Tom Barnes loved the house. Nice and secluded, but close enough to the city. Good number of trees, lots of property. Plus the house itself was gigantic.
He'd been house hunting for three months now. His apartment was just too small, but since he had lived there for most of his adult life, he'd managed to save up a good chunk of money for a down payment on a larger place. As cramped as his apartment was, he felt it was better to stay in it for as long as he could and only move when he could get into a place that was a major trade up.
This house most certainly qualified.
The house itself was three full stories. It had a white stucco exterior and stone columns holding up a balcony that covered the driveway along the entire front of the house. The driveway was paved, which was rare for houses this far out from the city. And the property was just wonderful. It had four acres, most of which were wooded with towering oak trees. The grounds immediately around the house were cleared out, leaving a large yard.
The real estate agent was ecstatic that he liked it so much. The house had just come on the market a few days ago and Tom was the first person to come see it. If she sold it this fast, it would be wonderful. Naturally, a property this size would fetch a hefty commission.
She was going through her sales pitch, hyping up the area. "It's close to the city, so you can get back and forth easily. There's a commuter train station just two miles away, if you'd rather take that. The schools around are top notch and they consistently get very high rankings..." Tom nodded and smiled when he thought it was appropriate, but mainly he was anxious to get back in the house to look around. Obliviously, she continued to prattle on about property taxes, the neighborhood, neighbors, and schools again.
Tom finally interrupted and asked to go inside as she was starting to go into the details about getting the utilities hooked up. She blushed and apologized, leading him to the front door.
The interior was even more impressive than the exterior. Large rooms, a modern kitchen, and high ceilings on the first floor. There were four bedrooms upstairs - one of them a master with its own bath - as well as an office and the sunroom that led out to the balcony. The attic was a bit dull by comparison; it ran the length of the house with a few large closets in it. Still, it was perfect for storage.
However, the most novel thing about the house was all of the passageways and hidden rooms. Whoever built it certainly must have enjoyed amusements like that, since they were all over the place. Almost every single room had a catch or a release for a secret compartment. The ones that didn't had entrances to the secret passageways that interconnected most of the rooms. There was even a hidden staircase to the second floor. Plus, there were a couple of hidden rooms on each floor. At the far end of the living room was a fairly large one, about eight feet by ten, but the rest were much smaller. Over-sized closets at best.
Still, it was an incredible feature to the place. The agent had gone back to her routine about utilities, schools, and so on as they left through the front door. They were almost back to the car when Tom turned and looked at the house again.
"Excuse me, what about those windows? Where are they?" Tom gestured towards the second floor.
"Beg pardon? Which windows?"
"Those up there. The three small diamond-shaped ones. What are those? A foot across? I didn't see them when we were inside. Is that another hidden room?"
The agent fidgeted. "Um, well, yes." She was shifting her weight from foot to foot and looked very uncomfortable.
"So can I see it? It looks like that could be a neat little room, and I'd love to know everything about the place up front." Tom had already started walking back towards the house as he spoke.
"I'm sorry, I can't show you that room."
Tom gave her an incredulous look over his shoulder.
"Really, I can't. It's a stipulation of the terms of sale."
"It's what?" Tom arched his eyebrows as he turned to face her entirely. "There's a stipulation for that?"
"Yes, I know it's quite unusual, but it's there. The original owner stipulated that no one may ever enter that room. If at any time anyone ever enters that room, then the owner of the house forfeits all right and title to the house immediately and it becomes the property of the county until such time as it can be auctioned off."
"You're kidding me, right?"
The agent sighed. "Would I lie about something like that? It's not like it's liable to make you want to buy the house more. Look, the guy that built the place was a terrible eccentric; that's why there are all the passageways and rooms and such. This is just another one of his shenanigans.
"It's really not that big a deal, though. The woman selling the place said that she had forgotten all about the room and the stipulation up until she started filling out the real estate papers. Besides, no one even knows where the entrance to the room is. So it's not like you'd have a forbidden door taunting you or anything. No one knows how to get in, even if it were allowed."
Tom sighed deeply. He really did want the place, but a rider like that was quite a liability. Probably would hurt the resale value on the place too.
The agent looked at him hopefully.
"Look, I'll have to think it over. Could I have copies of all of the paperwork so I can inspect things?"
"Certainly. I'll fax them over to you this afternoon."
