The moment Yasmine escaped the city on the freeway, it felt like a weight had been lifted off of her. With her entire life crammed into the back of her sedan, she was off to greener pastures. Unable to keep the smile off her face, she turned up the music she was playing and loudly sang along. It was a guilty pleasure of hers. She had no idea if she was any good but enjoyed it nonetheless.

The drive was long and boring. Aside from stopping for gas and a bathroom break, there wasn’t much else to do. So when she finally saw the sign for the Tannehill city limits, her excitement returned in full force.

“I’m here!” Yasmine squealed in giddy excitement as she looked around. There was not a building in sight that stood more than a few stories tall. Lots of pastures and fields of produce lined the highway on both sides. The original purpose of Tannehill was to be a housing community for the dozens of massive farms that surrounded it. But it had grown so much in the last few decades, blooming into a wonderful small town with tight knit communities. Being as shy as she was, she wasn’t really looking to be a big part of that community, but she liked the idea of the small part.

Turning off the highway and heading into town, she checked her phone and made sure she was heading in the right direction. Driving through the main street of the town, she gawked at all the small shops lining the streets. She was almost certain she didn’t spot a single brand name among them. It seemed that the heart of the city was reserved for only locally owned businesses. The largest building on it was a farm supply shop that had a few new tractors and mowers out front. She could feel her heart beating hard in her chest, but this time, it was because she couldn’t help but find everything so perfect.

As she continued onwards, she did spot a few fast food and restaurant chains. All hanging signs proudly touting some form of “locally owned and operated franchise”. It seemed to be a really big deal around here to keep things local. She wondered how hard it would be to actually move here from the city if she didn’t inherit her grandfather’s home. She still held a lot of guilt about receiving it after not visiting him for so long. Her excitement died down a little as she let herself wallow in her momentary sadness.

At long last, she took a turn down a short paved road and arrived at a rather quaint two bed, one bath modular home. It was nothing impressive, but it was still twice as big as the tiny apartment she lived in before. Everything looked surprisingly neat outside, as if someone had made sure to keep the outside walkway free from fallen foliage. She wondered if Grandpa had someone who came by and cleaned up every so often. That was just fine with her, though she wondered how long that would last. She had no experience with yard maintenance. Growing up in the city, she had never even had a yard.

She parked her car near the front door and stepped out, taking a deep breath. For the first time in what felt like forever, it felt like she could actually breathe. Her face flushed with overwhelming happiness as she took in what would be the launch pad of the rest of her life.

“Thank you, grandpa… Thank you so much.” Yasmine whispered, sniffing a little, wiping away a tear of happiness.

“Right, let's get to work!” she said excitedly, holding the key to the front door of the home tightly in her fist. She looked up at the front door, which was up a small ramp and past a neatly kept patio. Without further hesitation, she quickly walked up to the front door, unlocked it, and pushed it open. Inside, she found a very simple living room, a small couch, and a large comfy looking recliner facing an ancient TV that had all manner of cables and boxes attached to it to make it work with modern technology. It made her laugh softly as she started her walkthrough of the home.

But as she took her first step inside, she felt a sudden shiver shoot up her spine. Her arms broke out in goose pimples, and her hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Her head shot from left to right, trying to seek out the source of the feeling, but there was nothing. When she dared to take another step inside, the feeling suddenly vanished, like it had never been there in the first place.

“What the hell was that?!” Yasmine complained to herself, trying to figure out just what had happened. After spending another minute or two looking around, he decided she couldn’t justify standing there anymore.

“Get over yourself. It’s just an empty house. Stop being a chicken,” she admonished herself aloud before she continued into the abandoned home. As she looked around, she noticed something very strange. Though the home had been empty for almost half a year, everything was spotless. No dust covered furniture, no musky odors or signs that pests had come in. Looking around, she found it was the same in every room, like someone had deep cleaned it before she showed up.

The only answer was that someone had been hired to clean the place before she moved in. But the only people who knew she was coming today were her parents and her former roommate. And there was a better chance of getting struck by lightning than her former roommate hiring a cleaning company on her behalf. That's when she remembered she needed to call her worry wart of a mother and let her know she was still alive and didn’t get run off the road by some crazed drunk driver.

