Gothic Story

Tommy Lewis was a 16 year old and a junior at Windpoint High School in South Carolina. He lived alone with his mother Jennifer, who was a single parent. Tommy didn’t even know who his father was and had no desire to find him. Tommy and his mother were very close. She provided a good environment for the two of them to live in. Since Tommy didn’t have a father he saw himself as the man of the house. He thought that it was his job to protect his mother, especially since she was basically the only family that he had. Since Tommy felt so strongly about protecting his mother he always acted tougher than he really was because he never wanted to let her down. He was a very tough, mature, and polite. Tommy Lewis was just an all around good guy. He had a lot of friends, was captain of the football team, and almost every girl in his grade loved him. Tommy was the envy of all his male peers.

Tommy was very content with his life so when his mother had to break the news to him that she got promoted to a higher position and they would have to move Tommy didn’t know how to react. The situation was bittersweet. He was happy for his mom because he knew that she was a very hard worker and deserved a promotion. But on the other hand, he wasn’t too thrilled with the fact that he would have to leave his life behind and have to start completely over. He would have to make all new friends, get used to a new town, and live in a new house. As much as he would miss his life he knew he didn’t have a choice. The best approach to dealing with it was to just be positive and make the best out of it.

A few weeks had passed and Tommy and his mom were getting ready to move their things in and see the house for the first time in person. It wasn’t a very good day for moving. The clouds were as dark as night and they could feel a cold salty wind blow in from the ocean. Their first impression of the house wasn’t exactly what they anticipated. Online it looked to be much more lively and welcoming. This house was far from that. It was very large colonial style house that seemed to be constructed of ancient brick. The front lawn was large, brown, and dead. There was a large black wooden door placed in the center of the frame of the house with a thick cooper door knocker. Leading up to the steps was a meandering walkway full of twists and dead weeds peeping out from the cracks. Following the walkway was a small set of steps leading to the doorway. The steps looked dangerous they were all slanted and down the side had two huge gaping cracks. Neither Tommy nor his mom wanted to admit that the house was dreadful so they just smiled and continued on to the inside to see if it was any better.

The inside of the house seemed to match the appearance of outside. The first thing that caught Tommy's eye was a big grand staircase in the middle of the room. When he looked up he saw a large chandelier swaying from side to side covered in spider webs. The room to his left was completely bare except for a fireplace. It was off to the side of the room and a fragile detailed border of vines surrounded it. The room to the right of him was a library. The ceiling was tall and mahogany bookcases reached all the way up to the ceiling and covered the perimeter of the room. The area was filled with ancient books and covered in dust. The house had very dim lighting due to the lack of windows and old light fixtures. Tommy traveled next to see his bedroom at the top of the staircase. It was large and had a single window across from the doorway. The top and bottom of the room were lined with a delicate molding which was covered with a thick filth. He saw his room also had a large closet. He stuck his head inside and found a string hanging from the ceiling that was attached to what appeared to be a trap door. Right as he was about to pull it to see what was behind it his mother told him he had to come help her unload the van.

A few days had passed and they were finally starting to get used to their new home. They hadn’t fully adjusted but things were improving and feeling less foreign to them. It was Tommy’s first day of school and his mother's first day in her new position so they were both a little anxious. Tommy made it through the majority of the day with no issues and even met a few friendly people who were willing to help him out and show him to some of his classes. It wasn’t until his 4th hour History class that he ran into some trouble. Some of the guys in the class that sat near to him started asking about general things like what his old school was like and what he thought of his new classes. Tommy didn’t feel anything was wrong with the situation until he told them where he lived. As soon as he told them his address they all immediately exchanged bewildered glances. Once he asked what was wrong they were reluctant to tell him.

