Lady of the House, Part 2

To begin the Lady of the House Series from the beginning, read Part 1 Don't Cross the Witch.

Dead House

Elaine and June were the best of friends. They’d known each other since they were 8 years old and did almost everything together, including getting into mischief in their small town. They were the ripe old age of 16 on this Halloween night and looking for something to do.

The girls made the ultimate plan. They would trick or treat together but each girl told her mother that she was spending the night at the other’s house. Classic trick but it still worked. They’d check in with each parent and send a pic from the other’s house to seal the deal. Then, the real fun would begin….

There was an old abandoned house in the far corner of Elaine's neighborhood that was known to be haunted. Neighborhood kids dared each other to enter it often but the rumor was that you should never enter the house at night. Never. The girls weren’t sure where that rumor came from, probably some silly story, but that was the unspoken rule of the neighborhood. No one entered right before or during nightfall. Some teens actually died in there a few years back but the authorities said drugs were involved. Nothing was ever really said about it in the news. Elaine and June always thought that was weird but whatever.

Elaine and June were pretty adventurous souls, though, always looking for the next big thing they could do. This old house seemed like the perfect experience for them! They planned to park Elaine’s car on the side of the house, next to the woods, so it wouldn’t be easily seen. They’d creep inside just before nightfall, take a video of the sun going down, and then creep out again making themselves champions of the neighborhood. Then, they’d drive to June’s boyfriend’s house for a party because his parents were out of town. They hoped to go down in history as the coolest, bravest teens around. Or the dumbest. Maybe both.

Either way, the girls were sure it would be an adventure. June’s boyfriend, Nate, was the only person who knew what they were up to. He was sworn to secrecy so they could surprise everyone with their video when they got to the party. The perfect plan.

The evening started out great with Elaine and June doing each other’s makeup for their costumes at Elaine’s house. June was a sexy devil and Elaine was a sexy cat. They toned it down a little for their parents’ sake but would hike their skirts up once at the party. Typical teenage girl stuff.

Walking from house to house felt tedious, plus they were getting a bit old for this. It was really just a cover, an excuse to get them together and away from home so they could goof off. Once they could see that sundown was about an hour away, they walked back to Elaine’s house and gathered their stuff for the “sleepover”. Flashlights and snacks in hand, they paused to send June’s mom a pic of them smiling happily in front of Elaine’s house so her parents wouldn’t feel the need to call and check up on them.

Then, they drove to the haunted house and sent a pic of them in front of June’s house that they had taken a little earlier so Elaine’s mom also wouldn’t feel the need to check up on them. They were free.

Now, parked beside the spooky house, they both felt an amazing surge of adrenaline knowing what they were about to do. Elaine hesitated a bit but that was normal for her. June was always dragging her places and forcing her to live life.

The sun was steadily setting and the girls hurried up to the front porch of the old house, minding where they stepped because of the rotted wood in the front porch flooring. They had their flashlights and smart phones in hand and were ready to collect their unbelievable footage. They each turned on their cameras and touched the record button before looking at each other and trying the door handle.

Sunlight was just barely touching the top of the three story house as they tried the front door and happily found it to be unlocked. June stepped in first, followed by Elaine, who was onboard with this whole endeavor but not nearly as sold on it as June was. It had actually all been June’s idea. She loved a good ghost story. Elaine was not as excited about ghosts but did love a good adventure so she hesitantly followed June’s lead. Besides, what could possibly go wrong?

Once inside, they both turned on their flashlights while keeping them mostly aimed at the floor. The girls didn’t want neighbors alerted to their trespassing by flashlights in windows. The front room of the house was a grand living room, huge and extending from one side of the house to the other, with a big grand stairway that went right up the middle of the room to the second floor. The girls took a few steps in and aimed their phones at each other for the proof that both of them were fully in the house. June turned hers to look out a nearby window.

“Okay, guys” June said while aiming her phone at the dirty window. “As you can see, Elaine and I are fully in the house and the sun should be setting soon. We’re going to take a little walk around and see what we can find.”

“I hope we don’t find any homeless people.” Elaine said as they both giggled and walked forward.

