Late August, 1996

Ludlow, Maine

Eileen Creed stepped out of her silver 1992 Ford Taurus and looked up at the big old colonial before her. It desperately needed TLC and some minor repairs, but mostly it just looked like it needed to be lived in. Nobody had lived in the old Ludlow house for over a decade now, afterall.

The poor little Taurus, a sixteenth birthday present from her Grandmother, was packed with cardboard boxes and trashbags. It was all that remained of Eileen's worldly possessions. The rest had all been sold, donated, or trashed. She wasn't concerned; it was replaceable, and easier to buy new here than lug it all the way from Chicago to Maine.

Looking up at the old family home, Eileen felt a sense of unease flip through her belly. She was more alone than she had ever been in her life, in a brand new place a half-continent away from the only home she could remember. She knew no one here, knew nothing about the area, but somehow, some way, she would have to make a life for herself here now…

She had flown out to Ludlow back at the beginning of April; her relationships with Sue and Gray had been in the process of becoming very strained by then. She didn't tell them what she was doing, and that did nothing to assuage their growing feelings of animosity. She hadn't traveled to Ludlow under a veil of secrecy just because she knew they would both strenuously disapprove and try to talk her out of it, Gray almost to the point of bullying. That was certainly a part of it, but the other reason, the real reason, was because she was afraid one or both would insist on coming with her. She couldn't shake the feeling that Ludlow was her thing, and hers alone. Put simply, she didn't want them there. She didn't want their scoffing, their bored yawning behind their hands while she explored and rediscovered her past, their rolling eyes. Their almost twin dismissals.

Looking back on things later, Eileen would understand that the growing apart between herself and her boyfriend and best friend occurred because they didn't understand why she wouldn't just let the past go and move on with them, and she resented that they didn't understand that she couldn't let it go. The unanswered questions gnawed at her constantly, compounded by the guilt she felt for forgetting her parents and brother and allowing their memories to rot.

She didn't leave a phone number to be reached at, but left a note in the mailbox and on her answering machine to indicate generally where she was and when she would be back. She didn't want to be interrupted. She spent a week in Ludlow, looking up old newspaper clippings, visiting her parents and brother's graves, visiting places where they spent time. She visited her old elementary school, the old stores, hoping something would trigger a memory or at least some feeling of familiarity. But nothing did.

The day before her flight back to Chicago, feeling frustrated and unfulfilled and starting to feel the trip had been a complete waste of time and money, she made her way out to the old Ludlow property. She had been hesitant to go to this particular place; she had pieced together enough details about Gage's death to understand that it had been extremely horrible and that it had happened in front of their house. She knew, logically, that it was utterly ridiculous, but some part of her expected the stains of his death would still be visible on the road where he had met his terrible end. She wondered if witnessing such a thing was the reason why these memories were so elusive. But there was nothing left to lose, now. Either she found what she was looking for here, now, or she would never find it at all.

Despite the nearly twelve years that had passed, the area had not been built up. Though Eileen was unaware of it, the legal battle between the Micmacs and the State of Maine had been settled only a few years prior. The Creed Family homestead still sat on the edge of a small wilderness, and it was looking to remain that way for a long time to come. A few more houses had cropped up along the road, as properties were split and shrunken down, but not that many. The house she pulled into was still fairly isolated. The lot across the way was overgrown but still undeveloped. Eileen did not remember there had once been a fine old turn of the century home on the property, built shortly before the year 1900.

She had been surprised to find the old home with an empty, isolated look. There was a for sale sign in the front yard, but it was old and faded. It hung from one chain, the other long since rusted and broken. It made a soft clacking sound as the gentle spring breeze blew it against the wooden post it hung from. Despite the emptiness, the house didn't feel foreboding to her. If anything, there was a pronounced sense of loneliness that seemed to come off the old home in palpable waves.

She had circled the property, looking at the old house from every angle. From the outside it had appeared to be in reasonably good condition, just needing some TLC, some minor repairs, fresh paint. She wrote down the number on the for sale sign before driving back to her hotel, not really sure what the point was but simply operating on a level of intuition.

Back at the hotel, it had taken her going through three different people before she was able to find someone who knew about the old house. The woman on the phone had sounded annoyed when Eileen told her which house she was requesting information about.

"17 River Road?" the woman had asked, her voice spiking upwards. Eileen had almost been able to hear her eyes narrow. "We don't do interviews and we don't give out any information on the home's history; we aren't a library. And we don't give tours of that property unless the buyer is interested in purchasing and a mortgage is already approved. Keeping all of that in mind, what can I help you with?"

