The House on Cortland Road

It wasn't the perfect house by any means, but it was up for $100,000 right on a beautiful lake in a nice, rural community surrounded by forest and farmland. That should've been the first red flag. It was the year 2000, my husband and I were young and naive, only twenty-five years old. We had been married for two years and had saved every penny we had to buy our first home. We had decided to move so I could be closer to work, I worked as a veterinary technician and he was going to be starting a new job as a human resources manager.

The house was about fifty-five years old, needed to be fixed in some areas and the wallpaper was outdated. The previous owner was an elderly man, who had actually passed two months before the place was sold by his estranged nephew, who being the only family the man had, got it in the will. The elderly man's name was Edward and he had bought the brand new house at the age of thirty.

Brad had taken vacation for two weeks to start fixing up the place, but I started back at work after the weekend we moved in. After work every day, I helped Brad unpack boxes, move furniture, begin tearing the wallpaper and paint. The house was big, had two floors, with two and a half bathrooms, three bedrooms, a small den, a large kitchen, a dining room area and living room.

Our first week in the house was quite uneventful, until we were in the third bedroom that would eventually become the nursery and we found a little black book, one Sunday evening in May. I showed it to Brad, who threw it in the garbage.

"Aren't you curious as to who's it is and what it says?", I asked. He shook his head and went back to work. That night, we kept waking to the sounds of footsteps and shuffling around the house. Monday morning came quick and I was the first one up, seeing as I had to work that day. The little black book I had found was on my side table and I let out a screech.

"Brad, how did it get from the garbage to beside the bed?", I asked, scared to say the least. "Is this some funny prank of yours?"

Brad started laughing at first, but when he saw how upset I was, he stopped.

"No, honey", he said, "Sorry, come on Rose, no I didn't put it there"

I threw it away again and went to work, where I thought about it all day. My car wouldn't start after work and of course, my phone died. One of my co-workers, Elizabeth, decided to give me a drive home so I could get help from Brad.

"So where do you live?", Elizabeth asked. I gestured to the dirt road, I could see it.

"129 Courtland Road, it's the dirt one right ahead of us."

Elizabeth abruptly stopped the car, and turned towards me. She looked as white as a sheet.

"I think this is far enough", she whispered. Deciding not to argue, I thanked her quickly and got out of the car. I walked home, with a sinking feeling in my stomach. I told Brad what happened and he shrugged it off, calling Elizabeth crazy.

We had supper, cleaned up, and around ten o'clock we went to bed. I slept lightly, tossing and turning. I couldn't stop thinking about the little black book. I began to hear the footsteps again, and tried to ignore them. They got louder, and started to come up the stairs. I glanced at the alarm clock and it was quarter to three in the morning. I rolled over and there was finally silence. I listened to my breathing, trying to focus on that and not be scared. I was on the edge of sleep when I heard Brad.

"Rose, stop tickling me."

"I'm not touching you, I'm not even facing you"

Our bed started to shake and Brad and I sat up fast, and looked at each other. We jumped off of the bed and it stopped. The footsteps started again, coming up the stairs. Something started knocking on the walls.

"Brad, I heard that earlier too," I said, my voice trembling. "We need to leave" He nodded and wasting no time, we opened the bedroom door to go downstairs only to find a young girl waiting outside it. I screamed and backed up. The girl had scraggly, wet red hair and looked to be wet all over. I couldn't see her eyes, but her skin looked so pale and when she entered the room, a chill came with her. She threw something at us and it landed hard on my stomach. It was the notebook.

"I think she wants us to read this", I whispered. Brad tried to go to the door and it slammed shut. The girl screeched and it seemed to fill the whole house. Shaking, I sat down on the bed and skimmed through the pages of the little notebook.

October 9, 1973

Dear diary, dad has become a monster. All he does is drink, and hits mom. I'm so scared.

October 17, 1973

Dear diary, mama has a black eye and dad has disappeared for a couple days.

October 30, 1973

Dear Diary, dad came back and at least while he is at work, the house is quiet and peaceful.

