“Kiara closed the door behind her, and, hearing the music that came from the next room, ran up the steps. She hated being downstairs when those parties were going on. Her mother always got drunk, and, when she got drunk, she got violent. Kiara ran up to the top floor, and locked the door behind her, turning around. It was dark out, and, since her room was made up of mostly windows, with a roof over her head and the thin walls between the panes of glass, it was dark in the room, as well. She lit up the candle, and set it in the holder she had for it, on the center column that helped hold up the roof. Walking over to the only window that wasn’t covered, she picked up the sheet from the floor, a hammer, and held the sheet to the wall with a nail. After a minute of pounding, she picked up another nail, and continued hammering, putting the sheet up as a makeshift curtain. Kiara smiled, glad she was done, and that, now, she could start on the doorway she wanted on the wall opposite the entrance. She stopped, setting down the hammer, and walked across the room, her dress flowing behind her. She lit up another candle, followed by another, and another, to light up the room.

“Curse you, mother, for refusing to put electricity in my room.” She walked towards the door, and lit up one last candle. As she strode back to get the hammer, she froze, listening. The music downstairs had stopped, and her mother’s slurred voice was coming up the steps.

“Kiara! Come down here, girl! You are in trouble!” she called. Kiara turned around, as her mother began pounding on the door. “You open this door right now!” she exclaimed.

“I don’t want to!” she called back, picking up a candle. Her mother knocked the door in, dropping her glass to the floor. It shattered, and her mother jumped.

“Look what you made me do!” she cried, and stormed into the room. “You are in big trouble now, young lady!” She ran into the room. Kiara screamed, and dodged her mother, and tried to run for the door. Her mother dove, grabbing her by the hair. “Don’t try to run, you’ll only make it worse,” she stumbled. Kiara forced her arm over her head, shoving the candle into her mother’s face, with a bit of a scream. Her mother began to howl, throwing the candle to the ground. Kiara shoved herself off the floor, and ran, crying, out of the room, and down the steps, outside. She got out to the gravel driveway before turning back around, tears falling from her eyes. Kiara looked up at the house, and saw the flames on the roof, leaping across the wood, and catching the entire house. She could hear her mother screaming, but could care less. After a moment, she realized that she had left the only gift she had from her father inside. She took a deep breath, and raced into the door. Looking around, she heard another scream from her mother as the floor collapsed from her room, and landed on the floor above her. A couple rooms on the outer edge of the house began to collapse, and she ran under the stairs, pulling open the door. Reaching in, she grabbed the small box on the shelf, turned, and headed for the door. The beams collapsed, blocking her exit. She spun around, and ran to the nearest window…but it shattered, cutting her up, except her face, which she had been covering. She cried out, in pain and surprise, and turned around. One final window, shattered, but not blocked, stood before her, and ran for it. Something caught her leg, and she turned to see her mother, gripping her ankle, and cried out. Kiara pulled her leg, trying to get free, but her mother yanked back, and knocked Kiara onto the floor.

The smoke began to fill her lungs, and Kiara, eyes closed, pain shooting through her head, coughed, finally lifting her head. Looking up, she saw her mother at her feet, not moving, not breathing. She was dead. Kiara coughed again, and tried to stand, but cried out, and looked down. She had a nail piercing through her hand. Kiara tried carefully to pull it out, to pull her hand off the ground and get out, but before she got the chance, she looked up at the ceiling, and saw the rafters that were holding it up collapse, one by one, around her….”

“Emily! Stop! Please! I don’t want to hear what happens!” he cried, throwing his hands over his ears, shaking his head. Emily laughed, setting the pamphlet against her thighs. Her mother looked in the rearview mirror.

“Emily Rose. Stop scaring your brother,” she scolded, slowing down.

“What? That’s what it says in here, and he asked me to read it to him,” she said, holding up the pamphlet.

