The house overlooked a steep embankment of trees and dead grass. It lay in decay, the shutters broken or gone. Shingles were missing, the windows were dirty yet unbroken, and when the light shined on the windows, they resembled eyes. The door seemed perfectly intact, as if it was holding something inside. At the bottom of the embankment was a road, leading to a town miles away.

Two thirteen year old boys sat huddled, watching the eerie house from a safe distance in the bushes. It was late afternoon, around sunset.

“They say it’s haunted,” said one of the boys. He had short dirty blonde hair and dark green eyes. He was wearing a baggy red shirt and blue jeans. The other boy scoffed. He had jet black hair, which fell in his bright blue eyes and he was wearing a forest green shirt and black jeans.

“Yeah right Josh,” he said. “I don’t believe in ghosts.” He paused. “Do you?” he asked with a smirk.

Josh stiffened, his face frozen in surprise, then quickly turning to fear.

“No. No. Of course not!”

He laughed nervously. Aiden turned suddenly, his smirk growing at the other boy.

“Excellent, if you’re not scared then we can go in for a visit. It’s not like anyone lives there or anything.”

Josh’s face paled.

“No way Aiden! Haven’t you heard the stories?” he blurted out fearfully.

Aiden sighed.

“I’ve only lived here for a few weeks, but you can tell me I guess.”

Josh glanced around the empty yard and stared suspiciously at the house for a few seconds. Aiden rolled his eyes.

“Okay, listen, and listen good. The family that used to live there was the Cole family. They say that one day the dad just snapped from pressure or something…no one’s sure. Anyway, he killed his wife and three kids with an axe from their yard, and then put their bodies in the foyer. Then he committed suicide with a gun in the living room.”

He paused, wrenching his gaze away from the house, and looked at Aiden. “It was terrible. The cops found them a few days later because…I mean, this place is a good distance from the town. Nobody heard anything.”

Aiden’s eyes were shining with the excitement of an adventure, instead of the fear that Josh had wished to instill. Aiden looked at the house anxiously. Josh swallowed nervously and said softly, “Aiden…are you paying attention?”

Aiden ignored him, transfixed by the beckoning house.

“Aiden!”

“What? Jeez. Why are you yelling?”

Josh sighed in relief.

“You weren’t responding and it was making me nervous. So, you ready to go?”

“If you mean go into the house, then yeah. I’m ready,” Aiden replied, now studying the house again.

“No! I’m not going in there. Besides, there’s more. Every time a kid goes into that house…they don’t come out the same, if they come out at all. It’s like the father’s ghost is in there, and he’s still mad. It makes kids go insane.” He paused. “Not to be ironic or anything.”

Aiden snorted.

“I can’t wait to go in now and prove you guys all wrong.”

He turned back to Josh. “Come on, it’ll be fun.”

“Isn’t that the thing that the main character says in a movie that leads to everyone’s death?” Josh asked sarcastically. “No means no, and I won’t say it again.”

Aiden sighed dramatically and glanced away.

“Fine. I guess I’ll have to go then. Alone.” He looked back at Josh for a response. Josh narrowed his eyes.

“Fine. I dare you, cuz I’m not going.”

Aiden grinned, inwardly thanking Josh for giving him an excuse to go. Not that it was a good one, but it was enough for him.

“Okay. I’ll see ya soon!”

He stood up and faced the house.

“Wait! You’re really going?”

“’Course,” Aiden said without looking back. “After all, you dared me.”

“B-but, I didn’t think you’d actually go in, especially alone!” Josh stammered.

Aiden shrugged.

“Well, I’m going. Wish me luck if it makes you feel better.”

He started to trudge through the weeds and bushes, towards the house. The house seemed to grow darker, the air around it thicker, and a noticeable drop in temperature.

“Hold on!” Josh called desperately.

Aiden paused. “You coming?”

“…well, no. But if you don’t come out in thirty minutes, then I’m calling for someone, Okay? So hurry up.”

Aiden finally glanced back at Josh.

“Sure.”

And that was it. He turned and moved closer to the house until he finally reached the front door. Josh watched him put his hand on the doorknob and turn it. Aiden’s heart raced as he turned the knob. He let go before pulling the door open, but it creaked open on its own and he was greeted with a blast of cold air. Aiden raised an eyebrow. He supposed there must have been wind or something. He peeked inside, and upon seeing nothing, slowly entered the house.

The floor creaked. That was the first thought that ran through his mind. He took another step inside and glanced around. The door slowly swung shut with a sound of finality, and Aiden turned around somewhat apprehensively.

“What was that?” he whispered to himself.

