David was awoken by the shouts of his mother telling someone to get out. This wasn't entirely an uncommon occurrence, but as most people would agree, it was not the ideal way to wake in the morning. When he looked out of his window he could see a couple of men in suits muttering to each other something about always hating to do what they had just done, but agreeing that they had to try.

  The morning was a gray fog-filled morning like most mornings in that town were. David rolled over and began to stare at the ceiling. He wasn't entirely ready to be awake, yet at the same time, he was glad to be away from the dream he had been having. Rather it was a nightmare involving his mother and him; however, he was having difficulty remembering it in its entirety. Perhaps that was for the best though. Who wanted to remember nightmares after all?

  He dressed himself before leaving his room to find something for breakfast. In the dining room, next to the kitchen, his father sat at the piano playing as he tended to do every morning and evening. Today he played Mozart, though the song was a bit more on the somber side than his usual playings, but David still enjoyed listening to the music while he ate his cereal. His mother sat at the table with him listening to her husband playing. She didn't talk about the men who had come, so David felt it best to simply let it go.

  After the song had finished, David arose from the table, gave his mother a hug, and called a quick goodbye to his father. His bag on his back, David ventured into the foggy morning. Though it had been difficult to find his way, he made it to school. He wasn't entirely happy to be at the school, but he knew it was something he had to do. Most of the people at the school didn't bother him anyway, so there was no real issue with being there. There were times, however, that he would catch people looking at him, but they wouldn't say anything. They would simply look away quickly and return to paying him no mind when David noticed them. He told himself that it didn't bother him when they did this, but if that were entirely true he wouldn't have to keep telling himself that each time.

  He would find himself wanting to be noticed more, yet instead of talking to anyone, he remained quiet. The best he could do was listen in on conversations others had. The most interesting one of that day was some of the boys making a wager on who could stay in the house the longest. David discerned rather swiftly that they were speaking of a house that supposedly had ghosts in it, but still, it was interesting. He began to have visions of himself joining them, and then showing all of the other boys up. He envisioned Stacy, the girl he liked, giving him a kiss and telling him how brave he was. It would also be a way to get to know them that didn't involve the much more frightening task of talking to them.

  With these thoughts in mind, David followed the other children as they left the school that day. The fog still hung low, and the sun continued to hide behind the clouds, but David was excited. However, with every step he took, he realized more and more what this task would entail. What if there were real ghosts? What if there was a poltergeist? Were those things real? Maybe he shouldn't do this. No one had noticed him yet, so he could easily sneak away and run home without anyone thinking any less of him. Not that they think about him anyway.

  So that's what he did. He ran off as quietly as he could and made his way home. He felt like a complete loser, but at least no one saw him.

He dropped his stuff down in the living room and began working on his homework. In the next room, he could hear his father practicing on the piano again. This time it was a piece by Handel, though again, it was much more somber than his father usually played. He made a mental note to ask his father how he was doing later.

  There was a creaking sound as the front door opened. David didn't think anything of it though as he hadn't seen his mother yet. She was probably just getting back from work or something. He continued working quietly without calling out to her; after all, he didn't want to disrupt his father's practice.

  The sound of sneakers on the floor caught his attention though. His mother wouldn't have worn sneakers to work. Her dress shoes were usually quite loud actually. He set his pencil down and stood. For a moment he considered going to get his father, but thought better of it after he heard the voices.

  “Can you hear it?” one of the voices whispered, “That's creepy.”

  He recognized the voices as the ones he had overheard earlier that day at school. He went to the front door and came face to face with Stacy who was quite wide-eyed. Behind her were three of the boys he had heard talking about going to a haunted house, so why were they at his, David's, house?

  For a long moment, they all stared at each other. The four uninvited children looked as though they had just seen a ghost, and David looked back at them confused as to why they were there.

  “What are you doing here?” he finally said to Stacy, feeling nervous beyond belief, but still as firm in voice as he could be.

  At this, one of the boys ran back out of the door, but the other two and Stacy merely stood there staring at David who now had a raised eyebrow because of the sudden loss of one of his uninvited guests.

  Finally, Stacy spoke. “I'm sorry,” she told him to start, “I didn't know you still came here.”

  If possible, those words confused David more than the one boy running out of the house as though he were some kind of ghost. “It's my home,” he replied, “Why wouldn't I be here?”

  My mother's hand rested on David's shoulder as he spoke. At this point, the two remaining boys ran in terror. They probably figured she would call the police. Stacy remained, however, simply staring at David's mother. Her eyes were filled with fear thereby causing David to become yet more confused.

  “What's wrong?”

  “Do you see her?” Stacy whispered as though her voice was failing her.

  “Sorry,” David said in reply, “Mom. This is Stacy, from my school.”

  My mother remained silent, but she didn't seem to mind that there was an unexpected girl there.

  “She died months ago,” Stacy replied in something resembling a panicked squeak, “Both of your parents did.”

  David wasn't certain why she would say such a thing, but when he opened his mouth to dispute this something came back to him. The nightmare he had. There were gunshots and he had a memory of seeing his mother drop to the floor before him, and his father toppled onto the piano. That was just a dream though, right?

  Stacy was now backing away from David slowly. I realized there was no music as well, and another figure had entered the room. Like his mother, the new person had made no noise before entering.

  David turned to look at them both. He had not wanted to believe it, but he could see it now. The hole in his mother's head, and the one in his father's chest.

  Behind him, David could hear the footsteps of someone running before the door slammed shut.