O Leary House-Personal Narrative
The year was 1953. It was a cool, crisp twenty-ninth of October. Usually, after their chores and homework were done, Kathy, 8, and her brother Jonathan, 15, along with their friend May, 11, and her cousin Adam, 13, all went to Joe’s Arcade, the local hangout of Leaport, North Carolina. Instead, they all decided to meet at the end of their dead end street, Farrow Avenue, and go for a walk through the woods. They were all bored since the arcade was too crowded and supper wasn’t ready yet. Their town was a small town, so there wasn’t any other places to go besides the woods. Plus, the old, burned O’Leary house was out there.
Although everyone in Leaport knew it was there, they also knew to stay away. A raging fire, which started suspiciously back in the 1930’s, burned the O’Leary house. The O’Leary’s mysteriously disappeared that night, too. Nobody saw them leave and there wasn’t any trace that they perished in the fire when the firefighters got there. Yet, the townsfolk still say …show more content…
that the O’Leary’s were lost in the fire and that their spirits still haunt the house, seeking revenge on those who started the fire. The townspeople also say that you can hear their moans and piercing screams in the night. Although the dilapidated house was boarded up shortly after the fire, the townspeople wanted to knock it down completely because they claimed that it housed ghosts. But the mayor refused to do it because the house was considered a historical landmark, being as it was part of the Underground Railroad. Jonathan learned this in school, and just thought it made it all the more chilling.
The children were always told to stay away from the house and also the lake that was in front of it. But they were all so curious to at least see the house, especially Adam, who had a thing for ghosts. Kathy, being the youngest, wasn’t so sure she wanted to go. But after much debate and a promise of a warm chocolate chip cookie, Kathy decided to go. Although it was only a 15 minute walk from their street to the lake and the old O’Leary house, it felt like a lifetime with the maze of trees in the woods. Some of the trees had posters on them, and one read LOST DOG PLEASE FIND.
As they made their way through the woods, it started to grow dark. The sky turned from a bright blue to a deep orange and red, and May took this as a sign to head back. She didn’t say anything to the others, though, for fear that she would be branded a scaredy-cat. Kathy, who was only 8, didn’t seem scared, so why should she!
They were making good time and they were just coming to the clearing in the woods. The children could see the house, just over the lake, when they heard a terrifying sound. The kind of sound that could scare even the deepest sleeper out of slumber. It was the howl of some horrifying creature, or maybe it was a scream from some undead spirit! Could it be from one of the O’Leary’s? All the children screamed and ran! They ran every which way, but didn’t realize that they had got split-up. And then the creature howled again...
Since the children were split up, they decided to look for each other.What was good was that they could hear each other, so they started calling each other's names. May was the most scared. She was so scared that she was petrified. Eventually, Adam found May, and May was now calm, but she still wanted to go back home. Surprisingly, Kathy wasn't scared at all. She was actually having fun, but she was only having fun because they weren't even inside of the O'Leary's house. They couldn't see the O' Leary house, but they knew they were were pretty close because they could still hear noises.
Although they were lost, they didn't feel very scared. Eventually, they found each other, and May wasn't so scared anymore. She felt that she was pretty safe. Once that was over, Jonathan still wanted to go in the O'Leary house, so they did a vote, and they ended up going towards the O'Leary house. When they got to the Lake in front of the O'Leary house, they heard someone say "Hello." All of kids got scared. They even fell down on the dirt. When they got up they wanted to see who it was, but no one was there. Everyone was feeling that they had to look over their shoulders by that point.
After that, they looked behind them, and May was standing there. It was sort of creepy. After they looked to the front of them, May had disappeared. By that point, they had to stay in the area because they couldn't just leave May. Wherever May was, they had to find her, and for the strangest reason, Kathy said she could hear May screaming that she could see someone. Then they were really scared, so they all smacked Kathy in the face, and all the other kids said, "Stop talking like that!" Kathy said that she wasn't lying and that she could hear May screaming. Kathy repeated that she had heard May scream, and it was coming from the O'Leary's house.
They all decided to go inside of the O'Leary house to look for May. Then, out of nowhere, Jonathan disappeared. Nobody really cared, though, because he was the oldest, and if he could find May, he could try and get them out. Also, Kathy could hear both of them now, but May couldn't hear Jonathan, and Jonathan couldn't hear May. So by then, Kathy and Adam decided to go inside of the O'Leary house. When they got inside, someone said "Welcome," and to their surprise, it was May! But May didn't seem very normal. She seemed to be possessed or something because she was acting like the O'Leary house was her own. From the look of things, she was probably possessed by one of the O'Leary's.