Must have been the wind again, he decided. It didn’t occur to him that the wind only blew in one direction at a time. He faced the inside of the house again. He was standing in the foyer, the room where the dead bodies had been disposed. Looking at the floor and walls, nothing seemed odd. The place was in disrepair, but that was to be expected. The room was big and empty. There were two arch doors, which lead to the left and right, the staircase was straight ahead.

Aiden turned left and entered the next room. There was some furniture left over in this room, and he wondered if people were so afraid of the house that they wouldn’t empty it. This is the living room, he thought absently. He moved toward the couch and inspected it. There was a large, dark stain in the middle, which was obvious even after all these years. Blood, he thought, from when Mr. Cole shot himself. Aiden glanced around with growing anxiety, thinking about the story Josh told him.

“This is stupid,” he said softly. Gaining courage again, he said louder, “Because there’s nothing to be afraid of here.” He grinned. “Where’s the big bad ghost, cuz I don’t see one!”

He laughed quietly and decided to move on to the next room, gaining courage with each step. He walked back to the door that he entered from, and was passing through the foyer again, when he thought he heard a swishing noise, as if someone had moved quickly past him from behind. Aiden froze.

What. Was. That. Aiden turned slowly around until he was facing the living room again. Nothing there. He quickly glanced to the left and right, and then set his eyes again on the living room. Deciding he imagined it, Aiden turned around and moved towards the other room, yet as he walked a small part of his mind whispered the opposite.

The kitchen was boring, but at least the tiles couldn’t creak. Aiden surveyed the room and deemed it not creepy at all. He walked back into the foyer and unconsciously glanced at the living room before climbing the steep stairs. When he reached the top, Aiden faced a long, dark, narrow hallway with no windows.

“Okay. Now that is creepy,” he murmured under his breath. He looked behind himself quickly on reflex, and then started slowly down the hallway. There were five rooms in the hall.

The first one Aiden reached was a bedroom. He walked in and looked around; it was a girl’s room. There were dolls scattered all over the floor, the walls were pink, and the bed in the corner was also pink, with fluffy sheets on it. There was a particularly disturbing doll on the bed. Some of its hair was missing and the left eye was gone. The weirdest part was that the doll was smiling.

Aiden had enough. He turned around and quickly moved to the next room, which was a boy’s. He judged the boy to have been about his age, looking at the items in the room. The walls were maroon, and the bed’s sheets were blue. Similar to the other room, toys and comics littered the floor here. Aiden wondered why the rooms were so messy. Obviously these were children’s rooms, but it was almost as if they had been interrupted. Aiden moved to the last child’s room.

It was that of a teenager. There were posters covering every inch of the walls and books everywhere. The boy who had once lived here didn’t clean his room much either apparently, Aiden thought. On his desk, a cache of CDs lay forgotten and video games were stacked untidily by a small TV. The walls were blue, and the bed sheets had stars sewn onto them.

Aiden pictured Mr. Cole coming into the rooms while the children played. The girl would be playing with dolls, the younger boy with action figures, and maybe the oldest boy listening to CD. Mr. Cole would drag them out with no explanation and then, with the axe he would…

Aiden stumbled backwards into the hallway again, his heart racing. He didn’t want to finish that thought. He glanced into the next room without entering, discovering that it was a bathroom. Finally, he was faced with the final room. The house seemed to have cooled considerably, and if Aiden could have looked out a window, he would have realized that it was pitch black outside. As he walked toward the last room, Aiden began to feel increasingly uncomfortable. He glanced around every few steps and felt the unexplainable fear rising in his throat. He almost wanted this to be over with, but couldn’t leave without entering this room. He raised his hand shakily to open the door. The door knob was cold like ice as Aiden turned it and pushed the door open.

The room was cast in shadows, and Aiden wondered if this is where Mr. Cole killed his first victim. His wife. The dark stain on the floor suggested the answer was yes. Aiden didn’t dare step into the room, so instead he tried to rationalize his fear.

“It’s the story…” he said softly. “ There’s nothing here, but the house is just…eerie.” He looked into the shadows, and Aiden could have sworn that something was looking back at him. He swallowed. “There’s no such thing as ghosts,” he whispered.

But if there was no such thing, then why was he rooted to the spot in fear? He was afraid that if he turned around, the thing from the shadows would come after him. At last, he made himself reach forward and pull the door shut. This time, however, the door seemed much heavier. I’m imagining this too, Aiden thought, and slammed the door shut in desperation.

