Photograph entitled Haunted © by John D. Stanton 2006 www.3AMBlue.com.
The Magic House
© Mo Irvine 25 th October 2006
‘It's a magic house.'
‘Sez who?'
‘Sez everyone around here, you've only gotta ask.' Emily cast a sidelong glance at Owen as they lay prone in the grass, spiders and bugs crawling over their bare ankles.
She hoped he wasn't going to turn into someone she wished she hadn't invited along. Since he and his folks had moved into the property near her own folks' she'd been friendly when he'd been around, played with him occasionally, watched his patterns, sounded him out. But she'd never invited him to meet the gang. Now had seemed like the right time to bring him along to the Brunton house, so his disbelieving tone alarmed her.
The grass was three feet high and it was never cut because it grew in the paddock behind the old Brunton house. And no one ever went there because everyone knew there was something not right about the place.
‘Are you cool with this?' Emily snaked backwards towards the thin belt of trees that ringed the property. Then she clambered to her feet, dusting off her jeans and dirty T-shirt with equally dirty hands.
Waiting for them in the shade of a large old oak tree that was in full leaf, were Brian and Stella and Jimmy. They hadn't bothered with the commando shuffle in the grass because they'd all done it before. Jimmy was inexpertly smoking a cigarette and going red in the face.
‘Jimmy put that out! ' Emily hissed at him. ‘If you start a fire here we're gonna get toasted!'
‘Yeah, here and at home,' Stella said glumly, in an I-told-you-so voice.
Jimmy pinched the cigarette rather too hard between his fingers, wincing slightly before grinding it into the dirt and covering it with more soil.
He looked up at Owen, a speculative gleam in his eye. ‘So. What does new boy think of the house? Think he can do it?'
A flicker of fear passed across Owen's face as he sank down to the hard earth. ‘Do what?'
‘Oh, I didn't tell him yet,' said Emily, sitting down opposite Owen. ‘It's no biggy,' she told him, looking across at his worried face. ‘If you want to join us you have to go on into the house at night, and bring something out to us, as proof.' She caught Owen's eye. ‘We all wait out here so we can, you know, watch you go in and come out again.'
‘Hey, sounds cool,' he said, nonchalant. He looked down at the ground, then at the surrounding scenery, feigning indifference. ‘D'you mean the house is really magic? Or haunted?'
‘Magic,' said Stella.
Jimmy said, ‘Haunted.'
‘Well, did any of you see anything? When you were in there?'
‘Oh yeah,' said Jimmy. ‘I saw old man Brunton walking right towards me along the top landing, even though he's been dead, like, forever.' He made zombie-like creeping gestures with his arms. ‘Man, he looked pissed.'
Emily shivered.
Brian gave a shrug and said, ‘Yeah man, Jimmy said that old man Brunton was looking pretty green, too, you know?'
There was silence for a while as everyone digested this information and its implications.
‘I saw lights,' Stella announced suddenly.
‘Lights?' said Owen.
‘Ah, ignore her,' said Brian. ‘Stella's into UFOs. She's always seeing lights in the sky.'
‘Yeah, it was just a helicopter,' said Jimmy dismissively.
Stella's mouth set. ‘I know what I saw,' she said. ‘The house moved.'
‘Yeah right.'
‘Earth tremor, was all.'
‘So? Are you gonna do it?' said Emily, looking directly at Owen.
‘Yeah sure.' Affecting nonchalance. ‘Earth tremor?'
The gang looked pleased.
‘When?' asked Owen.
‘How about tonight?' said Brian.
Owen swallowed. ‘Sure.'
‘Okay, we'll all meet here at eleven,' said Emily, clambering to her feet again. She looked around. There was a murmur of agreement, then the rest of the gang stood up and disappeared through the trees.
*
The moon was almost full, the night sky clear of clouds as Owen crept up to the oak tree where the others were already waiting.
‘Thought you'd chickened out, man,' said Jimmy.
‘Nah, just had to wait for the folks to go to sleep.'
Emily turned to Owen, her face a pale blue oval in the moonlight.
‘Okay,' she said. ‘All you have to do is walk up to the door, go on in, and find something good from inside to bring back and show us.' Owen swallowed. The rest of the gang looked expectant. Jimmy smiled. ‘Then you'll be one of us.'
‘Sure.'
He stood up and trekked slowly towards the house, a small, skinny figure with stooped shoulders and dragging feet. Then he paused, set his shoulders and strode on a little faster, as if determined to show these kids what he was made of and bring back something really good. Because he wanted to be a member of their gang.
Owen reached the warped front door and leaned his shoulder against it. Even with his insubstantial weight, it opened a couple of feet and swung inwards with a loud creak. He hesitated a moment, glimpsed over towards the oak tree, then waved his hand and went inside.
That was the last time any of them saw him. After eight, ten minutes, when they were all beginning to get restless, Stella nudged Jimmy and pointed to the sky. He looked up and saw the bright light there. So did Brian and Emily. They all crouched, silent and open-mouthed, as the bright light drew closer, eventually coming to rest in the night air above the hulk of the Brunton house. It wasn't a helicopter.
As they watched, the house gave a perceptible shake, and they would swear afterwards that they heard Owen scream as the house rose into the air, higher and higher, wobbling slightly as if some unseen puppet-master was tweaking the strings. Then it vanished.
‘Well, holy shit,' said Jimmy. ‘You sure don't see that every day.'
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