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Haunted By: Layla Jaeger On a cold and snowy Christmas Eve past, a most horrific tragedy befell our main character. His name is Jonathan Lucht. On this most sacred of holidays, one typically filled with rejoicing and laughter, devastating series of events took place. While Jonathan lie sleeping in the downstairs of the family cottage, exhausted from a hard days work and “playing” Santa for his children, his wife and 2 daughters were tucked snugly into the loft above, dreaming of the wonders of Christmas morning and Santa Claus. Before dawn he was awakened by screams and the harsh biting sensation of smoke in his lungs! Try as he might he could not reach his family in the loft above. The cottage roof had caught fire from stray embers billowing from the chimney and had collapsed. He ran outside to seek help from his neighbors on the farm next to his, but the fire completely engulfed the cottage and barn next to it. Taking with it, not only the lives of his loved ones, but all that he owned as well. Penniless, alone, and gripped by sadness so deep and endless he could not remember having ever laughed or smiled, he began to walk. He walked so long, so far, that he wore the soles out of his shoes. Yet he kept walking. He had a few odd jobs, in this town or another, but they didn’t pay much or he got fired or quit for this reason or that, so he never had much money or need for it. He had no shelter, choosing instead to live off the land, so he was usually cold, wet or both. He had been walking for longer than he could remember. He hadn’t slept and had eaten sparingly for most of that time, his feet were sore and bleeding, but he kept walking and he dealt with the cold and the rain as best he could, with what he had at his disposal. Finally when he couldn’t walk any further and felt he would fall down right there and give up, He saw a little house in the distance. Gathering all his strength he walked towards the house. When he got there it appeared to be abandoned. He decided to stay there for the night, enjoying the idea of a dry nights rest. The next morning, having slept more peacefully than he had in what seemed an eternity, he awoke to find what few possessions he owned were missing. Puzzled after a thorough search of his bedroll and clothing items, he resigned himself to his misfortune. Believing he had perhaps lost them during the night on the road before coming upon the house, he set his mind to look for work in the nearby town. He had faced disappointment before and survived and would again. First things first. If he intended to stay in this house, even for a short while, some improvements would have to be made. A bed for one. Nothing fancy but better than the hard wood floor on his aching body. He walked into the dark woods behind the house to gather the materials he needed. It was remarkably quiet there, Spooky even. Shoving off the odd feeling the woods gave him, he got straight to his task. Thick fallen branches for the frame, and some dry leaves and hay from an adjacent field for bedding would work just fine. Satisfied with his new bed, he struck out on the long road towards town to look for work. Once in town he found a job at the Black Smiths’ shop pumping the billows and feeding the enormous fire that fed the Smith’s iron furnace. After a good days work his spirits a little lighter and more hopeful he began the long walk home. Along the way he spotted an apple orchard he had missed earlier .Thinking an apple or two would be a fine snack, he stuffed his pockets and whistled the rest of the walk home. The closer he got to the house the more disturbing it looked. At night it had not seemed so gloomy. He made up his mind to start a list of repairs to keep him from being idle. When he opened the front door that hung loosely on its hinges, he was startled to see his new bed was in shambles! It looked as though someone or something had run amuck in his things. Believing another traveler such as himself may have chosen this house as well, he decided to wait them out and confront them to stake his claim on the house. Having dismissed the mess and straightened things up, he settled in for a snack of baked apples over an open fire. His stomach full, his muscles aching he put the remaining apples by his bedside for breakfast and fell into a dreamless sleep. The following morning after getting dressed he returned to his bed side for the rest of his apples, but found instead that they were rotted and moldy. Certain that they were fresh when he put them there the night before, Jonathan became frightened. He got up quickly to leave unsure of what to do next, when he heard a voice deep within the walls,” we’ve been waiting for you”. Terrified Jonathan began backing away from the wall closest to him. His foot struck something and he turned just in time to see the disfigured face in the cracked wall grin a chilling toothy smile. As his shrieks of terror flowed from the house, the dark woods swallowed them like tiny morsels dropped from a dinner plate. No one knows what happened to Jonathan maybe he escaped; maybe he didn’t .but the house still stands empty. Waiting…
