I never stopped to think about what happened to me or how I became the Willow until much later. Looking back, I think it’s because somehow, it all seemed very natural from the very beginning. The subtle tingling I got from people going up and down my stairs, the chill that caught my attention whenever someone forgot to close the windows, and even the uncomfortable feeling of a slammed door- even during those first days, nothing surprised me. If anything, it all intrigued me. My attention quickly jumped all around to wherever something happened.

From the loud noises coming from the attic each time Mrs Thingtom went up for clean towels, or getting startled by a baby toy that fell from Anna’s hand as she was playing with little Mel, to turning my attention toward Mr. Mackin’s room, who hadn’t made almost any noises since he arrived, two days prior. He had specifically asked for that room, and I never understood why. The downstairs bedroom was the noisest room in the house and, judging by their brief encounter with Mrs Thingtom, this clearly wasn’t his first visit.

Alice was doing her best to avoid the Petersons, so she was mostly out all day, and when she was at work, she specifically asked Anna to take Mel to her house. It had been days since the Petersons had arrived, and they had barely seen Alice at all. Naturally, Mrs. Thingtom wanted them gone as soon as possible. She couldn’t risk another evening of scandal at the Willow. There was nothing she dreaded more, so as soon as she caught sight of Mrs. Peterson, she went up to her with a friendly smile on her face.

“Mrs. Peterson, how are you today? Any special plans?”

“No, not really. Have you seen Mel today?” She said, eyes wide open, eager for a “Why yes, I did, do you want to see him?”.

“Mrs. Peterson, if I may… I don’t know Alice all that well, but the little that I do know… Is that her son is everything to her. Now, don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t mind her leaving on account of her scandalous marital status, but I won’t be the one inviting her to leave. Before throwing out a hard-working, loving, single mother, I’d rather insist you think about what you want here and decide what you want to do. She’ll never allow you to be anywhere close to Mel, and if you’re being honest with yourself, you wouldn’t, either. I know I wouldn’t.”

Mrs. Thingtom had one goal: get things back to normal where there wasn’t the imminent risk of a couple of women yelling in her hallway, scaring off guests. Contrary to her attitude toward Alice, she was honest when she told Mrs. Peterson that she didn’t want to throw Alice out. She secretly had a lot of affection for Mel. He was too cute! Even I saw that.

With Mrs Thingtom plotting away, Mrs. Peterson weighing out her options, and Alice running around between work and taking care of Mel, nobody noticed Mr. Mackin silently slipping in and out of his room, gently closing the door behind him so that nobody would hear him. Then again, considering he was just barely taller than Mrs. Thingtom, had a slim frame, and ordinary features, no wonder nobody noticed him around the house. He would need bells and whistles, to say the least…

“It’s alright. They’re all busy.” He whispered to himself each time he returned to his room, back against the door, one hand on the knob making sure it’s locked and the other on his chest, trying to bring his breath down.

Ever since I first saw him do that, I started cracking open a few windows, hoping his bad energy would slip outside. That day, it coincided with Alice arriving with Mel. As soon as she walked through the door, she started looking around for the Petersons. Instead, she came across Mrs. Thingtom.

“Alice, how are you? Oh, look at little Mel, he has a new teddy bear.”

“Yes, well, whenever I get my check, I get him a little something… It’s our small family celebration for yet another month that passed, and things are alright. I have the rent as well.”

“Good, good. Here, I have something for you. The Petersons… They left this morning… They wanted me to give you this.”

“It’s a letter… And a check…” Her voice kept going up from the surprise of it all. “They went back home… and left an address in case we ever want to visit… Which…”

“Alice, I don’t know them, and I barely know you, clearly, but sometimes, people realize that whatever they lost is lost and in the past… But whatever they still have, they should hold onto. I know you probably think you’ll never want to see them again but if you do, it will be clearly on your terms so there’s no danger anymore. Just some grandparents without a grandson and a grandson without grandparents. Take your time. But don’t throw away the address. Or the check…” She winked and rushed back to the kitchen.

It might have been the fresh air, or maybe things were just falling into place, but as Mrs Thingtom left the room, and Alice went up with Mel imagining him at Christmas time surrounded by his loving grandparents, the atmosphere slowly shifted from tense to relaxed. A family was to be reunited at some point, Alice was finally safe, and Mrs. Thingtom would go back to ruling the Willow with an iron fist. It was the perfect end to an intense first month, although deep down, I knew Alice and Mel would soon leave, and I wasn’t too happy about that. Even to this day, whenever I think about him and his Wake up Cry, a warm feeling takes over me.

Wait, what was that… Why is Anna sneaking into Mr. Mackin’ room? And why was he scratching my walls with a shaving knife? Soon I would learn what it means to underestimate someone…