"They're ironclad." His lawyer was succinct. "I'd love to meet the guy that drafted this thing. There's no wiggle room, no room for interpretation. And no way to argue it."
Tom had read through the documents once and thought that he understood things and that they were secure, but considering the scope of the deal involved, he had wanted his lawyer to inspect things as well.
"Completely solid?"
Jack Forman sighed. "Yes, Tom. Completely solid. I'd recommend against signing these, just in case someone happens to get into the room. Hell, the way this thing is worded, if someone broke into your house and got in that room, you'd lose the place."
Tom sunk in his chair. "I'd really like the place, though. Is this thing that much of a problem?"
Jack leafed through the papers again, taking stock of what was there instead of reading them. He bit his lip and bobbed his head back and forth, weighing the alternatives.
"It'll make the place tougher to sell when you want to move out. Any potential buyer is going to bring this paperwork to his attorney as well, and hopefully he'll listen to the advice he gets." He gave Tom a mischievous smile, and Tom rolled his eyes.
"That said, if it's as great a place as you say it is, he'll still buy it. This thing is a hassle, but it shouldn't be a deal breaker. After all, you just have to never enter that one room, and you don't even know how to get in!
"However, technically and off the record, of course, all you have to do is not get caught."
Tom brightened up at that. "You mean, if I find the way in and leave everything as is, I'm home free?"
Jack held up his hand to him. "Yes. That's the rub, a third party has to find out that someone has been in the room. But, remember you don't know what's in there. For all you know, there's a camera wired to the door and an auto-dialing phone that'll call the cops. So, I really must recommend against you going in there. I've advised you on the technicality, to be complete. But I strongly recommend against going in there."
Tom half-nodded, already trying to figure out a way into the room.
"I mean it, Tom. If you go in there and get busted, I don't want you to come crying to me. Okay?"
Tom nodded dismissively, already giddy with excitement. He thanked Jack for the advice and said he was going to go ahead with the purchase. After he left, he called the agent immediately and things were in motion by late in the afternoon. He was going to be a homeowner.
The next few days were a blur for him as he transferred funds to cover the down payment, arranged for the mortgage, and filled out more forms than he ever could have imagined were necessary. But after the initial legwork subsided, things were quite calm. At that point, all he had to do was wait two weeks to close and the house would be his.
The closing went off without a hitch. Everyone was satisfied, the papers were signed, the house was his. He was presented with the keys by the now prior owner and told to enjoy himself as much in the place as she had. He shook her hand and thanked her enormously, then he sprinted out of the office to start moving in.
His friends had already arrived in the moving truck at the new place and were standing around waiting for him to show up with the keys. As he pulled up the driveway, he got to take a good look at the new house. His house. He spotted the three diamond shaped windows and furrowed his brow. He'd actually completely forgotten about the hidden room until just now. All of the paperwork for it had been signed weeks ago, and he'd been so busy with other things that it hadn't been on his mind.
He sat there staring at the place until his friends' shouting roused him enough to get up and start moving things in.
It was relatively quick getting the truck unpacked and the furniture laid out. They just worried about placing the various boxes in the right rooms and trying to get the furniture in the general area of where it would eventually end up. Tom even lucked out and didn't have to work as much, since he ducked out early to get everyone pizza and bring it back as a thank you.
After they all left, he crashed on the couch in the living room and promptly fell asleep for a few hours. When he awoke, it was starting to get dark, but there was still enough light in the place. He decided he'd better find some lamps and plug them in before he couldn't see at all.
While he was rummaging around for some lights to plug in, it occurred to him that he might as well do some searching for something else. As his lawyer said, there's no harm in him finding the room so long as he doesn't get caught. Besides, if he found the door, he could just let it sit for a few weeks and decide if he wanted to chance going in there.
The door proved elusive. He couldn't find anything that was out of the ordinary. No switches or releases or doors or anything. He explored all of the secret passages and rooms, hoping to find anything that would point him in the right direction. Nothing. He discovered two new rooms and a new hallway. Nothing useful there either. Every wall he tapped on seemed solid. No trick panels or fake walls.
