Payton Cruz was an ambitious twenty-five year old writer from New York. She was well established in her career and decided it was time for a life-style change. She loved New York. That’s where her family and friends were, but she was tired of the excitement of the city and desired more tranquil surroundings. That’s where she was headed now.
     It’s a cold fall day. A slight haze hangs in the atmosphere as if invisible threads from the clouds above suspended it. It’s the type of day where all you want to do is curl up on the couch with the wool afghan your grandma made with a cup of hot cocoa and waste the day away reading your favorite book. That’s not what Payton Cruz had in mind.
     The road began to wind and curve, she knew it wouldn’t be long till she heard the sound of the moving truck’s tires leave the paved road and hit the gravel driveway. The thought of that sound, the sound of home sweet home, filled her stomach with a large mass of excitement. She had been looking forward to this day for a long time and a part of her couldn’t believe it was happening. She thought that they would never make it. The drive seemed to stretch over years of time like it was passing in slow motion. The anticipation grew as she thought about how today was the first day of a new life in a new place.
     Finally, they reached the driveway. She stepped out of her car, leaned against the hood and stared in awe at her new house like a tourist looking at Buckingham Palace. Her house wasn’t a palace, but it was perfect to her. She remembered when she first saw the house. She had fallen in love with its charm and warmth. It was a log cabin style house surrounded by evergreens. There was a small pond in the back yard and a great place to start a garden. On the inside the kitchen was in the center of the house. In the front the living room and around back a living room with a fireplace and a large sliding glass door that looked out on the pond. A winding staircase led upstairs to the second story, which contained a master bedroom and guest room. The house just seemed to pull her in. It was everything she wanted. She walked up onto the porch and instructed the movers where to place the furniture.
     After the movers left she begins to unpack her things. Then she hears a knock at the door. She has no idea who it could be. Cautiously, she peers through the peephole. As she peers out she sees three middle-aged women standing on her front porch with baking dishes.
     “Wow, news travels fast around here,” she said to herself, “it must be the neighbors.” She opens the door and is greeted by three cheesy smiles.
     “Well, hello!” exclaimed the short pudgy women, “I am Mrs. Thompson and this is Mrs. Davis and Mrs. Samuels.” She was referring to the other two women. Both were tall and slender. One looked like she just walked out of a “Land’s End” catalog the other; however, had square rimmed glasses and looked like she hadn’t seen the sun in ages.
     “Well it’s very nice to meet you all. I am Payton Cruz,” she said still quite taken back by the company she had so suddenly received.
     “We just stopped by to introduce ourselves. I live across the way, Mrs. Davis lives to your left, and Mrs. Samuels is located to the right,” Mrs. Thomas said. “We are all so happy to welcome you to Mirage. We all baked you something to make moving a little bit easier.
     “Would you all like to come inside and have a cup of coffee?” asked Payton. She knew they would say yes. She could tell they were the type of women that liked to get involved in everyone’s business except their own and she figured they were dying to come inside so she might as well put them out of their misery.
     Inside the ladies sat down at the newly placed kitchen table, while Payton dug out the coffee and coffee pot from the bottom of a box.
     “You know we were all quite surprised to find out that someone was moving in here,” said Mrs. Davis.
     “Really. Why is that?” asked Payton peering over a tower of boxes from the kitchen into the dining room. “I thought that this place was just perfect.”
     “Well we weren’t going to say anything because we don’t want to alarm you or anything, but people have died here. They found the last owner dead in the living room and a few years before they found a man floating face down in the pond,” said Mrs. Samuels.
     “Yes, he drowned while swimming,” added Mrs. Thompson. “People worry that the spirits still live here. I think that’s why no one local bought it.” Payton dismissed that idea and focused on drinking her coffee.
