"Who is calling at this time of the night?" Kelvin Blake queries, as he is being woken up from sleep. He picks the phone and checks to see the caller. "Why is Amanda calling at this time? What could be going on?" He utters curiously. So, he picks the call and replies; "Hello! Yes! What happened? You will explain when you get here! I don't get it but no problem. Please, drive safely. I will be waiting."
Soon enough, they arrive at Kelvin's place and move in. He settles them into a room which he had quickly prepared for them to rest till the next day.
Amanda ensures the kids sleep but her eyes fail to grab rest from the shock she had. So, she goes outside the room to be alone but being noticed by Kelvin, he joins her where she sits and tells her to go back in and have some rest.
In response, Amanda sighs and tells him, "I can't sleep."
"But why? You need to rest your mind..." He says and pauses but no response from her. "Okay! Tell me what really happened back there." He requests to know, being bothered.
After a short silence, Amanda begins to express her fears. "There is a strange being in that house andit's very scary staying there. There's something wrong with the house. There's something in the house that he didn't tell us about. Well, that's if he knows about it anyway."
"Who?"Kelvin asks.
"The agent... And he might not even know about it." She replies.
Kelvin being dazzled, asks; "Really? So, what could be the thingthat occupies that house this way making it this scary?"
Amanda, dazed as well, answers;"I don't know but only at first, I thought Natasha was crazy, imagining things or probably having a nightmare because of the change in location and all they had gone through in the familyfor the past few months but it becomes obvious now that Natasha wasn't seeing things neither was it her imagination nor a nightmare but it is real that something really is in that house."
"Oh... When did she start noticing the strange stuff?" Kelvin enquires
Amanda then narrates how it started; "Later in the day after we moved into the house, right after you left, Natasha noticed a room locked up and called my attention to it. When I confirmed we skipped the room and didn't check it while the agent was around, I called him to ask about the key to the room, he replied that he didn't have access to the room but would refer a carpenter to break and repair it which he did.
The carpenter promised to come three days after which was today and after several efforts to get the door open, he succeeded but the door slammed on his face and locked itself back, disfiguring his face." Amanda narrates
"Really!" Kelvin exclaims with a terrified expression.
"Yes and he ran out with a bleeding nose shouting; 'this house is cursed! this house is cursed!' He shouted it repeatedly and added that I should get out of the house. He even left some of his tools and didn't collect his money till now.
"What did you do then?" Kelvin asks
"I summoned courage to still stay in the house no matter what because I don't want to be a burden to you but then, what happened this night was a confirmation that the place is weird or truly cursed and it isn't a place we should stay throughout the night else, something dangerous might happen." Amanda says
"Oh my God! What is it?" Kelvin asks out of curiosity
"Not long after we slept, I woke up to the squeaky sound of a door outside our room because the kids stayed with me in my room. So I moved out to check what it was but I saw Natasha's room wide open and when I moved closer, I noticed the other room which was locked up all this while, not closed as well. So I moved towards it to peep in though scared a bit but was extremely scared when my daughter interrupted with a soft voice behind me. It was like my head was off my body at that time but little did I know that it was just a tip of the iceberg." She narrates
"Really!" Kelvin exclaims
"Yeah... I was a bit calmwhen I discovered it was Natasha and so tried to move closer and peep into the room but suddenly, the door slammed on my face. I was shocked and took Natasha by hand to return into our room but the door also shut and had Jude locked inside. Trying to open the door, it was very difficult but when I heard Jude shouting and screaming; 'Mom, help me, the light is flickering, and I'm scared!'I was so scared that I might lose my baby boy if I didn't get the door open so I tried harder with all the strength left in me and with the support of Natasha, the door eventually got opened. Then, we had to quickly pack a few stuff and vacate the place immediately."