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Yasmine pulled out her phone and quickly tapped her mother’s number. She put the phone to her ear, and her mother answered almost immediately.

“Yasmine, what took you so long to call!? You should have arrived at least half an hour ago. Did something happen? Are you okay?!” Her mother’s slight middle eastern accent came through in the panic.

“I’m fine, Mom. I just had to stop for gas, and there was a little traffic on the way. It’s not a big deal,” Yasmine said with a soft sigh.

“Well, you should have told me you were running behind. Your father and I have been worried sick!”

Her mother loved to lump her father in with her freakouts. Like it somehow made it more meaningful if both of them were worried. But Yasmine knew her father trusted her to make the right decisions and be safe. She’d always been a daddy's girl, and it drove her mother mad half the time.

“Yeah, well, you said not to use my phone while driving, soooo. But anyway, I wanted to ask you something, actually. Did you guys hire a company to come clean Grandpa’s house before I moved in?”

There was a small moment of silence before her mother responded.

“No, I didn’t, at least. I can check with your father, but I don’t think he did either. You have the only spare key, so there wasn’t really a possibility of getting cleaners in there, anyway. You should make a copy as soon as possible so you don't get locked out as well. Is it pretty bad in there? Do you need us to get one for you, sweetie? ” she offered. Yasmine's parents were quite well off. They supported her through college and paid her part of the rent for the apartment while she looked for a job.

“I will get one soon, and no… I mean, I will take care of it. I still have some money saved up from graduation that I can use to get set up. I will be fine.”

Though learning that she had the only key to the place filled her with a bit of anxiety, she didn’t want to get her mom all riled up and insist she come back. There was no way she could go back now.

“Well, just let us know if we can help, Yazzie. Having my little girl so far away worries me. And you living alone is just-”

“Mom, again, I am not a kid anymore. I promise I will be fine, I gotta start getting my stuff unloaded so I will call you again tonight, okay? I love you,” Yasmine interrupted her, letting her mother say her goodbyes before hanging up.

If no one had come to clean up the place, then just how was everything so immaculate? She didn’t feel the same worrying sensation when she walked in, so she continued to check out the rooms. Finding the master bedroom, all the blankets and sheets had been stripped off the bed. All the photos and knickknacks that had been in a display cabinet had been packed up and put into storage long before she arrived. The room was bare bones, to say the least, which was fine for her since it meant she could decorate it herself.

Yasmine decided that she would take the home's cleanliness as a blessing, as she wouldn’t have to spend hours dusting and cleaning everything up. However, the neat freak side of her lamented at the loss of that wonderful feeling of seeing everything sparkle after she was done. So, she walked back outside and started to haul boxes in from the car, setting everything down in the living room to sort out.

It took a good half hour to get everything out of her car and into the house. She wiped the sweat from her brow after setting down the last box that held her mineral collection in it. As she looked at all the boxes on the floor, she noticed something strange. A few of the boxes had been opened. She was certain that she hadn’t been the one to open them, either.

“Did they accidentally pop open by themselves? How could that be, though? I had them taped shut?” Her thoughts tried to process just how they could have been opened, but there was no logical explanation she could come up with. Yasmine looked around the living room again. There was something very, very wrong going on here, and her gut instinct was screaming at her to do… something.

“H-hello?” she called out tentatively, praying that no one would answer. If someone had been hiding in the home somewhere, she just knew that she would never be able to live in this house. Her dream life would be ruined, and she would have to go back to the city. So she begged that no one was there, that no one had already broken the sanctity of her new home.

After waiting a few long minutes, there had been no response. Yasmine let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding. She shook her head and closed her eyes, trying to calm down.

“Of course no one is there. Get a hold of yourself, Yasmine,” she once again admonished herself for being paranoid.

“Yasmine?” A voice that was not her own suddenly spoke out, and the same feeling she got when she first stepped into the home shot through her once more. The short statured girl slowly turned her head towards where she had heard the voice coming from. Her eyes widened in abject horror. But there was nothing there… that she could see.

“Are you really Yasmine Roberts?” The disembodied voice spoke once more, and Yasmine screamed louder than even she thought possible.