The Haunting of Maddy Leigh

The old house had been tiny and she had never had a bedroom of her own until now. The new place was huge with a big dining room and bay windows that overlooked the street that ran in front of the house. The open staircase led to four bedrooms and bath upstairs. Little Maddy had all ready got her bed and some of her toys put in her room.

None of the windows were covered yet and the light from the street lamps shone in to the bedroom as her Mama wheeled in her three drawer dresser and pushed it up against a wall. Toys were piled in a corner with Kermit the frog and Elmo placed on the top of the pile. They were Maddy's favorite toys.

Down the hall were two doors. Maddy went down to the first one near the bathroom dragging her ABC Elmo with her and opened the door to peer inside. It was a big walk in closet with coat hooks and a built in shelf along one wall. It was near the bathroom and she moved out of the way when her mother leaned over to have a look inside.

"Oh perfect!" Her mother said. "Just what we need to keep all our towels and extra sheets and blankets in. We can even use it to store our winter clothes when it warms up this spring."

Maddy just smiled and wandered further down the hallway upstairs to the other door at the end of the hall. It was right across the hall from where her Mama's room and her bedroom were. The door seemed a little stiff but she managed to pull it open and was surprised to find a flight of steps that wound to the side and then up to a ceiling. She couldn't see a door up there but a cold draft came off the stairs.

"Maddy." Her Mama said as she pulled her away from the door. "That doesn't go anywhere but to a ceiling." She said as she peered up the stairs. Funny there was no light, not even a light switch.

Her mother shut the door and told her that the attic door was supposed to stay closed and that they needed to put away their stuff. The nanny was already putting things away in several of the rooms while they had been checking out the attic stairs and the upstairs hall closet.

Her mother went downstairs and she was sitting on her bed in her room playing with some of her toys when Maddy heard someone crying. She turned around and saw a little girl crying in the corner of her Mama's room.

"Hi, I'm Maddie." She told the girl. "Are you naughty?"

The little girl didn't answer but looked at her and cried.

"Do you live here to?" Maddy asked her.

"Is that why you're in the corner?" Maddy added.

"Maddy who are you talking to?" Her mother asked her from downstairs. Nanny Tess was downstairs to so she figured she must be playing upstairs with her toys when she heard the questions coming from her room.

When it was time for dinner Maddy asked if her new friend Addy could eat with them to. Her mother thought it was cute and told her it would be fine expecting her to seat one of her stuffed animals at the table but instead she yelled up the stairs.

"Auddie, Mama said it was fine. You can eat with us." Maddy said as she placed a plate on the table next to her seat.

Everyone was eating and Maddie kept looking at the plate next to her. Her eyes went to the chair several times and she nodded her head several times.

"Auddie says you used to much salt on the macaroni cheese." Maddie whispered. "She said it was good though but she isn't hungry right now."

After dinner they cleared the table and sat down to watch TV. The only light in the living room was a small lamp on and end table as there was no over head lighting. Maddy was sitting on the floor leaning her elbows on a big plush ladybug pillow.

"We want to watch The Family Guy." Maddie spouts off.

"You and Tess want to watch that show?" Her mother asked.

"No." She laughed. "Me and Auddie do."

It was time for bed when Maddie asked her mother if Auddie could stay overnight and humoring her she was told it was fine. On the way up the stairs to go to bed Maddie stopped on the staircase and said. "Oh, I guess I am staying overnight with Auddie."

"What?" Her mother asked a little confused.

"Auddie lives in your room Mama. She was here when we moved in." Maddy said as she headed for her room.

"Imaginary friend." Nanny Tess said. "Cute, now I wonder what the two of them will get into." Laughing they watched a little TV.

Hours later the house was dark and quiet but they could hear conversations coming from upstairs in the hallway and in Maddie's adjoining bedroom to her mothers room. They went upstairs but all was quiet and Maddie was asleep. The other side of the duplex wasn't rented so the noises couldn't have came from there. A few minutes later they heard foot steps on the open staircase but when they looked over there was no one on the stairs. Minutes later they heard a loud bang in the kitchen like someone slamming a door. The sound was repeated several more times but Maddy was a sleep in her room and they were in the living room.

