We Don't Talk About Anna

I remember the first time that I had found that eerie room when my mother had dropped me off at Katherine Harris’ house.

My mom got out of the car, taking my small hand in her own and walking me up the long and winding brick covered pathway that lead up to the large white Victorian style mansion. The house was covered in vines that stretched up across the stucco and wrapped around to the roof.

That was the first time that I saw the window, the only one that was blocked out by a thick black curtain.

We ascended the steps and she let go of my hand, dropping down onto her haunches so that she could be eye-level with me.

“Now Lou, be good. Mind your manners and-”

“And be a help not a hindrance. Mom, I know.” I spouted off her usual bout with my signature smirk. In the few short years that I had been alive, six to be exact, I had grown to understand that she was very predictable and always seemed to use the same phrases and euphemisms.

“And put a damper on that sass scout.” She laughed, flicking her finger across the end of my nose.

She rose to her full height, towering over my childish frame as she rapped on the intricate brass knocker that sat in the middle of the door. We waited only a moment before the heavy door was thrust open, revealing a small oriental lady who was dressed in a black and white maid’s outfit like those that you see on the movies.

“Oh Mrs. Tomlinson, how nice to be seeing you.” She smiled and nodded, stepping aside so that I could enter.

“Good afternoon Tammy.” My mother smiled, remaining on the porch as I stepped across the threshold and looked back at her.

“Seeing you later then?” Tammy stuttered across her words, trying to remember the English that she had been taught just a few weeks ago.

“Yes, I’ll be back in a few hours.” My mother nodded, speaking slightly slower so that Tammy could better decipher what she was saying, “I just wanted to give Lou and Katherine some time to play before we left.”

“See you later then!” Tammy smiled and nodded once more and closed the door, leaving me in the grand foyer alone.

I wandered up the stairs, taking them two at a time because I had come to know them so well. Upon reaching the top of the stairs my feet had begun to carry me to the right, towards Katherine’s room by instinct. But for some reason I turned around and looked down the left hallway, wondering why Katherine and I had never adventured down there before.

I fought my instinct and instead headed down the left hallway, running my hands along the walls as I walked. This side of the house seemed to be much darker than the rest, which seemed absurd to me because the Harris’ loved to fill every room with lights, whether it be lamps or candles of some sort. Everything was always lit up in a warm glow. But this place seemed foreign, like it didn’t belong in the house at all.

The hall seemed to stretch on for an eternity, the end falling off into a dark abyss as the lights from the main hallway behind me faded into nothingness. I kept walking, noting how the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and goose bumps were beginning to trail down my arms.

I walked until I reached the end of the hall. To the right was a small wooden door, just big enough for an average person to fit through and not much taller or wider. It looked more like a place to store coats and such than an actual room. On the handle was a large, shiny padlock, one of those with a large opening for a specially fashioned key.

I pulled on the padlock, hoping that someone had forgotten to lock it and that I would be able to explore this room that seemed to be drawing me in.

“Mom?” a small voice called out softly.

“No, this is Louis.” I whispered back, pressing my ear to the door so that I could hear better, “Katherine, is that you?”

“Leave.”

I backed away from the door and laid down on the floor, scooting close to the space between the door and floor, trying my best to see into the room from underneath. I peered in and was able to make out the legs of a wooden bed, and nothing much else was visible from my spot. Then just as I was about to get up, I saw a small pair of bare feet walk across the space in front of the bed.

I immediately jumped back from the door until my back hit the wall. My breathing was erratic and I could hear my heart thumping loudly in my ears.

“What are you doing here Lou?” Tammy stuttered, frantically reaching out for my hand and dragging me to my feet. She pulled me down the hallway and back to the main hall where light flooded in from many different open windows.

The feeling of dread that had quickly come over me had finally lifted.

“I heard a voice, and saw a pair of feet!” I waved my hands around trying to explain. “What was that?”

“That was Anna, a ghost. We keep her locked up so that she doesn’t bother anyone.” Tammy explained as I watched the color drain from her face and her eyes dart around the room as she spoke. “But we don’t talk about Anna, okay? We don’t talk about Anna.”

“We don’t talk about Anna.” I repeated as I shook my head so that she knew I understood.

I may have been a gullible child but I was not quite that naïve. I knew that what I saw and heard was real flesh and blood, not a ghost.

Anna was real.