When Darkness Calls

“I don’t want to move into a spooky murder house,” I complained to Haylee as we finished mopping the kitchen. “I want to stay here with you.”

She paused with the bucket in her hand. “What? What do you mean? What happened there?”

“You don’t know? It was all our mothers would talk about for months. Virginia Cole wrote an entire book about it.”

“I usually tune my mother out,” Haylee said. “Plus, reading is more Mom’s thing.”

“I haven’t read the book either,” I admitted as I propped the mop up against the wall. “But I did google some of the details. They’re grisly.”

“Grisly?” Haylee repeated, sounding intrigued. “Tell me more.”

“Well, according to witness accounts, the Johnsons were an average family. But then one night, the eldest daughter returned home to discover her entire family had been poisoned.”

Haylee gasped. “Poor girl! Was she the sole survivor?”

“No, her brother survived as well, but the articles didn’t go into detail about him. He was a minor at the time.”

“Did they ever find out who did it?”

“It was one of the daughters,” I told her. “I think her name was Melinda. Apparently, she had been suffering from some mental health issues.”

“That’s how they determined it was her?” Haylee asked, sounding disapproving as she added, “Having mental health issues doesn’t make you a monster.”

“No—but it’s hard to imagine something so horrible happening in such a beautiful home,” I said.

“I saw the web images of the place. I would love to live in a house like that,” Haylee confessed. She then quickly added, “But I wouldn’t trade you for the privilege. Ugh, I feel so nauseated.” She looked at me with big eyes. “What am I going to do without you?”

“You may finally get the courage to ask Payton out, now that I won’t be around to stand in your way,” I countered.

Payton was a boy in our grade that we’d both had a crush on since freshman year; to preserve our friendship, we’d resolved to never date him.

“Dharma, if I were forced to choose between you and Payton, I would pick you every time,” she insisted loyally.

“What if there were two of him?” I countered, raising my brow.

Haylee paused and chewed on her bottom lip thoughtfully as she pretended to consider it. Her outrageous expression caused me to burst out laughing.

Before I could elaborate on the scenario, my mother appeared at the threshold. “You missed a spot in the corner,” she said, pointing at the immaculate floor.

Haylee sighed as she whisked the mop across the area.

“Why did you have to sell to such picky buyers?” I grumbled as I shed my rubber gloves and tossed them into the bucket where we stored the remainder of our cleaning supplies.

“Because they were willing to pay the asking price,” my mother replied as she inspected the room. Appearing satisfied, she returned her attention to me. “Did you remember to drop off the donation boxes?”

“We did that this morning, but full disclosure, most of Dharma’s stuff went to me,” Haylee quipped as she brushed her long, blonde hair over her shoulder. “I’m a worthy cause.”

My mother attempted to give Haylee a stern look but apparently couldn’t prevent the corners of her lips from upturning. “I think I am going to miss you the most.”

“And I’m going to miss you guys, Mrs. Dupree!” Haylee exclaimed. “I can’t believe I’m starting my senior year without Dharma.”

When Haylee made this declaration, my stomach did a flip-flop. Haylee and I had been best friends since my first day of kindergarten, and our relationship had survived every phase of my development.

We’d suffered through puberty together, and when most of my class had been filled with anxiety over starting high school, I’d felt secure knowing that Haylee would be at my side.

But this year I would be going to a new school, miles away, and Haylee wouldn’t be there to lend me her confidence.

Hot tears threatened the corners of my eyes. Haylee took notice, and her eyes began to water as well. But before we were able to dissolve into an unconsolable mess, my mother intervened.

“You guys will still be able to talk and see each other,” she reasoned as she wrapped a protective arm over my shoulder. “And during the school breaks, we can fly Haylee out to visit.”

“But I don’t want to move,” I declared. “Especially not to a house that is reported to be haunted.”

“The house is not haunted—at least not anymore.” My mother chuckled. “According to Virginia, they were able to discover why the house was so active, and it has been dormant since.”

“Dormant?” Haylee said. “That just means the ghosts are asleep, biding their time until they can find a teen girl to gobble up!”

I poked her in the ribs. “Stop being so dramatic.”

“The house is very charming,” my mother said. “And due to the new zoning laws, I was able to acquire a business license for the first level, so I will never be far from Dharma or home.”

I did my best not to make a face. Though my mother considered this beneficial, I had to strongly disagree; no child wanted to be under their parent’s constant surveillance.