The woman's tone turned sharply sarcastic when Eileen attempted to identify herself in a bid for some leniency to these rules. "You're Eileen Creed, huh? Right. Well, that would make you about the 3rd or 4th one I've talked to over the last year. As I said, there is nothing we can do for you unless you are interested in purchasing the property." The finality in her voice left no room for wiggling.

Eileen twirled the phone cord between her fingers, thinking. "Well, what if I am interested in purchasing?"

The woman was quiet for a second, and when she spoke again her voice had lost its sarcasm. She sounded almost afraid. "Listen to me, Honey; if you really are who you say you are, and I'm not saying that I believe that, but if you are, you don't want that house. It's a bad house. It's a bad place. That's why it isn't selling, not even after all of this time. You should get out of Ludlow and go back home. There is nothing here but bad memories for any Creed, and nothing in Ludlow but bad memories about the Creeds. You should stay away from that property altogether. Nothing but bad things happen out there." Her voice had slowly taken on a hollow, distant tone. "Someone should just torch that whole damn stretch of woods out there…"

The woman paused again, this time for so long Eileen thought she might have hung up on her. When the woman did finally begin talking again her voice had a chipper professional cadence. "Besides, the house would need quite a bit of work after all this time. Give them another year, maybe less; they'll knock it down, break the property into three or four lots and build brand new homes there. Make the company much more money that way, anyhow."

Eileen had thanked her and hung up the phone. She sat on the hotel bed in silence, phone on her lap, for several long moments, utterly lost in thought. When she moved again it was in an almost spastic twitch. In a single fluid motion she removed the phone from the cradle and pressed a single button. "I want to make a cash offer for 17 River Road. Yes, cash."

That had been all it had taken to torch her entire life. The realtor had not been able to refuse a cash offer on a home that had remained on the market since June 1984. Eileen stayed an extra day, and by the time she was flying back to Chicago to finish high school the money was already in the process of moving from a bank in Chicago to the realtor's account in Maine, and her application to the University of Maine had been submitted.

Gray ended their relationship the day she returned home. He did it over the phone; she had missed all of the Spring Break they had planned to spend together and he was already back at school. Eileen didn't blame him; she had known the consequences of her decision when she had made the offer on the old Ludlow house. She knew Gray would not be interested in either moving to Maine or a long-distance relationship. His life plan involved staying in Chicago permanently, marrying and starting a family as soon as possible while pursuing his career in law. She viewed this through a strange, cool lens. Not so long ago she would have been devastated at even the idea of ending the relationship. Now, it didn't really seem to matter at all. If they were both so willing to give each other up to pursue their separate goals, she supposed it was all for the best, anyway.

Similarly, her growing distance with Sue did not seem to bother her, either. They had been best friends since they were eight years old, when Sue had moved to Chicago from Reno. Sue's family had treated Eileen like she was one of their own children, and she had always adored them. She drifted away from them more easily than she could have ever imagined. Sue stopped coming around, stopped trying to engage Eileen after several months of trying. She made no attempt to hide the fact that she thought Eileen's decision to move to Maine and leave Gray was idiotic. When Sue went, so did her family. Not so long ago, this would have felt like losing her own family again. Now, Eileen shrugged it off. If they could let her go so easily when push came to shove than she was better off without them anyway.

Sue and Gray were an item before Sue and Eileen's graduation in June. Eileen honestly wished them the best. It seemed to her now, looking back, that Sue had always been the better match for Gray, really. She would be happy to marry him, to give him children, to be an obedient and devoted partner. If Eileen hadn't left, things probably would have turned out the same, anyway. Only then, she would have been left with nothing, and the end would have probably been far messier, probably with a child or two involved. At least now it was clean, and she had the old Ludlow home, and a chance to just start over… Gray came to their graduation to see Sue walk; neither of them said anything to Eileen at all. They didn't seem to even notice she was there. Neither did any of Sue's family. Eileen didn't mind.

Eileen spent the summer finalizing her grandparent's affairs and making sure the Ludlow house would be in livable condition in time for her college classes in September from across the country. She had been astonished and delighted to find out that much of the old Creed belongings still remained in the home; there had been no one to clean the house out or settle her parents estate, so the furniture and personal effects had been left in the house by the bank in order to increase the potential sale value. Eileen couldn't believe her fortune, and eagerly anticipated pouring over the old belongings.

