My cousin Howard recently bought a house with a lot of land, and he’s spent a lot of time renovating the house and planting a huge vegetable garden. I knew how long he and his wife have worked towards this and wanted it, so I was very happy for them. As was everyone else who knew them. So once they were all settled in, I drove out of the city to see them.
Howard had taken plenty of pictures, but pictures hadn’t done it justice. It was the coziest little farmhouse you could imagine, with a neatly mowed front lawn and a beautifully landscaped backyard with rows and rows of planted vegetables and other plants. Once I parked my car in the driveway, I got out and took a closer look at the backyard, which seemed to stretch on forever. From what I could tell, there was corn, carrots, lettuce, cabbage, peppers, tomatoes, green beans, asparagus, eggplants, blueberries, blackberries, apples, and a bunch of other things all growing in the neatly maintained field.
“Hey there Eric!” Howard’s wife Jody waved to me as she approached. “I see you’ve found our little garden.”
“Little nothing, this is incredible.”
Jody smiled. “Thank you so much.”
“Seriously, this is amazing.”
“We love it.”
“It shows. Well done.”
“Come on in, and we’ll get down to having some of what we’ve planted to eat.”
She didn’t need to tell me twice. Once I followed Jody into the comfortably furnished farmhouse, I greeted Howard, and he gave me a glass of iced tea before we sat down in their little screen enclosed porch and chatted. It was a beautiful summer day, with a light breeze and a sky that was bright blue. Inside the porch there was a small glass table that we took our seats at before we started to eat.
First, we started with some spinach dip and stuffed mushrooms for an appetizer. Then, we moved onto stuffed cabbage, mashed potatoes, salad, and dinner rolls. It was all fantastic. We finished with dessert, which was apple crisp with ice cream.
“Did all the vegetables and fruits come from the garden?” I asked while we were all finishing off dessert.
“Everything but the potatoes. We haven’t gotten around to that yet.”
“It’s all fantastic. Everything was delicious.”
They both murmured their thanks before we grabbed some coffee and left the porch to sit outside around the fire pit. Then Howard built a fire, and we sat around it as night set in. Eventually, it got late enough for me to head home, so I said my goodbyes and left. But not before the two of them gave me plenty of leftovers to take home. Not that I needed much convincing, because I happily took everything they offered before I hit the road.
By the time I headed home it was late, and everything was dark. The roads were quiet, but not deserted. But just as I was about to reach the highway to go back into the city, I passed a large stretch of woods. As I was halfway down the road that ran alongside it, I looked over and for a moment, I thought I saw a person walking through the woods towards me.
The sight was shocking, so I immediately looked again. But the person was gone. I sighed with relief and told myself I was just tired after having a long week at work.
The rest of the drive went normally, and I got home safely. It was late by then, so I watched a little TV before I got ready for bed and went to sleep. I slept a little restlessly but woke up feeling fine. Then I went on with my usual Saturday of errands and other things I did on the weekend. I even went to the movies later and treated myself to some candy. When it was over, I heated up some of the leftovers from the night before, and they were just as tasty. Then I watched some TV until I inadvertently dozed off on the couch. The fact that I’d just ate meant that it wasn’t surprising when I had a weird dream.
In it, I was standing on the side of a lake at night. It was a clear night, and you could see the moon reflected off the surface of the lake. It was a beautiful sight, but the feeling I got wasn’t calm and peaceful. I felt uneasy, like I was waiting for something. Then, I looked beyond the lake and saw there was a cluster of trees sitting just beyond its surface. Thanks to the clear night and the moon, which seemed brighter than I’d ever seen before, I could see shadows moving in there. I could tell they were people, and they were walking steadily in rhythm. I had no idea what exactly they were doing, but I knew it wasn’t good. Right at that moment, one of the figures turned towards the lake, saw me, and pointed at me. The others took notice, and that was when I woke up with a start.
