The Old House

The Old House

~A Ghost Story~

There once was a house at the end of the road. Now, it was a strange old house that the local children had been warned not to enter or even go near. They were told it was haunted, but did not know why. No one ever gave them a reason. No one ever saw anyone go in and out; no one ever saw anything looking out the windows.

It was just an old house with broken out windows and the front porch steps in need of repair. The wooden exterior was in grave need of a fresh coat of paint. In fact, there were entire sections of the house completely rotted away. In the few windows that remained, the trees knocked their branches against it, making it seem as if someone was begging to be let in. Through an opening in the attic, bats flew in out of the house, screaming their songs.

The town had talked about tearing it done, but no one wanted to get close to it. They said there was something off about it, like there was something there that was trying to drive them away. Now, when questioned about it, no one seemed to have any answers. Yet, each time another person went up to it, they found themselves quickly hurrying away.

Now, I’d heard the legends and myths, but there was just something about it that made me keep coming back to it. It would stand in the clearing on the other side of the road just staring at it. I didn’t dare cross the little dirt road and enter the half-dead, mostly brush yard.

I don’t know why I couldn’t make myself step onto the nearly dirt road with just a few rocks scattered here and there. In the daylight, it didn’t look that bad. It just needed so love and attention. I didn’t see the point in tearing it down. It had good bones, like it could be restored to whatever former glory it had.

A crow landed on the roof, staring right down at me. Its black features were a stark contrast against the early evening light. I leaned forward on my bike, getting as close to the road as I dared. The crow watched my movements, not moving. I could feel its gaze on me, as if it were daring me to cross the road and step onto the yard.

I studied the house, feeling the stillness in the air. It was like the calm before a thunder storm, only without the threat of rain. It was the eerily feeling of having someone watch you, but every time you turned to look, there was no one there. I couldn’t help but to try to shake the feelings of uncertainly, but I just couldn’t. There was just something that was urging me run.

The thing about it was, I really did want to do it. I really wanted to run.

I gave the house one final look before turning and riding away. I wasn’t giving up on the house by any means. I most certainly would be back.

“Come....Come...”

I stopped my bike and turned back to the house. There was nothing there, but I was certain I had heard something. The voice had sounded so far away, but I was certain that it had been there.

I was just getting ready to get back on my bike, when I heard it again.

“Come...Come...Enter....Don’t be afraid....”

That time the voice sounded almost like a whisper. I stared at the house. At some point, the crow had disappeared. Even the bugs and the birds had stopped making their calls, leaving me in complete silence. The silence seemed forced, somehow, like it wasn’t supposed to be this quiet.

I expected someone to be standing on the rotten porch or, at least, in the doorway, but, like so many others had said, there was nothing.

The little hairs on the back of my neck were standing up and I could feel my heart was racing. My palms were sweating so much that it was hard for me to keep a grip my bike. The air felt as if the temperature had raised about ten degrees or so. Sweat poured down my brow, threatening to send its stinging wetness into my eyes.

Gasping, I peered even closer at the house. Still, there was nothing, but I could had sworn I saw just a little bit of movement in one of the upstairs windows. However, when I stared at the window, only emptiness greeted me.

What had been keeping everyone out? What had been preventing the house from being torn down? There was something in there and it was calling to me. I just knew it was.

I learned forward. If I went forward anymore, I would actually be on the road. “What do you want from me?” I whispered. “I know you’re there, so there’s no point in trying to hid it.” My eyes flickered over the house, but there was nothing to see.

From down the road, a bit of dust blew, coating my skin; it’s gritty nature entered my mouth, making me gag. I got off my bike and ran into the tree line as more dust blew around me. The wind was starting to pick up, causing more and more debris to be blown around at me. Little tiny needles clung to me, digging into my skin, drawing blood.

The clouds above me starting thickening up and in the distance, I could hear the faint roar of thunder. The moisture in the air rained all around me to the point that I fully expected to feel the wetness on my skin. My hair whipped around me as I stared out.

My bike laid on its side. It’s wheel spun as the wind whipped around it. I listened as the spokes beat against the inside of the wheel. I didn’t know why I didn’t go to my bike, I didn’t know what was keeping me from fleeing from this awful place. All I had to do was rush out there, grab my bike, and peddle away from here. It wasn’t actually that hard.

