Mrs. Hudson’s Story

I met Mrs. Hudson because of Jimmy. I’d seen her house a dozen times with boards covering the windows and the paint slowly but surely fading away, and I had thought that it was just some old house that no one wanted anymore.

I was wrong.

Jimmy and I were walking down the sidewalk past the high school where he’d just been attending class all day and we’d decided we were going to take a stroll for a little while and just have a nice chat alone.

“Hey Jimmy, why hasn’t anyone bought that house or at least torn it down?” I asked, gesturing up the hill to the house that sat all by itself in it’s own little corner of the town.

Jimmy laughed, “Vi, someone lives in that house”.

I grimaced at him, glancing back to the shackled remnants of the house, “Are you sure? Everything looks pretty dead to me”.

Jimmy rolled his big green eyes, taking my hand and leading me up to the front door that was covered in dust and old bug carcasses.

He knocked on it soflty.

I glanced over at him but he seemed completely calm.

“Who is it?” a voice so small that I barely heard it came from inside.

“It’s Jimmy Wilder Mrs. Hudson, I’ve brought a friend with me too, she’s new to town”.

The woman slowly opened the door, peeking out at us with one eye.

“James?”

Jimmy grinned at her, “I thought I’d stop by with my friend Violet, she’s living with her father this summer, he’s my neighbor”.

The woman nodded and stood back while Jimmy let himself inside, pulling me along with him.

I was actually shocked at how clean her house was, I thought the inside would be as bad as the outside, but really it’s rather nice. The walls were painted a plain beige and there were pictures of some pretty young lady with a handsome man standing at a beach sitting on a glass table in the living room.

Jimmy and I sat down on the couch while the old lady fumbled around in the kitchen.

“Whose the people in the picture?” I whispered to him.

“That’s Mrs. Hudson’s husband. He died aroudn five years ago and ever since then she hasnt left this house. I bring her groceries and help her pay bills all the time but she doesn’t leave. I’m the only person she lets in the house”, he shrugged.

“She let me in”, I pointed out.

He smiled, “she must like you”.

Mrs. Hudson came back into the room carrying a small plate of finger sandwiches and two large glasses of lemonade. I noticed she didn’t get anything for herself.

“help yourselves” she mumbled to her hands as she folded them in her lap.

I looked Mrs. Hudson over carefully. I could tell that maybe, just maybe, she had once been that smiling bright young woman standing on the beach, but as I looked at her sitting right in front of me, it was as if every trace of that woman had been erased and in her place was a ghost of her and every now and then when I’d catch her irridescant grey eyes I’d get a flash of that young woman, just a glance at her, but then she was gone, and the ghost was all that was left.

“Thanks”, Jimmy dug right in but my hands stayed tucked under my thighs.

“I have the list for you in the kitchen, James”, Mrs. Hudson didn’t make any noise and she stood up and shuffled into the kitchen.

Jimmy cringed, “she’s not all too friendly”.

“I noticed”.

Mrs. Hudson came back, handing a small slip of paper to Jimmy who jammed it into his pockets.

“She’s pretty”, Mrs. Hudson said quietly.

Jimmy grinned at me, “her names Violet”.

Mrs. Hudson sucked in her breath like she had just seen a ghost, but said nothing.

Jimmy just looked over at me with a proud expression.

“Mrs. Hudson, would you like us to come visit you again tomorrow?” Jimmy asked.

She nodded, “bring the girl”.

I knew she was talking about me but I just wasn’t sure if I liked being talked about as if I weren’t even in the room.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow after school then”, Jimmy got up, gesturing for me to follow him.

I got up quicky, something about that place gave me the chills and I was more then happy to be rid of the place.

“you’ll come back with me, right?” Jimmy asked when we were going down the sidewalk toward the library.

I hesitated, part of me was so intrigued by Mrs. Hudson and her old house, but another part of me wanted to steer clear of her; like I was afraid of her.

“yes”, I told him, my curiosity being overruled by my logic.

He grinned, leaning down and kissing me on the cheek like he had just won a grammy.

“Thanks Vi”.

I grinned meekly. Even though I wasn’t sure about going back to see Mrs. Hudson or her creepy house, I was glad that I could make Jimmy smile just like he had when we were children together.

I took his hand as we walked down the sidewalk, pausing for a moment to look back at Mrs. Hudson’s house. I couldn’t be positive, but I thought that maybe I saw someone peeking through the screen on the front door.

Maybe it was just a ghost.