The Stairs on the Other Side

The Dream

She walked up the stairs noticing the odd looking wallpaper lining the staircase. It had small mauve roses sprinkled on it and smelled faintly like glue and pine. As she continued climbing, it seemed as though the stairway was never-ending. She came to a landing. The walls were now white and it was easier to see in the dark hallway. A small door was directly in front of her and then another to her left. Two more doors lined the hallway that stretched out in front of her. Had she been here before? A faint memory of a dust covered room, missing floorboards, and scattered toys flashed in her mind. It scared her and she paused to look down the hallway. Faint light shone through a window at the far end.

Where was she? Her rose speckled night gown was drenched with sweat and her heart was pounding from her journey up the stairs.

Rubbing her eyes, she took a step. "Creak", the floorboards groaned in response to her movement. She paused and looked down. The boards were real wood, something she didn't see too often at her friend's houses. Not carpet like in her hallway or the shiny linoleum her mother had just had installed in the kitchen. No, this was real wood.

As she took in her surroundings more closely,  Ellie noticed that what bothered her most about this midnight stroll in a strange house was that it seemed so familiar. Why would it? The wallpaper, paint, even the smells reminded her of a museum or one of those historical houses her mother dragged her to every summer. She was in an old, strange house, in the middle of the night. This was getting a bit crazy.

As Ellie thought these thoughts, her heart began to pound faster. She heard noises. Her wavy brown hair brushed her face as she turned toward the stairs. A door slammed. She gasped as she heard footsteps and a swishing noise.

"I know, Mother. It's early. " A cool female voice said. The voice traveled up the stairs as the girl started climbing towards her, "The event was an absolute bore. This town is ridiculous."

Ellie leaped towards the nearest door, opened it and stumbled into a room. She rushed to hide behind the bed and then looked up. It was her room! She shook her head, as if to force herself to wake up from a weird dream. Not her room, but similar. No, my room doesn't have a four poster bed with a patchwork quilt, she gazed around, or a wash basin and pitcher set up near the window facing the backyard.  The walls were covered with more of the rose speckled wall paper. A writing desk and chair were positioned in the corner. No, her room had a day-bed with bold purple pillows, a plastic inflatable chair in the corner and posters of BoyzIIMen and Mariah Carey all over the walls. Her windows looked out the northeast side of the house; this room was flipped. She shook her head again, I must have had too much soda before bed.

And the door opened.

Ellie opened her eyes and jerked up. She looked around quickly, expecting to see the antique furniture around her. Instead, light poured in her window and the robins and blue jays chattered happily about the bushes right outside her house.

"My gosh," she thought. Ellie sunk back into her pillow and rubbed her forehead. "Again." About once a month for year, Ellie had reoccurring dreams about an old house with creaky floors, mystery rooms, and a general feeling of suspense. The house was not unfamiliar at all, though, the dreams all took place in her family's large white colonial. But the house wasn't hers - it was different, older, almost as if it was from another time.

Her home dated back to the 1800's, which wasn't uncommon for coastal New England towns. The house always intrigued her, though. It had two mirror image halves; one side of the home was where she and her family of four lived. The other side was rented out to college students from the University of New Hampshire. As a young child, she would follow her mother around the rooms on the other side, inspecting for any damage as the year's students left for the summer. She would gaze up at the ceiling, see the same windows lining the opposite wall as on her side and remark to her mother how it was like the house had been sliced in half. These dreams that she had, now in her teenage years, were of the other side.

But this time, this dream was different. She hadn't just aimlessly roamed the hall, peeking into doorways. The house had come to life; this time she'd seen details and heard sounds of it's occupants. Never before had Ellie seen or heard another person in the upstairs hallway. The realization almost caused her to spend more time under her soft covers, but then Ellie noticed the alarm clock to her right. 6:15. She'd have to save this pondering for later. Dang, if she didn't shake this off, her parents would start asking her questions. Not that she really talked about having reoccurring dreams with anyone but her older brother, James. Her girlfriends would think she was nuts and she definitely didn't want other kids at school to know, either. Ellie did not want her reputation as the leading forward on the girls basketball team (aka, basketball star) and honor student to be tarnished. She'd worked too hard for that.

She didn't know why her dreams led her wandering down a familiar, yet at the same time, unfamiliar, hallway. Ellie felt uneasy on the mornings she woke up from walking along the whitewashed hallway on the other side. It didn't matter, she realized, shaking her head. Today was her honors geometry exam and she needed to get her butt out of bed and into the shower.