"Ghosts and Spirits! That's an urban legend," said Jessica. It's just an empty old house, made of wood, nails, and moldy air. I dare all of you to spend the night with me and find out for yourselves."
"I'm in," said Jared.
"Me to," said Micheal.
They all turned to look at Em, who was usually the most daring one of all. Her face looked pale, and her eyes looked hollow and frightened.
"Come on, Em, your not chicken, are you? Em's scared! She's a scaredy-cat!"
The young teens chanted.
***
Em's memory was faraway.
A small boy up in the tree called out to Em, " Look at me, I can stand on this branch!" He was Em's twin brother.
They played alone for hours around the grounds of the abandoned house. Their mother warned them to stay away from the pet cemetery behind it. Of course, being children, they sneaked off to visit the forbidden cemetery where they would dance and sing around the gravestones under the dappled light. Em pretended to see animal ghosts, and Petey played along with her. The tombstones had dog collars and bones on them. The children were never frightened until one evening when the sun just went down, a dark man came out of the shadows, warning them to stay away from the cemetery when the moon was full. As the sky grew darker and the moon became brighter he began to change. His teeth were long, and he wore an old fashioned black top hat and cloak. His eyes, his EYES were yellow and fierce.
"Run," said Em under her breath. Petey ran as hard as he could on his small legs. Em cried out louder this time, "Run to the abandoned house and hide. Don't come out until I come and get you! GO!"
Petey ran. Em was too frightened to move, she tried to will her legs to run, but she was paralyzed with fear. The creature stepped closer and closer, she could smell his foul breath. It was like death. She squeezed her eyes so tight that she saw colors under her eye-lids. It was better than seeing the man's yellow eyes and sharp teeth. Em could hear a low growl escape his throat. Threatening like when their dog heard strangers come to the door, but this was ten times more fierce than their dog. Emma prayed and held the gold cross around her neck, then everything went black.
Hours later, she woke up inside the house, wolf fur was scattered on the floor with the top hat laying under the stairwell. Em's brother was never found. No one believed her story. All the grown-ups told her she dreamt it. She never remembered what happened between the yellow-eyed creature's meeting in the cemetery to the time she woke up in the abandoned house. It haunted her in the day time and in her dreams at night when she woke up screaming.
"Yes, I'll stay at the house. It's a stupid dare!" Em said defiantly, she knew she would recall her lost hours if she took up the dare. She wanted to remember. She wanted to remember bad.
***
Em always believed Petey was alive. She sensed it with as much certainty as she knew that one and one equals two. Before Petey disappeared, Em and Petey were together every hour of the day, playing the same games, eating the same peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, wearing the same colors. Their mother said they were "in tune" because they seemed to be reading each other's thoughts and finishing each other's sentences.
One afternoon, their Mom and Dad separated the twins.
"You better start getting used to doing things without the other because you won't be together every minute when you get older," their parents told them. Both children could not imagine being away from the other now or in the future, but they agreed to spend the day as they were asked.
Petey spent the day with their Dad in the barn, Em spent her day with their Mom.
Petey climbed the ladder inside the barn playing in the hayloft. He always liked to climb things, it was his favorite thing to do. He was confident and agile, but his mind was less focused without his sister nearby, he got too close to the ledge and toppled off, breaking his arm.
Em was in the kitchen, stirring a bowl of something sweet with her mother when she felt an agonizing pain in her arm. She grabbed her arm screaming and crying. Her mother rushed to her side and saw nothing wrong with Em's arm. A few minutes later, their father rushed inside the kitchen carrying Petey, who was crying uncontrollably.
"Petey broke his arm," he said. He looked at Em crying and asked what happened, and their mother said she just started crying and holding her arm.
"Pete's hurt, my arm is broke too," was all four-year-old Em said. The family knew at that moment that the twins had an inexplicably tight connection. Almost as though they were one person.