Everything in the house was covered with a thick layer of dust. The air smelled old and musty, like a library that had been shut down for decades. Dirt and dust floated in the air like a quiet fog that intended to slowly choke them to death. The kitchen and dining room were in the back of the first floor, just a small kitchen and then a slightly bigger dining room with a pass-through window in the wall that separated the two. Each step they took made the kind of creaking sound you hear in classic horror flicks from years passed. The house almost had a soundtrack all its own, with shuffling sounds reminiscent of whispers from unseen residents.

After getting some footage of the first floor, the girls ascended the stairway to the second floor. June pointed her phone to another window and quietly said,

“It’s almost time. It’s starting to get dark out there…”

Elaine nodded in response but didn’t say anything. She couldn’t shake how heavy the air was starting to feel, like being under several feet of water. June didn’t seem to notice as she pressed on, still obviously excited by the whole undertaking. The stairway railing was so dusty, June’s hand slipped off of it as soon as she shifted her weight onto it. She decided not to use it. Thankfully, the stairs seemed pretty level and sturdy. She saw that Elaine wasn’t using the railing either, probably because of how much of a germophobe she was. June aimed her phone back at Elaine to get a shot of them walking up the stairs when she could’ve sworn she saw someone walking several steps behind Elaine. She gasped for a moment but turned and kept walking forward, not wanting to spook Elaine before the sun was down. If anyone would bail too soon, it would be Elaine. She didn’t appreciate a ghost story like June did!

When they got to the top of the stairs, June turned around and looked back down the way they had come. She could see that someone had dragged their hand up the dusty railing but she KNEW it wasn’t either of them. That’s when she decided maybe they had been followed in and it might be time to make their exit…..

“Okay, I think it’s been long enough. Let’s head back to the front door.” June said while trying not to sound too anxious to get the heck out of there. Try as she might, June still looked shaken and Elaine knew something wasn’t right.

“What did you see?” Elaine said, while holding her phone aimed at June’s face. June didn’t want to appear scared on their video so she assured Elaine she didn’t see anything and just thought the floors might not be too solid up there. June began down the steps at a steady pace with Elaine right behind her.

“I know you saw something.” Elaine yelled in a half-whisper. “I heard you gasp and now all the sudden you want to leave. What did you see?!”

Just then, they both felt a gust of cold air rush past them and the whole house went darker than it had been just a moment earlier. It was as if that cold air had swept the light right out of the house! At this point, both girls sprinted down the remaining stairs, headed straight for the door. Maybe they wouldn’t be showing these videos to their friends after all.

June got to the front door first, practically running into it, and forcefully tried to turn the knob but it wouldn’t budge. The door had opened so easily before. No one had been there to lock it that they knew of. She didn’t even SEE a lock on it at all. She hadn’t noticed that before.

After June gave up on the door, Elaine took over the effort, trying desperately to open it. The door would not budge even a little and the sun was fully down. Nightfall had come and they were still in the house. At least they had been successful in their mission, whether they wanted to be or not.

June decided to try a window. The one nearest to her had no lock on it either, which she found to be very odd. Who builds a house with absolutely no locks on it? However, when she tried to open it, it also did not move an inch. She wondered how that was possible.

Elaine began to softly cry and was trying to use her phone but seemed to be having trouble. She then looked up at June with true terror in her eyes and said, “My phone just died. It just turned off. I don’t know what happened. I was going to call my mom and it went black.” June immediately looked at her phone just in time to see her screen also go black. They finally realized the true nature of their situation. This was dire.

They hadn’t brought any portable chargers in with them. They didn’t think they would be in the house for that long. All they had now were their flashlights. June turned hers back on and it cast a reassuring light through the room. At least they weren’t completely in the dark but now, June couldn’t even go back in her video and see who’d been on the stairs with them.

June cautiously began talking while keeping her voice down, so the other person couldn’t hear her. “When we were on the stairs and I looked back at you, I thought I saw a person walking up the stairs behind you. I thought it was my eyes playing tricks but when we got up the stairs, I could see that someone had disturbed the dusty railing all the way up. I know I didn’t touch the railing. Did you?”

Elaine was crying a little more now. “No, I didn’t touch it. It was too gross and dusty. What are we going to do? They could be some ax murderer, waiting in the shadows to chop us up!” She was going into full panic mode now.

