The House of Everlasting Silence

The house was empty for close to 20 years. I had grown up a block from the house and heard the stories. Something lived in that house, and whatever it was, it wasn't friendly. The original family was found dead in the attic, decapitated and maimed. Blood had been drawn into strange symbols on the walls, which led police to believe satanists had pulled the massacre off. The second owner had failed to pay his bills and it was foreclosed. The day he was to move, his home was silent. He was found dead in the attic decapitated like the others. The house was condemned and for 20 years, it remained empty.

Various theories existed as to who or what had killed the inhabitants. Aliens, ghosts, demons, satanists, a psychopath, even the undead. For 15 long years I lived near it and the question always nagged my mind. What was inside that place? Was it darker than night in there? Was it colder than the arctic? Was it as silent as death inside? Finally, on October 16th, 2007, I decided the time had come. I told my parents I'd be staying at Darren's house for a night and Darren said he'd be at mine. Aaron said he was staying at my house and George and Adam said Darren was having them over. Then, at 8:00, we all met in front of the house. There stood 5 of us. I, Michael Manovian, Darren Saunders, Adam West, Aaron Czpeka and George Gonzalez.

I pulled a board off the house and we entered. Inside, it was pitch black. The place smelled humid and moldy and was cold, very cold. I felt very nervous as soon as we entered, since this felt like entering an abyss. No light, no noise, no heat, no anything, except us, our flashlights, cigarette lighters and the water guns we'd filled with gasoline. The unearthly silence got to Adam, then George, then Aaron, then Darren, and finally me. I could hear my heart pounding and my breathing and our slow footsteps seemed silenced.

We turned on our flashlights and examined the room. No ghosts or anything, just old tables and chairs and a fireplace. We decided to set up "camp" in the living room that was set right by the front door. It was a moonless night, so instead of opening the windows, we lit our area with a lantern I brought with me. We pulled out snacks and began eating, joking, talking, telling stories and other shits and giggles. The house's ominous feel subsided with our dinner, light, talking and laughter. It still felt somewhat eerie but was no longer a heart stopping pit of despair. For 2 hours we ate dinner and joked. Then we opened our sleeping bags and went to sleep.

I woke in the middle of the night sweating. I felt unusually nervous for reasons unknown. As I sat alone, shaking and breathing hard, I heard it. Somewhere in the house, a quiet warbling noise was sounding. It sent chills down my back. I woke the others and we listened.

"What the hell?!" Aaron exclaimed. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm not afraid of pure shit," George said. "I'm going to find out what it is." "Wait, I'll come with you," Adam said. Both of them left the room, against my wishes, Darren's protests and Aaron's pleas. We sat in darkness watching them walk away, and I turned to Darren. " what could it be?" I asked. "I dunno," Darren replied. "A bird of some kind?" "That's one awful bird," Aaron said. "You don't think it's the thing-do you ?" We laughed, though rather nervously. "Of course not!" Darren exclaimed. "What do you think I believe it is?! Some kinda monster?!"

Suddenly, the mood changed. A loud shriek pierced the house and I heard someone yelling. There was a splattering noise and more yells, then silence. I froze in horror. "What, was, THAT!?" I yelled. "Sh!" Darren said. "Turn off the lights." We did and hid behind a couch. A few minutes later, I heard footsteps. These were large, slow, awkward sounds like a large baby who'd just learned to walk. Two red beams of light pierced the dark and I saw that they were from what appeared to be two bright red eyes. I heard a growling noise and I shivered. It examined the room and then left, heading down another hall toward the basement. I heard its footsteps slowly thumping down the basement stairs and its heavy breathing echoing up from below. At that moment, a dark shape shot out from the dark and slid in beside me. I was about to scream when a hand covered my mouth.

"It's alright. It's just m -m-me," George said, stuttering. He was soaked in blood and obviously shaken. "What happened?" I whispered. "That thing," he said. "It attacked us. I heard heavy breathing and thought it was mine, but I felt like it wasn't. I randomly stopped and we were silent. That's when we looked up at the ceiling in the dining room." He gulped. "It shrieked and fell on Adam. This thing, it tore Adam apart. I hid under the dusty table and it left the room after half-eating Adam's body." "What is it?" I asked. George shivered violently. "I don't know."