***
Micheal, Jessica, and Jared high fived each other. "Yes! We're going to the Death House!" they all exclaimed. Em became unusually quiet, and they started taunting her again, "Em's a chicken s---t!"
"I'll stay the night at the Death House by myself. You're ALL too chicken to do THAT," she taunted right back. Em was the most daring of the group, and she wanted to keep it that way.
"You can't stay by yourself," said Jessica. You can't prove you stayed all night unless we're all there together!"
"Well, okay then," Em said sarcastically. "Have it YOUR way."
Secretly she was glad they were all going, but she didn't want to be called a Chicken s---t ever again.
Em arrived early to the abandoned house. She wanted to get there first to show she was the bravest one. Her friends didn't know the story about her twin brother, and she tried to keep it that way. It was her and Petey's story.
The sun was still bright when she arrived, and the house didn't seem scary like it did at night. The faded paint seemed more colorful, the windows looked cleaner, the house almost seemed inviting. Em stepped up the porch, carrying a sleeping bag, a duffle bag, and some food. The door gave way easily when she opened it. When she walked in, everything inside seemed to turn from dingy black and white into full color. The wallpaper was covered with pink roses, the wood floor looked polished, round rope rugs were underneath furniture, doilies were on everything - couch, chairs, mantel, tables.
Em wondered why old people liked doilies so much. She hated them.
A crystal chandelier reflected light on the ceiling. Candles lined the top of the mantle. A framed painting of a dapper man wearing a topcoat and hat with a wolf-dog hung over the fireplace. He seemed familiar to her, but she didn't know why.
Em felt confused, she knew that this house has been empty for as long as she, her parents, and her grandparents can remember. Forever. Why was it furnished now?
Nobody, not even her parents, ever spoke about the house, her missing brother, or why all the kids called it Death House. As far as Em knew, no one had actually died in it, yet everyone says it's haunted, and the pet cemetery behind it is supposed to be full of spirits. Em had not been back to the Pet Cemetery since her brother went missing on that fateful day when they were both five.
She continued on, the fear she felt vanished under the veneer of the decor and sunshine.
Em stepped through the living room to where the staircase was. The top-hat was lying exactly where she remembered it on the night she woke up in the house years ago.
"Ring-a-round the rosie,
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall down."
It's Petey, thought Em! They played the game in the Pet Cemetery over and over again when they were small.
"Petey? Where are.you? cried Em
***
Em kept calling Petey's name, following his sing-song voice to the back of the house, and further beyond towards the pet cemetery. Headstones shaped like dogs, cats, and birds sat in crumbled disrepair. Leashes and collars were lying on many with loving messages inscribed by their owners—Best Dog Ever, Missy the Cat That Brought Home Gifts. In the center stood a white marble statue of the same man whose portrait sat above the house's fireplace. He wore a top hat with a wolf by his side. It was in perfect condition standing out among the ruins.
"...ring a round of rosies,
pocket full of posies,
ashes, ashes,
we all fall DOWN!"
A gaggle of joyful giggles erupted in the air. Em was close. She could feel his presence.
"Petey, it's me, Em!"
A curly-haired red-headed boy was rolling with laughter in the tall grass. It was Petey. He was still five years old. The young teen bent to touch him, and he reached his small hand towards hers. Their hands gripped.
"You ARE real!" Em looked into his eyes, an exact match to her own.
Em knew this was real. Her usual rational mind pushed away any skepticism she would ordinarily have. She didn't question the reality of what was happening. She believed it.
Petey took both her hands and started the song again. They spun in dizzying circles.
"...and we all fall DOWN!" They both sang, collapsing in the field laughing!
"Again!" said Petey. "Again!"
The twins spun around in the dappled light just like they did nine years ago, imagining ghost dogs and cats playing with them; only this time, the ghosts were real.
***
"Hey, Em! What are you doing out there?" It was her group of friends arriving at the house.