It was creepy for sure, and I felt tense and on edge. But it was just a dream, so I went and got myself a glass of water. Then I took a deep breath and watched some more TV until I headed to bed. This time, I slept much better and woke up feeling refreshed.
The next few days were nothing out of the ordinary, and it wasn’t long before Jody and Howard invited me back to their place for dinner the following weekend. I happily agreed, and by the end of the week, I was driving back out to their place and looking forward to their company and a delicious meal.
They didn’t disappoint. This time, we began with asparagus soup and rolls before we had eggplant parmesan, cucumber salad, and blueberry cobbler. Today was much hotter than the last time I was here, so we ate inside in the dining room. But just like last time, we ended the evening around the fire outside after it was nighttime, and things had cooled down a bit. And just like last time, I got some leftover eggplant parmesan and blueberry cobbler to take home when it was time for me to head out.
I had been driving for fifteen minutes when I had to stop at an intersection. On my left, was a house that looked like it had been long since abandoned. The lawn was overgrown and filled with numerous weeds, and Jody had mentioned over dinner last week that the place had been unowned and unoccupied for years according to their realtor. I was just about to look away when from the corner of my eye, I saw motion from the right window on the first floor, and I could swear I saw someone peering out at me from between the boards in the window. But in an instant, it was gone.
I ignored the sudden cold chill that shot through my body and kept on driving while I told myself it could’ve been anyone. Some random person trespassing. Or it might have been nothing. So I focused on driving until I was back in my apartment. After I put my leftovers away, I made myself a cup of tea and relaxed with a book until it was bedtime.
By then, the beautiful night sky had filled with clouds and a steady rain was pounding on my roof and the windows in a calming rhythm. It was still going on when I went to bed and drifted off. But unlike the rain, my dream was anything but relaxing. In it, I dreamed I was being chased through some incredibly dense woods I didn’t recognize by someone I had never met before, or couldn’t even see, but I knew they were there. It felt like I ran through the forest for hours. I hid behind trees, rocks, and listened to find out where the person after me was. I could feel the sting as I fell on the rocky ground or got smacked in the face with a tree branch. Just as I could see the end of the woods, I heard the snap of a tree branch and knew the person following me was right behind me, so I sprinted as fast as I could. Just as I heard a harsh voice whisper, “Got you now,” I woke up and it was morning.
I sat upright in my bed as I tried to calm down. I knew it was a dream, but it was one of the most vivid dreams I’d ever had. I could physically feel the woods, smell them, and the sensations had lingered as I woke up. After a moment, I got out of bed, walked to the kitchen, and started making myself some coffee. Once I had my first cup, and then another, I made myself some scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast. Then I went on with the first part of my day before I returned home for lunch. I heated up the leftover eggplant parmesan and pie and ate it before I was due to meet some friends at the museum one of them worked at. They were having a fundraiser, and we’d all gotten tickets months ago.
Everyone got there right on time before we helped ourselves to some of the snacks provided while we wandered around and looked at the various exhibits on display. I’d always liked coming to the museum. It was full of interesting items and the architecture and design alone was beyond impressive. Eventually, I found myself in one of my favorite parts in the whole museum. The dinosaur exhibit. No matter how old I got, I always loved this part. With my small plate of appetizers in hand, I walked over to the T-Rex skeleton on display behind the barrier that kept you from getting too close. As I stared up at it, the smell of mud and earth hit me full force in the face, like I had just fallen in mud. And for some reason, I could hear the sound of grass rustling.
But I shrugged it off and resumed walking around the rest of the museum. I had always had a very vivid imagination, especially when it came to history. So I forgot about it, caught up with my friends, and we stayed for a while longer. The event was a huge success, so we all left in a good mood.
Jody and Howard were busy at work, so I didn’t hear from them for several weeks after that. But they invited me back over soon enough, and this time when I went over for dinner, they went all out. We had homemade potato chips and cheese dip, buffalo cauliflower, roasted chicken with carrots, asparagus, and potatoes, and strawberry pretzel salad for dessert.
