1. For a month and a half we used to stay at grandma and grandpa’s house.
2. We’d travel through three states, leaving the humid Texas heat for the Californian dry heat.
3. Every time we pulled into the mobile home we were greeted by liquid kisses and the sweet aroma of peaches.
4. My younger brother and I would try and stay up with the adults for as long as we could in the too-large tv room, that could fit our whole Mexican family comfortably.
5. As the fiery sun set, and the adults pulled out wine glasses, the abundance of ticking clocks grew louder.
6. Using only their eyes and hand gestures, our parents would shoo us off to bed.
7. The mobile home was spacious after the remodeling, and it felt like living in a duplex.
8. Many times, you could see who was in the kitchen from the back rooms.
9. A narrow, long hallway snaked its way throughout the dusty house.
10. At the very end of the hallway was “the red guest room”.
11. A Chester draw falling to pieces, aluminum foil covering the windows, a large double bed, and ruby red carpet filled the room.
12. Mom once said it felt more like an empty storage room than a guest room. Dad on the other hand felt uneasy about the room –although he kept this a secret until after they sold the house.
13. Every night when the lights went out, we would beg for the door to be left open and the ancient hallway light be left on.
14. Every night our request was met with a long sigh and scolding's of, “going to bed!” and “you better not be awake when we come to check up on you both.”
15. In any other situation my brother and I would lie through our toothless grins, however, not in the “red guest room”. Once the shadows of our parents rounded the hallways many corners we would shuffle under the blankets and hold one another close.
16. This is when the odd occurrences would begin.
17. Knocking from the wall inches from my back left us wide-eyed and speechless, we knew no one was in the adjacent room.
18. A child’s giggle could be heard from the widows opposite us.
19. Leaving me to wonder who was laughing just outside the boarded-up windows.
20. Padded footsteps could be heard approaching the large blowup mattress my brother and I cowered in.
21. The Chester drawer’s ornamental knobs would begin to sway slightly creaking as they swung back and forth like a swing set in the playground.
22. Neither one of us liked to be left alone in that room but if my younger brother ever nodded off, I would spring from the bed with my eyes shut tight.
23. Keeping my ankles high I navigated to the bedroom door which always seemed to seal shut.
24. Twisting and pulling on the 80’s doorknob I could feel my heart crawling out of my throat as if it too sensed the unnerving danger lurking around us.
25. Struggling with the easiest door, it flooded my mind with questions.
26. Why is this door suddenly so hard to open at night? When did this door shut? Why can’t I see the light from the hallway illuminating behind this door?
27. A chill breeze on the nape of my neck sent chills down my spine that either left me paralyzed or jumping out of my skin and nearly twisting the doorknob off.
28. Once the door swung inward, I leapt over the divided carpeted threshold, letting air fill my lungs as my toes wiggled between the white carpeted fabric.
29. The hallway light bathed me as I sat down and leaned against the sliding hallway shutter doors, waiting for my parents to return.
30. I never dared glance behind me till the warrior drumming beats ceased in my ears.
31. Glancing back into the “red guest room,” I was always met with an eerie pitch-black room.
32. Although once when I looked back, someone, or something, stared back.
33. At first I was too stunned to comprehend; I chalked it up to my own reflection off the foil.
34. Although after that night I never saw it again.
