What Summer Brought | Teen Ink

What Summer Brought

January 20, 2015
By Loveu2b BRONZE, Palm Desert, California
Loveu2b BRONZE, Palm Desert, California
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

       Terror. Just the word to describe my worst nightmare. Not the kind of nightmare when you can wake up and everything is normal, but the kind you can’t run away from. It was the summer of 2012 going into my first year of high school. Staying two out of three months with my grandparents was an annual thing now. Gram and Paps apartment overlooked the ocean with huge windows and beautiful scenery from green grass and the smell of fresh, clean air. Their extra room now officially mine and my sisters since we’ve gone there for the last three summers. Anna and Bella were twins the age of 12. I being the eldest, 14, was in charge most of the time and I didn’t mind being in power. 
    The doorbell rang and I sprang from the couch with my duffle bag in hand and a half eaten sandwich in the other. I could tell already from the aroma of Gram’s strong perfume that it was now time to spend the two months with them. I set my bag down beside the door and unlocked the latches to greet my grandparents.
    “Jenn! My have you grown lots since last summer!” cried Gram as she held her arms out in a hug. Ever so slowly came Paps with an unfamiliar cane in hand to help him walk.
    “Hey Gram, hi Paps. How have you been?” I questioned still staring at the cane.
Gram seemed to have noticed this distraction, “Oh your grandfather has been having pain in his knees.” I nodded but it still worried me some. Just as they passed through the entrance door, Anna and Bella came and practically tackled Gram.
    “My! You two have grown much, too. Golly I’m getting old,” responded Gram with a smile. I could tell seeing us was something Gram looked forward to and that made me feel content.
    Hurrying out of my house I almost forgot I had parents to say goodbye to. Mom and dad gave me hugs and kisses, then the twins, and we were off. Being me, I dozed off 10 minutes out of our one hour drive.Though when I woke up about half an hour later, I found that the route was somewhat different. Thinking nothing of it I fell quickly back to sleep.
    Next, I woke up with two loud, bouncy sisters excited because we had arrived. However, this was not the familiar smell of fresh air, or sounds of waves, but the sound of brushing dead leaves. I stepped out of the car to an eerie old two story home made of wood. It gave me a very strange feeling and I didn’t like it.
    “Surprise! I hope you like our new home. Since all three of you were crowded in that tiny room, we decided to move into a more roomy house,” announced Gram. “It hasn’t been lived in for a couple of years, but being 50 years old its in good shape.” I had the same expression on my face as Anna and Bella, but they seemed to not mind and went in. I helped Paps out of the car until he could use his cane to walk.
    The cement was cracked and uneven. The wood of the rails was full of thrones and losing color. Luckily there was a ramp that Paps would use. Two huge victorian style doors were opened by Gram and we stepped in.
    As if my bad feeling couldn’t have gotten worse, it did. The house smelled old and damp, the floors creaked when you stepped on them, and the wallpaper was fading.
    My grandmother seemed to like the house so I kept my judgement to myself. “Gram its, its great.” I sounded unsure of myself but Gram didn’t notice. She let us up to our rooms.
    “I thought you girls would want to spend your summer with your own rooms to make you feel at home,” explained Gram. Paps was making his way to sit down in the living room while we did this. My room was large and it had very old furniture and a quilted bedspread. My window overlooked the giant yard outside, but what frightened me was the small view in the upper hand corner of a graveyard.
    It was beginning to get late, and we were called for supper in the dining room. I made my way downstairs as my feet made the creaks in the floorboards louder. There at the table were the twins and Paps, Gram was in the Kitchen getting the roast. I sat down in the chairs by my Gram’s seat. I could tell the person who lived here before had a thing for victorian style furniture too.
    Dinner was great and being to seven o’clock Gram and Paps went to bed and the twins went to their rooms. For me it was early so I decided to sit on the outside porch and read my books. The air outside was chill and fog was making its way to the house. The moon was the only light in the pitch black night sky. Tall Oak trees surrounded the house. I had not noticed but there weren’t any neighbors as far as I could see.
    All was quiet and still until I heard someone call my name. I turned around to see a tall shadow that walked away. Assuming it was my grandmother I followed the figure inside the house. Something felt different but I couldn’t explain what. I checked my grandparents, and my sisters rooms, but they were sound asleep. You're probably just tired and your mind’s seeing things. I told myself.
    On my way back to my room I stumbled across a door that I never noticed. The door seemed to be blocked by furniture and covered with wallpaper. I quietly peeled the paper away enough to have a full view of it and I entered. The room was a little girls bedroom. Dust was everywhere and there was no window. Everything seemed to be in its place except for a large stain on the floor near a case of dolls. The light switch was broken and I didn’t dare to go in any further.
    As I shut the door, I heard my name again and turned to see behind me a hideous tall, woman with black hair in knots and bald spots. Her eyes were gone and her skin was pale covered in ash. She wore a floor long black gown, an apron and was holding a broken, rusted mirror in her hand. I almost screamed in terror and ran down the hall to my room, locked the door, and hid under the covers with my phone. I tried to call my parents but the phone line was cut. My heart was beating faster than ever and the image kept reappearing in my brain. I thought about leaving to go with my Gram or the twins but I couldn’t get my legs to move, so I sat there shivering in fear until morning.
The following day, I was awoken by the doorbell to find a note saying:

