Home - Chapter: 1

A young man purchases a small luxury home for him and his fiancé after winning the lottery. When he moves in a week early by himself, he begins to experience a demonic supernatural evil.

A variety of hauntings depicted in this story are based off true events. All characters and locations are purely fictitious.

Chapter 1

"Hey, babe!" I smiled as I looked into the lens of my new high-definition camcorder, checking to make sure the LED on the device was blinking. "I just arrived at our new home. This place is great, you're absolutely going to love it here," I grinned as I moved the camera away from my face and pointed it towards the front of the two-story, craftsman style house. I was standing outside so that I could have gotten a good shot of the place. It was one of the best homes that a young, modest couple in their early-twenties like us could dream of. 

I know it doesn't sound like a mansion, but this place had the works. It was kind of a luxury home. I ended up hitting it well in the lottery a few weeks ago. Nothing crazy, but definitely well enough to get myself and my lovely fiancé Oriana on track for a comfortable life. 

"Oh my god, Mason! We can finally move in together," she had exclaimed at the time while assaulting me with hugs and kisses. I laughed and joked, "I know, right? consider yourself freed from your mother's tower, a.k.a. the evil enchantress!" 

I know, I'm kind of a dork. But she was practically a prisoner in her mom's house. That woman just did not know when to let go. Still, she had slapped my shoulder around for the crude joke and then we said goodbye to prepare for the move.

Now, if it was any other luxury home, I don't think I could have afforded it even with my big win. Thing is, I kind of got a great deal on this place. The realtor had told me that people would move in and out regularly, and that the house would remain open for months at a time. Weird, I thought. He was a little dumbfounded himself, because the previous owners wouldn't disclose why they'd move out so soon. I figured they just thought it was too small, or that they were new here in Ohio and didn't like the weather. 

Besides, if I hadn't bought it when I did, I doubt I would have gotten another chance. There was already another couple who was looking into buying it. Too bad for them. 

I began to rotate while holding the camera, speaking as the guide to this little video tour. "And this here is our front yard. Look at that," I bragged to myself, pointing the lens towards a small road given way by a line of trees that led up to the driveway. The actual front yard itself was a bit bigger than your usual place; wide and chock-full of grass. But I'd like to think everything here was part of of the front yard.

As you can tell, I was all set to move in. Oriana, however, still had some things she had to take care of with work and all that jazz. If all goes well, she'll be here by the end of the week. 

I know it's weird, but she actually hasn't even seen the place. I don't normally make such decisions without speaking to her about it, but she saw how excited I was and trusted in my choice so long as I sent her pictures of the house. Obviously I did her one better: Video tours.

Also, when I saw it, I just couldn't wait. I hadn't even seen the house entirely when I decided... this is my home. 

It was well into the afternoon, and after a small trek around the perimeter I decided to wrap up my tour and head inside, giving one last good shot of the house. That was when I noticed something odd. The light in the kitchen-- it had suddenly turned on, I could see it through the window. It went off almost immediately, then repeated the process once more. 

"What the heck?" I thought aloud, shutting off the camcorder. I decided to make my way inside. There couldn't have been someone in the house, because the movers had left about an hour ago. I looked around as I made my way past the sitting room and into the kitchen-diner. I didn't see anyone. But for good measure I looked upstairs. Nothing out of the ordinary. 

"That's not good," I thought aloud again. I don't want any loose circuits messing with the lights. I mean, at this point I just wanted to enjoy this place alone, without people from the electric company having to come over. Not unless they absolutely had to. Otherwise, if the lights keep flickering, I'll just take a look at the breakers myself. 

I set the camcorder down on the kitchen table and flipped it on. "Well, it's 4:20 P.M. in the afternoon, and I'm starving," I said as I pursed my lips and rose a brow at the camera. "My mom's probably making one of her nice hot meals right about now. I sure hope you're ready to cook for me every day from now on, babe," I snickered as I walked over to the cupboard behind me and pulled out some instant noodles. "Spicy shrimp. Delectable." 

I popped them into the microwave for three minutes and showed her the interior of the kitchen-diner until they were ready.

