My A-muse-ing Life

You are walking down a sidewalk at night when you see an old run-down house, with a small candle lit in the window. No one has lived in the house for many years, but suddenly you see a shadow shaped like a person pass by the candle light. Who is it, and what are they doing at the house?

• Story Prompt- Construction Worker
• March Writing Prompts 2023
• Twas the Night Before March
• Silence
• Sound of Silence

Oliver slammed the door and hurried down the sidewalk. Addy had insisted he go look for Jenna and he wasn’t thrilled. It was dark and he’d rather be at Kevin’s party but instead his sister had insisted he go find her friend.

He had to admit Kevin wasn’t the best roommate for them. He and Kevin shared one room in their parents two bedroom two bath house, and his sister and Jenna shared another. Jenna was quiet and kept to herself, but Kevin was loud, drank a lot and always partying.

Tonight he’d come back to the house from his friend Jenson’s house, and started drinking heavily. Within an hour, he’d called up several friends to have a party. He didn’t want to talk about his time at Jenson’s and he hadn’t invited Jenson, which was odd, but Oliver tried not to think about it.

He had to find Jenna. He wasn’t sure where she’d gone to, but Addy said she’d left in a hurry and hadn’t turned around when she’d called out after her. He drew in a deep breath and looked around. He had no idea where Jenna might have gone to, but he had to try to find her. She liked to walk the dirt road near their house so he headed that way. It was pitch black, but maybe she’d taken a flashlight.

He headed down the road, pulling out his cell phone to use as a flashlight. They’d tried calling Jenna several times, but she never picked up. He’d grabbed his phone just in case she called Addy while he was gone, but now he was glad he had it for a light.

He walked down the road for a couple of miles. He began to hear organ music playing in the distance, and as he got closer, he could see it was coming from the old house they’d passed many times. No one had lived there in years. When he got closer, he saw a candle glowing in the window and wondered if some teens had left a CD player going with a candle as a Halloween joke. He stopped at the edge of the road and stared at the house for a moment, trying to see if he could figure out where the music was coming from.

Suddenly a shadow passed in front of the window. Oliver’s heart began to race. He watched as the shadow passed by the window again, then stopped and stared out. Someone was in this house and they looked older than a teenager. The shadow in front of the window wore a long, black cape with a hood. He couldn’t see them well, but from the small part of the face he could see, the skin was wrinkled like an old woman. Oliver rolled his hand into a fist and bit down to keep himself from screaming. Someone was there, and whoever she was, she didn’t look friendly. He could only hope he hadn’t been spotted.