“Elaine, pull yourself together! We are just going to try every door and window until we find one that opens. We are bound to find at least one.”

With that, the girls ran from window to window, with no luck. They found a side door on the other side of the living room but it, too, wouldn’t move at all. The back of the house yielded several windows and a back door in the kitchen, none of which opened to the freedom they were now frantic for.

June felt completely defeated and trapped. In her desperation, she grabbed a nearby chair in the kitchen and launched it at a kitchen window. Not only did the window NOT break, but it didn’t even vibrate or make a sound from the hit. It was as if the chair hadn’t even made contact with the glass but it definitely had. June had put all her strength into it.

Both girls stood in shock, staring at the untouched window, when they heard a soft sound of laughter coming from within the house somewhere. It was quick and faint but it was definitely the sound of a woman, quietly giggling at an unspoken joke. June got the feeling that the joke was them.

June ran to the dining room, with Elaine following close behind, and promptly grabbed another bigger chair and smashed it directly into a window. Nothing. No sound. No vibration. It was as if they were in a vacuum that sucked all sound from the action. The only sound left for them to enjoy was that eerie woman’s dreadful giggling. Elaine followed June’s lead and also started picking things up and throwing them hard at the windows. It was slightly therapeutic but did nothing to further their access to freedom. The items, big or small, just bounced off the glass and landed hard on the floor in silence. Something was most assuredly not right in this house and they needed to get out NOW.

After Elaine and June had finished their attempts against the windows, they stood panting and staring at each other. Each of them ran through scenarios in their heads that would see them free of this house. Neither could come up with anything. June was the first to speak,

“Okay. We have to get out of this house. We haven’t looked around much upstairs. I think we should arm ourselves with whatever we can find and go upstairs to try the windows or try to signal someone outside for help.”

“Okay, but who was that laughing? Someone else is definitely in here. Maybe we should find a good hiding place and stay there until morning.” Elaine’s voice sounded frightened and frantic. June felt a sudden pang of guilt for talking her into this little expedition. June should’ve listened and just went to the party with Elaine instead of cooking up this whole thing to impress everyone. June was kind of a showboat who loved attention and look where it got them. Stuck in this creepy house with some crazy lady laughing at them! How could things get any worse?

“We’ve got to keep trying. We can’t just hide somewhere and hope for the best. If there is a woman in here, she obviously knows we are trying to get out. She’ll be coming for us. We’ve got to be ready and we’ve got to find a way out of this place. It’s like the damn twilight zone in here.” June headed back to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of long knives from a drawer. She handed one to Elaine and said, “Please don’t stab me by accident.”

With that, the girls slowly headed for the stairs in the living room, all the while keeping their flashlights scanning the room and their eyes searching for any signs of movement or sound from the mystery woman. Elaine saw her car outside and longed to be in it, putting some serious distance between her and this house.

Once they made it about halfway up the stairs, they heard the laugh again, this time sounding like it was beneath them, on the first floor somewhere. This definitely put a little pep in their step and they hurried up the stairs to a walkway that led to a room on either side of the house. June was in front and chose to go right, into a large bedroom suite with a bathroom at the back of it. Two of the windows overlooked the street below but there were no houses on the other side of the street in front of the house. Their only hope was that someone would happen to walk down the street past the house and they could signal them with their flashlights.

Elaine tried one of the windows but again, it didn’t move at all. She looked over at June and gave her the it-was-worth-a-try look. As they turned to walk toward the bathroom, both girls simultaneously saw a black mist forming in the corner of the room. It crackled and whined with the effort of forming, as if it was pulling itself straight from hell to that very room. It was one of the few sounds they could hear, besides their own voices.

Elaine began to break down and repeated “This isn’t real. This isn’t real. This isn’t real.” June had to grab her by the shoulders and pull her in the opposite direction of the black cloud. A deep, guttural growling sound started coming from it and both girls bolted out of the room. Once out of that room, they could again hear the woman laughing a now boisterous laugh from downstairs so they headed up, not knowing what the third floor was like but knowing the first and second floors were no longer an option.

