The Haunted Hinges
Hannah was happy to be home again; she’d been gone for several years, exploring the wonders of the world and jumping from one country to another, until she’d finally had enough and wished to settle back down.
Gazing up at the exterior of her astoundingly spacious house stood proudly before her, Hannah recalled the last time she’d seen her home. She had her suitcases packed and was about to set her foot into her Uber, sparing the house one last glance.
The house had clearly aged. It seemed to have become a battered version of the lavish home she’d left behind, and yet, her heart swelled with nostalgia and warmth towards it. She reached for the doorbell, and pressed the button. A few moments later, the grand door was pulled open, but not before Hannah felt her ears prickle painfully at the shrill noise opening the door had caused.
What was this atrocious noise?
Her mother stood on the other side, beaming down at her daughter lovingly, before embracing her affectionately.
“Goodness, Hannah, you’ve grown into a beautiful, young lady.” She gushed as she admired her daughter after pulling away from the hug.
Hannah grinned up at her. “Hello, mum.”
“Come on in. I was just about to make some tea.” Her mother stated as she ushered her inside, and Hannah heard the screeching noise once again and she quickly reached up to shield her ears.
“Oh dear, what on earth is that dreadful noise, mum?” She groaned.
“Oh, don’t mind it, Hannah. It’s just the haunted hinges.” Her mother waved a hand dismissively as she sauntered over to the kitchen, with Hannah following her suit, a mortified expression on her youthful face.
“The haunted what?” She repeated perplexedly. “Have you been keeping ghosts as residents here while I’ve been gone?”
Her mother laughed airily as she turned the heat on and placed the whistle kettle on the stove. “Heavens no, Hannah. Don’t be ridiculous. Although, I do call it the haunted hinges to scare your little brother from going anywhere near the front door on his own.”
“Oh.” Hannah’s eyes sparkled in acknowledgment. “He still randomly wanders off to hunt down the sandman and the tooth fairy?”
Her mother nodded as she placed tea bags into the teacups. “You know how he is. His imagination is quite beautiful, but he always wants to explore it outside, without my supervision. And I can’t have that when we live right beside the woods.”
Hannah nodded in understanding. “Of course.”
As her mother poured the water into the teacups, Hannah then questioned, “Where is little Henry anyway?”
“Upstairs in his room. I reckon he’s building a fort for his imaginary dinosaur friend.” Her mother smiled brightly, and Hannah laughed.
She picked up her teacup and walked towards the kitchen door. “I’ll go and see him then.”
The moment Hannah entered her little brother’s room, she could immediately spot the massive fort he’d built out of his pillows, bed, chairs and blankets. She smiled cheekily before she asked playfully, “is there room for another visitor in that fort of yours?”
A second later, Henry’s little face popped out of the fort’s entrance, his eyes shimmering with excitement as he yelled, “Hannah! You’re back!”
Hannah giggled as she approached Henry and pulled him close to her to hug him once she crawled into the fort. He pulled away, his eyes widening at her, before he whispered secretively, “how’d you manage to get in with the haunted hinges keeping watch?”
Hannah’s own eyes widened, in attempts to humor him, and she whispered, “oh it was quite the scariest adventure I’ve ever had, Henry.”
She sat him down beside her as she picked up the flashlight next to them and switched it on, positioning it right below her face to cast an eerie glow.
“The haunted hinges have tranquilly hissed at me to go away when I inched closer to the door.” She commenced, and Henry gasped and gripped his bedsheets.
“Go on!” He excitedly probed. “What’d you say to it?”
“I informed it that I would never back down from seeing you and mum, of course.” Hannah easily replied. “But the haunted hinges were not pleased with my response, and so they warned me that they will curse me if I step through the door.”
“Did they succeed?” Henry whispered curiously.
“I’m afraid they have, Henry. The haunted hinges have a message for you.” As soon as Hannah said this, the doorbell rang downstairs, causing Henry’s eyes to widen in horror.
Hannah grinned wickedly and brought her face closer, and surely enough, the barbarically loud, rusted hinges downstairs whined loudly, and Henry screamed, clutching onto his stuffed animal toy and Hannah threw her head back laughing.
She tossed the flashlight aside and pulled Henry onto her lap, hugging him tightly as she soothed him. “Oh, Henry don’t be frightened. I was only kidding!”
“But the haunted hinges spoke just now!” He weeped.
“The haunted hinges aren’t actually haunted, my dear.” Hannah cooed. “They’re just very old metal hinges, and when metal hinges get old, they rust and make a loud noise when it’s moved.”
Henry looked up at her inquisitively. “But mother said …” he trailed off, a confused expression plastered on his face.
Hannah smiled down at her brother. “Mum’s afraid of something happening to you when you play outside, so she scared you by using the hinges.”
Henry scrunched his face up in distaste. “That’s not very nice.”
She sighed. “She only wants to protect you, little one. You’re her whole world, wouldn’t you want to protect your world too?”
“I guess.”
“Well, now that I’m here, we can explore the woods outside together.” She offered.
Henry grinned. “I like that.”
“I like that too, but first, we need to replace these terrible, old hinges.” She winked, causing the boy to laugh and agree.
“Yes.” He confirmed. “The haunted hinges must be set free.”
