New to the Neighborhood

Mount Harmon is where I have lived my whole life, where I tell this tale from my childhood from. Its one of these small towns in New England where everybody knows each other, the kind of place that looks like it hasn’t changed in fifty years. The biggest attraction is the gas station, where most people buy their groceries as well as gossip about the residents. You get the idea, there’s not much going on here.Anyways, it was really weird when a new neighbor showed up. Not a person mind you, an entire house. It just showed up out of nowhere. Mrs.Danforth was the first one to notice, naturally, as it was suddenly right next door to her. She called Sheriff Franklin, and once people saw the sheriff heading over towards her road, everybody knew something was going on up there.Vinny, my older brother was the one who told me about it.“Ricky, Franklin just rolled up the Danforth road, you want to come check it out?”I did, it beat whatever mind numbing thing I had been doing. We grabbed our bikes and made our way up the hill. My brother and I figured one of the Danforths had died, they were quite old.“Hey, where did that come from?” I nearly crashed into Vinny as he braked abruptly, seeing the house that had never been there before. We both sat with our mouth’s hanging open. The sheriff’s cruiser was parked on the other side of the road, the Danforths stood talking with him on their porch, all three peering at the new house in fear.It was large, three stories, with a long curved driveway that lead to a barn beside it. Despite being a new structure, the house itself looked like it had been sitting there for about two-hundred years. The paint was deteriorating, the porch sagged and the upstairs windows looked like they were cracked.We watched the sheriff go timidly up to the end of the driveway, ducking low and trying to look through the windows. By now more people had joined us, at what seemed like a safe distance from it. Other kids from the middle school gathered around us where we had parked. A few speculated on what the house could be.“Its a ghost house, no doubt,” Donny Maron said, his confidence selling his theory to a few other onlookers who nodded in agreement.“Nah, it can’t be a ghost house, its solid, plain to see as you and I!” Tim Desmond pitched his opinion in.“Yeah, well, then how did it get here?” Donny asked, folding his arms and wrinkling his nose at Tim. They glared at each other.“Maybe it was invisible!” Tim finally retaliated, folding his arms as well.“That’s stupid, then somebody would have crashed into it!”Their debate got rather heated.It seemed that no one really knew what to do about it. Franklin had Deputy Reevis bring down caution tape and road blocks. It wasn’t reassuring to see the way they kept a close watch on the house the whole time, neither daring to put the tape on the structure. They closed down the entire road instead, keeping everyone from getting near it. Not that anyone dared to.A town meeting was scheduled to decide how to proceed. For the first time in my life I wished I was allowed to attend, opting to listen crouched down by the windows instead. We weren’t the only kids who had made their way to hear the outcome, Donny and Tim were there, along with about half of our middle school.The meeting was long, involved a lot of shouting, caused tension between families, and in the process gave all us middle schoolers reason to pick on each other for where our families aligned themselves. It was a thrilling thing to be spying on, in other words.They ended up forming two sides, one that thought the house should be demolished, while the other half said it should be left alone. There were various reasonings for either side. I was curious how our parents would vote, not hearing their voices arguing along with the rest.As people started to make their way to the doors we all fled, trying to act like we had all been playing pick up ball. Grim faced parents called on us to go home.“So, how are you going to vote, Pop?” Vinny couldn’t wait any longer when we crossed the front threshold, badgering my father before he had slipped his shoes off. He looked at Vinny and I and simply pointed upstairs. This was his way of letting us know he would be talking to our mother in private. We ran up the steps, both shoving each other for the best spot at the top of the stairs to hear down into the living room. As usual, Vinny won and cupped his ear. I found myself holding my breath, eager to hear what my father had to say.“It would probably be safer to leave it be…” my mother decided to start the conversation after a long spell of silence.“How do we know it isn’t dangerous keeping it up?”The discussion was less exciting than we had hoped, but it ended with my father saying he thought it should be demolished, and if it came to it, he would help take it down. My mother said she wished he wouldn’t.We had a quiet dinner that evening, our parents sent us to bed earlier than usual after. I tapped on Vinny’s door when I heard snoring coming from the master bedroom. He let me in, shutting the door quickly. I could already tell he was eager to discuss something.“We should go look at it, right now!” he whispered excitedly. I wasn’t entirely surprised to hear him say this, but my stomach was already filling with butterflies at the prospect.