Kathy and Adam were very scared, They thought that when May had disappeared, she had just been taken by one of the O'Learys.
So, if May was possessed, that meant that Jonathan was as well! And before she could finish her sentence, she had disappeared. So now it was up to Adam to try and save everyone. He wasn't the bravest, but for his cousins and friend he had to help. He decided to look for Jonathan. He walked around, and it was pretty creepy because May was trying to act like she wasn't possessed. However, it was obvious she was. After about 10 minutes of looking around this creepy place, Jonathan showed up, but he wasn't possessed He wasn't even talking. He looked as if he was passed out. Adam ran as fast as he could over to Jonathan, and then May tripped him and started talking in this really creepy voice. She intoned, "I will help him." She slowly walked over to Jonathan. Then, she just disappeared, so Adam slowly walked over to Jonathan and hit him in the face, hoping he would wake
up.
Jonathan just stayed there unconscious, so Adam brought him outside and tried to get as far as he could away from the O'Leary's house. Eventually, Jonathan woke up, but he didn't even know what was going on. Adam explained everything. Then, out of nowhere, Kathy walked up to them from behind the tree and started screaming. May came out of the O'Leary house, and she started chasing after them. Adam and Jonathan ran as fast as they could. Then May just fell. She looked as if she was passed out. Adam and Jonathan assumed that since the O'Leary that was possessing her was out of the house, it just sort of couldn't stay inside of her. And then she woke up, and Adam told her everything that had happened. So after that, they walked over to Kathy and told her to follow them.
None of the kids realized that Kathy was possessed, but she was, and she didn't want anyone to realize it. Eventually, when they got there they asked Kathy if she had remembered to bring her money . Since she was possessed, she wasn't sure if she had even brought money so she said "no." After that, Kathy started screaming uncontrollably, She started flying in the air. Then she started moving towards the O'Learys house. They started chasing her.Then they finally saw where she went. She went to that same tree that she had walked out from before. The three children walked slowly behind the tree. No one was there. They expected Kathy to be there, but nobody was there, and then they saw a little button. Jonathan pressed the little button, and a little trapdoor opened from the ground. Jonathan jumped down, and it seemed like a far drop, but when he finally hit the bottom he said he was "fine". Once Adam and May had realized it was okay to go down, they jumped down the trapdoor.
***
The kids entered the trapdoor and climbed down as fast as they could. They could hardly handle the fear screaming inside of them. When they reached the bottom, Kathy dashed towards them. May realized there was no hope and she froze. Kathy was dashing straight towards her. As Johnathan ran, he realized May wasn't possessed, and he wasn't either.
May and Johnathan were both surprised. Kathy stopped when her face was less than an inch away from May's. She started shaking and fell to the floor. May dropped down to the ground with Kathy and had realized, what if she isn't possessed anymore? Johnathan walked over to May and Kathy and crouched down beside them. Two green eyes appeared behind Johnathan. May's eyes widened with fear.
"Uh... Johnathan? Can y-you pl-please get me tha-that stroller ov-over the-there..?" May stuttered. She didn't know what the creature was. It's pelt must be dark if it could hide that well in the darkness. Johnathan got up and turned in circles, looking for the stroller, and he walked over to get it. He noticed a shape, a small one, with green eyes, staring at May. He didn't know what she was so scared about. The creature couldn't hurt her, unless it used its claws.
"Why are you so scared of a rabbit?" Johnathan asked, picking up the creature after examining it.
"Your eyes adjust to the dark faster than mine!" May exclaimed.
"Or you need glasses."
Kathy opened her eyes, thinking she was at home. She realized this wasn't a dream. She looked up at Johnathan who was carrying the small, dark rabbit.
"Why does it have green eyes? Rabbits don't have green eyes." Kathy wandered aloud.
"Dunno. Maybe it's special. Maybe it was born with superpowers." Johnathan replied.
"Don't be ridiculous!"
"Can I hold him?" Kathy asked, unaware that May and Johnathan didn't know she was awake.
"To forget about this for a second?"
"Kathy, you're awake!" May cried, putting down the rabbit. Kathy got onto her hands and knees and crawled over to the rabbit. May and Johnathan were surprised as the rabbit hopped towards Kathy, unaware Adam was missing. They thought he went with them. May realized he was missing. She had also just remembered that she hadn't remembered Johnathan coming with them.