The third floor was four rooms, each with the door closed. June reached for the first door and ran inside, yelling for Elaine to close the door quick. However, Elaine wasn’t there. She was gone! She had just been behind her, running right along with her and now she was gone. This can’t be happening, is all that was running through June’s mind. She looked down the hall at the other doors, still closed and untouched. She felt responsible for her friend and had to find her. She cautiously tip toed back down the stairs to the second floor just in time to see the black cloud dragging Elaine by her hair into the room they had just come from. Elaine's face was contorted into a dreadful looking screaming expression that made no sound.

“Oh God! No! This can’t be! I don’t know what to do!” June ran back upstairs and lost it. How could she save her friend?. How do you fight a black cloud?. Her eyes darted around the room for something, anything she could use against that thing. Chairs, a desk, a side table, and a bed. An old sewing machine with a basket of thread and needles sat in the corner. All useless. Then, she thought maybe she could recite some bible verses she learned as a kid. Yes. Maybe that would work.

June crept out of the third floor room and slowly, softly descended the stairs, listening intently for any sound that would indicate that Elaine was okay. At this point, she longed to hear her friend crying but there was nothing. That vacuum effect was back and the space felt empty. Devoid of any life at all. She had to get to Elaine fast. She must be terrified. Maybe she passed out? That would probably be the safest thing for Elaine right now.

As June approached the closed door to the room the black cloud had dragged Elaine into, she began to softly recite the only verse she could really remember in the moment.

“Our Father, who art in heaven…”

The door pushed open quietly and she peeked inside. No sign of her in the sitting area of the room. All was still. She took a step inside and poked her head around the doorway to see into the bed area. It looked like there had been a struggle. The covers were half pulled off the bed and the mattress was pushed slightly off the frame. She could see straight into the mirror of the bathroom and there didn’t appear to be anyone in there, from what she could see of it. She made her way slowly toward the bathroom door…

“Hallowed be Thy name…”

The bathroom looked to be in order and there was nothing in the tub. She was very confused now. Had the cloud taken her to another room or maybe transported her to another dimension or something? Who knows what that thing was capable of.

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done…”

As she exited the bathroom and headed toward the door of the room, she noticed that the closet door against the corner of the bedroom wall was ajar. She hadn’t even noticed that there was a closet there before. It wasn’t in her line of sight from the doorway but she could see it now. She walked over to look inside, thinking surely Elaine must be hiding in there. June suddenly hoped she didn’t get stabbed by her petrified friend.

“On earth as it is in heaven...”

“Elaine, are you in there?” She whispered as she pulled open the closet door.

There, in the closet, was her best friend. She was hanging from the clothes bar by hooks dug deep into her ankles, cut from her pelvic area to her chest. Her insides were all over the closet floor.

June instantly screamed and threw up. She staggered a few steps and fell back onto the corner of the bed. Her senses were a complete jumble and her mind was moving way faster than she could keep up. She had to get out. Someone is here. Someone did this. That can’t be from a ghost, right?! Oh God! I should have run right in a grabbed her and pulled her back out. I waited too long. This is my fault.

“I’ve got to get out!” she yelled as she ran, full speed, toward the stairway leading to the first floor. She ran down the stairs, skipping steps as she went. She looked up and saw that there were lots of people standing in the huge living room. For a moment, she thought she was saved until they all started yelling at her.

“I tried to tell you.” one said. “You couldn’t hear me and now it’s too late.”

Another said, “Once the sun sets, it’s too late. You have to survive until the sun touches the house again. You’ll never make it. None of us did.”

Then, she saw Elaine, standing quietly to the side. She had tears flowing down her face and she slowly shook her head from side to side.

“We waited too late, June. We stayed too long. She’s coming for you. This is where we live now.” Elaine’s face twisted as she screamed the words at June again, so loudly that it hurt June’s ears. “This is where we live now!”

June bolted for the front of the house and saw a man standing outside of the house, on the phone. He was motioning to Elaine’s car as he spoke. June immediately started flashing her light through the glass at him, hoping he would see the light and come save her. She banged on the window and yelled at the top of her lungs but he didn’t seem to notice her at all. She quieted and listened to him speaking.

“I know, Sheriff, I don’t see anyone around. Just a car parked on the property. If they’re still in there, they’ll have to make it until morning. There’s no way we can get in there. Okay, send some guys down here at first light. Hopefully, we won’t have a situation like last time.”

