A sudden breeze sent a chill down my spine as the sound of gravel shifting underneath our feet replaced the silence. I tugged on the sleeves of my sweatshirt, trying to get them to go over my fingers to keep them warm. My gaze flickered over to my friends before landing on the house in front of us when we stopped walking.
“So, do we really have to do this?” I pushed my eyebrows up and rubbed my arms quickly as I turned my attention to my friends.
“Are you scared already, Molly?” Kristi grinned towards me and laughed forcibly. “Ha ha ha. C’mon it’s not that bad. It’s just a house. Right, Case?” She prodded at Casey a few times, bringing her back to reality.
“Oh, sorry. What were we talking about? I spaced out a little.” She smiled sheepishly and scratched at her neck.
“Molly says she’s freaked out already and we haven’t even gone up the driveway yet.”
“I never said I was freaked out, this place just gives me the creeps.” I kept my eyes away from the house, but even that didn’t stop me from feeling like we shouldn’t be here.
“Well, if Molly is uncomfortable, then we should just go.” Casey smiled at me and I returned the gesture.
“Sheesh, will you two stop being such sissies? Let’s do this already.” Kristi rubbed her hands together before glancing at Casey and me. “So, whoever gets closest to the door without chickening out wins. Loser is the first one to stop walking, and they get to pay for snacks later. We cool?”
“Yes.” Casey and I answered in unison. I let my eyes travel up the gravel driveway towards the house that was looming over us. No matter how many times I saw it, it never failed to give me the heebee-jeebees. There was just something about the old Victorian standing before me, with it’s peeling paint and decrepit looking structure, that spelled bad news.
It was creepy enough in the daylight, the moonlight upped the creep factor significantly though. The house cast eerie shadows against the dying foliage scattered around it, the gravel driveway looked washed out and bright lit up by the moon-contrasting against the darkness that seemed to just ooze from the house’s moldy coloured walls.
I wasn’t the only one who was afraid of the house either. It had a bit of a bad reputation around town. Supposedly, it’s history was a little bit like a legend around here.
“On the count of three then.” Kristi ran her fingers through her short, icy hair before holding them up to count down. “One, two,” She paused, grinned and continued, “three.” I started carefully, taking my time with my steps. I really did not want to get close to the house at all. I pulled my bottom lip up into my mouth and glanced over at Casey.
She seemed to be fine, walking at a normal pace and most likely zoning out again. She had a habit of doing that a lot. Kristi on the other hand, was practically sprinting towards the house. She was yelling something back at us, but I couldn’t quite make it out. As the distance between the house and myself slowly began to close, my heart beat jumped up a few notches.
The feeling that this house was not a place to be, especially at night, grew in the pit of my stomach and I had to stop walking. I didn’t even care if that meant I’d be buying everyone’s food later. I couldn’t make myself take one more step closer. Casey stopped walking a few moments after I did, to turn and check on me.
“Molly? Are you okay?” I wrapped my arms around myself and nodded. Kristi whistled to get out attention. When the two of us looked over at her, she was standing on the porch doing a ridiculous dance.
“Ha! I win! You guys wussed out so early!”
“You haven’t won yet, Kristi!” Casey yelled back at her, a playful smile on her lips. “You have to actually touch the door!” Kristi fell silent for a moment before looking back at the door behind her.
“Easy peasy!” She turned around and walked right up to the door, slamming her palm flat against it. We were about to congratulate her on her victory when the door gave and pushed open. Kristi fell forward, she had been leaning on the hand she had pressed against the door, and stumbled into the house a little-enveloped by the darkness inside.
I took a few steps forward, keeping my arms wrapped tightly around myself, my eyebrows pushed up in worry. The silence that fell was thick. Casey looked just about as worried as I felt. She started towards the house, but stopped when we heard Kristi scream.
“Kristi?” I inched closer, afraid of what was going on. Kristi walked out of the house shaking her hands frantically in front of her and whining a little.
“Ew, ew, ew. There was a rat and it touched me.” I felt my shoulders slump and my eyes roll quickly.
“That’s not cool at all, Kris.” Casey glared at her. “Okay, I think we’re done here. You got what you came for Kris. You beat both of us, you’re the biggest idiot. Let’s go.”
* * *
Puffs of my visible breath surrounded my face as we waited on the corner of the crosswalk for the walk sign to come on. I stuffed my already frozen fingers into my pockets in hopes of warming them up a bit. Casey was trying to put her hair into a sloppy looking bun on the top of her head, but was having trouble with it. Of course, Kristi was poking fun at her for it.