"Kathy, keep the bunny with you. We need to look for Adam!" May gestured towards a tunnel. The bunny hopped towards a pile of flashlights. Johnathan was curious why there were a bunch of flashlights in a pile underneath a trapdoor, but he was thankful there even were any. They each grabbed one, and Kathy put the rest into a bag she had found laying next to the flashlights. Kathy grabbed the stroller and the rabbit hopped right in. "Now I don't have to carry the bunny!"
They walked into the tunnel, every one of them thankful the flashlights still had working batteries. They walked through the tunnel as the rabbit's ear twitched.
"What's up, cotton tail?" Johnathan joked. He winced as May elbowed him. The rabbit heard voices.
"This is no time to joke around." As they got deeper into the tunnel, they saw a light. They ran. Kathy pushed the stroller so fast the rabbit was against the back of it. They ran out of the tunnel and saw Adam talking to someone outside. The kids realized that they were home as their eyes adjusted to the light. Adam was talking to his Mom! She invited them all to dinner. She let the bunny inside of the house, too.
"Why were you kids late for dinner?" Mom asked, looking at their messy clothes.
"Long story..." Adam replied, trailing off. Kathy watched as she introduced her rabbit to Mom's rabbit. She had a rabbit, to, and some rabbit food, so Kathy's rabbit would also get to eat.
"Can I feed it carrots?" Kathy asked.
"Only one, and have it a small carrot because carrots are like cookies to rabbits. They're unhealthy for them. If you want to feed them more, our rabbits, then I can give you some rabbit food."
"So, are you kids going to explain to me what happened?" Mom questioned, squinting as she tried to focus on the rabbits in the living room, and Kathy.
"I'll be right back. I need my glasses." Mom walked out of the room.
As she closed the door to her room, the kids looked at each other.
"What are we gonna say? What are we gonna do?" May cried as she got out of her chair and started pacing back and fourth. "Are we going to tell her?"
"No way!" Johnathan replied. "We'll just come up with an excuse, like... We got into a fight with this kid who was visiting his grandpa and he was visiting from Canada."
"What if she asks how we know that?"
"We'll just say we made up and we were at his house and we became friends with him."
"What if she asks about Kathy's bunny?" Johnathan and May turned towards Kathy.
"What?" Kathy looked up at them.
"Just tell her. She won't be mad. I'm probably going to end up telling her sooner or later." Adam broke in.
The kids didn't know that Mom was standing right outside the doorway. The kids froze and the room became silent.
"Tell me what? Your Canada kid excuse won't work on me anymore." She broke the silence.
"Fine. We'll just tell her. Who's telling her?"
"You will, Adam."
"Oh, fine, but one of you two will have to tell her the end part. I wasn't there when you came out of that tunnel." Adam crossed his arms and sat down. "So, here's what happened."
***
Although everyone in Leaport knew it was there, they also knew to stay away. A raging fire, which started suspiciously back in the 1930’s, burned the O’Leary house. The O’Leary’s mysteriously disappeared that night, too. Nobody saw them leave and there wasn’t any trace that they perished in the fire when the firefighters got there. Yet, the townsfolk still say …show more content…
that the O’Leary’s were lost in the fire and that their spirits still haunt the house, seeking revenge on those who started the fire. The townspeople also say that you can hear their moans and piercing screams in the night. Although the dilapidated house was boarded up shortly after the fire, the townspeople wanted to knock it down completely because they claimed that it housed ghosts. But the mayor refused to do it because the house was considered a historical landmark, being as it was part of the Underground Railroad. Jonathan learned this in school, and just thought it made it all the more chilling.
The children were always told to stay away from the house and also the lake that was in front of it. But they were all so curious to at least see the house, especially Adam, who had a thing for ghosts. Kathy, being the youngest, wasn’t so sure she wanted to go. But after much debate and a promise of a warm chocolate chip cookie, Kathy decided to go. Although it was only a 15 minute walk from their street to the lake and the old O’Leary house, it felt like a lifetime with the maze of trees in the woods. Some of the trees had posters on them, and one read LOST DOG PLEASE FIND.
As they made their way through the woods, it started to grow dark. The sky turned from a bright blue to a deep orange and red, and May took this as a sign to head back. She didn’t say anything to the others, though, for fear that she would be branded a scaredy-cat. Kathy, who was only 8, didn’t seem scared, so why should she!
They were making good time and they were just coming to the clearing in the woods. The children could see the house, just over the lake, when they heard a terrifying sound. The kind of sound that could scare even the deepest sleeper out of slumber. It was the howl of some horrifying creature, or maybe it was a scream from some undead spirit! Could it be from one of the O’Leary’s? All the children screamed and ran! They ran every which way, but didn’t realize that they had got split-up. And then the creature howled again...
