Return

“She is back.”

“What? What do you mean… she is back?”

“She is… back.”

Diane had just entered the kitchen through the back door, turned around, and was now staring back out the glass window, embedded into the doorframe.

Toni, her older sister looked at the back of her head, brows furrowed.

“Diane, can you please be more specific?” She asked the 12-year-old, sounding more and more like their mother, polite but with a slight annoyance in her voice.

“Mrs Gruber. She is back.” The girl barely spoke out loud, it sounded more like an out-of-breath whisper.

“Mrs… what? The woman that our mom attended the funeral of… last month?” It had been a sad Tuesday, even with the sunshine and fluffy clouds in the sky. In the morning, Toni and Diane were both getting ready to bury Fred, their 15-year-old orange cat, in the garden, when they heard the sirens. Mrs Gruber had been found lying (already dead, it was a stroke apparently) in her kitchen. The ambulance had been too late and she was carted off inside a hearse. A few days later, their mother was dressed all in black and attending the small funeral (because that’s what you do, according to their mother).

Since Diane was usually serious and never caught lying, Toni, slightly concerned, stood up and circled her sister to ask her again what she meant. As she glanced at the small girl’s face, she was taken aback by how ashen her sister appeared. Eyes wide and unmoving.

“Diane, I’m getting worried, what happened exactly?” she asked hesitantly. A small flicker, a shuddering breath. Diane finally looked up at her. “I just… saw her. Mrs Gruber. She just… wobbled through her backyard, right into her back door. I… she was wearing a nice suit. But it was all muddy and dirty.”

Toni didn’t know what to say to that. “But… Diane. She is dead. Like Fred. Like Dad… you know what that means, right? Are you sure you saw what you saw? Sometimes our mind can play tricks on us, you know?” Diane now noticed her sister fully. “Toni, I’m not stupid. I read. Yes, I know she is dead, but I’m telling you, Mrs Gruber just walked into her house all… jerky and wobbly.”

Toni turned around and also stared out the door. (the late) Mrs Gruber’s house was just across the road, in all its pink shingled glory, the lawn still trimmed and the prized rose bushes still in bloom. It was getting late and the house was as dark as the woods behind it.

“Okay… okay. So we go over there and look.” Toni decided, brushing away her fear. She turned and headed for the clutter drawer that also held the flashlight.

“Antonella.” Usually, only their mother called her that. Diane kept looking at her like she had grown a second head. “We can’t. Remember those movies that I’m too little to watch, but watch anyway? Who dies first? The stupid girl that goes looking at what made the scary sound!” Diane was distraught but not entirely wrong. Pretty smart for a 12-year-old.

“This is not a movie Di, I’m going over, you can stay here if you like. All alone…” Toni grabbed the metallic flashlight and headed out the door. She knew her sister would follow and sure enough, a few seconds later she heard the door open behind her.

“Okay. But I’m telling you, I saw what I saw.” Diane was trying to keep up with Toni’s longer strides. They crossed the street quickly and entered the shadowy backyard. There was still no light coming from the windows. Slowly they approached the back door, the torch shaking slightly. Toni’s bravado had lessened somewhat, not that she let her sister know.

The door was not locked. Okay, strange, Toni thought to herself. She opened the door and immediately the light of the flashlight illuminated the dark kitchen. It was empty. “Look there’s nothing here.” Toni turned to her sister. Diane was not reacting and looking at the floor. All she did was point a finger at it. Toni jerked around and stared at the floor where the finger was pointing. She saw muddy footprints on the otherwise pristine linoleum.

“Oh.” was all she managed to say before they heard the TV in the living room turn on. “Didn’t she have a daughter? I’m sure she’s back to manage the house sale or something.” Toni tried to calm herself down. “Hello?” she called into the dark house. No answer. She started to march into the living room, past family portraits on the walls, everyone looking happy and smiling. She felt her sister grab her shirt behind her. “No! Please can we go? Go back, please!” Diane was hyperventilating and tugging at her shirt.

“Don’t be silly, let’s just get it over with.” Toni ripped herself free and continued on her way towards the living room. Right before she would have turned the corner and could see inside (the light and sound from the TV was on), she smelled it. An overpowering, awful stink. A rotten smell that twisted the air into something foul and… wrong. She stopped dead in her tracks. “Uhh… maybe we go back, you’re right.” Toni was visibly shaken, trying not to lose her dinner. 

The second she stopped talking, the TV turned off. They didn’t hear anything at first. Then a quiet shuffling. Like soft slippers on a hard floor. Toni turned around, grabbed her sister by the arm, and rushed back inside the kitchen, through the door, and out of the house. Being outside, having escaped the dreadful stench, Toni immediately felt less frightened. Diane was yanking at her arm trying to get her home. They had reached their porch when they turned around for the first time since bolting outside. 

The house. Mrs Gruber’s house was no longer the garish pink it used to be and there was no sign of blooming roses either. It looked old and abandoned and where there used to be rose bushes, now dead and fragile stalks were coming out of the ground, like brittle fingers. “I don’t understand. What on earth is going on?” Toni’s voice pierced the air. She turned around to look at her sister when she heard no answer. Diane was gone. There was no one standing next to her. She could feel her own heart starting to beat rapidly, her skin getting clammy.

A quiet scratch and gentle “meow” behind her.

It sounded like Fred.