Tommy ended up persuading them into telling him about the house. They went into a lengthy description of the homes history. Apparently a woman named Mrs. Jones lived in the house her entire life and loved it with all of her heart. She grew up in the house and later went on to raising her very own children there. She put all of her time and effort into making the house look beautiful. Besides her family, that house was her pride and joy. After her children moved out and it was just her and her husband they both grew very old and ill. A wealthy couple tried to convince the Jones into selling them the house and even offered much more money than it was worth but Mrs. Jones still refused it. Mr. Jones seemed to be considering the idea but Mrs. Jones wouldn’t allow it. One night a neighbor heard the two of them arguing then it unexpectedly went silent and neither of them was ever seen again. The rumor that was spread around the town was that Mr. Jones got so angry he killed his wife and put her body in the piano so that she wouldn’t ever be found. He later was filled with guilt so he committed suicide. Everyone now believed that the house was haunted and if anyone was ever to play the piano in the house then Mrs. Jones's spirit would be released and she would find any way she could to get whoever was in her home out.15 years had passed and Tommy and his mother were the very first people to live in the home since the incident. After hearing that story he was horrified but eventually calmed down and reassured himself that there was no possibility that that could be true.

Later that day when Tommy arrived to the front door of his home he could not shake the story that the boys at school had told him. He kept telling himself it wasn’t true and just tried to laugh it off. To make his mind at ease he continually told himself that the guys were just trying to scare him. He took a deep breath and shoved his key through the lock on the front door. When he grabbed the knob and went to turn it, it felt as cold as ice. After feeling the door knob a shiver ran down is neck to his spin all the way to the tips of his toes. He took a step back to clear his thoughts and proceeded into the house.

Tommy knew the only way to completely reassure himself that the story was just a lie was to explore the house himself and make sure that even if he did find a piano somewhere that it at least wasn’t filled with the body of Mrs. Jones. He started at the basement and worked his way up checking every single area of the house. He had checked the entire house and found no piano. He was fairly satisfied with his findings and decided to just take a rest and sit down on his bed. As he was laying there he was tracing every inch of the room with his eyes. Something caught his eye in the closet. He saw it was a string so he got up and went to it. When he saw it he remembered it was attached to the trap door he found when they first moved in and forgot to ever see what was above it. He decided to pull on it and down came a set of creaky dirty fold up stairs. He brushed off the stairs and found that they led to the attic. Tommy walked up the steep stairs and found himself in a completely pitch black room. The room was filled with a thick moist air. There was a cool breeze that was flowing about the space but he had no idea where it was coming from. The great amount of filth in the room hurt his lungs to breathe in. He knew he wouldn't be able to see anything so he went back to his bedroom to get a flashlight from underneath his bed. When he returned back to the attic with the flashlight he turned it on and attempted to see what was kept in the room.

The attic was a very large spacious area. As he roamed around he didn't find anything out of the ordinary. He came across some old clothing, boxes of paperwork, and even a few photo albums left behind by the previous owners. As Tommy made his way to the opposite side of the attic to go back down the stairs he ran into a very large object that was placed in the center of the room. The object was so big and Tommy no longer had his flashlight on so it knocked him to the ground. Tommy reached for it to pull himself back up and his hand pressed down on a set of keys and loud bang erupted. He realized that what he had run into was the piano. He slowly stood up and felt his knees trembling. He turned back on his flashlight and went over to the piano to lift up the top cover to see if the story that he had heard was actually true. He took a deep breath and opened the piano. He looked down and saw it was completely empty. He was instantly filled with relief and felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders. The thought of how he even for a moment considered that story to be true was comical to him. He pulled out the bench from beneath the piano and sat down. He learned how to play when he was a young boy so he took this as an opportunity to see if he remembered anything. After giving an attempt he pushed the chair back in and continued on back down to his bedroom. He looked around the room and something seemed to be different but he couldn't figure out quite what it was.

When Tommy returned back down to his room he felt so much better and was glad he actually found the piano. He folded up the dirty old stairs and brushed off the dust that fell from the stairs onto some of his clothes. He walked back into his room from his closet and something seemed odd. There looked almost as if there was a low haze hanging in the air of his bedroom and the mirror above his dresser was covered in smudges. He didn’t really think anything of it so he just cleaned off his mirror and went to bed.

