The Laughing House

"She stopped. Both of them stopped. “What?” Mom said.

'When the house started making noises, they were so scary I wanted to scream.'

'You did? Martha . . .'

'Yeah.'

'I’m sorry, sweety. It’ll be ok. I’ll--' There were footsteps coming up the stairs. Mom didn’t say anything else. Nothing else to Martha. She walked over to the door frame and looked down. Dad pushed past the door and slowed to a halt, looking back and forth between Mom and Martha.

'And what are you two girls talking about up here?' he said, smiling, grinning in a way.

'She said the noises scared her last night and she wanted to scream,' Mom said. Her words were quick and quiet. They didn’t mean much when Mom spoke to Dad.

'I see. Ok, go downstairs.' The skeleton vanished, dissipating behind Dad. Moving skeletons often did. It was part of the magic. 'What’s going on, Martie?' he said as he stepped further into the room, pushing the door closed behind him.
'I just got scared, that’s all.' Martha felt the sink of the bed beside her, pulling her butt down next to Dad as he took a seat. 'The house makes bad noises.'

'Well don’t you remember what I told you, Martha?'

'Yeah.'

'Don’t you remember what I said about the noises in the house?'

'Yeah.'

'Don’t you remember how I told you to take care of it? Hmm? You remember what I said?'

'Yes.'

'I said it’s only laughing. Right? You don’t have to feel scared and you don’t have to scream, Martha; I told you it was only laughing.'"