A Haunting: Pick Your Path

Every summer you visit your Grandmother for a few weeks in the country.  She lives in a little white house, with a red door, nestled in a wooded valley.   You pass the hot, lazy days exploring the fields surrounding your Grandmother’s house and occasionally take a walk through the woods to a small town situated on the other side of a rocky, meandering creek.

You spend a lot of time with Suzie and Carl, twins that live in the house across the street.  You have always had fun together in years past.  This summer though, the three of you have been kind of bored.  Climbing trees and pitching rocks into the creek just isn’t as exciting as it used to be.

Art and illustrations graciously created by Shiloh Penfield,
a New York City graphic novelist.

One day the three of you are hanging out on the porch in front of your Grandmother’s house.  It’s late afternoon, but the sun is still warm on your skin.  There is no breeze to speak of, and the only sounds you hear is the distant rumble of tractor-trailers as they thunder along the highway that runs across the valley.

“Let’s head for the woods,” you suggest. “At least it will be cooler in the trees.”  The three of you head for the shade of the creaking pines and the whisper of deciduous leaves.  You start out on the path that you always follow to town.  No one can think of anything better to do. 

“Look over here” Carl calls out excitedly. “I’ve never seen this before!”   You and Suzie run over to take a look.  There is an old gate in from of you.  Tall and imposing, its once black wrought iron rails are covered with a fine coat of orangey rust.  Weeds have twisted up its length and the garbage of years past is accumulated along its ornately carved stone posts.

“Let’s go in,” Carl says. “It least it will be something interesting to do.” 

“I don’t know,” replies Suzie. “We don’t know who owns this property, and you know how some of the neighbors get when you start trespassing.”

“Oh come on!”  Carl snaps back. “No one will ever know.  What’s the matter, are you SCARED?”

Do You:

• Agree with Suzie.  You don’t know your way around well enough to risk getting lost.  Plus you don’t want to get in trouble with your Grandmother.
• Head out with Carl. It’s not like anyone will ever know you’ve been there