“Vin, what if we get caught?” I was trying to reason, the argument was shaky though. We were seasoned veterans at leaving our house at night. Vinny scoffed, pulling his sweatshirt over his head. He started tying his laces. It seemed I had little chance of persuading him not to go.“Don’t tell me you’re going to wuss out?” he looked at my nervous posture. I bit my lip, I knew it was a bad idea. I didn’t want him to go by himself though.“No, I’ll get ready,” I said, regretting it immediately. I went back to my room and got dressed, then met Vinny by the backdoor. We grabbed our bikes out of the yard and pedaled up the hill.Vinny was really eager to get there, going extra fast. I, on the other hand, felt like each pedal was putting me closer to certain death. Once we got to the roadblock Vinny parked his bike next to it and left me behind, making his way up to the driveway. I glanced up at the house. In the dark it looked all the more menacing, hostile even. I shuddered, hoping that we wouldn’t be staying long. Vinny had his toes at the bottom of the driveway, staring up at the house with a longing look.“This is as close as anybody has gotten…” he said softly. He was right, not even our sheriff had been where he was. I couldn’t bring myself to stand next to him. Something primal told me not to.He stared at the house for a long time, inching his toes a bit further into the driveway every now and then. Once his heels were completely across, I got nervous.“Vinny, let’s go, its late. This isn’t a good idea. We have school tomorrow!”He finally turned away from the house, addressing me with disdain.“Fine. But we’re going to come back. This is important stuff man, it’s like we’re exploring the moon!”The next day the school was abuzz, the only topic was the house. Even the teachers got into our debates. The votes were to be tallied the next day to see what to do with the house itself. After last bell, I made my way over to the bike rack to meet Vinny, unsurprised to find him bragging about our midnight excursion to Donny and a few other eighth graders.“Is he full of shit or what?” Donny asked when he saw me coming up. I shook my head.“No, we really went to see it,” I replied. Donny spit on the ground and addressed Vinny.“I call bullshit. There’s no way you went into the drive. Let’s see you do it again.”Vinny rose to the challenge, eager to prove to Donny he wasn’t afraid.“Okay, Donny, meet me tonight, I’ll show you. Be there at midnight,” he told him.That night I waited for Vinny to signal to me that it was time. When he came to get me I tried to convince him to bail. He wasn’t having it.“No way, and have Donny tell everyone I was too afraid to meet him? Uh-uh! Plus, what if they bulldoze it down, don’t you want to be able to say that you were brave enough to go up to it?”It really didn’t matter to me, I was only feeling dread at the prospect of returning. Again, I found myself being dragged along, not wanting Vinny to be there alone in case Donny didn’t show. As we got to the roadblock I could see Donny’s silhouette and somebody else parked beside him. As we got closer I realized it was Tim.“I told him we were going, he wanted to come too,” Donny gestured to Tim. I was kind of glad to have more people around this time. I hadn’t liked the way Vinny was looking at the house last time. He made me think I might have to drag him away from it.“The more the merrier, eh? Alright Donny, watch and learn,” Vinny strode toward the driveway nonchalantly as we watched from the road. I held my breath as Vinny went even further than he had the night before. He went up the drive about twelve paces, then turned around, facing us with a huge grin on his face. Tim clapped sarcastically, Vinny took a bow and ran back over to us.“Alright, so I guess you’re not so full of shit,” Donny relented, “But, I can do better than that.”He marched up to the driveway, taking a nervous glance at the house before he ran up just ahead of where Vinny had stopped. Tim clapped again, Donny flipped us off before he came back over. My stomach was churning, feeling that we were really pushing our luck. Vinny was pissed that Donny had outdone him, saying he would do better than that. I begged him not to, making myself look like a wimp, but I was finally able to pry him away.“Hey, Vinny, maybe leave the baby at home next time!” Donny said, climbing on his bike and taking off down the hill with Tim. Vinny gave me a lot of shit the whole way back, saying that I had cost him a victory. I didn’t care, their new rivalry made me feel nauseous. I knew nothing good could come of it.The next day we had the outcome of the vote at noon, which ended in dramatic fashion.Mrs.Danforth had begged the town to leave the structure up, saying she thought demolishing it would only release whatever was held within onto the world. She shocked everybody by saying that they were moving out, going a county over and leaving their house for the last fifty years, and the town they had lived in their whole lives. About twenty people pitched in to help them load up, then they were gone, Mrs.Danforth weeping as they rode away.The only thing this meant to Vinny was that he could now venture to the mysterious house whenever he felt like it, without anybody around to see him.He and Donny upped the ante when we all met up to play the game again. They had a wooden chip that was painted blue on one side and red on the other. After they argued over who got to pick the color first, Donny ended up with red and Vinny with blue. They would place the chip at their feet, leaving their color right side up until the