The Empty House

Part 4

Right now they were all in the dining room enjoying dinner, Yolanda cooked a lot of Alfred, Jett, Grace and Courtney's favorite side dishes. The clock on the wall was already 8 pm. While they were eating, Alfred suddenly spoke up and asked Jett something.

" Jett, when did you start coming to the office again? " Alfred asked while looking at his son-in-law's face.

" Tomorrow, as early as 7 am I have to be there because I have a lot of work to do, Grace also starts school tomorrow. " Jett answered Alfred's question.

" Then what about Courtney? " Alfred asked again.

" About Courtney, Jett and I haven't decided yet, we are confused about which school should we enroll her in, if possible I want Courtney to go to school near here let it be easy for me to send and pick up Courtney home. " Yolanda answered on Jett's behalf.

" Then let me help you find a best school for Courtney, it's a shame if Courtney missed her lessons. " Alfred said.

" Wow thank you very much dad. " Yolanda expressed her gratitude because her father wanted to help her find a best school for Courtney.

While they were eating and talking about Courtney's school, they suddenly heard old music playing on a phonograph.

" Do you hear something? " Jett said, they all tried to hear carefully where the music sound was coming from.

" Sounds like music from a phonograph? Who played it? " Courtney asked, she was curious.

" It sounded from the second floor towards the study, you all just sit here, let me go see! " Grace said, then she quickly got up and climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Arriving at the study, Grace saw phonograph music was turn playing old, strange songs that Grace had never heard of. Grace closed the phonograph music and looked around the study, she suddenly looked at a large bookcase. She saw the books in the bookcase were not neatly arranged, without wasting time Grace immediately rearranged the books on the bookcase and at that moment she accidentally found some photos.

" These must be photos of people who lived here before? " Grace said to herself as she looked at the photos.

While she was looking at the photos, the 'secret' door in the study opened slightly. Grace put the photos back where they came from and she walked over to the 'secret' door. Grace tries to open the door and wants to see what's behind that 'secret' door... suddenly ROARRR!! a black figure appears behind that door, Grace who was shocked half to death screamed loudly. About a minute later she saw that the black figure was gone but someone suddenly touched her shoulder, again Grace screamed. She was really shocked.

" Grace, what's wrong with you? why are you screaming like a scared person? " it turned out that the one who was holding Grace's shoulder was Jett. He went upstairs because he was very curious as to why Grace had been in the study for so long.

" Nothing, dad. I'm just surprised. Dad, let's get out of this study. " Grace said.

" Come on! " Jett answered, then Jett and Grace came out of the study and after that a ghostly figure with an ugly face appeared and at the same time the 'secret' door suddenly was tightly closed by itself.

After dinner, Courtney, Grace and Alfred were relaxing in Courtney's room chatting, they look happy because they can share stories and joke together. But when they were having fun, Alfred suddenly felt sleepy.

" Grandpa are you sleepy? " Courtney who was hugging the teddy bear asked.

" Yes Courtney, I'm going to bed first. you guys better go to bed soon because Grace also has school tomorrow right? " Alfred asked while Grace just nodded her head.

" Grace, accompany me to sleep here please! " Courtney starts to begging with Grace.

" Courtney, you should adjust yourself to sleep alone! " Grace said, weak to see her sister was still afraid to sleep alone without anyone's company.

" But Grace I'm still scared, please Grace I beg you " Courtney said again. Like it or not, Grace had to give in because she didn't want Courtney to cry later, it would be troublesome if Courtney cried.

" Alright, I'll accompany you to sleep here, but for this time only and tomorrow night you have to sleep alone!! " Grace said.

" Okay " Courtney replied.

" I turned off this light, okay? " Alfred said to Grace and Courtney.

" Yeah, just turned off the lights, grandpa. " Grace answered, then Alfred turned off the lights in Courtney's room.

The night is getting late now, all those who live in that house are already sleeping in their respective rooms, Grace and Courtney are sleeping together, Alfred is sleeping alone in his new room. While Yolanda sleeps with Jett in their room, they seem to be sleeping soundly in each other's arms. Suddenly a black shadow appeared and watched Yolanda from a close distance, Yolanda who felt being watched for suddenly woke up, she saw her husband was sleeping soundly beside her. She looked around and there was nothing and she decided to go back to sleep.

