A Light in the Abandoned House

We'll say independent.

Jerod walked by the abandoned house every morning for the past two weeks. It wasn’t for sale that he could see and it wasn’t dilapidated or falling apart. The grass was overgrown, a tad taller than his own, so someone was taking care of it, but nobody ever came in or out during the day.

This morning, though, he noticed a light in one of the upper rooms. Normally, he could count on one hand the number of homes with any light on at five in the morning, and this wasn’t one of them. Chocking it up to a fluke, Jerod continued his walk glancing back at the house occasionally until he turned the corner.

As he returned home, the light in the empty house was on in a different room of the house, this time downstairs. The light was faint so it seemed to be closer to the back door, but it was unmistakably coming from inside the house.

The scenario puzzled Jerod because he recalled the day the occupants moved out. They rented the largest moving truck on the market and had a team of six movers loading the truck. Their bright orange shirts stuck out, which is why Jerod even remembered them. Plus, they took up quite a few parking spaces that were normally reserved for local residents along the street. Nobody complained because they all knew the stresses of moving.

But this was months ago.

Curious by nature and fearful of nothing, Jerod went around back to explore. With three vans in the driveway, it was still curious to him, so he investigated more.

Jerod knocked on the back door. No one answered but the commotion on the inside died down. The door was open so he went in and the creak of the door raised a few hairs on the back of his neck.

He was only four steps into the home when he decided this was a very bad idea. As he retraced his steps backwards, he heard the words, “Annnnd cut!”

Camera lights lit up the room and he was blinded by the lights.

“Congratulations, my friend,” a man said. “You may have just made cinematic theater. Great timing. We couldn’t have planned the entrance better. The haunting creak is what made it. Now, which agency are you from and how long will you be here?”