The House of Horrors

Fear, horror, dread and terror what are these things? Many think fear is an unneeded emotion and that all one has to fear is fear itself. But as Matt Morson and his friends are soon to learn; there are some things in this world that were meant to be feared.

“Dare.” James said, sitting at a small table surrounded by three of his friends. “Bring it on.”

“Ok I dare you to call up Jenny Loriners and tell her you love her.” Bobby says from the opposite side of the table.

“Hahaha good one man.” Matt says chuckling and slaps Bobby on the back playfully.

“Best one yet.” Kenny chimes in.

“Oh come on you can’t expect me to do that.” James says pleadingly.

“You said dare, you got to man.” Bobby says beaming.

“yes.” Matt and Kenny say in unison.

“Fine whatever get me a phone.” Matt gets up from the table and goes off to the kitchen to get the cordless phone. An air or tension arises around the table. Bobby and Kenny are both looking at James intently.

“Stop it, just stop staring at me your creeping me out.” Matt returns with the phone and tosses it to James. James just looks at the phone as those it was a mangy animal caring some horrid disease.

“Go on Jim call her.” Bobby demands. James slowly dialed the number, praying for there to be no answer. To his great dismay a voice came on to the line.

“Hello?” A voice said form over the phone.

“Hey Jenny.” James somewhat disjointed.

“James is that you?”

“Yeah it’s me, um I just called to say I love you…” He takes a short pause. “Bye.” The phone drops to the table dead. The other three boys burst out laughing.

"Shut up at least I did it.”

They continue to laugh.

“Ok Matt truth or dare?” At that moment Matt’s older sister walks down the stairs and gives them a stern look.

“Oh come on, truth or dare. Isn’t that a bit lame for a bunch of teenage boys to be playing.”

“Shut up Amber and leave us alone.” Matt said frustrated.

“Well since you asked so nicely NO.” Amber shot back.

“Can’t you ever just let me hang out with my friends?”

“Ok if you want to hang out uninterrupted, then I dare all of you losers to spend the night at the Old Johnson House.”

“H..h..hey hold up that place is supposed to be haunted.” Bobby said somewhat frightened.

“Yeah and why would we stay there?” Matt said.

“Little brother is scared how cute.” She says as she leans into him their faces almost touching.

“H..h.hey I’m not s..s..scared.” Matt stammers out.

“So then you and your friend will stay the night there?”

“Yes.” Matt, James and Kenny say together.

“Oh my god you’re kidding me. There is no way in hell you’re getting me to stay the night at that old spook house.” Bobby said passionately.

“Come on man, hell if Jimmy called up Jenny, then you can come with us to some old abandoned house.” Said Kenny.

“Yeah come on don’t be a cowered.” James said mockingly.

“Ok fine but I got a really bad feeling about this.”

“And you got to get something from in the house and bring it back “Each” She points to Matt, “one” She turns and points to Jimmy, “of” pointing to Kenny, “you” and finally pointing at Bobby making him jump.

“Fine” James, said confidently.

“And here take dad’s camcorder and video tape your stay.”

“And what will we tell dad if he finds it missing?”

“Just leave that to me little bro.” She walks off to get the camcorder.

“Are we really going to do this?” Kenny asked.

“Don’t tell me your scared now to.” James said.

“I’m just saying I don’t see any reason to spend the night up there that’s all.”

“You are scared aren’t you.” Matt said.

“Hey I never said I wasn’t going to go with you guys.”

“Yeah we can show it at school. That be cool.”

“Ok fine that settles it were all going; and if we get souvenirs and record it no one can say we weren’t there.” Matt said.

“Yeah I guess that would be kinda cool.” Bobby chimed in.

“Here take the camcorder.” Matt’s sister said from the kitchen. Matt runs off to the kitchen and grabs the camcorder. He returns to the dinning room with his sister in toe.

“Ok you boys know what you got to do?”

“Yes we know damn it, we aren’t stupid.” Matt says plainly.

“Well that’s still up for debate,” She says with a snicker plastered to her face. “but either way just humor me and say what you are supposed to do.”

“We got to spent the night up there, get a souvenir as well as record our adventure.” Kenny replies.

“Ok good just making sure you all know.” She said. “See you if you get back.” She walks off laughing maniacally.

Matt and his friends start to get the stuff that they will need to stay the night at the Johnson House. “Yo Matt where’d I put my sleeping bag?” Kenny asked.

“Man I don’t know, what am I your mom?”

“Here it is.” Bobby says tossing it to Kenny.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

They continue to gather up the things the need. When they finish ransacking the house of its food Matt opens the door and walks out followed by the others. “We got everything?” Matt asked.

