Three Story Heart

There once was a man named Ted.

Ted was 35, overweight, and just lost his job. The best thing Ted had going for him was his bushy black beard and killer blue eyes. Otherwise, he was just a man down on his luck.

One day as Ted was finishing off his second bag of chips and questioning why he was alive, he saw a commercial that caught his attention.

"Are you just sitting in your house, eating a bag of chips, waiting for something exciting to happen to you? Well, wait no longer! Old Man Ravenport has recently died and his house is said to do things that are...not normal. Since his death, no one has been able to successfully spend the night in his house. So here's the challenge: stay in his house overnight, write down all that happens to you there, and be the first to win $20,000. Call this number and sign up quickly as only one person is allowed in the house for this challenge at a time. What are you waiting for? This could be just the break you need!"

Ted grabbed his phone and dialed the number. After a few spooky prompts, Ted got through to someone. The next available date was two weeks away. He told the lady to sign him up immediately.

Ted got off the phone and looked in the mirror. He puffed out his chest, brushed some crumbs out of his beard, and nodded vigorously. He was ready for a positive change in his life.

Two weeks passed rather quickly. Ted drove up a long winding hill and approached the house. It was a large white house, three stories tall. None of the windows had any curtains in them, and the house looked run down and in need of serious repair.

Ted parked his car near the house (his car was the only one there), grabbed his bag, and walked up to the front door. There was a sign on the door that said "Challenger beware! Come inside only if you dare!"

Ted rolled his eyes, pushed open the door, and stepped inside. The room looked like an old kitchen with a small table, empty white shelves, and a fireplace across the room. As Ted stepped into the room, a fire started in the fireplace. Ted figured it must have been on a timer to spook the challengers as they entered. Ted wasn't impressed.

As Ted looked around the room, he noticed a letter on the table, along with a little black notebook, a golden key, and a bright red pen. "Dear Challenger, thank you for your interest in Old Man Ravenport's Overnight Challenge. As you progress through this house, beware as deep secrets and even deeper fears have been known to come to light. Record it all as you'll see things you later won't believe you saw. If you make it through the night, call us on the house phone on the third floor in the morning, and you will be the first to win $20,000. But be warned! If you leave the house for any reason, your challenge is forfeit. Sign your name below and get ready for the most revealing night of your life!"

Ted signed his name, grabbed the notebook, key, and pen, and started the challenge.

After looking around the first floor, Ted noticed a small landing and a stairwell that was crudely boarded up. He wedged himself between the boards, and very carefully climbed the stairs.

The stairwell led into a cavernous room with an odd green couch, an old orange lamp, and a large dining room table that had ten chairs around it. As Ted turned on the lamp, he noticed seven words emerge on the table: CHANGE IS POSSIBLE, ONLY IN THE LIGHT. When he turned off the lamp, the words disappeared. Ted grabbed the notebook, turned the light back on, and wrote down the cryptic message.

Around the corner from the room, Ted noticed a long hallway with two doors. He slowly walked over to the first door. Across the door, in the same handwriting as the words on the table, were the words 'WHERE YOU LEARNED NOT TO TRUST.'

Ted pushed opened the door and stepped into a large yellow room. The only furniture in the room was a long brown dresser with an old TV on the middle of it.

Ted flipped on the TV and immediately an old home movie started to play. He watched as a little boy was standing on top of a big rock. His Dad's girlfriend was beckoning him to jump into her arms. The boy refused, and ran down the rock, right past the girlfriend. The boy's Dad (who was filming the home video) laughed and said that was just like him, not to trust.

When the scene was over, the TV turned off by itself. Ted stood there staring at the TV. He thought the little boy looked familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

Just then, in the stillness, a voice whispered to Ted, "That little boy... That's you! I can heal that wound inside you and help you learn to trust again." The voice was deep and mysterious.

Ted looked around to find out where the voice was coming from, but no one else was in the room but him.

This was the first time Ted actually felt afraid. He thought the fireplace, the creepy steps, and the letters on the table and door we're just parlor tricks. But this was different. This was creepy! No wonder people didn't make it through the night!

Ted grabbed his notebook and wrote down everything he saw in the video, followed by the message the voice told him.

He wondered: what if the voice was right? What if he WAS the boy in the video, and what if this WAS the place he learned not to trust?

Ted determined that no matter how weird things got, he would press on. He closed the door, and as he continued down the hallway, the words were slowly erased from the door.

