My family and I had just arrived at our new home after what seemed like forever. It looked like it had just been remodeled.


    I looked around at the other houses and saw a lady that looked to be about in her late 50''s. She had a nice garden in her front yard and when she came out, she was wearing a gardening hat and some gloves with a worn out looking shirt and pants. She noticed that I was staring and smiled as if she had known me for years. She waved at me and knelt down to tend to her flowers. It looked like she had tulips, roses, and what were those weird looking flowers there?


    "Emelia, come in the house and help set up for the night." Mom called. It was the afternoon, at least 4:00 by now. My family usually goes to bed at around 9 or 10. I walked inside but before I did, I turned around to take a second look at the weird flowers and saw that the lady was gone. "Hm, she must''ve gone inside." I thought, going inside my own house.


    When I got inside, my family was setting up blankets on the floor. I’d completely forgotten that the truck wouldn''t be here until early the next morning and I hated sleeping on the floor, but at least I had the soft cushion of the blankets, even if it wasn''t much. I would have to go without TV and internet for the rest of the day since the internet box we owned wouldn''t be here until tomorrow. We finished quickly since everyone was helping out.


    Afterwards, my parents had decided to go to the store to buy some food and some drinks since the movers had to pack everything. I decided that maybe I should go over and meet the lady that owned those strange flowers, maybe even ask her what they were.


    "Hey, mom. Can I go outside for a while?" I asked before they left. She agreed saying that it wouldn''t do any harm for me to go get some fresh air.


    I had two other siblings, twins. They’d just gotten preoccupied with trying to solve a puzzle together.


    I went outside just as my parents pulled out of the driveway. As soon as they went around the corner, I walked over to the house.


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    As I got closer, I noticed that the paint was peeling off of the strange woman''s home. I rang the doorbell, but didn''t hear any sound. How weird. If these were new houses, why didn''t her doorbell work? I knocked once on the door, planning to knock several times and wait for an answer but about a second after my second knock, the door opened and there was the woman. She had a strange smell and peeking inside her house, she seemed to have pets. The aura I got from her and her house was almost hypnotizing. It made me want to walk in.


    "Hello there. Come on in, we''ll have some tea." the lady said. She held the door open and my legs seemed to move without your control. "Have a seat. I''ll be back with the tea in about a minute or so." she said and went to her kitchen.


    My gaze wandered over to the dog laying on the floor, then to the cat laying down on the other side of the room, and up to the parrot sitting on a branch inside of a cage. I was surprised that the dog wasn''t moving around or barking as soon as you knocked on the door.


    On closer inspection, the pets looked stiff as if they hadn''t moved in years. I got up and went over to the dog. It didn''t even open its eyes. I reached out my hand for it to smell.


    "The tea''s ready!" the woman said cheerfully.


    I was startled by how sudden her voice had appeared. I turned around and saw her standing there with a tray with two cups that I assumed were filled with tea and two containers that seemed to be filled with sugar and creamer.


    "Oh, I see that you’ve met my dog," she said. "It’s too bad that animals don’t live as long as we’d like. Come, have some tea. You can add your own sugar and even creamer if you like your tea light." She seemed genuinely happy to have a visitor.


    "Why don''t your animals move?" I asked, frightened by how stiff they looked.


    "I love my pets and could never imagine a life without them," she replied. "So when they die, I stuff them with cotton and sew them closed so they can stay here with me. It feels like they never left."


    I finally drank all of my tea and suddenly heard a noise. What was it? It sounded like someone was banging on a door. It got louder. "Um, excuse me Miss, what is that noise?" I asked. "Um, you can call me Wilma and sorry but you have to go now. Thanks for visiting. Hope to see you again." she said. She quickly got me out of her house as the banging got louder. I thought I could even hear a muffled voice that sounded frightened.


    I ran back home from the house and was surprised that it was dark. My parents had just arrived back home just as you came from the neighbors. I ate and laid down to go to sleep. My thoughts turned back to the banging and the muffled voice. "What was that about?" I thought.


    BANG!


    My family woke up suddenly. It came from upstairs.