The Dark Place (#FrightFest2016 Gold Winner)

The Dark Place - Chapter Fifty (Part Three)

 18

Graham huddled in the shadows with his back against the hard, stone wall. He had taken shelter in the old house as soon as the storm had hit its height. It was not much warmer inside but at least it was dry. He shrank back in his corner and listened to the storm and the voices as the girls played their strange game down in the basement. Graham wished that he could play too but he knew that Amanda would never allow it. He was nothing but a big dummy, Amanda had told him so many times and that had not been the worst thing she had called him.

The sounds of the storm died down and then finally fell silent only to be replaced by the banging and rattling somewhere below him. A sly smile shifted across his features as he realised that the girls must have locked themselves in. He had only gone down to that forbidding room once. On that occasion the door had slammed shut on him also and it had felt like forever before he finally managed to force it open again. Something strange had happened to him down in that dark room, something he had never told anyone else about. He could not make sense of it, not even now as he listened to the shouts and screams of the girls. It was so strange, like someone was in there with him but not just in the room, in his head too. For a while it was like he was not totally in control of his own thoughts or actions. Only for a while but it had been so frightening that after he had finally freed himself he had never stepped inside the house again... until now.

Now it was different everything was going to be all right as long as he stayed away from that room.

And that's when the banging stopped. Everything around him was sent into an almost deafening silence. It felt like the whole world had came to a standstill. Moments later, at the other side of the room, a dim light caught his eye. It was not like a torch or the flickering of a candle flame, just a dull, steady glow which became stronger by the second. He watched as the little girl he had seen enter the building earlier slowly emerged from the gap in the floor that lead down to the basement. A shiver passed through him as she walked toward him surrounded by her hazy, yellow glow. He hoped that she wouldn't notice him tucked away in the shadows but he realised that he had been discovered when she turned and looked straight in his direction with a smile so innocent and yet so frightening. He grew colder as she neared him and he could not look away from her strange, black eyes.

If I not see'd her she not see'd me!

Somehow Graham managed to break the strange spell the girl had over him. He closed his eyes tight, hid his head under the rain hood of his coat and waited.

The room still seemed to be getting colder.

Maybe she could still see him...

Maybe as long as he thought about her, pictured her in his mind, she would still be able to find him. He tried to block her image from his memory but those eyes - those cold, black eyes were still there.

The next clap of thunder made Graham jump. It took a few moments for him to realise that there was sound again. The crashing and thrashing of the storm was almost a comfort to him now. Slowly the cold drifted away from him and he dared to look out from his protective hood. The Black eyed girl had vanished.

19

As soon as the door was opened the sounds of the storm filled the room followed by a scream that stopped the girls in their tracks.

"What the fuck was that?" cried Sarah.

"My retard of a brother that's what." shouted Amanda as she sprinted up the steps two at a time. "Graham you little shit, just you wait till I get my hands on you!"

"Hey, save some of that clumsy spaz for me." laughed Sarah as she too took up the chase.

Wendy felt her fear fade with the knowledge that it had been graham playing a prank all along. She had been so frightened that she had not even realised until that moment that she left her shoes in the underground room.