The wind blew around me, sending more and more sticks tumbling down in my direction. The birds flew over my head, crying out their songs. I watched as they burst out of the trees and the bushes. Their wings flapped hard enough to be heard over the wind. I watched as their bodies became smaller and smaller. I should had joined them. I should had been running away with them.

I looked back at the house. The front door was now open. Now, something that old would not had opened quietly. I stared at it, waiting for someone to come out, but nothing happened. There had to be something going on here that I wasn’t seeing.

“Come on it,” the wind whispered. “Come on and see what I have to give you.”
I took a small step back. Even from my distance, it really did sound like the speaker was just on the other side of the door.

A bolt of lightning cracked above the house. It stretched clear across the sky, the ends were well out of my sight. I looked up at the tree that towered over me. This was probably not the wisest place to be standing. A clap of thunder made the ground beneath my feet shakes. There was no way that I was going to be able to make it home before the storm became worse.

I looked back at the house. Now, that the storm was actually picking up, the house wasn’t looking all that bad. It could be better than just staying out in the storm.

Wait, what was I thinking? There was no way I would be going in there. I don’t know why the thought had entered my mind. It was like there was something up there trying to make me do things against me will.

I felt my feet move beneath me. It wasn’t a big move, but enough to notice that I wasn’t standing in the same place.

More lightning cracked above the house and it was raining just a little bit. The front door was still open, looking more and more inviting. It almost as if it had been opened just for me to enter.

The rain beat against the dust, causing a little bit of mud. It stuck to my shoes like glue. I wasn’t even sure when I started walking. I looked back at my bike, then back at the house.

Closer and closer the house was coming. My mind was telling me to stop, but I couldn’t make myself. It was like my body had completely taken over all of my control. I drug my feet, but they just kept going, leaving behind snake like tracks in my wake.

“Come on...Come...I want to see you....”

I locked my knees, but it didn’t do any good. My body was still being forced forward.

Little by little, the house comes forward. I tried to look back over my shoulder, but every time I moved my neck, it seemed to almost pull back the other way. I didn’t know how, but it was like whatever was pulling me into the house wanted me to look right at it.

The storm was picking up. Small hailstones beat off my skin with such a force that I knew I was going to have bruises. I wanted to move over to the trees, where at least I would be somewhat sheltered and possibly by lightning. At least if I was killed, I would at least regain some kind of control of my body.

Little white faces stared out at me from the edge of the forest. Their unblinking eyes watched my every movement. I gasped as I caught sight of the faces: their eyes didn’t have any pupils. The faces were ageless and perfectly smooth, looking more like a snake’s than a human. Their arms hung limply at their sides as they just watched. The few wisps of hair that they did have blew in the wind. I wanted to scream as a few of them opened their mouths. A circle of teeth and what appeared to a white film covered them. Whenever I opened my mouth, nothing came out.

“Come on....Keep coming...Don’t let my children frighten you.” I looked around. The voice sounded so close, far closer than it had the entire night. I couldn’t see anything, but the front of the house. Now that I was close to it, it did look really scary and old.

Lightning struck the tree close to it. The faces all turned to look at it as a small flame rushed down the tree. I waited for the flame to grow into a full fledged fire, but nothing happened. Whenever I looked at where the flame had been, there was no sign of it.

I shook my head. No! I was certain it had had happened and, yet, there was no sign of it. The faces just looked at me with what seemed to be a look of amusement.

My eyes flickered back over the tree. Its bark remained untouched.

My legs urged me forward again. Now, I was at the bottom of the steps. I looked at them as I was forced to walk closer and closer to them. There was no way that they were going to hold my weight. Most of the steps had been rotted away and what remained was so old looking. A fine layer of black mod covered them, eating away at them.

I tried to stop but my feet somehow found themselves on the bottom step. It gave just a little as I climbed on it, but didn’t break clear through. Up the next one I went, stepping to the side just a little bit to avoid the gaping hole in the centre.

I looked back over my shoulder. The road seemed so far away. I could still see my bike turning helplessly on its side. I just wanted to go back it and forget that this nightmare had even happened. I just wanted to go home.

“Come...Come into my world...I will not hurt you...” It sounded as if the voice was just on the other side of the door. It was almost as if I were to step inside, the speaker would just standing there, waiting to greet me.