“No it doesn’t,” her father said, reaching back and taking the pamphlet. He scanned it. “It doesn’t once say that she pierces her hand, or that she watches the ceiling fall around her,” he said, dropping it to the floor.

“Dad! Come on! We’re gonna be there soon! I need that to know what went where,” she said, holding out her hand.

“Stop complaining, Emily,” her mother said, pulling into the parking lot and shutting off the car. Her father handed the pamphlet back to his daughter, and got out, too.

“Come on, Jake,” their dad said, opening the door. He hopped out, and ran up to the sidewalk in front of the house.

“This place is so old!” he exclaimed. His dad laughed.

“Of course it is, kid-o. It was built in the seventeen hundreds. Kiara lived here when she was a girl, in…hm…what year does it say, Missy?” She read over her daughters shoulder.

“Uh…Kiara was living here in the early nineteen thirties…” The front door opened, and a young girl, roughly eighteen, stepped out, smiling.

“Hi! Are you here for the tour?” she asked, showing her bright teeth. Missy nodded.

“Yes…are you the tour guide?”

“Yes I am. I’m…. Araik. Kiara was my grandmother. Come on in, let me show you around.” Missy took her husbands hand, and walked inside, Emily and Jake right behind her. Missy leaned over, seeing all the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling.

“Are you sure this is a good place to bring the kids, Jim?” Araik turned around.

“Don’t worry. There isn’t much left here that’s frightening except the stories. Of course, my grandmother was much better at telling them than I am…”

“Was?” Missy asked. Araik nodded.

“Yes…but I will be explaining that on the tour. Come, let’s start in the dining room.” She led them into the nearest doorway, and stepped into a closet, pulling on a cloak. She walked out, the shiny red cloak shimmering in the light from the windows, resting nicely on her long white gown.

“What’s this?” Jake asked, pointing to a small dial on the table near him.

“That is a sundial. Kiara’s mother, though very into the new things that worked on electricity, still preferred to tell time with a sundial than with a clock. No one actually knew why, though.” Araik shrugged. She walked over to the phonograph, and looked up at the family. “Almost every night, her mother would have a party here, during the years that Kiara was growing up. She lived in the house from nineteen thirty-two, when she was born, to nineteen fifty, when it…burned down. That, however, I will get to later. Her mother had parties, ones that lasted well into the night, and early into the morning. And, during every single one, she would drink one too many drinks, and then take out her problems on her daughter. Kiara usually locked herself in her room…which is also later on in the tour. Come. Let’s head upstairs.” They headed out of the room, and Emily leaned into the room opposite the dining room.

“What’s in here?” Araik turned her head.

“The kitchen…where her mother was trapped when the house burned. Come on, let’s go.” She picked up the bottom of her dress, and headed up the steps, Jim and Missy behind her, and Jake and Emily trailing behind them.

“That’s the chandelier, which Kiara’s mother, Susan, prized most in this house,” Araik pointed out. The golden fixture hung from the high ceiling, and the lights in it were black, from being used so often.

“I thought this place burned…” Jake said, confused. Araik turned her head again, stepping onto the landing.

“It did. But, the people who rebuilt it managed to find it under all the rubble, still intact. All that they had to do was clean it up and refurnish some pieces, and it was as good as new, practically.” She pushed open the door at the end of the hall.

“What’s this?” Emily asked, looking around the room. Araik smiled.

“This is Susan’s room. When she wasn’t working, or having her parties, she was up here, asleep. Her life had almost nothing to do with her daughter. But, in the room right next door, was her husband, Rick. He was a strong man, and he loved his only daughter with all his heart. He did whatever he could to make her happy while he was alive…”

“Did he die in the fire? The pamphlet said nothing about him…” Missy stated, motioning to the pamphlet. Araik smiled, and shook her head.

