Tony Fernandez had recently bought a new house in the town of Kalpana. It was easy for him to commute to St. Mary’s High School where he taught the 1st grade students.
And today he was moving in. It had a small but spacious yard behind it and was surrounded by fence wall on sides with a gate towards its front for people to enter. The house seemed a bit old yet classy.
As Tony instructed the people from the moving company to place the furniture properly, he noticed someone entering through the gate. He immediately went up to greet the gentleman.
“Kulkarni! It’s a pleasure seeing you here.” Tony greeted to the real estate agent who had introduced him to this house. “Nice to see you too Mr. Tony. You seemed to be almost done now.” Kulkarni said as he noticed the empty moving truck outside the house. Tony, “Yeah everything’s almost done, except a few things left to unpack.”
“Well, that’s good. Oh! I almost forgot to give you this.” Kulkarni said as he removed a file from the plastic bag he was carrying. “Here’s the house documents you asked for.”
Tony went over the documents as he invited Kulkarni inside to chat a bit. Time passed. Soon the moving company people had finished their job and took their leave.
Even Kulkarni realized that it was afternoon and he had to be somewhere else so he got up to leave.
“Well Mr. Tony I wish you well in your new home.”
“Thanks Kulkarni but I need to really thank you for getting me this deal.” Tony said as he looked at the house.
Kulkarni chuckled lightly, “I should be the one thanking you Mr. Tony, never had I thought that I would be able to sell it… you know with the story and all.” Kulkarni said as his last words became a bit serious.
Tony, “The girl? Surely you jest, people in this age and time still believing in stuff like that. Well, I guess it was to my benefit anyways. You believe in that story Kulkarni?”
“I believe only what I see… but the constant changing owners make me think otherwise.” Kulkarni said as he eyed the house briefly. Breaking the awkward silence Kulkarni shook Tony’s hand quickly.
“Well, hopefully you can make peace with this house.” Kulkarni said as he took his leave from Tony’s home.
Tony watched as Kulkarni departed from his sight. He checked his watch as the time displayed 1:30 p.m. Still being in the afternoon Tony decided to get some unpacking done. Around 5:00 Tony decided to take a break and continue tomorrow.
His living room was connected directly with his backyard with a sliding floor to ceiling window. He opened it and sat down on the platform extending outward.
“Hah… it feels nice.” Tony said to himself as his barefoot touched the soft grass beneath. He laid back looking at the orangish yellow sky. As he did, he wondered about the girl who was connected with his house. As he pondered about it, he soon drifted away to sleep.
“Wa… ke …. y…”
*Bong*
“Wake… Ey…”
*Bong*
“Wakey… wakey…”
*Bong*
Tony heard strange voices coupled with the bouncing of a ball as he moaned in his sleep. The voice became clearer as his eyes shot open. A shadowy face with long strands of hair, big eyes seemingly filled with curiosity hovered above him. Something poked his cheek slightly.
There was silence for a brief moment before the thunderous screams filled the house.
“WAAAHHHHH!!!”
Tony sat up straight with a jolt and crawled back at quick speeds into the living room. His face and likewise his back drenched in sweat as he watched with wide eyes.
"_"
Then came several blinking eyes as Tony sighed in relief. “What are you guys doing here?” Tony asked as the 5 startled children kept looking at him with surprised faces. “We- we came to visit you.” One of the boys said.
“Hahh…” Tony scratched the back of his head as he looked at the children in the backyard. He was quite familiar with them. They were his students.
The girl who was sitting on the platform with loose hair, the other girl poking his face with a small stick. The three boys who had fallen on their butts on the ground from being startled. Tony realized he misunderstood the situation and startled himself along with the children.
“Sorry for startling you kids, so you all came to visit me?” Tony said as he walked outside into the backyard. Everyone gave a nod to him, making them look adorable.
“But how did you guys get in?” Tony asked confused. “You left the front gate open.” One of them replied. Tony was confused because he remembered closing door after seeing Kulkarni off.
A few minutes later.
Tony walked up to the platform outside the living room and sat down as he placed a tray full of glasses filled with orange juice for his young guests.
“Here you go, have some juice!” Tony called out to them. Everyone stopped playing to take a glass.
“Ah… sir, I didn’t get one…” One of the boy’s said as he looked at the empty tray. “Maybe sir doesn’t want to give you one.” One of the girls teased. Everyone else also began to tease the poor boy. Seeing the boy getting irritated and not wanting to let a squabble break out Tony quickly handed the kid his glass. “Stop with the teasing you lot.”
Tony furrowed his brows thinking that he had indeed brought 5 glasses for them. Thinking he made a mistake he brushed the thought off.
Everyone sat on the platform with him as they talked about some stuff here and there. Suddenly one of them asked him a question. “Sir, is it true that this house is haunted?”
“Yeah, I heard it from my friend too, is it really?” Another one asked.
Tony looked at them with a helpless expression. He wasn’t surprised that they had heard some rumors. Afterall they all lived in surrounding neighborhoods, so it wasn’t unusual for them to have heard about it. Thinking about it an idea suddenly popped in Tony’s mind. To him, his students were little miscreants who were far more mischievous than a supposed 9-year-old ghost.
“Well, if you guys are curious, I do know a bit about this house…”
“W-What is it?”
“Yeah, tell us, tell us!”
Seeing as how everyone caught his bait Tony smiled inwardly.
“Ahem, okay then I’ll tell you kids.”
Tony then began in a deep and dramatic voice, “Long, long ago there used to be small girl who used to play in this very house. She was practically the same age as you kids. Always playing around with a ball. Everyone thought that it was a little girl living in this house but it turned out to be a soul of the girl who had haunted this house. It is said that she still lives here to this date finding children who are mischievous like yourselves to play with.”
Tony ended the story as he looked from kid’s face to the other. ‘Guess, I sacred them a bit too much?’ Tony thought as he looked at their scared faces.
“Hahaha! But of course, it’s just a simple rumor created to scare people. It’s nothing legit.” Tony said trying to lighten the mood.
“Is this really only a rumor?” One of them asked. Tony, “Yeah, yeah don’t pay it any mind.”
A while later after a bit of chatting here and there Tony noticed that it was almost 6:00 p.m. He told the kids that they should return home as it would get dark soon. Everyone complied and kept the glasses back on the tray.
As they said their goodbyes and were leaving, Tony’s eyes widened in shock and confusion. That’s because when he counted the glasses, it numbered six. He had given his to one of the kids which should’ve made the total to a 5.
Tony then noticed something else. As the kids ran out of his backyard to the front and exited the gate leaving it open, he caught a glimpse of someone else.
*Clang*
The sound of the gate shutting by itself rang in his ears as he shuddered a bit.
*Bong*
*Bong*
*Bong*
The sound of a ball began to come from within the house. It was then he realized that none of the kids had a ball with them when they came here. Tony slowly turned back to look at the old house under the evening sky.