My body was forcing me to step onto the porch, which was just as rotted as the steps. The first board I stepped on actually gave beneath my feet. I winced as it cracked. I stepped off it and found myself slowly walking forward. With each step forward, the door seemed to be getting further and further away. It seemed to almost be moving backwards.

“No,” I whispered as a chill surrounded me. “No, I don’t want to go in. I want to stay out here.” Rain dripped on me from an unknown place. I pulled my clothes closer to me. The dampness made them cling to me. It felt as if they were trying to hold me down.

My feet kept on going forward. Even though I locked my knees, my legs still found a way to go forward. It was actually quite a painful walk forward. I would fight, but my body still found a way to move forward.

“Come on, my dear, I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to meet you, that’s all.”

I shook my head, but still my body was urged on. Closer and closer the door came.

My palms were sweaty and shaking. It felt as if heart was going to burst right out of my chest. I had to get out of here. There had to be a way for me to regain some kind of control of my body. There was no way that something like this could make me lose complete control of myself.

I found myself outside the door. I stared inside. Dust and a moldy scent greeted me. I looked in at the moth eaten furniture and the old tables that were covered in a thick layer of dust. Spider webs clung to walls and corners. Dust littered the floor, making it clear that no one had stepped inside the room in a long time.

I could feel the mold filling up my lungs, the foulness of it made me feel somewhat ill. I tried to turn my head, but it felt as if someone had grabbed onto the sides of my head and was forcing me to look straight ahead.

A stillness hung inside the house. It wasn’t death, but it wasn’t far from it. It was just a sense of something being there that didn’t really belong.

There was a tug behind my knees and I found myself actually standing inside the house. The door slammed shut behind me, leaving me in darkness. It took a few minutes for my eyes to adjust, but I could tell that I was alone.

“Hello?” I whispered, my whisper echoed off the empty walls.

Lightning lit up the walls, creating an illusion of eyes watching me. Though the way that my day had been going, there very well could had been eyes watching me. Thunder boomed from the outside, shaking the walls. Dust littered down on me, sticking to my wet clothes.

I walked further into the room, surprised that I was able to actually move about on my own. I probably could had made a move toward the door, but there was something that made me want to look around.

I ran my fingers over the closest table, letting the gritty grooves fill my senses. Above me, the cobwebs danced in an unknown breeze. I listened to the storm outside, which just seemed to beat down on this house, but, yet, it remained outside. I would had thought that given the poor quality of the outside that some of it would had found its way inside.

The house was oddly warm too. It felt as if someone had lit a fire in one of the crumbling fireplaces. My clothes were actually starting to die. I let the warmth race through my body and down into my soul. Ah, it felt so good...It felt like a little bit of heaven.

I looked around. There was no sign of life. The dust on the floor remained undisturbed. No one had been had been, but, yet, I knew I had heard that voice.

The dust actually crunched beneath my feet, making me look to make sure that I was actually walking on dust and not something else. I really was expecting to see bones or some other kind of creepy thing beneath my feet.

“Hello?” I whispered. My small whisper echoed off the walls, making it sound as if I were yelling. “You told me to come in and here I am.” I took a very small step forward. “Are you still there?”
The wind whipped against the house, making the entire thing shake. I looked up at the upper windows as lightning flashed across the cracked glass, creating a brief glance into the shadows.

I gasped as the furthest corner was in plain view of the lightning. There was something sitting there. It didn’t look human, but at the same time, it didn’t look animal. It had fangs, but its face was human looking, with just a little bit more hair. It’s eyes stared right into me as it lowered itself back onto its hunches. I tried to control my breathing as the thing’s mouth turned into a smile, revealing even more sharp, wicked looking teeth. It was almost as if I were looking death in the eye.

Gasping, I tried to move, but my legs had locked themselves. My hands were shaking and my mouth had gone dry. I could feel my entire body shaking, threatening to fold from within.

Another clap of thunder and another flash of lightning. The creature looked up at the broken windows, as if it were watching the most interesting thing it had ever seen. It slowly started to creep forward as if it wanted a better view of the storm.

I tried to move, tried to get away as it came closer and closer to me. I braced myself for the smell of the decay, but there was none. In fact, there didn’t seem to be any kind of scent lingering around the creature.

