The Flower

The brick leading to the front porch was nicely maintained for a house that had been sitting empty for the better part of twenty years according to the listing online. The front porch was massive, and wrapped around one side of the house completely, its white posts gleaming in the southern sunlight. The listing said it was newly renovated, and she could believe it.

“Now this house is quite the steal for the area,” the realtor said, opening the screen door and holding it there for Natalie to walk through. Once she was inside she heard the telltale slam of the screen door, the wooden slap bringing back the memories of visiting her grandmother as a child and sitting on the porch with lemonade.

“It’s on two acres, with a well system that has been tested and works fine. It has a drain field rather than a septic tank, so less worries there. It’s also 2,500 square feet and has the magnificent porch you just saw which actually wraps around three quarters of the house.”

Natalie walked through, the flier for the house folded neatly in her right hand. She was biting the inside of her lip slightly in concentration as she looked around. She was expecting there to be something wrong with the inside since the price was a full $50,000 below what every other house in the area was, so she was looking carefully to see if there was water damage in the hardwood flooring, or signs of a leaking roof.

“What about the a/c and heater?” Natalie asked, her green eyes flickering to the short, plump agent who was standing by a large oak kitchen table that stood stoically in the dining room area.

“Perfect, we had that checked out as well,” Kara said, as she straightened the skirt she wore. Natalie could tell that she was uncomfortable. She fidgeted far too much.

Natalie walked upstairs. The house came partially furnished with some random pieces in each room. One of the rooms had pale yellow walls, a light pine colored dresser and side tables, and a comforter that was white with small yellow stripes horizontally across the bottom half.

The next room over was vacant but for an old wardrobe. The last room, however, seemed to have belonged to a child. It had half baby pink walls and the bottom was a beautiful white wainscoting. There was a small twin bed in the center with a beautiful baby blue quilt on it covered in small white flowers and the white silhouettes of woodland creatures. There was a toy box in the corner and a small desk with a chair in front of the window overlooking the back yard.

Natalie slowly made her way back downstairs, noticing that even the wooden banister was in good condition. Despite her keen eye and fervent skepticism she had been unable to find anything wrong with the house.

“So tell me,” Natalie began, sitting down at the kitchen table, putting her hands neatly in her lap, and looking up into the nervous face of the realtor who by this time was quite flushed, her cheeks bright pink against her almost pasty white skin. “What’s the catch?”

Kara sat too, a small sigh escaping her as if she had been holding it in for a year.

“I wondered when you would ask that question,” She said, setting her purse and notebook on the table in front of her. She looked less tense than before, but Natalie could still tell that she was quite uncomfortable.

“Years ago, a mother and her only child lived here. One day, the child went missing. The mother was looked at as a culprit for a long time but there was never any proof. The local sheriff called in federal help and there were several search parties, but nothing was ever found. The child was so young though, only 6 years old when she went missing, that no one had much hope. Nothing like this had ever happened around here and a lot of local people said that she just wandered off. Some people said the father came back for her. Some people said the mother killed her,” Kara continued, a slight shiver running through her involuntarily, "Anyway, after several months, everyone gave up hope.”

Kara’s brown hair was frizzing slightly from the humidity around them, and it seemed to add to her discomfort as she continued to run her hands through it in an attempt to push it back down.

“Then, about six months after the child’s disappearance, they found the mother. She had killed herself in the marigold patch in the back yard.”

Natalie’s eyes shifted so that she could look over Kara’s shoulder into the back yard where there was a small area that was weedy and obviously overgrown. She had not missed this one piece of disarray in the otherwise neatly maintained yard.

“The neighbor heard the shot and called the sheriff,” Kara continued, wiping her palms on her skirt, “and they eventually ruled it a suicide. There were whispers though that something else had happened to her, but nothing ever came of those rumors.”

“So that’s why the house has been empty for so long and why the bank seems to have worked so hard to give it curbside appeal?” Natalie asked, leaning forward and putting her elbows on the table. This was honestly a relief because she was thinking that there must be something structurally wrong with the home, or perhaps it had a bad termite infestation. She had convinced herself that this house was literally too good to be true.

