If you missed the writing prompt from this week, it’s not too late to jump in. I’m going to try to provide a prompt, you can write you own story and post it here! If there’s enough interest, I’ll try to post some of the stories on the site the next week.
This week’s prompt centered around a Haunted House, since we are getting close to Halloween. Here’s what I was able to get done on the prompt – although I went WAY over the word count I set for myself (also, I haven’t finished editing it, so the last half might be a little rough. I’m just running out of time and what to get it out there!).
A Haunted House
by Jarrett Smith
“There’s no way we are going to find them,” Marla said. She tried turning the decrepit doorknob. However, the faded brass knob didn’t budge.
“I’m telling you, they’re in here,” Andre said. He moved to the other side of the porch. The boards beneath his feet creaked with each step. Andre ran his hand across the window pane next to the door. The grime had built enough that it looked like Jell-o. After running his hand in a circle and smearing the thick layer of dust, he glimpsed inside the abandoned house.
The house itself had been built long before the rest of the neighborhood. Andre only knew because it didn’t look like the rest of the new neighborhood. Where most of the new houses had come from a few cookie-cutter designs, this one stood as a testament to time.
Two giant columns supported a large awning above the front porch. The house stood three stories tall. As far as Andre could tell, no one had built a driveway or garage. He had no idea how the house stood now. It hadn’t been kept the entire time, so Andre felt like one hard gust could push the house down.
The inside looked empty except for the spiders and cobwebs. Andre could make out a built-in bookcase, but the shelves were splintered and falling. A rickety old staircase led up to the next floor just beyond.
Marla hadn’t wanted to approach the building, but Andre pushed her into going. His brother had told him that if he could scare the girl, she would be more likely to get down with him. So he came up with the idea to come down to the house at the end of the block a few blocks away from his house. Everyone had always said the house was haunted.
“What was that?” Andre asked. His smile betrayed him, however.
Marla slapped his shoulder harder than ever before. “Stop it!”
“Nah, I didn’t see anything,” he smiled at her and wrapped his arms around her. She put her hands on his arms.
He breathed in the smell of her hair. He could still smell a hint of the strawberry scent from her shampoo. Her deep-tanned skin and curly dark hair had been different for him in a sea of blonde, fake-tanned girls. So far, after dating for a month, he felt at home only when he was around her.
“So you didn’t see anything?” She asked. He shook his head. “You think that those girls were taken here?”
“Maybe,” he lied. He didn’t think anyone would hide those missing girls in the house that no one lived in. It would be the perfect spot to hide something like that, but no one had lived there for decades.
“How are we going to get in?” She asked.
Andre didn’t have a plan for that. “I don’t know. I just assumed the place would be open.”
“True. What if we broke in?” She looked at the window pane.
He chuckled. She didn’t laugh back. Instead, she cocked her head to the side and flashed him a come on look.
She took her jacket off and wrapped it around her hand. Andre felt unsure. If he backed out, it would show her that he felt scared – not the most attractive trait in a partner- but he didn’t want to add breaking and entering to a clean rap sheet. Marla clenched her fist and took it back by her ear, ready to strike.
Andre opened his mouth, attempting to speak reason, but the words wouldn’t come out. His heart began to race. Marla put all her weight on her back leg, ready to transfer it forward into the pane of glass.
Click!
Neither of them moved. Marla looked at him. Both of their eyebrows raised, and tension ran between his eyes.
A squealing followed the click. It sounded like his grandmother’s moan when she needed to reach for something from her wheelchair. It sent a shiver up his spine. He knew the front door had just been locked and swung open.
“Woah,” Marla said. Andre breathed a sigh of relief. He spun around to see the old grey, rotting wood door swinging open.
“Yeah,” he stammered. Andre gathered all his courage. He knew he had looked bad to his date for not wanting to break in, but a chance to redeem himself stood before them in the open door. “Come on. Let’s go.”
Although he said the words, his feet wouldn’t move. Luckily for him, Marla hadn’t moved either. Andre leaned to his left, trying to look into the house. There had to be an explanation for how the door magically unlocked and swung open. Upon looking inside, however, he didn’t see anything logical.
With every second, he knew that he looked less appealing to Marla. He regretted his decision to bring her here now. She would probably break up with him as soon as they left the area. He needed to do something brave.
So he willed his feet to carry him inside.
As soon as he crossed the threshold, he stopped. Nothing inside had changed from his inspection of the window. The house stood empty and decrepit.
From inside, he could see areas he couldn’t see from the window. He stood in a long and skinny foyer. The only light coming from the moon hung in the sky.
Then he felt the hand on his shoulder.
“Time for you to die!” A hushed whisper crept into his ear.
He startled, his back tightening and his eyes going wide. The whisper turned into a cackle. Marla pushed past him into the house, dying of laughter.
“That’s not funny!” He shouted.