Closer and closer it came....My heart was racing in my chest as I looked right at it. It lowered itself down onto its hunches, its gaze never leaving mine. I didn’t know what to make of it. It wasn’t eating me, but it certainly wasn’t making me feel any better.

A whistling came from deep within the house. The creature turned toward the whistling. It gave me one final look before bounding down a darkened hall.

Just like that, my knees somehow regained control of themselves. I rushed over to the hall, peering down at its never ending darkness. The wind seemed to rush out of it, sending a chill down my spine. The mixture of the dampness in the air and the wetness of my clothes actually made me feel like of cold.

The wind blew in from behind me, as if something in the house was urging me to move forward. It was almost like there was a hand pressing on the small of my back. I looked over my shoulder, but only the empty house greeted me.

I could not see the creature. It could just be waiting right on the other side, waiting to kill me. I didn’t know what to do. The wind was pressing so hard on me now that there was no denying where it wanted me to go, but I couldn’t go down there and risk an almost certain death.

My legs were actually being pressed forward. It only I could somehow regain control of my body and go where I wanted to go, maybe everything would be better.

The air was heavy and not the kind of heavy you normally experienced on a hot summer day. It didn’t feel natural. It was the kind that just seemed to be unmoving, like the air itself was dead.

“Come on, my child....”

The voice sounded so close, like it was just behind me. My legs locked as I looked over my shoulder and saw her.

She was standing in the corner where the creature had been. Her black outline made it quiet hard to pick her out from the darkness. Her long black dress was tattered and her long dark hair hung around her face in uncared for lumps. Her skin was pale, so pale that it looked like it hadn’t seen the sun in years. Her eyes were so back in her head that it made her face looked like it had been hollowed out.

She nodded down the hall. “Well, go on. You never know what you are missing if you don’t take a chance.” Her voice sounded far away.

I frowned. Now that the voice I had heard had a face, it really didn’t make me feel any better. “Who are you?”

“Never mind that. Names, I find, are not important.” She started to come toward me. A foul smell hung about her.

I frowned. “But I thought a name was everything.”

She shook her head. “Whoever gave you that awful idea?”

“I don’t know, but I just always thought that having a name was very important.” I paused. “If you don’t have a name, then you don’t have an identity.”

The woman paused. Her shape fluttered in the dim light. “Are you sure? A name does not determine your self-worth, does it?”

“Um, I don’t know. I mean, certain family names do have more pull than others.” I tried to move, but my legs seemed to had been locked in place. “If you think about it like that, then, the answer would be yes.”

She just smiled, revealing a row of perfectly shaped teeth. “Well, does that put a different prospective on things, but it doesn’t really change anything.” The scent of decay seemed to linger about her, making me want to gag. “I mean, you really can’t say that is everything there is in life.”
I didn’t answer. Mostly because the smell of decay was making it actually quite difficult for me to even think about speaking. Every time I opened my mouth, there seemed to be a fresh scent of rot race in. I actually wanted to throw up, but I knew there would be nothing.

The woman stepped back into the shadows. “Just thought I would give you something to think about.”
I remained rooted on spot as I watched as she kept disappearing into the shadows until there was nothing more than darkness. I could not believe what was actually happening. There was a woman living in this house with some kind of a creature!

The wind was back to pressing me down the hall. I still couldn’t move, but it was growing more and more clear where it wanted me to go. I still could not believe it. It was just really shocking about what was happening. This house was supposed to be empty and, yet, here I was being forced to do things that I really didn’t want to.

My legs had unlocked themselves and were forcing me to walk down the hall. The wind blew behind me, making me walk at an even faster pace. I looked over my shoulder, wondering what was going to happen. The darkness pressed around me, like it was forcing me to stay in once certain path. I literally felt like was putting their entire weight on my shoulders and just pressing, holding me under something.

The dim light shone off the walls. I looked around, trying to find the source, but there is none. The halls are old, the wallpaper was fading in more than one spot. The paintings that lined the halls looked as if they had seen better days.

I stopped, staring at the people. They just seemed to come right out of a Victorian novel. Judging by their clothes, not only were they Victorian, but of old money. The fine texture of dress and the way they carried themselves all had an arrogant manner to them.

