In A House Possessed

 Twenty five years ago, in another life, I moved to an area outside South Padre Island, Texas. What I thought was going to be an adventure of sun, sand and beach fun turned out to be anything but. This is part one of our experience.

"Eric do you think this is the house?" My brother and I were parked in front of a small stucco home with a screened in front porch. The house number couldn’t be seen so Eric walked up to peek in the windows. "There are boxes in here. This must be it."

The house looked creepy. The trim on the house and the screened in porch was painted a dark terra cotta color. The paint was peeling off in big chunks. The yard was unkempt and overcome with weeds. The house looked cold, even in the 110 degree Texas heat.

My 17 year old brother and I had been driving for 12 hours on our way from Dallas to Port Isabel, Texas. We had a U-Haul truck, a packed car and two little kids. Karli was 3 and Cole had just turned one. My (ex) husband, Ed,  had taken a job in Port Isabel as a chef at the Yacht Club. He left weeks earlier to find a suitable home for the family. The kids and I stayed behind to get things in order and ready ourselves for the big move.

I unbuckled car seats and got the kids out of the car. Holding Cole in my arms and Karli by the hand we walked up the small pathway of cracked cement. Eric opened the ripped screen door for me and I went to the front door. I bent over and looked under the tattered mat. There was a key beneath it. Being a chef, Ed worked evenings so he wouldn't be home for hours. I picked up the key and opened the door. 

A feeling that I had never experienced rushed over me as I stepped into the house. It was a feeling of dread and uncertainty. The hairs on the back on my neck stood on end. I looked at my brother and was shocked. The color had drained from his face. He had beads of sweat forming on his brow. "Eric did you feel that?”  He looked at me, his eyes full of fear, and nodded yes. As quickly as the feeling came it was gone.

We shook it aside and began to look around. There was a nice sized living room that led into an over sized kitchen. There was a small master bedroom and a tiny room for the kids. The house had one bathroom with a shower and no bathtub.

Eric went out of the back door in the kitchen to check out the yard and the guest house. I found the kids something to snack on.  I could see from the kitchen window that there were banana trees, orange trees and a lime tree. Across the street was a coconut palm. It would be fun having those fruit trees on the property.

Eric opened the back door and stepped back into the kitchen. He was more pale then I'd ever seen him. He was trembling and looked as if he might fall at any moment. He caught himself on the edge of the tiled counter top. After a few minutes he was able to speak.

"Teri, don't ever go to the guest house.  There's something really bad back there."  I laughed trying to lighten up the situation.  "Oh, yeah? What's back there, a ghost?"   Eric wasn’t amused. He told me that he had never been as afraid as he was when he looked through the window and into black painted rooms.  "Teri, I'm telling you that something bad happened here."

It looks a lot different than when we were there.