Dark to Light

When I was in third grade, my friends and I sometimes walked home from school. This school was near the library and close to the town center. I lived the farthest away and my friends left me one by one as we walked. The last part of the trip I walked alone but it was very comfortable for me because I knew most of the people in the houses along the way. This was not true for the very beginning of the trip.

The school was set a ways back from the street with a long driveway to the sidewalk that led to Main Street. Unfortunately for me there also was a path which went through the woods to Main Street. I don't know if the town created it or if it was a private drive but most of the kids used it. The first time I walked the path was a time when the weather was overcast and dreary. My friends assured me that it was perfectly safe and they had walked it many times. What they didn't tell me about was the haunted house located in the middle of the woods.

Because the day was so dark, the woods were even darker than usual, and scary. It was hard to believe we were in the center of town. If it hadn't been for the path, I would have been lost. It wasn't long before we reached the house. It was black and run-down with the trees and shrubbery looming over everything. I wanted to run but my friends were acting as if nothing was wrong and I decided I couldn't let them know I was afraid. So, I kept walking and talking and looking everywhere but at that house. Before long we reached the street and safety. Even though I vowed never to walk that way again, every time my friends wanted to walk home, I walked with them and they always took that path. After awhile I got to used to walking past that house, too, but I never forgot how scary it was.

When my daughter was planning her wedding, we decided to have the ceremony in my home town. The caterers we were using said they had a victorian style house not far from the church that they used for special events. We went to inspect it and it was beautiful with indoor and outdoor spaces for entertaining. While I was looking around, I felt a strange wave of emotion pass over me. On closer inspection, I realized that this beautiful victorian house filled with light and beauty was the same dark ugly house, that dark and run-down haunted house, that used to frighten me when I walked that path through the woods to reach the safety of Main Street.