Chosen to Stay
The reason the house chose them
When morning came, Emma and Tom decided that they would leave forever.
"If we had known the truth, we would never have signed those papers," Tom said.
It was the low price that had drawn them into the .
If they had listened to Mrs. Doyle, they would have escaped in time.
They packed their bags quickly and hurried toward the heavy front door.
But the door, which had opened so easily before, would not move at all.
It was the house itself that had decided to keep them inside.
"If I had believed the diary sooner, we might already be safe," Emma cried.
Every window had been sealed, as if it had never been made to open.
It was not the fire that held the trapped souls to this place.
It was that had kept them waiting for all these years.
"If those families had been remembered, they would have found peace," Tom said.
On the wall, the names now included Alice, her children, and her husband.
Below them, in fresh ink, were the two names of Emma and Tom.
It was the house that chose the gentle and the hopeful to stay.
"If we had run on the very first night, this would never have happened," Emma whispered.
The cold returned, and with it came the soft sound of many footsteps.
It was , not , that the lonely house had always wanted.
The pale faces gathered slowly, and none of them looked unkind.
"If we stay," Tom said quietly, "perhaps the others will finally rest."
It was their that the house had been searching for all along.
Emma took Tom's hand, and the terrible cold began at last to fade.
If anyone had watched from the street, they would have seen the lights .
The house on Ashby Lane was no longer empty, and no longer cold.
It was peace, in the end, that both the living and the lost had found.
And on the gate, a new sign read: "For sale, cheaper than any other."