Faded Dreams

Would there ever a night that started with joy that was as fresh as the first refreshing sip of frozen lemonade? The warm summer breeze wafted through the trees of the suburban neighborhood in the town of Drysdale. The sky was a myriad show of colors, the blood red-orange sun was setting in the distance, creating the clouds to a light golden and the blue sky was slowly turning into soft lavender with sparse stars in the distance. Soon, the nighttime would rule the skies and the moon would glow ethereally over the small houses. This would be a tranquil setting for someone who would rest in their hammock and sip a cool drink, or for a family to sit down to dinner after a long say. This would be the best ending to the day but during this serene summer, just because the day had ended does not mean that people would stay in their homes.

Summer is a different time in the suburbs of Drysdale. Instead of saying in for the night, children were able to run inside for a quick bite of dinner before running outside for a game of nighttime tag. Parents came home from work to yell at their children to move their bikes and then unwind with a can of beer and a talk with the neighbors. The smell of barbecue wafted gently in the air, intermingling with a slight scent of lemons and oranges. The night tableau spoke of a carefree and nostalgic time, but this was not so. Not everyone was content now, because in front of a white, painfully neat house was a small group of boys staring nervously at the house across the street.

One of the boys was a chubby boy with sandy hair and a mistakably husky voice. His name was John Schwartz, but was affectionately known as simply "Schwartz' by friends and enemies. He paced back and forth on the sidewalk, an adult stance for such a boy. Straddling his bike was his friend, a polar opposite to Schwartz's appearance, a boy named Alex Hayes. This kid was tall, even more so compared to all the other children running around in the streets, he was bespectacled and covered in ginger freckles. He had gotten on his bike, zoomed quickly down the street to pop a wheelie, and then cruised leeringly in front of a group of girls who laughed openly at him. Alex turned beet red and then rode back to Schwartz who only gave him a disapproving stare and commenced his pacing.

"Dude, calm down" said Alex.

"Easy for you to say, the General gave me a bunch of crap."

Alex gave a small grimace at the mention of Schwartz's intimidating military dad. They were meeting up at Alex's house but he knew that Schwartz's dad would be there. He was the type of man who would have wanted a son a little bit more athletic than Schwartz and he was a person who did not balk at punishing his son. Alex felt slightly guilty that his friend had to deal with someone like that. He shrugged it off by saying "At least you don't have your mom yelling and giving a groan every time you ask her for a question. She said that she had to go through her whole bottle of sherry so as not to kill me. You should have seen her at dinner earlier." He grimaced and continued in a high falsetto tone, "Oh, Alex, I h-h-hope you aren't in trouble, I would hate to see a crime on your permanent record." He then laughed a bit, "Dad had to give her a glass of wine before tonight." He looked uncomfortably at the neat white house because he knew that soon, doom would prevail upon him and all hope for a fun summer would dissipate. Alex would be stuck in the house with a mother whose nervous tendencies could rival a Chihuahua.

A sound of a bike coming quickly towards them shook them from their dreadful reveries. The figure of their friend, Jonah Hammond was a blur on his blue Schwinn. He popped a wheelie more successfully than Alex did and when he cruised by the group of girls they giggled while fluttering their eyelashes. He stopped abruptly in front of Alex and threw his bike down to see next to Schwartz. Jonah scornfully stared at the white house as he chewed on a toothpick. "So, I guess we might as well it get it over with." He said in a morose tone, he was not bothered by what was going on. There was not a reason for him to be upset, his friends and he did not do anything wrong. Jonah leaned back a bit before looking menacingly at another group of boy sitting at their stoop and laughing menacingly at the fate of the others. With that, Jonah spit at them and flipped them off with caution, for Alex's mom was a woman who watched carefully at the deportment of her son's friends and he figured that if she had seen the obscene finger, then there would be more trouble for what it was worth.