“Walk sign is on.” The speaker on the crossing button informed us and we hurried across the street. The lights from the convenient store were reflected on some ice that had begun to form on the asphalt of the parking lot. Warm air rushed against my cheeks as the automatic doors whooshed open and we walked in. I immediately felt my body start to thaw. The warmth was almost too much for me, such a drastic temperature change made my cheeks burn.
“Okay, don’t go crazy. I actually don’t have a whole lot of cash on me right now.” I glanced at Kristi, letting her know that was directed towards her. She stuck her tongue out at me and ran off. Casey shook her head and I couldn’t help but smile a little.
“I’m going to go get some of those mini donuts. We’ll meet at the soda, okay?” I nodded and unzipped my sweatshirt a little. The longer I stayed in here, the more it started to feel like an oven. I pushed some of my hair out of my face as I leaned down and grabbed a pack of Skittles from a shelf of candy.
“Well, well. Look who it is.” My shoulders pushed forward and I buried my neck between them. “Fancy seeing you here, kitten.” I raised my eyebrows momentarily and forced a smile as I turned around to face Carson.
“Yeah, imagine that.” I tried to walk away from him and headed towards the aisle where the soda was, but he just followed me.
“So what are you doing out so late?” He somehow wound up right next to me and I stepped to the side to put some space between us.
“It’s not even late. It’s only like ten.” I arched an eyebrow and smirked a little. “What are you doing out? I didn’t think that hermits ever even left their houses.” He reached behind my head and grabbed a soda.
“Oh, I see what that is. You think you’re being funny.” He smiled and tweaked my nose slightly. I swatted at his hand. “That’s adorable.”
“Don’t touch my face.” I covered my nose and narrowed my eyes at him. “And I am a very funny person. My friends tell me all the time.”
“Oh yeah, your friends.” He winked at me and laughed a little.
“Shut up. You’ve met them before. You can’t keep making jokes about me not having friends if you know for a fact that I do have them.”
“Aw, but if I didn’t make jokes about you, you wouldn’t talk to me.” He smiled again, but in a way that made me kind of feel bad. It irked me to see him make a face like that. I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes.
“I talk to you all the time.”
“Only when your mom forces you to.” He got serious for a moment, which shocked me. “It’s okay though. I’d take forced conversations with you over none at all.” My cheeks started to burn again as I looked at him.
“What are you even talking-”
“Sorry that took so long, Molly. I couldn’t decide which ones to get and then I couldn’t find Kris.” Casey glanced up from the donuts in her hand and laughed nervously. “Oh gosh, sorry. Did I just totally cut into your conversation?”
“Hi Carson.” Kristi wiggled her fingers at him. I don’t know how she managed to do that though, her hands were full of candy bars.
“Hey girls.” Carson grinned at them before turning to me again. “Did you guys walk here? I can give you a ride back when you finish up. It’s so cold outside tonight.”
“Oh no, I wouldn’t want to trouble you like that. We can just walk.” I reassured him. “Right, guys?”
* * *
Carson ended up giving us a ride back. He pulled something like, “I feel bad because it’s so cold outside and it wouldn’t be good if you got sick.” on me and my friends didn’t really back me up on the whole walking idea. He hung around outside his car when we got to his house talking to us for a few minutes before he said he had to go.
“Gawd, Carson is so cute.” Kristi stared back over her shoulder at his house as we walked across the lawn to my house. “And he is so into you, Molly.” She socked me playfully in the arm. “I am super jealous of you.”
“Tch, don’t be. Carson is weird.” I furrowed my eyebrows and rolled my eyes.
“Hey, Case, don’t you think that Carson and Molly would make a cute couple?” Kristi prodded at Casey’s side until she gave her an answer.
“Um, I’m not going to say anything. I don’t want Molly to hit me for agreeing with you.” Casey smiled a little and put up her hands defensively. I felt the blood rise in my ears and glared at the both of them.
“Oh my God, knock it off you guys. That’s not even funny.” I smacked Kristi on the shoulder since she was the closest one to me and suppressed a smile. “Just hurry up and get inside before we all turn into Popsicles out here.”
* * *
My eyes scanned over the many shadows dancing on the walls of my bedroom. I remember being dog tired after my friends left, but when I got cozy in my bed, I was wide awake. So, I watched the shadow’s elaborate dance for what felt like hours until I nodded out.
