The Vanishing House

The next day, I donned my travelling dress and made way for The Green. Figuring I'd been too conspicuous in my normal clothes, I threw on an indistinguishable dark cloak in addition to my sunhat and a pair of durable boots.

Which, it turns out, was a terrible mistake.

The hot summer day beat down on me like a sparring boxer. I tried to ignore the sweat and the curious looks from the farmers as I passed their territories and ventured further into something much more sinister. The Vanishing House was at one of the uppermost points on The Green, and I knew that it would take me well into the afternoon to reach it. My boots and the hem of my dress collected mud easily as I trekked onward, panting.

It felt sort of strange to be out on my own. It wasn't like I hadn't been out by myself before. I could examine the whole village and come back without an ounce of worry invading the minds of my parents. But ever since The Vanishing House appeared, people stopped exploring The Green. Children stopped gathering its unique wildflowers, and travellers stopped coming from the path that connected our town to the one miles next to us, through the mountains. It was as if this prosperous place full of nature and greenery had become an abandoned wasteland. And because of what? A house. A good-for-nothing house.

I grew more nervous as I advanced. It wasn't really because of the house so much as it was the rumors that were sure to float about the following day. I was sure people would talk of the strange cloaked figure that went up to The Vanishing House. What would they say? That an evil witch visited the house? That The Vanishing House had bewitched a resident? What for?

It dawned on me that I would have to get my observation completed in one day. Why had I even gone out in daylight? What possessed me to do something so obvious and stupid? If I had waited until nightfall, I could have spared the town some more fears and nightmares. But whose to say I would have found The Vanishing House at night? I tried to rationalize my behavior, but I felt worse and worse with every thought and every step. Dread began to fill me like water accumulating in a bucket.

But when I looked up, The Vanishing House was so close. I knew it was too late to turn around, too late to back out on my plan. My nerves were shooting out warning signs, begging me not to go any closer. Looking at the house made me sick, so I bent my head down and forced myself onward. Fear and excitement raged battled within me, and I wasn't sure which would win. I just kept walking. And walking. And walking.

And then I felt something. It was hard to describe. I just knew, somehow, that The Vanishing House was right in front of me before I even lifted my head. It was like a soft swell, a breeze. A pulse. I thought, was this magic? Was this what magic really felt like? I was so anxious, so anxious I thought it would make me sick right then and there - like I was going to puke or cry or both. Before I could think twice, I jerked my head up.

It wasn't there.

My emotions hadn't settled down long enough for me to experience disappointment yet. I just stared out into the space before me for quite sometime before I felt like collapsing. My face crumpled in an unflattering sort of way, and that was right about the time I let a tear leak out from my eye.

"Nell," I said to myself. "You're the stupidest being in all the lands. You're dumb. You're so dumb. What made you think you could go out and find The Vanishing House, you fool? You stupid coot. You idiot. You... Confound it!"

I whirled around in an angry fit and gasped. The Vanishing House was mere meters away. My brain began to work with the speed and skill of lightning. Here it was, ready for my naturalistic observation. But was it, in all reality, stupid to advance with this starry-eyed idea? Would I truly be able to do it? What if I turned back now? It would be easy - easier than going through with this silly little plan. I looked up at the sun, which was retreated away from me. It was growing dark. I had to get back home. There was no other choice; Ma would worry, wild night creatures would be emerging. I had to go. I had to. I took a step to leave. I was a coward. A stupid, stupid coward.

It was after my next step that I realized my feet weren't moving in the direction I wanted them to. I looked down at them quizzically. I turned my right foot in the correct direction, but as soon as I moved it, it was like wind diverted my limb. My foot was redirected toward the house, and I lost my balance. I fell to the mud and looked up.

It seemed so menacing. From the town, where it looked like just a harmless freckle, I never grasped the idea that this place could be dangerous. It seemed like just a house. Just a house.

"It's just a house," I whispered, my voice coated in fright.

Yet I was paralyzed. I laid there, motionless, nearly breathless. Then a wind picked up, assembling my hair in its fingers. It was calling me towards the house, I knew. And when I didn't move, it threw itself against me in horrible gusts. I scrambled up, terrified right down to my very marrow. It was like I had entered a sphere that I could not exit. I had long ago passed the point of no return. The only option I had was forward, to The Vanishing House. I inched closer, my blood so loud in my ears I thought for sure they'd burst under pressure. I went straight up to the door frame, hardly even noticing a faint "A" painted on its wooden exterior. There was only one thing left to do, something that had been tried once long ago.

I lifted my shaking hand and knocked on the door.