"I wish Darren had never dared us to go to Rosedale," said Schwartz. Jonah put a piece of gum within his mouth and popped it thoughtfully. He leaned back a bit and said in a far off tone, "It doesn't matter if that asshole dared us to go into the place; it's our fault for even going there in the first place." He philosophically looked up before adding in a grave tone, "Well, we can't take back Time so I guess we have to just get through with it." Schwartz looked at him miserably before nodding to accept his fate. Within ten minutes of this endless tirade of restless moving and dread, the sound of sandals slapping against the asphalt came to and all three boys. A miniscule version of Jonah ran in his flip-flops and oddly enough did not hold the same feeling of dread as his friends and brothers had. "Dad said that we all are going to meet right now at Alex's house so come on." He wiped the sweat off his brow before turning around to face the parents all coming out of their houses to meet in the parlor of the Hayes household.

Eli, Jonah's youngest brother, was the last to come inside of the house. The now apparent moon that hung ominously above him entranced him. For a second, the sounds of children laughing, cars driving and other sounds of the suburbs muted in Eli's ears and only the rush of leaves rubbing against each other was heard, it was the same sound he heard not long ago. The night his friends and he ventured into the fabled Rosedale Mansion.

It seemed, to those who lived in that area, that there was not a week when Rosedale was mentioned either in jest or to come up with some grotesque story about a home that was once famous for its glamour. The name Rosedale was synonymous with horror and mystery. Every child grew up hearing the ghost story of the mansion hidden behind the cypress trees. It was told to them by their parents who had heard it from theirs during camp outs or at the dinner table. There were many morbid tales told about the old place and it seemed that every year these stories became more grandiose. It was hard to know what the truth was anymore but there was the apparent knowledge that something horrible happened long ago. The odd part is not a lot of people traveled to Rosedale everyone had seen it in pictures of the library when it was in its former state. Some had ventured to its gates to gaze down the long way to where the mansion lay nestled forgotten by time. Other parents were not so entranced about the ghost stories. Schwartz's father thought that the place should be torn down, and Alex's mother would roll her eyes every time the stories were being told. The mansion was forbidden, but the law never tried to barricade its doors. It was private property, owned by people in a far off state who although had paid for the taxes, would never come to live in those rooms or fix it up to be beautiful.

Eli's mind went to two weeks ago, before the parents had a meeting in Alec's house, before this horrible feeling of doom fell on the shoulders of those boys and before the young boy knew the real meaning of the word fear. Two weeks ago, summer had begun and children were already out of the house and taking claim of the neighborhood. One a blazingly hot day, Eli and his friends were playing baseball with their usual rival gang. The sun beat down on the heads of the boys and the heat was almost suffocating. They did not care though because a dangerous game was being played. Jonah and Darren had been sworn enemies during the school year yet would call a truce in the summer, or really, they would try to because within a couple of weeks they were at each other's throats again. Yet, during the game, there had been an uneasy tension between the two groups of boys. The pitcher had thrown the ball harder and faster, the calls from the catcher were louder and angrier and the baseball game was more heated, some predicted that the truce would end that day.

Every kid in the neighborhood seemed to be at the park that day to see a good game. Everyone knew this game was tense, at first there was the usual spitting and showboating but now the pressure was on. Eli looked from the corner of his eye to see the prettiest little girl he had ever seen. Mariah Gibbons was the girl next store and every boy always showed up in front of her. Eli had thought she was the cutest thing and so he played harder. Every couple of minutes he looked towards her to see if she was watching him. When Mariah smiled back at him, he played baseball as best as he could.

The two groups of boys played a very good game with each other and as the day wore on the sun had grown hotter and the unbearable heat created a toll on everyone's behavior. Darren looked at his friend Quent and nodded his head; the other boy hit Jonah on the arm with a lot of force. This would be ignored and thought of as just bad pitching but there was something about the way Darren's friends laughed that got to Jonah, but he ignored it as he walked to first base. Eli came to the base next; he gave Mariah an adoring look as he practiced his swings. The young boy readied himself to hit the ball as hard as he could. Quent gave a small laugh and threw the ball but instead of hitting the wooden bat or the catcher's mitt but instead hit Eli squarely in his ribs. The pain was so unbearable that for a moment, he could not breathe and he tried to swallow his tears for he would not cry in front of Mariah. Jonah knew for sure that his younger brother was hit on purpose and he ran from first base and took Quent by surprise as he pushed him roughly. Darren ran out from the dugout and punched Jonah. Schwartz and Alex ran to help the boy as Darren's friends ran in. The fragile peace was over and the real fight between Darren and Jonah began at a fevered pitch.

