Chapter 1
It was five o'clock on a Thursday, the hula girl danced on the dashboard while we drove. My mom spoke, "So honey, are you excited to be moving?". I ignored her by looking out the window, watching the passing sign that read "Now Entering Idaho", finally I took a quick glance at my mom, she was looking at me, she repeated herself again "So are you excited to be moving?" This time she said it a little louder to make sure I definetely heard her. I responded but with a stutter, unsure of my answer, "uh, yeah, I guess...". I paused for a moment picking up my words, "I mean, I just dont like the idea of having to go to a new school, and make new friends". My mom replied, "I'm sure there are plenty of twelve years olds that would want to be your friend, but first we've got to find a place to live." She pulled out a map and pointed at the nearest real estate office. We were near Ketchum Idaho in the mountains. As she pulled up to a real estate office, she quickly said "Make sure you're on your best behavior and dont be rude.", "Okay, but its gonna cost ya" I replied. My mom squinted her eyes for about a second then pointed at me and said "You Better." Then she smiled and gave me a hug and tried to give me a sign that she was being sarcastic. She looked over at the realtors office and then lookes back at me, and we got out of the car and went inside. I saw a sign that read "FREE! Coffee! Cookies! Popcorn! Soda!". I immediately went to the stand and grabbed some soda, as my mom went to talk to the realtor. It was a man in a black and white suit. I couldnt really make out what they saying but I could tell it was going well by the looks on their faces. As I waited I munched on the popcorn, it tasted like the popcorn that we would eat at home with dad. "At least one thing here is like home." I thought to myself.
Chapter 2
It was about Eight in the afternoon by the time we finally checked into our hotel. My mom mentioned that she had some extra paperwork to do, but she assured me that we would be in our new home soon. When I opened the hotel room door the room smelled like old ladies purfume, but It didnt bother me that much since I was so tired. I immedietely threw my bags on the floor and collapsed into bed. I woke up the next day in the car, unable to remember how I got there. My mom was driving and she adjusted the mirror in the car to see my face. "Good morning!" she said. I didn't even remember leaving the hotel. My mom spoke excitingly, "We are meeting Gary the realtor, at the office, to see a house that just came on the market today, we are also going to be the first people to view it!" With all her excitement I was no longer half-asleep. I thought that maybe this could be the house that we move into. When we drove up to the house with Gary, he told us that the man who had the house built 55 years ago was a well-known writer. I asked him if he was the one selling the house and Gary explained, "He passed away a long time ago, Nate."
Chapter 3
The house was an oversized log cabin surrounded by forest, its located near a large mountain looking over the cabin. It has big glass windows large wooden deck. I couldnt wait to get up there and see it. My mom was so happy she was shaking. We walked into the front door and the first thing I saw were the glass windows we driving up. But it was the best view of the mountains I had ever seen. I left my mom and Gary and started roaming around the house and something weird happend. Everytime I thought my mom or Gary where near, I found myself alone and I could hear their voices talking in another part of the house. I thought maybe somebody else might have beat us to the house and was already looking at it. Gary and my mom where standing on the deck outside shaking hands. Gary and my mom walked up and Gary said "So what do you think of your new house, Nate?", "Where buying it?" I shouted. "Well your mom thinks its the one, and we're waiting on your approval". I asked "Can we move in today?!", and they started laughing. My mom says "Not today, but hopefully soon."