He debated ripping up the walls around where the room was, but that would be expensive and do terrible damage to the house. And he had just moved in, after all. He'd have to pull off the wallpaper and maybe yank out one of the built-in bookcases. It definitely wasn't worth the trouble. Besides, it was just some small, dusty room. Probably empty. The guy that built the place probably just added it in and made the stipulations to mess with people. It just must not be worth the trouble.
Tom wouldn't have been surprised at all if it turned out that one of the prior owners had sealed up the room completely to keep it from tempting him, also assuming that there must not be anything of importance in there. Still, though, it sure would be interesting to see what was inside....
Tom shook his head. He wasn't going to break through the wall to get in. Besides, that would make it fairly obvious that he had been in there. And without any other options, there was nothing left to do on the matter. At least not tonight.
Defeated, Tom headed back to the living room and collapsed again on the couch, where he slept through the night.
The next day, he searched between unpacking boxes and moving around furniture. He searched more the day after that. He tried to be nonchalant about it, casually walk through a room and lean up against a wall, in the hopes that he'd just happen to lean on the switch that would open the room. No luck.
The days dragged on and he quickly got himself completely unpacked. He still had no success in finding the room. Soon, he had lived in the house for more than a month and still hadn't found the room. His searching had become much less frequent. He hadn't stopped completely, yet. But he wasn't scouring the whole house multiple times a day, as he had in the beginning.
As the weeks passed, he would look around for the entrance every so often, but it was soon just a fleeting memory threatening to leave him. It popped into his head one day that the real estate agent had been right and he was forgetting quickly. He considered purposefully remembering it fully, just to spite her, but he soon decided that wasn't a very useful course of action. Besides, there were just more important things going on in his life than worrying about the location of a room that he wasn't allowed to enter anyway.
One day, Tom was walking through one of the secret passageways on the ground floor. It connected the kitchen to the living room and he had been using it as a pantry, since it was quite a bit wider than any of the other hidden corridors. He'd even installed some shelves along the far wall to store cans and jars and such.
This time, rather than looking at foodstuffs, he was looking at the floor. There was one spot about a third of the way down from the kitchen that was always mysteriously collecting dust. Admittedly, the house was still rather dusty and he really did need to give everything a thorough cleaning, but this was more than usual. And it was always the same area; nothing else in the hallway had any problems to speak of.
Looking up at the ceiling, he spotted where the dust must be coming from: there were some cracks in the ceiling. Nothing too large, but enough for plaster and other flotsam to fall through and land on the floor. He returned to the kitchen to grab a stool to get a closer look.
A few pokes with his finger at the ceiling was enough to widen the small crack into a wide one as plaster chips fell down on him. Great. I'll have to replace this section of the ceiling. Cool air tumbled out of the ceiling at him. That's odd. Why's it so cold? Tom poked some more at the gap, widening the hole.
More cold air blew down; there was definitely an opening above him. He peered into it, wondering what was up there.
His cheeks puffed out as he exhaled. Well, the ceiling needs to be replaced anyway, might as well go all the way. And with that he dug his hands into the cracks and pulled hard.
Chunks of plaster rained down on him and the floor, covering everything in white dust. He blinked his eyes shut as he continued to pry at the ceiling. He stopped when the ceiling stopped giving way and groped his way down from the stool to head back to the kitchen and wash his hands off and his eyes out.
Dust was still sprinkling down from the gaping hole when he returned. He coughed as he inhaled some while looking upwards. He couldn't believe what he saw overhead: there was a tall opening going up, disappearing into darkness. He would have figured it was a closed-up chimney or the equivalent, except for the fact that there was a ladder bolted to the side. This sure wasn't something the real estate agent had told him about.
He could just barely reach the bottom rung from his stepstool, but he wasn't able to pull himself up. He hopped down off the stool and returned it to the kitchen. Dashing back down the hall, he looked up at it as he ran underneath on his way through to the garage so he could get his small stepladder and a flashlight.
He was practically giddy as he set up the ladder and shined the flashlight into the expanse above him. The light didn't reveal that much, only that the ladder just went up a short way and then stopped. It looked like there was a hallway off to the side at the top.
Tom hung the flashlight from his belt and climbed up his stepladder until he reached the old ladder bolted to the wall. Tentatively, he grabbed onto the rungs, being careful to make sure that it was secure before trusting his whole weight on it. It seemed solid enough and he began to make his way up.