The two groups of friends stopped to watch these two boys fight and all of the kids who watched this game crowded in too. Schwartz was going to separate them, but a part of him wanted to see Jonah give Darren a well received punch in the face. The two boys dodged and hit each other with surprising grace, Darren finally yelled "Enough! Enough!" Jonah stopped and as he turned around, his opponent kicked him right in the lower back. Finally, as fast as it had started, it ended. Alex and another boy separated the fighters apart.

"That was a cold shot you did to my brother!" yelled Jonah

"That frickin' sissy shouldn't have been playing anyways," yelled Darren

"He's ten times stronger than you and at least he isn't a coward who hits people behind their backs!"

"You are nothing but a sissy, you and your friends!"

"I'm ten times better then you!"

"Prove it!"

"Any day anytime, punks"

That is when a cruel smile lit itself upon Darren. "That is a damned lie! You know what; I'll make you prove it!" A gleam from his dark eyes indicated that he thought of a malicious idea, "I dare you to go to the old Rosedale place and steal that wind chime, the one they always talk about" he said.

Jonah's face contorted slight shock. He never owned up to the fact that when he was younger, his father had told him stories about Rosedale and there was always a deep-seated fear of this mansion, a place where ghosts crept near you and placed their cold hands on your neck. A home where a gruesome witch glided down the staircase and a place where a murdered man came back to life every night and bemoan his fate. Jonah had a secret fear of one horrible story, about a child who had once been borne in Rosedale and died from a painful death. Even though he had learned to not believe in morbid creatures, there was still a dread of Rosedale. Yet, Jonah could not back down from Darren's bet; everyone looked at him, half expecting the other boy to back down from such an unfair dare. Eli saw Mariah's pale face as she heard this declaration, there was some kind of bravado in which Eli wanted to show her that he was brave, that although his ribs still hurt from the baseball he was just as brave as his older brother could be. Before Jonah could possibly say anything, a quieter voice came emanated from his younger brother. "Sure he will go! Jonah, Alex, Schwartz and I will go to Rosedale and bring that old wind chime and when we have it you will have to eat your words, jerk!" Jonah could barely suppress a groan.

With that declaration from Eli, the plans were in place and in three days, the boys would venture beyond the gates of Rosedale to a home most mysterious. It seemed as if fate had planned this night because Schwartz's father had informed him he would be out of town for the weekend. This would mean that Schwartz's grandmother would come to care for the boy. This was perfect because Grandma Lane often went to bridge club meetings and often would not come home until late. Schwartz figured that his friends would stay the night with him and this would ensure that if they did come home late, then none of their parents would not notice. Alex was the only one with a cell phone and so he paid his older brother to call him if anything wrong should happen. Alex sweetly provided his cell phone to everyone's' parents just in case the boys would go to a movie and would not be home until nighttime.

At seven that night, the boys met up to set forth on their journey. Eli and Schwartz had flashlights in the cardboard box that would later house the antique wind chime. The friends looked around their neighborhood, to see the children play in the streets. Those who had been at the baseball game earlier stopped what they were doing to see the boys' ride their bikes down the street and make their way out of the neighborhood. There was a horrible silence amongst the watchers for they did not know if they would see their companions again and yet they were slightly in awe. Darren and his group sat near their stoop and grinned as they saw Jonah and his gang ride by. However, some of Darren's friends felt a little guilty to know that they were sending these other boys to uncertain doom.

