The Haunted House.

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It was a dark night, and he'd been dared to go into this dead madhouse. A new moon was in the sky. For some reason that held some significance. He laughed darkly as he remembered the circumstances.

He was at a sleepover at a mate's place with his friends. His mate's girlfriend was there. She'd heard urban legends of a woman screaming like a banshee in a haunted house that nobody dared live in. Sometimes they heard piano music drifting out of the house, but there was nobody there. Sometimes, they even smelt incense floating out, smelling like expensive perfume, but none of this she told to the group. No one had lived there in over fifty years. Hot as his mate's girlfriend may be, she was evil.

He breathed deep as he stepped over the threshold. It smelled of mould, and a hint of something dead. Very dead. He shuddered as he felt ice going down his spine. It was like someone had walked over his grave. He felt goosebumps decorate his body as he slowly turned around, expecting to see something there. The scary part was there was nothing there. The cold air of winter was suddenly in the house. Then he caught a ghost of a scent. Perfume, maybe. He started walking in the direction of where the scent had come from. It led him down a narrow corridor, to a door.

The door wasn't anything extraordinary. It was just that there was a thin film of blood covering the door that was a little (okay, a lot) offputting. The handle was clean and polished, though. There was faint music coming from the other side of the door. This would've been the time when his common sense kicked in and told him to hightail it out of there, and never go back. But his common sense seemed to be takng a break, and not coming back anytime soon. He slowly opened the door without the slightest creak, something he hadn't expected.

The first thing he noticed was the thick incense that covered the room like smoke, though it wasnt overpowering. Then he saw the woman sitting in front of this huge old-time style mirror. She was brushing her luxurious thick tawny hair. She was beautiful, all golden hair and luminous pale skin. It wasn't pasty, or artificial. It was natural and perfect. He couldn't help watching as she hummed to herself and brushed her hair out. She had perfect little ringlets that went down to her waist. His mouth hit the floor as he realised she wasn't wearing anything except a slip. And it was nearly see-through.

"Comfort me tonight," she pleaded, seeing him in the mirror.

She was that kind of thin that girls everywhere tried to duplicate, but failed. She didn't look concave or anything. She had been born that way. He took a hesitant step into the room. She had seen him move and turned around in her ornately carved chair.

The intensity with which she looked at him was unsettling. She flowed out of her chair and turned fully to face him. Her beauty was truly devastating when focused on a point.

He tried to speak, but found he couldn't. She was silent and graceful, like a cat jumping off a tall building. That thought had been very unexpected, as had everything else that had happened that night. She got near him, but kept coming closer, until their noses nearly touched. Her eyes were deep pools of warm gold, deep enough to drown in. That one had come unbidden. But like all thoughts, it couldn't be stopped. She paused for a moment, tilted her head slightly, then lifted her lips to his.

"Please, comfort me," she whispered against his lips. She tasted like desire, like forbidden fruit. He shivered and went back for more. She tasted of dark seduction, of temptation. Then he opened his eyes to a whole new world.

The room was the same, yet it had a wholly different feel to it. He walked down the corridor, to the living room. He didn't know how he knew where it was, he just did. He saw her, but her hair was plaited. She looked slightly younger, just shy of her prime. She was playing a piano he hadn't even noticed was there. She was a beautiful musician. With her long fingers, she was amazing. She cocked her head to the side suddenly, but kept playing. He saw a tall, thin man appear from around the corner. He looked seedy and mean.

"That was good, but not good enough to pass your exam. Start over." he ordered suddenly. She took a deep breath, stretched her fingers, and did as her piano teacher had said. She laid her fingers against the piano keys, closed her eyes, and made sweet love to the piano. She rocked back and forth slightly on the seat. Her eyes were shut very tightly, like she was concentrating very hard. When she got to the climax of the piece, it became subtly faster, swelling. It took amazing control to do that. Then it morphed into a minor chord, making it sound sad, melancholy. Then it all blurred...

He was back where he was before, still kissing the little seductress like she was his sustenance. But something was wrong. Instead of just the taste of seduction and desire, there was a hint of decay. He broke away from her and took a step back. But it was too late. Her hair was visibly being threaded through with silver. Her skin was gaining a sickly grayish tinge. It was like she was gaining age by the second. He watched in absolute horror as her skin went soft and fell off her bones as if it were water. Blood was pooling at her feet, except it wasn't red. It was black, as if it were years old. That hint of decay turned into a full-out stench. It crept through his nostrils and seemed to fry his lungs. Now it was a full out burning. There was smoke and blood pouring out of his mouth and nose in equal measures. Then his blood seemed to burn everything it touched inside his body. He fell backwards, crashing down to the ground with a sickening crack. The skull of the woman seemed to grin evilly at him as it, too, fell to the floor. The incense turned into a thick layer of death so foul his brain couldn't operate. Everything was turning black when he heard a whisper. "Please, comfort me tonight..."

By the next morning, all that was left in that room were burnt out candles, a pile of dust, and a skeleton, covered in a thin film of blood, preserved perfectly.

His mate's girlfriend went over to the house, went down the corridor, into the room, and saw the skeleton. She nodded and said aloud, "Are you happy now, grandma? You got what you wanted. Now will you PLEASE go back to sleep. I'll play on the piano if you like." a still moment, as if someone was thinking. Then a rush of cold air. A definite no.

"Your choice." then she went up to the mirror, reapplied her makeup, then left.

The skeleton gave a twitch, then was still forever.

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