Em was dancing in circles by herself in the Pet Cemetery. Mike, Jared, and Jessica all looked at each other and shrugged.
"Whatever," said Jessica.
"We were looking all over for you," called Mike. "Come back into The Death House." He said in a ghoulish voice like Boris Karloff.
Em collapsed into the grassy cemetery and laid very still. She didn't hear the "gang" calling out to her. Only Petey's happy laughter. Em felt whole again with deep contentment, she never even knew she missed.
Then she blacked out.
***
"Em! Wake up. You okay?" Mike, Jessica, and Jared were shaking her.
She was lying under the stairwell in the same place she was found nine years ago. The house looked dingy, and stank of mold. There were holes in the rotten wood floor, and the walls had planks missing, there was no furniture.
Em felt groggy as though she were drugged. The house didn't resemble anything like what she saw when she first walked in.
"Get away from me!" She said, sitting up.
"We found you in the Pet Cemetery and thought you hit your head," said Mike. "We thought you were dead," said Jared. "What were you doing out there dancing by yourself, anyway?"
"I wasn't doing anything, just looking around, waiting for you guys to show up," Em was annoyed. She didn't like anyone fussing over her. She stood up and looked at their surroundings. Did she imagine everything? It felt so real, the rugs, the freaking doilies, the chandelier, and the tophat man's portrait.
Then she thought to herself maybe THIS isn't real. She stomped her boot hard on the floor, seeing her shoe go partly through. Okay, this is real, she thought.
"Let's set up our sleeping bags and wait for the Death House to come alive," Em said, mimicking Mikes Boris Karloff imitation. She liked Mike most of all and was glad he was her best friend. Best friends get married, she thought to herself. She was setting her sleeping bag between his and Jessica's, putting herself in the middle.
"I brought marshmallows and chocolate bars for S'mores," said Mike.
"I brought graham crackers, said Jared holding them up over his head, being a dork as usual.
"We can make them in the fireplace." Mike finished. He was loyal to Jared. The boys were next-door neighbors their whole life; they were practically brothers. Jared was geeky and liked computer games and comic books. Mike liked basketball and camping with his dad.
"Did you bring matches?" asked Jessica
"Of course, I was a good boy scout --until I got kicked out," said Mike, laughing.
Jessica smiled, "A bad boy, huh?"
Em noticed the flirtation and felt jealousy rising in her. He'd never go for Jessica, thought Em. She's not Mike's type at all.
The friends set up their sleeping circle and lanterns and went to collect wood.
"The night is young, and so are we
We can do anything
'Cause we are
Free free free free, free free
And life is
Free free free free, free free" they sang.
***
The fire crackled in the fireplace, and the smoke covered up the mildew smell that permeated the old house.
"If my folks knew I was sleeping here, they would kill me," said Jared. "My mom is more afraid of mildew than we are of ghosts."
"I'm not afraid of ghosts," said Em.
"What are you afraid of?" asked Mike. "Everyone is afraid of something. That's what my Dad says. Fear is healthy, it keeps you alert, and that's what keeps you safe. You know what I'm afraid of," he wasn't asking, just telling. "I'm afraid of white-water rafting. Last summer, I told my parents I had to go summer school to get out of going on a rafting trip my Dad wanted to plan," Mike looked around at his friend's surprised faces. "You guys are the only ones I told this to," he became quiet, remembering his Dad's disappointment. Mike went rafting with his Dad when he was nine, and he never forgot how scary it was.
"You went to summer school to get out of rafting!? I didn't think you were afraid of anything, especially white water rafting I thought you'd be the first to go over a waterfall," said Jared stupefied.
Jessica held a marshmallow on a twig in the fire. She stared at it intently. Mike nudged her with his shoulder and asked, "What are you afraid of Jess?"
"Wouldn't you like to know," she said, grinning shyly, swaying back towards him. "Oh, come on, tell us. It's your turn." Mike encouraged her. Jared watched her face closely too. Em felt her jealousy coming back.
