The Mysterious House at the Corner
Emily Rogers was a normal girl;
she had two brothers, Steve and Joseph, her dad worked as a vice president to
the whole of Target stores, her mother stayed at home. She had just come home
from school with her two brothers and was enjoying her snack of fish crackers.
She looked over at Joseph on her left, who was snarfing his down like they were
the last thing on earth to eat. He looked at her and stopped chewing; she was
always ragging on him about eating with dignity. “Joseph,” she would say. “Why
can you not eat with dignity?” she would ask. And he would respond by promptly
wiping his face with a napkin, and chewing at a snail’s pace. Emily would roll
her eyes at his sarcasm, but really, she didn’t mind.
Emily was just making dinner for
her mother when her dad came home, he looked tired as he always did, but this
time there was a shadow that crossed his eyes. She looked up brightly at him.
“Hello Daddy!” she greeted him. He smiled a little. He’s just tired. Emily thought to herself. , “Ahem.” He cleared his throat. He always
did that when he was about to say something very important. “Ahem, so as you
know the company is losing money, and a lot of people were let go this week.
Though I am not on that list, our good friend Mr. Philling is. So, his family will be moving to Arkansas
where the company has relocated him, and I have also been relocated, though not
fired mind you! We will be moving to Jackson, Mississippi. We leave in one
week.” He stated then looked around at his family wondering what they were
going to say. Joseph was usually the quiet one, and he just stared down picking
at his potatoes. But Steve, being the middle child and also a loudmouth banged on
the table. “That’s not fair! Why do we
have to move to Mississippi?!I have friends here
and I don’t just want to leave them!” he shouted. Emily looked at her
brother and mother who had been silent all this time then she looked at her dad
whose eyes were fixed on her mother. “Well.” She began, feeling it was her
sworn duty to talk when no one else would. “I think it would be just fine to
have a nice change in scenery. I mean, I hear Mississippi is just grand! Clint
went there once to visit his second cousin.” She said, looking hopefully at
Steve, who, having very few friends, for help. He blinked once then asked to be
excused from the table. Emily looked around. Her dad cleared his throat again.
“Well, it’s settled. We leave in one week.” He said.
The next day Emily was awoken by
her mother coming in to the room with about six flat boxes. She puffed one up.
“Alright, let’s get your stuff packed.” She said. Emily blinked, and then
smiled remembering the night before. “Alright.” She answered and grabbed a box
and after getting dressed started packing up her room. “Leave at least one week
worth of clothing and a suitcase too, that way you’ll have clothes throughout
the week.” Her mother had told her. Soon enough she heard Steve knock on her
door holding her breakfast. “Here” He said. “I made it, figured you’d be
hungry.” He said. She smiled at him. Even though she would never tell Joseph this, Steve was he favorite brother. Oh sure, she
loved both of them equally, but she liked Steve more. He handed her some
eggs, orange juice, and bacon. Though he was sturdy and well-built like her
grandpa, Steve wanted to be on the food network as a famous chef. His stuff
never burned like Emily’s sometimes did. Emily ate her breakfast, and then set
back to work. She piled her stuffed animals in the boxes with her journals,
doodle pads, markers, and pens. Then she set about packing her books. She had a
rather expansive library, just full of books. But, besides the Bible, her most
favorite book was her The Chronicles of
Narnia. Sometimes, when she was bored, she often let the book take her into
a journey that made her forget all her troubles. Just last time she had
finished The Silver Chair, and had
thoroughly enjoyed it. She had read about Jill and Eustace, Puddleglum and
Prince Rilian. Oh, it was lovely to read! Now she packed it along with her
other books. She closed the box and looked around her room. She gasped, it was
completely empty! All but her bed was packed and gone! She swallowed. It was
almost terrible had the thought of moving not have come into her head, she
would have screamed “MY ROOM!” but she didn’t.
Later her mom came in to inspect
her room, and nodded her approval. A
week later, they had left. Emily had said sorrowful goodbye’s to her friends,
sad to go, happy to go. Steve however had screamed and clung to the porch post
and dad had to rip him off of it and shove him in the car. He yowled for the
entire car ride! That’s right, all two days of it! Their dad had told them that
he had already found a nice home, and had already bought it, so they could
drive straight forward. But, even though they persisted, he never showed them a
picture of their future home. Although Emily trusted her dad to pick a great
house, she was very curious.
