked for hours before stopping to have lunch; they found a rock to sit on as they ate their sandwiches and talked, enjoying the scenery around them.  

    A cold wind picked up and blew through the trees, startling the birds. The boys looked up as quite a few birds leapt out of the trees and flew together as if they were fleeing. They froze before turning to look at each other, not a word was said between them, but they both knew the other one was confused by that. They had never witnessed the birds react to the wind like that. Now, they know that up in the mountains, the weather can switch very quickly as they've been caught in more rainstorms than they'd like to admit, but never had the birds reacted like that to the wind coming through. Henry finally breaking the silence between them, "do you think a storm’s coming?” David saying he couldn’t tell, but since the birds left and now the bugs were getting quiet maybe it was smart they headed back. Henry was the first to stand and pack his bag back up before leading David down a path that he swore was a quicker way to get back down. The path was steeper than expected, and it led them more west than he thought it would, but Henry was insistent that he knew exactly where they were. They walked for an hour before they stopped in front of another clearing, only this time Henry didn’t recognize it. A large portion of trees had been wiped out by what looked like a bad landslide, which caused a large cliff face to show. Henry walked as close to the edge as he safely could before calling David over, pointing out beyond the cliff and gesturing for him to investigate the valley below.  

    David's jaw dropped as he got closer, tightly hanging onto a tree as he peered over the ledge. Deep within the valley looked to be an old, abandoned town. There weren’t more than five buildings still standing, but you could see the remnants of several others. The boys looked at each other in shock, both unable to speak. They knew about the random abandoned towns within the mountains, but they've never seen one. Henry admitting that maybe that had walked farther west than he thought, laughing before helping David move away from the ledge. The excitement ran through them as they continued walking, the boys almost buzzing as they made up theory after theory about why it was abandoned. Their minds ran wild as they both walked on, reminding each other to tell their whole family about it. Their grandmother might know something about it; she seems to know all the lore about the mountains, or about everything in general.  

    The sounds of the birds slowly got louder as they made their way farther down the mountain. David confidently stating that they must be getting close to the base as faintly in the distance they could hear a few other hikers. Most people didn’t venture too far up as they feared getting lost. Which they fully understood because it wasn’t hard to get turned around up there; the trees had a way of making you forget where you are when you least expect it. Henry looked up at the sky through the tops of the trees, watching as it began to darken. “it’s probably going to rain” he said nervously, telling David to hurry up a bit because he didn't want to get caught in it if they could help it. They picked up the pace even though they were tired. Getting to the bottom when their clothes were all soggy was far from ideal; the damp really sinks in deep. They made it to a familiar outcropping and decided to take a small break. They were about twenty minutes from the bottom, but it got steeper after this point, so they wanted to rest their legs. They saw a woman standing about thirty feet away and with her back facing them, just looking out through the trees, her hair slightly blowing in the gentle breeze. They acknowledged the other hikers as they walked past them as well, saying hi and even helping one man who almost slipped on a wet log before sitting down to rest. David took out a granola bar and slit it in half, handing one half to his brother. Once again, the sounds of the mountain got quiet; the boys instinctively scooting closer together as the silence began to unnerve them. Both their heads moving on a swivel as they watched their surroundings, Henry making sure to find a clear path just in case they had to make a run for it.  

    The bugs and birds had never behaved like this before when they were out there. It all felt eerie. Henry turning around to look behind them, the woman caught his eye again as she hadn’t moved. He gently hit his brother on the shoulder and gestured towards her with his head, David turned to look at her, quickly turning his head back to Henry in confusion, “what?” He said, not understanding why his brother was bothered by her. “Look at her.” Henry said sounding almost scared “she hasn’t moved.” David shrugged his shoulders as he stood up to get a better look. The woman slowly letting her head fall to her right shoulder before letting out a loud shriek, louder than humanly possible. She turned around to face them now, the boy falling backwards together, covering their ears as they saw her face. Her mouth was open as if her jaw was broken, and her eyes were completely dark, as if there was nothing in the sockets. She tilted her head down to look at them before letting out another shriek. Henry grabbed David by his jacket and yanked him hard to get him to run, never letting go as they ran as fast as they could. Henry yelling to not look back as he pushed David in front of him, quickly looking over his own shoulder to see the woman still standing there, slack jaw and black eyes watching them as they ran.  

