Coming Home

By Morgan Menefee

Each life lived leaves an impression. A mark on the people and places it encounters. Old houses are full of such impressions. Old houses are full of secrets. Dani is good at finding them. She's also good at misreading texts and accidentally injuring herself, but that's beside the point. As she embarks on an investigation into the secrets of her

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kraken Cup Media
• Release date: Sep 5, 2023
• ISBN: 9798218264475

Morgan Menefee

Morgan Menfee is a Midwest native who still makes her home on a small farm there. She has spent time teaching English as well as serving as a public librarian. You can find her curled up reading or writing with a hot black coffee every chance she gets.

Book preview

1

Dani turned the key in the old truck’s ignition and breathed a sigh of relief when it fired on the first try. Corwin would get to it, she knew, but there were approximately a thousand other things that needed done first. And besides, he wasn’t obligated here, much as she was beginning to think she might like him to be. But today’s errands didn’t include Corwin or Osage, the town he lived near. Just a simple grocery run to Kaxe before she did some online teaching work and headed up to her parents’ for supper.

Windows down, fresh spring air rushing through the cab over the country music station turned just loud enough to catch a word here and there, Dani took a deep breath and made an effort to relax her shoulders. The house was coming together, finally, and she didn’t mind the weight loss resulting from the manual labor, but her muscles were constantly tense and sore. She really should take baths more often, but something about that upstairs bathroom just didn’t feel right still. She’d basically gutted it and retiled the floor, put a new surround in the shower, and even a new top on the vanity. The walls were a fresh pale blue. But somehow it still felt old and full of memories. The one time she had showered in the upstairs bath, Dani had felt oddly like an outsider listening to old friends share stories about people and places she had no knowledge of. The air had felt thick and close and even though she knew that she was an intelligent woman who was well aware of what steam and humidity were, Dani had finished her shower in a hurry. No way she was hanging around in there long enough for a bath.

I love this place, though. Dani spread her fingers, letting the wind buffet her left hand as gravel crunched beneath her tires. She had to resist the urge to close her eyes and take a deep breath. Probably not a good idea at 50 miles an hour. Her gaze drifted over the fields bordering the road. Green growth was just starting to poke up from the ground surrounding a falling down barn and she wondered briefly why it hadn’t been torn down. A deer leapt from the weeds next to the barn and Dani slowed the truck. Small nubs of bone stuck up from his head, but his shoulders were broad and Dani suspected his rack would be impressive by fall. He was no young buck, for sure, and antlers or not, he could destroy her pickup if they collided. She drove slowly, watching him approach the road, ready to stop at a moment’s notice. The buck reached the ditch next to the road and stopped. He stared straight at Dani as she drove closer. Do I stop? He’s not moving but he’s so close that he could totally wreck my windshield if he decided to jump. She slowed the truck to a crawl and met the buck’s gaze as she pulled abreast of him. He stood statue still as Dani pulled past. Once she broke their gaze, she shook her head. It took a moment for her to realize that she should speed back up.

In the grocery store, Dani gripped her list tightly in her left hand and said a silent prayer that she would slip quickly through the aisles unnoticed by anyone who knew her or, more accurately, her parents. She made it through the hygiene aisle portion of her list: toilet paper, toothpaste, a face cleanser that promised to banish blackheads, and pads that she sincerely hoped she wouldn’t have to purchase from a cashier she knew. As she approached the coolers at the back in search of cheese, Dani’s luck ran out.

Dani? Is that you? Dani stopped walking but didn’t turn, half hoping that holding still would make her invisible. I thought it was you, but your hair has gotten so long that I almost didn’t recognize you from the back. Sorry I haven’t been in church lately. We’ve been doing some traveling and you know how it is when you get out of the habit of something. I really should get back. But enough about me. How are you? How’s the house? I hear you’ve been doing a lot of work on it. I bet it’s looking great. When are you going to do the outside?

Marie, Dani took a deep breath, enjoying the brief silence, I’ll get to the outside soon, I hope, but right now I’m trying to get the whole inside livable. She paused, unsure what to say but doubtful Marie would let her escape yet.