“Yeah I think so.” James replied.

“Ok then were off…” Matt said somewhat half-heartily.

It’s a crisp autumn night the wind is blowing lazily. The sun is hanging in the sky by a thread; it will soon be dark.

“We should hurry before it gets any darker, it’ll make it easier to see if there’s no power up there.” Bobby muses.
“Right” the other three say in unison. They begin to jog up the hill that leads to First Street. The air is cold on there skin, a lazy wind blows from the south. The group reaches the top of the hill.

The old house greets them. Its condition is unkept. The roof is far overdue for replacement; 20-25 shingles damaged or missing. Two of the windows are smashed in; whereas others have lost their seal and have long clouded over with moisture. The shutters of almost every window were damaged and looked like they would fall at any moment. The decades old paint has long lost its vibrant look as the sands of time have chip away at it over the years. The stairs leading to the porch look rotted and unfit for use by humans. As the sun continues to set, the house begins to look more and more ominous. The group stands there almost mesmerized by the sight of this eerie abode. Kenny takes the initiative and walks towards the house. “Come on.” He calls back to his friends who still are just staring at the house, as if they were to turn away their very life would cease and they would fall dead away. “Guys.” He calls back “Come on.” As if awakening from a deep sleep the others snap to and walk towards the house. Matt ascends the rotten stairs first, the wet wood bends under his weight. His friends follow. The stairs let out a creek as if screaming in protest. A crow flies out from its nest in the upper portion of the overhang of the deck.

“Ah…” Matt says startled. The others laugh. “Stupid crow.”

“Heheh…Ok how do we get in?” Bobby asked searching for a window to climb in.

“We could just try the door.” James says advancing on the door.

“Man it’s not going to be that easy Jimmy.” Bobby said dryly. As James’s hand reaches the knob and slowly, ever so slowly turns it. The door just glides open. James turns to Bobby with an accusing finger mouth open as if to say something, but is quickly cut off.

“Don’t even say it.” Bobby says rather indignantly. The four boys walk through the now open door. The inside of the house is nearly as bad as the exterior. A thick layer of dust covers the floor and furniture. Cobwebs line the vaulted ceilings. The vintage oak staircase leading up to the second floor was quite possibly the only thing that looked undamaged by time. The once magnificent hardwood floors were scratched and damaged beyond repair. Old pictures hang crooked on the walls. The furniture is from a time long past; Victorian perhaps.

“Where we staying.” Matt said closing the door behind him.

“Lets look upstairs for a good place to set up camp.” James said. “There’s probably a bedroom up there we could use.”

“Jimmy’s probably right lets check upstairs.” Kenny said in agreement. The boys climb the stairs up to the second floor.

“You know this place isn’t so bad apart from the dust and stuff.” Bobby says happily.

“Your right, but I can see how this place could give someone the creeps.” Matt muses. At the top of the stairs there is a long hall with four doors; two on the left, one on the right and far side.

“We should check if there’s power on, but I’d doubt it.” Kenny said. Matt goes to a light switch on the right side of the hall and flicks it on. To the great joy of the boys the hall light came on and cast a dim glow through the hall illuminating a stain on the old carpet.

“Sweet that makes things easier.” Matt said happily.

“Ok lets find a room to set up in.” Bobby said opening the first door on the left. Which was the bathroom.

“Nice choice Bobby.” Kenny says laughing.

“Whatever.” Bobby replies opening the next door on the left. “Ok this place looks good.”

“Yes, we’ll set up here.” James says in agreement. Matt walks in and sets up the camcorder on its tripod and turns it on.

“Hey it’s getting dark out, what is time is it Jimmy?” Matt asks turning away from the camcorder to face James.

“Umm… it’s 6:30.”

“Man, that can’t be right that’s the time we left my house.”

“Then I don’t know my watch must have stopped or something.”

“Well how we gonna do this, all of us stay up or do we take it in shifts?” Bobby asks.

“We should take it in shifts” James said. “Be safer, if someone sees lights on up here and they could call the cops. Someone needs to be up to wake the rest of us so we can get out of dodge.” Matt says.

“Ok good idea, so who stays up first?” Kenny asks.

“I will.” Bobby says.

“There should be two who stay up to keep each other awake.” James said.

“Ok I’ll say up with Bobby.” Kenny said.

“Fine then Jimmy and I will sleep for 3 hours then wake us up and then you get some sleep.”

“Ok but how will we know when three hours is up?” Kenny asked.