November 5, 1973

Dear Diary, dad beat mama up last night. She is at the hospital now, I hope she will be ok.

November 16, 1973

Dad and mama were fighting, and she threatened to leave him. She said "I do not want you touching Lucy, she is just a kid!" I am fifteen, I am not a kid anymore. I will protect her.

November 29, 1973,

Mama left this morning. It's really late now, I don't know when she will be back. Dad is passed out on the couch.

December 25, 1973

I don't think Mama will be back. No presents under the tree.

January 16, 1974

It was hard, but I got a job. The man at the convenience store down the road took pity on me and lets me work there 3 days a week. I am so busy. I'm saving every penny I have and hiding it by the lake, far into the woods so dad doesn't find it.

January 18, 1974

Mama left me money, it is a lot. I'm adding it to my stash, I am leaving here.

March 1, 1974

I am 16. I miss mama. I am leaving here and I will find her. Dad hit me yesterday, he blames me for mama leaving and said he hates me.

March 13, 1974

Dad found out about the job and told me I can't go anymore. I know he has money somewheres and I am going to take it too. I can't work anymore and dad gave me a black eye. He threatened to kill me.

April 6, 1974

Dad came into my room last night and stank of alcohol. He made me uncomfortable. He hurt me.

April 14, 1974

Dad keeps hurting me at night. I am scared. Help me.

April 19, 1974

Dad was throwing things at me and I ran into my room. I have the door locked, but he is trying to knock it down. I am scared, I am goi

"Oh my god!", I exclaimed, looking at the girl. "Lucy, what did he do to you?" The girl started to fade in and out, but I heard her whisper before she completely disappeared.

"Find me."

The door opened slowly and I looked at Brad.

"We need to find her." He looked at me, frowning.

"Rose, I don't know what the hell just happened but we need to go now!"

"That poor girl just wants justice, that man, Edward, he did something horrible...she wants peace." With a sigh, Brad nodded and gestured for me to lead the way. I went in the direction of the lake, she had been wet and I believed he drowned her. I had a tight grip on the notebook and ran right to the water.

"What are you doing?", Brad asked. I turned to him, and gave him the notebook.

"I'm going swimming"

He gave me back the book.

"Let's check the edge of the forest first," he said. We walked the edge of the forest for what seemed like hours. We dug multiple holes, until we were almost to the edge of the property line. That's when we saw the little cross and we dug. We found her bones, but did not touch them. Brad pulled out a lighter he had brought with him and lit the bones on fire. In shock, we walked back out of the forest, back towards the house.

"Let's just grab the important items and leave", I demanded, "I don't ever want to come back to this town again" Brad nodded. We began to pack the stuff we needed, taking only fifteen minutes. I was bent over, looking under the bed when I saw a lifted floorboard. I couldn't help myself, but I reached under the floor. Inside, were two packages. I opened them and one had $20,000 sitting in it and the other had $50,000. I stood up, packages in hand and Lucy was there.

"I thought you put the money by the lake", I whispered.

"I did, dad started searching through the forest wondering where I hid my money", she replied, "I hid it here, in what used to be mama and dad's room, the one place he would never think to look."

"You smart girl."

Lucy began to fade in and out. Tears filled my eyes.

"I have to go...thank you", she said and faded away. The chill in the room was gone and I looked out the window to see the sun starting to peak over the horizon. I cried freely, being the empathetic person I am. I went back downstairs to my husband. My car suddenly was able to start again and we left that goddamn house.

It's been forty-five years now, and that was the first and last time we encountered a ghost. We took part of that money, quit our jobs and took the honeymoon we never had. When we came back, we rented out another apartment and began new jobs. We eventually got a dog and had three kids. We had a very peaceful life together and we never told anybody about that night, but I know we both think of it often. We have retired and live with one of our daughters.

I don't know who bought that house after we left, and I don't plan to ever find out. We left there and never went back to visit that quaint little town in California. We burned the notebook and I am glad to say Lucy is at peace.