I heard the footsteps coming back up the basement stairs and silenced George. Red light filled the room once more and the thing walked past, returning to the dining room. I heard it crawl back up the wall and come to rest. Had it known we were inside? Was it a trap? What type of creature was it? As we hid, I heard the warbling call of the being coming again from the dining room. Suddenly, a low moaning noise accompanied the warbling. The moaning sounded familiar. In fact that voice sounded like-"Adam," I said. "He's still alive." "Fuck it! I'm gonna rescue him!" Aaron shouted. "Aaron, no!" I yelled, but it was too late. He was already racing down the hall to the dining room. Suddenly, I heard a splat sound and silence. We all looked at each other and suddenly, Aaron stumbled back into the room with a metal pole shoved through his chest and a bite mark on his shoulder. "I-i-i-it w-was a trap," he said. He collapsed. I scurried over to his side. "Adam's not Adam anymore," Aaron whispered. "He's become a m-monster." Aaron stopped breathing and I knew then that he was dead. There was now only three of us left. It was just me, Darren and George now. "Let's move to the upstairs," George said. "We'll be safer there."

Upstairs, we discussed what had happened. What would we tell our parents? Would we be blamed for the deaths? Most importantly, how would we escape? Escape was a priority now. I suggested making a break for the front door and using the water guns as defense. One person at a time would go while two people would cover them. I liked it, so it stuck.

We snuck to the stairs and I got ready to go first. As I bolted for the front door though, a dark shape came lunging at me. I ducked aside as it smashed into the door. Staring at me was Aaron, his eyes now glowing red and blood staining his clothes. Two other shapes appeared. One was Adam and the other was a decaying, disfigured corpse. I stared back in horror, and with fear in my voice, I cried out, "Aaron, you don't need to kill me!!!" Aaron grinned. "Of course Aaron doesn't need to kill you," he said. "Who said I was Aaron?"

My throat became dry with terror. "Aaron is dead," Adam said. "Adam is dead too." "Both boys are dead as is my victim," the third, disfigured corpse stated. "We have taken the place of the deceased. For eons we floated in a dormant state across space, after we left our homeworld. Our pods fell on this house and we entered. The first man was easy to take. This is his body I inhabit. I entered his ear while he was asleep and entered his brain, taking full control of him. I then killed him by making him light his body on fire. Now I have full control of the vehicle. I killed Adam and upon biting him, my offspring entered him. It was rather nice not having a head crowded with several children of mine. Tilo killed Aaron in Adam's body and Sajika entered the dead corpse. I still have two other children in this brain with me too, and they need human bodies to inhabit. I had to share energy with the offspring, energy I received from the daily rat I ate. Now, we all can survive better. Once you're dead, Silo, my youngest child, will enter your body and assume control of it. As for your other friends, one will be killed and inhabited immediately and the other will be held prisoner until I reproduce again."

"You're a female?" George asked. "We have no gender unlike you humans," the thing replied. "We reproduce at will to spread our race. Now that we have this world, we'll spread our kind through it, taking host after host. The best part is that unless a weapon strikes directly where I am, the body regenerates injured parts. Observe." The deformed corpse started changing and soon resembled a young man in his 20s. Adam's horrifically maimed corpse morphed back into his original form. Aaron's body healed and returned to normal.

"We'll take this world. The leaders of your world will label it an outbreak or apocalypse, but their end will be our beginning. Soon we will begin our terror." At that moment, Aaron attacked and sliced at me with the pole. I kicked him away ran through the front door followed by George and Darren. They sprayed gas everywhere and I tossed a lighter. The room exploded into flames and consumed the bodies, but the parasite only laughed. "I can heal rapidly, meaning this corpse will burn until the fire is stopped. Also, I don't feel pain from this. This corpse isn't my body. It's a vehicle. Also, we aren't the only ones of our kind here tonight. Behold." More corpses appeared from under the floor, from closets and from the roof. By this time, people were gathered on the street screaming and pointing at the horrific sight of burning corpses erupting from the home.