     After coffee Payton let herself collapse on the couch in the living room that was still covered in plastic. It crunched and squeaked with her every move. She let out a sigh of relief. She was so happy that they were gone. They had exhausted her mentally. Her mind felt like it was spinning with useless information. She not only heard about the history of the house, but the family history of each of her new found neighbors and the names of their single sons. She felt that it was kind of strange to be living in a house where people had died, but she wasn’t really worried about it. She wasn’t a superstitious person or anything like that, Payton decided to go into town to clear her head. She knew a venture would make her feel better. As she passed the window she noticed a man sitting in the pier by the pond. She would meet him later she thought and left before anyone else decided to come to the door.
     Once in town she parked her car and browsed the windows of the quaint little shops that lined the street. She strolled along the sidewalk at a leisurely pace taking in her new surroundings. She took a deep breath and inhaled the sweet smell from a nearby bakery. At one of the stores she stopped to admire a display of antiques that was set up in one of the windows when she noticed a pet store next door. She peered into the glass squinting her eyes to cut down on the glare. Inside she saw a lonesome ball of fluff curled next to a sign that said free puppies. Maybe a little companion wouldn’t be a bad idea she thought. After all, the puppy looked like it needed a friend and so did she. Five minutes later she walked out of the shop with the puppy in her arms and a plastic bag of puppy essentials dangling from her wrist.
     A week later everything had gone smoothly. The boxes were unpacked and the puppy, which she named Lottie, was settled in. She had also met the man by the pond and had hired him to chop wood for her. His name was Lars Whitney. He was a true gentleman and she had to admit that she thought he was quite handsome and very gentleman like. He was your typical tall dark and handsome type of man. He was about 6’4” with wavy dark hair, mesmerizing blue eyes, and chiseled features. The only thing that was strange about him was that he was quite afraid of Lottie and she hated him. She went insane whenever he was around.
     Then things started to change. One night while Payton was sleeping she had a dream. It was the kind of dream that just seems so real and is tattooed on your memory. In her dream there was a ghostly woman draped in a long flowing white satin gown with a pale face and no eyes. Her eyes were like two round endless black holes.
     “Don’t look out the window,” cooed the voice. “He is out there. He will get you too.”
     Payton awoke with a start. Her body felt paralyzed and she was covered in cold sweat. She lay perfectly still in her bed staring and blinking at the ceiling. She refused to turn her head to look out the window.
     “Could someone really be watching me?” she thought. The moonlight streamed through the window casting light upon her bed but its perfect rays were interrupted by something. In the place of the moon’s rays was a shadow, like a silhouette, that gave the illusion that something was hovering outside her window.
     The next morning she awoke exhausted. It had been impossible for her to get back to sleep the night before. She tried to make sense of it all.
     “Maybe I just have an over active imagination,” she said to herself. “It was probably an animal at the window.” She thought this over and over again until her mind accepted it as the truth. Suddenly Lottie barking hysterically startled her. She ran outside to see what was wrong. Lottie was barking and snarling outside her bedroom window at a blood red rose that had bloomed there. The sight of it gave her chills and a paranoid feeling started to form in the pit of her stomach. It was odd to have roses blooming at this time of year.
     Over the next few weeks the lady ghost repeatedly came to visit her subconsciously. Each time she sent her some type of warning about Him. Every now and then Payton swore she’d caught glimpses of her out of the corner of her eye standing in the house from time to time. She now was quite convinced that there were other people in the house outside of the eating and breathing type. She had only met one, but something inside told her that wasn’t the only one. Red roses began to appear more often. Not only ones on the outside of the house, but inside too. They were beautiful, but the sight of them made her uneasy inside. She wanted some answers and she knew exactly who would have them.
     That afternoon she found herself standing on Mrs. Davis’ porch. She never thought she’d find herself here. Payton rang the doorbell. She could hear its song echo throughout the house and saw the tall woman scurry down the stairs to answer the door.
     “Well hello Payton,” said Mrs. Davis, “It’s so nice to see you. You look a little but stressed is everything alright?”