It was an hour out of the neighborhood that the landscape changed from the small town to change to a wilder nature. Houses started to disappear and soon the countryside became all they could see. Trees grew dense alongside the dirt road and the sounds of birds became louder. Cicadas began their loud song through the tall grass and the smell of earth and greenery was lush and vibrant. It was a happy time despite the small bits of fear in the boys' hearts. They teased one another and popped wheelies in the dirt. They snapped their fingers and listened to the small handheld radio that at the handlebars of Jonah's bike while singing their favorite lyrics. The sun was lowering into the sky and the vibrant colors of the twilight came through the trees. Even though the boys did not want to travel to Rosedale in the nighttime, it was the best occasion to go. A wild feeling of freedom pounded through the hearts of everyone. They were free! They were able to go boldly and show that they were the strongest and bravest boys in the neighborhood. The boys would face their fear of Rosedale and even show that they were braver then their fathers because despite the fact that these older men told ghost stories, they themselves never went inside of the mansion where a horrible death happened all those years ago. The boys were entreated to go beyond anyone and would come back to their neighborhood as heroes. Oh how Jonah would laugh in the face of Darren finally!

The moon began to become more vibrant in the sky. The oddity of this usual nighttime specter was not the usual pale ethereal beauty but there was something gruesome for although it was summer this moon was indeed a true Harvest moon. Its bright red was an odd sight amidst the lavender twilight. It foretold of some deadly premonition. The trees were beginning to look large and ominous; their boughs shielded the sky except for that damned bloody beacon in the night. The sounds of the animals from the midst was larger, the happy cicadas sounded eerie and louder than usual. The feeling of freedom and happiness had left the boys because as soon as the sun was gone, there were the thoughts of monsters, of black hooded men with ghastly masks coming to grip their hands and harm the friends. Every low hanging branch was a ghoul whose long hands would reach the boy's necks and drag them back. A witch was hiding behind the trunk of a massive tree, ready to hex the friends a spell of vast misfortune. Eli was greatly afraid but everyone else thought that their fear would heighten the amount of adventure they were facing but with every length that the friends rode on their bikes; this exciting venture began to fade.

All too soon, the boys finally made it to the mansion. They had known this was the area for the great iron wrought gate spelled out the words "Rosedale" in fancy letters. The kissing gate was not padlocked, they had not been for years, but for some reason no one had tried to steal anything from the home. Alex pushed against the gates and grimaced as the rust was left on his fingers. It took all four of the boys to push the gates open for they were heavy and opened with great difficulty. The boys could not see the mansion in front of them because of the darkness. As the boys used their flashlights to guide them to Rosedale, they could not see the sky because the branches of the trees that lined the road were so dense there was a leafy canopy. When the boys finally saw the grand mansion, any sense of courage left their hearts. The place was so large and ominous. It was too dark to see any features of the house but from what pictures of Rosedale were in the town library, the boys knew that this home was styled after a spacious styled hacienda with iron wrought designs along the building. The boys would have noticed the window frames slightly were illuminated by the red moon. In the daytime, it would be a beautiful place, but at night, this home was something out of a nightmare. What was more terrifying was that there was a tower on top of the house, there was a stained glass window with the imprint of an angel.

This angel was frightening and grotesque. It was not an ugly window by all means but if the boys were close enough to the window and it had been the afternoon, they would have seen the seraph's red hair and her light blue eyes staring up at the heavens. The left of the house had a glass conservatory built onto the side, yet nature had claimed back the house for ivy trellises grew along the pale walls and some heavier vines had broken the windows of the conservatory. It was beautiful and yet so horrible. What was the craziest thing about Rosedale was that there was a light within the tower that was on. The angel was a glowing beacon that appeared to be guarding the fates of Hell. Eli whispered as he stepped closer to Jonah, "Do you think anyone is inside?" he asked. The older boy's mouth went dry, as he said in a slight whisper "Don't be stupid, everyone knows that no one has lived here for years." As they ventured to climb the steps that would lead to the house, they stopped for a moment to look at the grand fountain for there had been many stories about it.