    They finally made it to the bottom and ran faster than they ever had as they saw the beginning of the trail, not stopping until they were far from the tree line, “what was that?! What was she?!” David frantically yelled as he looked around in a panic, trying to catch his breath. “I... I don’t know! I’ve never seen that before!” Henry replied, equally as out of breath. “Whatever that was, it’s gone. It didn’t follow us.” He took a deep breath before grabbing David again and walking right next to him as they made their way home. The front door creaked as they let themselves in. The house smelled like fresh bread as they dropped their bags and sat down at the kitchen table. Their grandmother stood by the sink, washing the bread pans as she asked them how their hike was. The boys quickly said it was fine as they grabbed some bread and butter and stuffed their faces. Neither one could bring themselves to talk about that woman. Grandma Moore brought over a few glasses of water for them and sat down, “what did you see?” she asked softly, “You’re never this quiet after your hikes, come on now, I've heard it all, let it out.” The boys nervously glanced at each other before the words came spilling out, talking over the other one in a panic. She stuck her hand up to stop them both after a few minutes as she stood up to grab homemade broom off the wall, handing it to Henry as the boys looked at her in confusion, “You better sweep that energy and those memories out of this house before she comes back to haunt us all.” She said simply. The two of them stood up before doing as she said.  

    Neither one understood why, but they knew not to question it. They took turns sweeping the floor, leading the dust and everything else out the front door, continuing to sweep everything off the front porch. Once they were done, they both took a deep breath as they stood there, looking out at the mountain. Admiring the view as the sun began to set over the top of the trees, and the mist began to hover over the ground. The mountains were always so hauntingly beautiful, something about the way everything surrounding the mountain moved made it feel different. Maybe it was because it was older than trees and land animals as we know them, or maybe it was the rich folklore that haunts every inch of the mountain range that made it so beautiful. There were endless amounts of stories and tales told by everyone; every surrounding family had ghost stories about the Appalachian Mountains. The native tales intertwined with the stories brought over by the Scottish and Irish immigrants created some of the deepest lore and beautiful traditions as far as the mountain range went.  

  Henry and David walked back inside after sweeping to help their grandma with dinner before their mother got home. She had recently gotten a job in town which meant that the boys didn’t see her for almost the entire day now. They all lived in their grandma’s childhood home; the house was built by the very people who immigrated there in the 1750’s and had been slowly fixed up and rebuilt after bad storms came through. The house felt like it was the center point of their family; it was as if it was a family member itself. Henry and David’s grandma believed the house was sentient; it was its own being now. A being that has stood the test of time. There were stories about how the first inhabitants blessed it, making it a living being to protect their entire family from danger. The boys never believed any of this but still enjoyed hearing the tales passed down for so many generations. It felt too fantastical for them, of course they believed it when they were children but as they grew and experienced life, it made no sense anymore. It was all just stories, none of which were true.  

   They laid out the plates and utensils on the dining table and set out four cups for everyone to eat, their mother walking through the door as they finished. The boys ran over to hug her before being told to sit. They did as their mother said and sat at their respected spots at the table. They all ate dinner while discussing the events of the day, Henry only briefly mentioning the mystery woman they saw, but as he did their mother froze before slowly putting her fork down on the plate, “Where was she?” she asked calmly, “What was she wearing?” She asked as she looked at their grandma nervously, who softly touched her arm to soothe her. Henry looked around at everyone nervously now; he didn't think it would scare his mom hearing this as she hadn’t particularly believed any of the stories herself. He stuttered but couldn’t get the words out before David spoke up, “she was standing near one of the outcroppings we stopped at in the mountains, it's not too far out, just a little bit west.... She was wearing this white dress, and she had long dark hair and dark eyes...or maybe no eyes? It was hard to tell.” He spat it out quickly, worried they were in trouble now, but their mother shook her head and stood up to clean up the dishes, telling them to help their grandma get to bed. The boys glanced at each other before standing and doing as they were told. Confused as to why their mother was now upset, hearing their random stories or scary adventures never bothered her before, why was this one different?  

  After getting her to bed they made their way back into the kitchen to talk to their mother, “Mom...” henry said “What's wrong with that woman? Who was she?” His voice almost cracked. She didn’t answer; she just stood at the sink looking out at the mountains. Slowly, she lifted her hand to point out the window, the boys joining her as she watched. The woman was there. She was standing at the edge of the forest watching them, her head still tilted but her mouth was closed, an extremely mournful look on her face as she watched them back. Their mother slammed closed the curtains above the window as she turned to look at them both, “Banshee.” is all she quietly said, her face nearly as white as the porcelain plates they ate dinner off of. Her hands gripped the counter behind her as she tilted her head down. The boys looked at each other, confused. They knew what the banshee's were as they heard all the tales but they weren’t real.... Were they? Before either of the boys could fully open their mouths to speak, they heard it. They heard the shrieks and screams she had let out on the mountain. It sounded like it was coming from right outside the front door. The boys jumping into their mothers' arms as she helped cover their ears, soothing them. The shrieking stopped and they all slowly looked up together, they watched as the woman was gliding across the floor, mouth still agape. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs, turning to look at the three of them. She let out one more shriek as she flew towards them as fast as a bird, disappearing just before she reached them. Leaving a cold breeze in her wake.  

