What makes a house a home?

The house was perfect. Situated on three acres of farmland, the windows in the kitchen caught the light, as the sun began to set.

"What do you think?" I asked my husband, Greg.

"Do you like it?" he asked, surveying a hole in the living room plaster. "It looks like a fixer upper, and you'd be doing most of the work, while I'm at work. You're just now able to walk."

Greg was right. While running, I'd tripped and broken my femur. I was on the way to recovery, but this was only the third week I'd been walking without crutches, or a walker. I still had a few months to go, before my leg completely healed.

"I love this house," I replied, viewing the kitchen from the living room. I could imagine cooking lavish meals for Greg, while he taught English classes at the high school in town. I also couldn't wait to start repainting the living room, which was an ugly grey.

Greg smiled. "We'll take it," he said.

"It's a great price," said the little old lady who seemed to be the only realtor in town.

*****

The house already had new furniture, which I thought was odd, considering the disrepair of the house itself. However, Greg and I decided to stay the night at our new purchase. We had grown weary of staying at the dilapidated local motel.

As we lay under new blankets, I rolled over and said, "don't you think it's weird somebody bought new blankets, beds, and chairs, but didn't fix the rest of the house?

Greg thought a moment. "Yeah, it is weird, but it saves us money in the long run."

The bedroom door swung open, and I screamed.

"Would you calm down?" said Greg. "It's just Juniper. Juniper was a huge dog we had adopted. At two years old, he was already enormous.

"Come here, buddy," I said. Juniper trotted over to my side of the bed, and I scratched behind his ears.

"You're not sleeping with us, Jupe," said Greg.

Our dog gazed dolefully at me.

"Sorry bud," I said. Two seconds later, Greg was fast asleep, and Juniper pushed in between us. I knew my husband wouldn't wake till morning, and I wasn't strong enough, yet, to get our dog off the bed. I listened to the comforting sounds of Greg and Jupe snoring. The next thing I knew, morning had come.

"What in the world?" I said. I couldn't see my husband, or the dog. Then, I heard Juniper bound up the stairs. While I scratched his ears, I read the note Greg had left.

It read, "I decided to leave for my first day of work, early. I left pancakes and coffee for you, in the kitchen."

I smiled. Greg had made my favorite breakfast. As I ate my pancakes, Juniper put his head in my lap, hoping for scraps.

I grinned. "Not a chance."

Juniper ran out of the kitchen and into the living room. He began to growl, which was unusual for him. I figured he had seen a mouse, and decided to go check it out. I liked mice.

In the living room, there were no mice. Juniper continued to growl, but I couldn't see anything he could growl at. I went back to the kitchen to drink some more coffee. As I was pouring, I heard a violent crash. Jupe began to bark. As I returned to the living room, I saw a large mirror had fallen to the wood floor.

As I began to pick up the pieces, I saw faint letters on the back of the mirror. I enjoyed puzzles, and carefully moved the fragments to the kitchen table. It took me all morning to see the back of the mirror had said, "help me," or "hell me." Either way, it was a strange thing to find on the back of an antique family d.

I decided to take a bath, to get my mind off of the weird words I'd discovered. There was a lovely, free standing tub. I turned on the water, and heard the pipes shudder. Then, what seemed like blood ran out of the tap. The room was very cold. Shivering, I turned the tap off. Jupiter ran in, sniffed the air, and began to bark.

I patted him on the head. "It's okay, it's just blood," I heard myself say. Maybe I was wrong; maybe their was red rust in the old plumbing. I decided to take a shower instead. To my relief, normal water flowed out of the shower head. As I began to relax, I began to think of the movie, "Psycho".

Suddenly, as if I'd conjured it, the shadow of a man appeared. I was so scared, I couldn't scream. What should I do? I decided to open the shower curtain, to see what horrible thing was lurking in the bathroom.

"Hi honey," said my husband.

I exhaled with relief.

"Are you okay?" he said.

I turned off the shower and informed him of the day's events.

Greg ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know if you want to know this, or not, but the school librarian told me our house is supposed to be haunted."

I sighed. "That would explain a lot."

Greg shook his head. "Also, in the 1880's, apparently a man went crazy and killed his entire family in our house. The children were buried on our property, somewhere, but no one knows where."

"That's awful," I said, as I put on my robe.

"As long as my new librarian friend was telling the truth," replied Greg.

"Does she have a reason to lie?" I began to brush my wet hair.

"Well," said Greg, "everyone loves a good ghost story."

"You're right about that," I admitted.

That night, as we lay in bed, Juniper and my husband were entwined. Funnier, they had both begun to snore, again. I felt the quilt slowly being pulled off the three of us.

I decided to be brave, because I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.

"Oh, piss off," I yelled. The pulling stopped. I'd be damned if I'd let a ghost take control of my home. Well, actually our home, if I included Greg and Jupe.