Tucked away on a random dirt road out in the country is a house that my family has been guarding for generations. No one seemed to know why we had to guard the house, or why it’s only during the evening hours. All we know is that as long as everything seems fine you can leave by nine. Typically you only have to stay for a few hours and with how big our extended family is, you only have to take a shift once every couple months.
Nobody really considered it guarding, it just sounds better than ‘sitting outside a random house for four hours for no reason.’
My friends found out about my odd job a couple of months ago and since then have been begging me to bring them over to see it. I finally relented and we made plans for them to come next time it was my turn to guard.
I did a lap around the house before settling down on a log, waiting for my friends to show up. If they listened to what I said then they were probably in the process of walking around the cornfield that was behind the house. They parked on a side road opposite the cornfield so there was no way my family would know I was bringing them out here.
It wasn’t quite dark yet when my friends got there, but by the time we’ve made our way around the house - my friends stopping at every window to try and see inside - it’s dark.
“It’s a pretty boring house,” Chris says.
“I’ve been telling you guys there’s nothing special about it. It’s just an old house.” An old house where almost all of the original paint is gone.
“Why don’t we go inside and see?” Shaun asks. “I can’t be the only one who wants to know what’s inside.”
“True,” Chris says. “Maybe we can figure out why your family has been keeping an eye on it for so long.”
They both turn to look at me. I think about it for a moment. I have to admit, I am curious about what’s inside too. “Okay, but I don’t know if it’s safe to go inside so we have to be careful. You guys aren’t even supposed to be here and I don’t need to get in more trouble by having one of you fall through the floor.”
We pull out our flashlights and I watch as Shaun tests the steps leading up to the small porch. Chris follows him up, but the porch isn’t big enough to fit all of us so I stand on the stairs behind them.
Shaun reaches out and raps on the door. As soon as he makes contact with the door light starts shining through the curtains.
“What the fuck? Does someone live here?” Chris turns to look at me.
I start to respond when the front door starts to open. I take a step back, stumbling a bit off the stairs.
“Hello?” Shaun calls out, pushing the door open further with his flashlight.
My friends shine their flashlights through the doorway, revealing a small entryway that leads to a dining room. It’s full of dust and cobwebs, but otherwise looks like a normal room.
Shaun takes a step forward and immediately disappears.
“What the fuck?”
“Where did he go?”
“Should we go in after him?” I move back up the stairs onto the porch and shine my light around inside. There’s no trace of Shaun.
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Chris says.
I suddenly feel a strong sense of foreboding and wonder if Chris feel it too. He looks nervous. I notice that he’s standing with his back to the house. His flashlight is pointed at his feet.
Which means he doesn’t see the dark shape moving around in the house.
It’s heading for the front door.
I stand there for a second, trying to process what I’m seeing. I try aiming my flashlight at it to see what it is, but someone yelling behind me distracts me.
“Shut the door! Shut the fuckin’ door!” I turn around and see my aunt running down the overgrown driveway. “Watch out!”
My aunt points in our direction, and I turn around just in time to see Chris get violently pulled into the house, disappearing the moment he crosses through the door frame.
My aunt barrels up the stairs and grabs my hand. “Do not let go of me until I say so!”
All I have time to do is grip her hand in my own as she enters the house long enough to grab the door handle. She throws herself out of the house, the door slamming behind her.
She brought me back to my parents’ house, not letting go of my hand until I was shoved inside the house. I turned around, wondering why my aunt shoved me. My aunt was cloaked in black smoke.
“I need you to shut up and listen. I don’t have much time before I must return to the house. I thought if I didn’t step inside I would be safe, but that didn’t work. The house is going to change now. Don’t believe anything you hear or see inside the house. Don’t let anyone in or out of that house. Everyone else is going to forget, you need to make sure you remember everything that happened tonight. You won’t be able to tell anyone about what happened tonight, because after tonight none of this will have ever happened.”
She turns and runs down the driveway.
“What do you…” I trail off. She’s gone.
After that night I volunteered to take more shifts watching the house. My family didn’t seem to have an issue with it, nor did they have any memory of that night or my aunt. After a few months my parents were comfortable enough to start planning a vacation.
It’s been four months. Tonight I noticed someone was peeking out at me from behind a curtain. As soon as I looked at them, they disappeared.
I turn and hightail it back down my parents’ driveway.