The House

A couple, Sarah and Devon moved into house thirteen on Mayberry Lane. It was a little blue cottage.

But down the street was a big purple house, old, worn down with the glass on the windows cracked. Holes in the roof. A dark cloud hovered over the house.

Everyone in the neighborhood was afraid to go into it. Rumors spread, it was haunted, an old witch lived there and if you even knocked on the door, she’d bake you into a pie.

Halloween came around and the kids were trick or treating.

Sarah and Devon handed out candy, whole bars of candy. They wanted to impress the neighbors. Sarah dressed as Olive Oil and Devon dressed as Popeye.

The night went on and kids ran past the old house.

The outside house lights turned off and then the streetlights oddly turned off. Thunder rumbled in the distance and lightning struck the old house. The front door opened and smoke poured out. If it was a witch, she was brewing a stew or potion and the smoke from the cauldron would fill the air.

The neighbors walked out of the houses, thinking the old house was on fire. But it looked fine, except for the smoke.

Sarah and Devon were watching a scary movie when they smelled something funky. They walked out of their house and saw the source of the smell.

“We should go check it out. What if someone’s in danger?” Devon insisted.

“I don’t know, I’m terrified of haunted houses,” Sarah replied as she held her boyfriend’s hand.

“Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“I can’t, I’ve seen a lot of horror movies and they usually end badly, with death.”

“How do you know the house is haunted? The first time you saw the house, you wanted to buy it, but it was too in disrepair. Now’s our chance to check it out.”

“Alright, but if I hear one ghost, I’m running out of there.”

“Okay, scaredy-cat.”

“Hey, I’m not — lead the way.”

Devon led the way to the old house and Sarah followed. The neighbors whispered that “They were crazy” or “Good luck.” They were going to need it.

They walked up to the house and the front door slammed shut by itself.

“Hey, maybe it was the wind,” Devon said.

Sarah turned around.

“We can do this, just knock on the door,” Devon urged Sarah.

“No — you do it.”

“Fine.”

The handle of the door knocker was rusty, but Devon still used it.

The door slowly opened, but there was no one there.

Devon walked in.

“What are you doing?” Sarah whispered.

“Hello?” Devon shouted.

No one answered.

Sarah followed her boyfriend into the house. They walked into the dining room and Devon turned on the light.

“See, nothing scary about this old dining room,” Devon showed her.

“Okay,” Sarah said with a smile.

Suddenly, the lights flickered and shut off.

Devon took out his phone and turned on the flashlight feature. “We must’ve blown a fuse. That’s all. I’ll check the basement.”

“Don’t go down there.”

Devon took another step and fell through the floor.

“Dev, are you okay?” Sarah shouted through the hole in the floor.

“I’m fine and now I can find the fuse box faster.”

Devon landed on his phone after the fall and it cracked the screen. He tried to use the camera feature, but it was broken. He blindly felt around for the fuse box. He tripped on a box on the floor and ripped the knee of his jeans. His knee bled and a phantom appeared. She wore a long dress and had curly hair. She floated there until she disappeared.

“Honey, are you okay down there?” Sarah asked through the hole.

“I’m alright, I just tripped on a box,” Devon replied.

“Good, hurry up and find the fuse box. My phone is dying.”

Sarah looked around the dining room and walked into the kitchen. She was starving. She opened the fridge door and it was empty. The freezer was empty. She checked the cabinets and found a can of beans.

Suddenly, the blender turned on by itself and blood splattered everywhere. Sarah ran out of the room and rushed to the bathroom. She turned on the faucet and fire burst out. She quickly reached for the hot handle and turned on the cold handle. But ice pieces fell out.

Devon found the fuse box and pulled an oddly placed big lever. He was shocked to death.

Sarah heard the shock and checked on her boyfriend. She shined her phone’s flashlight into the hole. She jumped down and found Devon passed out. She checked his pulse, but there was no heartbeat.

She had to get out of the house. She ran upstairs and the front was locked. It wouldn’t budge. She tried the backdoor, also locked.

She was trapped. She tried to use her call 9–1–1 or anyone, but her phone died.

She threw her high heel shoe at the window and the glass shattered. But before she could jump out of the window, the glass shards floated in the air and re-placed themselves.

“I’m trapped and I’m never getting out of this house!” she shouted.

A skeleton rattled down the stairs and chased her around the house. She finally found a knife in the kitchen drawers, but before she turned around, the skeleton was gone. She thought about killing herself with the knife, but she had a lot to live for, a career, a new house.

An obese ghost appeared from the fridge and Sarah pointed the knife at the ghost.

“Ha, you think that’ll kill me, I’m already dead. Now get out!” the fat ghost shouted and then

disappeared.

“I’m trying!”

She dropped the knife and collapsed onto the floor. She cried. She heard birds chirping and saw the sun coming up from the window. “It’s morning?”

The front door opened and she ran out of the house. She immediately called the police and they thought she killed him. But she told them he was electrocuted to death.

An ambulance arrived and brought her boyfriend to the hospital. She followed them in her car and he was proclaimed dead.

The old house was later torn down and Sarah moved to an apartment a few towns over. She couldn’t deal with the rumors and accusations of the neighbors.