“Yes,” Kara said, “No one will come near it. The bank bought it, renovated it, and took out the personal items, leaving just some furniture behind; but there was no extended family to claim the items so they all just got thrown away. No one could ever locate the child’s father either. It was as if he had simply disappeared as well.”

“Probably him that took the child,” Natalie said more to herself than Kara, then in a louder tone, “I’ll take it.”

Kara looked absolutely stunned, her mouth hanging open comically. Had Natalie not been so thrilled with her new purchase, she probably would have laughed.

“Seriously?” Kara had a look of shock in her face.

“Absolutely,” Natalie continued, “Like you said, it’s a steal for the price and I don’t spook. I don’t believe in ghosts either so there is no reason why I wouldn’t want it. It's perfect.”

Kara gave a fake smile, the sincerity of a normal smile not touching her eyes, and she got up out of the chair quicker than Natalie thought was possible. Clearly she didn’t want to be here anymore.

“That’s great, I’ll get started on the paperwork immediately.”

The next week came and went quickly with the movers putting all of Natalie’s stuff into the proper rooms. She had decided to keep everything that was originally here. She had the beds professionally cleaned and the linens washed. She put her own old bed in the previously vacant guest room for the guests that she so rarely had. She got rid of only the child’s items, donating them to the local salvation army.

She had hired a gardener as well to spruce up the yard and before she knew it the front porch was overlooking a bed of flowers and shrubs. The old garden that had been grown up was cleared and new fruit tree put in its place with a large mulch bed surrounding it. She decorated the front porch with small wicker chairs and hanging baskets that were spilling over with purple phlox.

The timer on her phone went off and she walked into the kitchen to take the pot pie out of the oven. It was her first official night in her new home and she had cooked herself dinner for the occasion. After dinner, she took a cup of coffee to the back porch and sat in the single rocking chair that was there, looking out over the yard at the sunset beyond. The pink and purple clouds were streaking the horizon like a paint brush gone awry and for the first time all week, she leaned back with nothing to do. The sound of crickets in the woods beyond the clearing echoed down to her and the wind turned south slightly, ruffling her dark hair, prompting her to pull it back into a loose bun as she continued to rock.

She had closed her eyes, listening to the sounds of the night and enjoying the slightly less humid air on her skin, when she heard the voice of a young child somewhere close by. Her eyes popped open with a start, but she continued to look up at the light blue ceiling of her porch, listening for more sounds. It came again. A low giggle, like one would hear from a nearby playground. She sat up and looked around. A small figure was kneeling in the edge of her yard, long blond curly hair blowing in the breeze. The child was in a white gown, her feet bare.

“Hello?” Natalie called, raising her voice high enough for the child to hear but no answer came in response. The child simply continued to squat on the edge of the wood line, looking into the shadows beyond. Natalie stood up and began to walk towards the child slowly.

“Hello there,” she said again as she walked but still no answer came. She had just reached the new apple tree when suddenly, as quickly as she had appeared, the child vanished. Natalie stopped walking, confused by what she had just seen. The hair on her neck stood up as she took a step backward and looked around the yard. She knew the child had been there the moment before but now there was no sign of her. She didn’t even remember looking away.

Slowly she took a deep breath and turned back to the house. She picked up the phone on the arm of the rocking chair and put it in her pocket, giving one last look behind her and the empty back yard as she did so. Rubbing her temple, she walked inside.

Up the stairs to the bathroom she went. She spent longer than usual washing her face, scrubbing away every inch of doubt and convincing herself all the while that what she had seen had been in her mind. She was very exhausted after all and the light had been low. She had probably seen a reflection of moonlight and her mind had misinterpreted it. By the time she finished brushing her teeth, she was convinced, all leftover strands of doubt gone from her mind as she walked toward her bedroom and opened the dresser drawer to get out a pair of pajamas.

Turning toward her bed to pull back the covers, she froze. All the color drained from her face and she backed up to sit at the desk chair behind her, her white knuckles grasping the arms and her knees shaking as she sat. There, on her pillow, sat a single yellow marigold flower. Then she heard a giggle.