The Enigma House

"The sound of their gentle breathing as they slept was like a sweet lullaby. The poor family, they have so little, and what is this about a fire? Are they going to live here? So many questions and so little answers. I will just have to wait and see. However, the clock's bells are chiming the ten o'clock hour and it is time for the aurora borealis to make an appearance.

During the night, Sophia got up to use the bathroom. As she stepped out of her parents' room to head down the hallway, she saw strange lights emanating from her bedroom, bouncing up the walls.

“What's that?” Sophia whispered to herself, as she stood still not sure what to do next.

From her new bedroom radiated brightly colored bouncing lights. The lights poured out of the room and into the hallway. The wall and the floor opposite of the bedroom door were bathed in a multi-color light show. Sophia slowly tiptoed down the hall, but she would stop every few steps. The lights were pretty looking, but what were they? Could it be another fire?

“MOMMY, FIRE!” Sophia screamed, while she ran back down the hallway toward her parents’ room.

Sophia's loud screams awoke the whole house, which caused both her mother and father to jump up startled. Emma raced out of her room in a foggy panic. As for Michael, when he heard Sophia's scream, he was jolted out of bed and fell to the floor.

“Fire, where?” Henry demanded as he came out of the room.

“Down there,” Sophia pointed down the hallway, while she ran up to her father.

“Where, down there?” Henry asked, trying to get a better understanding of what was going on.

Emma and Michael stood in the doorways of their rooms, trying to make sense of what was going on. They both looked at each other with a mixture of confusion and fear.

Sophia again pointed down the hallway to her room. “There were lights coming from over there.”

“Stay here,” Henry said. He slowly paced down the hallway to get a better look at what Sophia was talking about.

Finally arriving at the doorway of Sophia's room, Henry looked inside. “What lights Sophia? I don't see anything.”

“Henry, what's going on?” Jean inquired as she stepped out of her bedroom and joined the rest of the family in the hallway.

“Sophia saw something in her room,” Emma replied as she stepped away from her bedroom door.

Henry rejoined them at the end of the hallway nearest his room. “Sophia, are you sure you saw lights in there?”

“Daddy, I saw lights. I really, really did,” Sophia replied as she hugged her mother around the waist.

“Well, the lights are not there now. Are you sure you weren't dreaming?” he suggested.

“No Daddy, I wasn't dreaming.” Sophia insisted.

“Okay, let's go back to bed and then we'll talk about it in the morning,” Jean stated with a hint of frustration in her voice.

They proceeded back to their beds and tried to forget the lights. Michael tried to get back to sleep, but he couldn't help wondering what Sophia had seen. Thankfully, it wasn't a fire. He wondered what could have made the lights that Sophia had seen and then make them disappear before anyone could look into the room. Could the lights come from the headlights of a car that was traveling down the road? How far was the main road from the house? Then he soon drifted back to sleep with the hope of getting answers in the morning.

Despite the brief commotion last night, the Millers’ first morning in the new house had brought with it a feeling of hope, which was much needed after their long stay in the motel. The one thing they were all looking forward to was their first homemade breakfast. Michael was greeted by the sweet smell of pancakes, butter, and coffee.

“Yes, there is a god,” Michael thought as he got up, dressed, and headed downstairs into the kitchen.

He had gone through the pantry. Off to the side of the kitchen was a small, narrow pantry, with cupboards and drawers on both sides of the room. The cupboards on one side of the pantry were for storing plates, glasses, coffee cups, serving dishes, and a tea set. Opposite was a cupboard for dry goods, such as flower, sugar and spices. The pantry also contained drawers for silverware, tablecloths and cloth napkins. Opposite the door, leading to the foyer was the pantry sink. The floors to both the kitchen and pantry were covered in faded white ceramic tile, and both rooms had a high ceiling, with intricate décor around the edges. From the kitchen ceiling hung a huge overhead light, which brightly lit up the room.

After weeks of eating fast food at the restaurants near the motel, the aroma of homemade pancakes was an answer to Michael’s prayers. He entered the dining room where he joined the rest of his family. Sophia was sitting a little off to the side by herself.

“Sophia, what's wrong?” Michael asked while he sat down at the table.

Sophia didn't answer his question; she looked over to him but then went back to playing with her fork and spoon. Michael looked over to Emma and his father in the hopes of getting an answer. Both Emma and their father had given Michael a look that said, “You know why.”

“Hey Sophia, the lights that you saw last night, maybe they were made by a passing car,” Michael suggested.

Sophia turned and looked at him with a look of confusion and anger. “I saw lights. Not car lights.”

“So, if you weren't dreaming, and if they weren't headlights then what could it be?”

“I don't know,” Sophia said as she continued playing with her fork and spoon.

Emma leaned over and whispered to Michael, “Do you think it might have been somebody walking around the house last night?”

“Why would anyone walk around the house?” Michael inquired in a whisper.

“This place has been empty for a long time. Who knows what has been going around here,” Emma replied.

Michael had to admit that Emma had a point; he had heard of people using empty houses that were remote and abandoned for a hangout or place to hide things in. So could it have been someone coming here to meet up with a few friends, or to retrieve whatever they hid here? Would they return, and if that is the case, what kind of people were they? Could they be drug users or dealers? Michael shuddered at the thought of what could happen if they were. He was pulled away from his thoughts when his mother entered the room with two big plates. One plate held a huge pile of steaming hot pancakes, and the other was loaded with bacon and sausage. She placed them on the table and went back into the kitchen for the beverages. She soon returned with a pot of coffee for her and Henry, and orange juice for the children.

“Dad, do think it could have been someone breaking into the house last night?” Michael asked while he poured himself a glass of orange juice.

“What are you talking about?” Jean asked as she sat and poured herself a cup of coffee.

“The lights that Sophia saw last night—could they have been made by a flashlight?” Michael answered.

“It wasn't a flashlight or car lights,” Sophia protested.

"Okay Sophia, what was it?” Jean asked as she cut up a pancake for Sophia.

“I don't know. I didn’t see what was making the lights,” Sophia replied.

“So, it could have been anything,” Emma offered, and then sipped her juice.

“Yeah. Anything that made different colored lights,” Sophia retorted.

All of them had blank looks on their faces when they heard Sophia’s reply. Michael thought, “What can make different colored lights? What is going on in this house?” He looked over to his parents and could see they were busy drinking their coffee and discussing their to-do list for the day. He looked over at Emma who looked like she was busy eating her breakfast, but he knew by the look in her eyes that she too was thinking about the lights."