It was a dark and stormy night as Linda drove her car along the badly lit up road, lightning flashed and the rain poured down, the naked trees looked like skeletons dancing in the night. Linda shuddered slightly and just wished she'd be home soon, a futile wish as she had almost two hours left to drive, why had the time for her meeting been moved so she'd been forced to take the car to Newark, of course the meeting had dragged on and on so it was already dark when she left, Linda sighed to herself while fixing the radio with one hand. The stations wouldn't work, static coursed through the small car, sometimes voices was heard, like ghosts from another realm but then the static took over and Linda shut it off, the sound creeped her out.
Suddenly her car shuddered slightly, then the engine coughed several times before coming to a shaking stop and then dying. Linda sat in silence for awhile, could anyone have such bad luck as hers? Banging on the dashboard, turning the key desperatly the engine coughed and coughed but nothing else happened. "Damn!" She cursed. "Damn! Damn! DAMN!" Looking around her she saw only thick, dark woods and as the rain died down to a drizzle only to stop entirely Linda saw a large house, or more like a mansion up on a hill near the cliffs, the kind of spooky, old house with creaking window shutters and howlings in the fireplace. She really did not want to go there but as she looked on her mobile, seeing the dark screen she knew she had no choice. Why hadn't she bothered buying a charger for the car, especially as the phone was old?
Stepping out of the car Linda pulled herjacket closer, zipping it and locked her car, not much a of a point really as it wouldn't start but still. Looking up at the old mansion Linda started for the door, the gravel crunced beneat her shoes, the wind pulled her hair and found it's way through her jacket, chilling her to the bone, the wild crashing of the sea could be heard from the cliffs. The windows were dark, curtains drawn and shutters flapping in the wind, hesitantly Linda raised a hand and gripped the string that hung beside the door, following her pull came a long hollow chime that echoed through the house making the woman jump in alarm, the deck under her creaking below her weight.
First nothing happened, the manision remained dark and silent until suddenly someone hit a lightswitch and warm orange light poured out of the windows and the door was swung open to reveal an old woman, she was quite short, round and had a kind inviting smile, the woman reminded Linda of her grandmother. "I'm sorry to distrub in the middle of the night like this, but my car broke down and my phone is dead," Linda smiled apologetically, pointing to her car. "Could I borrow your phone?"
"Well of course dear," the old woman smiled and moved out of the way to let Linda in. Gratefully she followed the lady through a large hall, the inside was cosy and inviting despite the scary outside. Warm light came from dimmed lamps, a cracling fire could be heard further in, antique furniture stood placed nicely, the dark wood breaking off against the pale walls and a delicious smell of freshly baked cookies came wafting through the hallway. "My name is Rosemary," the woman said kindly. "This is my ancestral home, I've just started repairing it and have not gotten my grandsons to help me with the exterior yet," her wise eyes were clear blue and the look in Rosemary's face said Linda that the woman easily had seen Linda's initial discomfort.
"Thank you, I'm Linda," Linda said, taking in a flowery smell and when she saw the delicate white flowers she realised they were Lilies of the Valley, the woman must grow them in a green house to make them live in this weather. "Your home is very lovely." She said, admiring the interior. Her fear for the ghost liek house had gone away, really she watched far too many horror movies, a kind old woman living in a fixer upper was far from scary. "Here you go Linda," Rosemary said sweetly, gesturing to an antique and elegant phone. "I'll make some tea and then I think my batch of chocolate chip cookies, is just about done."
Later Linda and the woman sat by the open fire drinking blackberry tea and nibbling on large and uneven cookies, just like homemade cookies should be, tasty and far from perfect looking, in a way they tasted better that way. A tower would come in an hours time and during that time Rosemary showed Linda her old family home and the amazingly large and lush green house in the back and when the towtruck honked outside Linda was surprised over the time, it had passed so quickly. With her she got a bag of cookies and an invitation to come back if she passed by again. Rosemary made Linda miss her own deceased grandmother but being there made her feel at home and like her loss didn't feel so bad.
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I know you shouldn't judge something by the exterior but I doubt I would actually knock the door on a house like that:)