Her dad had covered the windows
so they couldn’t see until he opened the doors. Emily had her door opened
first, then her mother, then Joseph, and lastly Steve. Emily gasped, not in
horror, but in amazement! Before her was a big brick house. It had white gates
along with a little flower bed encircling the patio that had a few lawn chairs
and an umbrella. Emily smiled, then looked to her left and saw that there was a
large black house; it had brown grass and scraggly old flowers. The fence was
black, and very short. Emily was curious of what lurked in the house, and why
(though she did not believe in it) magic seemed to encircle the house in a
strange, but rather playful way. Oh no, the house looked rather welcoming to
Emily, not at all frightening. Her parents had already gone inside with her brothers
but she had requested to remain outdoors. Soon enough, a girl turned the corner
and walked over to Emily. She wasn’t particularly tall, but had a very large
build which made her seem rather friendly, but tough. A girl you would not want
to mess with. She came to Emily. “Hi. You look like you’re new.” Silence. “Well
are you?” the strange girl persisted.
Emily’s mouth dropped open. She nodded faintly. The other girl raised an
eyebrow. “Well, I’m Alyssa, Alyssa Shortwell, though most people call me Lyss.
I’m homeschooled. What’s your name?” “Uh, Emily.” Emily said. “Emily Rogers.”
She answered. Lyss grunted. “Well Rogers, want me to show you around?” Emily
looked at her and cocked her head. Rogers? No one had ever called her that
before. It was always Emily, or Me. She wasn’t sure if she liked this girl. She
was a bit pushy, but something about her made Emily want to follow. “I’ll run
inside and tell my parents.” She answered. Lyss gave her a smile. “Um, want to
come in? We’re not exactly moved in yet, but still.” Emily asked. “Sure
Rogers.” Came the answer. In honesty, Emily loved having the nickname of
Rogers, and she loved having a new friend also.
As promised, Lyss showed her the
neighborhood. There were many lovely houses, but she never showed Emily the odd
black one. When they came back to Emily’s house Lyss was still jabbering. “And
so you know, that’s where my grandpa comes from. Ireland, I’m one-third Irish,
I’m part Scottish too. And that’s why I have such fiery red hair. My grandma
used to say that I was a fireball because of my hair and social skills. I am
very social contrary to popular belief. But-“she stopped short as a boy on a
bike rode towards them. “Oh, hi Jordan. Rogers, this is Jordan my brother.” She
introduced him. He looked at her. “Time for dinner.” He said, and then rode
off. Emily stared at him riding away; she could tell they were related. Then
she got the guts to ask. “That old house
over there. Who lives in there?” she asked. Lyss jolted as if she was being
awakened from a dream.”That- uh- That house is where the kooky old professor
lives. He doesn’t get any visitors, but wow, is he mysterious. Packages arrive
at his doorstep every day, and some mysterious contraption picks them up.” She
answered. “I have never gone there!
Nor do I have a wish to. Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow, okay? Bye.” She said
and she ran off. Emily looked towards the house, and then she went inside for
dinner.
They had a wonderful dinner! Mashed
potatoes, chicken, green beans! They had it all! But though the meal was good,
Emily’s family noticed she was unusually quiet, so Steve took over the
conversation. “I met this guy named Jordan who was pretty cool. He has a sister
named Alyssa, or Lyss as they call her.” Emily nodded. “Yeah, I met her.” Steve
smiled. “How about you, Joseph? What did you do today?” Emily’s dad asked her
brother. “Well, I checked out the library and got a book about insects.” Joseph
said. Though no one said it, they thought that, though they loved him, Joseph
was a little dull compared to the rest of the family. But he didn’t mind. He
was interested in insects, and chemistry. His family was interested in theme
parks, and fun stuff. But like I said, he didn’t mind…
Anyway, Emily’s first night at
the new house was difficult. They had to set up an air mattress and cover it in
sheets. Then they pulled blankets over, and fluffed the pillows. It took about
an hour, but eventually they were done and ready for bed. Steve slept soundly,
Emily fell asleep and woke up once, and Joseph tossed and turned the whole
night. It drove Emily crazy, because that was why she sometimes woke up. To their great surprise, their mom had stayed
up the entire night and unpacked so they could have a great breakfast in the
morning. All but the bedrooms were done!
Later that morning, around ten,
Emily found Lyss’ house again. She knocked and Lyss came to answer. “Oh, hi
Rogers!” she greeted her. Emily nodded. “Hi. I brought a ball, want to play?”
“Oh sure!” came the reply. She stepped out and they began tossing the ball back
and forth. It was fun, so they decided to move a little farther down the street
to Emily’s house. They were tossing it in the street when a car came, so they
both ran to separate sides of the sidewalk.
Lyss thought it might be fun to toss the ball over the car, so she did.