"You know what I'm afraid of?" I'm afraid my Mom is pregnant. My folks won't talk about it in front of me, and Mrs. Busy Body came over and asked my Mom if she still gets sick in the morning. I don't want to have a little brother or sister 14 years younger than me." Jessica kept looking at her marshmallow that was burning black on the outside. "So that's my secret fear," said Jessica. What she didn't say was that she was worried about her Mom's life. She knew she had a risk of dying in childbirth, and that was why Jessica had no brothers and sisters.
Mike didn't know what to say to that, so he tipped his chin towards Em. "What's your fear Em? Tell us." His voice was quieter this time coaxing. Em hesitated, "Jessie, you better put that marshmallow between some chocolate before it falls in the fire," she said. Jessica blew out the flame on her marshmallow, made a S'more, and licked the melted chocolate off her fingers, tilting her head back to catch it all.
"Come on, tell us," said Mike. The fire started to die down, and the room became darker. Something creaked loud in the attic, and they all grew still, listening.
"I'm afraid of this house," Em said, barely in a whisper.
Then a loud clatter echoed from the attic. They all grew tense with fear.
"Shhh," Mike made a motion with his hand, and they all stayed still. The fire went out, and the room went black. Suddenly, the crickets stopped chirping, and only the light of the moon streamed through the window. "AhhhhHHH!" came a scream and a monster stood in front of them, its eyes were dark and hollow, and it had long fangs! Jared, Em, and Jessica all screamed at the same time. Bright light moved wildly across the creature's face. Then they heard laughter. It was Mike in a mask. "I got you! I got all of you!!" He said, waving a flashlight around the living room in peals of laughter.
***
She heard herself scream." Again she tried. It was piercing!
No one stirred from their sleep.
"Well," thought Em. "I could have sworn I heard myself scream."
"Am I in my body or am I dreaming? Is this a lucid dream?" She wondered.
If this was a lucid dream, she could control it.
"I'll pinch myself."
She tried pinching her arm and twisting the skin, nothing happened. She tried moving her legs, and they stayed limp no matter how hard she kicked.
"SCREAM!" she told herself.
Silence.
Inside her mind screamed, "Wake up, Wake up!"
It worked! Em woke and saw her friends sleeping soundly. The room seemed peaceful and safe. So she sat up in her sleeping bag and tried pinching herself again to be sure. Nothing! She pounded her legs with her fists. She still felt nothing.
She was still asleep, living a nightmare she couldn't wake up from, and her heart started to beat faster and louder and faster and louder. Her eyes opened wider, and all she saw were the wooden floorboards under her hair as she was floating helplessly through the room again.
"Ring around the rosies..."
Petey's young voice tingled through the house, his blue eyes bright in the darkness, making her feel at ease. Petey lay on top of the mantel on his stomach, holding his chin up with his round little hands. Em floated close to him, smiling. She felt entirely whole when she was with her twin. His pink face and mop-top curly hair were close enough to hers to feel his breath on her cheeks. Petey's nose began to run, and he sniffed deeply to bring the drip back up. He did that all the time when they were little.
"Petey, please never leave me again. Why won't you come home?" she said happily.
"Tickle me!" I bet you can't catch me!" Petey teased.
Em was floating upright, slowly moving all her limbs like an inflated balloon. She carefully reached towards him, and he bounced away.
"You can't catch me!" again, his sing-song voice.
Petey suddenly moved quickly like a deflated balloon through the living room, down the hall, and out the back door. By the time Em caught up, he was sitting on an old tire swing hanging from a large Elm tree.
"Come and push me! I can't swing without you, Em!" His little legs barely moving the swing.
Em came closer and saw a deep chasm below the swing. It was so black; it frightened her.
"Petey, you have to get off the swing, it's too dangerous!" She started to back away.