But this time we didn’t get a chance to sit outside, because the day had been intensely humid, and by the time I arrived, it had started pouring rain and thundering. And it hadn’t slowed down, so it wasn’t long before there were reports of flooding in the area. By then, it was obvious that there was enough flooding that I couldn’t get back home immediately, but Jody and Howard immediately offered me the use of their spare bedroom for the night. I happily accepted and we spent the rest of the evening relaxing with coffee while we listened to the rain and watched a movie together.
We eventually said goodnight to each other and went to bed. The bed itself was comfortable enough, but my mind wondered since I was in an unfamiliar bed, and I’d never slept well in unfamiliar places. So I tossed and turned for a while as the rain showed no sign of letting up. Eventually, I started to drift off. But as I did, I glanced out the bedroom window, which looked down on a stretch of trees. All thoughts of sleep went away as I saw a lone figure staring up at the window. The figure was standing under a tree, so I couldn’t really see who it was, but I could feel the figure watching the house. And watching me. Despite the sense of panic that immediately hit me, I just laid there in bed, staring out the window. The figure didn’t move an inch, and it seemed like an eternity passed before the figure slowly walked away and disappeared.
I had dozed off at some point during this, so I immediately wrote it off as a dream. With how bad the storm was, there was no way someone would be just walking around outside. I managed to fall asleep eventually after this and woke up to light streaming through the bedroom window.
The smell of cinnamon rolls filled the air when I came downstairs. Jody and Howard were both casually sitting around the kitchen as the cinnamon rolls were baking in the oven.
“Coffee?” Howard offered with a smile.
“You know it,” I accepted gratefully.
“How’d you sleep?” Jody asked as Howard poured a cup of coffee and handed it to me.
“Ok. Had a weird dream though. Someone was watching me outside. From the bedroom window.”
They both went quiet at this. I could feel something in the air change.
“What?” I asked after a moment.
“I,” Howard began. “I had a similar dream. Recently. A figure was lurking around the backyard. I couldn’t see who, but I knew someone was there.”
“We’ve had a lot of weird dreams since moving here. Creepy dreams,” Jody said. “Stress of moving.”
Now it was my turn to go quiet. When I did, they both looked at me, knowing something was up. So I explained the weird dreams I’d had and how I’d experienced other strange things recently. They both admitted they’d had similar experiences, but we couldn’t figure out why. So we thought about it as we ate the cinnamon rolls, which were delicious.
“We never had anything like this happen before,” Howard explained.
“Me either. I’ve had dreams before. Even bad ones. But these feel so different. Like they’re feelings more than dreams.”
“I know what you mean Eric,” Jody nodded. “It’s so creepy.”
“I hate to mention this,” I began. “But the only thing I can say is that I’ve only ever had these things happen after I’ve had food you guys made.”
“Uh huh,” Howard nodded.
“And you guys are both amazing cooks. I’ve had your cooking for years, and nothing like this has ever happened before. So what changed?”
“We moved here and started growing so much of our own food,” Jody whispered.
It didn’t take long for them to ask several other people they knew and find out they’d had similar creepy experiences. Nor did it take long for us to find out the cause. After checking with his friend he usually bought gardening material from, Howard found out that one of his suppliers had just found out that the location he usually got dirt from was actually an abandoned graveyard. Due to the passage of time, most of the headstones had broken down and were reduced to tiny rocks. So no one had any clue until someone inadvertently dug deep enough and found that the plot of land was a graveyard, and that all the dirt taken from the area was graveyard dirt.
The thought gave me the chills. But Jody and Howard had already used up most of their garden, and the storm had caused enough flooding that much of the soil had been washed away. So all that was left was for them to dig up the garden, get rid of the old soil, and start new next spring. Which they did. And while the delicious meals returned, the creepy dreams did not. A fact everyone appreciated.