The house at the end of the street 1/2

Bounce! The bright red ball bounces up again. From Tommy to Anna. Anna catches it and bounces it on to Robert. Robert completes the circle in bouncing it towards Tommy again. Because the tiles on the street are not level, the ball always bounces in an unexpected direction. That makes it harder for them to catch the ball, and the game more interesting; you never know where the ball is going, and the object of the game is for the other not to be able to catch the ball in once. They play this game every day after school, even in the winter. But now it is almost summer, only two weeks until summer holiday. That is always an amazing time. Because then they can play this game all day. And not only in their street, but also at the big lake just outside of town.

Tommy bounces the ball again. Right after his head almost automatically turns to the end of the street. Or more specifically to the house at the end of the street. On both sides of the street there are big houses, paired in two’s. Tommy and Robert live next to each other in one of the pairs, Anna lives across, one pair further. All spacious houses, with three floors and a nice garden in front of it. Hidden from sight by the houses are the backyards, which are very large. Most of them have swimming pools or tennis courts in them. In short, a very nice neighborhood. Except for the house at the end of the street. It is part of a pair, and doesn’t look like the other ones at all. And there is no house at the other side of the street to match it. It is as if the house was placed there randomly. Many of the residents complained about the house. It seemed uninhabited for years now, and nothing had been done to preserve it. Some of the residents complained at city hall, but apparently they couldn’t do anything, because somehow all taxes were paid for on time.

That, however, did not interest Tommy at all. He was drawn to the house time and time again by the mystery. The house breathed excitement and adventured, and it smelled of the unknown. But he never went close, and nor did Robert and Anna. Their parents had strictly forbidden them to go anywhere near the house. They warned them that the house was haunted. There was the story of a young boy who had supposedly vanished into the house. In the end, when the police gave up their search, the poor family moved away. Their house, at the other end of the street, had been empty for over a year to remind them all of the tragedy that had occurred. Because Tommy was looking at the house all the time, he moved a small step closer to it every time he bounced the ball. The others, also unaware, followed him. So after a few games, with mostly Robert as the winner because he was very good at it, they were actually playing in front of the last paired houses of the street. Tommy heard something. Quickly he turned, realizing it was the ball that Robert threw at him. But he was too late, so he couldn’t catch the ball. He was out of this round. While Robert and Anna started their battle for this game, Tommy stared at the house.

The house was surrounded by a high fence. Once, long ago, it must have been shining metal, but now it was only orangey rust. The bars were about two meters high. Just above the bottom, at the middle and just below the top they were crossed by smaller horizontal bars. Every two meters was a big bar that had an ornament on top of it. The bars in between had spear like spikes on top. They still looked very sharp, despite the rust. In the middle of the fence there was the gate. It had all kinds of ornaments in it instead of bars. Tommy couldn’t decide what they represented. One time they looked like waves, the other time like faces, their appearance would change every time. Behind the fence was a garden. Well, maybe jungle was a better description. High thorn bushes fought each other for space, and you couldn’t see more than a few meters into the thickness of it. The front door you could see though, because the path to it wasn’t completely overgrown yet. The front door had three marble steps in front of it, and the door itself was a big wooden double one. It was half open, and squeaking because of the wind. Above the bushes you could see the upper floors. The all had big windows, the glass broken in most of them. Shards of curtains were flapping through the openings, giving the house a sinister sight.

            “I’ve won! Again! I’m the king of this street!”

The shrieks of Robert ecstatic crying brought Tommy back to reality enough to see the red ball bouncing up very high, over the head of little Anna. He also noticed that the ball was heading straight for the haunted house. Robert and Anna noticed too.

            “Oh no, my ball! It was a present from my grandmother.”

Anna was about to cry. It must have happened in only a few seconds, but to Tommy, Robert and Anna it seemed like forever. In slow-motion the ball made a perfect arc towards the fence. They all fear that the ball will hit the spikes, but through a miracle it lands exactly in between two of them. The ball bounces straight up, and is taken from their sight temporarily by the springtime sun that is high up in the sky. When it comes back down, it again bounces on the fence. And again right in between two spikes. But unfortunately for the three, the ball gets launched into the garden instead of back to the streets. They hear it hitting some bushes, and then it is gone.

“What do we do now? I don’t want to go in there, it’s scary.”

Robert huffed and replied:

            “You are a typical girl, you are afraid.”

But when Anna dared him to enter the house himself then, he didn’t move either. Tommy completed their still life. They look at each other. All afraid to admit to the other that they are scared, but knowing it of each other anyway. Finally, Tommy breaks the silence.

“I think there’s a hole in the fence of the back yard. There are no metal bars there, only chicken wire. Maybe we could go in from there to get the ball back?”

They think of it a bit, and when the boys see Anna’s sad face, they decide to at least check it out. So together they walk around the house, follow the fence until the sidewalk stops. They continue over the grass and through some low bushes, keeping one hand on the chicken wire at all times. Finally, when Tommy starts to think he was wrong, they find the hole. It’s a small hole, but big enough for cats and dogs.

With a little squirming the kids get inside the fence. They have to stand very close to each other, because the bushes are very dense here. They only see one direction to go so they go there. Robert leads. He is the biggest and strongest of the three. Anna is in the middle, Tommy at the back. They seem to be following some sort of path.

            “I see light in front of us; maybe we’re at the house already.”

Robert picks up the pace, Anna and Tommy follow. Now they all see the light. Some beams of sunlight hit their eyes. Suddenly Robert stops and screams. Anna bumps into him, Tommy into Anna. With a scared look on his face Robert looks around and pushes them back.

            “There is someone there. Someone horrible and scary and ugly!”

They all stand very still. But they hear nothing. After some time Anna whispers:

            “Do you think it is safe now? Maybe he was scared of us too?”

Tommy takes the lead, and slowly moves forward. The others stay behind and wait. He disappears into the sunlight. For a moment they hear nothing. Then suddenly Tommy bursts out in laughter.

            “Come over here, it’s only a statue. There is nothing to be afraid of.”

The others follow hesitantly, but soon they also see what Robert was so afraid of. In a little clearing in the bushes is a statue of a man. But not an ordinary man. Instead of feet he has hooves, and a stone tail curls from behind him. His eyes look like they’re on fire, and two little horns emerge from the top of his rock hair. Now that they see it in daylight, it doesn’t look so scary. Except for the eyes. They really look like they’re on fire, even though they are carved and lifeless. Quickly the group moves on. The small path leads them further into the wilderness. This time Tommy leads, with a moaning Robert at the back. But it isn’t for long that Tommy is also scared by another statue in a little clearing. This time not a man, but an animal. Robert laughs.

            “You’re just as scared as I am Tommy.”

The animal looks like a wolf. It is carved in an attacking position. So no wonder Tommy was scared when he entered the clearing. The wolf like creature is on its hind legs, with his fore legs facing towards anyone coming from the small path. But what is the scariest, is the face of the creature. It has big and sharp teeth, and eyes that show no mercy. It looks very lifelike. The tongue seems to move inside its mouth. Without delay the group continues its journey, but now they take a lot of care when they reach a clearing. After a group of fierce dwarves and a skeleton like man they suddenly can’t go any further. They have reached the side wall of the house.