Life

Emerald was a young woman who recently bought a home in the valley The house had been at that location for many years. The walls were pealing and there were weeds all around the home. There was cardboard in some of the windows. The walls were wood and an off white color. She had plans to tare and rebuild the home. In the backyard she wanted to dig up a pool but a tree was in the middle. She hired a few people to clean up the weeds around her new home. When she arrived the next morning they had already arrived and begun to work. She walked inside the house and looked at it for the first time again. The floors were oak as well as the doors. The furniture was covered with dust or a sheet. The windows were really dirty, but it had hand prints from the inside. She looked at the back door to see if it was open and saw it was locked. She walked up the stairs and looked through every door until she got to the one at the end. The walls had lily flowers painted. The bed was made as if it was ready for someone to sleep in it. On the vanity table the was piggy bank facing away. Emerald picked up the piggy bank and it was heavy. She opened it and in it was gold coins. When she looked at the piggy bank from the front, the eyes were closed shut, the mouth curved down. She placed it down facing the entrance. Then she walked into the closet and saw only a bag. She was about to reach for it until her phone started to ring. It was the man in charge of the workers outside. "ma'am, the men are done and awaiting your dismissal." "Okay, I'll be down in a moment." she walked outside and the weeds were gone. The men looked like they were in a rush to get out. They had already packed the trucks and were waiting in their vehicles. Emerald wrote the man a check and they left. The next morning when she arrived at the house with her stuff, the weeds were back. She called the man to come back and finish the job. He said "Ma'am, that job was finished when you paid us yesterday. If you want us to go back again it is another fee." Emerald hung up and got off the car with her luggage. She settled in the guest room downstairs. She was getting ready to sleep when she heard coins falling on the floor. She walked up stairs to the last room. She turned the light on and looked for the piggy bank. The piggy bank was facing away again. Emerald gasp a little and looked around the room. The bed looked like someone had slept inside of it. She looked in the closet and the bag was gone. She was about to step outside, but thought to herself, what if they took the coins? She picked up the piggy bank and the coins didn't seem to have been removed. when she looked at the front of the piggy bank it was the same expression; until suddenly its eyes opened and started to squeal. Emerald ran to her room and locked herself inside. The next morning she woke up and got up really fast. She ran up the stairs and into the room at the end. The bed was made again, the bag was in the closet and the piggy was as she had left it last night. She reasoned with herself and thought maybe it was just a weird dream. She walk outside to get started on the weeds herself, but to her surprised they were gone again. She walked to her bedroom and traced her steps again. She shook her head and rubbed it.
 It was a week later and she was making phone calls in the kitchen to find out the best solution for having a new home. Then she heard the water running in the guest bathroom and someone crying. There was a faint sound of man saying "quite, I said quite, do what I tell you and I'll give you a coin (crying continued), I said quite!" Emerald grabbed a pan and walked to the bathroom. She opened to door slowly and raised her hand with the pan. Nothing, the water was not running and there was no one inside. "hello, are you still there? Emerald, are you okay?" said the lady on the phone. "yes, I'm sorry, I don't know what got into me." Few nights after, she heard the door handle of her room jiggle. She woke up and looked for her phone. She heard a man say, "come on let me in, I know your hiding in there." The door jiggled harder."Listen, if you say something no one is going to believe you. You have to let me in." Emerald called the police and waited in her room. Once they got there she jumped out the window and ran outside to meet them. She told them what had happened. They searched everything and found no one. "The doors don't look forced. We checked for hand prints on the door and didn't find anything" said the policeman. Emerald raised her eyes, then quickly thought about he windows. She tugged the man and ran to were she saw hand prints on the window. The prints were  still there and so the police took the evidence. The next day, she called to see if they have found records of the hand print owner. The detective in charge of the case answered and asked her to come into the office. When she arrived the man had pictures of a little girl and a man.  The detective began,
 "I looked for the prints in our system and found nothing. Then I looked through the books and files that we have of that residence. I found a case gone cold. You see, we had no idea of the whereabouts of lily and her step father. I believe she may still be alive and tried to get back into their old home. It make sense, no force entry if they have the key."
 "that's impossible, I had the locks changed the day before my arrival."
"where?"
"some place I saw in town."
"can you identify the place."
"yes."
"in the mean time I would suggest you have someone else to spend the night in your home too."
Emerald called a few friends to see who would be able to spend time away from work and with her. She was in the middle of calling her mother back when she remembered the men who cleaned her garden. She called the service and ask where the manager was working. Then drove to the location. He was sitting in his truck with two others that she recognized. She walked up to him and asked "did your men ever leave your sight?" The manager had his mouth opened and his face went from a smile to a frown. "I don't understand what your talking about."
"I asked, did your men ever leave your sight the day you were working on my yard?"
"no, we all worked on the yard until they wind started to blow and then... and then I called you."
The manager walked away as he finished. Emerald looked at the rest of the men, they both looked down eating their sandwiches. "please tell be, why did he hesitate to tell me he what happened after the wind blew... I plead with you, someone broke into my house." The two guys looked at each other and then one nodded. "We were working on the yard like any other yard. first we start on the outside and then work our way inside were we meet each other. Only you have a tree in the middle. When we got to the middle that's when the wind started to blow and we kept working. Then we heard crying, it was coming from the tree. There's this whole in the middle, we all looked inside and it was a mans face. Then it yelled "get out." We picked up and left. Emerald took a big breather and thanked them. She walked away thinking through everything weird that has happened in the house. She got home and ran up the stairs and into to the last room. She looked in the closet and opened the bag finally. Inside was an envelop, seeds and a parchment. She opened the envelop and began to read the letter inside.


