Gabriel and Pedro have been friends since they were in
kindergarten. As a matter of fact they live really close to one another and are
always at each other’s house. They do many things together like roller skate,
play video games, and go to the movies, besides going to the same school.
Neither of them likes to study however, they do enjoy sports, being soccer
their favorite, and also cheer for the same soccer team.
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| Photo taken by Meire Marion |
Real close to the school where the boys go to, near
the corner of the street, there is an abandoned house. It is quite scary to
look at and when you walk by all you hear is the dogs that live in the yard;
there are around five of them. It is worn down, has broken windows, the trees
and the plants in the yard are growing wildly. The house is really huge and the
style goes back to another era. It is so big that the back part of the house
reaches the back part of the school walls. There is a cracked brick wall built
around the old house to protect it from trespassers, along with rusty gates in
the entrance to the garage. On the gates you can see two signs that are hung up
which read: Beware of Angry Dog and NO Parking.
Nobody really knows the history of the house. Some
people say that the family that lived there where killed one night by an angry
neighbor drunk as a barrel, rang the doorbell, was allowed in, closed the door
behind him and then seven shots were heard. No one knows who he was, but
apparently he was close to the family.
Another story is that the people that lived in the
house simply disappeared one day. Nobody saw them leave, nobody saw them
arrive; it seemed as if they had been abducted by a mother ship. Although no
one can really prove that a mother ship came around this part of town.
If you ask around to find out what they people who
lived in the house looked like, nobody can remember. The houses around this
mysterious house have been renovated, sold, bought, knocked down and new
dwellers moved in while older neighbors passed away.
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| Photo taken by Meire Marion |
This mysterious house also baffles Gabriel and Pedro,
who have to walk by it every time they go to school and then back home again.
Sometimes they pay no attention to it, but at other times they feel as if they
are being watched. They wonder at times who takes care of the dogs and why there
is a No Parking sign if there are no cars that go in or come out.
They say that sometimes during tests in Portuguese,
their classroom wall is back to back with one of the walls of the mysterious
house, when the class is in silence, they are startled by loud bangs on the
walls, which sound as if they are coming directly from the house. The teacher
plays it cool; some students freak out while others just jump in their seats.
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| Photo taken by Meire Marion |
During a PTM meeting, one mother asked the school
board to investigate because her daughter was flunking Portuguese due to her
panic syndromes. Every time she took a test her mind would go blank due to the
banging along with all the stories she had heard about the house. The school
tired to find out what went on in the house but it was a dead end. They even
contacted the police to investigate. They managed to break into the house and
found out that it was totally empty; no furniture, loads of cob webs, dust and
bugs.
On their last day of school, Gabriel and Pedro decided
that on their way home they would try to go into the house. They took along
with them some dog food to distract the dogs. They also took a flash light each
because they figured that the electricity would be disconnected. On one of
their walks home they had noticed that there was an opening in the gate wide
enough for them to sneak in without calling the attention of the passersby.
They also noticed that the dogs were fenced in and could reach the pathway that
led to the doorway, which they thought was odd.
It was the last day of school and they set off on
their adventure. They were young and curious. They managed to squeeze in
through the gate, snuck up the stairway, walked through the door that was
already opened and noticed that at the top of the stairway inside the house,
there was an old man holding a candle.
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“Welcome
boys. I have been expecting you?”
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“What?”
Pedro shouted and took a step back.
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“What
do you mean by you have been expecting us?”
Gabriel was braver than Pedro and grabbed Pedro’s arm so he wouldn’t run
away.
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“Won’t
you please follow me?”The old man started to turn to go up the stairs a bit
further.
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“We
are fine right here.” Gabriel was the one who was doing the talking. Pedro
stood frozen like an ice cycle. “Who are you?”
-
“I
am the person who lives in this house. Isn’t that why you are here to find
out?”
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“How
come other people have never seen you? “ Gabriel asked because Pedro was now
crossing his legs as if he needed to pee.
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“Gabriel,
let’s get out of here. I am getting some bad vibes.”
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“Relax,
Pedro. He’s just an old man.”
-
“I
mean you no harm. I was expecting you because I see you walk by all the time,
stop and stare and talk.”
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“I
do not understand. We have never seen you before.”
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“You
did not see because you did not want to see me.”
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“Gabriel,
this man is nuts. Let’s go.” Pedro grabbed Gabriel’s arm and started to make a
run for it.
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“Let
go Pedro. If you want to go you go, I want to talk to him.” Pedro decided to
stay, after all Gabriel was his best friend and they were in this together.
-
“So,
now that you have decided to stay, shall we go on into the living room?”Now the
old man was at the bottom of the stairs.
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“Hey,
how did he do that?”Pedro shrieked.
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“Who
are you and what do you want?”Gabriel said as he started to worry a bit.
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“Gabriel
and Pedro, right?”
-
“Ahem?”
They froze. How did he know that?
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“Alrighty
then, my name is Sam. It is a pleasure to have you with me. I have been feeling
very lonely lately and was thrilled to know that you would be stopping by for a
visit.”
-
“Yikes.”Pedro
screamed. “We really need to leave. Look at that. The house was empty and now
there is furniture everywhere.”
Gabriel also
started to feel a bit scared, but he was a curious guy and he wanted more.
-
“Only
special people are allowed through the gate way. By my knocking on the wall,
your brain was able to capture the hidden message and made you do this.”
-
“Gabriel,
this guy is nuts. If my brain told me to do this, my stomach is telling me to
run for my life.”Pedro headed for the door.
Gabriel stayed
put and gave Pedro the strangest look that made him stop.
-
“Pedro,
Gabriel has understood that you will never leave again. Why haven’t you
understood this yet? Welcome to the mansion. It is a place you can never leave.
Well, not in this state and mind.”
With this Pedro
fainted and Gabriel sat down on the couch and talked to Sam; there were so many
things to ask.
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| Photo taken by Meire Marion |
All I can tell
you is that these two boys were never seen again and until this day their
families have been looking for them. I know because I am Sam.
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| Photo taken by Meire Marion |
(Written March
7, 2013- Although the pictures were taken by the author, this is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events
or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. )
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| Photo taken by Meire Marion |
copyright ©2013 - Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion.