She had employed a local handyman to make sure the house had functioning heat and air conditioning, to do a general sweep for any pests that may have moved in, and to ensure the roof was in decent condition. She figured beyond that she could handle any other problems as they came.

Eileen frowned slightly as she recalled how difficult it had been to find someone who had been willing to go out to the old house. It seemed that folks in Ludlow were highly superstitious and had a long memory for local tragedies. Mr. Dandridge had been the third person she contacted about fixing up the old house and checking it over. He had been reluctant, but had ultimately agreed. He had even told her to let him know if there was any other work she needed done, although he had sounded rather reluctant about that offer. Eileen had the distinct impression that most of Ludlow thought the old property was cursed, and she wondered if she had moved into the house the local kids liked to ride their bikes by and whisper about. A faint smile crossed her face as she walked towards the front door as she made a mental note to dress up as a witch for Halloween this year. The kids would probably never stop talking about that.

Despite not having been inhabited in years, the old home had a fresh, clean smell to it. Mr. Dandridge had offered to have his wife freshen things up once he was through with the repairs, and Eileen had gladly taken him up on the offer. Now that she was here she was even happier with that decision. The old house was completely move-in ready for her. Missy Dandridge had passed along an offer to clean and do laundry weekly if Eileen was interested, and Eileen had told her she would get back to her. She thought she would be able to keep up with her own chores just fine, even with college starting up.

The front door opened into the kitchen. It was relatively small, but bright and cozy. It was painted in shades of pale cream, and the cabinets had clear glass fronts that displayed the dishes inside of them. A spice cabinet above the new oven Mr. Dandridge had installed was empty; the bank had paid to have all the perishables removed when the house first went up for sale, as well as for an initial deep cleaning. A small round wooden table stood in the middle of the room, four chairs surrounding. A high chair sat against the wall; it gave Eileen an uneasy feeling. She had no reason to keep such a thing, but she also couldn't fathom throwing away her brothers things, either. She ran her fingers lightly over a decoration hanging on the wall, wondering if her Mother had picked it out, before turning away and moving on.

She made her way into the living room slowly, just to the left of the front door and past the entryway where stairs led to the second floor. The kitchen had been teal and white linoleum in a diamond pattern, but the rest of the flooring seemed to be a beautiful hardwood. There was a comfortable country blue loveseat and couch in the livingroom. A cream-colored recliner matched the throw pillows on the couch. An old small television sat in the corner. Eileen was surprised to see books and puzzles piled neatly under the coffee table. She flipped through a copy of 'Where the Wild Things Are' and smiled at the scribbles on some of the pages. She wondered if she had been the artist, or if it had been Gage. She admired a large model ship that sat on the mantel above the fireplace before moving on.

She looked at the small half-bath downstairs before wandering up the wide staircase to see the second floor. The hallway branched to the left and right from the stairs, curving slightly at either end. A rather short railing ran for three or four feet in both directions before hitting solid wall. To the left were two bedrooms and the main bathroom. One of the bedrooms had been painted blue. There was a half disassembled crib leaning against the far wall, and boxes labeled with toys and clothing piled up. The room made her heart ache as she imagined her Mother, or maybe her Father, or both, methodically packing away Gage's things after the accident. She wondered if they had been destined for storage in the attic, maybe to be used again if they had another child, or for when Eileen herself would perhaps have a son. She shuddered at the thought of having a child and dressing him in clothing that had belonged to a dead baby. Something about it struck as unpleasantly ghoulish. Maybe they had been planning to donate Gage's things.

The walls of the other bedroom at this end of the hallway had been painted with a jungle scene that reminded Eileen sharply of the book she had picked up downstairs. There was a canopy bed centered in the room, complete with pale pink curtains. A menagerie of toys spilled out of a toybox in the corner, and there was a half-finished painting on an easel that sat in another corner. There were two small chairs set up next to the bed, Directors chairs, as if a sick person had been lying in the bed and had had two diminutive visitors. Though faded with time now, the names that were stenciled in gold across the backs of the black canvas chairs was still visible. The slightly larger one read 'Eileen', and the smaller read 'Gage'. A frown drifted over Eileen's face at this, wondering why Gage's chair was in what must have been her bedroom. Even here, where she must have spent countless hours during her stay in Ludlow, nothing stirred her memory.