She stood in stunned silence with all those people behind her, telling her she couldn’t leave and begging her to hide. There was a part of her that was excepting the fate she believed was coming. Elaine’s fate.

She turned and noticed a couch against one wall that had a good bit of space under it. Deciding to follow the advice of these previous victims, she ran over to it and slid under. As soon as she was in place, all the people disappeared into thin air, Elaine included. The silence was deafening. She didn’t even really know what she was hiding from until a woman in a flowing, light pink Victorian style dress walked into the room. Her hair was pulled back into a bun that was frayed and unkempt. Her face, however, was the scariest part. It looked completely off. Her eyes were just a little too wide and her grin was just a little too large. The exaggerated smile on her face never faltered as she appeared to walk through the room, looking for something. Looking for June. As she neared the couch June was under, June held her breath for fear that this insane woman would hear it, only to realize her heart was beating so heavily that it might be the thing that gives her away.

Stay calm, she thought. You can do this. Don’t move. Don’t breath. Just survive. The woman began to walk away, toward the other side of the room. Her stride was long and even. She was in no hurry. Why would she be? She had all the time in the world and a captive victim.

When she reached the other side of the room, she stopped and stood still. She was probably deciding where to look next. Then, without any shift in stance or steps in any direction, her feet lifted up off the floor. She spun around and flew right at June! Her toes dragged on the floor like nails on a chalkboard. Her twisted grin never faltered.

June let out a blood curdling scream and shielded her face from the terror that was upon her now.

**********

Nate, June’s boyfriend, was starting to wonder if maybe the girls got busted by their parents and weren’t coming. It was almost midnight and they weren’t there yet. He thought they were just going to stay in that creepy old house until the sun went down and then leave. He couldn’t exactly call June’s mom and check on her. His parents weren’t home and he wasn’t supposed to be having friends over.

Still, he was starting to worry and even feeling a little creeped out. What if there really was something in that house? What if they were in trouble? June didn’t seem to buy into it all but Nate heard there was some evil spirit in there and if you went in at night, it would come out and kill you.

There were only a few kids left at the house and one of them asked if June was coming. He hesitantly told the three of them what June and Elaine had planned for the evening and that he couldn’t reach them on their cells.

“We obviously have to go there and check on them!” one of the kids said excitedly. He tried to talk them out of it but before he knew it, they were all loading up in his car to go check it out.

When Nate pulled up, he could see that Elaine’s car was still parked in the driveway on the side of the house. That’s a bad sign. He knew something was wrong. He just knew it.

They cautiously got out of the car and walked around the front of the house, looking in a few windows to see only darkness. Nate walked up to the front door and timidly tried the door knob. Locked. He heard the faint sound of a woman laughing and thought for a moment that maybe the girls were actually pranking him. He stepped to the side and squinted to look in the window, assuming he would see June laughing wildly at him. What he saw haunted his nightmares for the rest of his life.

Standing perfectly still just inside the window was a woman in a long, pink dress with a face so impossible that he didn’t want to look at it for another second. Her eyes were huge with strikingly black centers while the whites of her eyes were perfectly white. Her grin was from ear to ear and didn’t move a bit, even though he could clearly hear soft laughter. She suddenly lunged at him, as if she was flying!

He stumbled backwards and fell off the front porch. His friends came running to him, asking what he saw. He struggled to find any words other than urging them into his car. Once they were all inside the car, Nate didn’t even wait for everyone to be settled or belted. He threw it into reverse and floored it out of there! One of them asked what about June but he knew he couldn’t help her. No one could. If the girls were still in there, they needed to find their own way out.

**********

Sheriff Roberts met a few deputies and the neighborhood watch member who normally kept an eye on the house. He’d been the one to make the call last night when he saw the car in the driveway of the house.

“Last night was Halloween. Why didn’t we have a better watch on this house?” Sheriff Roberts was not looking forward to a repeat of what happened several years ago. It had been hard to sell the story of a couple of teens overdosing then and it would be difficult now, too. Especially if the teens were known to be pretty well-behaved. He certainly didn’t expect to find anything good in there. That’s for sure.