“No. In fact, he died when Kiara was eleven, I do believe. He had been poisoned by his wife, and, though the doctors back then were able to prove that he had, indeed, been poisoned, they could not, however, prove that she did it. But Kiara knows. Her mother always hated Rick, because of how nice he was to Kiara, when Susan thought that they should ignore her, and pay more attention to their son, David…” Araik led them to the room across the hall. “This was David’s room. He was a year older than Kiara, so he wasn’t around when the fire broke out, but was devastated to hear that his mother was dead. His sister…well, he could have cared less about her. Only her father seemed to love her.” Araik motioned down the hall, and pushed open another door.

“Whoa! This room is bigger than all the others!”

“Yes…this was the maids’ room…”

“The maids?”

“Yes. You see, Rick was a very powerful man, and when he died, he, unfortunately, had left everything to Susan. She kept the maids on until about a week, maybe less, before the fire. The two maids knew that something was wrong. Somehow they knew that something was going to happen, and that Susan was going to die. They did what they could to get fired, so they didn’t have to be on, we have one last place to get to.” Araik pulled open the door at the end of the hall, and headed up the steps, to another door.

“How many doors are in this place?” Emily whispered to her brother. Araik lifted her hand, closing it around the doorknob.

“There are eighteen doors in this house,” she said, turning her head.

“What?”

“Five bedrooms, four closets, two bathrooms, the front door, the back door, the basement door, the door to the living room, the door to the dining room, the door to the kitchen, and the outer door down there that leads up here,” she said, and pushed open the door. The windows were all around her, covered in random, mismatched sheets. Unlit candles were sitting in holders, two to every beam across the room. Araik walked over, and lit them, one by one. She turned around at the other end of the room, and smiled.

“Let me guess,” Emily said. “This was Kiara’s room?” She snickered, rolling her eyes.

“Yes, actually. You see, after her father died, Kiara confined herself mostly to this room. Her mother had the house laid with electricity, but she never attached this room, so Kiara still used candlelight. Angered by the fact that she was forced to do everything she had to do during the light hours, due to the fact that her room was mostly windows,” Araik began, lifting up a sheet, “she covered them in sheets she took from her brother, and the maids. She finished the night of the fire. After another party, Susan came to beat her daughter, but Kiara tried to run. Susan grabbed hold of her,” Araik said, blowing out the candles, slowly. “Kiara hit the ground, a candle in her hand. In order to get away, she shoved it into her mothers face, and ran for the door, hearing her mother screaming after her. It wasn’t until she got outside that she realized she had left her father’s last gift, his golden watch, inside. Running back to get it, she was almost trapped. The front door collapsed, the roof was collapsing around her, and the windows were shattering before following the roof. Her mother tried to stop her, but a loose board let her get away. Kiara managed to escape, with a few minor burns.” Araik shook her head, pulling the only lit candle out of the holder, and blowing it out, before setting it back. Darkness covered the room, and Jake screamed. Emily laughed.

“Shut up, doofus. She just blew out the candle…”

“Emily, don’t call your brother a doofus.” Araik giggled, turning on a flashlight.

“Sorry. I’m supposed to turn on the flashlight before blowing out the candle. I’m not as good at this as my mother was…” She smiled. “Alright, Emily, Jake…if one of you can guess which one of these sheets doesn’t cover a window, I’ll give you a special treat.” They looked around, and Emily pulled back one of the curtains. She looked at her own reflection. Turning around, she sighed.

“Wrong…” Jake walked around, looking at each sheet, and thinking, when he arrived at the sheet nearest Araik.

“Is this it?” he asked after a moment. Araik smiled, and pulled it down.

“Yes, it is. Congratulations…not very many get to see what is in the hidden room…”

“I don’t think it’s hidden,” Emily complained.

“It is when you think it’s a window, like everything else in this room…” Araik turned, and wrapped her fingers around the doorknob. “Come on…” she said, pushing it open. As it widened their view, they were able to see the fireplace against the wall, a fire blazing, apparently being used to light up the room. Araik stepped inside, and smiled at the old woman in the rocking chair, shawl covering her legs.

“Who is that?” Jake asked in awe.