other person came to pick it up and walk it further. The first day we used the chip Vinny made it halfway to the barn. Donny claimed he had something to do when it was his turn, opting to call it quits at that point.Every time we went he would go a little further, able to beat Donny by a few feet. Tim and I were there only to be witnesses, it seemed. Some word circulated about the game they were playing, but even though Vinny was prone to bragging, he realized if he confirmed it, somebody would put a stop to it. Donny was just as tight lipped, surprisingly.The game continued, Vinny now only a few steps away from the barn. Every piece of me told me to stop him, to prevent him from going any further, but some morbid curiosity would overcome me, wondering if my brother may just prove to us the house was ordinary after all. As he smugly placed the chip down and strode back to us Donny was scowling. He looked like he was ready to prove something.“Alright, Vin, get your notebook out for this one!” he taunted. He jogged to where the chip was resting, but unlike they had done up to that point, he tossed it up towards the front porch. It landed with the blue side up just below the steps. Tim and I exchanged looks. Vinny’s expression didn’t change. Donny chuckled as he walked back, bumping into Vinny on purpose.“I changed the rules, whoever’s side it lands on has to walk to that spot now,” he said. Vinny looked like he was going into war as he made his way toward the chip. I put myself in front of him.“Vinny, please, don’t,” I begged. He shoved me aside. His eyes were focused on the porch, barely registering me.“You know I have to,” was all he said, continuing on his way. It was nerve-wracking to watch him go, each step he got closer we grew more tense. Even Donny began to second guess himself.“Hey, Vinny, let’s just get another thing to mark with, I think this might be a bad call…” he shouted, to no avail. Vinny had let this thrill become an obsession, there was no stopping him. Finally, he was bending down to pick up the chip. He held it high for us to see before he placed it on the top step, blue side up.We left after that, silently processing the last round. Vinny had purposefully called on himself to go up the steps. It seemed he no longer had anything to prove to Donny or anybody else, he was caught up in the rush he got from it. He came to me that night with an idea.“I’m going in next time,” he said. It didn’t surprise me, but I found tears running down my cheeks. I knew nothing I said would make a difference. I nodded my head.“I’m going to tie a rope to my waist, if anything goes wrong you guys can just pull me back out,” he continued. I fell asleep crying that night, not knowing how to stop what I feared would happen tomorrow.Tim and Donny were waiting for us the next day, gravely silent, waiting for Vinny to address them. He tied the rope and explained what he wanted them to do, asking me to be at the front of the line.“Vinny… I love you,” I whispered, trying not to cry. To my surprise Donny and Tim were also misty-eyed, clapping Vinny on the back and wishing him good luck. Vinny looked at us fondly, giving me a hug before turning away. I watched the rope uncoil by my feet until there was nearly nothing left. Vinny was on the top step. He looked back at us, then reached for the door.I wanted to scream at him to stop, to turn back and take me home, beg him to read me stories out of his favorite books, to ruffle my hair, to flash me his wicked smile. But I couldn’t. Some part of me had to know, just like he did, what this house was. I tightened my grip on the rope as he pushed the battered door open, revealing the dark entryway. He was there for a few seconds, then he disappeared from view.The rope nearly escaped from me. Something had yanked all three of us forward into the driveway. I kept my feet dug into the dirt but it was no use, whatever had a hold of Vinny was taking us all with him. My hands were being ripped apart, Tim and Donny were screaming behind me, all of us still keeping the rope in our grasp despite the agony. I was wailing, barely able to breathe from the exertion and terror.We were heading at the front steps with alarming speed. My heels left the ground and I tried bracing myself against the steps, pushing back with everything I had. By then Tim had let go, screaming at Donny and I to do the same. I flew upwards, smashing my knees and shins into the splintered wooden steps, being dragged to the doorway. I let out a cry of despair, fear, rage.I let go just before I was pulled through the dark entryway, falling to the porch and rolling to my feet, desperate to catch a glimpse of what was happening inside.I would never get one. The loop that had been tied around Vinny’s waist was tossed out at me, the door slamming shut immediately after.In my shock, I laid down, unable to comprehend what had happened. Donny ran up the steps and pulled me to my feet, taking me down the steps and away from whatever was in that house. The rest is a blur. I made it home. Tim and Donny had to retell what had happened up there, I was too shocked to speak.I moved into the old Danforth house when I got older. I didn’t buy it, it wasn’t for sale, but nobody was going to stop me from living there. I spend my nights on the porch, looking into the upstairs window, my brother staring back, surrounded by darkness, not a day older than the last time I saw him. via /r/scarystories https://ift.tt/2ICd5PZ