"I dare you to sleep in the cemetery tonight," Skimpy
said to Mark in a low, almost frightening, tone. "We
did that last year Skimpy," Randy said in a
disappointed voice. "No. John slept in the cemetery
last year. Not Mark," Skimpy said. "Wait I slept in
the cemetery last year," Brandon said. "Yeah and so
did I," Pat followed up. "So there it has been done,"
Randy said. "Well Mark can sleep in the cemetery,"
Skimpy said. "Guys we need to do something we have
never done this Halloween," Randy said as he stood up
with his flashlight, "Lets go to the haunted house on
Washington Street."
Every year on Halloween Patrick invited everyone
to his house. Every year they dared each other to do
different acts of courage. Every challenge had been
answered but one, exploring the haunted house on
Washington Street alone. The challenge, made by Mark
to Chad, was never completed. No one dared go into
that house. Some nights they all would walk pass and
look into the window and swear they saw a little girl
looking back at them, but just as their eyes would
focus into the object it would disappear.
"We can't go to that house," Jace started as he
put on his coat, "a little girl made her father kill a
whole bunch of people in that place. Why do you think
no one lives there?" "Someone does live in there,"
Patrick said as everyone began to pay attention to
this new found information, "A bum lives there."
"OHHH NO BUM LIVES IN THAT HOUSE!" everyone said as
they began throwing random objects at Pat. "Yeah a
bum that looks like a little girl, right Pat?" Randy
said. "Hey, come on now who has actually seen or has
proof of seeing a girl in that window?" Brandon said
in Pat's defense. "OK then, if you two aren't scared
at all lets go to the house." Skimpy said as everyone
began to agree. "Fine!" they both uttered, "Let's
go!"
***************
"All right, who's going in?" Randy asked as he
looked around at the small group of friends. "Well,
who was dared to go in the house?" John asked as he
looked around for an answer. "No one," Skimpy began,
"but, it is my turn to make the dare." "That's
right," Chad said, "now what's going to be the dare?"
"Well, I'm gonna dare one of you to go into that
house." Skimpy said looking at everyone. "Just go
into the house? That's kind of lame." Mark said
nervously. "Well Mark I'm not threw with the dare
yet," Skimpy said in a self assured voice, "not only
do you have to go in, you have to steal something from
inside, and spend at least three hours in the room
upstairs where we can all see." "Well, who you gonna
pick Skimp?" Jace asked nervously. "Lets see," Skimpy
said as he began walking around the group, "I could
pick Randy because he was the one who really wanted to
go in the first place. Or, I could pick Chad because
if we all remember correctly, he was the first to ask
anyone to go in the house. How about I pick Patrick,
it's about time we prove his little bum living in the
house theory wrong. Now there is always Brandon, he
would actually do it if I picked him. John I love
seeing you in pain, maybe you should be the one I
choose. Jace I'm not even going to bother with you,
your to scared to walk into the cemetery. I should
probably pick Mark because I dared him to sleep in the
cemetery to begin with." "So Mark is going?" Randy
asked sounding very relieved. "No, you all are,"
Skimpy said as he turned to look at the house. "If we
are going, then you are going," Pat said. "YEAH!" the
rest of the group shouted. "Fine!, Skimpy said, "Lets
all go. The more the merrier."
Chad led the way with Brandon close behind. The
rest of the group made a pile as they walked into the
house. As they entered a huge odor of dust and mold
hit them. It smelled like a basement that had been
left alone for hundreds of years. The first room in
the house looked to be a living room. "What part
should we explore first?" Randy asked breaking the
silence. "The kitchen," Jace said as if it was the
most brilliant thought that ever came to his head.
"You know Jace, there isn't going to be any food left,
but that does sound like a good idea." John said.
The kitchen area was in the next room over. A
small hallway connected the two rooms. There was a
very old stove in the kitchen and the remains of an
old termite infested table. "Well, who wants to make
some soup?" Mark asked as he walked around to the
stove. "Wait," Chad said, "does anyone notice anything
wrong?" "Yeah," Pat said examining the stove, "there
is no food on it." "No," Chad said trying not to
laugh, "there's not a lot of dust on some parts of
it." "That's cause I touched it," Skimpy said showing
the dust on his hand. "Hey look!" Brandon shouted,
"It's the basement." "I'm not going down there."
Patrick said. "Yeah me either," Jace continued.
"Where next then?" Brandon asked. "How about we go
upstairs?" Pat said already heading that way.
