Seventeen Years



I've lived in that house for seventeen years. Almost a full grown adult, but I still always had the urge to climb the big oak tree in the yard across the street.

The tree always intrigued me for two reasons; I've always enjoyed climbing trees, and every morning and night at exactly twelve o'clock, I would hear strange noises coming from the area the tree was in. I believe that house belonged to the Johnson family. It had always been something I'd wanted to do ever since I was a child, but the Johnsons were always home.

So since I figured that I was gonna be moving out and going out on my own soon, that I'd wait for the Johnsons to go out of the house, and I'd satisfy my childlike needs and climb that big oak tree.

So it was Tuesday morning. I had ditched school for the morning to wait for the Johnsons to leave the house. It was 11:40. I began to see Mr. and Mrs. Johnson to go out for a morning walk. I waved from my window but they didn't seem to notice.

So as I saw they were about halfway down the street and almost out of my sight, I made my way across the street, and onto their front yard. It was 11:46. Taking another look at the tree, I thought maybe it would be too hard to climb. It was at least a good fifty feet tall and I hadn't climbed even a small tree in so many years.

But this was my chance, I grabbed hold and began climbing the big oak tree as I had wanted to for seventeen years. I needed to keep checking my phone for the time, so I could know how I was doing time wise. It was 11:51. I was a good quarter of the way up the tree, so I wasn't gonna stop now.

I took a break and waited some time before continuing because I was running short of breath. But I kept going a few minutes later. I was almost to the very top by 11:59. Once I got there I had to just take this moment in for a second. I has done something I'd wanted to do for seventeen years. And the view was so indescribably beautiful. I was so happy.

But all the sudden I felt a rustling in the branches. I moved a few aside to find a strange mist. It began to take the shape of a child's face. Then all the sudden, I heard a scream like the ones I'd been hearing every day and night, but a million times louder.

The scream startled me and caused me to fall out of the tree. It was a good fifty foot drop and it had made me hit my leg in a funny spot. It was 12:00. Then I noticed the Johnson's beginning to come back down the street. I tried to run as well as I could but it was doing a number on my leg. I finally got to my house and when I did, I noticed the Johnsons inspecting the big oak tree, then they looked my way and I ran inside and locked the door. I didn't go to school. I stayed home terrified.

Later that day, mist began to fill the entire street from the Johnson's house to mine. But it wasn't just regular mist, it was just like the mist from earlier that I saw on top of the tree. It was a blueish whitish mist. Very paranormal like something out of a movie. I asked my mom if she had seen anything like this before. She said that every year that the mist could be seen on our street. Every year it would go to a different house and the next day something weird would happen.

Someone in that house would die or disappear and never be heard from again. I asked why this happens and if the Johnsons knew why it happened. My mom looked at me and simply said, "The who? Honey, no one has lived in that house since we moved in. All I know is that every year the person who disappears is a year older. Last year the kid was..I don't know..sixteen." I lived in that house for seventeen years.