The Bargain.... (written as part of S&C's weekly theme)

I locked the door and strolled over to the window. My sister’s car was pulling out of the driveway. I waved as she reversed and with a quick wave back, she sped into the gathering dusk. I stayed and watched till her car’s twin red backlights dissolved from sight.

Then I turned back to survey our new home. It was beautiful. Gracious arches, smooth expanse of polished, tiled floors and elegant marble counters. The kind of house we used to look at enviously in glossy home décor magazines.

What luck to get it at such a bargain!

A stroke of luck for all of us- me, my sister Juraina and my precious baby Taria.

I wandered idly to the kitchen and was pondering over which box to unpack, when I heard it. The baby was wailing upstairs. “God! Taria is crying again.” Muttering under my breath I was halfway up the stairs before it struck me.

The baby wasn’t here!!!!

She was with my mother in her house three blocks away!!!!

Then who was crying upstairs?

I froze. The hair at the back of my neck pricked up in pert unison. My skin broke out in goose pimples.

The baby continued wailing. Sad. Insistent. Lonely.

And then as suddenly, it stopped.

There was deathly silence.

And there I was- alone in the huge silent house that got darker with each passing second. Three more minutes passed and I finally decided to move. Maybe it was a cat? Or some other animal lost upstairs?

“Mama.”

The soft sound came from the foot of the stairs. Heart thudding I spun around to find a small dark form standing down below. In the gloom I could not see any features but could have sworn it was a little boy. For a split second we faced each other before the figure walked to the arch leading into the kitchen and passed through the doorway.

I was shaking. Cold shivers ran up my spine. I would have screamed hysterically if not for my odd conviction that the house would not welcome such an intrusion. So biting my lips, I stayed. And stayed. And stayed. Until finally five minutes passed. I know- because I checked my watch every three seconds. Thank God for luminous dials.

I cautiously turned around again and decided to head up the stairs. Somehow I just did not want to enter that kitchen. I also avoided the master bedroom where I thought the baby had wailed.

Instead I rushed into my sister’s room and locked the door. I fumbled for the light switch.

“Mama”

I gasped and fell back on the door.

On the bed I could make out a the little figure again. And was that a bundle in its arms? Perhaps the baby?

This time I screamed. I opened the door and there outside was the little boy again.

“Mama.”

I moaned in fear. Where could I go? What should I do?

I looked back at the room- it was empty. I swirled to the landing – it was empty.

I ran out. Down the stairs. To the kitchen and put the lights on. I breathed in relief as the brilliance swept through the room. I was going to get out of this house now.

I picked up my bag and my car keys. I ran to the car in the garage and started the engine. I pushed the gas pedal hard and tore down the lane, into the street and stopped only when the light turned red at the crossing.
Panting, I rested my head on the wheel and felt the first slivers of relief flow into me. Then the light turned green and I was speeding again.

“Mama.”

I got a fleeting glimpse of a small figure in my rearview mirror before everything went pitch black.

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The house at the corner of our block stands empty. No one knows who owns it. No one has ever tried to buy it. They say some woman tried to move into it a few years ago. But the first night she moved in, her neighbors saw her drive out of the house in a frenzy. She died in a car crash. Her sister and her baby girl moved out of town.

People say all kinds of things. But I KNOW. I have seen her.

A woman holding a baby. And a little boy behind her saying “Mama.”