They finally went to bed a few hours later after trying to forget about the noises when Maddy's mother got woke up in the middle of the night by her bedroom door quietly sliding open. The light from the hallway spilled into the room and she felt something sit on the foot of her bed. She couldn't see anything but felt a presence sitting on the bed near her feet. She yelled for whatever it was to go away and get out of her room.

The next morning Auddie was back playing with Maddie even in the daylight. Her mother didn't know what to make of it and thought maybe her imagination had been playing tricks on her.

"Mama." Maddie said as she tugged on her shirt. "Auddie cries in your room a lot. She doesn't like the corner and I told her she could come out."

"You tell Auddie she doesn't have to go to the corner unless she is naughty." She told her with a look on her face that spoke volumes.

"Auddie says that bad Mama's don't get the corner." Maddie smiled. "They fall down the stairs."

"What did you say?" He mother asked her.

"Auddie said that bad Mama's fall down the stairs." She walked into the dining room and added "don't worry Mama, you haven't been bad."

Later that afternoon Maddy's grandma came to watch her so Mama could go out with her friends. Grandma didn't like the way Mama kept house so while she was gone her grandma cleaned the house from top to bottom. Grandma didn't like the attic and said to Maddy Leigh that she thought that old staircase to no where was creepy. When she was cleaning she found a cross necklace that belonged to her daughter in the bedroom closet and nailed it on the closed attic door.

It was early morning and grandma couldn't sleep. She kept hearing voices upstairs and in the hall but when she went to check no one was there. She went upstairs and closed the bedroom door to her daughter's room and pushed a box in front of it. Maddy was in the adjoining bedroom sound asleep. She woke up a few hours later to find the door open and the box pushed off to the side. She checked the granddaughter's room but she was sound asleep. Her daughter had not come back yet and it was the nanny's night off so she wasn't home.

Grandma laid back down on the bed after shutting the door and placing the box in front of it. She waited and slowly the door slid open again and the box moved to the side of the door as if someone pushed it aside with their foot. She sensed something in the room but couldn't see anything but she felt something sit on the foot of the bed.

"Get out of my room!" She yelled at it. "You are not allowed in this room."

Grandma stayed awake until everyone was home and told them what had happened. She wanted the house blessed and told them to pour salt across the windows, burn sage and recite the Lords prayer if it came back.

Two nights later things escalated as the noises got louder, the kitchen cabinet doors could be seen opening and slamming shut violently. Later that night Maddy's mother's bed began to shake wildly walking her from a sound sleep.

"Auddie is mad Mama." Maddy told her mother in a pout. "You wont let her sit on the bed and she said this is her house."

"Maddy you have to stop this>" He mother told her as she knelt down in front of her. "Auddie isn't real. You have to stop talking to her."

"Auddie is real!" Maddie yelled loudly. The door to the bedroom slammed.

"Where does Auddie live?" Her mother asked her. "Tell me where Auddie is?"

"She's behind you Mama." Maddy whispered. "This is her room to and she says that more of them live in the attic."

"More of them?" Her mother asked horrified. The voices, the noises and all the loud banging ran rapidly through her mother's mind.

"They have been here since the bad Mama fell down the stairs." Maddy whispered. "She put Auddie in the corner and they got mad."

"They?" Her mother asked

"The ones who live in the attic Mama." Maddie looked behind her mother and said "Auddie is in the corner now Mama, was she naughty again."

"no." Her mother gasped. "Auddie wasn't naughty." She turned to look in the corner her daughter was staring at but couldn't see anything. "Auddie doesn't need to be in the corner because she hasn't done anything wrong."

Maddie smiled and looked at her mother. "Auddie wished you could have been her Mama." The door moved just sightly and she said. "Auddie told me that bad things happened here before when new people were mean to her. She has friends in the attic she tells me about."

The next few weeks were like walking on eggshells for the family but they finally found another place to rent and moved out of the duplex. Auddie stayed with the house.