That’s awesome. Did you finish the play room? I think you were making it a bedroom? That was my favorite room. Did I ever tell you–

About how it got cold in there and your parents didn’t like it? Yeah, I remember that. It’s still the coolest room in the house. You’ll have to come by once I’ve got more done, but right now I need to get going. It was good to see you. Dani made an effort to sound cheerful and started walking before she finished her sentence. She moved quickly, hoping to deter Marie from following her.

Oh my gosh, I would love that. I will definitely call you. Dani grabbed cheese almost without stopping to look at it and turned down the bread aisle. I sincerely hope you don’t. As she searched for her favorite whole wheat bread, Dani replayed the conversation in her mind, worried that she’d been too harsh or abrupt with Marie. Suddenly, Dani stood upright. It’s still the coldest room in the house. Why, though? It’s got all those windows, and the downstairs rooms on that side of the house are hot as all get-out. But Jilly is gone, so why is it still cold?

The question still nagged at her on the drive home. She’d missed Jilly’s presence. No more random thumps, no more firefly flashes, and no more visions, even when she asked to see something from the home’s past. But she’d still enjoyed the significantly cooler temperatures in what was now her bedroom. It had been especially helpful during the building of her closet, when her father, mother, Corwin, and a handy cousin had all crammed into her bedroom with her to work at once. That would have been miserably hot without Jilly’s cooling influence. Or whatever or whoever is keeping it cool now.

Dani strung grocery bags onto her arms, refusing to take more than one trip from the truck to the house. The milk thunked against the door as she twisted the handle. When the door finally swung inward, Dani’s toe caught on the door frame and she nearly fell head first into the basement door opposite the one she was trying to enter. She caught herself and turned right, into the kitchen. She dropped the bags on the floor and returned to pull the back door shut, pausing a moment to look at the barn where the raven had lived. She didn’t miss him the way she did Jilly, but it was still odd for him to be gone, even now, almost a year later. The workbench and odds and ends of tools were still in the barn. Dani couldn’t decide if she wanted them or not, now that she knew what had happened there. What her father had done there. She shook her head and closed the door. No time for memories today.

Cold items safely in the fridge, Dani wadded up plastic grocery bags and shoved them under the sink before placing her dry goods into the nearly empty cabinets and piling her bathroom items on the stairs to take up later. But first, she needed to grade some assignments. The semester was wrapping up, so there was no time to put off grading anymore. At least not without irritating her department head. Dani took a deep breath and poured a glass of whiskey before heading to the couch to pop open her laptop and read what college freshmen thought were convincing arguments. If I have to read one more argument about how eighteen year olds should be able to drink because they can serve in the military, I’m going to scream.

One paper argued that marijuana should be legal. Not well. But it tried. Another bemoaned the existence of roundabouts, but didn’t exactly offer an alternative. Dani made it through four papers before declaring a sanity break. It was for the students’ good as much as hers, really. She stretched, grabbed a string cheese from the fridge, and wandered up the stairs, pointedly ignoring the toiletries that needed to go to the bathroom. She stopped at the top of the stairs, gazing into the middle bedroom that had once held boxes of all of Jilly’s hopes and dreams. Baby clothes and toys. Games meant for a young family. The room had been her hope chest, of sorts, and now its contents were scattered. Dani had kept a few things, but most had gone to her father, who she assumed had kept it all in storage except for the old cast iron cars that Corwin had bought from him. Whatever hopes Jilly had for this house were long gone and unfulfilled. At least she’s at peace now.

Dani turned toward her bedroom. Goosebumps raised on her arm as she neared the door. Is it really cooler here or am I just psyching myself out? No one else has mentioned it. When she crossed the threshold, she decided it was definitely colder. Shoving aside a basket full of unfolded laundry, Dani stepped into the walk-in closet she’d built, admittedly with help, and retrieved her pistol from its safe. Corwin had insisted on a safe for storing the gun and even purchased it for her when she’d hesitated to spend the money. With her ex-husband safely out of the picture, he’d made a valid point that she didn’t need to carry constantly and that a gun safe would give her peace of mind that no one else could access it when it wasn’t in her holster. She was about to swing the door to the safe shut when she spotted the ear muffs that Corwin had also insisted on. Dani groaned, but grabbed them. If she told him about shooting later, he’d ask if she’d worn them and she was not a good liar. She slung the earmuffs around her neck and trotted down the stairs. The recycling bin yielded a few cans perfect for target practice. Arms full of cans, Dani headed out the back door. The sawhorse was still set up from her last shooting session. It was becoming like therapy, and pretty effective therapy at that.

