The House on Maple Street
"The House on Maple Street" is a science fiction short story by American writer Stephen King, published in his collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes.The story was inspired by one of the drawings included in the children's book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, by Chris Van Allsburg.They discover that something is growing upwards through the house's walls from below, replacing wood and plaster with metal and machinery, counting down to some cataclysmic event.As the countdown approaches its final minutes, they contrive to lock Lew in his study and leave him to his fate, escaping the house just in time to watch as it raises itself from its foundations and blasts away into the clouds.The story ends with the children waiting on the curb for their mother to return, shaken but glad to be free from Lew's oppressive rule.