After a brief look at the main bathroom Eileen made her way down to the other end of the hallway. Here the master bedroom sat at the very end, a personal bathroom attached, and to the left there was another bedroom. Eileen assumed this had been her Father's study based on the desk, typewriter, and bookcases full of medical encyclopedias and dictionaries. Eileen noted a number of models decorating the room, mostly classic cars and a few ships, but there was also a large model plane suspended from the ceiling on wires in one corner. Eileen wondered if her Father was the builder or just the collector.

The final room was the master bedroom. Ellie sat on the edge of the bed for a bit, gazing rather longingly at the place where her parents had slept. It was a large bed with a tall frame, with a heavy cream comforter. It had been neatly made; Missy Dandrige had cleaned all of the launderable things in the house shortly before Ellie had arrived. Even the blue and white checkered curtains had been cleaned and rehung. Eileen gave the personal bathroom a cursory glance, being particularly interested in the deep old claw-footed tub, before wandering back downstairs. She didn't bother looking through the garage, the cellar, or the attic. She was already feeling moderately overwhelmed.

Instead she went back out to her car and started hauling her bags in. She piled them up in the entryway, next to the staircase. She needed to go through the drawers and closets to make room for her own things, but the thought of picking out things to throw away of her parents was just as painful as the thought of throwing away Gage's old toys and clothing. She had a feeling most of it would end up being moved to the attic, where it would be safe but out of the way.

Eileen got her first taste of living outside of the city when she tried to order some dinner and discovered she would have to drive all the way out to Bangor to get food. Nowhere delivered to Ludlow, apparently. Eileen was only mildly annoyed. At least she would have an excuse to pick up some groceries while she was out instead of putting it off. Unfortunately, the pharmacy was closed by the time she got to Bangor. She had forgotten to refill her multivitamin prescription she had been taking since she was a young child before leaving Chicago, and now she was out of them. She shrugged this off; how bad could it really be to miss a couple vitamins? When she went to pick up the pizza at Napoli's she was amused to see that the pizza was made fresh and hand-tossed; she did not remember going there with her parents, and laughing in delight with her baby brother a lifetime before.

It was late before Eileen managed to drag herself to bed. She wasn't used to the silence, having spent nearly her entire life in the city. Out here the only noises were the sounds of the crickets and other wildlife, and the occasional drone of a passing car or truck. The trucks sent chills down her spine every time and turned her thoughts to Gage. Never easily frightened, Eileen couldn't help the sensation that she had moved in with a bunch of ghosts. She had the distinct feeling she could walk into the kitchen and see her Mother baking a cake, or see her Father shaving in the bathroom, or see Gage running around playing in just a diaper and shirt, or even see herself as a child, painting on her old easel. It was an unsettling feeling that made it difficult to turn off the lights and the old television to try to sleep. She found herself hoping the house wasn't too terribly creaky.

That night as she slept, Eileen had the first bad dream she could remember having since she was six years old. In the dream she woke with a sudden jolt. She didn't know what had awoken her, but something drew her to the bedroom window. Perhaps the way the moonlight spilled into the room in a sick silver pallor. The window faced the back of the house, towards the woods. At first, she didn't see anything at all. Than, just as she was about to turn away, she saw them. Figures standing by the edge of the woods, not far outside of the treeline. Just barely close enough that she could make them out. A man and a woman, and the woman held a toddler in her arms. It looked like there was a small animal moving around by their feet. A raccoon, or a cat, maybe… Eileen squinted, trying to get a better look. It seemed like they were standing at the beginning of a clearing, maybe a trail that led away into the woods. The two adults and the baby seemed to be waving to her. Almost beckoning her to follow. As she watched, they turned and walked away, down the path. She felt a sudden powerful urge to follow them. She didn't care that it was the middle of the night, she wanted to go see where they were going…

Eileen jerked awake again, this time in a cold sweat with daylight pouring through the windows, her heart beating a million miles an hour. Awake, she realized that she had been dreaming of her parents and brother, and probably the housecat she had seen in a few pictures. She frowned at this; she had always had a distaste for cats, for as long as she could remember. She didn't hate them, exactly, they just made her feel uncomfortable. Unsettled. Eileen paused to look out the window on her way to the bathroom and felt her blood chill suddenly. There was a path leading into the woods, just as she had dreamt.

"Don't be stupid, Eileen. You saw it there yesterday, or back in April, and it was just in your subconscious. That's all." Even so, the path began to prey on her thoughts, and she was consumed with wondering where it led to, deep within the woods.