“That…was my grandmother.”

“Was?” Jim repeated.

“Yes….Oh, don’t worry, silly…” Jake and Emily were looking very disgusted. “It’s not really her body…It’s a replica I had made. No one really seems to know what she looked like but those in her family, and I figured, I had a picture, why not try? Besides, I had her cremated when she died, so she’s actually right here,” she said, smiling, pointing to a box on the mantle.

“But…but…it’s so real!” Jim exclaimed, stepping closer to the chair.

“The man who did it was a friend of mine. Come, I have to get the special treat…” She walked across the room, to a small stand in the back, and hunkered down, lifting up the lid of a box.

“What’s in there?” Emily and Jake walked over, trying to see inside.

“Emily…here you go. This is your treat,” she said, holding out a little box.

“A box?” she asked, one eyebrow raised.

“Open it…” She opened it, and smiled. It was a silver necklace, with a miniature diamond heart at the bottom. As Emily examined it, Araik handed a box to Jake. He pulled it open and found a golden pocket watch.

“Wow!”

“This watch is an exact working replica of the one that Kiara ran back into the house for. And this necklace was Kiara’s…the first gift she ever got from her father that she never took off. She loved them both dearly.” Turning around, she lifted up the covering on a shelf, and took off two little rice crispy treats, mixed with peanut butter, covered on the top with chocolate. “And here’s the other half of your treat.” The kids smiled, taking the treats, and practically inhaled them on the spot. Araik giggled.

“Well, I believe I’ve shown you everything…” Emily looked at the pamphlet.

“No. You didn’t show us the backyard.” Araik nodded.

“I almost always forget about the backyard. Come, then.” Araik ushered them out of the room, and closed the door behind them, dropping the curtain on it, and led them back out of the room, down the steps, and out the back door into the yard.

“What about the backyard are you supposed to show us?” Missy asked.

“My grandmother, and my mother, liked to bring people out, and show them where she buried her cat, and her dog, and her rat, and…her father, though doing that was a struggle with the police.”

“What?” Jim asked, slightly horrified and confused.

“Kiara had a cat, a dog, and a rat for pets, and friends. When they died, the dog, followed by the cat, then the rat, she didn’t wanna lose them, so she buried them in the backyard. But when her father died, she never wanted him to leave her, so she took her time, fighting with the police about it, and finally got to bring him back here, and bury him. She even made him a marker, using some wood she stole from the basement.”

“Why don’t you show us that?”

“Its full of power tools and things. From when they rebuilt the house. No one ever sees the basement, so don’t worry.” Araik turned around.

“Is that it?” Emily asked.

“Yes. That was the whole tour. How else do you think I manage to do them every half hour between five and ten at night?” she asked. Missy nodded, and Jim flipped through his wallet.

“Well, here you go,” he said. She smiled.

“Thank you very much for coming to see this house. We don’t get many visitors anymore, and it’s getting difficult to stay afloat.” Missy leaned over to her husband, whispering quietly into his ear. He nodded, and Araik folded the money, placing it into the wallet she held in her right hand. Jim reached back into his wallet, and held out a card.

“Listen, if you ever…decide you need to get a part-time job, here’s my card. Come by or call any time, and I’ll see what I can do, alright?” Araik looked to the card, and smiled.

“Well…thank you! Thank you very much,” she said.

They had driven away, Missy waving out the window. Araik, unsure of what to do now, headed down the drive to the sign at the end, switching it over to “CLOSED,” and locking the gate. Turning back, she headed up the hill to the house, and walked into the backyard, looking out over the cliff. She sighed, sadly, and felt the wind pick up a little bit. She looked up, and crossed her hands over her stomach.

“What should I do dad? I don’t know what to do…whether I stay or go, something has got to give. This house will not keep me forever. I’m sorry if I let you down…but…what should I do?” she whispered, looking up, sadly, towards the sky. She closed her eyes, and a single tear fell to the ground.