Bobby stumbled across the path. The path that led him to a house he’s heard so much about, the haunted house at the end of the forest. The path that took him there was the path behind his house, “never go beyond that tree!” Bobby’s mom always said, but tonight he was feeling adventurous. He had also sneaked out to go to a party but ended up making the “wrong” turn somewhere inside the forest; feeling brave. The house, which looked at him oddly, called him up. He slowly crept up the wooden steps. They creaked one by one, by one. The last step made no noise, Bobby looked around at what was in front of him.
The house leaned forward, like it was looking at him. The houses door was the mouth and the two side windows the eyes, he thought. Bobby took a minute, and then two, and peeked inside the window. Nobody was in there, a rocking chair rocked with the wind that passed through the cracked edge. His hands began to shiver with the cold wind, if he didn’t go inside soon, he’d be shivering all over. From the broken window he could see a fireplace at the end of the hall he decided to go in.
As he walked towards the door he thought to himself. Who in their right mind would just walk into an abandoned house at 11:00pm? What fourteen-year-old kid would do this? Both questions didn’t get an answer, and without thinking he began to turn the knob. The rusty old door was stuck at first but with a small thrust it opened.
The house looked so empty, so broken, so sad. Bobby admired the rocking chairs handy work; you could tell it was hand made; he also admired the family of spiders that sat in the corner. The stairs to the upstairs looked long and haunted, it gave the impression that someone was waiting upstairs. Fear began flowing up his body, the same way his blood does. He saw the wood beside the staircase and picked two pieces up. He checked his pockets for a match or a lighter but they were both empty. He stared at the floor and in the corner of what he assumed was the living room; he saw a matchbox. He opened the little matchbox, found one, picked it, and lit.
The fire began burning slowly, the colors of the fire reflected in Bobby’s dark brown eyes. Yellow… orange… red… all three burned within his eyes. He appeared to be mesmerized with the sound of the cracking and the burning of the fire that sat in front of him. He brought up his hands to heat them up. It had only taken a few seconds to make them warm, he stuck out his face as well, hoping his cold nose would get warm just as fast but it had taken longer.
Feeling as hot as a furnace he began to move away from the fire. He hadn’t taken his eyes off the fire since it began to burn. He stood there, staring, loving, and then he felt something touch his ankle. Startled he jumped up, nobody was behind him… but the rocking chair was. Bobby, stared at it confused, he was pretty sure he had seen it by the door when he had walked in, how did it get behind him? He closed his eyes tightly, he looked at it again and it was still behind him. Maybe he was confused with something else, rocking chairs cant just move by themselves. He sat.
He looked around the house once more, why would anyone believe this house was haunted? He asked himself. Another question that he didn’t have an answer to… yet. He closed his eyes just for a moment; the house quieter than quiet began to make a noise. He opened his eyes and stopped breathing. He listened. Drip… drip… drip… he heard. He stood up as quickly as lightening when it hits the ground, he turned around and stared at the door. He thought about making a run for it but he felt paralyzed. He couldn’t move, once more he heard it again. Drip… drip… drip… He heard it clearer than ever now, he felt as if it was coming from upstairs. The full moon shone bright through the window of the house, creating a lighted pathway up the stairs.
“It’s calling me,” he said out loud. He felt as if he hadn’t blinked for about an hour, his eyes wide open; fear began to tremble through his body. He began walking slowly, his heart thumbed inside his chest, he thought he was heading towards the door but something had pushed him to the side. In front of him, the old broken up staircase stood. He felt as if his body was moving on its own, he didn’t want to go upstairs, but he wanted to. One step after the other, he felt as if he was dragging his own feet, his brain wanted to run, but his body wanted him to go up. He blinked. It had felt so good, but he kept his eyes opened, wide open scared he was going to miss something important. Drip… drip… drip… The sound again, this time closer, this time louder.
The moons bright light kept guiding him up, almost like it wanted him to go upstairs. His body began turning left, again, he felt like it was moving on it’s own, with his brain running away. Fear and panic and so many thoughts were fumbling through his brain he wasn’t aware of anything anymore. Down the hall he could see the moonlight shinning inside the room. The door half open half close, he saw what appeared to be the side a toilet, maybe someone was in there, Bobby thought to himself. He began to walk slowly towards the alleged bathroom. The noise, drip… drip… drip… getting louder and louder. Fear began to tremble louder within Bobby’s body, what awaited him behind that door? A question he will soon get an answer to soon.