"Whoaaaa! This is thrilling. I feel sensations in my body right now. It's really scary..." Kelvin says
Amanda begins to cry and she pours out the heavy burden in her mind; "I always wanted a better life for my kids and nothing of this sort. We were a loving family who cared for each other passionately and had each other's back. We enjoyed each other's company going on vacations and picnics at intervals until one day that an unfortunate mishap rendered me devastated and left me with the whole responsibility of caring for the family alone when death struck my husband who got involved in a ghastly accident while thinking on motion which resulted from the situation where he got a huge amount of loan and invested it in the stock market but lost all his investment owing to a wrong speculation. I didn't want him to raise the loan but he convinced me of the possibility of a great life after the investment yields, so I succumbed and agreed with him. It's painful, it's really painful.
I cried day and night and mourned him. The memory often comes spontaneously and I mourn him over and over again… But my kids have been helping to lighten up my mood by which the heavy feeling of loss is alleviated though it's not that easy.
Few months after my husband died, I was shocked by the sudden appearance of the loan company at our house since James used the house as the collateral. The house and everything that was inside it became confiscated by the loan company except my own car and they gave us few days to evacuate, else they would chase us out. They even did that because of my situation.
Consequently, we needed a place to stay urgently and I bumped at this house online while searching. Then, you know the rest story whereby I called you when I remembered that you live in this environment and we came to inspect it together before we finally moved.
Maybe I was wrong because when I saw the ambience of the apartment, I fell in love with the place and for the fact that it was cheap and affordable considering my situation and savings, I jumped at it in order to give a good life to my children.
It's quite unfortunate that this would be happening to us in sequence just after my husband died and we lost all our properties and possibly wasted money on a new house which is uninhabitable. It's really too much for me to think about." Amanda finishes her bitter story while sobbing and in tears.
"I'm sorry about all you've been through. I'm lost for words... You guys have had a long night. I would advice that you go in and get some rest." Kelvin says feeling unhappy about her experience and he sees her off to the room so she could get some sleep for the night. He returns to his room and stays awake thinking about all that he heard until his eyes overcome his thought and he dozes off till the next day.
The following day, Amanda places a call through to the agent to inform him about the strange things that have been happening in the house.
"Hello Mr. Amos!" She says
"Hello Mrs. Johnson. How are you?" Mr. Amos asks
"I'm not good." Amanda replies
"Hope there's no problem?" Mr. Amos asks
"There is and it's about the apartment." Amanda responds
"What happened?" Mr. Amos asks
"Did you know anything about strange happenings in the house maybe someone died there times ago?" Amanda enquires
"I don't know what you're saying." Mr. Amos replies.
"You don't know what I'm saying? I don't get it. What do you mean by that? That house is filled with strange things and you don't know about it? Anyways, forget it." Amanda says
"I…I don't…" Mr. Amos stammers
"Don't even worry about it. I want a refund and I'm not interested in the place any longer." Amanda says
"No, you can't do that, Mrs. Johnson. Let's talk this out and try to settle it…" Mr. Amos tries to persuade her
"Nah, it can't work. That won't matter anymore." Amanda reacts with her mind being made up already.
"Okay, give me a few days to process the refund and other necessary agreement papers." Mr. Amos requests
"That's fine but make it quick, please. Thank you." Amanda replies and ends the call.
After the call, Amanda thinks of going back to the house to pick few other things that they need, which include her kids' books and other school stuff with some of her own things too. Not so long after that, she gets to the house and opens the entrance door.
The place is soundless and mildly cold. So, Amanda moves frighteningly, yet boldly upstairs to the kids' room to pack the things she had planned but in the process, she hears the sound of a door opening slowly. She turns back and tails where the sound is being produced from but as she gets close to the door, it bangs on her face and closes again.
"Uhrrrr...." She screams with her hands stretched out caused by an uncontrollably shiver and moves back a step after another, steadfastly gazing at the weird room. As soon as she gets close to the other room, she turns back swiftly, grabs the things she's been able to gather and runs downstairs with all the strength she has without looking back.
Getting to the main door while trying to open it and run out, she hears the voice from behind her... "Help me!"