She tossed it over Emily, over the fence, and right smack dab onto the kooky
professor’s roof. Great. Lyss swallowed. “Um, I’m, uh, sorry, Rogers.” She
stuttered. Emily just kept looking at the old looking black house. “Well, let’s
go get it.” Emily said. Lyss gaped in horror. “NO! Absolutely not!” she shouted. “I’ll just buy you a new one!” She tried to
deter Emily. Emily shook her head. “No,” she said softly. “My Grandpapa gave me
that for my fourth birthday. I’m twelve now, so I’d like to keep it.” Lyss bit
her lip. “But- Well, do I-“but she was cut short. Emily held up her hand. “No,”
she said in the same soft manner of not anger but curiosity. “No, you threw it
up there. You’ll help me get it.” Lyss swallowed. “Please, do I have to? Oh, I
do? Hmm, we can’t we wait till tomorrow? I mean, it is getting dark.” She tried to persuade Emily. She shook her head.
“It might blow of the roof, or something. I don’t want to lose it!” she said.
Lyss sighed. “I’ll go with you just this
once. Want me to go and get Dad’s old ladder?” she asked. “No. That would
be trespassing. I want to knock, that way my dad will not get sued for me going
on other people’s property.” Emily said. Lyss gave out a small whimper. “No!
Please no, Rogers! I mean, I can go to that house but I cannot and will not
knock on that old man’s door! Not in a million, billion, or gazillion years!
Not even a googol!” she protested. Emily raised an eyebrow. “Alright. You- you
un-socialized homeschooler!” she said. She said this not really to insult her,
but she knew that this would light a fire in Lyss’ heart. “What?!” she gaped.
“I am not un-socialized! I’ll show you! I’ll march right up to that man’s door,
and then I will ring the doorbell, just to show you how un-socialized I am!”
Emily was pleased with herself. She had gotten her friend to go with her,
because, though she would never admit it, she was a teensy bit afraid too.
“Alright, then. Let’s go!” They marched bravely up to the door until they were
about one yard, from his yard. Lyss gritted her teeth, remembering Emily’s
comment. Emily looked at Lyss. “Um, I think it’s important that you know I
really didn’t mean what I said about you being un-socialized. I was only trying
to get you to come with me.” She said. Lyss shrugged as if she didn’t care.
They both gave each other a quick hug for the first time, and neither found it
a bit awkward, then they got up on the step.
The professor had an odd
doorbell. Lyss stepped back in surprise as she rang it. The doorbell had a
peculiar sound. Instead of the normal ding-dong, with this one it was
clang-clank! It was an awful sound! Like two pots being smashed together while
a cat yowled and someone scraped their nails against a chalkboard! “What was
that?!” Emily said trying not to sound alarmed. “The doorbell!” Lyss gasped.
Emily swallowed. Then the door opened. Lyss screamed. Emily’s eyes widened in
horror. Before them stood the silhouette of a crazy tall stick with what looked
like cotton candy coming out the top. Lyss was about to grab Emily’s hand and
run when the stick stepped into the light. Lo and behold, it was a stick! But
this one had eyes, and a metal mouth. It narrowed its eyes at the two girls.
“What do you want?” it said in a robotic voice. “Uh, well, uh, we wan- want
our, uh, ball.” Emily stuttered. The thing growled and raised a hand they had
not noticed before. But then it was stopped by another machine. It was short,
and round. It had wider eyes and lips, instead of a simple metal mouth. It was
painted pink and blue and it had a voice as sweet as honey. “Oom-ick, stop
that. Can’t you see you’re scaring them? Run along you brainless machine and go
make some tea and apple cider. Come along dearies, it’s starting to rain and
you’ll get all wet, which, for us machines, could be deadly.” She said and she
smiled a smile as lovely as her voice. “Who’s the mindless one here?” the other
machine called Oom-ick grumbled. “I’m Maidenwaut. I work for the master. Would
you like to meet him?” she said, and all they could do was nod because they
were frightened of these odd machines, and the house was completely black. “Well, come on now! Light it up!” Maidenwaut
commanded, and the place was bright, just glowing the beautiful glow that a lot
of candles give. Lyss and Emily looked at the walls, and there were pretty
little statues holding the candles, but they seemed alive enough. They were
built to look like statues, but really they were robots. Maidenwaut continued
speaking to them. “The master made all of us. There are about fourteen of his
great works around the house, not counting the duplicates. Now then, what are
your names?” she asked. “I’m Emily. This is Alyssa, or Lyss.” She said, feeling
more courageous. “Ah.” Maidenwaut exclaimed, and then she opened a door and
shoved the two girls in a dark room and slammed the door. “Ah!” they both
shouted. “I told you, Emily!” Lyss screamed. “You never listen to me! All
because of your stupid ball!” Emily herself felt thoroughly scared, but now she
was not only hysterical, but she was angry. “You know, it is not all my fault!
