Going In the Haunted House

More depressing than the others lol, Christian goes back to his old house where his parents were killed. You see more why he is the way he is, little flashback with hallie too.

Christian brushed the overgrown hair out of eyes to look at his work. She seemed more accurate than before, her expressions more defined. It always helped when you slept with the subject you were working on.

�Another f*****g portrait of Hallie� he scolded himself, his deep voice echoing through the desolate walls of his flat. Inhaling on his cigarette he decided to redo everything in charcoal, which was literally a piece of charcoal he found off the streets and shaped into a pencil. He was so on edge from being off drugs, it had been a week but he was still shaking and sweating from withdrawals. He couldn�t believe how whipped he was by the girl he was drawing, the girl that told him he was too good for drugs, who was she f*****g kidding?

He just wanted to be mellow again, and not face the things that ruthlessly entered his thoughts during the day, and slithered their way into his dreams at night. Instead of redrawing Hallie he drew something else, something not so beautiful. He pressed down hard on the paper nearly ripping a hole in it, and soon the charcoal haunted house, his haunted house became alive in his mind again.

�.

�It�s no use, he�s in shock,� a neighbor, or someone out of the crowd that gathered said.

�Kid won�t you say something?� a policeman said practically shaking the boy. �Do you know who went in there�and did this?�

�Come off it Steve he�s in no state to be talking. Jesus what kind of murders happen in broad daylight?� another older policeman said through walkie-talkie dispatchers.

About seven ambulance and police cars surrounded the tiny house and everyone in the neighborhood came to see why.

Christian loved police cars but right now he couldn�t see anything, he just saw a blurry vision of his house, and little people like ants scattering all over it.

�I didn�t even call 911 suspecting a murder, I called because this boy ran out in the middle of the street screaming and I thought he�d been hit by a car or something, he was just laying on the ground!� Mrs. Steffen from across the street said in tears.

�God damnit does he have any relatives we can call?�

�I know his Uncle lives pretty close to here,�

The voices just became more blurs of sound, Christian wasn�t even sure if men or women were saying the words. Then out of nowhere a young angel with long wild ringlets came down the street, her walking turned into running once she saw all the police cars.

�What�s happening? Why are there police at your house?� the little girl asked the boy.

Everyone was surprised when Christian turned to her, it was the only response he had since the police had been there.

He wanted to answer her so badly, but no words would come out. His whole body began shaking even under the blanket the police had wrapped him in. The front door of his house suddenly emerged with people wheeling something out and he looked to see what it was. He saw two silver carts carrying large black sacks. It was then he knew his parents were gone. For some reason even though he witnessed the murder himself, he thought they�d come out alive.

He fell on the floor with Hallie holding onto him tightly, falling with him. They clung to each other as he finally got out of his shock and went into a mess of a emotion that a seven year old was unequipped to handle. Hallie was a little younger than Christian at the time, and wasn�t sure what was going on, but somehow she knew something bad happened to his parents and they weren�t coming back.

As he sobbed into her arms she put her lips to his matted blonde hair and kissed it while starting to cry herself. �Christian we can go to our spot in the woods and live inside the castle,� which was a six year olds way of saying , �I�ll take care of you�.

�Someone get the kid out of here, he�s not supposed to be seeing this,� the cop demanded someone.

�Come on boy, you have to go home with me now,� a callous voice said. Christian looked up realizing it was his Uncle Peter, who was practically a stranger. So much time must have passed by for his uncle to already be here, but he didn�t feel it, he couldn�t feel anything.

�You can�t take him from me!� little Hallie shrieked.

�They have to take him sweetheart, they need to get this all sorted out before he comes back here,� Mrs. Steffen said holding onto Hallie who kept trying to squirm back to her best friend.

�But he�s mine! He isn�t yours! I want him to stay with me!� she cried.

�You can come visit him anytime you want,� his Uncle said creepily.

Even then Hallie didn�t like the way he said that. Thinking that she would never see Christian again, she did what any six year old would do when they are mad, and bit down on his hand as hard as she could.

�OW god damnit!� his Uncle bellowed. �You little b***h,� he snarled soft enough so no one else would hear. He led Christian into his car and they drove away with Hallie looking as long as she could before the car disappeared around the corner.

�

Fifteen years later Christian could still remember the way she held him back then, and how she walked a few miles from her rich little life on the hill to check on him since he hadn�t been in school that day.