  She was gone, but the terror still remained. The boys looked around to make sure she was gone, but before they could stand up, they heard a thump. Their mother let out a loud gasp and ran upstairs, letting out a sob as she made it upstairs. They knew what was happening but just looked at each other. The stories are true.  

  She was warning them.  

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Thank you for reading my spooky little story 🖤

If you enjoyed it, I have a masterlist of all the stories I have written here:

TheatreDesLestat Masterlist

     It was a rainy, cold day in the middle of October and Lacy sat on her bed with a book in hand as she gazed out her window, admiring the fog that started to creep down her street. She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there trying to read, but she knew it had been a while. As much as she wanted to finish her book, she just couldn’t. There was this nagging feeling deep within her stomach that had been present ever since she moved into this old house. She had hoped that after a few weeks the feeling would pass because it must be anxiety from moving, but the feeling hasn’t budged and she’s been moved in for almost a month now. That feeling arguably was getting worse, sometimes causing a chill to run up her spine. Dropping her book down on her bed, she stood up, blew out the vanilla scented candle on the nightstand and made her way to the kitchen. She turned the corner and stopped in front of the sink that was still full of last night's dishes which she was too tired to wash. Lacy sighed and rolled up the sleeves of her sweater before scrubbing them, making a mental note to get someone to install a dishwasher for her.  While finishing up, she looked around the kitchen, admiring the old cabinets. This house was around a hundred years old and had all the cracks, creaks, and leaks to prove it, but it was everything Lacy had dreamed of. Ever since she was a little girl, she had dreamed of owning an old house with a huge garden where she could grow as many different fruits and vegetables as she possibly could. So, when she saw this house as she drove past on her way to work one morning, with a for sale sign proudly placed out front, she knew she had to have it. She knew nothing about the house, but it felt like it called to her. It was surprisingly cheap; she figured it was because of all the work that may have to be done, but it still seemed low even for that. Mind you, she wasn’t complaining, in fact she was overjoyed it was as cheap as it was because there was no way she was going to be able to live out her dream otherwise.  

    The house was covered in old white siding that was beginning to fade as time hadn’t been the kindest to it and had two floors, an attic, and a crawl space that could be accessed by climbing underneath the back deck. The upstairs had three bedrooms and one small bathroom; the main bedroom was positioned at the front of the house and had a beautiful bay window that tends to fog up with every little change in temperature, and had white lace curtains that flowed with every small breeze as if it was made of water. The house was sold with everything inside; some of the furniture inside was older than the house itself. Even though the house was old and needed some serious fixing in spots, it was still obviously well loved. The previous owners must have lived there entire lives here; all their decorations and old clothes sat in neat boxes in the cold damp attic, left to sit as time passed on indefinably. The house felt warm and welcoming; it felt as though it sat patiently, waiting for someone to come and make it their own again. And that’s exactly what Lacy did.  

   Lacy Lovett was just a woman from a small town in the middle of nowhere, a small uninteresting town where almost nothing ever happened. The town had its fair share of ghost stories and spooky places, but she never believed in all that, in her mind it was just stories told by adults to scare kids into behaving. Her mother, Caroline, was a pharmacist who spent more time at work than she did at home, despite this, Lacy was really close to her mom as she would hang out at the pharmacy after school and tell her all about her day before her mother told her to go home for dinner, and her father, James, was a retired literary professor who volunteered at the local library and teaches free lessons on the weekend for anyone who’s interested. She had no siblings and never knew her extended family beyond the random pictures that existed in her childhood home. Her mother didn’t talk about her family, no matter how much Lacy asked when she was little, Caroline would always say the same thing, “sometimes the people in front of us are the only ones that matter.” and Lacy would sigh knowing her mother wouldn’t tell her anymore but as she grew her interest in that left, if her mother didn’t want her to know, then that’s ok. Her father, on the other hand, had story after story about his family back in England. He would tell her about all the little adventures he went on as a child in Cornwall. His favourite story to tell her was how he travelled here to go to university and fell in love with her mother and never looked back. He always told her about how her grandparents would visit them when she was young and loved to bring her sweets from England that she’d eat in one sitting, making herself sick. They sadly passed when she was six years old and James had a falling out with his brother shortly after, so they haven’t seen each other since. So, it was just them. They moved ten years ago to this town after James decided to retire early and pursue the hobbies he never had a chance to do, maybe it was a mid-life crisis or a mental break but either way Caroline agreed as long as he still helped out with some of the bills.  

