Short Stories

The House

"Ugh! Why did he make us do this? He knows I hate the dark!" Maria whined, making me giggle. Maria just glared, then turned her attention to the locked gates in front of us. "And anyway, how does he expect us to get in? The gates locked!"

"Your such a whimp." Jack smiled, going over to the gate, and climbing over. I followed close behind, while Maria hesitated for a second. Jack started walking up towards the house, and Maria gasped, before quickly scrambling over the gate and following us.

"We could get in major trouble for this, you know!" She sighed, crossing her arms, glaring at me pointedly.

"Get in trouble for staying at an abandoned house that isn't even being payed attention to? Yeah, sure." I giggled, and she glared harder. "We're not getting in trouble, don't worry. But, oh! The ghosts might get us!"

"Yeah, did you know that a total of thirteen previous owners have died in this very house?" Jack joined in, no doubt picking random numbers. Maria had slowed down, and now she full out stopped.

"Th-thirteen? He-ere?" She stuttered, staring at the house in horror. I nodded, turning to face her.

"Legend has it, the first owner was the one who murdered the rest, his ghost stuck in this house, his only entertainment the mortals stupid enough to enter the house?" I grinned, completely pulling this from thin air.

"Okay, nope, I'm leaving. Goodbye." Maria threw her hands up, turning on her heel and walking back the way we came. Jack laughed, jogging over to her and picking her up by her waist, making her scream.

"You're coming with us." He laughed, throwing her over his shoulder. She crossed her arms, pouting.

"This is kidnapping." She groaned, but not outright protesting. I just laughed, skipping to the front, and flipping on my flashlight.

"Let's do this!" I screamed, making Jack laugh and Maria to jokingly sigh, a smile on her face.

When we finally got set up in the house, we were all a bit more calm, or Maria stopped freaking out, at least. We had made a makeshift camp in the living room, putting up lanterns at each corner of the room. We each had handheld cameras, and we set up a camera in each room, hoping to catch something interesting. Jack was lounging on the beat up couch, while Maria was wandering around making sure all the cameras were set up correctly.

"Do you think she actually believed us?" I asked Jack, and he shrugged.

"Probably. But, she'll believe anything you tell her." He smiled. "I wouldn't worry about it." After he said that, I heard a creaking coming from above us.

"Maria?" I called out. I could've sworn she was still on the first floor. She came in from the opposite side of the room from the stairs, proving my suspicions correct. "Did anyone else hear that?"

Maria glared. "Ha ha, very funny."

"I'm not joking, something was moving upstairs." I promised. She looked a bit more worried at that.

"It was probably a animal that got in. I wouldn't worry about it." Jack promised. I nodded, still slightly curious. But, after a while I forgot about it, and went back to talking

Around midnight, we all were tired, so we got our sleeping stuff out and got ready. While I was rolling my blankets out, I heard it again. A creaking sound, coming from upstairs, but closer this time, almost as if it was coming from the top of the stairs.

"There it is again! Something's definitely up there..." I sighed, but slightly curious. I got up and grabbed my camera, ignoring Maria and Jack calling my name. I stood at the foot of the stairs, staring up into the darkness.

"Sarah, please stop that. You're scaring me." Maria whinned.

"Maria, everything scares you. But, she's right. You're acting kinda strange." Jack agreed, and I looked over at them.

"I just wanna see what's up there..." I groaned, then turned back to the stairs and started climbing. Half way up, I heard a sigh from behind me, and soon after the creaking of the stairs, signalling someone else was coming up with me.

"Well, why should you have all the fun? I'm coming with." I heard Jack say from behind me, and soon enough, Maria joined us at the top of the stairs .

"This is a really bad idea, guys. Have you learned nothing from horror movies? When you act stupid, you die." Maria was shaking, and I grabbed her hand.

"Well, if we're going to die, why not die together?" I grinned, and she shook me off. "I'm going to check the bedrooms. Have fun!"I flipped on my flashlight and skipped off, leaving Maria and Jack behind me. I put the camera up to recored in front of me, then entered the first room. The bedrooms were virtually empty, except for the last one. The last one had a dark lump in the corner, probably a pile of clothes or a old blanket. Nevertheless, I went over to check it out, and as soon as I got within a foot of it, it slithered away, like an oversized snake, making me scream and drop the camera.

"Sarah? Was that you?" I heard someone yell from across the house. I turned and ran towards the door, but before I could even get past the bed, I felt something jump on me, then a metal... thing hitting my head. The last thing I saw was the dark lump slithering out the door, before hearing two screams, one right after the other, and then silence.

This was actually for a short story contest, how was it?