I cringed every time I walked by it, especially at night… cold shivers ran up and down my spine and I increased my pace to get past it as quickly as I could… usually on the opposite side of the road.
Most of the windows that I could see were boarded up to cover the cracks… and probably to keep the rain and snow from getting in.
Unbroken windows were too grimy to see through, but… was it to prevent someone inside from looking out… or to prevent those on the outside from looking in? Or could it simply be a lack of motivation on someone’s part to keep them clean? Take your pick.
Once there had been pretty blue shutters around the windows… but over time they had come loose… and hearing them creak in the wind had caused many sleepless nights. Thankfully, they had eventually fallen off.
I often wondered how long the house had been empty… at least, I assumed it was empty. I had never seen any signs of life around the place… no one coming or going… no sound of doors opening and closing… no power or phone lines were connected… and no garbage can was ever put out to be emptied.
Once or twice I had seen what I thought was a dim light in an upstairs window that faced the road… a fleeting thought that was quickly dismissed… probably just a reflection from a street light… no one could possibly be living there. Still, I was never quite sure.
There were rumours, of course… I had heard them all when I moved into my own place… a cranky, old witch still lived in the house, casting evil spells… it was sometimes a hideout for criminals… and it was haunted… by the ghost of a young man who had been killed there by his wife… on Halloween. It was even said that you could hear him screaming on the anniversary of his death.
I ignored all these stories as the product of fertile imaginations. There were no old witches casting spells… no criminals hiding out in such places… and no screaming ghosts.
I did rather like the front door… the grey weather-beaten look… with stained glass panels on either side. That presented kind of a homey, lived-in look… but not homey enough to entice me closer… I still preferred to keep my distance.
Three nights ago – on Halloween – the house next door burned to the ground… cause still unknown… but, for a short time… it lit up the sky with the brightness of a noonday sun.
Did a witch’s spell go wrong? Did criminals cause it by lighting a fire to keep warm? Or did the ghost of a young husband finally end his misery by burning the house… and himself?
What was it about the house next door that had caused such an irrational fear in me? I don’t know. I never did know. I suppose, I never will know.
