The Haunting House |
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Hungry
by Paul C. Willhouse"Nice mix of functional modern and decorative antique," Gary called out approvingly as he moved from family room to private office. Whoever the Mears' had been, they had certainly had fine taste in furniture and had kept their house well.
"Do you want that in the listing?" asked his assistant, Ernie, still in the family room.
"Definitely," Gary replied. "The key to a successful auction is to pique everyone's interest, to get everybody to come by." Scanning the contents of the office alone, Gary knew that, marketed right, the sale of the Mears household goods would be hugely successful. With a smile, he began cataloging the contents of the room.
"Hungry."
"Excuse me?" Gary asked, turning to the door.
"I didn't say anything," Ernie called back.
Gary frowned slightly then returned to his work. He quickly listed the desktop items and was starting on the drawers when, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a figure standing in shadow in front of the bathroom at the end of the hall. He turned his attention there instinctively, but the figure was gone. "Ernie?" he called tentatively.
"What's up, boss?" Ernie called back from the family room.
"What're you doing?"
There was a moment's pause, then "Watching pornography," Ernie said with a laugh. "What do you think?"
"Were you just at the bathroom?" Gary asked.
"Not yet. It's still safe. It's all yours," Ernie told him.
Gary sat still a moment, then set aside his inventory sheets. He stood and moved into the hallway. Ernie was on the far side of the family room to his left and the stairs to his right went up to the main floor of the house, the kitchen, dining room and living room. He moved down eight feet of the hall slowly, toward the bathroom, passing the closed door to the basement rec room, then the closed door to a guest bedroom. He looked and there was no one in the bathroom. He paused a moment, shut that door, then opened the door to the guest bedroom. The place was brightly lit by the sun outside. He saw no one and stepped in, quickly checking the closet and even under the bed. No one. He went back into the hallway and shut the door quietly.
"Hungry."
"Jesus," he shouted with a start. The voice had been somewhere near, but he saw no speaker.
"What's wrong?" Ernie called from family room, a hint of concern in his voice.
Gary moved quickly down the hall to the family room. Ernie was still at the far end, where he had been cataloging the books and movies on the shelves there. "You okay?" Ernie asked.
"Did you just say you were hungry?" Gary asked.
"No."
"Are you messing with me? Having a little fun?" Gary asked.
"No, why?" Ernie queried, now more than mildly concerned.
Gary stood still and silent a long moment, then shrugged and smiled. He suddenly felt foolish. "I don't know. It's nothing. I just thought I heard you say you were hungry."
"Not me," Ernie confirmed. "We only ate about forty five minutes ago." He looked concerned only a moment longer, then grinned. "Maybe the Mears' are home from that vacation they forgot to tell everybody about."
"That's not right, Ernie. Don't talk like that," Gary said, but he was grinning all the same. It had been two years since anyone had seen George, Betty or Christopher Mears, and clearly they weren't expected to surface again any time soon if the family and the law had seen fit to begin disposing of their worldly assets. "No more whiskey for breakfast for me, that's all, that'll get me straight," Gary said, still grinning, and returned to the office.
As he resumed taking stock of the office of George Mears, Gary found himself revisiting the family's strange story and wondering if it didn't somehow creep him out more than he had thought. More than once since signing the contract to auction the household effects, he had casually wondered if he wouldn't stumble across the bones of Betty and Christopher stuffed in a box of Christmas ornaments. Christopher had disappeared first and ultimately been designated a runaway. Betty had dropped off the planet some nine weeks later, prompting a major local investigation. George was considered a prime suspect in both disappearances and police had searched the house, dug up the garden and flower beds, searched area woods and fields, and even dredged two local lakes. At the end of it all, they turned up nothing, no bodies, no love triangles or financial discrepancies, no evidence of wrongdoing or foul play. Of course, they didn't find anything when investigating George's disappearance just a month later either. It was all so damned strange. Silently, Gary hoped they would return, just not today.
He finished the desk and filing cabinet quickly and started on the shelves of software manuals and old hard cover books when the sense of being watched came over him. He looked up quickly, hoping to see Ernie in the doorway but also ready for the shadow in the bathroom. There was no one. He turned back to the shelves but couldn't shake the feeling. He looked out the window but saw no one looking in. He started to turn back to his sheets, and then he saw it. Not through the window, but reflected in it, he saw the figure in the hallway behind him, no longer in front of the bathroom, but closer now.
He spun around quickly, nearly upsetting his pages, only to find the hallway empty. "There's somebody else in the house," he called to Ernie as he jumped up and ran into the hallway.
Ernie came quickly from the family room. "Who's in the house?" he asked anxiously.
Gary ignored the question, angry now. The hallway doors all remained closed. "Upstairs," he said and took the steps three at a time, Ernie coming up a step behind.
"Hungry."
Gary turned and Ernie nodded. "I heard that," he whispered. Gary nodded. "You wait here," he instructed. "The rooms on this floor make a big circle. I'll check this floor, flush him out. We'll catch him between us. If he's not on this floor, we'll check upstairs, then the attic."
He moved quickly to the left, toward the front door to lock it and block the intruder that means of egress, but he caught a glimpse of movement in the living room and turned to face it. He saw no one but turned into the room. Two couches, a chair, a coffee table, but no intruder. The living room opened into the dining room, which offered nowhere to hide, but instead led to the kitchen.
"Hungry."
Gary stopped dead in his tracks. The voice was basically on top of him. Anger gave way to fear and he turned, frantically looking for the speaker. He saw no one. He turned back to the kitchen - and beyond that Ernie - and as he stepped forward, he saw in the corner of his eye a profile, a shadow, a figure he could not identify standing at his shoulder, facing him.
"Hungry."
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