TRACES SPRING 2016 | Page 51

The new kid said his name was Stephen Grimm. He and his parents just moved into the Novarro House this weekend. He told us the story of the house, even though he probably knew we had already heard it a thousand times. The building was designed by the famous Frank Lloyd Wright, but it was better known for it’s history of death. Back in 1968, a silent film actor named Ramon Novarro was beaten to death there by two prostitutes he hired. Everyone who had ever moved into that house told this story to their class, and within at least two weeks they had moved out and left town. Most of us were scared to go into the house, and the rest won’t even walk past it on the sidewalk, but for some reason that house had always intrigued me. I remember mom telling me that she had once seen a sharply dressed man standing in one of the windows but when she blinked again he was gone. Dad had told mom he thought she was crazy and she replied saying she probably was.

Stephen is in English class with me and my friend Richard, so we’ve gotten to know him pretty well. When we asked him if he liked Novarro, he wouldn’t talk about it. We kept bugging him about it and I guess he got fed up with us asking because he won’t talk to us anymore.

“Hey Christian!” Richard ran up behind me just as I was shutting my locker.

“Hey Rich, what’s up, man?”

“I overheard Stephen telling Mr. Slater that he’s not going to be in school tomorrow because his family is going on a trip, and I got this crazy idea. We both want to know what really goes on inside that house, right?”

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Novarro

By: Anna Stowers