Meanwhile, in Courtney's bedroom, the two girls were engrossed in dreams, little Courtney was sleeping hugging Grace, suddenly the sound of traditional American music which was a bit strange sounded like it was being played but did not know from which direction, Courtney, who was awakened from her sleep by the sound of the music immediately woke up Grace.

" Grace wake up! i hear like the sound of music but what music is that huh? " Courtney said but Grace stayed asleep and didn't wake up.

" Grace wake up! " Courtney shook Grace's body but Grace remained unconscious, seeing that, Courtney was upset then she got up from her bed and went out of her room. She descended the stairs and headed straight for the kitchen. The traditional music stopped when Courtney reached the kitchen.

" Why did the music suddenly stop? I hear it from here just now?! " Courtney spoke to herself. Courtney looked at the window for some reason she suddenly felt like approaching the window, she braved herself even though she seemed scared and opened her steps but suddenly she screamed in fear because she saw a ghost figure that suddenly appeared in the window in front of her, the ghost shuffling to approach Courtney. The little girl ran towards the living room while screaming loudly.

Grace, who woke up from her sleep because of Courtney's loud screams, was shocked to see Courtney not next to her, she was very afraid that something would happen to Courtney.

" Courtney!! "

" Courtney!! "

" Courtney!! " Grace called Courtney's name three times before she came out of the bedroom. Grace saw her parents and grandpa also came out of their respective rooms because Courtney's screams were heard.

" Grace, where's Courtney? " Yolanda, who panicked at the sound of her youngest child's screams, asked Grace, she was afraid that something would happen to Courtney.

" I don't know. She suddenly wasn't in her room but I heard her voice like downstairs. " Grace said.

" Let's take a look downstairs! " Jett said then they all including Alfred rushed downstairs, there they saw Courtney lying unconscious on the floor.

" Courtney!!! " Those who were shocked and panicked rushed to get Courtney.

Jett who was very panicked came and took Courtney on his lap while patting the little girl on the cheek to wake her up.

" Courtney wake up kiddo. " Jett said.

" Courtney!! Oh my, what happened to Courtney? " Yolanda asked.

" Courtney please wake up! wake up!! " Grace called out Courtney's name in a worried tone. But when they were waking Courtney up from fainting suddenly something passed around them and it could only be felt by Alfred.

" I feel like... I feel like someone is passing by here. " Alfred said while holding the back of his neck that goosebumps.

" What do you mean, grandpa? " Grace asked.

" It's just your feelings only, dad. " Jett answered.

" Maybe! " Alfred replied. not long after that Courtney came to her senses and asked why they were all there.

" Why is everyone here? what's happening? why am i here too mom? dad? " It seemed that this little girl had forgot about the spooky incident she had been through just now.

" You passed out here earlier. " Grace answered Courtney's question.

" Yolanda, Jett, I think Courtney's better off sleeping with you two for this night, it's safer than letting her sleep alone. " Alfred said while looking at the faces of Jett and Yolanda.

"Yeah you're right, dad. " Jett agreed, then he quickly picked up Courtney's small body and carried Courtney to his and Yolanda's room. Alfred also go into his room to go back to sleep. Now only Yolanda and Grace that were still over there.

" Mom, do you feel that there's something strange about this house? " Grace asked, staring intently at her mom's face.

" No, I just feel normal. Why do you ask like that? " Yolanda asked back, she was curious.

" Because yesterday I saw the chairs and dining table in the kitchen floating above. " Grace tried to complain about the incident to Yolanda.

" Maybe that's just you're feelings! There's nothing. " Yolanda tried to think positively and was lazy to bother about these strange events.

" That's not all mom, there's more! " Grace said.

" There's more? That's enough! don't think about that anymore, go to bed right now! tomorrow you have to go to school! " Yolanda said she didn't want to hear anything more from Grace. Inevitably Grace had to obey her mother's words and walked up the stairs to her own room followed by Yolanda who entered her and Jett's bedroom.