   As Lacy grew up, her love for books grew with her. So much so, that after high school she managed to get a job at the small bookstore near the town center and has worked there ever since. She’s now the assistant manager and is being prepared to take over once the owner, Mr. Walace, retires. She always told her dad that she was going to work at the library, have her own bookstore, or become a writer. She flip flopped between those three options constantly, so when there was a job available at the bookstore, she knew that that was the best option. She tried to write in her free time but never really got very far and finally decided that maybe writing wasn’t for her, but reading was. Lacy hadn't moved out of her parents' home yet because it was only a five-minute drive and, in all honesty, she worried her dad would be lonely without her mingling around the house. But after seeing that old house, and telling her parents about it, they encouraged her to go for it; they all agreed that every Saturday they’ll still have dinner together no matter what and that her dad would help her fix it up.  

    After buying the house and living there for the past month, she felt like she was out of place. She loved the house more than anything but couldn’t shake that uneasy feeling. She tried repainting walls, getting new nicknacks, clearing out all the old broken furniture but nothing helped. It was almost like the feeling got worse...She started to feel like she was being watched. Every time this feeling began to creep back up her spine, she’d tell herself out loud “it’s an old house, that’s all. Theres nothing there, it’s not real.” Lacy may have been a serious nonbeliever when it came to the paranormal, but this house was testing her. As she stood at her sink, washing the dishes and admiring the architecture of the house, she could hear a creaking sound coming from the staircase. It sounded like someone was creeping down the stairs as if it were trying not to get caught. Lacy snapped her head around fast and grabbed a dirty knife from the sink before slowly approaching the stairs. With each step she took closer to the stairs; her heart began to pound harder and harder. She could hear her blood rushing through her ears. She stood at the foot of the stairs as she tried to slow her breathing before shouting out, “Hello? Is anyone there?” Her voice was shaking more than she meant it too, so she took a deep breath before yelling once more. “Come out!  I won't press any charges if you just leave right now!” She waited for what felt like hours before giving up and turning around to walk back to the kitchen, rubbing her face to rid it of the frustration and stress that was building. “I'm losing my mind.” She sighed. Lacy finally finished washing the dishes and put everything away before walking to the living room, trying hard to avoid looking at the stairs as she passed them once more.  

      She plopped herself onto the couch with a deep sigh and turned on the tv to distract herself. She aimlessly scrolled through the various streaming apps, bored by all of them. She finally decided to put on one of her comfort shows and pulled out her phone to order dinner for tonight as she didn’t want to stand with her back turned to the stairs to cook. At least while she was in the living room, she could glance at the hall through the archway if she leaned over to her left. She made a mental note to fix the main light in the hall so there would be more light than what would just come from the window. Her brain started to think hard about all the weird things that seemed to go wrong since she moved in, that light died, one of the windows in the spare room cracked, a few shelves fell completely off the wall, and she was convinced the window seals had all gone bad because the cold and damp would randomly get pretty bad inside the house. She tried to chalk it up to the house being so old, but it was strange how it seemed to be rapidly falling apart since she moved in. As she sat there, deep in thought watching the show she had put on, it looked like a shadow had very quickly passed the archway that led to the hall. She jumped off the couch and clutched her phone against her chest. She stood in place, too terrified to check if it was actually anything of just her mind playing tricks on her. She tried her hardest to keep her breathing calm as she slowly leaned down to grab the tv remote to turn off her show; she wanted to see if the creaking would start again, or any sound for that matter. Straightening back up, she took a deep breath and waited. Her eyes quickly gliding around the living room and briefly over the little bit of the hallways that was visible. The sun was setting now, so the light coming in from the windows was beginning to fade, and the hallway was getting increasingly darker. She sighed again and told herself it was nothing but as she went to sit back down, she heard a quiet knock. It was quiet enough that she definitely wouldn’t have heard it if the show was still playing.  