"Oh, your lion statue made it here okay," I muttered, pointing the camcorder towards the large gray statue of a sitting lion with its paw on a family emblem. "If you were wondering if I had seen your text about it, I did. Asking to make sure it was okay... Yet you sure didn't ask if I was!" I sighed. Obviously, I was pulling her leg. 

I had the movers set the statue in a corner of the sitting room. It actually took them quite a bit of effort to move it. The darn thing weighs, like, a ton... and it costs a ton of money. It's been in Oriana's family for the longest time, and its now going in our house.

I heard the microwave beep and said, "Oh, there's dinner."

 It was kind of weird sitting there alone and eating noodles in front of a camera, but the hype from having gotten this place was still at an all-time high. So I was happy. 

After dinner, I snapped a few pictures of the house's interior and decided to get on my computer to upload them and send them to Oriana's e-mail. I also blogged a few of the snapshots and videos online for my friends and family to see. Some of them joked about the lights going on and off at the end of the video I took outside. I totally forgot that I caught that. They told me this place was probably haunted. Great friends, huh? 

As night time started coming in, it began to get very cold so I decided to try out the large fireplace. It always got so cold here in Ohio towards January. As I was setting up some fire logs, I felt a light sensation on the back of my hand. I looked at it and saw some dust mixed with ashes had landed on me. It must have fallen from inside the chimney when I was filling the log rack. But after wiping the dust off and picking up another log, I started to see more of it falling. 

I could almost swear I heard some kind of shuffling up there. Very strange.

I watched and listened for a minute until it stopped. Even though my instincts were telling me not to, I decided to look inside. Before doing so however, I went to find a small flashlight that I had lying around on my desk. After retrieving it, I returned to the fireplace and got on my hands and knees in order to inch forward over the filled log rack. 

Turning on the small flashlight, I pulled my head back and shone it up towards the inside of the chimney. It was dark, and very hard to see because of how high up it stretched. It would have been better with a bigger flashlight. 

Still, I squinted my eyes and searched the small nooks. I ended up accidentally pressing the switch on the flashlight after holding it out further against a protruding corner, which caused it to turn off.

"Damn it," I muttered to myself, pulling away from the chimney to turn it back on. I returned to my position and held the flashlight up a little to continue my search. I thought it was my imagination, but the darkness in the chimney appeared to get... closer. 

That was when I saw a faint reflection inside, like that of a small piece of tinfoil. I didn't notice it before, and when I pointed directly at it, my heart leaped... 

A small pair of blue eyes were staring right back at me. I dropped my flashlight in surprise and screamed as I felt something swoop down at my head with a loud shriek! 

I realized that it was a crow, and it was attacking me.

I unintentionally smacked it lightly as I jumped back and threw my arms up to cover my head. It cawed and flapped its wings frantically as it flew around the sitting room and clung to the high wall with its wings out. 

"What the hell!" I shouted as I quickly went for the front door and swung it open. I rushed to the kitchen-diner and picked up a broom, thereafter making my way back to the sitting room where the crow was. "Out! Get out!" 

It was a stubborn crow, but I managed to chase it out of the house within a few seconds. After doing so, silence fell back in the house and I sprawled myself on the floor in relief. My heart was still pounding as I muttered breathlessly, "Sh... S**t." 

Don't think I'll be using the fireplace tonight. If there was a crow living in there, I'd imagine it had some sort of nest. I'll have to take a look at that tomorrow. For now, It seemed as though my electric heater will see its use. 

With not much else to do, I went into mine and Oriana's bedroom and set the heater to low to prepare myself for bed. I had been so busy getting the place set up, and dealing with all the whacky things going on... so I was bushed. As such, it didn't take long at all for me to fall asleep.

It didn't sound like things were going to get any quieter around here, however. Because well into midnight, I awoke to an incredibly loud thud coming from the first floor of the house. 

What the hell was that?

Reviews

[Taly]

Oh my god you're writing a horror story! This first chapter sure perked my interest! Ahaha, I'm bad with horror... ;o; But love it at the same time! Off to the next chapter I go!