The fountain had once been a thing of beauty the many photographs has indicated that, but now it was empty. Eli knew that the original owners had brought it from Spain especially for his new bride. The marble fountain was big and deep. There were once golden fishes painted on the bottom and water lilies and lotus flowers grew in the water. Goldfish lived happily in there for years. The blue marbled was specked with actual gold. Now the water was gone and the bowels were full of dirt and leaves. What was seen of those painted fish was faded, their bright colors faded by time. The springs no longer spouted water in small arcs. Alex had a sad feeling of reproach, he wanted to fix the fountain with his bare hands and bring it back to magnificence

Eli was entranced of what could have been in the past, he did not think of the future of the home and fountain. He thought of the past that unfolded in front of them. There had been many tales about the family that lived within Rosedale, the Garnet family that had long been thought of as dead because of the many misfortunes that had befallen its cursed members. Some of these stories were adventurous and romantic, but most of them were sad or full of violent, but there was one story that Eli had heard once that happened in front of the very fountain in front of them.

Although the fountain had once been a graceful beauty, there was only gloom connected to it and a sad mystique due to the horrible death at the hand of one's brother. The two brothers were twins and had the world at their feet because they were rich, handsome and had an established family name. Everything they could ever want could be theirs and everyone who had caught their fancy was entranced by the brothers' charms. Unfortunately, the twins were in love with one beauty that had played with both of their emotions. Sterling and Jordan Garnet were madly in love with this seductive woman and when they realized that they both wanted to claim her as a bride, any family bond was over. Sterling had plotted his brother's demise with cool precision, as soon as their parents left out of state; he challenged Jordan to a duel. Unfortunately, the minute the words flew out of his mouth, he regretted them. Jordan, on the other hand, had every intention of winning the duel but not by killing his twin brother, but merely wounding him. Everyone who had known the Garnets had the knowledge that Jordan had the coolest hand and so Sterling would be killed by dawn. Eli could actually see the two brothers, their backs to one another, both holding fine silver dueling pistols. There were three black clothed men nearby, two of them were witnesses and one man was the doctor. As Sterling and Jordan paced slowly, each of them swore that they saw the Grim reaper grinning, ready to claim a life. Suddenly, at the sound of ten, the twins faced each other and there was a horrible moment of silence followed by the loud gunshot. One brother had fallen dead, while the other stood with a pale face staring at the blood on the cobblestone floor. Within a month, the woman who had unknowingly became just as guilty as the murderer caused this trouble, sat demurely on the fountain's edge and accepted an heirloom engagement ring from the shaking hand of a man who had known he killed in cold blood.

The boys went to the glass conservatory because in there the elusive wind chimes hung. The door latch opened with a loud click and the grimy glass door was pressed until it slowly opened to allow the friends in. As they entered the room, the boys marveled at the sight of the dirty room. The conservatory was rather large but the wicker furniture and boxes made it look smaller than it really was. The room was built so that the scenes of the countryside could be seen from all sides. However, as Eli looked outside of these glass walls he can only see the distorted and dirty view of outside. He was sure that if he came at daytime, then only rare beams of sunlight probably could have penetrated through the grime. The soft sounds of the wind chimes were heard above the boys. Hanging above their heads was the treasure, the key of getting the boys out of this mansion with fame. For a few moments, the friends stared at the chime, not know what to do. Finally, Jonah came up with the idea that the taller Alex could get the chimes with help of the boxes nearby. The friends tried to find a box that could older the tall boy's weight.

Schwartz looked down at a small box and found a wooden leg that turned out to be a canvas that was covered in spider webs and thick dust. He swiped his hand over the painting and softly gasped. The picture was a rather disturbing portrait of a pale young woman in a white dress. She appeared to be thin and scared, her hair was windblown and wild, and her large eyes had the wild look of a captive. The woman's cheeks were hollowed in and her mouth was tense as if she was gritting her teeth. The perception of the portrait was that the young woman was stuck within the painting; her hands were up as if she was pressing against glass. Schwartz looked closer and noticed that the borders of the picture looked like the green iron of the conservatory. A part of him felt sick to be in the room where this horrible scene was memorialized. His eyes desperately looked around for a name, neither an identification of the morbid soul that would paint this awful picture, but there was not even a signature or a date of when it was painted.

