The Permanent Residents

The Permanent Residents:

Boxes, boxes, and more boxes. Allison and her mother have just moved into a new house. It is the last week of summer before her senior year of high school and all this unpacking is getting exhausting.

“Hey mom,” Allison says as she leans up against the doorway of her mother’s bedroom, “would you mind if I invited a friend over for the night?”

“Of course, honey!” She excitedly agrees. “Who did you have in mind?”

“My best friend, Keisha, from school,” she replies.

Allison runs upstairs to her new room, grabs her cell phone, and plops down on the bed to text her friend. Her long, blond hair spreads out over the colorful quilt on her bed. She and Keisha used to have sleepovers all the time, but it has been a while. When Allison’s father passed away and they lost the house, she and her mother had to stay with relatives out of town until they could afford a new place. Allison was happy to finally have her belongings and her bed back out of storage.

“Allison!” Her mother calls, “I need some help in the kitchen!”

Allison jumps up and heads to the kitchen to help her mother prepare dinner. She slowly stirs the spaghetti sauce and inhales the aroma. The doorbell rings and Allison rushes over to invite her friend in. Except, it wasn’t her friend. It was an old man she had never seen before. His clothes were dirty and ripped. His gray hair and beard appeared to be ungroomed like he hadn’t showered in forever.

“C-can I help you?” Allison awkwardly asks, but the man just stood there, not saying a word.

Before Allison could ask him anything else, he suddenly runs off down the road. Allison closes the door and goes back to the kitchen to set the table. She places three plates down along with silverware. The doorbell rings again so Allison goes to answer the door, hoping it really is her friend this time.

“Oh my god, Allison!” Keisha barges in with a hug. “It’s so good to see you.”

Keisha always has a positive attitude and a smile to share with everyone. Her silky, light-colored blouses always go so good with her shiny, black hair. As she looks around, admiring the new place, she tells Allison all about everything that’s happened back in town over summer.

“Dinner’s ready.” Allison’s mother calls.

Usually, there would be all sorts of laughter and joking when the three of them would eat meals together, but Allison wasn’t in much of a mood for laughing. She was too preoccupied with the incident from earlier. Keisha could tell that something was bothering her but waited till after dinner to find out what was on her mind. The two girls helped clean up and then scurried upstairs.

Allison sits on the edge of her bed and Keisha sits down at Allison’s vanity. Keisha picks up the pink lip gloss and puts some on her plump lips then gazes at herself in the mirror for a second.

“You were awfully quiet at dinner tonight,” Keisha points out, “what’s bothering you?”

Allison told her about the strange man that came to the door earlier. Keisha assured her that it probably isn’t a big deal. It is really weird, but it doesn’t mean he is a threat. Keisha can be pretty convincing. Allison agrees, but still, she is left with uncertainty.

Allison’s mother had gone to bed and the two girls decided to watch movies in the living room. It was just past midnight when the doorbell rang. Allison shot up from the couch in fear. All she could think about was that strange, old man from earlier. Neither of them wanted to answer the door, but they were curious to find out who it was. They slowly peel open the curtain to peek out and see who was at the door, but no one was there.

“Should we call the cops?” Keisha asks.

“No,” Allison shakes her head, “let’s just go to bed and I’ll tell my mom in the morning.”

A while after Allison and Keisha fell asleep, they were awoken by a loud noise downstairs. Allison’s mother usually takes sleeping pills at night, which Allison is aware of so she knows it is not her mother, nor would her mother have been awoken by the sound. They both frighteningly walk down the stairs together, taking each step slowly and quietly till they reach the bottom. The first thing they notice is a candle in the window. The flame was flickering away and neither of them remembers lighting it. Staring at the flickering candle with total confusion, the feeling of terror creeps up their spines triggering panic and tears.

“What if he’s in here,” Allison whispers, “what do we do, what do we do.”

“Okay, maybe we should really call the police now,” Keisha suggests.

They turn to run back to the room for her cell phone, but standing at the bottom of the stairs is that strange, old man. The two girls freeze, their eyes wide, and their hearts pounding. The man just stood there glaring at them. As he began to move closer, they backed away until he reached up toward Keisha’s throat, pushing her up against the wall. Allison runs into her mother’s room.

“Wake up! Wake up!” Allison vigorously shakes her mother, screaming, “He’s hurting her!”

Assuming the sleeping pills are just too strong, Allison gives. Crying, she fell to her mother’s floor, just knowing he’s come for her next. Allison noticed something on her hands. Something wet and sticky, but it was too dark to see. She reaches for the lamp, turning on the light, only to discover that it was blood. Her mother was dead.

Devastation struck her like lightning as she let out a loud, screeching cry, “Noooooo!”

The front door slams shut. Allison comes out of her mother’s room to find Keisha and the man gone. Knowing that she cannot handle that man alone, Allison gets her cell phone. Barely able to press the correct buttons with her trembling fingers, she manages to dial 9-1-1 and get help on the way.

She hangs up the phone and collapses on the floor, sobbing and begging for an answer to this disastrous night.

The night ends with police sirens and flashing lights. Allison agrees to go down to the station to help identify the murderer. Her descriptions are very clear, but something isn’t right. One of the police officers brought out a picture of a man who had previously been arrested in the past.

“Is this the man you saw?” The officer asks, showing Allison the picture.

“Yes!” Allison had no doubt in her mind, “that’s definitely him!”

“See… the problem here,” the officer says, “is that this man has been dead for years.”

“So what are you saying?” Allison asks, becoming angry, “some ghost broke into my house, killed my mother, and kidnapped my best friend?”

“Actually, we aren't sure what he is...” the officer tried to explain.

“This is ridiculous!” Allison shouts, exploding with rage, “you should be putting that man behind bars!”

Allison stormed out in pure disbelief. There was no way this could be true. They must be lying, she thought. She went to the library to do research. Come to find out, the house is considered haunted and multiple deaths have occurred there. The same man she saw happened to be one of the people killed there over a decade ago. Every family that ever lived in that house has been murdered.

Desperate to get to the bottom of this mystery, Allison returns to the house. It is quite upsetting to face this place again, but she can feel it in her bones that something is just very wrong here. They never found Keisha. She could still be alive and they didn’t even bother to search for her. Allison circled the property, but no sign of Keisha, or the man.

It is getting late now and finding Keisha is starting to seem hopeless. Allison heads into her lonely home to make herself something to eat, but when she walks through the door, it smells like someone else is already cooking. Allison suspiciously creeps up to the kitchen and sees a woman hovering over the stove.

“Mom?” Allison is surprised when the woman turns to look at her. “Y-you were dead.”

The woman silently walks toward Allison. Blood begins to pour from her eyes. As Allison backs up, terrified, she bumps into someone else. It is Keisha, except she isn’t quite herself anymore. Keisha raises a knife in the air, about ready to stab Allison, but she wasn’t fast enough. Allison ducked and ran past her. She flies out the front door and there is that raggedy, old man again. As if it couldn’t get any worse, more random figures are approaching and there is nowhere to run… nowhere to hide.

This is it. It is over for Allison. Just as all these people who had died at this house, have become permanent residents, Allison now joins them as well because the residents who live in this house, never leave.