If you hadn’t thrown the ball onto the roof we wouldn’t be in this mess!” “Stop
fighting please.” They heard a voice behind them. “I am old, and my ears hurt
when people yell.” The voice said. “Please, sit. Maidenwaut told me you came.
My name is Professor Shortwell.” The voice said. Lyss gasped. “Show your face!”
she demanded. He lit a match, and though normal matches only light a little,
this one lit up the whole room. Emily looked hard at his face. He was broad
shouldered, and his mile was broad to. There was something about him that made
you want to run up and ask him all sorts of questions. “As far as Oom-ick goes,
please forgive him. He is new, and gets confused, and he’s rather confusing.”
Professor Shortwell said. “It’s quite alright, but may we have our ball now?”
Emily asked. Professor Shortwell took something out of pocket, it was the ball.
“Here you are, but don’t leave yet.” He said. “I would like to have some company. I never do…” he said.
“My first name is Steve. Professor Steve Louis Shortwell III.” He said. “But
please, call me Professor Shortwell.” He said. “Steve is my brother’s name!”
Emily exclaimed. The old man smiled. They drank their tea, well in Lyss’ case.
Emily had apple cider. “I am sorry, but we have to go. My mother is probably
making dinner now. Goodbye.” Emily said.
Professor Shortwell nodded. “Oh, here. Before you go. Take these
umbrellas with you. It’s hailing now, and I don’t want you getting hurt.” He
said as he handed them both umbrellas. Both girls nodded their thanks, said
goodbye again, and left. “He’s not so bad.” Emily said. Lyss nodded, but she
looked pale. “Did you see what was on his walls?!” she asked. Emily shook her
head. “No, I was too busy looking at him. Why?” “There were old antiques on the
walls, one of them was a sword.” She said. “So?” “So, that man is my grandpa!”
“What?!” Emily gasped in amazement. Lyss nodded. “He disappeared for thirty
years! He’s seventy-three now!” she exclaimed. “You’re kidding, right?” Emily
asked. Lyss shook her head violently. “My dad has been looking for Grandpa’s
sword for years! He disappeared before I was even born! Grandpa I mean. He’s
had it since he was a child! At first I just thought the name was a
coincidence-“ “So did I!” Emily interrupted. “But then the sword, the name, oh
the likeness!” Lyss gasped. “Let’s run home, I must tell my dad!” she said and
she grabbed Emily’s hand. They did run to the Lyss’ house and they banged on
the door. “Well, hello girls! The way you were banging I thought coyotes wanted
me.” Lyss’ dad greeted them. “DAD! HE’S FOUND! HE’S FOUND!” Lyss screamed. Mr.
Shortwell got down on one knee. “Your, your grandpa?” he asked. Lyss nodded.
“Where?” “In the kooky old professor’s house! He is the kooky old professor!” Lyss said then she spilled the entire
story, including all the details. She even told him about Maidenwaut, the mean
old machine that locked them in. when he had heard the story he looked at them and
shook his head. “Do you suppose he recognized you?” he asked them. Lyss
shrugged. “Come on, get your mother. We are going for a visit. He said, then
they marched over with Emily’s family too.
When they got there the parents
and siblings (all but Jordan) were frightened by the doorbell and the machines
and it all. But when they saw the Professor himself they were greatly overjoyed
with the reunion, especially between dad and son. They were all agreeing to
fixing his lawn when Maidenwaut came in with Oom-ick. “Tea?” Oom-ick asked just
before he spilt it all over the floor. Maidenwaut rolled her eyes and cleaned
it up. Then she shooed Oom-ick out. She made more tea and came back to give
everyone some. She was still odd to Emily, but everyone else liked her.
Soon enough the Professor’s lawn
was covered with green growing grass and flowerbeds, his house was repainted
blue. I almost looked like candy land, especially because of cotton-candy-head
Oom-ick. Maidenwaut got a new job of not only waiting on the Professor, but
also tending to the flowerbeds and baby-sitting Steve and Joseph. Professor Shortwell
soon became a favorite in the neighborhood, always baking cookies for the
neighborhood kids, and buying little silly gifts for them. Overall everything
workd out pretty well, and the lesson Emily learned was that you cannot judge a
book by its cover.
The End! :)
By:
Pepper Potters
3/3/13
In
the year of our Lord 2013
