The Bad House – A Halloween Freaky Friday

It had been their dream house. The old, stately Victorian sat at the edge of town, alone and abandoned. They couldn’t understand why it hadn’t already been scooped up by someone else. But it was as if the house had been waiting for them, waiting in silent hibernation until they came and woke it up.

Bryce and Janie had been looking for a place for months.  They needed something that not only fit their budget but could also double as both an office and a home. They started searching for a house closer to Chicago, where they currently lived, but the prices of the houses that would work were astronomical, and even with both of them working on their startups, they just couldn’t afford them.

The drive out to the small town in Northwest Illinois was scenic, especially in summer, when everything was in full bloom. Driving past farmhouses and fields filled with grain or livestock was a treat for their children, Rosie and Stewart, who’d only seen animals at Lincoln Park Zoo.

“Look, there’s a cow!” five-year-old Stewart cried, as they passed another field filled with livestock.

“They look like Oreo cookies,” eight-year-old Rosie added, pointing at the predominantly black cow with a band of white around its middle.

“Those are called BueLingo cows,” Janie informed them, and grinned when a surprised Bryce glanced over at her.

“How did you know…” he whispered.

She held up her phone. “Google knows everything,” she replied softly.

“Are we there yet?” Stewart asked.

Bryce rolled his eyes and answered for the thirteenth time, “Not yet. But soon.”

True to his word, the exit for the small town was only ten miles further down the highway. He turned off and followed the GPS directions to the address.

“It’s gorgeous,” Janie whispered. “It’s simply gorgeous.”

“It’s got to be gutted inside with this price,” Bryce said. “So, we have to decide if we have the funds and the time for a fixer-upper.”

“Well, let’s not jump to any conclusions until we go through it,” Janie countered.

“It looks like a magical house,” Rosie said.

“That’s a Halloween house,” Stewart said. “I don’t like it.”

“It’s not a Halloween house,” Janie replied. “It’s just old-fashioned. I’m sure it’s beautiful inside.”

Just then, the realtor’s car pulled up behind them, and the agent hurried from her car to the driver’s side window of their van. “Hi! I’m Maude,” she greeted them warmly. “Are you Bryce and Janie?”

“Yes,” Bryce replied. “And these are our children, Rosie and Stewart.”

“Hi,” she said, smiling at the children. “Isn’t this exciting? Looking at a new house for you? And it has a really big yard, too.”

“It’s scary,” Stewart replied. “I don’t like it.”

The smile momentarily left Maude’s face, but it was replaced quickly by an even brighter smile. “Well, let’s go inside and really look at it, and maybe it won’t seem as scary,” she replied.

The family followed Maude to the house. “Notice the wraparound porch,” she said. “It probably needs a little paint, but we had a home inspector through, and he said that the wood is all solid.”

“That’s good to know,” Bryce replied.

The front door was an old, ornate oak door with brass fittings. “This door is really cool,” Janie said.

“It’s original to the house,” Maude replied.

She pressed the buttons on the lockbox, and it opened, revealing the key. She quickly opened the front door and stepped aside. “After you,” she invited.

Stewart grabbed hold of his mom’s shirttail. “I don’t want to go inside,” he said.

“Stewart, there is nothing wrong with this house,” Rosie gently chided him. “It’s just not something that you’re used to.”

He shook his head. “No. This is a bad house,” he insisted.

Janie placed her hand on his shoulder and gently guided him inside the house.

“Oh my,” she breathed, as she took in the polished wood floors and glistening woodwork. “This is beautiful.”

The entrance way was bright and inviting, with a leaded-glass window above the staircase landing that cast rainbows into the room. “This is magical,” Janie said.

Bryce walked over to the staircase, placed his hand on the banister, and tried to shake it. “The banister is really steady,” he said.

“Let’s tour the rest of the house,” Maude suggested.

Although the kitchen and bathrooms were a little outdated, and all of the rooms needed a fresh coat of paint, Bryce and Janie were sold on the house by the time they finished the tour.  Stewart, on the other hand, was not convinced. “I don’t like this house,” he insisted.

“Well, once we have our own things in it,” Janie assured him. “It will feel much more like home.”

They made a low-ball offer on the house, and to their delight, it was immediately accepted. Maude called them with the good news. “The owners are so excited that a family is going to be living in their home,” she said. “They felt the place was lonely for too long.”

“I can’t believe they accepted our offer,” Bryce admitted. “Are you sure there’s no buried bodies in the basement?”

