When you enter the house, time stops. You’re in their world now, and there is no escaping. Your fate has been chosen for you; you are going to die.






“...Are you sure that we should be here?” Jen, my little sister, asked as we stood in front of the old rundown house that everyone in our town was scared to walk past, even during the daylight. It was three stories tall, with windows practically covering it in the front. It was made of wood, and in some places it was falling off, creating what looked like endless black holes. The porch was almost in two pieces, just barely hanging on its hinges.

I turned to her, giving her a sarcastic look. “If you’re too scared, then you can just go home and get mom to read you some pretty picture books.” I said in a baby voice.

She crossed her arms over her chest, giving me a dirty look. “I’m not five anymore; I’m twelve.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t know, seeing as you still act five.” I crossed my arms over my chest, mimicking the look she was giving me. She opened her mouth to say something else, but my best friend, Michelle intervened.

“If you two don’t shut up, then I’ll kill you both.” She muttered, shining her flashlight on the haunting house. “But…she does have a point, Ali,” That earned me a stuck out tongue from Jen, which I gladly returned. “Are we supposed to be here?”

I rolled my eyes again. “Oh come on, Michelle! Don’t tell me you’re going to chicken out, too. There aren’t any Private Property signs, I’m pretty sure no one cares about this piece of trash house anymore.” I explained, moving closer to the house, shining my flashlight in front of me so that I wouldn’t trip and fall on a rock or piece of broken wood. I stood up on the porch, shining the bright light on Jen, Michelle, Eddie, and Fred. “Are you guys coming or are you going to make me go in there all alone?” I raised my eyebrows at the four of them.

Eddie shrugged and joined me on the porch. “It shouldn’t be that bad.” Eddie, Jen, and Michelle exchanged glances and then sighed and joined us on the porch.

“You’re not coming?” I looked over at Fred, who had his hands shoved in his hoodie pockets. He looked away from me, checking behind his back like he was expecting someone (or something) to be there. With a shrug and a sigh, he jogged up on the porch and joined us.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s go in already.” Michelle sighed persistently, reaching for the old brass doorknob.

“Na-huh.” I swatted her hand away, pulling out my cell phone and looking at the time. “We have to wait until it’s twelve.”

“Why?” Jen asked. I sighed with a shake of my head. Her naiveness troubled me sometimes.

“Because,” I stressed. “Ghosts are strongest at midnight.”

“You really expect something to happen?” Eddie asked, raising his bushy black eyebrows at me. He was never a strong believer in supernatural stuff.

“Why yes my dear Edmund, I do.” I winked at him and then shoved my phone back in my pocket just as the clock turned twelve. I grabbed the doorknob, pausing for a second to feel a slight shock of electricity quake my body. I blinked, trying to get my hand to move. After a few seconds of standing there in silence, and receiving concerned stares from my friends, I twisted the knob slowly and pushed open the door. As the five of us stepped into the pitch black house, a huge wave of ice cold air washed over all of us, causing us all to shiver heavily.

We stood there for a few seconds, staring into the darkness in silence. “It’s too quiet...” Jen trailed off, gripping my arm. Just as she spoke, the door slammed behind us, causing the house to shake and all of us to jump about five feet out of our skin.

“What the hell!” Eddie shouted, trying to pry open the door. We shone our flashlights on him. He was a muscle-y football player, and he couldn’t even get the door open. “S***...it’s not going to open.” He sighed in frustration. I could feel my heart pounding in my ears. But I couldn’t be scared, I mean, nothing was going to happen right?

“It’s probably just...stuck or something.” Fred whispered surely. I mentally thanked him for trying to calm us all down.

“Yeah, or something.” Eddie whispered, standing beside Michelle. She looked like she was about to pass out. “Hey, you okay?” He asked, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

She nodded stiffly. “Y-yeah...I just... I thought I saw something...at the top of the stairs...” She shook her head. “It was probably no—“

“Let’s go check it out.” I said, feeling myself get a little calm.

“Ali! What if there’s a homeless person up there?” She shrieked.

“...So?” I didn’t see her point.

“What is he gets mad that we disturbed his sleep?” Little did we know we were disturbing someone’s sleep.

“Fine, we’ll volunteer Fred and Eddie to do it.” I looked over at the two guys.

“Wait, what?” Fred questioned, his voice raising much like a girls.

I rolled my eyes again and motioned with my flashlight to the stairs. “You two football players, up the stairs, now. And make sure you check all the rooms and stuff. If you see something…unnatural, then let us know.” I said.

“Just because we’re football players doesn’t mean that we have to do everything.” Fred sighed but reluctantly nodded and began up the stairs with Eddie, who was now glaring at me. Who knew he was such a scaredie-cat.

I turned to Michelle, who was staring blankly up at the ceiling. “...Girl, you okay?” I asked, poking her with the tip of my flashlight.

“Huh?” She looked at me with glassy confused eyes. She blinked several times, not taking her eyes off of me. There was a flash of grey in her pupils, and then she fell to the floor. My eyes grew wide and I bent down beside her.

“Michelle...Michelle...” She got straight to her feet and started walking away from me, past Jen, down the hallway connecting to what looked like the dining room. I shared a confused and concerned look with my little sister. Jen pointed at her and I shrugged, thinking that Michelle had just gotten spooked.

We followed after her, Jen holding on tightly to my arm. She was digging her nails into my flesh, but at the point when we set our eyes on Michelle, I didn’t care about my arm possibly bleeding anymore.

Michelle was standing in front of what looked like a basement door, her back turned to us. The door was open and her head was bowed, her arms to her side, her feet swaying slightly. It looked like she was staring down at something.

