We moved into that house in March of '96. Old Victorian place on Sycamore Street, needed work but the price was right. My husband travels a lot for work, sales territory covers most of the Northeast, so he was gone that whole first month we were settling in. Just me and the kids, Emily was seven, Connor was five. I remember being annoyed about doing all the unpacking myself. The basement was unfinished. Concrete floor, exposed beams, that damp smell old basements have. I'd told the kids not to go down there without me. Too many places to trip, rusty nails sticking out of boards, you know how it is. But kids don't listen, you know? They're curious.
It was maybe two weeks after we moved in. I was in the kitchen making lunch when I heard Emily's voice from the basement doorway. She was standing at the top of the stairs, looking down, and she said something like[ 'Hey, how are you?' Real friendly, like she'd found the neighbor's cat or something. I walked over and asked who she was talking to. She looked at me with this completely normal expression and said 'The little people.' Not whispering, not scared. Just matter-of-fact. Like I'd asked her what color the sky was. I looked down the stairs. Nothing there. Just the dim basement, that bare bulb we'd screwed in, shadows from the water heater. I figured she was playing pretend. She had imaginary friends at that age. I told her to come up and wash her hands for lunch.
But then it kept happening. Both kids would go down there and I'd hear them talking, laughing. Connor told me they were playing hide and seek with the little people. Emily said they lived in the walls and came out to play. She described them as being maybe two feet tall, wearing brown clothes that looked old-fashioned. Big eyes, she said. Bigger than normal. I asked what their names were. Emily said one was called Pip and another was called Tess. There were others but those were the main two. She talked about them the way kids talk about real playmates. Specific details. 'Pip likes to stack the old jars' or 'Tess doesn't like loud noises.' The thing is, I never saw them. Not once. And I tried. I'd sneak down when the kids were playing, I'd sit on the stairs and watch. Nothing. But I could hear my kids talking to someone, responding like they were having actual conversations. You can tell when a kid is faking it. This wasn't that.
[ Story continues in the full game... ]