“If the downstairs is being used for your clinic, then where will we live?” I demanded.

“Only the formal rooms and a single guest bathroom will be designated for business. There is a den, two additional bathrooms, a kitchen, and five bedrooms that should suit our living needs,” my mother rattled off promptly, signaling that she would hear no other protests.

This was a conversation we’d had on several occasions, and I supposed she was getting weary.

“Good,” I said, relenting. “That means we can reserve a room just for Haylee.”

“I can ship you some of my stuff, if you want to personalize it,” she offered.

“This can be an adventure for all of us,” my mother said, spreading her arms so that we could gather in a quick group hug.

As she released us, she said, “Now that the cleaning is complete, we need to get a move on. I would like to arrive at the house before tomorrow evening. Haylee, why don’t you help Dharma carry out the rest of our bags while I lock up?”

Reluctantly, Haylee followed me to the front door, where the remaining bags had been stored. “This is so unfair,” Haylee whined as she slipped my overnight bag over her shoulder. “I wish I could go with you.”

“And miss your chance with Payton?” I teased as I opened the door.

“You’re moving to California, the land of the beautiful people,” Haylee said. “You’ll meet boys far better than Payton.”

“We aren’t moving to Hollywood,” I reminded her. “The boys in our new neighborhood will probably be just as boring as the boys here.”

“Soon we’ll have to start referring to the boys in our age group as men,” Haylee remarked.

“Nah, they will still be boys,” I said as we loaded the bags into the hatchback of my mother’s car and slammed it shut. “Besides, I doubt any of them will be interested in me.”

Haylee guffawed and shook her head. “With your dark hair and flashing green eyes? I don’t see how any man could resist.”

I gazed at Haylee, drinking in her blue eyes, blonde hair, and all-American good looks. I had always been envious of her because she had easily blended in at school.

Though my father was of European heritage, my mother was from India and stuck out like a sore thumb in our community. I had inherited her dark hair and rich complexion and my father’s bone structure and green eyes.

My mother would often ask me to look her in the eye, claiming she could see a glimmer of my father within.

“Moving somewhere more diverse may be an advantage,” Haylee said. “Most of the hillbillies around here don’t know what to do with a girl like you.”

“I wouldn’t know what to do with them either,” I muttered in a low voice, because my mother was now standing on the stoop and struggling with the lock on the front door.

The bolt was rusted from years of disuse. Nobody in town was in the habit of double locking their doors—which was fine by us kids, since our parents’ complete disregard for our safety came in handy when we wanted to sneak out.

Finally, my mother managed to secure the lock. “It’s going to be hard to get into the habit of locking our doors at night,” she commented.

Haylee leaned into me and jeered, “No more late nights for you.”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t matter. There will be no Haylee to enjoy them with.”

Her eyes began to water as she gathered me into a bear hug. “I will come visit you every chance I get.”

“You swear?”

“I promise,” she stated vehemently. “Now, you better be off. The sun is waning, and the night threatens…,” she announced in a dramatic tone, attempting to break the tension.

“Haylee, I don’t know what we are going to do without you.” My mother walked over to her, offering a parting hug.

“I will miss you too, Deva,” she confessed, wrapping her arms around my mother, then asking, “Is it all right to call you Deva?”

“Just this once,” my mother joked as she released Haylee. Turning to me, she asked, “Are you ready?”

Though I was anything but ready, I nodded in compliance before turning to Haylee. “I’ll text you the entire trip.”

“Just not past ten,” Haylee cautioned me. “I have my job orientation tomorrow, and my mom will kill me if I’m late.”

My mother slid into the driver’s side and started the car, signaling that it was time to wrap things up. I climbed in, rolling down the window so Haylee and I could continue our farewells.

“I’ll text you every day,” I said.

“You better!” Haylee called, waving as she jogged to follow the car down the street.

I stuck my hand out the window and waved until my mother pulled onto the main road and I lost sight of her.

I sighed and focused on the road rushing away instead. “Why do we have to move?”

My mother’s fists gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “Dharma…we’ve talked about this.”

“I know, I know…,” I moaned. “I’m sorry. I will not mention it again.”

I knew full well why my mother anticipated a fresh start. After my father’s death, she’d become introverted, closed her clinic, and escaped through books.

That was how she’d discovered Virginia Cole and the author’s haunted old home.

And now it was our haunted old home.