    Her blood ran cold and she took out her phone to turn on the flashlight. Then it happened again and again and again, only this time the sound sounded like it was further away, almost like it was gradually walking down the hall away from the living room, knocking on the walls as it went. “What the fuck.” She said under her breath as she crept towards the hall, stopping in the archway and shining her flashlight to once again see if anything was there, but she saw nothing. Nothing had moved or had fallen; it looked the way it always had. The cracked paint on the walls, the faded wood floors, and the old chandelier was exactly how they always were, but it felt as if the air was thicker and colder; her breath almost visible. She stood in the archway, staring down the hall, waiting for something to happen, her mind thinking through all the possibilities it could be but constantly circling back to things that go bump in the night. Gradually getting angry as she waited for anything to happen. It was unclear if she felt angry at herself for even entertaining the idea of something paranormal or if she was angry at the house for making her think anything like that could even exist, but before she could tell herself off the doorbell rang, causing her to nearly jump out of her skin. She swiftly jogged to the door and peered out the large window on the door, seeing a delivery driver walk away and she remembered the food she had ordered. She opened the door to grab her food but before she could turn around to walk back to the living room, she heard the unmistakable sound of glass shattering. Unsure of where it came from, she turned around and began to angrily walk into the kitchen to put the food down so she could investigate. Lacy stopped dead in her tracks when she reached the kitchen because a cabinet that she knew was closed, was open, and a single glass cup was now on the floor in pieces. Lacy knew she for sure that all the cabinets had been closed and that they were way too stiff to open on their own.  

   None of this made sense; none of this was logical anymore! Somone had to be playing a trick on her. Theres no other explanation, but the thought of someone being in her home without her knowing was terrifying. Lacy tiptoed around the broken glass and placed her food on the counter before pulling out her phone and calling her dad. She figured if he could come here and help her look around it would calm her nerves a little. “Hey dad, I know this sounds really stupid but there's been some weird sounds and broken glass and just a whole bunch of stuff happening and I'm kind of freaking out a little bit. Are you able to come and look around my house for me? I know it’s ridiculous, but I don’t know what to do.” He chuckled on the other end after she finished rambling and said of course, he told her he’d be there as soon as he could but not to worry too much. It was just an old house after all; weird stuff is bound to happen. She hung up the phone and began to clean up the glass, trying her hardest to distract her mind as she did. Once cleaned up, she grabbed a fork from the cutlery drawer and ate as she waited for her dad to arrive. She swore she could hear the stairs creaking again and could swear she saw another shadow go past the archway, but she put it out of her mind. Before she knew it, her dad had entered her house and called for her, “Lacy? Where are you?” She yelled back that she was in the kitchen, and she could hear his heavy footsteps moving down the hall to get to her. “So, what happened?” He said as he appeared around the corner. She closed her eyes and began to explain everything that had taken place, looking at her dad in desperation as she finished. He nodded his head and told her that they were going to look around the whole house together. Lacy begrudgingly agreed and followed closely behind her dad as he checked each and every room, every dark corner, and every little hiding spot. 

    There was nothing. Not a single person or presence was there. This frustrated her more because there had to be something! She didn’t imagine this, and it was way too consistent and strange to just be from the house being old. Her father sighed and turned to her, “I don’t know what to tell you sweetie, there's nothing here. It’s probably just the house settling or something.” Seeing the stress on Lacy’s face, he tried to lighten the mood by hugging her and teasingly saying, “or maybe it’s a ghost.” She immediately pulled away and looked at him with a serious glare, “that’s not funny. I was actually terrified.” He laughed and hugged her again before they both walked downstairs, “I thought you didn’t believe in any of that? Since when are you a little chicken?” “Since this house seems like it wants to play tricks on me.” She replied. Lacy crossed her arms over her chest and lead her dad to the front door, slipping on a pair of shoes as she walked him out to his car, “Look, I genuinely do believe all the sounds and weird things are just the house. The house I grew up in, in Cornwall, was quite old and weird stuff was a frequent thing. You get used to it. Tomorrow I can come over and fix up the hall light if you want. That should help keep your eyes from playing tricks on you. Ok?” Lacy nodded her head and exhaled a breath she didn't realize she was holding. She stood on the curb as she watched him drive away, kind of dreading heading back inside. She finally walked back to the front door, glancing upwards when something caught her eye. She could have sworn she saw someone, or something walk away from the window in the guest room. It had to have been her imagination because they checked everywhere. There was no chance someone was in the house. It was impossible. She shook her head and headed inside, making her way into the kitchen once more to tidy up before she went to bed as it was starting to get late. 

