Winchester: Footprints

Weird things began all throughout Lilly’s bedroom with her dark, eerie closet and her little cozy friend Lulu. We were starting to get a break from it though. It did not happen EVERY single night anymore, but occasionally. When I say we got a break, I only meant from the closet and dolly fiasco. Other strange things happened. The cold spots remained freezing. Every now and then, cold spots would travel around the house. Ever so often, I got the sensation of someone running past me, so close, but invisible; cool air brushing across my face or arm, wisping my hair off of my shoulder. I felt it, it would break my concentration from the task I was engaged in, but left me unsatisfied to find nothing responsible for it.

It was normally quite noisy in the house with two little children playing, the television on, or toys making noise. Nap time was an active time to say the least. A time that should have been peaceful and silent, was full of peculiar events. I would utilize the children’s nap time for doing my work as I worked from home. It was peaceful work, where I sat alone and made no sound at all. If the children awoke, I would surely hear it as the main door to the small hallway that took you to the two kids rooms and their bathroom was a bit wider than the door frame and, with force, you could open it but not without the sound of the wooden door grinding against the wooden door frame. There was no sneaking quietly out of that door. The children were sleeping and the door was shut. When I heard it, I knew the oldest was awake, but I did not hear it in the silence. I was sitting on the couch with a direct view down the hall in the living room, past the kitchen and wet bar, into the dining room right at the door to the children’s bedrooms. I heard something fall in the kitchen. This was rather odd seeing as how I was alone. I looked up down the hall waiting to see something. All of the sudden, I heard little feet. The sound of tiny little bare feet pitter pattering on the tile floor. I just knew that my son was out of bed; sneaking around. I wanted to catch him in the act.

I climbed over the back of the couch, not taking my eyes off of the hallway and entrance to the kids rooms. The kitchen window curtains were pulled allowing the sunlight to come in and would cast light on the shiny black ceramic tiled wet bar which would cause a reflection on the tiles so I could see the culprit running in the kitchen. I heard footsteps but saw no one. It was as if I was caught in some game of Hide and Seek. I walked slowly and quietly towards the kitchen and dining room. I got to the wet bar and kitchen entrance... there was no one in there. I walked a few more steps to the dining room where the door to the kids rooms was. It was empty and their door was still shut all of the way.

The dining room was at the front of the house with a gigantic front window and its chocolate brown curtains were pulled letting the sunlight in. There was a large heater running, so the room was pleasantly warm. I heard a small child giggling. I heard the footsteps running towards me and in the warmth I felt a cool wisp of air go in front of me with the footsteps as if the child ran right across the front of my face. It was cold, and I crouched down. On the black and white checkered, chess board floor, I saw small footsteps. They were formed by moisture, like that of when a warm and clammy foot is also cold and presses against cold tile in a warm room. These footsteps and the feeling of someone running in front of me went right to the door to my children’s room. I opened that loud, scraping door as quietly as I could, and both of my children were fast asleep.

Utterly confused, I walked back and went into the kitchen to see what had fallen earlier. It was a plastic cup. A plastic cup that was sitting on one side of my very wide kitchen counter all day. It was now in the sink about 4 feet from where it had been sitting all day. How could it have fallen that far? What caused it to move in the first place? None of it made any sense. Not only was that cup in the sink.... that same boring, but now peculiarly intriguing green pencil was back on the kitchen counter. Back where it was when I first got there.

To be continued...