The Daniovicks

Prologue

The house next to mine has been vacant for decades. In fact, it's been vacant since long before I was born, which was in 2008. I live in a small rural town so with that comes a lot of gossip. According to one of the more popular rumors, the house next to me was built in the mid 1800s. At one point, it served as a saloon and hotel.

Rumor has it that prostitutes lived and worked there. The librarian in my town said that one of the prostitutes were murdered there and then buried somewhere on the property. Some friends of mine had dared me to go into the house. However, I was not persuaded despite their countless pleas and mockeries. The two guys decided that they would go in themselves.

Me, being the only voice of reason tried to convince them that it was a terrible idea. Of course, who's going to listen to a little chicken shit like myself? Feeling worried and nervous about the entire ordeal, I sat in the comfort of my living room and waited for the boys to return. Little did I know that I would only be waiting there for about an hour.

The boys ran back into my house and were as pale as sheets of notebook paper.

"So, how'd it go?" I asked them with a smirk on my face.

One of my friends was trembling in complete and utter fear. "That house is haunted... Like, I could have sworn that I felt something grab me when I was in there."

My other friend nodded his head in agreement. "Yeah, Aly. You were right. We never should have went in there."

Colton typically was the bravest out of the group but seeing him now had me reeling with confusion. "Geez, what the Hell did you see in there?"

He shook his head, "I don't really want to talk about it."

I shrugged my shoulders taking the hint that whatever it was that he saw in there, it must have been pretty bad.

"Jacob, can I stay over at your house tonight?" Colton asks crossing his arms across his chest.

Jacob nods his head. "Yeah, man. I definitely don't think I'll be able to sleep without company tonight."

Colton sighs with relief and they say their goodbyes before turning and leaving through the front door.

The Next Morning...

"Aliyah! Wake up! Someone is finally fixing up that old house next door."

Stunned at the news, I toss the covers off of me and spring out of my bed. I ran out into the dining room and looked out the window.

There were all kinds of construction workers out on the property. So many in fact, I couldn't quite pinpoint what each person was responsible for.

Weeks bled into months...

I was surprised that none of the workers had complained about any activity while they were working on the property. After months have passed, I began to assume that the boys must have simply scared each other. Besides, why would anyone want to continue working in such a terrifying work environment? Surely, if they managed to complete everything that needed to be completed; there must not be any entities roaming around at all. The rumors were just that... rumors.

I wipe the sweat from my brow as I continued to pedal my bike through the dry, desert heat of New Mexico. I rode my bike up the driveway of my house and kicked down my kickstand. I threw my leg over to the other side of my bike and looked over at the newly renovated house across from me. I shielded my eyes from the sun with my hand and noticed a u-haul sitting in the driveway. They placed the vehicle in park and stepped out into the sun.