Within The Walls They Keep

He threw the stack of letters on the table, followed by his keys. The mail fell and scattered on the floor.

While picking them up, he came across a blue colored envelope with his Aunt’s address sitting in the return. He opened it up, “Call Me”.

He looked down at his phone at the missed calls, he had been absent-minded lately. Feeling himself drifting in and out of detachment throughout the past few days.

He got her on the line, “Your Mother’s house was left to you in the will.”

“The one on Pine Street?”, he asked.

“No, the one on Magnolia. It was right after you lost contact. I need you to come down and finalize the paperwork so you can officially take it over.”

He stepped into the house; her perfume lingered in the room. All her things brought back warm familiarities. He was afraid to feel for so long, a part of him felt at peace now that it was no longer a voluntary separation. “I can feel her with me.”, he thought.

He paused, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. It was her, but was it? Maybe I’m just seeing things. Weird stuff happens while you’re grieving.

He took a rest in the chair and fell asleep. “Pete, they’ve got me!”, he launched up out of the chair searching around for where that voice came from. He then felt a hard smack to the forehead and blacked out.

There his mother stood before him, “They have me.”

“Who’s they?!”, he questioned.

“The creatures in the wall”, she whispered. “We have to keep it low; they’re all sleeping right now.”

“How do I help you and wait what, how is this even a thing that’s happening.”, he went on.

“It all happened when I got the dream. This house appeared to me in that dream and then the next day we stopped talking and I can’t even remember what it was about. But the closer I got to the house, the more distant my memories became. Eventually, I forgot about you, the house blocked you out of my head. And then it sucked me in, and I was in the wall while my body sat lifeless in the chair right there. That’s when your aunt found me and it was so hard to watch, I was screaming and screaming towards her but nothing would get through. Until you came and well now here, we are.”, she explained.

“How do I get you out and how do I avoid these creatures or whatever?”, he asked.

“They can’t find us in the basement, the previous owner mixed silver in the paint of the walls and now nothing can enter it, including me though. So, if you are afraid and you need a place to hide, go, go there.”, she said. For right now, I’ll be here by the chair whenever you need me, here’s a list of what we need, and can you get your baby blanket?”

He ran out to the car where he kept the heirloom boxes and he grabbed his baby blanket and her locket with her mother’s picture, and her Father’s favorite book.

“Now put all the items down in the basement, but make sure they are lining the entrance, so I can step through, and the silver won’t harm me.”

He ran down to the basement and switched on all the lights so he could see what he was doing. He lined all the keepsakes along the entrance of the doorway. He ran back into the room, “why is it getting so hot in here?! Why is the daylight turning to night?”

“They’re here! They’re here! RUN! I’ll follow you!!!”

He ran down the hallway into the basement, the wind picked up almost blowing away all the items. There stood his mother, and he could see her step through the barrier. Her hand came through, he could grab it and then she felt a tug. The creatures grabbed ahold of her other arm, her veins turning black as she died within the other realm. “No, I won’t let them take you!”, he screamed and gave her hand a hard pull and she fell on through to his side.

“How do we get out of here?”, he questioned.

“There’s a secret passage through here, it’s the way that the owner escaped when he was stuck down here at its worst.”, she said.

It was dark and damp, it smelled like antiques and memories. And there they stood before us, her mother and father with a lantern. They helped us find the end of the passage where we were able to escape to safety. We hugged them and they vanished before us. They could see the creatures from the outside, looking out the window.

“Let’s go home”