Hallie had saved his life, without her he knew he would have died from the grief that day his parents were murdered. He flipped through the zillions of drawing he had of her in his sketchbook. She was beautiful that was no mystery, but he realized that wasn�t why he drew her so much. It was what she meant to him, what a sweetheart she�d been to him almost his whole life.

He thought back to last week when they took their stroll in the graveyard. As much as he did want to kiss her that day he was just happy to hear about her life, even if it did include David. It was good just to be friends. Friends don�t kiss. That�s what they were as children best friend, well even then they�d kiss occasionally, but he couldn�t do that now. If he wanted to be in her life he�d have to control himself and just be her friend. He could do that, he was sure of it.

There was something he needed to do to possibly let go of his pain. He hadn�t been there in fifteen years, only driving by it a few times, but he needed to go back to his parents house, and face his fears of the haunted house. Christian took his motorcycle helmet and head outside. It was pouring rain, and the drive would take at least two hours but feeling finally ready he could go there, he had to take the opportunity.

He cut through the rain hoping he didn�t slip on the wet the roads. It was almost like the state of the weather was a sign he shouldn�t go, but he ignored it and sped on. He finally approached his old neighborhood and hunched over his handlebars dripping wet. Turning onto his street his heart began pounding loudly, he could practically hear it over the rumbling of his motorcycle. He saw his house in view and parked a couple houses before it, feeling much less confident about being there.

He walked down the street slowly. The place had basically fallen apart, no one else had lived in it since the murder, and no one really wanted to after hearing what happened in there. It used to be a small two story house blue with white trim, and now it was so withered away, with broken windows and graffiti tagged everywhere. The front yard used to be green grass on each side of the house and it was now dirt with a few pathetic patches of brown grass, and overgrown in weeds. It almost reminded him of the small version of the insane asylum.

Looking at it he realized no one gave a damn about the place, and just threw it away as if it wasn�t there anymore, because that is exactly what society did with him too. They let him rot with his uncle, in foster homes, and on the streets, yet just like the house he still remained standing, worn away but standing.

He was now directly before the little metal gate in front of his house, and studied the outside balling his fists with tension. Floods of memories came back, ones of playing football outside the house with his dad, riding around the driveway on his bike, things that he hadn�t even thought of since he lived there. Once he moved in with his uncle he tried not to think about when he was a kid, because he was forced to become an adult so fast. He had convinced himself that he didn�t remember a thing about his childhood, but now it was all coming back. It was like he was looking at a place he used to live back when he was a person, back when he mattered, and that was the hardest thing of all to remember.

Christian didn�t even know what he planned to do by coming there, face his fears, but how did one do that? He figured he�d have to actually go inside the house, but it was like his feet couldn�t move from the spot he was standing at, almost the same spot where he saw his dead parents being wheeled out of the house. He suddenly regret coming altogether, he knew there was a reason he just stayed away, the past was just best buried. Figuring he was already there, he opened the gate and walked the pathway to his front door. Standing in front of it he felt like he was in an old photograph taken of him and his family when they first moved in the house. It wasn�t anything like Hallie�s numerous mansions, but it had always been enough for him.

He grabbed onto one of his hands to keep it from shaking, but it was no use. He stood at his front door for at least ten minutes trying to catch his breath and gain some composure and finally put his trembling hand on the door knob turning to open it. It wouldn�t budge, since it probably hadn�t been open in years. He shoved it with his massive shoulders several times and it finally swung open, disturbing loads of dust and cobwebs that flew everywhere making him cough. Once the dust settled he partially stood in the doorway half in half out, poking his head in almost like he was glimpsing into his past. It felt so surreal to be standing there again, like he was in some weird dream or on a bad drug trip, but it was actually real, he was actually at his parents old house after all these years.

It was like he was regressing, almost excited to see the old place, like he had just been on a long vacation from home, but again something kept him where he stood. If he tried to even move one step he�d shake so badly that he had to hold on to the wall.

�Come on you p***y go in,� he commanded himself out loud. For the sake of his mind and his sanity it was like his body wasn�t allowing him too. His chest pained him from breathing so fast, and closed his eyes not believing what a coward he was being.

�Hey leave that house alone!� someone called from across the street.

He jumped at the voice not knowing that someone had been watching him and sharply turned around to see who it was.

