The Face in the House

II

"Hello?" she said quietly, into the darkness. "Grandma Rose?"

She took a few more steps inside, her eyes still adjusting to the darkness. She peered around the open door. She hadn't heard anyone shuffling about the house while they waited outside in the rain, Teddy thought, and the way the door had just opened, it was as if it had done so on its own.

And so she was deeply startled to see a tall figure standing in the darkness, holding the door open with one hand and gesturing her inside with the other.

"You must be young Theodora," the man said. "Please, come inside. You're sopping wet!"

Heart pounding from the start, Teddy looked up at the man. He wore a black, double-breasted suit, a bow tie and pleated trousers. His hair was a dark brown, though it was receding into baldness at the top of his head.

"Oh! Sorry," Teddy said, suddenly aware of her damp clothes and shoes, which were dripping onto the rusty orange carpet below. "Uh... Is my Grandma here?"

The man laughed and said, "Of course! Rose is always here. She's in the kitchen preparing supper as we speak. I'm Edward Poole, I help your grandmother around the house."

"My dad said grandma lives alone," Teddy said, brow furrowing, "And my mom said she doesn't like people much."

Mr. Poole took Teddy's duffle bag from her shoulder and directed her further into the home. "Yes, I suppose in the past your grandmother has preferred her solitude. But an old woman may find herself in need of company, especially as age makes a burden of every simple chore. Come, let me take you to see her now. She has been so looking forward to your arrival. It isn't often we have young guests."

Teddy followed the strange Mr. Poole into what must have once been considered the living room. In its current state, however, the "living" function of the room was completely forgotten, as the room was filled - nearly floor to ceiling - with boxes, books and other strange treasures. Every inch of the room, excluding the spared trail of exposed carpet that they now walked on, was covered in things.

"Please, watch your step Theodora," Mr. Poole advised.

On a normal day, Teddy would have been quick to correct Mr. Poole, to politely demand that he not call her by her full name, which she believed did not suit her. However, in the current moment, she was too in awe of her surroundings to even begin to correct him. It was still quite dark in the house, and the stacks of books and other mysterious belongings cast odd, deep shadows about the room. She shivered. 

In her wonder of this strangeness, fear crept in slow. But as she crept deeper into the home, as she noticed the cool, damp air and the overwhelming smell of dust and something else, fear entered her chest and dug its heels into her heart. She followed Mr. Poole toward an archway leading into another room, and Teddy remembered the image of the face in the house. She imagined herself being led deeper and deeper down its throat.

She followed Mr. Poole into the kitchen, and was surprised to find it much clearer than the living room. She could see the countertops, the shiny, tiled floor, an ancient-looking green stove, and a small figure, hidden deeply in shadow, at the other end of the room. Teddy's breath caught in her throat. The figure had its back turned, but Teddy could hear a soft mumbling, irritable, incomprehensible mumbling.

Mr. Poole, seemingly undisturbed by the strange scene, said, "Rose, our guest has arrived."

"Oh!" the figure called, spinning around to face them. And just as she did, she appeared to succeed in what was previously giving her quite a bit of trouble: screwing in a lightbulb. "Dear Teddy, I'm so sorry for this darkness!"

Teddy stared, frozen, as the small woman strode nimbly across the kitchen and flipped on a the lightswitch. The room illuminated instantly, light washing over the room, casting all strange shadows back to where they came from.

Rose smiled and approached Teddy with an outstretched hand. Dazed and squinting against the sudden brightness, Teddy took the old woman's hand and shook lightly.

"That's better, isn't it?" Rose said, her wrinkled face brightening into a warm smile.

Teddy found herself smiling too, though the fright was still wearing off. What a strange place!

"I'm Rose, though you probably guessed that. And I see you've met Mr. Poole. Oh, I've been so happy to have him around."

"It's nice to meet you," Teddy said, feeling much more at ease. Had she expected this woman to be some kind of monster? She didn't know what to expect, but this energetic old woman wasn't it.

"And you, dear! It's not often we have visitors. Please, make yourself at home. I know this is a strange old house, and I'm a strange old woman, but I encourage you to explore and play about the house as if it's your own," Rose said, still smiling.

Teddy was elated; she wasn't used to being spoken to like this by adults. However, Mr. Poole cleared his throat, and Rose seemed to recall something.

"Oh, yes, the rules," she said. "I don't have many rules in my house, in fact, I only have three rules, and I know you won't have any trouble with them."

The old woman counted on one wrinkled hand, "One, you mustn't go into the basement. That is Mr. Poole's quarters, and he very much enjoys his privacy... Two, do not kill the spiders..."

She paused, gaze lifting to nowhere in particular, as if searching for the third rule to appear in front of her in the air. "Three..."

Teddy interjected, "The spiders?"

"Yes," Rose said, nodding.

Mr. Poole nodded too.

Teddy realized she needed to elaborate. "But... why not kill them?"

Rose's eyes lit up, "Oh! Well, they have every right to be here too, haven't they?"

Teddy wasn't so sure of that, but she nodded anyway, as it was an easy enough rule to follow, however strange.

"And the third rule..." Rose continued, "Well, I forget the third rule. I'll let you know when it comes to me!"

Rose smiled at her little visitor. "Go on, then. I'm going to finish up supper. Mr. Poole will take your bags to their upstairs bedroom. Why don't you go on and explore the house? There is much to see!"

"Okay," Teddy said, not used to such an invitation.

As Teddy turned to exit the kitchen, she marveled at her luck. Grandma Rose wasn't at all what she had expected. She was a strange old bat, that's for sure, but she wasn't the mean, reclusive stranger her mother's brief description inevitably called to mind. No, Teddy thought, Grandma Rose was just a shy little woman with a habit of collecting too many books. Still, Teddy's great-grandmother was a mystery. Why had she never met her? Why did she never call? Why did she hoard her home with all this stuff?

As her anxiety dwindled, her curiosity soared. She crept back into the living room, marvelling again at the stacks and stacks of books, and chewing over these questions in her mind. Eager to see the rest of the little house, Teddy turned off into a hallway off the living room, which was also a winding maze of boxes and books. She made her way through, stopping occasionally to touch a dusty book or inspect an odd item. She spotted an open doorway at the end of the hall, through which she heard a rustling, followed by a strange, croaking voice. She stopped in her tracks, startled. Was there someone else living in Grandma's house?