“I’m sorry, Sir. It’s been so many years, I thought the rumors would’ve stopped any curious people from messing with this place.” The neighbor looked very upset. His eyes were tearing up and the guilt showed on his face. “Besides, you know I have a daughter now. My wife and I took her trick or treating and then to my parent’s to celebrate. I tried to get back before dark but we were running late. I’m so sorry.”

Sheriff Roberts spoke sternly but kindly to him. “This isn’t your fault. You’ve done well these last few years to keep the body count down to zero. It was bound to happen eventually. I should’ve put one of my guys on this. You go on home now. We’ll deal with this.”

Turning to his deputies, Sheriff Roberts said “Get a tow truck on the way. You stay out here and watch for clouds that look like they will block the sun. If you see that is going to happen, radio us as fast as you can. Give us as much time as possible to get out of that house before the sun is blocked by a cloud.” The Sheriff was deadly serious and the deputy could see that.

“Why, sir?” The deputy knew there was something wrong with the house but he’d never been filled in completely.

“Now is not the time to explain that. Just do it.” Turning to the other deputies, he asked “Have we run this tag yet? What are we dealing with?”

One of the deputies answered, “It’s registered to a family that lives on the other side of the neighborhood. They have a 16 year old daughter named Elaine.”

“Damn” was all the Sheriff said.

They stood quietly for another 15 minutes, until the sun finally lit up the top of the old house. The deputies looked terrified to enter the building but Sheriff Roberts immediately motioned for them to grab the body bag and go in. He figured if anyone actually had survived, they would need an awful lot of help quickly. If not, they’d need the bag.

As soon as they opened the front door and stepped inside, they smelled the blood. Lots of it. The metallic smell hung in the air like a murderer’s calling card. Scanning the room quickly showed them where the smell was coming from. To the left of the front door, against the wall, was a couch that was covered with fresh blood. As they approached it, they could see there was a body underneath. A teen aged girl was crumpled under the couch, with the most stomach turning look of fear on her face. She appeared to have been ripped apart. Her phone was laying close by her and in the wallet case was an ID. This was not Elaine. This was apparently a girl of the same age named June. Damn, again.

“This is not our driver” said the Sheriff. “We need to keep looking. Our driver is probably in here somewhere. Let’s move quickly. You two get her bagged up and out of here ASAP and you two come with me.”

The first two deputies moved very quickly to retrieve a body bag and collect June’s remains. The quicker they did that, the quicker they could be out of that house. No one was safe in there. Sun or no sun. But it sure does get worse with no sun.

Sheriff Roberts and the other two deputies scanned the rest of the first floor. No body. He really didn’t want to go deeper into this house of horrors. If he got a warning that a cloud was coming, they’d have to sprint to the door or be trapped until direct sunlight touched the house again. That had happened only a few times and he knew he didn’t want it happening again.

They walked quickly to the stairs and went up to the second floor. The first room didn’t look disturbed but the room on the other side definitely seemed off. As they entered further and walked past the sitting area and into the bedroom, one of the deputies suddenly ran out of the room and threw up. Sheriff Roberts turned and saw the reason for this just as he heard the soft sound of a woman laughing.

“Son, let’s get this body bag loaded up. And hurry. We don’t want to be here any longer than absolutely necessary.” Sheriff Roberts and both deputies quickly cut Elaine down and placed her in the bag. They zipped it and picked it up in one fluid motion. They needed to get out of there now. They carried her out and down the stairs at record pace.

Just as they cleared the front porch, they noticed a fluffy cloud obscure the sun. The front door of the house angrily slammed shut. Sheriff Roberts only hoped there were no other bodies in the house. There would be no searching for them now. He’d come back on another day when there would be clear sun and less of a chance that he’d be trapped like all the others he’d pulled out of there. He cast a sour look at the deputy that was on cloud duty. “Thanks for the warning.” Sheriff Roberts growled as he walked past him.

“Sir, what is it with this house?” One of the deputies asked as he stared in terror at the house.

“Don’t ask. Just don’t go in there. Tell other people not to go in there. We’ve repeatedly tried to tear it down. We can’t. We just keep telling people to stay away and cleaning up the mess when they don’t listen.”

With that, the wary Sheriff helped load the body bags into the cars and headed to the morgue. He had a big mess to deal with. Again.