Chapter 4
It took a whole month before we got the keys to our new house, I already knew what room I was going to pick to be my bedroom. Although, there was a strande smell like old rotten eggs in the room, so when I moved in and I was all settled, I sprayed some air freshener and the smell went away. The movers had quickly moved all our furniture so we spent the arranging things the way we like, my mom was happier than I had ever seen her. I thought maybe moving wasnt so bad after all. Our first night in the house was a long night, i couldnt really sleep. I guess, I was just excited. After laying in my bed for several hours starring at my ceilling in the dark, I got up. It was like something was telling me to go to the living room. The house felt huge, the ceilings where like fifteen feet high and the windows where foggy from the rolling fog outside. As I starred out the big glass windows I noticed something moving in the meadow near our house. As I looked closer, I could make out the image through the fog, of an old man with a big grey beard and round glasses, walking across the meadow. He was kind of far away so I figured he was probably our new neighbor. I went back to bed. The next morning that same rotten egg smell filled my bedroom. I lifted the window up to let the stinch out of the room. It went away briefly, but continued to come back everytime I closed the window so I grabbed a stick laying on the window seal and put perched it in the window to hold it up. I started to spray more air freshener but it sputtered its last spray like a pathetic dribble. Suddenly my mom walked in the room and says "What is that smell?". "I dont know there must be something dead", I exclaimed. School didn't start for another week so I spent most of my time exploring around the house outside. About two hundred feet behind our house in the woods I found an old rock, one room buidling. When I went inside it had a really cold and hallow feeling. I looked around imagining people who might have lived there hundreds of years ago, maybe Indians or settlers. I started to get the feeling that something bad might have happend here. Out of nowhere I could hear coughing outside, It sounded like an old man with a raspy old voice. I thought I might be on his property, so I got up quickly and ran outside before he could find me there. I looked around expecting to see the same man I saw in the meadow last night, but there was nobody around. I knew I had heard him, was my mind playing tricks on me? I got the feeling that he was watching me. Getting a bad feeling of the situation, I started to walk back to the cabin. I turned back to see if he was around and all I could see was the building starring at me. I could hear a crow squacking in the woods and the wind blew leaves around the ground. The hair on my neck stood up. I was breathing hard in a panic, my heart was racing and I ran inside. I decided I never wanted to go to those rocks again. My mom came to see what was the matter, "Where have you been, I've been calling you to bring me the ladder!", "I was wandering around outside and I found a weird rock house in the woods and that old man was there." "What old man?" she said in bewilderment. I explained, "The old man that lives next door, I saw him last night walking across the meadow.", "Well, what did he look like then?" "Hes old, like in his 60s or 70s or something, he has a big gray beard and glasses" I explained. ", "Well, when you were with him what did he say to you?" my mom asked concerningly. "Nothing I just heard him coughing and I knew he was there, I didn't like it so I ran home." My mom paused. She didn't say anything, we sat in silence for a minute while she was thinking. She broke the silence and responded concerningly, "Nathan... we dont have any neighbours. The nearest house around is 10 miles down the road. Do you thinkk he was living in the building behind our house?". "There's nothing inside of it, why would would he walk around in the middle of the night in the fog with nothing but a shirt and jeans on?" I replied. My mom didn't reply. She just gave me a hug and a kiss on my forehead.
Chapter 5
Later that night we were at the table eating dinner. My mom had a disturbed look on her face. "Whats wrong?" I asked. "Before you came in the house and shut the door, I could hear you whisting an old song, I had never heard you do that before" "Then I yelled for you to bring me a ladder, and you never responded." "Mom... I swear I wasn't whistiling. I was outside all day, that wasn't me!" "It's okay, just forget about it and eat your dinner. It was probably just the TV or something." "Make sure to brush your teeth before bed" she said. The next day at about 4 in the morning, I awoke from a terrible dream. I recalled the dream. I was in an old gothic city with a big castle, It was dark but the moon shined down in the street illuminating the fog that rolled down the cobblestone road. I could only make out the siloute of a person in the fog. The person got nearer and nearer. I could see him now. He had a cane and a top har, with a long coat that went down to his knees. He lumbered down the sidewalk, then turned and looked at me. His eyes where glowing red, then I had already waken up after that point. I sat up in my bed pondering and analyzing the dream I had. Suddenly while laying bed, I could hear loud footsteps coming from the ceiling as if someone was in the attic. It sounded like boots stomping slowly. I ran towards my moms room and she came running towards me, she grabbed my hand and while barefooted she led me to the front door and we ran out of the house. The ground was cold, it felt like we were walking on hot coals, only instead of hot it was freezing cold. We approached the car and my mom shouted "Hurry, get in!" with tears in her eyes, my Mom peeled out the tires in the gravel and she raced out of the driveway. "Did she hear what I heard?" I thought. "Was there somebody in our house? In our attic?" My mom had both hands on the wheel leaned foward in her seat and starring intensely at the road while we drove. "Who was that?" I asked. "I saw him... the old man." then she started to cry silently. She was quiet for a second to finish crying, then she continued: "I woke up to a loud noise so I got up and looked out the window and saw the old man in my window watching me, as I watched him, and I was terrified." After that she didnt utter a word. I understood. We drove and drove, It started to get light and I saw a sign "Now leaving Idaho", we never returned to the house again.