“M-M-Mi—“

“Shush!” I ordered Jen before her voice got too loud that my best friend could hear. Jen looked up at me, obvious fear in her eyes. I looked down at her, trying to reassure her, though I doubted that it was working. I jumped when screaming was heard from up stairs, and then the pounding of running foot steps.

“ALI! ALI! OH—ALI! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE.” Fred skitted into the dining room. I shone the light in his face to see that it was as pale as paper and his eyes were pure red.

“Fred...what happened? Where’s Eddie?” I questioned, shining my light behind the boy in search for his best friend, but the bulky teen was no where to be seen. I looked back up at Fred; he had tears falling from his eyes now. “F-Fred...?”

“E-Eddie...we where looking through all the rooms...and then...there was this grey mist that just came out of no where...he screamed and started coughing up blood...and then...he was gone.” His eyes shifted from me to Jen to Michelle, who was still standing at the open basement doorway. “W-what’s wrong with Chelle?” He asked shakily.

I shook my head. “What do you mean he just disappeared? People just don’t disappear into thin air.” I avoided the other question.

“It was mist.” He corrected.

“Well, they don’t just disappear into that, either.” I narrowed my eyes at him. Smart a**.

“I—I don’t know! I don’t know! But...we need to get out of here!” He shouted and then ran towards Michelle, who turned to us finally, and God I wish she hadn’t. Her face was a chalky white, her eyes pure black holes. She was smiling, but it was a skeleton smile; roots of the teeth and everything. Her skin was peeling off her face, revealing tissue and blood, falling off into large clumps on the floor and then turning into black goop. Jen let out a shrill scream right in my ear and then turned away, burying her head in my elbow.

Fred was frozen in fear in front of her. I gulped, keeping my flashlight on the two of them. Just what the hell was happening here?

Michelle reached out and touched Fred’s face with her finger tips, causing his cheek to melt. He squinted his eyes tight, but didn’t scream out in pain. She continued to smile at him, and then grabbed him by the throat, lifting him up off the ground. He still wasn’t screaming. She turned back to the open doorway and threw him inside, shutting the door back and then vanishing in a grey mist, just like what Fred said had killed Eddie.

I tried to move, but I couldn’t. Like Fred, I was frozen in fear. Jen was trembling violently beside me. I could hear her crying. I wanted to cry, but it’s like my tears were frozen as well. A symphony of screams echoed through the air. I realized that they were coming from the basement; Fred was screaming finally. I broke away from Jen, pounding my fists on the door.

“Fred! Fred!” I shouted, but it’s not like the shouting was going to help save him. I tried to open the door, but it’s like it was welded shut. There was no way to get in, and there was no way to get out.

The screaming died down and everything was silent once more.

“...Fred...” Could it be that he was dead, too? I pounded my fist on the door one final time and then turned back to Jen, who was curled up in a ball where I had left her. I leaned back against the door, trying to think of something to do. Nothing came to mind except for walking out where we came in.

“Come on.” I ordered, grabbing Jen by the arm and pulling her out of the dining room. She was silent, gladly clinging to me again as we walked. I reached the front door and grabbed the knob, only to be shot with a huge surge of electricity. I was thrown backwards, Jen flying with me. I hit the corresponding door, my little sister landing in my lap. “What the F*** was that!?” I shouted, shining the light on my hand and disregarding that the back of my head was more than likely bleeding.

My hand was red and starting to blister, some splotches of blood appearing here and there. I shook my head, trying to gather my thoughts. We had to get out of here. “J-Jen, get up. Come on, we have to find another way out of here.” I mumbled, taking my scarf off and wrapping it around my bleeding hand. I shook the small girl lying on top of me, but she didn’t move. More fear washed over me when I turned her over; her mouth was open in a smile, showing off pointed teeth along with bleeding gums. Her eye sockets were bleeding vacant holes, blood running down the side of her face. The skin on her cheeks started to slip away, and that’s when I shoved her off of me.

I crawled away from my little sister, holding my good hand over my mouth, containing the scream and oncoming bile. I grabbed a hold of the stairs’ railing and pulled myself up, taking two steps at a time, I ran to the third floor, trying to not trip due to the darkness. I ran into the first room I saw, shutting and locking the door behind me.

The room was pitch black, little light from the moon shining in from the balcony door.

I gulped, pulling out my cell phone and trying to not drop in from my shaking hands. I screamed when the light shone on me, revealing the time. I dropped the phone, kicking it across the room with an angry grunt. How in the world was it still twelve?! We’d been in this house for at least twenty minutes, if not thirty. There was no way…time just doesn’t stand still... What was this place?




I held my wounded hand close to my chest as I paced back and forth in the room I was shut up in. Every so often, I would jump at a sound coming from the outside of the door. I wondered why they wouldn’t just come in here and kill me already... They were playing with me. I knew they were; I wasn’t going to get out of this house alive. They knew that, I knew that. They already had my friends with them, now it was my turn.

I stopped my pacing and turned to look at the balcony door, a slight smile on my face. I’d been in here for at least four hours, and there was still no sun. I walked over to the door, grabbing the knob and pulling it open. I stepped out into the crisp November air, wishing that I didn’t have to do this. But I didn’t want them to kill me.

I walked over to the edge of the white wood, my heart sinking with every thought of jumping. I climbed onto the ledge, spreading my arms out. I looked down, the ground seemed miles and miles away, but I knew it was only just a short fall. The drop would kill me, depending on how I landed would determine if I died instantly or not.

I shut my eyes, holding one foot out, letting it dangle in the free air. I felt a push from behind and lost my balance. I didn’t even have time to scream; the fall was short, and I was on the ground, on my back before I knew it. I looked up with blackening eyes to where I had just fallen from. I saw seven dark figures standing on the balcony before I took my last agonized breath and closed my eyes.






When you enter the house, time stops. You’re in their world now, and there is no escaping. Your fate has been chosen for you; you are going to die.