"Hey, guys" Schwartz said in a quaking voice, "There is something you ought to see." The others either ignored him or could not here him and so Schwartz called for attention in a slightly louder tone but his voice was drowned out by the ominous sound of bells. "Is that the church?" he asked, shocked that the old church bells deep within town could be heard here in Rosedale. ""It can't be" said Eli, who had been silent for quite a while."It isn't even ten o'clock yet," As loud of the bells, sounded when they were in the neighborhood, they were louder in that mansion. After the tolling had ended, there was silence in the room. The boys no longer wanted to be in Rosedale, they wanted to run out of the conservatory and who gave a damn about fame! They wanted their parents, to be safe in their neighborhood away from the place of ghost stories, most of all they wanted the ominous feeling of doom in their hearts to go away. They did not move though because despite their trepidation, no one wanted to look like cowards to one another. This is what kept the boys in the room, the pride to not appear to be afraid. Eli, probably the most sensitive out of his group, wanted to leave the room more than anyone else does there, but to as not look like a sissy to his older brother, he did not leave the conservatory, and instead he neared next to his older brother.

Dark clouds that were not in the sky earlier had began to cover the bloody moon, making the room darker than it already was. There were only small pinpoints of light from their flashlights. Jonah, despite his bravado, wanted to take his younger brother by the hand and run out of there. The clouds moved quickly from the moon and there was a small sigh of relief from everyone. An icy breeze, which would never come during the summer heat, became to creep up the boys' necks, making their blood run cold and every hair on their body stood up. The horrible feeling of being watched made everyone aware and alert. A sickening feeling of suspicion made Alec turn his head and there he saw the ghastly sight of a pale and translucent woman standing there. Her skin was illuminated from an inner light; her wan eyes had the emotions of misery and wistfulness. There was a no other emotion in her waxy face, nothing that could ever betray the fact that this was no human or at least was once.

The young woman was only there for a moment, a mere flash of a surreal event in the boys' normal lives. For a moment, everyone in that room had felt pity for her until the realization that they had seen a ghost crept into their minds. Gone was the show of bravery, the pride in having the wind chime that still hung in the conservatory was forgotten, to hell with impressing anyone, those boys ran out of that room with nary a sight.

The group had run out of the room with great speed. They had entered the sinister mansion with a slight feeling of trepidation and caution but they had exited with a horror they would not be able to forget. Everything was more frightening then they had remembered. The willow branches threatened to grab them, large roots threatened to trip them, the loud chatter of birds seemed to be the sounds of dead children at play. Everything was a morbid haunt, everything was the danger and the only safety was to get the hell away from the mansion and closer to the rusty gate.

It was a long run, but the red glow of the moon lit their way to the gates. The shining steel of the boys' bikes on the other side was a welcome sight. The friends saw in horror that the gates somehow were closed. How was that possible? Rosedale was no longer a place that held glory for the boys; it was a place of abject sadness and not the same as hearing ghost stories for they had actually lived through one. They settled against one another to steady the breath in their bodies. Jonah wiped his moist forehead and said, "Look, we got to calm down. There is no way we can get out of here by acting crazy, we need to settle down." He looked fearfully at Eli's face, which had a strange pallor he looked so small. Jonah knew he had to get his kid brother away from that area and at a safe house because he knew that Eli would faint or worse. The older boy, Schwartz and Alex pulled the gates with a lot of strength before finally opening and allowed the boys through. The boys got on their bikes and left, tearing into the night.

