Marie looked up at the house standing before her “I love it” she squealed and jumped into her husbands arms for a hug. The house was covered from top to bottom in deep red bricks, an open porch stood in the front with a few wicker chairs. Ivory pillars started from the bottom of the house all the way up to the bay window in the middle of the house. Grass that was in need of some cutting due to the lack of recent residents covered the expanse of the lawn wrapping around the back of the house.

“Glad you like it darlin’” Logan replied kissing her forehead

“Mommy” Kelly said tugging at Marie’s pant leg

“What is it sweetie?” Marie asked looking down at her daughter. Kelly was clad in a white and green polka dot summer dress. Her light brown hair was pulled into a low pony tail, held together by a dark green bow that matched with the spots on her dress. Her brown eyes that almost perfectly matched Marie’s, were filled with tears that threatened to escape.

“Bryan took Mr. Piggy” Kelly said with a frown

“Not again” Marie sighed looking back at the dark blue station wagon

“I’ll take care of it” Logan said rubbing the top of his daughter’s head affectionately before walking over to the dark blue car where his three year old was. He saw the pig in question with two arms securely locked around it.

“Daddy” Bryan said enthusiastically.

“Bryan, did you take that from your sister?” Logan asked. Bryan looked up at him through his curly brown hair. He had a small white t-shirt on underneath a pair of light blue dungarees. His feet continued to swing back and forth covered in small white sneakers.

“No, she give me pig” he said petting the pale pink animal. Logan raised an eyebrow at his son before turning to look at Marie who was currently holding their five year old daughter. Marie saw that Logan wasn’t winning this battle with Bryan and put Kelly down.

“I’ll take care of it, why don’t you start bringing in those boxes” Marie suggested as Logan stepped out of the way of the open car door

“Yeah, that’s easier,” Logan said before picking up three of the cardboard boxes. Kelly followed behind him dragging in one of the smaller boxes.

Once they got inside Logan was almost knocked over by his daughter running past him and into the kitchen. “Kelly, come on you have to help me out here kid”.
He looked around the hallway. On his left was the parlor. The walls were an ivory color matching the pillars outside. Dark oak flooring matched nicely with the walls. The light that seeped through the beige colored drapes showed swirls of dust another indication of how long ago the other residents were here. He didn’t have time to look at the rest of the house because Kelly had come running around the corner.

“Daddy,” she said slightly out of breath “Look what I found” she said happily holding a bright red ball

“Where did you get that?” he asked walking towards the end of the main hallway to the kitchen. He placed all three boxes on the counter before turning to listen to his daughter.

“I just found it,” she pointed to an antique cabinet. One of the doors was a jar. He wasn’t sure if Kelly had found it that way or she had been curious and opened the door “In there” she said before bouncing the bright red ball around the dining room.
“
I just wanted the pig” Bryan hiccupped between sobs as they entered the house

“Come on, you know its Kelly’s” Marie said trying to calm him down

“He can keep it,” Kelly said “I like this ball better” she said. Marie let out a frustrated sigh and looked up at her husband who was currently stifling a laugh.

After all of the boxes were at least inside the house Marie decided to do her yoga and meditating in the backyard. The summer breeze helped her concentrate more. In her mind’s eye there was a box surrounded by bars and a lock. Marie brought her hands out in front of her and began to secure the lock taking a deep breath as she did.

“Mommy?” Marie opened her eyes to see Bryan standing over her with his wide hazel eyes

“Yes Bryan?” she asked sitting up

“Why you taking a nap outside?” he asked tilting his head to one side

“I’m not sweetie,” Logan was putting some of the dishes away in the kitchen when he saw Bryan interrupting Marie outside. “I have to do this so I can give you hugs” she didn’t want to scare him and tell him that if she didn’t keep her mutation in check that she could seriously harm someone with skin to skin contact.

“Bryan, come on” Logan said lifting him up by the back of his dungarees. Bryan giggled loudly as Logan swung him around

“Logan” Marie said in a warning voice but smirked when Logan started to imitate the sound an engine would make in a plane continuing to swing Bryan around in a circle.

When Marie came in half an hour later Logan was sat at the dining room table looking through the phone book. “I found one Chinese place close enough that does take-out” Logan said pointing to the ad

“Just make sure there isn’t any chicken in the food” Marie said remembering how bad of an allergic reaction Kelly had when she first tried it.