The old steps creaked very loudly as they walked
up. So loudly the boys actually worried the neighbors
would here and call the police on them. As they
reached the top of the stairs they turned down a small
hall, then into a large room. Randy shut the door as
he walked in last. The room was very large, so far
the largest room they had seen in the house. In it
was a fireplace that still had logs in it. There was
also another door across the room. The boys began to
examine the random objects in the room. "This
fireplace," Pat said "it was used recently." "How can
you tell?" Jace asked as he walked over to where Pat
and the rest of his friends gathered. "The ashes are
brand new," Randy began, "you could light another fire
by breathing on the embers." "I told you a homeless
guy lived here!" Pat shouted. As he did a low banging
sound came from downstairs. "What the hell was that?"
Jace said in an extremely scared voice. "It's the
bum," Pat said, "I knew it." Just then another
banging sound came from right beneath them. Then
another sounded from what seemed to be the kitchen.
Then one sounded right outside the room. "That moved
way too quickly to be a person," Brandon said with a
look of terror on his face. "I'm getting out of
here!" Jace shouted as he bolted out the door.
"WAIT!" Mark shouted as he ran after him, "That's the
wrong way!" The rest of the group all went the other
way and out the house.
Jace ran threw one room and into the next. As
Mark followed, the doors shut and enclosed him in the
next room. Strange sounds began emulating from the
next room as Jace began to shake in terror. "NO!"
Jace heard coming from the next room.
"Mark? Is that you?"
Jace tried to open the door, but it seemed to be
locked. He quickly looked for a lock on the door, but
none was to be found. Jace began to hear a little
girl laugh and some other people talking about the
murder of thirty people. The noise started out low,
but now the voices and the laughter were ear-piercing.
"MARK!" Jace shouted as he banged on the door, "Are
you OK?" Just then all of the noise completely
stopped and the door opened. Mark lay on the floor of
the next room. "Mark," Jace said as he approached his
body "Are you OK?" Jace gave Mark a shake and Mark
woke up. "You OK?" Jace said. Mark didn't say
anything. He just nodded his head "yes", stood up and
began to walk out of the house.
"What the hell happened up there guys?" Brandon
said as they walked out of the house. "Did you see
anything?" Randy asked. Mark didn't reply and just
began to walk home, not saying a word to anyone.
"What happened to him?" Patrick asked. "I'm not even
sure," Jace said.
***************
"What the hell are you doing?" Chad yelled as
the group ran up to Mark. The house stood before him
ablaze. In his hands were a gas can and box of
matches. "Mark you're going to get in a lot of
trouble!" Pat said. "Mark lets get the hell out of
here." Chad said. Mark stood there watching the house
burned. He seemed to want to make sure it all went
down. The cops and fire department soon arrived and
Mark had to go on probation. Still he said a word to
no one.
***************
A YEAR LATER.MARK IS TALKING AGAIN, THE HOUSE IS
BURNT DOWN, AND THEY ARE BACK AT PAT'S HOUSE.
"So Mark this is the one year anniversary since
you went into the house," Skimpy said as Mark became
quiet, "What did happen in that house?" "Nothing
happened," Mark began, "Patrick was right it was
probably some bum. "Bum my ass," Jace said, "I heard
some pretty strange things. No bum could make those
sounds." "I told you it was nothing, now never bring
that up again or I am going to.just then the lights
went out. "GET AWAY FROM ME YOU BASTARDS! I THOUGHT
YOU WOULD LEAVE ME ALONE NOW!" Mark shouted as he
began thrashing about the room. "MARK!" Pat shouted
as he turned the flashlight on, "It's just a
power-outage. The lights will be back on soon." "I
need to go," Mark said as he shut the door, "See you
all in school Monday."
Mark moved away a month later. His parents both
found jobs in sunny California. Before Mark left he
never said anything about what happened in that house.
Whatever it was, it scared him so badly that he would
turn white if you ever mentioned that house, or if he
heard a little girl laugh. The boys all did some
research and found out a girl had lived in that house
with her parents. She reportedly began hearing noised
and killed her parents. Others moved into the house
with her under her orders and did as she bid. She
claimed to be a God and they all did everything she
wanted. The girl would get the group to kidnap teens
and bring them into a torture room upstairs. She
would then tell her "followers" what to do. The girl
reportedly stopped hearing the voices and turned in
everyone else. She claimed to never have done
anything, but everyone else reported her as the one
giving all the orders. The girl was killed the next
night in the house, the cause of death is still not known.