Since the children were split up, they decided to look for each other.What was good was that they could hear each other, so they started calling each other's names. May was the most scared. She was so scared that she was petrified. Eventually, Adam found May, and May was now calm, but she still wanted to go back home. Surprisingly, Kathy wasn't scared at all. She was actually having fun, but she was only having fun because they weren't even inside of the O'Leary's house. They couldn't see the O' Leary house, but they knew they were were pretty close because they could still hear noises.
Although they were lost, they didn't feel very scared. Eventually, they found each other, and May wasn't so scared anymore. She felt that she was pretty safe. Once that was over, Jonathan still wanted to go in the O'Leary house, so they did a vote, and they ended up going towards the O'Leary house. When they got to the Lake in front of the O'Leary house, they heard someone say "Hello." All of kids got scared. They even fell down on the dirt. When they got up they wanted to see who it was, but no one was there. Everyone was feeling that they had to look over their shoulders by that point.
After that, they looked behind them, and May was standing there. It was sort of creepy. After they looked to the front of them, May had disappeared. By that point, they had to stay in the area because they couldn't just leave May. Wherever May was, they had to find her, and for the strangest reason, Kathy said she could hear May screaming that she could see someone. Then they were really scared, so they all smacked Kathy in the face, and all the other kids said, "Stop talking like that!" Kathy said that she wasn't lying and that she could hear May screaming. Kathy repeated that she had heard May scream, and it was coming from the O'Leary's house.
They all decided to go inside of the O'Leary house to look for May. Then, out of nowhere, Jonathan disappeared. Nobody really cared, though, because he was the oldest, and if he could find May, he could try and get them out. Also, Kathy could hear both of them now, but May couldn't hear Jonathan, and Jonathan couldn't hear May. So by then, Kathy and Adam decided to go inside of the O'Leary house. When they got inside, someone said "Welcome," and to their surprise, it was May! But May didn't seem very normal. She seemed to be possessed or something because she was acting like the O'Leary house was her own. From the look of things, she was probably possessed by one of the O'Leary's.
Kathy and Adam were very scared, They thought that when May had disappeared, she had just been taken by one of the O'Learys.
So, if May was possessed, that meant that Jonathan was as well! And before she could finish her sentence, she had disappeared. So now it was up to Adam to try and save everyone. He wasn't the bravest, but for his cousins and friend he had to help. He decided to look for Jonathan. He walked around, and it was pretty creepy because May was trying to act like she wasn't possessed. However, it was obvious she was. After about 10 minutes of looking around this creepy place, Jonathan showed up, but he wasn't possessed He wasn't even talking. He looked as if he was passed out. Adam ran as fast as he could over to Jonathan, and then May tripped him and started talking in this really creepy voice. She intoned, "I will help him." She slowly walked over to Jonathan. Then, she just disappeared, so Adam slowly walked over to Jonathan and hit him in the face, hoping he would wake
up.
Jonathan just stayed there unconscious, so Adam brought him outside and tried to get as far as he could away from the O'Leary's house. Eventually, Jonathan woke up, but he didn't even know what was going on. Adam explained everything. Then, out of nowhere, Kathy walked up to them from behind the tree and started screaming. May came out of the O'Leary house, and she started chasing after them. Adam and Jonathan ran as fast as they could. Then May just fell. She looked as if she was passed out. Adam and Jonathan assumed that since the O'Leary that was possessing her was out of the house, it just sort of couldn't stay inside of her. And then she woke up, and Adam told her everything that had happened. So after that, they walked over to Kathy and told her to follow them.
None of the kids realized that Kathy was possessed, but she was, and she didn't want anyone to realize it. Eventually, when they got there they asked Kathy if she had remembered to bring her money . Since she was possessed, she wasn't sure if she had even brought money so she said "no." After that, Kathy started screaming uncontrollably, She started flying in the air. Then she started moving towards the O'Learys house. They started chasing her.Then they finally saw where she went. She went to that same tree that she had walked out from before. The three children walked slowly behind the tree. No one was there. They expected Kathy to be there, but nobody was there, and then they saw a little button. Jonathan pressed the little button, and a little trapdoor opened from the ground. Jonathan jumped down, and it seemed like a far drop, but when he finally hit the bottom he said he was "fine". Once Adam and May had realized it was okay to go down, they jumped down the trapdoor.
***
The kids entered the trapdoor and climbed down as fast as they could. They could hardly handle the fear screaming inside of them. When they reached the bottom, Kathy dashed towards them. May realized there was no hope and she froze. Kathy was dashing straight towards her. As Johnathan ran, he realized May wasn't possessed, and he wasn't either.