Sure enough, the ladder only went up for about six feet or so and then abruptly stopped. In front of him was a hallway leading towards the front of the house. He unhooked the light and shined it down the new hallway. Dust hung in the air and cobwebs lined the corners. His heart was pounding in his chest - he was just positive that he had discovered the way into the forbidden room.
He followed the hallway, swinging his flashlight back and forth, being remarkably unimpressed. If this was all that the room was, then he was greatly disappointed. But the original owner was supposed to be quite the eccentric, after all, so it was entirely possible that he just thought it would be funny to put in a clause barring entry to a worthless, empty room.
Those thoughts left him as he rounded the corner at the end of the hallway and found himself face to face with the door to the room.
And what a door it was.
The front was painted with a horrifically detailed skull and cross bones. The word "beware" was written in red underneath it. It looked like blood, but he wasn't sure. It could just as easily have been some faded red paint. He didn't want to let his imagination run away with him too much.
The door was locked shut by a very large but very old rusty padlock.
Damn.He pulled up the lock to examine it. The keyhole looked corroded, so it was very unlikely that he'd be able to pick it. A professional locksmith could probably open it, but there was no way he could get one in here without violating the no entrance rule. Unless the hallway didn't count.
Tom let go of the lock as he pondered. It fell back against the door and that force alone was enough to break the latch free. The lock and latch crumbled onto the floor, much to Tom's surprise. The door was now free to be opened.
He brightened up. The room was now accessible. Quickly, his smile faded. What if someone figures out I broke the lock off? He stared at the crumbled metal in front of him. He chuckled. Oh come on, that lock could have fallen off years ago, from the look of it. As long as I board up the entrance, there shouldn't be any problems. He grasped the knob, turned it, and entered the room.
The spider webs in the hallway had nothing on the ones in the room. Webs covered everything very thickly. He had to pull several of them down just to enter the room. They were so thick, they came apart with an audible tearing sound. They were about four inches thick, but he was quickly through them and into the room.
He shined his flashlight all over, finding more webs over everything. There were bookshelves with dusty old tomes, a large wooden globe that had turned gray, and several old Victorian chairs. Nothing terribly interesting, it just looked like someone's den from the turn of the century. The books could be interesting though, and he resolved to look through them.
He coughed a bit due to the dust that hung in the air as he worked his way over towards the small windows to get a look outside. In front of the window was a large oak desk, covered in cobwebs just as badly as everything else.
Sitting at the desk was a bleached white skeleton, practically bonded to the chair with the webbing.
Tom gasped as he realized what it was, causing him to inhale more dust and nearly choke. His eyes teared as he tried to catch his breath and figure out what exactly was in front of him.
As he regained his composure, a million thoughts raced through his head. Surely he had to tell someone about the skeleton; it may be a murder. But he couldn't actually say anything, since he'd forfeit the house. The crackpot that built the house must have murdered someone and locked him up in here. Then he added all those ridiculous stipulations to keep people from finding the body.
He walked around the desk, trying to get a better look at it. Dammit. What do I do? I have to report this. Tom cocked his head at the skeleton. Do I? I'm the first person in this room in probably 80 years. Even if this is a murder, the guy that did it must surely be dead by now. What good would it do for me to report that some dead guy killed some other dead guy? Only thing that'll come of it is me losing my house.
Faintly, he heard a tearing noise. He looked around, trying to figure out what it was. Silence. And then, another faint tear.
He searched around at his feet, assuming that he must have been pulling at some of the thicker webs and ripping them out. There was nothing catching near him.
Then there was another tear, louder, more distinct, and definitely coming from in front of him. He looked up to see the skeleton straining to lift its left arm out of the coccoon it was in. Tom stared wide-eyed in disbelief.
The skeleton lifted its arm, ripping the spider web fabric around him.
Tom dropped the flashlight and ran for the door.
Bones rattled behind him as he dashed through the room. In front of him, the door slammed shut on its own. Tom choked through the dust as he tried to keep his legs moving to get through the door. When he reached it, it was no use. It was shut firmly and he couldn't budge it. Panting, he turned to face the room's other occupant, which was slowly getting itself up out of its chair.
The thing teetered as it stood, trying to use muscles it didn't have to balance itself. The skull rotated on top of the neck and the eyeless sockets stared at Tom.
Gingerly, it lifted its legs and uneasily walked towards him.
