The Curse of Bringly House
By: Lauren Croughan

The twigs crack and crunch under my boots as I walk toward the old Bringly House. The Bringly House is an aged sinister mansion just outside of town. It is supposedly haunted. I am skeptical of this rumor, however, and am exploring to ease my curiosity. I am not afraid of gossip, only of proof. The West Moon shines down on me, a beacon in the dark night, as I approach the rotted door of the mansion. I have come through the forest so no one will see me. Behind bush to bush in front of the house, I leap and dive in silence and I finally reach the porch. I open the door slowly, while the hinges thirst for oil, and it scrapes loudly through out the hollow house. I am inside the mansion, and feel no fear.
Darkness surrounds me and I have brought a low powered flashlight to see my way through the house. The floorboards groan and crack with my every move. The light sways and all I see in the haunted mansion is dust and cobwebs. The East Moon illuminates the window to my left.
All of a sudden, I hear a noise and a chill rises up my spine. The clamor seems to be a rustling of newspapers. I look around and see nothing but darkness. I let my intuition be my guide. I keep walking toward the eerie sound, trying to comfort myself by thinking, "This noise is nothing but the wind. If not that, than its your imagination." Yet, it was a wild and loud imagination if that. I still keep walking toward the noise, and all at once I trip over something furry, fall to the floor, and drop my flashlight. The flashlight does not go out fortunately. My first thought is rats. However there is a slight problem with the rat theory. It would have to be a really big rat. Maybe.maybe it is the man-eating monsters luring me to my premature death. Maybe the thing I tripped over is a demon's trap to bring me to the devil. Is it the witch's spell to curse me until the end of my days? Paranoia envelops me into thinking about all these rumors. Then I hear a comforting noise. A quiet Meow breaks the silence.
I get off my belly and reach for my flashlight, which is caught in between two floorboards. I point the light towards where I hear the Meow that I heard. I see a skeleton like figure of a one-eyed black cat. Apparently, it tripped over me as well. The cat stares back with awe as if wondering about who am I and why am I disturbing it. Two curious creatures connect through eye contact. I hold out my hand and it comes to me. I pet the cat as it purrs happily; it has not seen a human in a very long time.
Swiftly and abruptly, the cat jumps back and runs away as if something was behind me. I feel air moving behind me as if someone or something swatted at my neck and missed. I feel very cold now. Ghosts and spirits are awakened by my presence here. I am frozen and cannot move. I want to get out of this possessed place.
I hear a creak and a Meow at the same time now. I can move and am not paralyzed by fear anymore. I take my flashlight and point it at the sound, and I see the cat sitting on the first stair looking up, as if beckoning me to follow. Inquisitive, I do follow.
Upstairs I go with the cat as my escort. The spiral staircase seems unstable. Finally, after reaching the top, to my surprise the cat lays down. I gaze at it for a bit, then it gets up and walks to another room, summoning me to follow it. I follow the cat, hoping that it would not lead me to a dead animal or to its master.
I enter the room behind it. In front of a window is a table with three objects on it. An ancient looking book, a candle with a black flame on top, and a jeweled dagger sat on top of the table. The dagger must have been worth a fortune. It has rubies, diamonds, and sapphires on the handle and moon stone and lapis lazuli on the blade. The candle is red and does not have much life left. It is nearly a pile of wax. The book is wrinkly and torn. The cover is brown, and there is a red satin bookmark marking a place. I concluded within my mind that it is a spell book.
The cat started to yelp and cry. It paced back and forth in front of the spell book. I observed it for a moment or two, and it looked like it wanted me to read the pages that were marked. I picked up the book and the cat put its paws on the dagger. I am awed by the intelligence that this creature possesses. With my left hand, I pick up the dagger and read aloud what is marked in the book.
Lunar power strongest be,
Immortal in a heartbeat see,
Jeweled dagger of ancients, Candle of Black Flame,
Curse upon curse be this eternal game,
Lives forever thee shall live,
Creature honored this spell will give.

I was confused for a bit, and then I realized that this cat was once a human. He or she wanted to be immortal, but is in the form of a feline. This creature wanted me to undo the spell. Nevertheless, what did I know about the black arts? I was pulled out of my train of thoughts when the cat yelped once again. I looked at it and read the words below the original spell.
Reverse this sacred spell will,
Once spoken these words by a heart without ill,
No more undying thee shall be,
No more a form honored by all shall see,
Ashes henceforth is thy fate,
Spirits have fetched thee too late.

In an instant, the books off nearby bookshelves shake the grime off and open to the exact same page. I am so scared, that I drop the book and dagger. White clouds burst from the books, like spirits rising out of their graves. Soon all the clouds took form of humans and the books were disintegrating. There are resurrected, these people in clothes of four hundred years ago. I look at them with fear and curiosity. One of them says, "How on earth did we get out of those books?" Another says, "Look over there by the window a girl in funny clothes!" Another ghost says, "Thank you kind one."
At once, they fell into a pile of ashes, including the cat, and the wind from the open windows carried them out into the crisp night air. The house disappeared around me, and I fell straight down. When I recovered from the two-story drop, uninjured, the only things left that I see are the spell book, the dagger, and the pieces of the candle. The candle pieces I crush, since they are melted anyway, and I took the dagger and spell book home. I thought maybe why the ghosts were in the house to begin with is in the spell book. I would never forget this night, the night that I released the prisoners of the Bringly House. The night, I lifted the curse, if you wanted to call it a curse, of Bringly House. I returned home and the next day at school, they did not believe a thing I said, oddly enough, they did not remember anything about the Bringly House, where it was, or what lived in it. They at the beginning created and informed be about the legend. Later I found this prophetic passage in the spell book.
On a night where the moon is nigh,
Memories of all of The Cursed House become a lie,
A gifted one's tale shall come alive,
Nevertheless, the magic will still survive.