They did not stop nor look behind their shoulders until they were in the safety of their small town. They were relieved to see their neighborhood. They went quietly to Schwartz's house, the lights were out which meant that Grandma Lane had not been home yet. The boys felt tired from their ordeal but they did not want to sleep, every time they closed their eyes, they saw the young woman's pallid face and those horrible eyes. Schwartz was supposed to sleep alone in his room while his friends were to sleep in the living room, but that was out of the question for everyone wanted to stay close to each other until the morning sun would rise and dispel any ghosts from their mind. They all slept in the living room that night, keeping the lights on and the door locked. Grandma Lane entered and greeted the boys before going to her bedroom. For some reason, the comforting presence of an adult was what they wanted the most. Knowing that Grandma Lane was in the house allowed the boys to finally settle into the night.

Despite Darren and his friend's taunting, the boys did not mention the ghost to anyone else as if it was too fantastic to believe. All aspirations to be neighborhood legends were gone, all that was remembered was the suffering in the specter's eyes and the way the way, that horrible angel was a glow from a light inside of the house that was well known to be abandoned. After a couple of days, the friends stopped thinking about Rosedale but they had never really talked about that night. There was one person who could not stop thinking about the mansion because Eli had always been a serious person and the occurrences of that night kept replaying in his mind. Every time he could relax and have fun with his friends, something would remind him of that night and he would seize up and a horrible depression would grace his mind. Sometimes at night, Eli would have horrible dreams about that night, of being stuck in Rosedale and horrible things happening to his friends and brother. He would also dream of being followed by a woman in a trailing white dress, her slender arms reaching to grab him and never let go. The bloody moon in his dreams seemed more sinister then anything in real life had ever been. Eli grew afraid to sleep and once slumber had graced his mind there was a great chance that nightmares would begin.

Eli and Jordan's mother, June would come home late from work, her time as a nurse often took her from her family but she always checked in on the sleeping figures of her son. Jordan was fast asleep in his room, his face untroubled by any harrowing thoughts. June marveled about how her older son was beginning to grow into a man but he still had the childish mischief that endeared him to her. She went over to Eli's room and pressed her ear against the door for a second, to see if he was not playing video games. Sometimes, when he played Halo all night, she liked to open the door and give him a good scare. June could not hear a television, but she heard small cries that she recognized were Eli's. She opened the door to see her younger son tangled up in his sheets, swear coming from his brow and his eyes closed in anguished sadness. "Get her out of there! Get me out of here!" He kept whispering these words and slightly crying aloud. Alarmed concern made June give a small gasp as she heard the word "Rosedale" She shook Eli and as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes she asked, "What is wrong with you boy?" June's hands were gripping his arms and he said quickly, too quickly, for her liking "Nothing, Mom."

"Nothing! Wake up more! What is this about Rosedale? What are you dreaming about?"

"N-n-nothing."

"Don't lie to me; you were having a horrible nightmare. You have to tell me what is going on with you."

There was something in his mother's eyes that made Eli stop being scared because as much as he was terrified of his mother's rage, there was something that was more than startled in his mother's face. It was as if June knew what was going on. She had lived in the neighborhood for a long time; she had heard all of the stories about Rosedale and although Eli had known that she was a strong woman with nothing to be scared about, something about that mansion and his behavior indicated that she had a fear of the mansion. The sooner he tells his mother, the sooner she could make him feel better. "Well, one night all of us went to the old Rosedale place and-"

"All of who?"

"Jordan, Alex, Schwartz and me."

"Is that so?" June left the room to her bedroom where her husband slept, unaware of the uneasy emotions his wife was having. "Byron, get up!" He woke up with a start, "What's up?" he asked sleepily. June did not reply, instead she went to Jordan's room and shook him awake. One look at his mother's face and he knew that she was aware of that awful night. "Huh?" he asked in a drowsy voice.
"Don't 'huh' me, I know you went to Rosedale, get your butt in the living room."

