You are now entering...The Twilight Zone...
we're all out in the middle of nowhere basically, my mom, the kids & i. cute little place with hardwood floors & i get the impression that maybe it used to be a restaurant. my mom's packing the kids up like she's taking them. maybe they were just with me for a weekend visit or something, i don't know. she's packing them up long term, though. taking food and everything. jarred melon slices & something that resembles huge peaches, but they're not actual peaches so i try a bite. not bad. it does bother me that the pressure bubble on the jar lid has popped already and they're not refrigerated, but i don't say anything. no matter. my mom seems to be able to read my mind and says the co-op told her they would still be good for a couple of weeks. no reason not to trust my mom or the co-op, so i forget the jarred fruit. the boys are playing out in the back & it looks like something out of "the wizard of oz". nothing but dry dirt as far the eye can see & not another living soul. i'm watching them play near an old clothes line post, but i see myself, too, standing on the other side of the dirty screen door. there are entities or spirits or poltergeists or whatever with us. things keep moving on their own. they are trying to delay us or stop us altogether & it's pissing me off. we've taken to swinging sticks at thin air when an object moves, trying to strike whatever moved it. then my mom and the kids start being momentarily possessed. shouting at them seems to be effective in removing whatever has invaded them, but it doesn't last long and i get the distinct impression that things will escalate soon. now the front part of the house holds a small shop. we even have hello kitty merchandise. there is a beautiful woman, early 20's, long dark hair, red shirt & tight jeans, coming up to the front of the house. thru the aid of a narrorator, i know her story before she makes it up the steps. "tiffany lives in a red house. a house that is haunted. people die at tiffany's house. all but tiffany." i rush out to stop her from coming in & all she wants is to borrow some crayons from brandon. i tell her fine & hand them over. she's leaving now, but then i realize that brandon has misunderstood & is taking the crayons over there personally. he's already over there as if he knew in advance she would need them. i see her across the front yard and down the long dirt drive, past all the many cars of the people that have now parked along our house to shop & go to the rodeo that is now taking place in the pasture next to our house. she is walking home to her house. right across the street. i run because i have to stop brandon from going in her house & suddenly i'm on her front porch. maroon posts, steps and paneling are all i see of the house before brandon is right before me, but i sense that i've been in the house before. i'm not scared of it personally. but for brandon, i'm terrified. i almost didn't make it in time as he's just about to step up to the porch. i grab him by the shoulders & turn him back towards her dirt driveway. where our house is all surrounded by dirt and dust, her's is lush with trees and grass and i get the vague impression of a river down a hill behind us. she's just then at the end of her drive coming towards us. she passes us on her way & thanks us again for the crayons. she smiles and she really is beautiful. we're still only about halfway down her driveway which seems about a mile long, but she's already almost to her yard. we're safe now. then she calls back and my skin crawls. i can hear the evil in her voice. she asks if brandon can stay and play & it's not here voice anymore. it's a little girl. i tell her no in the way that you speak to a child that you know is trying to pull one over on you. she gets angry immediately, screaming her request for brandon to stay and play repeatedly. my arm's around his shoulders, huddled over him like i'm protecting him from a strong wind, we keep on our way, all the while i'm telling her no & waiting for her to appear in rage before us. before we leave the drive, i look back and there she is near her house, still the same beautiful woman with beautiful long dark hair, screaming at us like a child in the throws of a temper tantrum. as we cross the street and enter our yard, she begins screaming obscenities and stabbing something between her legs exorcist-style. now she's back at the end of her drive, right near the road & cars passing by are sprayed with her blood. i feel sorry for her. we walk back into the house and are safe. for real. the worst that is here are the spirits still playing games on us as i can tell when the stick my mom is holding flies out of her hand. it occurs to me that i'm the only one who has not yet been possessed by one of these spirits and i wonder if it's a definate awareness that someone else is in you, with you. i think it must be. i'm telling my mom of the experience across the street and i say to her "it was really hard ditching tiffany". she stops what she's doing & looks at me, her eyes grow wider & wider. i don't understand until i realize that what i actually said was "it was really hard ditching jamie". i thought i went over there to stop brandon from entering tiffany's house. from becoming a victim. i thought i was protecting him, shielding him with my body as we walked down the drive. i can still feel his shoulder beneath the palm of my hand where it was only a few moments before. only it wasn't. i realize that while i thought i was across the street protecting my son from a crazy person, from death, what i wa actually doing over there was murdering & disposing the body of my childhood best friend's little sister. i was wrong. there is no definate feeling when you become possessed.