   She walked into her bedroom and changed into her pj’s before going to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. She intentionally made sure she didn't look at the stairs and just kept her eye on the bathroom. The last thing she wanted before bed was to freak herself out again over nothing. She finally snuggled up into bed, cozy under the covers as she drifted off. She was woken up in the middle of the night by what sounded like someone calling her name but as she opened her eyes, she could see someone climbing onto the end of her bed, slowly creeping up towards her. She let out a blood curdling scream and tried to scoot up towards the headboard. The person hastily backed up against the wall across the room and stared at her. Lacy felt like she could barely breathe as she stared back. The person looked to be a woman. She wore a flowy white gown that gently blew in a nonexistent breeze, and her head was bent down in an uncomfortable looking position but made it so Lacy couldn’t see her face. She quietly repeated Lacy’s name again and tried to say something else, but it came out almost as a cough before slowly walking out of her room, dragging her feet as if she could barely lift them, disappearing into the hallway. Lacy laid there in shock, tears welling up in her eyes. She began to sob and cried till she eventually passed out from pure exhaustion.  

     Lacy finally woke up when she couldn’t ignore the sun blinding her behind closed eyes. She opened them and froze, slowly she looked across her bedroom and into the hallway, checking to see if that woman still lingered somewhere. To her relief, she was nowhere to be seen. Lacy shakily stepped out of bed and went about her morning routine, constantly checking around her out of paranoia and fear. She wanted to believe it was just a bad dream, but it felt too real. It felt like she was really there, she felt the pressure as that woman crawled up towards her. She heard her name being called. Maybe it was a bad night terror because she scared herself so bad yesterday; it had to be. That woman couldn’t exist. Lacy took a shaky breath as she walked very slowly down the stairs. She decided to get ready for work and leave earlier than normal; she needed to get out of this house. Grabbing her jacket and bag that she left by the door, she left the house and locked the door with shaking hands. She looked at her car and debated taking it. Maybe the cool morning air would help soothe her; she had plenty of time to walk to the cafe near the bookstore before work to grab something to eat. There was still two hours before she had to open the store anyways, might as well kill time. 

    She walked down the winding road, listening to the pretty songbirds. She stopped walking to admire the park she used to run around as a kid; it was more faded and rusted than she remembered, but it still brought back fond memories. She smiled at a lady pushing a stroller past her, deciding to move on and continue her walk. As she did, her mind kept wondering back to the woman from last night, she could remember every detail of her dress, her hair, and even the way she walked. Normally if it was a dream, the memory of it would have begun to fade by now, but it was still just as vivid as it was last night. What if she was really there?  She shivered, both from the thought and from the damp that tried its hardest to seep into her bones. She shook it off and kept her head high as she turned the corner and spotted the cafe. Quickly making her way there, she went inside and ordered a black coffee and a croissant.  Sitting at a table at the front of the building that overlooked the town square. It really did look hauntingly beautiful this time of year. The damp ground that was plastered by red and orange leaves glistened as the sun came in and out behind the clouds, most days here were gloomy, but it felt almost comforting. She smiled as an older man walked past the window; he was walking a small black and white dog that seemed to want to chase every leaf that blew in the gentle breeze, it reminded her of a childhood friends' dog, small and hyper but very sweet. She never had any pets like that herself, besides the small goldfish she won at a fair when she was eight. She always wanted to get a cat or a dog but the worry of not having enough time for them always stopped her.  

    Lacy finished her breakfast and looked at the time on her phone; she still had forty-five minutes until she needed to head to the bookstore, so she decided to wander around the town square for a little while. She couldn’t remember the last time she had a nice little walk around town; it had to be when she was in high school. She walked around and looked up at all the beautiful trees. Autumn was her favourite season by far; the smell of the decaying leaves was refreshing after the stink of summer, and the colours changing always made the trees look so pretty. She passed by the town hall which was this large Georgian style building that loomed over the square, casting endless shadows when the sun was out. She remembers taking a small tour of the building when she was a kid, at the time she thought it was boring but maybe now she could appreciate the history of it. This town did have a surprisingly long history, and a lot of stories. Lacy cleared her throat and continued walking along the road, turning her head to look at the old cemetery. She recalled a memory of her friends daring each other to walk in through there; they were all too scared, but she happily strutted through like it was nothing. I guess when you don’t believe in ghosts and demons and all that, places like cemeteries really have nothing to be afraid of. She let out a sift chuckle and continued to walk towards the library that sat behind the town hall. The building was large and had a clock on the front that would chime with the hour. She figured her dad was already in there reading up on whatever hobby he decided to pick up this week, that man didn't know what taking a break was. 

