The Old Jernigan Place

A microfiction inspired by a photograph I once took

The other neighborhood kids dared me to sneak into the old Jernigan place on the corner. They taunted me in both directions: It’s completely safe! they said, and then No, it's too dangerous!

I didn’t know whom to believe: I’d just moved to this street a couple weeks before.

But I convinced myself my fears were silly… and so then I was almost asleep, there in my sleeping bag in Old Man J’s living room, when the hammering at the windows started—

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Disclosure: While this is indeed “a photo I once took,” it’s actually just a photo of a haunting painting. I never learned the artist’s name; the work of a local artist in Apalachicola, Florida, the painting was just hanging on the wall of a B&B where we stayed a couple times. If anyone recognizes it, I’ll be happy to give full credit for it!