Tom was still having trouble catching his breath, the dust still thick in his lungs, but he was thinking reasonably clearly. At this point he was trying to find something near him to grab and use as a weapon while feigning not being able to breathe, to gain the element of surprise.
As the thing approached, Tom made his move. He lunged for a small table next to the door, grabbing it and swinging for the creature. He missed. The thing deftly leapt backwards and out of harm's way. Tom panted as he stood holding the table, waiting to see its next move.
It stood there looking at him, doing nothing. Then it simply clicked its teeth at him and returned to the desk, sitting back down in the chair from which it had arisen.
Tom suddenly realized he had moved in the room somehow. He wasn't looking in the same direction. But he couldn't turn his head to see where the skeleton had gone or what was happening. In fact, he couldn't move anything. He couldn't even blink.
He could hear movement behind him and the groans of someone stretching. He strained to turn and see who was there but he was simply unable. His eyes wouldn't even shift. His gaze remained straight ahead, looking out the window. He tried to shout, find out who was there, but he simply couldn't muster it.
Wood broke on the floor behind him. Something heavy had fallen. And then, footsteps.
The floor squeaked as they approached and stopped behind him. He was still powerless to move. A man chuckled behind him. The footsteps started again, moving in a wide arc around the desk just outside of his field of vision. Gradually, the person came into view and then into focus. Tom couldn't believe what he was seeing.
He was looking at himself.
Tom, the other Tom, the one he was watching, stooped in front of him and looked him dead in the eye and then up and down, nodding his head. Tom strained to leap up and demand answers. The other Tom shook his head.
"Don't bother trying to move, you can't. You no longer have any muscle. In fact, don't bother trying to do much of anything. Other than vision and hearing, you really aren't physically able to do that much."
Tom looked on in utter terror. What the hell did you do to me?
"Yes, yes, you want to know what happened, I'm sure. I don't even need to be a telepath to know that. I'll try to put it in simple terms. This," he gestured widely and spun around, "is my room. Everything else was yours. The house, the yard, the whole damn planet for all I care. But this. This room. Was mine." He rested his hands on the desk and narrowed his eyes as he spoke.
"But that just wasn't good enough for you, was it? No, you had to have this room too. Couldn't let someone else take it. Couldn't let well enough alone. So, I decided that since you wanted this room so badly, that despite all the clauses I put into the sale of the house, despite the warnings, despite the locks, that you still wanted to have it. Well, then you can have it.
"So", he continued, letting a smile escape his mouth, "I switched us. Can't have a walking pile of bones going around the rest of the world, now can we? Much better to do it as you, and you can keep track of my old body in here, in the room you had to see. Any problem with that?"
Tom said nothing.
"Good to hear it. Maybe another nosy person will come along in another hundred years and let you out. Of course, I suppose you'd have to figure out how I switched us for that to happen, but maybe you'll get lucky."
Tom strained and pulled and tried to move. He simply couldn't. There was nothing to move.
The thing that was now in his body walked towards the door and opened it. As he shut the door behind him, he called out, "Enjoy the room. I sure did."
| 10/24/2006 | The Seventh Story of the House |
| 10/21/2006 | The Sixth Story of the House |
| 10/13/2006 | The Fifth Story of the House |
| 10/04/2006 | The Fourth Story of the House |
| 10/03/2006 | The Third Story of the House |
| 10/02/2006 | The Second Story of the House |
| 10/01/2006 | The First Story of the House |
| 10/01/2004 | It's Your Turn |
| 10/02/2003 | The Experiment |
| 10/02/2003 | The Stain |
| 10/02/2003 | The Recorder |
| 10/02/2003 | The Secret Room |
| 10/02/2003 | Why you should always carry tools |
| 10/02/2003 | The Solicitor |
| 10/02/2003 | The Picnic |
| 10/02/2003 | Moving Day |
| 10/02/2003 | The Very Short Life of a Fat Man |
| 10/02/2003 | Life on a Farm |
| 10/02/2003 | The Mooresbury Men |
| 10/02/2003 | A Better Killer |
| 10/02/2003 | Scary Noises |
| 02/01/2003 | The Wind Blows In My Heart... |
| 01/15/2003 | I Am The Goddess |
| 01/15/2003 | Freak |
| 01/12/2003 | They Won't Be Coming Back |
| 01/12/2003 | Bugs |