      The clock let out a loud chime, letting her know it was time to head to the bookstore to open up for the day. She turned on her heals and happily walked back to the square. She did the usual tasks she needed to do before opening and quickly fixed up the display in the front that showed off the new releases they had. Mr. Walace had told her he was setting it up yesterday and to just make sure it looked nice before she opened. The day went by faster than she would have liked. As the day went on, the dread of returning home started to bubble inside her; she kept reminding herself that her dad would be over tonight to fix the light in the hallway so she wouldn't be alone for a while. She sighed before closing the shop and tidying the place before grabbing her jacket and bag and locking the door behind her. Lacy walked to her parents' house as she figured her dad was coming over anyways; he might as well drive them both there. She let herself in and called out for her dad who promptly let her know he would be right there. “Hey sweetie, how was work?” he asked cheerfully, “it was fine, kind of boring today. But the new books we got in were a hit so that was nice.” He hugged her gently and grabbed his bag of tools that sat near the door and led her out to his car. “Your mom says she’ll join us in an hour or so, she’s just finishing up at work.” Lacy replied with a subtly mhmm and sat in the passenger seat, looking to her right side as the water droplets ran down the window. The drive to her house was quiet and unnerving, not for her dad, but for her. The pit in her stomach grew exponentially the closer they got. James pulled into the driveway and got out of the car, collecting his tools from the trunk. “You coming or what?” he said teasingly, she sighed and slowly exited the car, dragging her feet as she approached the door, refusing to look up at the upstairs windows just in case she was there.  

    Once inside, her dad made his way right to the hallway to do what he needed to do, Lacy gently put her bag down and hung up her jacket and slowly walked to where he was. “You know, as old and as broken as this house is, it’s still beautiful.” Lacy nodded in agreement, biting her tongue as to not spill about the events of last night. She didn’t want her dad to worry about her or worse, pity her. He was never the type to poke fun at Lacy, but he would make little jokes about her fears as a child. He never meant any harm by it; he actually thought it might help her see that whatever was scaring her wasn't truly scary, but it made her feel small. It made her feel like nothing she could say would be taken seriously, even though she understood why he did that; it still stuck with her. Her mom, on the other hand, always tried to fix what worried or scared her. Caroline was an avid believer in the paranormal, and even though Lacy was not, it was still surprisingly comforting when she would tell her little ghost stories to cheer her up.  

    It was boring standing behind her dad, watching him fix the light. She wasn’t scared to look around the hall now that she wasn’t alone. The fact that someone else was there with her brought her the relief she desperately wanted last night. “Do you want a drink?” ask Lacy, hoping that a task might keep her entertained at least a little. “A beer would be nice,” he replied, strained. Lacy walked into the kitchen to grab the drink for him, stopping as she looked outside the kitchen window. A small bunny was sitting in the middle of the yard, watching her. She tried to pull out her phone to get a picture but as she looked back up, the bunny was gone. She stood there for a moment waiting for it to come back till she heard her name being called and so with a disappointed sigh, she took the beer over to her dad, cracking it open before handing it to him. He thanked her, took a swig, and placed it on one of the steps leading upstairs. "What did you need?”  She asked, her dad looking at her mildly confused. Lacy made a confused sound before saying that she thought he called her. An uncomfortable tingle went up her spine, she cleared her throat before speaking again, “There was a bunny in the back yard, it was the first one I've seen here.” She said as she walked past him, looking out the back door to see if it had come back. She stood there looking outside for a while, watching the fog roll in once again. She was taken from her thoughts when she heard a bottle fall, swiftly turning her head to look at what happened. “I must have put it on the edge of the step.” Her dad said as he picked it up, walking to the kitchen to grab something to clean up the spilt beer. Lacy’s blood ran cold as she walked back the front of the stairs, she saw where he put it, it was nowhere near the edge. It shouldn’t have fallen. She glanced up to the top of the stairs and could’ve sworn she saw a white smudge move just out of sight. Lacy froze. She knew it was that woman again. She didn’t want to believe it at all, but there was no other explanation now. “I got some paper towels to wipe it up, I put the bottle in the sink because it cracked.” Her dad said as he began to wipe it up, lacy took the paper towels from him and told him to worry about the light; she can clean this up. She kept looking upstairs as she cleaned, hoping whatever that was would show itself again; she wanted her dad to see it. Maybe if he saw it too than she wasn’t crazy. Maybe then there would be some kind of proof or explanation that her dad would have.  