  Dear mommy,

I met this strange lady at the fair. She told me of my sadness and promised me she can help me find happiness. She gave me a paper thing to read before bed. Before the man drops off his gold in the bank. She told me read and make sure he sees you outside. Then run away only after he steps into the middle. She told me in case I don't get away I should write you a letter to help you bring me back. Sprinkle the seeds around the center of the garden. Read the paper thing and reach for my hand before the hole closes. I hope I got away, if not I hope to see you soon. I love you mommy and I hope your not mad at me. He was a bad man.

love,
     lily

Emerald grabbed the bag and went to the backyard. The sun was setting already and she began to sprinkle the seeds around the tree. She finished and stood in front of the whole. The parchment was in her hand while looked back and forth from the tree to the parchment. Then she said "what am I doing? I don't really believe this do I?" Then she looked down at the ground and saw that the seeds were now lily flowers. She began to read from the parchment and light from the lily flowers brightened the tree. The whole began to open and a bark shaped like a hand started to stick out. Emerald grabbed it an pulled. As she pulled, the shape of a woman began to form. Finally the girl was completely out and she stepped on  a few lily flowers which broke the circle. Where the whole was, only a lily flower stood inside of the center. Emerald helped the girl inside and gave her clothes. She sat across her and said," I'm going to have to take you to talk to a few people."
"They won't believe us. I know because you almost doubted me."
"you saw me?"
"yes"
"how?"
"The banker and I were trapped together in this house"
"did he hurt you?"
"no, we could only replay our last day we spent here."
"what will happen to him?"
"He will stay a tree, still and living."
"can he come back?"
"not without help."
"Well, we have to come up with a story."
"I don't know how to lie"
"what if you told them part of the truth, he took you in your sleep to a place that looked like home but it was the two of you, you don't know how to find it or where to look. you only know you got home safe."
The story seemed plausible, but the detective had no grounds to keep questioning the victim or hold her any longer.She was given a new identify for precaution. Emerald offer her to stay until she got used to her new life. Two weeks later when they both came home from lunch, the guys hired for the pool had begun digging.They ran to the backyard and as the machine started to dig out the tree another man had a saw ready to cut it down. The tree fell and the man began to cut. Both girls covered their mouths in fear of it turning back into human. The tree was still a tree and they felt a heavy weight light from the area. They hugged each other and walked away.