The Snowy Haunting
Had a dream last night that me mom and brooke were driving in the thick snow at night in the van. We apparently had left home and we weren’t going back to dad. Mom I guess had learned some things about the local area and knew that she could trick some single widowed woman in the area to being kind to us in exchange for money and catching her by surprise.
Mom and I were talking about how harsh the snow was while heading towards a barn in the town where the road seemed to bend around the barn. I guess in this small town the person who owned the farm typically up kept the roads also. Seeing as how that must have been the man who’d recently left his wife widowed I suppose she didn’t know what to do about the roads after the first big snow storm. Mom mid sentence just goes “Hang on and watch this.” And turns sharply before the barn, the car starts sliding sideways nearing the corner of the barn before a sudden smack into the barnside muffled by the snow. We are absolutely stuck in snow for sure at this point since snow was thrown up over the car in the slide.
“Now with any luck the old lady will come and feel responsible.” Mom said grabbing her mitts and hopping out to check on the car. As she did I saw a younger looking woman with a purple faux fur shawl over a dark blue dress, with a large black hat with a black feather in it, struggling through the snow in a pair of 1 inch heeled boots clearly not made for the level of snow drifts there was.
“Is everyone alright!?!” she yelled out sounding worried and a bit frantic as she struggled not to trip over the snow on her way to us.
“Yeah I think we’re all alright, just a little shook up and stuck is all. We seem to be stuck and I’m not sure if there is any damage.” Mother echoed back.
She got closer and came near the car door to speak while the door blocked some of the wind, holding her hat tightly to her head with one hand. I could tell she was quite pretty and seemed fancy yet not the pompous type. Her eyes were wide with concern over our predicament, “I’m terribly sorry, this is all my fault, normally my husband would care for the roads with his plow but he’s recently passed and I’ve no idea how to work the thing nor what to do with myself. If you are stuck there isn’t likely to be a tow truck for miles. I have a spare home though which I’ve been trying to sell since he passed to cover bills. It can keep you warm and give you shelter for the night while we wait out the storm.”
“I don’t know what else we’d do in this situation so I suppose we’ll do what we have to, is it far?” Mom said.
“It’s just across the street from my main house, come along children, best get you in out the cold.” the woman said turning away and leading us all toward a white home with a large area in the back with knee to ceiling windows all around with open blinds. Brooke climbed out the back and through the drivers seat to exit and I followed after from the front passenger seat. The wind nipped at our noses but it was only a short trek before the woman was reaching for some keys and hurriedly opening the door to let us all in. After a moment of shaking off snow she took a few steps away and popped on a light above a stove and it was just now I was realizing the woman was quite tall. Taller than my 14 year old self. I’d guessed 6 foot without the shoes. She went on turning lights to give us a brief tour. Most of the things could be seen from the front door however since the layout was quite open and wide.
“It has a kitchen and I’ll turn the heat on for you in a moment, if you have any food feel free to use whatever you need, it’s still stocked. I’m afraid there isn’t anything for entertainment but the place should have enough room for you all to stay the night.” From the door there was a hall leading right with doors I assumed were bedrooms, looked like 2 and a bathroom. I walked through the kitchen and into what must have been a living room, but felt more like just a slightly lavish sitting room. There was couches and chairs around a low coffee table. The blinds were open but not raised so you could see 180 around the outside. There was an outside light over top a second door which led from the space between the sitting room and the kitchen to a small set of cement steps with a metal railing on either side. Brooke went and found a seat on the far side of the furthest couch and cuddled up to a throw pillow and went fast to sleep. This didn’t surprise me since she was often fast asleep on long car rides at night whenever she sat in the back, so she was probably asleep before the car went sliding. She dealt with sudden changes quietly though and trusted mom to know if things were safe or not, it seemed currently she barely cared and just was along for the ride, she was more free spirited in her later teenage angst.
“Well we don’t have any food since we weren’t expecting to get stuck.” My mom replied to the woman’s invitation.
“Oh well I just got fully stocked before the storm came over. I can bring you something but, well, have you got any money?” She seemed pained to ask the question, I got the impression money must have gotten tight without her husband around. Mom picked up on the que.
“I do, do you care what we choose?”
“So long as you reimburse me for it I’ve got almost anything you could ask for,”
Mom looked at me then looked back to the widow. “I suppose some soup would do me fine if you have a can of chicken noodle. How about you hun you need anything?”
“I’ve got $20 I saved on me, I am kind of craving tacos, if I give you that would you have enough for the ground beef and cheese and shells?” I asked grabbing the bill from my pocket.
“I’ve got just the thing!” the woman said seemingly excited to make a bit of money and be of help to us, seemingly calmed a bit but still anxious.
I handed her the twenty and mom handed her a few dollars as well and the woman raced off through the snow and was back quite quickly with an arm full of foods and even a few cans of pop. She handed them off to my mom at the door and then gave a small curtsy motion before saying “If you need anything else don’t be afraid to ask I’m just across the way, I’ll leave my porch light on for you if you need to come knocking.” She then turned away leaving us to get accustomed to the new home for the night. Mom and I took a brief look around and I went to go check and see how comfy the couch was Brooke had taken to. She was completely passed out and I could tell she’d have no interest in food for the night. Mom called out to me and motioned for me to come closer as she stood near the stove. She pointed at the back eye of the stove. “You see that?” She asked. And I did, smelled it too, there was something, a charred speck, burning on the back eye of the electric stove ever so slightly with a thin plume of smoke wafting off of it.
“That’s kinda weird.” I said.
“Did you turn the stove on at some point, or did you see her?” Mom said referring to the widow.
“No I didn’t.”
“That’s strange, because I didn’t turn it on either. Good way to start a fire.” Mom said turning off the eye and switching on another to warm herself a can of soup. I turned to go back toward the sitting room since I hear what sounded like foot steps coming up the side porch of the house. As I rounded the cupboards and could see out the door’s window I saw a shadowed figure leering through the blinds in no particular direction. It’s posture seemed almost murderous and sulken forward. As I came nearer the door I felt as though my head was drawn to it like it was being sucked into some void. I looked to see who the figure was and as I bowed to look closer I noticed the figure was made entirely of shadow, and I peered not at it, but through it.
As my eyes grew closer and closer to the figure I felt the anxiety of it, like it was going to pounce forward and scream at me in some dark and horrid yell, so I decided before it could I’d yell at it instead. I suppose my mind figured this was some sort of power move. That if I screamed at it first I’d show it that I felt no fear for it and that it would perhaps vanish knowing it was beaten as it’s ghostly fears had no affect on me.
It just stood there as a summoned a yell toward it’s face, and then…
And then…
And then I woke up.
The catastrophe of the haunting, the tall resident evil vampire-esque lady, the snow, and mom being uncharacteristically conniving, was over.
It was a fairly odd dream. But in retrospect, it feels like an interesting little short story.