The Barn

The barn sat in the middle of the field. It was creepy looking. I was the youngest of three girls and I just turned fourteen during winter vacation. The barn was about a mile from the farmhouse in California. The thick fog made it look even creepier than it did.

“I dare you to go inside that barn,” my oldest sister, the first born, Christy said as she stared down at me. She had this smug look on her face.

Our parents had forbidden us to go inside the barn because it was unstable and looked as if it would fall down at any given moment. I shook my head. I didn’t want to go inside that barn not only because we weren’t allowed but because it was creepy and it was cold outside.

“You owe us, Chloe” my other sister, Sandra, said with a matching grin on her face.

I always hated it when the teamed up with each other. I also hated the fact that I was the youngest of the three. Our parents were at work and Christy was in charge because she’s eighteen. I turned my head to look out the window. It was still early in the morning and the fog grew thicker with each minute that passed. I held back a shiver. I didn’t want to go in that barn.

“Don’t be such a baby and go,” Christy said as she gave me a slight push.

Sandra shouldered passed Christy. “You better not tell mom and dad about this. Christy and I have plans for tonight.”

I didn’t like the way my sisters were grinning at me as if they had a secret and didn’t want to share. I didn’t even like they were staring at me. I inhaled a deep breath. “Fine,” I said through gritted teeth. I spun around and left the living room. I marched down the hallway and grabbed my jacket. Anger raced through my blood. I grabbed my black, knitted gloves and slipped them on. At times I hated my sisters whenever they talked me into dong something I don’t want to do. And this was one of those times.

I stormed back down the hallway and passed my sisters. The front door slammed behind me as I left the house. I didn’t have to look over my shoulder to know Christy and Sandra were watching me through the window. I stopped at the end of the sidewalk just at the dirt road began. I could barely make out the barn through the thick fog. Something in the window right below the roof caught my attention. It was a slight movement. I stopped in my tracks and watched the window; waiting to see if there was any more movement. “It must be the fog playing tricks on me,” I told myself. There were no other houses out here besides the one we’re living in. “The fog had shifted. That sounds like a good reason. I look over my shoulder at my house. I can barely make out the lights coming from the windows. I let out a deep breath before turning back to the barn. I held my head up high and went up to the door.

The hinges groaned loudly when I pushed it open. It was dark inside and I turned on my flashlight. The air was thick and musty when I stepped inside the barn. I paused when I heard a scratching sound. I aimed the light in the direction of the scratching sound and noticed a mouse scampering along one of the beams near the ceiling. I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath until I let it out. There was straw sticking out of places here and there all over the barn.

“I can do this,” I told myself as I stepped further into the barn. The door closed behind me and there were small puffs of fog coming from the cracks in the barn. It was cold enough that you could see my breath and I shivered slightly. “They didn’t say how long I have to stay in here.” I turned to leave when another scratching sound stopped me. I turned around and aimed the flashlight up into the loft area and didn’t see anything.

“Who’s there?” I asked. I had no idea why I asked that question. There was no one inside the barn with me. A rustling sound came from behind me and I swung around to see who it was. There was no one. I began to think one of my sisters or both of them were playing tricks on me. I began searching for another door but there was only the one that I came through earlier. There were a couple of windows in the barn and the one in the loft area.

“Sandra? Christy?” I called out. They didn’t answer. I started to get mad at them and they weren’t even in the barn. “That’s it. I’m leaving.”

“Don’t go,” a girl’s voice called out from the loft as I turned to leave.

I couldn’t move. I never heard of that voice before. I slowly turned back toward the loft and looked up with the flashlight guiding my way. I didn’t see anyone up but I know I heard someone. “Who’s there?” I called out. No one answered. “Sandra? Christy? Is that you?” They didn’t answer. I let out a sound of disgust. “They have to be pranking me. Well, I’m not going to fall for it. Not this time.”

I turned to leave when I saw something from the corner of my eye; a flickering of a light just above the loft. “Who’s there?” I called out. There was no answer. I shivered slightly and it wasn’t because of the cold. I was scared. My feet moved on their own toward the stairs leading to the loft when I head a scuffling sound.

“Is someone up there?” I called out again. And again, no one answered me. I climbed the steps one at a time all the while my heart was pounding. By the time I reached the top of the loft, the light was gone and no one was there. Not even a mouse or a stray cat. I shrugged my shoulders and made my way down the steps.

“Sandra, Christy, I’m not scared,” I called out but really I was scared and I didn’t want them to know their prank was really scaring me. I turned and started to leave the barn.

“Don’t go,” a voice said from somewhere in the barn.

I stopped. Another shiver cascaded down my spine. That voice didn’t belong to either of my sisters. It didn’t sound computerized or from some recording. It sounded real. I stood there stunned at what I heard. Finally, I made myself to turn around. The flashlight in my hand was griped tightly. My heart pounding as I shone the light right in front my. A few feet away from me stood a girl. She was about my age. The clothes she wore were from a different time period like the 1800s. The scary thing was the light from the flashlight shone right through her.

“Stay and play with me,” she begged.

I couldn’t scream because my throat was closed tightly. The best thing I could do at the time was turn and ran out of the barn. I didn’t stop running until I reached the yard to my house. I did notice the fog was beginning to lift the sun was shinning through. I stopped running just before the steps to the front door. I waited until my heart stopped pounding and my deep uneven breaths evened out and returned to normal before I entered my house.

Christy and Sandra didn’t even look up when I entered the house. They were too busy watching TV. I couldn’t tell them when I’ve seen or heard in the barn. They wouldn’t believe me anyway.

Who was that girl? What happened to her? I wondered an hour later. I went to my computer and tried to find out but couldn’t find out anything about her or the barn. I didn’t bother to ask my parents or my sister because I didn’t want them to know what I’ve seen or heard in the barn.