"No, no, come closer, Em. There's nothing to be afraid of." Petey always made her feel safe. He was her second half, and together they were one.
She took a step towards Petey and saw the man with the top hat behind her brother, coming towards them from the field.
She remembered the fangs. She remembered being five years old.
"Petey we have to run, he's back again, we have to go," she pleaded desperately. "It's the Tophat man, and he's back!"
Petey giggled so hard it was as though someone was tickling him.
"Stop it, Petey, stop it now!" her voice was screeching and desperate.
Tophat man came closer. Petey's laughter got louder and hysterical. He was laughing so hard no sound came out of his mouth. He shuddered and bent over with tears rolling down his cheeks, his mouth open in convulsive silent laughter.
Em was suddenly afraid of her twin.
"I want you to STOP! Stop it now!!!" She yelled. She floated backward, and the curly red-headed child who seemed like her other half a minute before felt like a stranger.
"STOP!!!!"
***
Outside, the sun felt so hot that Em almost--almost forgot about the night before. The steady hum of cicada's hung in the air, and heat waves rippled above the tall grass. Everyone looked tired, Mike's hair rumpled on one side of his head, and his bangs poked up above his forehead. Em thought it was appealing, even sexy. But sexiness was still a gray area for her. She was still daydreaming about her first kiss. Jared's eyes looked squinted and relaxed even with his glasses on.
"Hey, we slept through a night at the Death House! I guess Jess wins the dare! There are no spooks here." Jared was smiling.
Jess twisted her long hair and tied it in a knot behind her back and yawned. She stretched her arms over her head and said, "I told you it's just an urban myth." Somehow her voice didn't sound as convincing as her words.
Mike, always quick at reading people, asked, "Did you see something last night, Jess?" She just shook her head no, but she seemed far away.
She dreamed or at least thought she dreamed of a man in a Top Hat grabbing her mother's belly repeating over and over, "This baby is mine, mine!" All the while, Jessica's mother was sobbing, "No, no, NO! Jessica, stop him!"
Mike didn't mention what he was thinking, either. The night visited him with dreams too. He and his Dad were caught in a whirlpool while whitewater rafting. His Mom's hands spread up through the water, reaching for them, trying to pull them down with her, as they fought her with their paddles. It felt so real. Why was she wearing a top hat? Mike thought it was strange, yet he suddenly brightened with the new day. "Who brought breakfast," he asked?
Jared piped up and said he brought pop tarts! "We can warm them up in the sun. It's hot enough to fry an egg on a sidewalk, I bet!" Everyone rolled their eyes.
"I brought some peanut butter and jelly for sandwiches and some chips. Let's go eat in the Pet Cemetery." Said Em. The cemetery seemed friendly and exciting in the daylight. The friends all sat down and leaned against the tombstones—the marble sculpture of the Tophat man and wolf gleaming in the center of the cemetery.
"Hey, isn't there a top hat inside the house by the stairs?" asked Mike. He was sitting with his knees up, and his arms lazily crossed over them. Em decided she liked everything about Mike, no matter what he was doing. This feeling was new to her. She always admired her best friend, but lately, she noticed more about him. His face had more angles, and sometimes his voice would have a lower pitch. Her favorite was watching his muscles glisten when he took off his shirt to play basketball. She always liked his confidence best because it matched her own. It's what made them both alike, and It reminded her of the same feeling she had when she was with her twin.
"Yes, the hat's there," Em answered. How could she ever forget!
Jared asked, "Why are you gonna wear it?" He joked at Mike. "It kinda weirds me out."
"I hate that hat," Jess was practically hissing the words when she said it. Thinking of the hat and her dream from the night before made her grow cold in the summer heat.
Mike was up and halfway to the house when he said, "Let's burn it! Let's get rid of it!"
"Yeah, lets!" Jared chimed in cheerfully. "I'll start a fire in front of the statue. We can get rid of the heebie-jeebies with a ritual! Like an exorcism."
