The House Which Wasn't Haunted by Purple Mark

 

With fears so vague and suspicions depending

upon small points, the very horror lies in

my situation: the House itself.

It is not that the House is haunted, which spoils the ghostliness of it,

but there is something strange about the House that I can feel.

It is in a village that has been abandoned

by the peasants for fear of Revenants

either of real or imagined pasts.

If I were of better means or had other options,

I would move away from the shadows that fall

almost imperceptibly awry,

too many shadows which have no source in anything visible, but as it is I am

forced to exist

with these uneasy intangibilities.

Were it Ghosts, I might have at least something

with which I could talk with, but they

are not even that concrete.

It is more like the House is at the center

of many worlds and their possibilities,

none of which have made up their minds

as to which will manifest and which will remain

unsatisfied in their hope of existence. It is

a difficult atmosphere to live within its walls.

I feel that I am only barely tolerated by these conditions as if they, not me

were in charge of

the House with its care and maintenance.

If I were not there, it might be that the House

would at least settle into one configuration or other, but for now it both is

and isn’t haunted.

 

---Purple Mark 03/17/12

 
 
 

Purple Prompts:                                                                         

All from The Oxford Book Of Gothic Tales edited by Chris Baldick, Oxford University Press 1992.

1. “The very horror of my situation lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions depend so entirely upon small points.” Arthur Conan Doyle. The Adventure of the Speckled Band, page 266.
2. “That spoils my ghostliness, I am afraid, but I don’t care - there is something strange about the house - I can feel it.” Charlotte Perkins Stetson. The Yellow Wall-Paper, page 250.
3. “At last the revenants became so troublesome the peasants abandoned the village and it fell solely into the possession of subtle and vindictive inhabitants who manifest their presences by shadows that fall almost imperceptibly awry, too many shadows that have no source in anything visible.” Angela Carter. The Lady of the House of Love, page 483.