Beverly Street was always weird to me, the houses were way too spaced out and in weird and impractical areas on the lot. Except for one house. It was a two story house with perfect white paint. The grass was never overgrown, but also not short. It didn’t fit in the area. My mom and I lived in a single wide 2 bedroom trailer two houses down, it wasn’t bad, but I hated living so close to THAT house. The house between ours and the white one was my friend Lisa’s house. She wasn’t really bothered by the house but she did acknowledge that it was odd.
“Jordan you’re 13 years old, it’s time to stop being so afraid of every little thing!” Is what my mom always told me when I tried to talk about it. “The house is abandoned, you have no reason to be scared of an empty house.”
Despite my moms words, I always kept an eye on the house, I didn’t notice anything weird for the first few months, until one night in the middle of summer I saw a light turn on and back off. It all happened so fast I wondered if it was real. Seeing the front door open confirmed for me that it was. It was an older lady, short, gray hair, and a white and purple floral night gown. She stared directly at me and waved. I didn’t know what to do, I felt like I was in a trance, and all I could feel was doom. She waved again and went back into the house. As soon as the door closed I snapped out of it and ran to my bed as fast as I could. Falling asleep that night felt impossible, I felt like I was being watched.
At some point through the night I did manage to get some sleep, because I woke up around 11am to Lisa tapping on my window.
“I’m bored, let’s hang out” She smiled through the window knowing I’d never tell her no. “Alright, I gotta tell you about something I saw last night anyway.” I told her as she started making her way to the front door. “Let me guess, the White House is creepy?” “I swear I actually saw something this time.” I let her in but she had a look of disappointment as I spoke about the house.
I told her about the light and the old lady, but she still looked at me like I was obsessed over absolutely nothing.
“Let’s go check the house out, I’m tired of hearing you talk about it” she said as she stood up already ready to go. “What? No way, that place is way too creepy.” I replied shakily. “That doesn’t stop you from staring at it all night.” She had a point, and I couldn’t convince her otherwise. So just like that we were on our way to go knock on the front door of the source of my nightmares.
She knocked on the door like a mother confronting her sons bully. We stood there for a while, and the longer we stood the dumber I felt. She knocked again and this time the door gave way and I could see furniture through the small crack. “Let’s check it out..” she was pushing the door open before I could even begin to reply.
It wasn’t empty, it wasn’t occupied, you could feel it in the air. Something lived here, but it wasn’t supposed to. The house was furnished but it had no sign of being used. It felt like a set for a tv show. It was supposed to look like someone lived here but no one did. “Hello?” Lisa had a crack in her voice now. Nothing. Dead silence. “Jordan let’s get out of here.” As we made our way to the door we heard a board creek upstairs directly above us. I froze in fear like the night I saw the woman. Lisa tried to pull me on the door, but before we made it out the floor beneath us gave out and we fell through into the basement.
I was stunned for a few seconds but luckily I didn’t break anything, and Lisa seemed alright as well. We landed on a big pile of old clothes. Directly on the wall in front of us was a dimly lit camping lantern. I looked up and noticed there was no hole in the ceiling. “What just happened?” Lisa asked with tears building in her eyes. “I don’t know, we need to get out of here.” I tried to be tough but my voice was cracking. I grabbed the lantern and tried to look around but there was nothing to be seen aside from the clothes and a terrified Lisa. “There has to be a door or something somewhere let’s try to find something.” Lisa latched onto my arm and we started moving forward. After what felt like forever and seeing nothing but floor and darkness Lisa spoke up. “What time does your mom get off of work? My dad is out of town and my mom is always drinking, so she’ll be the only one looking for either of us” “She said she wasn’t going to be home until 6, but we’ll get out of here before then I promise.” She didn’t believe me, but neither did I. After a few more steps we reached a wooden door on a brick wall. “See, I knew there was a way out.” As I was reaching for the door I heard another creaking board and the door opened on its own. “We’re going to die here.” Lisa began to cry, it took a while to console her but eventually we went through the door. It was a staircase, no way to go but up. We reached the top of the steps and we were in a hallway, it was long, too long. This house is not that big, none of it made sense, but all we could do is keep moving forward.
There were 4 locked doors, 2 on each side, and a lone door at the end of the hall. We chose the lone door. Through that door was her bedroom. The elderly woman laying on the bed in her purple and white gown was sitting in a chair with her eyes looking right at me. “I’m sorry ma’am we just want to leave, we didn’t mean to tress..” before I could finish my sentence the light from the lantern went out. I heard Lisa scream in fear and I held her as tight as I could and braced for whatever was going to happen next.
I woke up on the floor of the empty living room, I called for Lisa but got nothing in response. I ran towards the front door and straight out into the yard. There were police at both of our houses. It was 1:30 in the morning and we were both considered missing. Lisa was never found, and I was never the same. I moved as far away as I could on the day I turned 18. It’s been almost 20 years since that night, and I swore I’d never go down that street again.
Last week my mother unexpectedly passed away, and I had to go back. The house was still there. Lisa’s parents were long gone. I noticed pulling onto the street that the street sign had changed. “Lisa Street”
I couldn’t think straight the whole time I was going through my mothers things. Constantly watching the house out of the corner of my eye, and it felt like it was watching back. Tonight is the last night I will be here. As I’m typing this and preparing to get some rest before the long drive home, I saw it. The light flickered. I heard the front door open but I can’t bring myself to look. I’ll be rid of it in the morning. I’m sorry Lisa.