Ghost of O'Leary House

Chapter Three

“Interesting?” David echoed, feeling nervous now that he was finally alone with his Grandma for the first time.

“Yes, interesting,” she repeated. “I have all sorts of old books that you could look through, or you could go and hang out with some of the neighborhood kids. It’s nearly noon, so they would all be down by the pond by now, probably fishing.”

David’s ears perked at the chance to hang out with other kids instead of staying in this creepy house. “Yeah, I think I’ll go down to the pond. Where is it?”

“About three miles down the road, a dirt path cuts into the forest and leads you to a large pond,” Grandma explained, moving to clean up the mess on the floor. “When you get back, I’ll have cookies on the table, ready to eat!”

“Wow, that sounds… nice. Thanks, Grandma!” David said, his worries slowly ebbing away.

“But first, let’s get you unpacked and settled into your room for the next few days, shall we?” She said, tossing globs of chocolate chipped dough into a waste bin from the floor. “Just let me finish up here and I’ll show you to your room.”

“Okay…” David said, uncertain if he should help or not. By the time he mustered the courage to ask she’d taken the last bit of dough from the floor and tossed it away, standing up with the metal tray in her hands, which she slid into the sink, destined to be washed later.

“Now, your room is downstairs, as is mine. I don’t really use the upstairs that much, so I keep the doors closed and locked.” Grandma explained as she moved to grab David’s suitcase. “You’ll be sleeping in the room across from mine.”

“Wait, you don’t let anyone upstairs?” David asked, thinking of the old woman he saw when he’d walked up to the house.

“No, it’s… easier this way.” Grandma said, pausing for a moment as if searching for a word.

“But I saw someone in the window upstairs, an old lady!” David exclaimed, pointing up above them. “She was staring out of the window and even nodded at me when I waved to her!”

Grandma tittered with laughter. “You must have been seeing things, David, as I can assure you that you and I are the only people in this house.”

“I wasn’t seeing things. There was a woman in the upstairs window.” David argued.

“That is enough David!” Grandma said her tone curt and short. “Now let’s get you settled in and then you can go to the pond, but I will not listen to anymore… stories of seeing people in my house! It’s just the two of us here, do you understand?”

“Yes ma’am,” David said, thinking about the lady and what he’d seen. He knew there was someone up there...

The room that his Grandma showed him was his father’s old bedroom, complete with a small bed and a desk facing a window that allowed you to sit and watch a small clearing in the woods, complete with an old wishing well visible even from the bedroom. When he asked about it his Grandma turned serious.

“Now that well is not a toy,” she said. “It’s on my land, just like the pond, but I had it closed up a long time ago so people would leave it be.”

“What were people doing to it?” David asked, curious.

“Never you mind, now I have your father’s old motorcycle ready for someone to ride it. Had one of the Hardy boys fix it up for you last week.”

“Uh, cool? A motorcycle, all for me?” David asked less than enthused at the idea. His old motorcycle was currently gathering dust in a storage center back home. His Mom hated it and locked it up after his first minor accident, something that resulted in a few stitches and a minor concussion.

Walking ahead of his Grandmother, David moved through the sitting room towards the door leading to the garage. The smell of old books and pungent potpourri filled the air, making the room a hot and uncomfortable place. David gladly opened the door leading to the garage, if only to be free from the smells of the front room.

The garage was cool and dark and stank of gasoline and paper. Flicking on the light switch, Grandma walked past David towards a tan Oldsmobile that looked as if it hadn’t moved in inch in years. Behind it, next to the garage doors, was a freshly polished black motorcycle, a low rider with if David knew his terms correctly, a pair of silver lightning bolts painted on the frame. David moved towards it reverently as his Grandmother pulled the cord to have the garage doors open slowly via a mechanical pulley. He touched the seat, marveling at how soft the leather was, plush and stuffed.

“Did the Hardy’s do a good job?” Grandma asked sounding slightly concerned, before laughing as David enveloped her in a bone-crushing hug. “Oof, I’ll take that as a yes! You run along and play, just make sure your home before the sun sets.”

“Really?” David was amazed at the level of trust his Grandmother was putting in him, despite only knowing him for a half an hour. His mother had no doubt told her what trouble he caused and the fact that she was letting him drive a vintage motorcycle, unattended, down to a place where teenagers hung out, was amazing, to say the least.

She nodded. “Don’t make me regret saying this but I’ve heard nothing but good things from your father and nothing but rules from your mother. If I’m watching you, I want you to have some fun, so long as you’re careful. Don’t make me regret giving you this much free reign, okay?”

“I promise, I’ll be good!” David enthused, hopping onto the motorcycle, and playing with the handles. It was different than his old one, but he still knew the basics. “I’m going to go and check out the pond now, maybe see if there are any kids I can hang with.”

“You do that!” She said, tossing him the keys to the motorcycle his father apparently had owned yet never mentioned. David reached down and turned the key, flaring the engine to life, before driving out of the garage with a backward wave to his Grandma.

“Have fun!” She called out after him.

This is what he’d been missing! David hadn’t had a chance to have fun like this for ages, not since his Mom got her job at the school. Jane O’Leary had taken up the job as the resident student counselor at his school, something the other teens had teased him endlessly about. While he hadn’t anything to truly complain about, the fact that his mother shared the same lunch time with him had always made him feel uncomfortable, like she was always watching him. It’d been better when his Dad had been the only professor he was related to; at least then David could relax a little, as his father taught a different class than the ones he had been taking at the time.

Now, with his father off at some hush-hush program run by the Department of Education, he rarely saw the friendly older man anymore. It was just him and his mother, day in and day out… talk about boring! And with the supposed freedom of college, she’d clamped down harder on his spare time, enlisting him to do work around the house during his spare time. The party he’d thrown had been his one act of rebellion and she acted like he’d killed a kid!

David swerved his bike around someone that lurched out from the woods, stumbling about as if they’d been struck in the head. The teenage boy was pale and thin, his veins visible beneath his skin and his eyes bloodshot, his skin glistening as if he'd just crawled out of the water. He didn’t even apologize for almost making David crash, just walked out from the woods and across the street, then down the path the opposite direction.

“Weirdo…” David muttered as he revved the engine again, thoughts of his parents and his new-found freedom still occupying his mind rather than the dark teen that he’d almost run down.

Feeling the wind whip past him as he roared down the old country road, David couldn’t fight the smile that was blossoming on his face. All too soon, he spied a sign he was closing in on.

“Grayson’s Quarry?” He read off, slowing down and pulling to a stop near an assortment of bicycles leaning against a few old cars. He killed the engine and pocketed the keys. “Has to be the place, no way there are two quarries in a small town like this.”

Looking around, he heaved a sigh and started stalking down the dirt path. “Let’s make some friends, I guess.”