She lined the cans up along the length of the sawhorse and stepped off fifteen paces back toward the house before turning to take aim. Her first shot was just a touch high. She took a deep breath, rolled her shoulders back, and raised the gun again. This time, the first can lept backward off the sawhorse. She fired four more rounds in rapid succession, killing a can with each one. She paused before shooting the last can. It’s just me here now. But when she fired at the last can, she saw his face.

2

Sleep wasn’t easy. Dani tugged her blankets up over her shoulders and rolled to her other side. She knew she should close her eyes, but she stared out the window overlooking the farm instead. From this position, she could see the top of one of the silos and a few trees, but she didn’t need a better angle to know exactly what was out that window. The old barn first, then a grassy patch she suspected had been a garden once upon a time, and just across the gravel drive from the silo stood the old cinder block dairy barn. 

Dani sat up. Why can’t I sleep? There was no one there to give a response, but she heard one anyway. It’s not me, Dani. It’s you. Dani flopped back on the bed and sighed. I’m going crazy. I’m talking to myself in my formerly haunted bedroom and I have officially lost it. She threw back the covers and sat up on the edge of the bed. She opened the window next to the side of the bed she favored. It was the same one Jilly, the room’s former occupant, had fallen out of, but Dani had ensured that the screen was securely attached when she renovated the room. Out of habit, she pushed against it now. It held firm. 

Instead of crawling back in bed, Dani sat down in front of the window, looking out over the shed and finishing barn. This is where she and Corwin had sat once, watching for her crazy ex. Dani smiled at the memory. What should have been a terrifying experience, and had been at times, Corwin had turned into something she could smile about. She’d owe Kat forever for introducing them. A deep-throated squawk from behind her snapped Dani out of her reverie. She jumped up from her seated position and turned to face the door. The gun was back in its safe in the closet. 

It’s just a bird. How did a bird get in here? She stepped cautiously toward the bedroom door. At the doorway, Dani paused and watched for any sign of movement. After a minute or two that felt like an eternity, she was beginning to think she’d imagined the sound. As she relaxed her shoulders and stepped into the hallway, a small black bird hopped into the hallway from the bedroom at the far north end of the hall. Dani screamed and jumped backward into her room. Then, she hunched over, hands on her knees, and laughed. It’s just a bird.

Where’d you come from, little guy? The bird was scruffy and jet black, but small. She figured he had to be about half-grown at most. He cocked his head as if pondering her question, then turned and hopped back into the tiniest bedroom. She followed him, fear abandoned for the moment. She stepped across the threshold into the bedroom and instantly wished she hadn’t. Dani groaned. Dim moonlight was streaming into the tiny room, but not just from the two windows. No, her little bird visitor had flitted up to a hole the size of her head in the upper part of the wall in the corner of the room. 

No, she groaned. She’d been planning to leave the smallest bedroom for last, if at all. It had surely been the room Jilly had planned for a nursery and since Dani had no plans for kids, she wasn’t sure what to do with it. She’d also been concerned that doing anything to it might offend Jilly. Now, she’d have to do at least some work, so she might as well redo the room. The thought sent chills down her spine. Ridiculous. Jilly is gone and even if she wasn’t, it’s my house now. Dani stood a little straighter. My house. The small bird squawked again and Dani shooed him out through the hole. She examined the hole. It appeared to be the result of a combination of water damage pulling the plaster down and mice working at the lath and siding. She eyeballed the size of the hole and resolved to check the shed in the morning for something to nail over the hole until she could get a more permanent repair in place. 

After morning chores, Dani surveyed the scraps leaning against the shed’s interior walls. Most were far bigger than she needed, and she had yet to purchase her own circular saw. She began pulling the larger pieces back from the wall, peeking behind them in hopes of finding a smaller patch for the wall. Two mice and countless spiders later, Dani had to admit defeat. Nothing in the shed would work without being cut