    Time passed quickly as her dad fixed the light; nothing else had happened. Lacy turned her head to look at the front door as her mom entered, carrying pizza. “I figured you guys would be getting hungry, so I got some pizza.” Lacy walked over to her mom, hugging her before taking the box and carrying it over to the dining room. “I’ll be done in a minute, just have to put the new bulb in and then we can eat.” Her dad said as he turned back to the light fixture. Caroline followed lacy to the dining room but stopped near the bottom of the stairs, looking at the top as if she could sense someone was there. Turning to look at Lacy, whose face was now pale, “I know you don’t believe in anything, but you can always tell me if something is happening.” Her mom said, as she warmly smiled and patted her shoulder. Lacy grabbed some plates from the kitchen and sat down at the table with her mom, her dad sitting down next to them as they ate. They talked about their days and what they planned to do this weekend. When they all finished up, Lacy carried the plates to the sink and told her parents to take the leftovers. She knew they'd just end up rotting in her fridge. Her parents said their goodbyes and Lacy waited out front of her house as they climbed into her dad's car and drove away, sighing as they drove out of sight. She walked back inside, closing and locking the door behind her before grabbing a drink from the kitchen. She decided to watch some tv before heading to bed but as she walked past the stairs, she could smell vanilla. It was kind of faint, but it was noticeable. Shaking her head as she made her way to the living room, assuming the smell was on her clothes. She sat down on the couch and began to watch her show, ignoring every little sound she heard. She didn’t want to freak herself out like she did last night; she just wanted a peaceful sleep tonight. She pulled out her phone to check the time, only to see that it was dead. Lacy swore it still was 50% while she was eating, but she tried to convince herself that it wasn’t because if it had died that quickly than the phone must be on its way out and she couldn't afford to buy a new one right now.  

    She looked outside and saw that it was dark and so she decided to turn off her show and head upstairs to read before she went to sleep, pausing briefly at the bottom of the stairs before making her way up. Putting on a brave face as she walked into her bedroom, freezing as she saw her vanilla candle was lit and had obviously been burning for a while. She hadn’t been upstairs all day, and she didn’t light it this morning before work. “What the fuck.” She said out loud, she cautiously walked towards the candle, but before she could get close, it blew itself out. Lacy jumped back and spun her head around to look for any signs of someone, or something. She didn’t see anything but still refused to move. She felt a cold breeze blow through her room and a chill ran over her entire body. She slowly turned her head to look at the doorway. Nothing was there, but she could hear faint footsteps creeping up the stairs. She ran to her door and slammed it shut as she locked it. The door felt cold, as if someone had left the window open, but the window in this room didn't open anymore. She tried to breathe quietly as she pressed her ear to the door. As she was about to pull away, she heard someone breathing on the other side. It was undeniable. The breathing sounded raspy and laboured. Lacy slowly walked backwards, away from the door. The air in the room was getting noticeably colder; she could see her breath, and the windows began to frost. She abruptly stopped walking when she heard the breathing begin behind her. Tears began to fall down her cheeks with no way of stopping them; she’s never been this scared. Her whole body froze as she felt a shaky, boney hand softly grab her shoulder. The thing let out a raspy breath and started repeating her name, “Lacy....Lacy... Lacy” as if it was trying to coax her to turn around.  

   The hand on her shoulder squeezing harder as it dug it’s fingernails in. Lacy let out an uncontrollable sob, “please stop.” is all she could get out. The thing let go of her shoulder, but she could feel it moving around her, agonizingly slow, as she began to shake. The lady now stood directly in front of her; she could smell her. She smelled like decay and dampness, and she could feel her breath on her face, her putrid breath. Slowly the woman tilted her head up to try and look at Lacy, her bones cracking as she did. Her icy hand reached up to rest on Lacy’s cheek. “yooouu...” is all it said before letting out a chocking sound. The pair made eye contact, and it took everything in Lacy not to faint. The woman's face was terribly bruised, and there was blood pooling at the edge of her mouth; her eyes were almost bulging out of her head. She slowly scratched her fingernail down Lacy’s cheek, almost drawing blood. Lacy’s eyes began to flutter; her heart slowed as she saw the room go dark. She fell backwards, catching herself on her bed. Seeing the woman dragging herself towards her as her visions came in and out. The last thing she saw was the woman perched on top of her, smiling. Her rotten teeth visible as she slowly leaned in, “yoou...are...miiine.” 

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