Maude paused, and then her laugh seemed a little forced. “I can promise you that I have never seen a body in that basement,” she replied.

Bryce chuckled. “Good to know,” he said. “So, when can we close?”

“By the time we get all of the paperwork together, we could close at the end of October,” she replied. “How does that sound?”

“Really? End of October?” Bryce asked. “Well, as long as we don’t close on Halloween. I think that would really freak Stewart out.”

“I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen,” she said. “But you could probably move in on Halloween.”

“Actually, that sounds perfect,” Bryce agreed.

Closing occurred without a hitch, and soon the family had packed up their belongings from their old home and were following a moving van down the same route they had driven months before. 

“Look! The Oreo cows are still there,” Rosie said.

“I wonder if they have cookies and cream milk,” Bryce teased.

“It looks different without the corn stalks,” Janie mentioned as she looked at the harvested fields. “They look kind of bare.”

Stewart sat silently in his car seat, morosely looking out the window.

Bryce glanced in the rearview mirror at Stewart. “Come on, buddy,” he encouraged. “It’s going to be fine.”

They pulled up behind the moving van in front of their new home. Bryce hurried out of the car and jogged up the pathway to open the door for the movers. Janie got out of the car and opened the back doors. “Come on, kids,” she said. “I brought some things to decorate the front porch for Halloween.”

The children climbed out of the car and helped their mom unload several boxes of Halloween décor. There were plastic pumpkins with blinking lights, skeleton garlands, purple and orange LED lights, and fake spiderwebs with a large shaggy spider. While the movers brought their furniture into the house and set it up, the three of them created a Halloween wonderland on their new porch.

Once the movers had finished and the van pulled away from the house, Janie ushered them into the kitchen. “Okay, the most important things to complete today are getting beds made up, getting the kitchen organized, and finding your Halloween costumes so we can go trick or treating in your new town,” she said.

“Who’s going to take us?” Stewart asked.

“I thought I’d let your mom take you,” Bryce answered. “Then I can guard the candy…”

“You mean eat the candy,” Rosie inserted.

“Eat. Guard. It’s pretty much the same,” Bryce teased. “And start putting together some of the furniture that still needs to be assembled.”

They ate a quick lunch of sandwiches and chips and then went to work on the bedrooms. Stewart hesitantly entered his bedroom, pausing at the doorway to slowly look around.

“Hey,” Bryce said, coming up behind him. “Isn’t this a cool room?”

Stewart shook his head. “I don’t like it,” he said. “It’s a bad room.”

Bryce stepped around Stewart, who was reluctant even to enter the room, and walked over to the window, pushing aside the curtains and letting light flow in. “Look, you have the best view of the backyard,” he said. “And, that tree over there, we’re going to be building a treehouse in it for you.”

“Really?” Steward asked, overcome by curiosity despite his misgivings. “Where?”

He walked over to stand beside his dad and looked out the window.

“Right there,” his dad replied.

Stewart shook his head. “That’s a bad tree,” he said, fear in his voice. “I don’t want a treehouse there.”

Bryce sighed. He was trying to be patient, but Stewart was just being stubborn. He knelt down and faced his son. “Listen, Stewart, this is our home now,” he said. “I know it’s different, but you’re going to have to get used to different. We are not going to move. We are staying here.”

Tears filled Stewart’s eyes, and he shook his head. “But, Dad, it’s a bad house,” he whispered, glancing over his shoulder at the closet door. “A really bad house.”

Bryce placed his hands on Stewart’s shoulders. “No, son, it’s not. It’s a good house. It’s a house where we are going to make lots of happy memories,” he said. “Now, let’s make your bed, and then we can find your Halloween costume.”

That evening, Janie took the children out trick-or-treating while Bryce stayed back finishing up some projects.  He waved goodbye to his family, placed a big bowl of candy on the porch, and then headed to the back of the house to hook up the washer and dryer. As he worked on attaching the water hoses to the hot and cold spigots, he caught a movement from the corner of his eye. But when he turned to look, nothing was there. He shook his head. “Probably just a reflection from a passing car,” he muttered. But throughout the next hour, he had an uneasy feeling that something was watching him, and more than once, he felt a shiver run up his spine.

“I’m letting Stewart’s silliness get to me,” he whispered. But he still couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched.

“I probably need a break,” he said, putting down his tools and stepping away from the ice maker he was trying to install. “I should check on the candy.”

He walked through the empty house, his footsteps echoing on the wood floor. Suddenly, he stopped, certain that he heard another set of footsteps in the house. He paused and waited, but didn’t hear the sound again, so he continued to the front porch.

