The House Down The Road

A Story by Tiffany

This is a short story, mostly to try and improve my descriptive details rather than plot line.

There's always been this one house on the end of the long gravel road. It's been abandoned by its previous owners, which can easily be seen if you dare get closer. The house lies within the forest where no plant life lives, trees have died long ago back when it was first built, and it gives off particular fumes that stray away any and all animals. When walking near the house, the sense of abandonment and loneliness becomes apparent. Chips of paint fall from every inch of the boards on the outside, the windows are shattered to pieces, and the porch swing has fallen down on one side.

Although it has been unheard and unseen of anyone entering this house and coming out alive, to get a full description I force myself through the door that's falling off its hinges. Inside, there's no power which means no light. The only source of light that can be seen is what comes from the rusty overused flashlight from within my shaky hands. With every step that I take makes another high pitched screech sounding creak coming from the floor that is already well into the process of collapsing. I wish that I didn't have to continue past the few stops from the door, wishing that I even had a choice, but there's a task that I've been assigned to complete. Being a journalist and all, I must find out what occurs inside this house that makes the people who walk in mysteriously disappear.

Forcing my feet to pursue onward, I cautiously walk to my right and into what seems to resemble what might've been a kitchen. Large black rats scurry across my shoes. Along the matching black and white checkered floor and counter lies shards of broken glass and pieces of china that if put together could make a beautiful picture of a dusty auburn rose. From the window nearby a loud caw from a crow erupts. At the same moment a chilly, eerie freezing cold wind wanders itself into the house, forcing goose bumps to arise on every inch of my body. Following a long pause of silence, hearing only my rapid breathing, I move in the direction of the next room in sight.

For some reason this room is completely empty and everything seems to be just perfect; there's no broken boards, no chipping paint, not even a speck of dust can be found. It's a tight fit for no more than a small table with two child sized chairs on either end. I quietly leave the room, not wanting to disturb whatever or whoever may be keeping that tiny room so neat and perfect, and stumble upon a beat-up rusty metal spiral stairwell. Resisting the urge to turn around and bolt out of this house I start my climb up the stairs. When my foot sets pressure on a step, it surges out a nerve-racking scratching sound between the aged metal grinding against one another.

When I reach the top of the stairs my heart beats get increasingly slower, as if it were being frozen in time. The word 'leave' is horribly written in all capital letters in a dried dark red substance with the smell that can only be known as blood. By this pint, my whole body is shaking with fear, but I cannot fail my task that I've been set out to accomplish. Practically walking like a toddler who has just learned how to walk, I pass multiple rooms along the narrow hallway. I peer into each room, yet they all seem to be the same identical bedroom. A sigh of relief escapes form my quivering cracked lips as I realize that there's one room left.

I appear at the entrance and stare at the same shattered window that I saw from the outside of the house. Immediately after I fully enter the pitch black room that seems to only contain a small broken Jack-in-the-Box, the door behind me slams shut. It try to open it, but the handle slides off within my hands. Now I have a slight clue as to why no one has ever made it out, but I'm surely not going to find out the full truth as to why. Knowing my only option of escape, I run full blast towards the shattered window, bursting through what's left of it and landing hard on the brown grass below. A surge of agony races through my right arm when I land, but I quickly get up and dash away as fast as I possibly can.

Although I may have fractured a bone or two, everyone will know about this unique house on the end of the road and hopefully will not make the same mistake as those who entered, but didn't make it out.