Back and Forth [Based on a True Story]

Everyone in the neighborhood presumed that the house sitting on the corner of the cul-de-sac had always been haunted. So, even in the middle of a sunny day, people avoided it... After an hour in the church, anyone who passes by the house will stop for a moment to condemn it...

The house had its fair share of dwellers since it had a friendly, breathable atmosphere. It was a two-story building which could accommodate a family of four. It had cream-colored walls and a lush, peach rooftop. It had windows to its front and sides which provided it with an unimpeachable amount of sunlight. But even if the house seemed fit for living, no family had stayed in it for long. After a month or two, they would move away, silencing themselves of the frights they had experienced in the house. And once they were gone, nobody would hear a word from them -- not even their close neighbors.

Time flew by too briskly and the house gained a new occupant -- a boy no older than 17. He was preparing himself for college and he needed a place to stay since the campus he was attending was miles away from his original home. He knew he would miss his family, but he had also wanted to live alone since as long as he could remember.

Moving into the house was an easy task for him.

Eventually, the house had developed an eerie aura and with every night he slept in it, the more the aura grew. It enveloped him to the extent that he was frightened of prolonged silence in the house. His love for music helped him drown the quietness. When he washed the dishes after a scrumptious dinner, he would open his laptop and turn the volume to the maximum. Then, in the stillness of the night, he'd play a song.

There was a time when he put his favorite song on replay to prevent his imagination from playing with his head.  He left his cursor on the minimize button again -- a mannerism which had never left him ever since he got the laptop. With that done, he went off to wash the dishes as slowly as he could while humming enthusiastically to the song.

The song was on its third replay when it suddenly stopped playing. He glanced over to check if his laptop had ran out of batteries. Surprisingly, it was still on, with a lot of battery life to go.

With foam surrounding his hands, he huddled over to his laptop to see what the real problem was. He gasped in surprise. There was water on the track pad, and the cursor had gone to the bottom of the screen. It was more than mere evidence that someone else had laid his hands on the laptop.

The next day, he welcomed a bunch of children who played along the pavements into his home. He thought he could use a good company. One of the kids lived right next door. At eight years, he was unique in so many ways -- he was more mature than the other children plus his curiosity was unfathomable... He was always asking questions.

The little boy sat hurriedly sat on the couch, knowing he was allowed to do so. Across the couch was an antique mirror and upon seeing his reflection, the boy's attention was completely consumed by what he saw. He peered into the glass for a moment, and brushed his eyes. Sitting next to him was an unknown playmate -- a kid no older than six.

The little boy rubbed his eyes once more, and continued to stare. The child sitting next to him was focused on the ground. The rest f his face was buried into his arms which, in turn, were wrapped around his knees as he coiled into a ball. His clothes were stained red and his fingernails had been broken off.  Then as silently as he could, he began to move back and forth... back and forth... back and forth.

The little boy stared in wonder.

Back and forth the child went.

Then the child looked at him with blank eyes. Part of his face was torn off, revealing nothing but rotten insides which were already crawling with worms.

The little boy screamed  and ran out of the house. His playmates followed suit but they didn't continue playing. Instead, they scrambled back to their homes.

The next day, the little boy was seen sitting on the porch of his own house. No other child played with him. He wasn't in the mood for playing either. As the sun began to set and the clouds turned gray, he wrapped his arms around his knees and began rowing himself back and forth.