Jenn,
    Just left with the twins to the store. Breakfast is in the kitchen. Watch Paps for me. Be careful,
Love Gram   

I set the note down and hurried down to answer the door. There stood a girl a little older than me with blonde hair wearing jeans and a pink top. “Hello! I’m Tray and I was going to meet our new neighbors,” she told me as she pointed down the street a while away to a figure far away of a house.
“Oh hi, I’m Jenn. I didn’t know anyone lived close by.”
“Yeah I live with my mom. May I come in?”
“Sure of course,” I motioned her in and led her to the living room.
“This house is much nicer than ours you're very lucky.” I told her how we only came over the summers and that my grandparents lived here.
“We should check out the Graveyard.” Tray announced as we went to the backyard.
“I don't know. It’s getting late and we shouldn’t disturb anything.”
“Oh come on don’t be scared let go!” Tray started running to the graveyard and I followed. It was still light out but the yard was so creepy. It was smaller than I imagined, and it seemed to be a family grave yard. We read the tombs; Dr. Ralph Lawrence Senior, Madam Sara Lawrence, Mr. Ralph Lawrence Jr., Mrs. Abigail Lawrence, Eva Lawrence, and Jenn Lawrence. My heart almost dropped when I read the last name.
“Whoa, Jenn Lawrence, born 1936 died 1950. She was only 14.” read Tray.
“That’s really creepy, look the flowers are alive. Looks like they were just put here.” I told her, but Tray was heading back. I followed her and called her name but she just left my grandparent's house without a word and ran down the street. Then she came back holding a box in her hand about five minutes later.
“Wait is that..”
“Yup, I wanna know more about these people, and if they're here.” Tray answered.
“I don’t know about this.” I was thinking about the woman I saw and decided to tell Tray about it.
“Wow cool, this will find out for sure!” Tray said as she set up in my room. She brought out the board while I backed out of the room. “Oh come on don’t be a chicken. Look if you don’t want to do this, I’ll do it alone.” I shook my head and left the room.
A while later I heard knocking and whispers and finally Tray’s scream. Paranoid I stood up and slowly walked up stairs. Something was telling me that I shouldn’t keep going. I yelled her name and knocked on the door, but it was open. What am I doing?! Get out of here! No, I can’t leave now I need to make sure Tray’s ok. I argued with myself. Just open the door! I swung open the door. I shrieked in fear for what I found lying on the floor nearly stopped my heart.
Paps was lying there with his hands over his heart. “Paps! No! No, what happened?” I yelled. Thankfully I could hear his faint breathing. I dragged him out of room until I came to stairs. I ran to the phone, but the line was cut still.
From down the hall I heard a girls voice screaming and I constant thud. I grabbed a flashlight and headed to the noise. It lead me to the door I had found behind the wallpaper. I pushed away the furniture and peeled the paper as quick as I could for I heard Tray’s voice screaming my name.
“JENN!! Oh god please Jenn help!” cried Tray. I managed to open the door and in front of me was Tray bruised and trembling in the spot before the doll case. Floating was the horrifying woman I had encountered before. She look at me and said my name then went to the closet. I ran over to Tray still in fear and picked her up. I then ran up to the front door, set Tray down, and went back to find Paps.  
“Jenn, what's going on?” Paps questioned dizzily trying to get up.
“I’m not sure but we need to leave this house now,” I answered helping him up.
“What why?” I told him I couldn't explain now and helped him down the stairs. Just as we were out, Gram and the twins pulled up.
“Jenn, what happened? Who’s that? Why is Paps without his cane?” Gram questioned.
“No time to explain but we need to go to a hospital.” I explained and we were off. As we drove away I turned to look at the house and saw a figure in the window just staring.
I soon found out later that a family lived in that house before and the 14 year old daughter had died in the little girls room. The mother, Mrs. Abigail Lawrence, had been depressed and calls out her daughters name which happened to also be mine. I suppose the woman wanted another daughter and though Tray could be the one.
Gram and Paps moved out of the house and left to their original apartment. We still spend summers with them but I will never have another experience like that again. Though I still wonder what ever happened to the rest of the Lawrence family.



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