The House on Thirteenth Street

The House on Thirteenth Street

          It has blood oozing from its walls. Bodies are rotting away in the attic. Spiders and cobwebs in every corner of the room. The floorboards creak with only one-step. These rumors float around about the haunted house on Thirteenth Street. Stories have been passed down about what really goes on in that house. My brother, Ethan, says that at least half of the rumors are untrue but he didn’t say all of them were. That means the house is still haunted. Today is Halloween, the Day of the Dead, and I’m going to go into the haunted house and I’m determined to come back out alive.

          On the morning of October 31, I woke up, feeling anxious, and got ready to go to school. I grabbed my black ‘Die of Treats’ shirt on for school. On my way there, I passed the haunted house. I don’t know why but I felt different walking past it today, knowing that in less than 24 hours, I would be in that house. I got to school and met up with my friends, Evanna and Bonnie, who immediately started talking about the house, faster than you can say ‘hello.’

          “I can’t believe you’re going in that house, Emma.” Evanna said.

          “Yeah, but if you don’t come out then I’m telling your parents that I did everything in my ability to stop you from going into that house.” Bonnie announced.

          Before I could reply, the bell went off and the three of us went to our classes.

          After school, I ran home, getting into my costume and getting ready to go to the haunted house. I grabbed on my ninja costume that consisted of black pants, a black turtleneck, and a cut up ski mask, which was also black. I put my dirty blonde hair into a fishtail braid and got ready to go.

          “Stop right there missy.” My brother, Ethan, said. “Before you go to that haunted house, you need to know a few rules. You must leave the door open and you cannot stay in the house for more than thirty minutes. If you stay longer, then the front door will shut and you will have 31 hours before you die because Halloween is 31 days into October. Got it?”

          “How do you know this? You don’t even go trick-or-treating.” I pointed out.

          “I had a friend named Jason who went in and stayed in for at least 15 hours before he found a way to break out.”

          “If I do stay in for more than 30 minutes, won’t mom, or you, figure out that I never came home?”

          “No. Everyone ‘forgets’ that you ever existed.” Ethan answered, putting quotation marks around ‘forgets.’

          “Okay. I got your little warnings so I’m going to go now. Bye!”

          As I left my house I heard Ethan mutter, ‘she’s never going to survive.’

          I reached the haunted house, opened the door, and then got inside, making sure I left the door open. The bronze walls looked like they were about to fall under the weight of the roof. With every step I took, the floorboards would creak. There was blood oozing from the walls but, standing at least 20 feet away, I could still smell the ketchup. At least some of the rumors were true. The furniture in the house looked like they were from the 1900’s. There was lights, but they were very dim. In every corner of the room, there was at least one spider web with two spiders crawling on it. I was still exploring the house when I heard a faint ‘BANG!’ I ignored it, thinking it was just my imagination. I looked at a bunch of creepy paintings before I headed for the front door. When I got there the door was shut. I thought I left it open. Anyway, I reached for the door knob and pulled but the door refused to open. I kept trying to pull the door open when I remembered my brother’s warning, ‘You can’t stay in the house for more than thirty minutes.’ My eyes widened in shock before I started pounding at the door. Then I remembered another warning, ‘Everyone ‘forgets’ that you ever existed.’ I stopped banging on the door when the truth hit me like a bomb, I had 31 hours of life left.

          As I walked around the house, looking for some way to escape, I kept hearing movement. At first I thought it was a rat, but then I figured out that the movements were too big to be a rat. I had light to see but not enough light to really look. I always turned to face the direction I thought the noise was coming from. I was walking backwards when I ran into someone.

          “AHH!” we both screamed.

          I turned around to find a pair of scared, blue eyes looking into my brown eyes. The stranger had curly, dirty blonde hair that ruined her Halloween costume as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz.

          “Who are you?” I finally asked.

          “My name’s Taylor,” the girl, Taylor, replied, “I thought I was the only one in here. Wait! Is the door still open?”

          “No. I wasn’t thinking and let it shut. My name’s Emma, by the way, and how long have you been in here?”

          “I think a little over 20 hours. I skipped school so I could be the first one here. I don’t know if I believe in the ‘you have 31 hours to live’ thing. Do you?”

          “I don’t know what to believe, but for our sakes we should start trying to find a way out of here.” I said.

          We started walking around the house, looking at every detail of it, just in case there was a trap door. Taylor and I. along the way, saw two full-body skeletons. It was so disgusting that we both screamed and then ran away. We, also, started to get to know each other because we possibly may die together. All of a sudden, the only lights we had went out.

          “AHH!” I heard Taylor scream.

          After her scream I heard a slicing noise and then the lights came back on. I saw Taylor and now it was my turn to scream.

          Now knowing that the rumors were I true, I had to find a way out. The image of Taylor was stuck in my brain. The hole threw her head. Taylor lying in her own pool of blood. The message ‘you’re next’ written on the wall with Taylor’s blood. I shuddered at the thought. I put my mind on other thoughts, like how I was going to escape the haunted house. I never knew of a house that lived up to its title like this one.

          I found a staircase and immediately ran up it like my life depended on it. For all I know, it did. I looked around the second story and was sad to find out that it looked exactly like downstairs except that there was a window. Out of frustration I kicked the object closest to me, a mirror. I picked up one of the pieces that broke when the mirror fell. I decided that if I was going to die it wouldn’t be because of a house. I placed the glass shard over my heart, for about five seconds, before throwing it at the wall. I wasn’t going to give up this quickly. I looked up and realized that I hit the window with the glass and it broke! I looked out the window and saw myself two stories high. Without thinking, I threw off my ski mask, jumped out of the window, and into the cold, icy water that surrounded the house.

          With all my might, I started swimming to shore, through the water that felt like ice cubes. I had no idea how I survived the fall, but I didn’t care. I was just happy that I did. I plopped myself onto land and looked at the stars. I could feel blood coming out of me faster than you can say ‘BOO!’ I knew that this would be the end. I regret not listening to my brother. I don’t regret going into the haunted house, though. I would have gone in eventually. As more blood left my body, my vision started to get foggier. All I know is that even though I’m dying, I fulfilled my dream. I went into the house on Thirteenth Street and I came out alive.