The Conjuring

(Ages: the reader is 21, Ed is 35, Lorraine is 34, Andrea is 16, Nancy is 14, Christine is 13, Cindy is 12, April is 6, Drew is 23 and Judy is 9)

This car ride feels like it’s never going to end and, honestly, I’m about to throw myself out this window. My sisters won’t shut up singing this damn song, apart from my youngest sister, April, who’s being a little angel and is curled up next to me. After what feels like a century in this car, Dad finally parks the car outside this old house that is actually quite beautiful and a smile dawns on my face as I gently wake April up to tell her we’re here.

“Who’s excited?” Mom turns around in her seat, a grin on her face as a chorus of ‘me’ erupts from my sisters. Except for dear darling Andrea who is, as usual, grumpy and annoyed, that her friends aren’t here. “Cheer up A, maybe you’ll find new friends in school” I nudge her shoulder when we stand up and she glares at me before smiling slightly, causing me to chuckle at her while everyone else runs inside after grabbing their own bags. “April, please be careful!” I call after her as she trips up the steps before continuing to run at full speed.

Sadie jumps out the car and bounds up to me, getting the usual attention from me and I head inside as Dad brings in the only box we managed to fit in the car and Sadie stops outside the front door. “Come on Sadie” Dad pulls her collar but she whines and digs her paws into the porch. “Sadie. What’s wrong?” I crouch down and scratch behind her ears and she whines again. “I’ll stay out here, see if something’s wrong” I pivot on my heels and look to Dad who nods and heads inside with the box.

Sadie turns around and runs down the steps and towards the lake we have, running onto the dock and I run after her, laughing as she jumps up and down happily. Once I catch up to her, I stop just underneath the tree by the lake and I freeze, a chill going up my spine and I look up, seeing the branch growing out over the grass and I back away slightly, moving out from under the tree and Sadie barks at me, running up to me and licking my hand as I continue to stare at the tree.

“Hi” I hear a voice whisper from in front of me and I look down at the base of the tree, seeing nothing but tree bark and roots and I turn around and jog back to the house, my heart racing as Sadie barks at me and I walk into the house, another chill running up my spine, Sadie staying on the porch and I walk into the kitchen, grabbing a glass that had been unpacked and filling it with water. I hear someone come up behind me as I gulp down the water before washing my glass and placing it back in the cupboard.

“Hey sweetie. You okay?” Mom says from behind me and I turn around. “Yeah” I smile and Mom frowns. “Are you sure, you’ve gone really pale” she takes a step closer and puts her hand on my forehead. “Oh sweetie, you’re burning up. Do you feel sick?” she frowns. “Mom, I’m fine. Really. I just ran around with Sadie too much and I haven’t eaten today” I sigh, taking her hand off my head. “Why haven’t you eaten?” she tilts her head. “I wasn’t hungry” I mumble, hugging my stomach.

“Well, eat something now, dinner will be done soon alright” she smiles, handing me an apple that we picked up earlier and I nod, walking past her and up the stairs to a random room, seeing Andrea in there. “About time you showed up, I’m not unpacking your shit for you” she chuckles before looking up from her bag and the smile leaves her face. “You alright sis?” she puts her shirt down and comes over to me. “Yeah” I breathe, not really paying much attention to her and I move over to the bed in the corner, unpacking my bag slowly.

“Lex. What’s going on?” Andrea places a hand on my back and I sit down on the bed, Andrea crouching down in front of me. “When I was running around with Sadie, we went down to the lake and there was this… tree. It gave off some weird vibes and then I thought I heard someone say ‘hi’ in front of me” I explain, fiddling with my hands as I put the apple down. “Was there anyone there? April maybe?” she frowns and I shake my head. “I’m sure it was just the wind” Andrea smiles even though I can tell she’s worried.

I get back to unpacking and Andrea goes back to the double bed, unpacking her bag and by the time the movers have come and we’ve unpacked most of the boxes, it’s night time and everyone has settled into their rooms: Christine and Nancy are sharing, April and Cindy have their own rooms and Andrea and I are sharing a room since we always have and we find comfort in it. I let her have the double bed while I had the single since I didn’t mind. Christine, Nancy, Cindy and I were downstairs playing Hide and Clap and Christine was counting. Cindy hid in between two boxes, Nancy hid in the closet and I was standing on the outside of the stairs, holding onto the banister.

“Be careful, you especially” Mom says, smirking as she points at me and ai grin mischievously. “Ok, clap!” Christine asks and I clap softly, Cindy barely clapping as Christine was right in front of her. Christine hears Nancy’s clap and shuffles slowly to the closet, asking for a second clap and all three of us clap before we hear a scream and a crash. “Nancy! Christine!” I jump down from the stairs and rush over to closet, pulling the light cord and revealing a hole in the wall and Nancy and Christine looking guilty and worried.

“Are you both okay?” I ask worriedly, glancing at the hole in the wall. “Yeah I think so” Nancy mumbles. “Alright, what’d you girls break now?” Dad comes over and Nancy and Christine start blaming each other and I smile, shaking my head. “What is it hon?” Mom comes down the stairs and asks Dad. “Looks like another room, maybe a basement, could someone grab the matches for me?” Dad squints as he tries to see into the hole, pulling a couple of boards off and one of them breaks in half.

Andrea comes back with the matches and Dad gets into the room, confirming that it is a basement. “Girls, I don’t want any of you coming down here. There’s spiders down here” Dad calls up. “Ew, ugh” Christine gags and turns away, Nancy and Cindy following her and making fun of her. As Dad comes out of the hole, I spot a sharp bit of wood sticking down from the broken board that he nearly hits his head on and I quickly put my hand between his head and the wood, his head hitting my hand and the sharp wood slicing deep into my palm. I hiss as Dad gets out and he turns around to see what’s wrong.

“What?” he looks around. “You were gonna hit your head on the sharp bit of wood so I put my hand there and it sliced into my palm, hurt like a bitch” I explained, examining my hand which was now bleeding profusely. “Alexandra Beth Perron, watch your language” Mom uses her ‘mom’ voice and I roll my eyes, earning a chuckle from her. “Let me see” Dad gently takes my hand before we head to the kitchen to wrap it up. After Dad wraps my hand, we head up to bed and I walk into mine and Andrea’s room.

“Hey. How’s the hand?” she asks, sitting up and crossing her legs. “It’s alright, stings” I flex my hand, making a fist before Andrea pats the bed in front of her. “And how are you feeling? After this morning” she asks slowly and I sigh. “I reckon it was just the wind, nothing to worry about” I lie and she nods. “This might sound weird but, will you sleep in the bed with me?” Andrea sighs. “Oh yeah sure! Let me just get changed and I’ll be right here” I smile, remembering when she used to wake me up in the middle of the night to ask if we could sleep in the same bed.