     “Yes, everything is fine. I have come to ask about the previous owner of my house,” said Payton. “Do you know anything about her?”
     “Well it was really quite strange, “ said Mrs. Davis with a distressed look, “They just found her dead on the floor. They never figured out the cause of death. It was like the life was just sucked right out of her. They think she might have been murdered, but everything was locked from the inside and nothing was disturbed. I think her name was Veronica. Would you like to see a picture of her?”
     Payton nodded and tried to prepare herself for what she was about to see. Despite her efforts however, she almost fainted when she saw the picture. Her head began to spin with images from her dreams from the nights before.
     Back at home she just sat on the couch staring at the empty fireplace. That reminded her that Lars was coming to chop wood for her tomorrow. The thought of seeing him again made her relax a little. She lay back on the couch and began to doze off. Suddenly she heard something. It sounded like someone was whispering her name. She pinched herself to make sure she was awake.
     “Payton…Payton,” said the voice. It was calling to her. It was a woman’s voice. The voice echoed through the house with each repetition like she was in a cave. Payton was terrified. She laid on the couch perfectly still her body stiff and tense. She wasn’t dreaming this time; it was real.
     “Veronica, is that you?” she asked. The lump in her throat prevented her from talking above a whisper.
     “He watches you Payton,” said Veronica.
     “Who watches me?” asked Payton.
     “He loves you and he will kill you like he killed me. Then he will have you for himself,” warned Veronica. “You should leave.”
     “Who are you talking about?” whispered Payton.
     “Shhh…Lawrence will hear you,” scolded the voice. Then it was gone.
     “Who was Lawrence?” thought Payton. She didn’t know anyone by that name, but she wasn’t planning on waiting around to find out. She decided to take Veronica’s advice and planned on leaving the next morning. Until then she had to make herself feel safe. She ran to the door, locked the deadbolt and frantically closed the blinds on the windows. She needed to relax so she decided to take a hot shower.
     Upstairs she locked the bathroom door behind her. She closed her eyes and let the hot water run over her for what seemed like days. The hot water filled the bathroom with moist steam. When she opened her eyes she was surprised to find two handprints pressed into the steamy glass of the shower door. They were probably her own. She stepped out of the shower and stood in front of the sink. With the sleeve of her terrycloth bathrobe she wiped the steam away from the mirror, which revealed the figure of a man standing behind her with a devious grin. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing would come out. She whipped herself around, but he was gone. In his place was a message written on the steamy glass of the shower door, it read: You will be mine. Through death we will be together. She was filled with terror. She knew that face. It looked like Lars, but his face was no longer pleasant. His smile was evil and his blue eyes were now like two black marbles.
     “Lars, Lawrence; Lawrence, Lars. Could they be the same person?” thought Payton. No he wasn’t human, at least not an alive one. At that point it all made sense. Lars had killed Veronica and he was about to do the same to her. She knew she couldn’t kill him yet alone hurt him in any way. She knew she had to get out. She dressed herself and opened the bathroom door into the bedroom. The steam flowed into the room impairing her sight. The room was freezing. She didn’t see him, but she could feel his presence. She ran into the hall and down the stairs. All the blinds were open and the dog was going nuts. She saw her keys on the table.
     He called to her from upstairs, “Don’t be afraid, Payton,” he said in a soothing tone, “You won’t feel a thing.” It was followed by an evil laugh.
     She grabbed Lottie and her car keys and ran for the front door, but she had locked it. She fumbled with her keys trying to unlock it. She could hear him walking towards the top of the stairs. Finally, she got it open and ran to her car. She raced down the driveway towards the main road. She let out a sigh of relief upon her arrival. Then she looked in the rearview mirror and was met by the pair of two black eyes sitting in the back seat. She slammed on the breaks and let out a blood-curdling scream.
     Her car was found the next day on the side of the road. There were no traces of her or her dog. Payton was never seen in Mirage again.