A few minutes later, my eyes shot open as my entire body jerked. I glanced at my clock to see how long I had been asleep. Two hours. ‘Why am I awake? I don’t remember dreaming anything weird…’ I let out a loud breath and sat up. My hair was stuck to the side of my face and back of my neck with sweat.
I hopped out of my bed as quietly as I could, so I wouldn’t wake anyone up and headed towards my window. It was too hot in my room-odd since it was freezing in here earlier. I pushed on the glass until it slid open, a large gush of cool wind blew against my body. Inhaling deeply, my toes inched me closer to the open window.
Clouds acted like a veil for the moon and stars that should have painted the sky. Light pouring down from small holes in the overcast lit up the ground outside. My eyes followed a path made by the light, leading up to the darkened house next door.
Once my eyes made contact with the shrouded manor, a chill shot down my spine. My eyes darted around the room, as a voice whispered in my ear, “Go, you know you want to.” Before I knew it, I was running down the sidewalk and up the gravel drive of the house. Something was pulling me towards the front door, an invisible force pushed me to run faster.
I stopped on the porch and tried to catch my breath. I ran my eyes along the large, wooden door that beckoned me. My legs moved me closer to them, the boards underneath my feet creaking with every step I took.
Hands shaking, my fingers wrapped around the brass knob and turned it slowly. There was a click as the old wooden door began to groan quietly, to swing open. I took a step back and peered into the black hole of the doorway. Another gust of cold wind nudged me towards the opening, causing me to walk in cautiously.
Something was in here, something that was drawing me in, but I didn’t know what it was. One foot after the other, I made my way through a few rooms of the house. The floor boards felt as if they were going to snap underneath my weight and I would fall into an endless abyss of darkness.
I pushed on a door that was ajar and stepped into the room it hid. My breath left my chest as I took in what was in the room. There were tall candles burning in two corners, giving off just enough light to expose the bodies lying on the bed. Blood dampened the sheets, covered the pale, lifeless bodies.
Even though I tried to turn and run, I couldn’t move my feet. The floor seemed to be swelling over them, sucking me down into it. I clawed at the door jam, trying to pull myself back up.
I blinked a few times, to find myself standing in the same spot I was before, staring at an empty room. Confused, I raised my hand to wipe at my eyes.
Blood spilled off my fingertips, falling in large puddles on the floor beneath me. I shook my head and hastily bounded away from the room. I had to get out the house, something wasn’t right there. As I loped through the rooms, I began to get the feeling that I was going the wrong way.
I span around, taking in what I could of where I was. The hallway didn’t look familiar at all. I was lost. Lost in the creepiest house ever, possibly with more dead bodies hidden among the abundance of rooms.
My voice cracked as I called out for help, it echoed through the empty house. I was all alone. Or at least I hoped I was. My feet dragged me down a few more halls, turned me around a few times. Had I been in this hall before? I became hysteric and started to scream for anyone to help me find my way out.
After a few more turns I found myself at the bottom of a flight of stairs. I headed up them, hoping that if I went up I’d be able to see my way out below me. Shakily, I peered over the edge of the banister. The stairs had gone up a bit higher than I thought they would’ve, but I could see the front door from where I stood.
The moon had recently decided to show itself, lighting up the main floor. Covered in moonlight, the house didn’t seem as menacing as it did in the dark. I sighed in relief and relaxed against the banister, leaning on it for support.
“Thank God.” Just as I stood up to head down the stairs, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders. Chills spiked up my spine and my entire body stiffened. I turned my head slowly, to look at who was behind me, and my eyes met a dark figure. His laugh echoed in my head and mixed in with my screams as I fell over the banister. My body hit the floor with a thud, a sharp pang shot through my arm and a slight pain through my entire body.
My eyelids slid open and I glanced around. I was in my room, on my floor. My blankets were wrapped tightly around one of my legs , my pillow shoved between my bed and my back. “A dream?” I untangled myself and sat up slowly.
Sweat dripped down the back of my neck, it stuck my shirt to my body, my hair to my face. I rubbed my arm, accidentally hitting a soft spot where I had bruised from falling off my bed and slamming it on something. As I stood up, my door opened, my mom’s head poked in. Her brow was creased with worry.
“Are you okay, sweetie? I heard a thump.” I rubbed my lower back as I shoved all my bedding back onto my bed.
“Yeah, I just fell off my bed.” I shot her a quick smile, to assure that I was fine, and she slid away. I sat down on the edge of my bed and buried my face in my hands.