May and Johnathan were both surprised. Kathy stopped when her face was less than an inch away from May's. She started shaking and fell to the floor. May dropped down to the ground with Kathy and had realized, what if she isn't possessed anymore? Johnathan walked over to May and Kathy and crouched down beside them. Two green eyes appeared behind Johnathan. May's eyes widened with fear.
"Uh... Johnathan? Can y-you pl-please get me tha-that stroller ov-over the-there..?" May stuttered. She didn't know what the creature was. It's pelt must be dark if it could hide that well in the darkness. Johnathan got up and turned in circles, looking for the stroller, and he walked over to get it. He noticed a shape, a small one, with green eyes, staring at May. He didn't know what she was so scared about. The creature couldn't hurt her, unless it used its claws.
"Why are you so scared of a rabbit?" Johnathan asked, picking up the creature after examining it.
"Your eyes adjust to the dark faster than mine!" May exclaimed.
"Or you need glasses."
Kathy opened her eyes, thinking she was at home. She realized this wasn't a dream. She looked up at Johnathan who was carrying the small, dark rabbit.
"Why does it have green eyes? Rabbits don't have green eyes." Kathy wandered aloud.
"Dunno. Maybe it's special. Maybe it was born with superpowers." Johnathan replied.
"Don't be ridiculous!"
"Can I hold him?" Kathy asked, unaware that May and Johnathan didn't know she was awake.
"To forget about this for a second?"
"Kathy, you're awake!" May cried, putting down the rabbit. Kathy got onto her hands and knees and crawled over to the rabbit. May and Johnathan were surprised as the rabbit hopped towards Kathy, unaware Adam was missing. They thought he went with them. May realized he was missing. She had also just remembered that she hadn't remembered Johnathan coming with them.
"Kathy, keep the bunny with you. We need to look for Adam!" May gestured towards a tunnel. The bunny hopped towards a pile of flashlights. Johnathan was curious why there were a bunch of flashlights in a pile underneath a trapdoor, but he was thankful there even were any. They each grabbed one, and Kathy put the rest into a bag she had found laying next to the flashlights. Kathy grabbed the stroller and the rabbit hopped right in. "Now I don't have to carry the bunny!"
They walked into the tunnel, every one of them thankful the flashlights still had working batteries. They walked through the tunnel as the rabbit's ear twitched.
"What's up, cotton tail?" Johnathan joked. He winced as May elbowed him. The rabbit heard voices.
"This is no time to joke around." As they got deeper into the tunnel, they saw a light. They ran. Kathy pushed the stroller so fast the rabbit was against the back of it. They ran out of the tunnel and saw Adam talking to someone outside. The kids realized that they were home as their eyes adjusted to the light. Adam was talking to his Mom! She invited them all to dinner. She let the bunny inside of the house, too.
"Why were you kids late for dinner?" Mom asked, looking at their messy clothes.
"Long story..." Adam replied, trailing off. Kathy watched as she introduced her rabbit to Mom's rabbit. She had a rabbit, to, and some rabbit food, so Kathy's rabbit would also get to eat.
"Can I feed it carrots?" Kathy asked.
"Only one, and have it a small carrot because carrots are like cookies to rabbits. They're unhealthy for them. If you want to feed them more, our rabbits, then I can give you some rabbit food."
"So, are you kids going to explain to me what happened?" Mom questioned, squinting as she tried to focus on the rabbits in the living room, and Kathy.
"I'll be right back. I need my glasses." Mom walked out of the room.
As she closed the door to her room, the kids looked at each other.
"What are we gonna say? What are we gonna do?" May cried as she got out of her chair and started pacing back and fourth. "Are we going to tell her?"
"No way!" Johnathan replied. "We'll just come up with an excuse, like... We got into a fight with this kid who was visiting his grandpa and he was visiting from Canada."
"What if she asks how we know that?"
"We'll just say we made up and we were at his house and we became friends with him."
"What if she asks about Kathy's bunny?" Johnathan and May turned towards Kathy.
"What?" Kathy looked up at them.
"Just tell her. She won't be mad. I'm probably going to end up telling her sooner or later." Adam broke in.
The kids didn't know that Mom was standing right outside the doorway. The kids froze and the room became silent.
"Tell me what? Your Canada kid excuse won't work on me anymore." She broke the silence.
"Fine. We'll just tell her. Who's telling her?"
"You will, Adam."
"Oh, fine, but one of you two will have to tell her the end part. I wasn't there when you came out of that tunnel." Adam crossed his arms and sat down. "So, here's what happened."
***