“The Old Woman”

by Jesli Escalante Rivera

One day my brother and I were playing hot potato outside. It was a very hot summer day , but on the other side of my house was my neighbor’s house. It was scary, dark, and crows lived there; it was filled with mischief and the fence was oxidized. It used to be metal and gray but now it even had thorns growing around it . Suddenly creek …creek, the gate of my neighbors house was opening and closing.

Some people say that she is still alive but never comes out. Not after her puppy Pom Pom died. People used to call her the happiest person alive. Now they call her the loneliest woman ever.

I was so distracted with this hat that when it was my turn to catch the ball, it rolled to my neighbor’s house! Then my brother said that it was my fault, so I should go get it. My whole body shivered. My heart beat fast just thinking about going in there and imagining actually doing it. (I mean would you like to go to a house that is haunted and has a ghost dog and an old woman that everyone is scared of?)

Half of my brain told me to go, but the other half told me not to go. I went, but my brother came with me.

We walked in and a hush of wind went by and then I saw a dark shadow go by that pushed the ball farther. Then, thump! My brother screamed, and my heart started to beat faster. The gate was closed! We tried to open the gate, but we couldn’t.

Suddenly, something pushed me back into the house. I looked around. It couldn’t be my brother, he was busy trying to open the gate. Then I saw that a black but small figure was going to push my brother into the haunted house. I tried to stop it but something pushed me back. When we were pushed into the house, it was so dark and dusty and it looked really old. It was so deadly silent that you could hear a mouse go by.

Then, we heard footsteps

thump

thump.

Then we heard a lot of sobs.

Sob

sob

In the middle of those sobs we heard a voice that said

sit

sit.

The couch was old, dusty, and gray, but we sat down. The voice then said, “I won’t hurt you, I just don’t want to be lonely anymore.” Then, we talked. The old lady told the saddest story ever. She told of how her puppy died in a car accident.

Afterwards I went home.

It was a very scary, but exciting day.