“The camera’s got a timer on it, set it for three hours.” Matt says. Kenny walks over to the camera and sets the timer like Matt said.

“Pleasant dreams guys.” Bobby says.

“Bobby I swear to god if you do anything to me while I’m asleep I’ll beat you.” Matt said threateningly.

“Relax I won’t.”

“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?” With that Matt dosed off into a semi-relaxed sleep.

Beep Beep Beep.

“Huh what?” Matt wakes up and reaches over to his alarm clock, but it’s not there. He opens his eyes and looks around. He realizes were he is and sits up. He sees James sleeping a few feet away from were he was. He stands up and surveys the room. He sees the camera and all their bags but no Kenny, no Bobby. “Jimmy wake up dude.” He doesn’t awaken “Jimmy!” Still no response, Matt picks up a shoe and tosses it at James hitting him in the head.

“Hey, what was that for?” James says rubbing his head.

“You wouldn’t get up.” Matt replies dryly.

“Yeah whatever jerk, hey where are Bobby and Ken at?”

“No clue.”

“Huh that’s weird.”

“Nah if I know them they’re planing on jumping out of somewhere and trying to scare us.” Matt said.

“What time is it?” James looks at his watch. “Thing still isn’t working.”

“I’ll check the camera.” Matt walks to the camera. “It’s 8:30”

“How can it be 8:30?” we left your place at 6:30, came here and set the timer for three hours how could only 2 hours have passed?”

“Not 8:30 PM, 8:30 AM”

“That makes less sense.” James said confused.

“Unless this is one of Bobby’s crazed plans to freak us out.”

“Yeah your probably right.” Matt says.

“You know lets just leave, we stayed the night so there’s no reason to stay any longer.”

“Your right there isn’t any reason to stay. Even if Bobby and Kenny are still here, which they probably are because their bags are right there. If they’re trying to scare us or something they’ll get bored and leave anyway.”

“Exactly my point.” James says as a matter of fact.

“Wait don’t we each need something from the house?”

“We can get that downstairs.” The two boys pick up their bags, disassemble the camera and leave the room.

“Here I’ll take this.” Matt says pointing to a picture on an endtable in the hall.

“Ok sweet I just need to find something downstairs.” They continue down the hall.

“What’s that a picture of?”

“Looks like a family photo.” Matt replies. They descend the stairs and James begins to look around for something to take. “Here man, take this.” Matt says tossing James a tarnished silver candelabra.

“OK this will work.” The sound of running comes from upstairs.

“Jimmy you here that?” Matt whispers.

“Yeah I heard that, shhh come on lets go.” James says matching Matt’s tone. They quietly walk towards the door; Matt opens the door and steps outside.

“I’m not sure what Bobby and Kenny were planning but I don’t think they can do it now.” Matt says with a grin on his face. “You want to head to my place?”

“Nah I need to get home, my mom is probably wondering were I am. I bet she’s called your house at least fifty times.”

“Yeah your mom is like that. Well anyway see you later.”

"See you man.”


Matt takes the back woods to his house, a short cut he learned as a boy. As he walks through the woods he thinks to himself how quite it is, not a sound, not a single sound. The forest is always loud with birds singing, crickets chirruping, and other sounds that kept him up at night and wake him in the morning. Matt didn’t think much of it and continued walking. He exits the woods a few hundred feet from his house. Two cars are parked in the driveway. My parents are still home; they should have left for work awhile ago. Matt thinks to himself. He walks to the front door fumbles around in his pocket for the key. He unlocks the door and steps in. He walks to the kitchen; the table is lined with plates of half eaten food. “This is so unlike dad to leave dishes on the table.” He says to himself.

Ring ring ring.

“Damn phone.” Matt says angrily. He walks to the phone and sees that its James calling. “Hey Ji...” He’s cut off.

“Man what’s going on?” James says in a frightened voice.

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean, what do I mean. Haven’t you noticed that the town’s abandoned?”

“What?” Matt says somewhat confused.

“Man there are cars in the street still running, front doors of houses open, my mom isn’t here…”

“Don’t you think your jumping to conclusions?”

“Have you seen a single living soul since we left that house?”

“No now that you mention it…man hang on a second.” Matt puts the phone down on the counter. “Mom, Dad, Amber? Are you guys here?” No response. He picks the phone back up. “Jimmy you still there?”

“Yeah I’m hear.”

“My parents cars are in the driveway, there’s plates with uneaten food on the table, and no one is here.”

“Same thing all throughout town.” James says. “Have you looked at a clock?”

“No why?”

“Look at one and tell me the time.”

“Six-thirty?”