Jordan got up and went into the living room and saw Eli shaking slightly on the couch. The younger boy looked woebegone eyes. Their father crossed his arms while reclining slightly back in the sofa. He yawned wearily and wondered sheepishly what his wife was in such a tearing anger. June entered into the living room, clasping her hands nervously. "What's up, babe?" asked Byron. His wife narrowed her eyes on her sons and said "Byron, your sons were at that Rosedale place a couple of nights ago." Byron looked at his wife with confusion. He was born in another state and so the gruesome stories of the fabled mansion was not enough to bring fear into his heart as it appeared to happen to June, but he still had to discipline his boys for some reason. "You boys are going to get it!" he exclaimed. Byron looked in askance again, hoping she would take part in disciplines the boys, and he did not want to yell at his sons without knowing why he was threatening them with bodily harm.

June took a deep breath and began to tell the boys that the Rosedale mansion was a dangerous place to be, it was abandoned long ago and so who knows what kind of disrepair the old place was in and if anyone was hurt, the adults would not know where the boys were. Jordan sheepishly informed his parents would know where they were at because Alex had a cell phone on him that night. That was a mistake because that reminded June that she would be informing their friends' parents about what was going on. The group of friends was grounded for two weeks. Alex's mother almost fainted when she discovered that her son was trespassing and she wondered tearfully if he would have a mark on his permanent record. When Alex told her that was impossible, she only looked at him angrily and said, "If you were caught your chances of going to college would have been ruined!" Schwartz's father was angered as much at his son; he took him to the Army fort nearby and had him on kitchen duty for a while. Darren's friends had caught on that their enemies were in trouble and so every chance they could get, they would torture Jordan's gang.

Word reached the neighborhood that Jordan and his friends went to Rosedale and saw a ghost. Everyone forgot that the boys were supposed to get the wind chime in the conservatory; they only remembered that the friends had gone where only some had spied the mansion through the gates. Darren and his friends had been ignored. Pretty Mariah had offered to hold Eli's hand as they talked with one another. As soon as the grounded weeks were up, Alex's mother wanted to talk about Rosedale. She had invited the parent and the children to her house. The boys did not see the point but perhaps Mrs. Hayes wanted the imprint of that place eradicated from her son's mind, she did not believe in ghost stories but word was getting around the neighborhood about what the boys had done and many of the children around their house thought that the boys were still somewhat great. The other kids would probably get ideas to go to Rosedale. The friends had known that they would be lectured repeatedly but at least the fear of Rosedale would be settled finally.

Eli was not sure if he would ever forget Rosedale, the sadness in that ghost's eyes. He knew the stories about the place and a part of him wished to hell he had that never known them. Would he ever forget the horror he felt? Not likely, Eli knew that his friends and brother would forget Rosedale but the younger boy felt something keener in his heart, a kind of empathy that taught him to feel bad for those things he feared. As much as he felt fearful about Rosedale, he recognized the tragedy of that ghost, of the sadness in that house where people had once been born and died. Years ago, there had been the Garnet family, they lived in that mansion and yet Eli's mind immortalized them because the impression that ghost left on him marked him for life. He thought of the summers that the ghost woman had when she was alive, did she listen to the cicadas at night? Did she stare at the moon during nighttime and did she ever feel the warm breeze on her once lovely face? During the night, did the young woman smell the scent of lemons or had she started as a ghost.

As Eli turned around into the house, a sense of tragedy took over him. Summer nights were depressing now because that meant those days had to die. The children running in the street would not be young any longer; the parents who talked to one another on their lawns would not live there forever. Summer would turn to autumn and the sense of things ending became a reality for Eli. Never would he look at this season with the same freedom then he had before Rosedale. The next Summer would be a time of having fun with his friends, but there would always be a time when Eli would look wistfully behind him in the direction of Rosedale. Something had died in him when he had left tearing into the night with his friends. The other boys did were not affected as much as Eli had. Despite being younger than the others are, he had gained a maturity that was beyond his years. As he heard the slight rustling of trees and the sound of children laughing, the tragedy of never fully being a child again touched his heart. Yet, that was not what bothered Eli the most, it was the sight of that ghost, Rosedale's wasted potential of never being a place of happiness and wasted potential. He could only hope that Autumn would come and soon.