"Exorcise what?" asked Jessie. "We already decided the stories are an urban legend," she said, hiding her fear with bravado.
"It might actually be cool," said Em. "We can be like witches!"
Em thought burning the top hat was a good idea. It has haunted her ever since Petey disappeared. It was the first thing she saw when she woke up in the house 9 years ago.
Maybe this will make that Tophat creature go away forever. Her nightmare came back clear as day, and she too felt chills, remembering Petey's silent convulsive laughter.
Sparks shot high up above the statue. Jared made sure the fire would burn long and hot as it grew taller in the unbearable heat. None of the young teens seemed to notice as they circled the fire. No one spoke, as they held hands and danced, mesmerized around Tophat man. Faster and faster they spun, their hair catching the wind, everything a blur around them.
Far away beyond the trees, Em could hear Petey singing the nursery rhyme. She felt as though she were sleepwalking, or in this case, she was sleep dancing. Her head and back were bending like a C as far as her body could go. Em was giddy from the speed, she felt like she was riding a spinner ride at the fair.
Jared's glasses hung crookedly on his face, and his eyes were peacefully shut. Jessica's face was beaming with joy. All the worry she had been carrying vanished. She looked like a hippie at Woodstock, her hair loosely trailing behind her, and her bare feet prancing through the tall grass.
Mike was wearing the top hat, howling like a wild wolf as he spun, dust trailing under his feet in a powdery cloud.
The young teens danced in rapturous abandon. Faster and faster they went, their faces beaded with sweat, and their minds transported to another blissful dimension.
Mike tossed the hat, and it landed on Jared's head. Jared laughed gleefully, tossing it up and watching it fall on Jessica's golden hair. She smiled and took her turn, tossing it high in the air, watching it twirling down on Em.
Em tipped the hat over one eye the way she saw in a musical once giving Mike a flirty glance. Then she flung the top hat up as high as she could, flinging her arms and legs in the air!
The top hat was aiming for the fire. Spellbound, they each focused on it intensely, as the flames stretched up to meet it. The hat playfully levitated in the heat for a moment teasing the flames before it fell straight into the fire. Their pupils dilated in anticipation like a cat waiting to pounce. Then victory!
It caught! Poof, it was gone in a flash!
Loud rumbling erupted from the earth. The cemetery seemed to be concaving on itself. Trees fell in crisscross directions, and the sky darkened from the rising dust, as the TopHat man changed from statue to god-like form.
Mike, Em, Jessica, and Jared never stopped dancing as they were swallowed up by the earth in a slow sinking descent into hell.
***
The next day.
Bystanders from the town stood in silence in front of a chain-link fence where a cavernous hole replaced the pet cemetery. The newspaper said it was a tragic accident. Four teenagers were playing where a sinkhole suddenly sank without warning—a rare occurrence, but not impossible where limestone exists below the surface. Their bodies never found.
Wreaths, flowers, and stuffed animals laid ceremoniously in front of the Death House. An over-sized framed photo of the foursome sat front and center. The most personal tribute of all sat tilted next to their smiling faces. A top hat.
Jessica's haunting words echoed through everyone's mind.
"ɢʜᴏꜱᴛꜱ ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴘɪʀɪᴛꜱ! ᴛʜᴀᴛ'ꜱ ᴀɴ ᴜʀʙᴀɴ ʟᴇɢᴇɴᴅ. ɪᴛ'ꜱ ᴊᴜꜱᴛ ᴀɴ ᴇᴍᴘᴛʏ ᴏʟᴅ ʜᴏᴜꜱᴇ, ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴡᴏᴏᴅ, ɴᴀɪʟꜱ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴏʟᴅʏ ᴀɪʀ. ɪ ᴅᴀʀᴇ ᴀʟʟ ᴏꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛᴏ ꜱᴘᴇɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛ!"
"We dare you!"
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