He turned around and jogged to the stairs, trying not to run. His foot was almost on the first step when something tugged on his shirt. He panicked and swung his arm around, trying to fend off his attacker. His hand connected with thin air, and his feet lost balance. Closing his eyes in fear, he tumbled down the stairs and plummeted roughly onto the floor. Apart from his breathing, the house was silent again. Then Aiden heard rich, deep laughter, sending chills down his spine.

He barred his teeth and opened his fiery eyes. He was determined to prove Josh wrong. Unsteadily, he stood up and searched for the source of the laughter, which grew louder as he stood. Finally, it died down and everything was still. Maybe I did imagine it, Aiden thought. He didn’t believe that though. He dusted himself off, and looked at the front door in apprehension.

“Aiden,” breathed a voice just to his right, by the living room.

Aiden’s heart almost stopped. It’s not there, its all in my head, he thought to himself repeatedly.

“Oh, I’m here Aiden. What a foolish child, not believing in me. I’m offended,” the voice said in mock sadness.

Aiden tentatively turned his head to the right, and what he saw made his eyes widen in terror.

In the doorway of the living room stood a man, if he could be called one. His dirty clothes hung on his body, which was gaunt. His hair was wild, and he was covered in blood and dirt. His eyes were tinted red, and they were unnervingly calm.

“B-but…you’re dead,” Aiden stuttered. “You killed your family and committed suicide,” he continued, his voice rising. There was a pause where no one said anything. “What are you?” Aiden breathed.

The ghost laughed and then smiled sinisterly. “Well isn’t that obvious, Aiden?”

“Well…How do you know my name? I never met you!”

Mr. Cole’s smile widened. “You’d be surprised the information you obtain after entering the afterlife. Do you want to find out?”

The blood drained from Aiden’s face. “No,” he whispered, and closed his eyes, hoping Mr. Cole would be gone. “No…no…no,” he repeated. Everything was silent. After several more seconds Aiden, opened his eyes. The foyer was empty.

“…where? It…it was all in my head,” he muttered.

He sighed in relief, and he could see his breath. He blinked in confusion and blew on purpose.

“Why is it so cold…?”

“…Aiden…Don’t you want to join me? We’re waiting…”

We? Aiden wanted to run but fear gripped him tightly and wouldn’t let go.

“Go away…leave me alone…” he whispered.

“Aiden…”

“I said, go away…,” he said a little louder.

Suddenly a hand rested on his shoulder and Aiden lost all control.

“I SAID NO!” he shouted and swung around again at whatever was behind him.

A man shouted and ducked, cursing. “Aiden! It’s just me!”

But Aiden didn’t hear. Everything was blurring and he was losing focus. Suddenly everything went black, and the last thing he heard was someone calling his name.

When things came into focus, Aiden thought Mr. Cole had taken him, and that he died. Everything was white, and the first thought that came to him was: this isn’t the way I pictured hell…

A few more seconds passed, and he realized that he was in a hospital bed. He sat up with a start and looked around feverishly.

“Whoa little man! It’s okay now. You’re in good hands,” said a doctor standing next to his bed holding some charts.

“Actually, I was just checking on you. Physically, you’re all right. It seems like you took quite a scare though.”

“How did I get here?” Aiden asked.

“Josh got scared and fetched his father. He pulled you out of the house. Said you were talking to yourself and even tried to attack him. He seems to think that you thought he was…Mr. Cole…. But you know better than that.” The doctor smiled.

Aiden thought he sounded somewhat patronizing, the way he finished that sentence.

“But…there was someone in that house…I talked to him,” Aiden tried to reason.

“No Aiden, you talked to yourself. Mr. Cole is dead, and you were a victim of circumstances. You went into the house alone and your fear worked you up until you had convinced yourself you weren’t alone. Josh’s father just put the icing on the cake.”

“Then what about these cuts? He made me fall down the stairs!”

The doctor nodded. “You tripped down the stairs in your fear and confusion.”

“B-but…”

“Aiden,” he snapped. Then more calmly, “That’s enough. Your parents have found you a man to talk to about yesterday. So don’t tell me, tell him. He can help.”

I don’t need a psychologist, Aiden thought angrily. I need to go back to that house.

“Where’s Josh?”

“At home. You can call him if you like.”

The next day Aiden was back at the house, observing from a safe distance. It was real, he thought, but now it just looks like an abandoned house. He shoved hands in his pockets and turned, glancing back one last time before walking away. Maybe he’d try to enter it again in a few years when he was older…

From inside the house, a shadowy figure lurking by a window watched the boy leave in disappointment. It had been so close. Its red eyes glinted malevolently. No matter, there would be plenty of other chances.

3/23/08

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