That evening Tommy was expecting a peaceful slumber since his worries had vanished when he found nothing decaying in the piano, it was the complete opposite. He woke up countless times in a cold sweat. He was tossing and turning the entire evening. At one point in the night he experienced something horrifying. He woke up because he heard a loud terrifying screeching noise. It resembled the sound of nails on a chalk board. He did his best to ignore it but he simply could not. He peeked up from underneath his blankets and swore he saw a ghostly figure standing at the foot of his bed. Once he saw that he rapidly blinked trying to erase the image from his vision. As hard as he tried the figure wouldn’t go away. From what he could tell it was a woman. She was dressed in an all white gown that was long and flowing. The gown was over sized and draped over her petite figure. He could feel her eyes starring directly through his soul. Her eyes were as black as coal. She was moving closer and closer to him and at this point Tommy was terrified. She stopped right in front of him and stretched out her arm revealing her boney hand. Her nails were long and stained yellow with age. She pointed to the door and whispered only three words through her dry and cracked pink lips “Leave my home”.

After hearing that he ran as fast as he possibly could out of his room to the bathroom. He turned on the sink and splashed his face with water as cold as ice. After taking a few moments to calm himself down and get his thoughts in order he made his way back to his bed room. On the way there he peeked into his mother’s room to make sure she was alright. He saw her soundly sleeping and didn’t want to wake her up. When he finally returned back to his room he saw that nothing was there. Seeing this, his mind was put to ease and he could finally sleep.

The next morning Tommy was in a rush for school seeing that he overslept. He ran out of the house in a scramble and the cold wind burned against his cheeks. All day long at school he could not keep his focus. He was too preoccupied in trying to decide if what had happened last night was true or not. When the dismissal bell rang signaling that the students could go home for the day Tommy was apprehensive. He had a gut wrenching feeling that the events that took place the night before were real and that something bad would be to come.

Tommy had walked the whole four and a half miles home from school to kill time. He was hesitant to go home. He felt a strong wind blowing and could sense that a storm was coming so he knew he only had a limited amount of time before he had to return back home. When he looked up to the sky he saw the charcoal rain filled clouds churning at a rapid pace. He could hear the thunder a few miles away so he knew it was on its way. He could see the tree tops blowing and swaying in the wind. Tommy was at his front door and felt a big fat raindrop land right on the top of his head and he knew it was time to go inside.

Once he walked inside he knew right away that seeing the woman last night was no dream. He dropped to his knees with shock and could feel the tears swelling up behind his eyes. His entire body was shaking and he could feel his stomach drop. His heart was practically beating out of his chest. He couldn’t bring himself to look away from his mother’s body hanging so helplessly from the chandelier.  The thin rope from his closet was tied around her neck tightly and attached to the chandelier. There was a pool of blood right beneath her due to the multiple stab wounds in her stomach. He knew exactly who had done this to his mother. It turned out the story he heard and school was true. The boys were just trying to warn him not scare him. Tommy knew it was his entire fault. None of this would have ever happened if he had just listened to them and not played the piano. His poor mother died because he angered and released the soul of the previous owner Mrs. Jones.

Tommy couldn’t contain himself. He was filled with overwhelming guilt from what had happened and knew there was no one to blame but himself. He knew that they only way to fix it was put himself through what his mother had to go through. He went into the kitchen and found the sharpest butcher knife possible. He removed it from the drawer. In the knife he saw the reflection of himself and standing right behind him was the deceased Mrs. Jones. He plunged the knife right through his heart. His body rested in a vast pool of his deep red blood. He could feel the energy draining from him and all at once everything went black.

Thinking of the fact that both Tommy Lewis and Ms. Lewis were dead a content grin came across Mrs. Jones pale face as she stood over the dead body of Tommy. The house finally got returned to its rightful owner and everything was back to the way it should be. She had no mercy what so ever for either of them. It was their fault for moving into her home.  After news got around town that both of them were found dead in the house she would never have to worry about someone else trying to inhabit her home. She traveled back up to the attic and sat peacefully in the dark and played her piano. The chilling music ran through the air vents and traveled throughout the whole house. As the music was played the front steps of the home shook violently and two more deep cracks were made now creating a total of four.