House of Lincoln

7

       ˙ɹǝʇsɐɟ ʞuıɹp oʇ ǝʌɐɥ I 'ploɔ ʇı dǝǝʞ o⊥ ˙ʎlıʇsɐɥ ooʇ ɥʇnoɯ ʎɯ uı sɯɹɐʍ ʇı 'ssǝuploɔ sʇı ǝʇıdsǝp puɐ ʍɐɹʇs ǝɥʇ ɥɓnoɹɥʇ ʇı ɓuıʞɔns ʇɹɐʇs I ˙ooʇ ʎlʞɔınb os pu∀ ˙ǝǝɟɟoɔ ɥɔnɯ os ʞuıɹp I

       "What if I went?" Stella asked. "Went where?" She gesticulated her hands towards me. "The house! You talk about how it changes and stuff, so why don't I come see it in person to see if you're telling the truth?" Why is it that people are drawn to danger? She's making me nervous. "I don't think that's a good idea." She already had out a notepad out and asked someone next to us for a pen. She wrote something down and then tore it from the pad to hand it to me. "Here's my number. Don't get too excited. I'm gonna call out your bullcrap." She giggled. "I gotta go now," she said, "but how about Tomorrow? Does that work for you?" I couldn't speak. I just nodded. "Alright, great! I'll see you tomorrow then! Call me!" She waved to me as she walked out of the ice cream shop.

       I couldn't do much else other than give myself a big steaming facepalm. Why did I just do that? Why did she just ask for that, and why did I agree to that? Again, it feels like some weird force takes hold of my body and I just let it happen. It exhausts me, and I feel defeated. All of a sudden, I hear a voice from behind my booth. "Nice one Lincoln!" I turned around. Of course, it was Rusty and his two stupid front teeth, as well as Clyde across from him. "That lie about your house being all weird was awesome! You really roped her in!" I didn't bother saying anything, instead I just looked at Clyde, and he shrugged.

       We all three walked back from the mall and up to Clyde's house, where Clyde's dad was kind enough to drive me home. It was so absurd I had to say it aloud. "So Stella's coming to my house tomorrow..." I had to wrap my head around it. "What would I show her? The closet? Lily's room? My pile of stained coffee cups? I had no intention of pushing this dread onto someone else, but it's almost as if it has a gravitational pull that brings people close and snares them in its trap. I laid down in my bed and stared at the wall. "What do I do? No one can help me. This place is the only one in the area big enough to hold our entire family. We'd have to drive out another hour to find a new place, and why would my parents do that when it seems they don't see any problems at all?

       My mom was scared of the house once. Only once. It was Lily's room, and she had plopped Lily in the crib, closed the door, and went to bed. She woke up in the middle of the night because Lily's crying was loud enough to hear throughout every hall. Mom with her bleary eyes, drowsy and barely awake, went to Lily's room and turned the knob the wrong way. Ever since then, she has made sure not to do it again. She didn't call anyone, no policemen came, and everything went on like normal. Nobody in this house questions anything. It's like they live in a c҉a҉r҉t҉o҉o҉n҉. It's all enough to make me feel even lonelier just thinking about it.

       Her name pops up again in my head.

       Stella is coming tomorrow. She wants to see the house.

       I fall asleep.

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