He opened the door and looked at the large bowl. Not a piece of candy had been touched. He bent down and snatched a mini candy bar, then looked up and down the street. There were kids going door to door further down the street, but they all seemed to be avoiding their house. Maybe they weren’t used to it being occupied.

“Maybe I should call them over,” he said to himself, then he shook his head. “Yeah, nothing like a stranger standing on a front porch calling kids over to have some candy. Creeper much?”

He bent over again and snatched another piece of candy. “Their loss,” he murmured, then turned and paused before entering the house. He wondered why he was so hesitant to go back in. Then sighed. “Grow up, Brycie. The big bad boogeyman is not going to get you.”

He went back in and walked to the kitchen, whistling loudly to drown out any residual noises from the house.

An hour later, Janie came back with the kids. Their treat bags were filled to the brim.

“This is the greatest place,” Rosie said. “Everyone gave out so much candy.”

“And there are so many kids,” Stewart added. “I bet they’ll be in our new school.”

“So, how many times did you have to refill our candy bowl?” Janie asked as she hung her purse on a hook near the back door.

“Not once,” Bryce said. “I don’t think we got one trick-or-treater here.”

“Why not?” Rosie asked. “We decorated and everything.”

“Well, maybe people aren’t used to this house being occupied,” Bryce replied. “So, they just didn’t walk all this way.”

“Or maybe they know it’s a bad house,” Stewart said. “And they don’t want to come by.”

“Stewart,” Bryce said angrily. “I’m tired of your complaining. I want you to go upstairs and go to bed right now.”

“But Dad…” Stewart argued.

“Go!” Bryce insisted.

“I’ll go with him,” Janie said. “Just to make sure he brushes his teeth.”

An hour later, Janie and Bryce were sitting in the living room, with their feet propped up on boxes, finally relaxing.

“Are you happy?” Bryce asked.

Janie smiled. “This is a lovely house and a wonderful community,” she replied. “I think we’re going to be very happy here.”

“Yeah, if Stewart can get over his bad house phobia,” Bryce replied, standing up. “I’m going to go up and check on him.”

“Good idea,” Janie replied.

As Bryce climbed the stairs, a feeling of unease came over him, so he jogged the rest of the way up the stairs and hurried to Stewart’s room. He opened the door. The nightlight cast a dim shadow over Stewart’s bed, and he could see his son’s small figure outlined underneath the blankets. He breathed a sigh of relief; everything was fine. He was just letting his imagination run away with him.

He was about to close the door when Stewart turned in his bed and looked over at him.

“Dad,” he whispered.

Bryce went across the room and stood next to the bed. “Hey, how are you doing?” he asked.

Stewart smiled up at him, but the smile was odd, almost macabre; it must have been a weird effect from the lighting.

“Good,” Stewart whispered, his voice sounding hoarse. “I’m glad you came up here.”

A feeling of unease crept through Bryce, and he tried to shake it off. “I just wanted to check on you and see how you were doing in your new room.”

Stewart’s smile widened. “I love my room,” he admitted. “But, Dad, could you do me a favor?”

Bryce nodded. “Sure, son, anything.”

“Could you just check under my bed for monsters?”

“Of course,” Bryce replied, still trying to shake off his discomfort. He knelt down and then bent over to look under the bed.

He froze with shock when he saw Stewart, pale-faced and terrified, hiding under the bed. “Dad,” he stammered, tears flowing down his face. “That’s not me in the bed.”

As soon as Bryce reached under the bed and pulled Stewart out, cradling him in his arms, the laughter started. He stood, his son in his arms, and backed away from the bed toward the door. The bizarre replica of his son laughing manically at them.

Terrified, he ran across the hall, pulled a sleeping Rosie from her bed, and hoisted her into his arms, too.

“Bryce!” Janie’s terrified voice called from downstairs. “What’s wrong? What’s happening?”

The laughter was now echoing throughout the house.

“Grab the car keys,” he yelled as he ran down the stairs. “We’re getting out of here!”

They ran out of the house, leaving the front door ajar in their hurry to get out. But after they had pulled away from the house and sped down the street, the door slowly closed by itself, and all the lights turned off.

A few months later, Maude walked over to the van window of another family from out of town, eager to tour the beautiful Victorian home listed at a bargain price.

“I can tell you that current owners are very eager to sell.”

Happy Halloween!

To read more scary short Halloween stories by Terri Reid, please go here!

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