“This is crazy,” he kept whispering to himself. “Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy” he got to the end of the hall. He stood. Staring at the half opened door, Bobby’s small life flashed before his eyes. Without thinking he began to slowly push it back. The bathroom was all white, the only thing he had seen with colour. The house was dark everywhere except for the bathroom; the bathroom was all white, and clean. He smelled a fresh smell within this bathroom and the thought of it startled Bobby. As he fully opened the door he saw the bathtub, a curtain pulled around it, the full moon shining in it and Bobby felt as if he saw a shadow behind the curtain. Drip… drip… the sound, Bobby looked to his left and it was coming form the bathtub, but not from the fossil. He stared at the floor, his eyes getting wider and wider by the second, a small pool of blood was on the corner of the bathroom’s tile.
Without thinking he shuffled slowly towards the tub, his hand reaching for the curtain, a scream crept in Bobby’s throat ready to make an appearance soon. With no hesitation he pulled on the curtain. A body lay in front of Bobby, he couldn’t move. Bobby felt frozen, staring at the body, his eyes opened with fear, his scream ready to scream, he took a gasp of air and just stared. The body was of a white big male, shaved head, slit throat. Suicide. Bobby thought, how stupid. He committed suicide here because he knew no one would ever come looking for him here. Idiot.
Bobby kept staring at the man’s open eyes, which were staring at the ceiling. That was the last thing he saw, Bobby told himself. He kept staring. Drip… drip… drip…
He couldn’t have been dead for long, Bobby thought to himself again, or else the blood wouldn’t be dripping. “But the door was rusty he couldn’t have come in today… the water wasn’t running and… where are his clothes?” Bobby asked himself out loud. The fear that had slowly begun to fade came back with a rush. Bobby’s eyebrows began to slowly lift up in shock and fear and danger and he realized that the body’s chest began to swell up… taking a breath. Bobby could feel his skin crawl, his Goosebumps getting Goosebumps and the body that lay in front of him, inside the bathtub, the old naked man’s head began to slowly turn towards Bobby. A sickening smile crept upon his face “hi” he said and a demon like scream began, his mouth wider than any mouth could widen. Bobby began to scream in terror. The man began to scream louder, and then it was just Bobby. Screaming inside the bathroom alone.
Bobby looked around, the man wasn’t there anymore, and the blood had disappeared. His body was finally in flight mode and when Bobby began to turn to the door to run the door swung shut. He tried to open it but the knob wouldn’t turn, it was locked from the outside, Bobby could hear the key rattling through the door. He turned around; tears began streaming through his face. “If only I had stayed home,” Bobby mumbled out loud, tears after tears after tears. He saw his reflection through the mirror though it wasn’t his reflection. Bobby began to move, closer to the mirror. His face full of tears, he pushed them to the side. Bobby kept staring at his reflection, something was odd about it but he couldn’t put his finger on it. And then, he began to smile. Panic flew through Bobby’s body but it was too late, he grabbed Bobby’s head from the mirror’s reflection and smashed it in. Bobby fell to the ground, mirror shattered around the floor, the white bathroom now red full of Bobby’s blood.
He saw himself again; he looked exactly like him, his body, his hands, his eyes, and his smile. Bobby was staring at another Bobby. He wanted to run but couldn’t. The other Bobby picked him up and placed him in the bathtub. Turned on the fossil and filled it up with hot water, but not too hot. He picked up the shattered mirror that was on the floor and walked towards him. He looked deep into Bobby’s eyes; Bobby weak felt as if he was looking into his soul. “Goodbye my friend,” the other Bobby said and slit Bobby’s throat. Bobby chocked, he felt his blood gushing out, chocked some more. He stared at the ceiling, drips of his blood had made it up there, the bathroom was no longer white it was red, the moon’s light began to hide away and darkness crept quicker than Bobby expected. He had just one more thought…
I just killed myself. And there was no more.
The house cleaned itself; the bathroom went back to being white, the fire burned out, and the house waited… awaited for the next stupid kid that would dare to enter.