The House

A short, fictional scary story which takes place on Halloween.

The House

 

Its October 31^st, in the year 2000. A typical fall day with the sun blooming over the hills of the small town of Newburry. Awaiting, is the nighttime to celebrate Halloween. Pumpkins are carved, candy is bought, and costumes are being put on with the sun going down.

 

As I walk around and observe the children of the night gathering candy, I head north toward the park of Newburry. I look around and beyond the trees notice something I hadn’t before, a dark house. Faded in with the surroundings and no light to guide me, I follow the trail and head toward this mysterious place. All seems fine until I approach the dark steps of the house. As I look at the broken window in the door, I suddenly fall through the old wooden board of the first steps leading up to the door. Thankfully, I am okay with only minor scratches. Its dark as night now, and as I slowly push the large front door open, the house appears to be abandoned and empty. Suddenly, a cold feeling hovers over me, as if something bad had happened many years ago. I am still curious, so I continue to enter.

 

There is a large staircase with a broken railing, and a chandelier with a dusted cobweb coating. I turn to the right and enter what was seemed to be the dining room where large cocktail parties were held. I then spot an old chest, and open it to see what’s inside.

 

1913. This year is inscripted on the inside of the chest, which is filled with old technique medical tools which are rusted. But as I examine the tools, I notice on the still sharp seemingly rusted saw that this is not rust, but now browned blood. As I stand curiously looking at the objects, the chandelier in the entry room crashes into the ground, and a shadow falls behind me, then wraps around my entire body. I drop the saw, and everything goes dark.

 

I wake up, and cannot see anything around me. It is nothing but a pure, cold, and saddening darkness creeping upon me. Terrified, I still somehow have my phone, and use the flashlight. I am in a small room, seemingly in the basement. I am sitting up in an old medical chair, legs tied. Looking around, I see an entire array of the medical tools I saw earlier, and cabinets filled with labeled jars and solutions. Where am I? something evil occurred here many years ago, and now I am stranded. I scream, and it only echos right back at me.

 

The only door creaks open, and the large shadow appears again, quickly flowing into the room and then in front of me. The shadow takes the form of a patient with a crooked eye, a missing ear, burned arms, and blackened teeth, with a few missing. He asks why I am here, to which I have only the response of how I was curious, and he stares. He stares into my soul, as if I am a source of evil. He tells me that I am in what used to be an old doctors house from 1913, and how he was a patient who was tortured in the seat I am strapped into now. He tells me he is nothing more than a ghost of these horrors, and still feels to pain of his teeth being pulled out, being continuously burned as an experiment, and electrocuted through his eye, which is crooked. He then lingers toward me and he quickly unties my feet, and whispers for me to get out before the doctor returns.

 

I sprint through the door behind the patient, out of the basement, and end up next to the broken chandelier. Another shadow appears, I am extremely fearful now, and panic. My breath consumes me and I cannot breathe. I feel sharpening needles inject into my arm as the stronger shadow latches onto me with an evil power. Then, the patient again appears in front of me, and then attacks the other shadow which is the doctor with the old saw from the chest. As they are fighting, I get up from the broken glass, and carefully lunge toward the door, not looking back, I head out the front to the street, and pass children that are still trick or treating. They look at me as if I have the best costume they had ever seen, not realizing the terrors I had just witnessed.

 

I am finally home, and quickly remove the broken glass from my body, cleanse the wounds, and wrap them up, still in shock. After checking my body for any remaining glass, I sit at the computer and research to find the house. The patient told the truth, and had saved me. His name was Charles Landfried, and he had in fact been an experimental, and tortured patient at the house of Doctor Fredriche. Charles had later died in the house from infection of the wounds, and the doctor years later had a heart-attack in the house, his body still remaining. The house had been left alone, in hopes the bushes would simply consume it over time. I had survived, and Halloween would never be the same again.

Author's Note

This is the first short story I had written, please be kind but let me know your thoughts!

Reviews

[MelissaAndres]

Taylor R., Thank you for entering this story into our contest. Submissions will be accepted until October 31st. If you have other WC friends who you think may be interested in entering a story, please feel free to pass on the information.