Ted made it to the second room. Across the door, in the same handwriting as the words on the table and the first door, were the words 'WHERE YOU LEARNED NOT TO FEEL.'

Ted pushed opened the door and stepped into a small blue room. The only thing in this room was an old 1950's radio. Ted flipped the switch to turn it on.

Instead of playing a song, it played what sounded like a recording of kids on a bus. The kids were all shouting "crackhead, crackhead" at the top of their lungs. Ted then heard a kid (the one being teased) wishing that everyone would just shut up and that he could somehow turn invisible.

Ted was frozen in place. Unlike the scene from the first room, he definitely knew this was him.

Ted felt himself choking up. He hadn't thought of this event in years. He grabbed his notebook, and with tears in his eyes, began to write it all down.

In the stillness of the little blue room, that same voice whispered to him again, "I can heal this wound inside you, too, Ted, and can help you learn to feel again."

Ted felt himself tightening up in anger. He thought about calling it quits. Who needed this sort of probing? Certainly not him! This wasn't worth $20,000.

But after taking a few deep breaths, Ted decided to not give up. So far, no one was able to beat this challenge. Ted wanted to be the first, even if it meant his heart was ripped open and exposed.

Ted gathered his things, closed the door, and continued down the hallway. Just like the first door, the words on this door started to vanish as well.

At the end of the hallway, there was a door that led outside. Ted thought it was placed a little too perfectly after his experience in the first two rooms. Determined not to take the easy exit, Ted ignored the door and rounded the corner.

There was another flight of stairs, leading up to the third and final floor. Ted pushed aside some cobwebs, and climbed the creaky wooden stairs.

At the top of the stairs, there was an old wooden door with the words 'WHERE YOU LEARNED NOT TO TALK' scrawled into the door. The door was locked with a thick silver padlock. Ted remembered the golden key he grabbed at the beginning of the night. He pulled it out, tried it in the padlock, and sure enough, the lock clicked open.

Ted opened the door. The attic room was an adobe red and smelled quite stale. There was an oriental rug, two burgundy chairs, and a silver mirror between the chairs. On the wall opposite the chairs was a black rotary phone hanging on the wall.

As he looked around the room, Ted could feel his heart beating out of his chest. It seemed that all of this was getting to him. He took a few deep breaths and turned around to face the mirror.

As Ted looked in the mirror, the strangest thing happened. Instead of seeing his reflection, Ted saw a boy looking at him! The boy looked sad and if he was about to cry. Ted looked closer. It was him!

The little boy's lips quivered as he began to speak: "I'm not worth being loved. I'm fat, stupid, and useless. My needs don't matter, and I don't matter. That's the truth!"

The boy kept saying this over and over again. As Ted stood there trying to figure out what to say, the same voice from earlier emerged very strongly.

"This is NOT the truth! You ARE worth being loved! You are not your greatest struggles. Your needs matter, and you matter. That's the truth!"

At this, something inside Ted broke. He slumped down next to the mirror and started to weep.

Ted felt a heaviness fall off him. These lies, deeply embedded in his heart, kept him a slave to fear most of his life. Not anymore! Ted was free!

Ted grabbed the notebook, sat down in one of the chairs, and wrote down the words, "I am worth being loved! I am NOT my greatest struggles! My needs matter, and I matter. That's the truth!"

As Ted thought about these words, the words on the door disappeared, and he fell fast asleep, more alive and free than he felt in decades.

The next morning, Ted woke up with a crick in his neck. He looked around and realized it was morning. He had passed the challenge!

He grabbed the black phone hanging on the wall and dialed the number.

"Congratulations, Ted!" a lady said, very excited. "You're the first and only person to beat old man Ravenport's challenge! I have a few questions for you. Why do you think you were able to beat it?"

"I don't think people really want to face their limits," Ted answered. "It's unnerving allowing another voice besides your own to guide your ways. I think people would rather ignore that voice and limp through life chained to their fears."

"So what are you going to do with your prize money?" The lady asked.

"Instead of blowing it all on myself, I'd like to use it as seed money to start a place where people can freely come, open their hearts, and find the healing they so desperately need. I learned through this experience that change really is possible."

"You wouldn't spend any of it on yourself?" The lady asked.

"Well maybe some of it. But when you taste real freedom like I did, it only cheapens it to squander it all on yourself."

"What would you call this place?"

Ted thought for a moment. "I think I will call it Freedom House, a place where people can learn to trust, feel, and talk again, just like I did."