“Same on every clock I checked, and they won’t change.” James replies.

“Man what’s going on?” Matt asks, fear now clearly evident in his voice.

“Not sure.”

“Dude come to my house and we’ll talk this over.”

“Ok I’ll be there in like 5 minuets I’m leaving now.” James tells Matt.

Matt hangs up the phone and decides to take a quick look at the town. He walks to the front door and steps outside and looks around. The town is just as deserted as James had said. There’s not a single soul on the streets. He walks next-door and rings the doorbell. No answer. He runs to another house and rings the bell. No answer. He does this for what seems like a million times, with the same outcome; no answer. He notices several cars on the road with no one in them, motor still humming. He looks around, no cats, no dogs, no birds, nothing. The town is completely silent. He returns home confused, and defeated. James is sitting on the sofa, he looks over.

“Man where were you?” James says relieved. “I thought it happened to you to.”

“What happened?”

“Whatever it is that happened to the town.”

“Well I was out and I must have checked like ten houses, and no one was at any of the houses.”

“I told you.” James says. “Look at the TV.” He points to the static on the television.

“Every channel?”

“Every channel.”

“What the hell is going on?” Matt says frustrated.

“Wish I knew.”

“The camera.”

“The camera?”

“Yeah it was on all night maybe it picked up what ever happened.”

“Good idea Matt.” Matt walks to were he set his bag and pulls out the camera. He opens the view tracker and hits rewind. They wait a moment for it to rewind. When it’s done Matt hits play. They see the four of them in the Johnson House talking about them staying up in shifts. The conversation continues just as they remembered it. They hear Matt and James saying that they were going to sleep. Then Kenny and Bobby were having a conversation about something. A few moments later a bright light floods the camera screen, and Bobby is cut off mid sentence. Matt hits the off button. “I…I…I’ve seen enough.”

“What was that light?”

“Probably what did this.”

“But why weren’t we affected?” James asks.

“Maybe it only effects you when you’re awake.”

“But that wouldn’t explain what happened here in town, someone was bound to be asleep when it hit like we were.”

“Then maybe there’s some other people out there that we haven’t found.”

“Maybe. Or do you think it had something to do with the house?”

“Like what?”

“Well, because we were asleep in the house, maybe that’s why were still here.”

“Well your guess is as good as mine.”

“Why don’t you call 911?” James asks.

“Ok but there most likely won’t be anyone there.” Matt picks up the phone and dials 911. The phone rings a few times, a few more times.

“Man no one’s there.”

“Figures.” James says flatly. “Now what?”

“Wait do you remember hearing foot steps when we were leaving the house.”

“Yeah, someone was running upstairs.”

“You think its Bobby or Kenny?”

“Don’t know but we should check it out.”

“Lets go.” The pair takes the same path as they had taken the night before. At the foot of the hill they can see the house looming over them, seeming to want them not to enter. They climb the hill and stop at the upkeep lawn.

“Ready?” Matt asks.

“As I’ll ever be.” They walk up to the house; the door is still ajar.
They enter the cold dark house. They look around.

“Bobby? Kenny?” James calls.

“Do you hear that?”

“What?”

“It sounded like someone walking upstairs.”

“Up we go.” They walk towards the stairs. A small boy is at the top of the stairs.

“Hey kid what are you doing here?” Matt asks. The boy doesn’t answer.

“Kid what’s you name?” James asks. No response.

The small boy just stands there starring at them. He raises his hand and monitions to they as if he wants them to come upstairs. He turns away and walks down the hall out of sight.

“Wait kid!” Matt screams. “Damn it. Well do we go up and see what’s up?” James asks.

“Yeah lets, but I know I’ve seen that kid somewhere before.”

“You have, where?”

“Can’t put my finger on it.”

“Lets go.” They start to climb the stairs. When they reach the top they see the boy at the end of the hall beckoning to them to come closer.

They move into the middle of the hall, and as they do the boy vanishes.

“What, a ghost?” James says startled.

“I know where I saw him.”

“Where?”

“He was in that photo I took.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No and if he’s here then maybe the rest of the family is here to.”

“Man that wouldn’t be good you know what that family is famed for.”

“Yeah over 100 mur…” James sees the body of his friend hit the floor lifeless. He swings around and sees a tall man with an axe clutched in his hands. The man goes to swing. “Wait no…”

Blood spurts from James and Matt’s sleeping bodies covering Bobby and Kenny.


Bobby Hayden and Kenny Smith were latter arrested for the murder of their two friends, in cold blood. A crime they never committed…

End


Please review I’d love to hear what you thought.
Raxal.