Short Story Review || The House That Stands Over Your Grave (2024)
"A young boy's belief that a house overlooking the graveyard is haunted, realizes more than just fear as he & his friend dare to visit it grounds"
: 🌕 : SPOILER ALERT : 🌕 :
On occasion, an author finds their niche. Reflecting one’s ideas into the written form with enough skill to translate the letters into imagery is an art. I seldom find a story to be wasted or lost on me when I meet such an author on the page. Indeed, although some stories might showcase a visual of a tale that has yet to meet its target reader, I feel reassured & pleased to know that such a story exists & has been penned by the author in question.
“As she jogs away, Lew lets the veneer of confidence drop off his face and takes a moment to stew in his dread.”
During the rumbling sunny summertime, in the early dawn of the warm & humid days ahead of June, I searched for something new. There are so many resources available to readers & I am continuously amazed at the efforts of the folks that drive forward archives where stories can be housed in the virtual world.
I mention this here as it is an important factor in my meeting with the story at hand. Through the web, my friend & I have come across many niche & cutely intriguing tales; some we have adored while others have reminded us of the difference between proper raw talent in writing & the gooey ooze of a malaise of malformed sentences.
It was my turn to shape the reading week ahead & I could not be drawn to choose a title from any of our great friends, the tableau of websites & online journals hosting short stories we have travelled through over the past three years. By the luck of the horror-gods above & beyond coding, I came across PseudoPod. The greenery of the landscape that colours the website caught my eye. In truth, I was a bit apprehensive, but as is the motto of this small reading circle, we began reading the story by Piper.
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In essence, this is a story about grief. The tale follows two young people, Lew & Kennedy, who have troubling home lives. Their youth was shaped by different beasts, but ultimately, their quirks have led them together in a strange friendship that sees them able to live as their authentic selves, unafraid of judgment or teasing.
The reader learns that Kennedy’s family experiences poverty & she seems eager to prove herself harder than the circumstances of her life. Lew has lost his brother, who died in a fluke accident, one that his family has not been able to overcome. On a fateful afternoon, the two decide to venture to the old house on Gray Street & from then on, their fates are decided.
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Returning to the greenery of the webpage, one finds a symbiotic nature between the story & the website. Although I’m sure this might be a fluke, as the team hosts many more stories than only this one, I found the ability offered to wandering readers, such as myself, a welcoming presence. The clear representation of the transcription of the audio portion of what I assume is the podcast itself, eases into a crisp story that is at once odd & yet compatible with the reader who will find it.
A reader who loves horror might gallop to this story due to its title alone; in fact, such an engaging series of words promised me great things. When one enters the narrative, one reflects little on the house as the tyrannous reality of the youth becomes clear. I endeavour to believe that readers of different age ranges may, too, feel the weight of the circumstances that affect Lew & Kennedy.
Although one is given little detail about their personalities or their lives outside of their encounters with one another, this does not hinder the story. Instead, the reader feels that they have been given a glimpse of a chance to meet people whom they will never know. Such a quaint moment, one shadowed by despair, drives home the theme as explored by the young protagonists.
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Describing my experience with this story is something I approach from an angle. As noted in my introduction, one need not necessarily adore a plot to appreciate the ability of the author to weave reality into their words. Piper’s story fits chiefly into this reflection. That being said, I did enjoy this story. Rather, what I wish to say is that the crux of this story was a visceral experience, although the horror was not.
Perhaps if one experienced the delight of childhood horror stories shared as the night grew calm, one may appreciate what the author has undertaken & succeeded in doing. This is the angle; Piper’s story is creepy & crawly, showcasing the gory dirty monsters of the early hour of modern horror—the likes of which resemble the “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954) & the swamp monster from the film I have yet to remember the title to but which has plagued my brain since I witnessed it as a child.
Such a nostalgic call to early horror & its representation in the modern world realizes a special facet of fear; that which is unescapable & haunting by proxy of its truth among us. I think this is what I appreciated the most.
As Lew & Kennedy wander into the house, the reader recollects the actual horror in the lives of these young people. The loss they have suffered haunts them. Indeed, as the monster from the rotting basement crawls through the clay-structured wall, one cannot help but pull back, recalling that the ground is filled with people who were loved & have been missed since they were buried.
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One cannot fib & ignore the trembling disgust of a rotting goo that wanders soundlessly around the house as Lew & Kennedy try to escape. One cannot ignore the consequences of exposure to the fungi that have been growing in the house. Certainly, if I have made anything clear in my reviews, it is my impossible ability to ignore the pattern of truth. Thankfully, the author has covered that which he might have known readers would harken to. Throughout the tale, it is noted that folks who claim to see ghosts in or around the house are experiencing a hallucination due to chemical exposure to open-secreting mushrooms in such a confined space.
I appreciate how the narrative highlights the various realities & possibilities to explain what the reader has witnessed taking place. Indeed, some readers might find it adequate to note that Lew was devoured by a ghost, while for others, the nature of his crouching in a garden of matured fungi suffices to explain his asthmatic attack. One may still wonder what killed Lew. Did he die because of a broken heart? Was he scared to death? Did Lew need to die?
As per usual, I do not ask these questions in vain or to be teasing. The story presents readers with a situation that is humble in its clear-cut language. Lew is young, he has suffered a loss & feels responsible for his brother’s death. One might believe that Lew died similarly to his brother, who fell out of a tree. The interwoven reality of the matter is that, because each piece of the puzzle was lined up as it was, Lew died.
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Kennedy is left to wander through life knowing that she made the choice to go into the house & her curiosity killed the cat. This is not enough to merit a lifetime of self-inflicted brutality & admonishment. I do wonder what Kennedy will do now that her friend died in her arms, now that she knows the monster from the wall was her friend’s brother. Where does one go when the aftermath of a terrible loss wanders through life with us?
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Ultimately, I found this story to be pleasantly surprising. I do not wish to be condescending, but I had not held out much hope of being thrilled by the little indie story I found. I write to you now with a feeling of gladness, that this very story found me.
As the small-town setting where Lew’s parents live & where Kennedy’s stomach growls, will proceed throughout the days without him, I am left to wonder about the possibility of the mushrooms bringing him back to life. Was the story meant to act as a cautionary tale? Is a reader meant to deduce that Lew’s brother was vengeful?
If revenge is the nature of life, perhaps Lew will never rise again. Maybe on the third anniversary of his passing, he might start to forgive himself for thinking that he deserved the worst because of what happened to someone he loved. I will continue to wonder without hope of a response in the form of an answer.
I should hope to revisit this place on the internet again in future. Perhaps the stories that nestle in the grooves of the wavelength of invisible communication through lines on the floor of the ocean & circling metal in the atmosphere, might yet hold the very cultural phenomena that have kept us going as a species for so long.
If you would like to read this story, please visit this link — « The House That Stands Over Your Grave » by Kyle Piper
C. 💌