“It was pretty funny. You clinched so hard.” She laughed, and she strode into the house. “Come on. We can’t find these bodies if we don’t start looking.”
Marla didn’t look scared at all. Andre knew that if he were ever to live this down, he’d have to get his stuff together. Once again, he chastised himself for looking scared. Marla went to the door under the stairs and put her hand on the doorknob. For just a split second, Andre thought she looked scared. It put him at ease.
“Go on,” he said.
“I’m scared. What if there really are bodies in here?”
“Then we call the police and collect the reward,” Andre told her. He secretly hoped that they would find nothing but empty space behind the door. Andre positioned himself so that he could see just a corner of what was inside the closet if the door opened. If there were dead bodies, he wouldn’t want to see them. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to unsee them. But there weren’t going to be bodies in there, he told himself.
Marla nodded and focused on the door. It looked as if she did a three count in her head and then flung the door open. Marla’s face turned into a smile. “Nothing.”
They both released the tension they held. They looked at each other for a moment, and they both started to laugh. For the first time since they set foot on the porch, Andre relaxed. Marla hadn’t judged him as scared. In fact, she hadn’t thought less of him once. She had charged in without fear. It hadn’t impacted what she thought about him.
He felt happy, and the feeling began to flow through his body, giving him confidence that hadn’t been there five minutes ago.
She smiled at him, and they both continued to laugh.
Then the thump came from upstairs.
“What was that?” Marla asked.
“It sounded like something hit the floor upstairs.”
“It sounded big,” Marla said. The warmth he had just felt escaped as fast as it could.
“Yeah,” he said. Thoughts of what could have fallen on the floor to cause such a sound raced through his head. Of course, all he could think of was a body.
“Let’s go check it out,” Marla said. She didn’t hesitate. She flew towards the stairs.
“Marla, wait!” He shouted. They still had time to turn around and run out. They could come back in the daytime or call the cops to come to check it out. They didn’t have to go upstairs, this date had gone way too far off track.
But Marla disappeared up the stairs. Andre shook his head, fighting his body, which had started to shake.
The scream from upstairs pierced his ears. The scream of fear brought him to action. His body taking a mind of its own. It moved him up the stairs to protect the girl he brought there.
His feet almost fumbled on the stairs. They moved so fast, but he managed to climb the stairs at record speed. Each board groaned with his weight as he stepped on them. As both his feet hit the landing, he regretted everything.
There were no windows or lights at the top of the landing, so he couldn’t see everything. The moonlight flowed in from the rooms by the front of the house. He could make out Marla’s outline in the room, frozen in place.
At her feet, a crimson and dark red color stained the wooden floor.
“Marla?” Andre asked. She didn’t answer. She didn’t move. He slowly crossed the landing towards the room. As he did, the smell of copper grew stronger.
He knew what he would see before he got there. Blood covered the floor, walls, and ceiling. A girl’s body lay on the ground on the far side of the room. Andre knew that must have been what made the thud.
A pile of arms, legs, heads, and torsos littered the room. At first, Andre thought they were mannequin parts, but upon closer inspection, he realized they were real. His stomach plummeted.
He knew that he needed to get both of them out of the house right now. He pivoted to where Marla had stood just a moment before, but not she was gone.
He spun around on his heels, looking for any sign of her. He glanced at the ground, hoping that the blood-splattered floor would leave some impression of which way she went. The only footprints led right to the middle of the puddle and stopped where she had stood before.
His skin crawled. He knew he needed to get out of the room. Out of the house. Off the block as fast as he could. He knew he should call the police, but he just wanted out of the house first. He didn’t have to will his body to move this time. Every inch of his body told him to run, but he knew he couldn’t leave Marla behind.
But he wanted out of the room. He moved back towards the stairs from whence he came.
Marla stood at the top of the stairs looking at him. A huge smile strung across her face. Her eyes were larger than ever, and her head cocked to the side. Her hands were hidden behind her back.
“Marla?” He asked.
“You weren’t supposed to see this,” she said. Her voice sounded cold and stilted.
“See what?”
“My killing room,” she said and took a step towards him.
“That’s not funny. We need to get out of here.” He said and moved towards her. He definitely didn’t care if she found him less than a man. He just wanted out of the house.
“I’m not laughing,” she said. Her hand came from behind her back, producing an old machete, the blade a dark brown that matched parts of the floor.
Andre didn’t understand. He blinked a few times, trying to wake himself up from whatever dream he found himself in. He couldn’t understand why the girl he had been dating cleaved his arm with a dull machete.
Andre reached his arms out to engulf her in a hug. The machete landed again, this time hitting the right side of his neck. He smelled her shampoo one last time and felt the life drain out of him.
Read more selections!
If you haven’t read any of my other work, you can start with some of my older spooky horror stories here.
Or you can check out my newest Novella Letty Rose and the Mistaken Identity. Of course, you could also buy the novella on Amazon or Apple Books!
Don’t forget to post your story on the site as well!