My knees forced me forward. Why would there be Victorian paintings in this house? It just didn’t make any sense. I mean, I knew the house was old, but I didn’t think it was that old. What had happened here? Why hadn’t someone taken it down? It just seemed like such a waste to let something so fine go to waste. What in the world was going on here?
I stopped just outside a door. I raised my fist up. For some reason, it just seemed proper to knock. The door opened before I could even knock.

The door creaked as it opened. I peeked in, but only a darkened room greeted me.

The force behind my knees moved me forward, forcing me inside the room. I looked around, not really sure what I was looking for, but there had to be something.

“Hello!” My voice echoed off the walls. I stepped in further. The door slammed shut with such a force that I found myself wincing.

“Come on in....”

I looked toward the corner, where the voice seemed to be coming from. My heart was racing. I didn’t know if I should even more closer or just stay where I was. Everything in my body wanted to go forward, but my mind was telling me to stay where I was.

The wind blew in from underneath the door. Its coolness burned against my skin.

“Come on...Don’t be afraid....”

I looked around. My heart was pretty much in my throat, making it feel as if I was going to throw up. I wanted to move, wanted to get out of here, to go anywhere but here. I knew if I even thought about going to the door, something would happen. I didn’t know what, but I just had a feeling that something bad would happen to me.

The air around me was silent, expect for the harsh sound of my own breathing. Was I really alone? Was it all just in my head? Was I just making this all up?

I took a small step forward, listening as my heart beat picked up. The little hairs on the back of my neck were standing tall. I knew if anything touched me, I would run away screaming. I could feel something in the room though, even though there was no sounds.

I knew I had heard that voice. I just had to get it together long enough to figure out just what to do next.

I needed to get out of here. That’s what I needed to do. There had to be a way....There was always a way to escape this madness.

I looked around, but my knees had locked again. No matter how hard I tried to move again, they just seemed to keep locking up on me again and again. It was as if the house was actually working against me, like it didn’t want me to go anywhere.

“Come on,” I muttered as I struggled to break free. “Come on. Let me go.”

A blast of cold wind hit my face, knocking the breath right out of me. Gasping, I struggled to regain myself. The more I moved, the more intense the air was.

“Don’t fight me,” the voice whispered. “You cannot win against me. It is better to submit.”

“No, no, no,” I hissed as another round of air hit me. “You cannot make me do this.”
“You brought this on yourself. The moment you stepped into my house, you sealed your fate.”

I looked around in the darkness. It just seemed to suck everything up. Was the creature watching me? Was that women watching me? I knew it was her voice that was talking.

I kept on struggling, but my legs did something rather odd. They took a step forward. Wait...Was I now supposed to be moving forward? This just didn’t make any sense.

Down the hall I went, fighting every bit of the way. I was not going to give into this madness anymore. They couldn’t have any control of me, over my movements. This was my body and I could do whatever I wanted to.

Or maybe not.

It actually hurt to try and lock my legs now. Every time I did it, a jolt of harsh pain raced through the bottom of my spine, clear up to my brain. I gritted my teeth against the throbbing pain. Of course, it didn’t hurt once I did what whoever was controlling me wanted to do.

“Come on, my dear, I’m not going to hurt you.”

“No, I can’t give in to you.” My teeth actually ground against each other with such a force that I feared I would break one or more off.

The hall seemed to be getting longer. I didn’t know if it actually was or if I was just giving into my mind. Dangerous things could be trapped deep within your mind.

There was something at the end of the hall. I narrowed my eyes, trying to see just what it was. There was for such something there. It was just a little indent in the shadows. I didn’t know if I would call it a door, but it sure looked like one.

The closer and closer I got the outline, the more it became clear that it was a door. A door to where though....It could very well be a way out or it could take me to somewhere that I didn’t want to go.

Seeing as I didn’t really have much of a choice, I knew where I was going.

The door was so close now that I could actually touch it. It looked like something I would expect in a fairytale-a door that would lead me to another world. A part of me was rather excited about the thought. Another world lurking on the other side of the door! I had read far too many fantasy novels. I shouldn’t be excited about this. This was the real world and some pretty bad things happened behind closed doors.

I stared at the door. My body had been pushed so far forward that I was almost touching it. A little bit of cold air was somehow finding its through the small cracks. The air really didn’t remind me of winter; it was more of a cool fall day.

“Come on in,” a voice said. It sounded like the speaker was just standing on the other side of the door. “Nothing bad is going to happen. I promise.”

