An Invitation From Upstairs

Alison pulled into the driveway and sighed. 

“I can’t believe how busy the grocery store was,” she said.

“Yeah…” said Larry. “I can’t believe that Christmas decorations are already on display. It’s still October, dammit.”

Alison climbed out the driver’s seat and walked to the back of the SUV. She opened the hatch and was greeted by an army of brown paper bags. 

“I’m gonna go unlock the front door and say “Hi” to the girls,” Larry said. 

The “girls” were their two dogs, Ripley and Rose. Rose was just a puppy and she was being crate trained. He wanted to get inside and let her out the crate right away. 

Larry fished out his keys as he walked down the flagstone path next to their old house and stepped onto the porch. He readied it as he opened the screen door, but stopped in his tracks. The front door was ajar. 

Now, there were times when his wife would, absentmindedly, leave the front door unlocked by accident, but nothing this severe. Perhaps it was Ripley. Yesterday she had grabbed one of the small goblin egg gourds off of the coffee table and ate it; leaving only the stem and a few pieces of the outer shell. Maybe the door was left unlocked and the dog jumped up and pulled the handle. 

The more probable answer then crossed his mind and gave him chills. 

Larry placed the palm if his right hand on the door and gave it a push. It whined its way open. Ripley wasn’t sitting on the other side of it. Nor did she come running to him. Something was wrong.

Larry stepped into the foyer and looked up the staircase to the second floor. He could see that the bathroom and guest room doors were also opened. 

He didn’t hear anything. 

Looking left, he glanced into the living room and saw that none of their belongings had been taken. There were, however, a few things out of place. The puppy’s crate door was open. And the dog was gone. He could also see that the windows in the living room were open. Which made it quite chilly in the house. The kitchen door, which he could see from where he was standing, as well as the basement door had been opened as well. 

All of these doors and windows had been shut prior to the couple leaving for the grocery store. 

Larry was horrified. Someone had broken into the house and something had happened to his dogs. As he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, he heard Alison calling for him. Her voice was but a whispered hush that seemed to snake out of her throat. 

“Babe?” she hissed. “Could you come up here please? There’s something I need to show you.”

Why was her voice coming from the second floor? 

Larry’s heart began to race at the sound of the voice. Instead of accepting the invitation, he began to back up towards the screen door. As he took a step, he heard footsteps from above begin to make their way towards the second floor landing. 

Larry pushed the screen door open and backed up onto the porch. As he did, he heard something next to him.

With a jolt, he turned to face whatever approached. It was Alison. Her arms were full of grocery bags. 

“Are you going to help me with this stuff or not?” she said.