<span style="color: #FFFF00">"I really don't like this,"</span>a man was telling his family in a house at the small town of Sharnwick. He was sitting with his wife and daughter in the living room. His wife was half watching her daughter while she listened to the man, and the girl had her cat in her arms and was spending some time with the animal.<span style="color: #FFFF00">"I went to Mr. Allerton's house to repaint the walls, and that place looks so... eerie."</span><br/><br/><span style="color: #FFFF00">"How so, dad?"</span>The girl dared to ask. She had heard rumors, of course. Everyone had. But nobody really went to the house unless they had a very important reason to be there. Other than the town doctor and people who provided some sort of service - which was the case with her father -, nobody really wanted to get anywhere near that house. Of course this was not the case for young Esther. She was the only child of Jonah and Margareth Baker, and had always been somewhat<span style="font-style: italic">unusual</span>.<br/><br/>While the other children and other people in general feared the rumors about the Allertons, Esther was curious about them. There were other things as well. She was strange indeed, according to her mother. Sometimes, she claimed to see things that weren't there. Other times, she went into some sort of trance and started... saying things. Unsettling things, things she was not supposed to know. It was still her voice, but her demeanor changed drastically, as though someone else was speaking through her. Her father had discreetly taken the girl to a doctor out of town, thinking there should be something wrong with her. Much to his surprise, there was nothing wrong with the girl. She was healthy and normal, and yet, she continued to act in those strange ways every now and then.<br/><br/>Now in her early twenties, Esther was still the same. She was an intelligent girl and a good daughter, helping her mother around the house. She was also a good neighbor, trying to help whenever she could, even if she knew people said things behind her back. If she minded, she didn't say she did. Deep down inside, it did hurt the girl, but she pretended it didn't, and carried on through life acting cheerful and kind to everyone. At least while she was herself. When those things happened to her and she wasn't herself, her tongue was a lot less tame, and she would criticize her neighbors harshly for the treatment given to the girl.<br/><br/>Now, though, Esther was herself, and the only feeling she had was concern for her neighbors.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FFFF00">"They are all sick, but it's impossible to know what it is. Every doctor they have seen has said there is no illness to speak of, but they are all wasting away - and there is some odd feeling about the house."</span><br/><br/>The women shook their heads.<span style="color: #FFFF00">"Poor people. Should we do something for them, Jonah?"</span>The mother asked, worried and feeling her heart ache for those poor people.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FFFF00">"What can we do?"</span>The man shook his head.<span style="color: #FFFF00">"If the doctors can't help them, I doubt we will be able to."</span><br/><br/>The woman shrugged.<span style="color: #FFFF00">"Something nice, like taking them a meal, or something of the sort."</span><br/><br/><span style="color: #FFFF00">"I can go, mom,"</span>Esther offered with the expression she usually had when she was curious about something.<br/><br/>Jonah sighed. He knew his daughter well enough to know that he couldn't stop his daughter.<span style="color: #FFFF00">"Very well. Don't be long. And don't get into the house. We don't know what is happening there, and I don't want you to get sick."</span><br/><br/>Esther showed a bright smile.<span style="color: #FFFF00">"Yes, dad, I promise."</span>She was already placing the cat on the floor and jumping to her feet as she spoke. In no time, the girl was out of the house with a pot of stew in her hands, wrapped carefully so it wouldn't spill. She was so focused on her mission that she didn't note two things - one, that there was a new person in town, and two, that people were talking about her behind her back.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FFFF00">"There goes <span style="font-style: italic">that girl</span>,"</span>said one.<span style="color: #FFFF00">"I wonder where she's going,"</span>another remarked.<span style="color: #FFFF00">"Maybe to that cursed house,"</span>someone added.<span style="color: #FFFF00">"She <span style="font-style: italic">does</span> like strange things,"</span>another agreed. Whatever it was about the woman, it was pretty clear she was sort of famous - or infamous - around the town.