I could feel my entire body shaking. I wanted so badly to open that door and see what lurked on the other side. Those who lived in fear never got to see all the amazing things the world had to offer. However, I didn’t want to see what true horrors that lingered just on the other side of the door. Did I really have a choice in what was going to happen to me?

“Come on. Just open the door....”

I reached for the door, not sure if I was doing it on my own free will or if my body was somehow being forced again. The doorknob was smooth beneath my fingers, as if a lot of people had been in this position before.

The open opened as a blast of wind greeted me. I peered into the darkened room, kind of disappointed that nothing seemed to linger about.

I stepped into the room with narrow eyes as the door slammed shut behind me. Great...This was the part in the horror movies were people started to die.

“Hello?” I called, feeling even more stupid. Why was I falling into this trap?

Nothing....

I stepped further into the door. Maybe all of this had been in my head. I couldn’t even make out any outlines of furniture along the walls. It truly did seem to be an empty room.

Dust stirred in my wake as I walked into what I supposed was the centre of the room. I looked around. The speaker had to be here. That woman just had to be in this room. Her voice had just been on the other side of the door.

My hands folded into fists as I turned in a circle, scanning every bit of the room. There had to be something here. There had to be a reason for me being lured into this room and this house. It couldn’t all be in my head. It just couldn’t be. I wasn’t creative enough to come up with something like this.

I gripped my jeans, pulling them up into little bunches. This couldn’t be true. There was no way I had walked into an empty house and just imagined all of these things.

Round and round I turned, the room spinning into nothing more than a blur of colours. There had to be someone here. I wasn’t alone, I wasn’t alone.

“Yeah, keep telling yourself that,” I said as I came to a stop, the room still spinning. Several seconds pasted before the room came back into focus. My eyes kept shifting around as I waited, waited for something unseen.

The room just seemed to be almost dead. I don’t know why it felt dead to me, but there was really no signs of life, no nothing, really. The air was even still, like there was something hovering around that was keeping everything away.

I took a small step forward, expecting something to jump out at me, but there was nothing, only the loud silence of my mind. I didn’t know silence could be this loud; it was like there was a drum banging in my head, threatening to take everything away from me. If you don’t have you sanity, then what did you really have in life?

“Come a little closer...”

I looked around. There was nothing, no signs of the voice...There was just plain nothing...

“Come on...”

I found myself taking a step forward, toward the far end of the room, where it seemed to be darker than any part of the room.

“That’s it...Keep coming....”

I paused at the end of the room, looking around. “Show yourself!” I willed my voice to stay level, but, of course, it had other plans. My entire body was shaking, my heart was all but in my throat.

My body was being forced toward the other end of the room. Only darkness seemed to greet me. I kept on walking, closer and closer to the end. Surely, I would be seeing the wall soon, but, yet, once again, there was nothing.

The wall came when I least expected it. I stood right in front of it, so close that my nose was almost touching it. I tried to move away from it, but my body wouldn’t let me. I attempted to open my mouth, but found myself frozen in place. I couldn’t move on my own, couldn’t do anything to help me save myself.

“Well, it’s nice to see that you can follow simple commands without too much of a fuss.”

I tried to move my eyes, but was only greeted by a stinging pain. This was not going to do.

“We like it whenever our people do as they are told. It is the way the world is supposed to be. Children are supposed to follow orders.”

I really wanted to point out that I was not a child. Anyone with eyes could see that.

Then, from within the shadows, something stepped out. I opened my mouth, screaming as laughter filled my ears.

!!!!

“And what did you see again?” The psychologist leaned back in her seat, staring at me as if I were the most interesting thing that she had ever seen.

“I told you what I saw. Please, don’t make me talk about it again.” I closed my ears. I knew it hadn’t all been in my head. I didn’t care what everyone said.

“You do have to understand. There is no house there. It was torn down fifty years ago.”
I slowly opened my eyes. “It’s there. I’m telling you if you drive out there, you will see it.” I looked at her desperately. “You have to believe me! I’m not making this up!”

She didn’t answer. “Look, I think we need to call this a day and we’ll talk more tomorrow.”

Shaking, I slowly got to my feet. There was no way that it had all been in my head. I knew what I saw.

I looked back at her. “Just promise me something.”

She nodded.

“Don’t go in the old house when you find it.”