Logan nodded picking up the phone to dial the number. She rested her hands on the back of the chair her husband was currently sitting in and looked around the room. The whole house was gorgeous, and the dining room wasn’t an exception. It had a nice low hanging chandelier in the middle of the table. A sliding glass door that led to the backyard was placed behind her with the curtains fastened together for the time being. There were two paintings on the wall to her right. At first she had wanted to get rid of them but they had grown on her. One of them was a painting of a man most likely from the 19th century and the other was of a woman from the same century. She wasn’t sure if there was any connection between them.

“How much is that?” Marie came out of her thoughts in time to hear Logan finishing up the conversation with the person on the other line.

“Did you get the-”

“Yeah I got the fortune cookies” she smirked and kissed him quickly

“You know me too well,” Marie let out a sigh when the chandelier began to shake thumping going in sync with the rattling fixture “She hasn’t stopped playing with that ball since she found it” Marie said looking up at the ceiling. It stopped for a moment but started up again not even seconds later.

“I’ll get her to stop” Logan said already out of the chair

“It’s alright, I’ll handle it” Marie said gently putting her hand on his shoulder


After dinner was over Marie passed out the fortune cookies. “Alright Logan, why don’t you go first”
He cracked open the cookie and pulled out the small piece of paper “You understand how to have fun and to enjoy your solitude” he read

“Wow that’s pretty accurate” Marie noted

“Yeah” Logan said seeming to study the saying over and over again

“Bryan why don’t you go next” Bryan looked at the cookie on the table before bringing his balled up fist down on it emitting a giggle from his sister

“What’s it say mommy?” he asked holding up the piece of paper to her

“Your mother will be your best advice giver” she looked at Bryan with a smile but he seemed to be confused

“Ok” he said smiling and reaching out for the fortune
Marie handed it back to him “Kelly do you want to go?”

Kelly opened the cookie as gently as possible “Here you go” she handed the fortune to her mom

“You are a magnet for lost souls” Marie said out loud before reading it to herself

“What does that mean?” Kelly asked

“Uh, I don’t know,” Marie answered not so honestly “Why don’t you two go play upstairs” she suggested

“Ok” Kelly said excitedly pushing her chair backwards and ran up the stairs leaving her brother struggling to get out of his own chair

“Wait for me” Bryan called after his sister. Logan picked Bryan up and set him down on the floor. Marie pocketed the odd fortune and helped bring the dishes over to the sink.

“It’s flickering again” Logan said referring to the light fixture in the hallway

“Here I’ll take care of these” Marie said taking the used dishes out of his hands.


Kelly got bored of playing with Bryan so she went back to her own room. She walked over to her purple toy box that sat in the corner of her room and took out two of her dolls. She hugged them to her and placed them down on the little chairs specially made for them. She reached into the toy box and got out the tea set. After everything was set up she sat cross legged on the floor across form the two dolls.

“Don’t worry Mary, Bryan has Mr. Piggy now” Kelly said

“Kelly” she heard someone whisper, she stopped drinking her empty cup of “tea” and looked over at her closet where she heard the mysterious voice come from

“Stay there you two” she warned pointing a finger at the two inanimate objects

“Kelly” the hushed voice sounded more urgent this time, she faced the closet again biting her lip not sure if she should see who was calling her or ignore it. Her closet door opened slightly and Kelly had made up her mind. At first she stood there but when it closed again she became more startled and let out a blood curdling scream

“MOMMY!” Logan, who had been working on the flickering light downstairs, dropped the new bulb making it shatter before he ran up stairs with Marie right behind him

“Kelly what is it?” Marie asked checking over her daughter to see if she was hurt. When she didn’t see any wounds she pulled her into a hug

“There’s s-something in their mommy” Kelly sobbed against Marie’s chest

“In where hunny?” she asked rubbing her daughter’s back for comfort

“In the closet” she said and Logan was instantly on alert.

His claws itched to come out but he promised himself that he wouldn’t bring them out in front of his children. He looked over at the closet to see the door closed but decided to check it out none the less. Whatever Kelly had seen had really spooked her. He turned on the light in the closet and looked around for any trace of an intruder but found nothing. He closed the door behind him and looked back at Kelly who was currently gripping onto Marie’s shirt crying softly

“There’s nothing in there” he said

“But someone was calling me” Kelly insisted wiping the tears off her cheeks

“It’s been a long day sweetie and it is getting pretty late” Marie said passing it off as exhaustion

“I swear mommy, I’m not lying” Kelly said in a frustrated tone

“Come on, its time for your bath” Marie said ignoring what Kelly was saying

“Ok” Kelly said looking down at her feet with a pout. Logan let Marie and Kelly go in front of him. He gave her room a once over before going back downstairs to pick up the shattered pieces of glass.