It's Probably Haunted

Chapter 15

My legs were trembling and my heart was running a 5K. I hadn't made it more than a few steps before I had to stable myself on the railing and looked back to the landing to make sure it was still there. The stairs seeming to remain contained in the corner, I braved the turn and ascended the last set leading to the second floor.

Now I know what you're expecting. At the top of the stairs was nothing but darkness and cold misery breathing back at me. Monsters lurked around every corner and I screamed until my throat bled and got locked up in some small cage to be forgotten about until the end of time. Fortunately, we both know that isn't really what happened. At the top of the stairs, I found pretty much nothing. There was a decently lit hallway with four inconspicuous doors equally spaced on either side of the stretch. A small red curtain fluttered lazily at the end of the hall; covering a small single-pane window that thankfully seemed to know nothing about black plastic.

I tried the first knob on the right but found it locked. It was the same with the left and the second on the right. I looked at the last door, wondered where the keys for the others might be, remembered that this floor hadn't even been accessible and may very well not have even existed just twenty minutes before and therefore may not have keys in the first place, and turned the last knob.

It opened with ease and the door swung open as if pulled by something from inside. All basic horror movie knowledge should have kept me from entering that door but convenient human curiosity wins every time and I stepped through. Straight into the ever growing swell of dark.

The stench stopped me from stepping more than a few feet. The door closed behind me and something scampered nearby. My eyes fought to see but were blindsided by the dust that smelled hundreds of years old. I backed against the door and felt around for a light switch until something clicked and the room lit up.

A musty, disheveled makeshift bed was sprawled in the far left corner of the small room. A busted antique dresser overflowed with a mangled mess of mildewed clothing that I assumed only helped to accentuate the odor. My eyes kept scanning until they felt paralyzed with fear upon the sight of a bloodstained collection of clothes that seemed very similar to what Calvin's ghost had been floating around in.

I turned and met Calvin staring at a space situated somewhere on my face. He seemed fascinated with it in a way no one had ever been before. I thought about what it would be like having Mina stare at my face in that way and felt a brief feeling of jealousy towards the Mini-Van Man but knew he would get his one day.

I hadn't really thought much about Mina in the past few days and that was a welcome reprieve, let's be honest; but a lost puppy always finds his way home when he gets hungry enough.

Calvin was still staring at me when I remembered he was standing there and remembered his bloody clothes were laying on the floor in a room neither of us had ever been in. I realize now that Calvin may not have actually been staring at my face but maybe was stuck staring at the area on the floor where his blood had flowed and my face had just butted itself in without caring. My face generally doesn't seem to give a fuck, but I guess that's just an old expression.

As creepy as the room might sound, it wasn't that traumatic in person. I remember taking one last look around for anything of more interest than Calvin's bloody blouse and then walked out the door and back down the stairs. Nothing tried to lock me in. The lights didn't flicker and the sky didn't turn black. No birds flew into the windows and nothing had yet screamed in the night. I'm not even sure what time it was when I came back down the stairs but I knew it was dark and that hadn't fared well for me in recent times. That's probably why I turned and ran back to the stairs at the sound of the first set of knocks. By the end of the second, I had flattened my nose against the wall and knew the stairs were gone. The door banged again and I set off like a bomb.

I exploded around the room, my mind spraying orders in all directions and my body attempting to follow the commands. The knocking continued and grew louder and were followed by a shrieking that I knew all too well. Somewhere in the dark chill of night, a girl was screaming my name. I knew without seeing her face that her eyes would be full of fire.