�That house is owned by the government, it isn�t yours to go snooping around in!,� an elderly woman yelled.

Christian took a good look at her realizing who it was. She looked so much older after fifteen years.

�Mrs. Steffen,� he nodded at her in disbelief.

�Wait a minute, are you Christian? Christian West?� her wrinkled face turning pale.

He nodded not knowing how to explain himself. His old neighbor ran across the street to him beginning to well up with tears, and Christian made his way towards her.

Once they got to each other she threw his arms around him in that way elderly women aren�t afraid to do and stood there practically three feet below him.

�My god you are huge! You used to be this tiny little thing, now you look like a body builder or something,� she chuckled through tears.

He patted her shoulder feeling so guilty he made this old lady cry.

�It was a horrendous thing that happened to your parents. You must have had a hard life with them not being here for you,� she sobbed.

He tried to disagree but what she said was so dead on, he swallowed the heavy sadness that began to engulf him.

�I understand why you haven�t wanted to come back. What brings you here now?� she asked.

�I don�t know I thought I�d try and go in, look at the place again.�

�Well I�m still the same old nosy neighbor I was fifteen years ago, I watch over the house, and try and run off the kids that spray painted it, but I guess I didn�t do a very good job,� she said disappointed in herself.

�That�s really considerate. Just the fact that you try and watch over it means a lot, thank you,� Christian smiled. Besides his friends and Hallie he felt like he was talking to the first nice person in several years.

�Would you like to come inside for some tea? You do realize it�s raining out here you know,� she said shielding her face from the rain.

�No thank you. Yeah I know it�s raining I just kind of had to do this.�

�I�m sorry I interrupted you, you go ahead and I�ll leave you alone now. It was very nice seeing you, I always hoped you were doing well,� she said sincerely.

�It�s no problem. I don�t even think I can go in there anyhow. It was really nice seeing you too. I�ll stop by again sometime if that�s ok,� Christian offered.

�It�s more than ok, besides my dogs I live by myself,� she replied.

�So do I.�

�Goodbye, be careful,� she said kissing him on the cheek like his mother used to.

Not used to that type of affection he awkwardly pulled away and walked back to his motorcycle. He knew since he came all the way out there that he should try and go in again, but it just wasn�t in him, he didn�t even know how to fully step inside. He rode home in the now-dark feeling like such a coward, although it had been good talking to Mrs. Steffen again, maybe he would actually come visit her like he promised, he knew what it was like being alone, it sucked.

The long drive home made him wonder if he�d every try to go back again, actually go inside, where everything happened. It would be kind of cool to see his old room again, but he was sure if he couldn�t do it now he would never be able to do it. He knew if he was high he could, but then that would just defeat the purpose.

There was one thing that may help, that could possibly give him the courage to face his fears. One little girl, who told him they could run away and live in a castle together, a girl who fed him when no one else was doing it, who saved his pathetic little life countless times, but she was an angel in a different world. She belonged in heaven while he still remained in hell, unable to see her, but what mattered most is that he had the hopes to come out of his hell, out of his sorrows and finally bring that chapter of his life to an end.

Author's Note

The flashback may be confusing at first i know that, tell me if its too much or too depressing lol.

Reviews

[M. Amphet Salt]

Not depressing at all, but rather thought provoking in a sense that it grips the reader. I like how you showed the characteristics of your protagonist here. You present alot of emotional ranges within them, but most of all you summed it up with just how strong they are with their courage. I did notice some misplaced modifiers. I will make note to try to send to you when I have the time.

[Dawn]

It needs proper punctuation.

[Mysteral - Night Prowle..]

Another excellent chapter. Not too depressing at all, well not for the reader, although maybe for Christian. Again I see a lot of emotion in your writing, I feel the same things he feels just by reading. Nice touch to bring the neighbour back into it too.

Just a few minor notes, but otherwise, beautifully written.

[MorganLyn]

a very powerful chapter.. I'm supposed to be watching my little sister, but I couldn't unglue my eyes from the pages. It looks like Hallie and Christian are soul mates.. I mean jeez.. she wouldn't let go of him as a child.. why should she as an adult. I'm very excited that Christian is deciding to make changes in his life.. GO HIM! :D lol

[ShadowWolf]

Not confusing at all nor is it depressing. Facing the fears of one's past is never an easy thing and you have described that very well.