The Face Next Door

I lived in a small town in England, called Bath. It is most famous for the Roman Baths, a common tourist attraction and was once a place to take a dip in the famous hot water springs. Recently, I moved to this area as my dad had got a new job here. The house we moved into was big, to say the least, and I was very happy with it until it started happening.

The Appearance
It all started about a week after I had moved in. My mum was out shopping, and my dad at work. My little brother was at a friends house. I was home alone. After going on the computer for a bit, I decided to explore the house a bit; I had not been able to explore it properly and it being a big house I though now was the perfect time to. I was quite disappointed though, most of the doors just led to closets or boiler rooms. There was, however, one room I discovered as soon I was about to give up searching. It was small with a low ceiling. I was only just about able to get in it. The room was completely empty apart from one window. I remember the window being boarded up, as if who ever did it was in hurry, and there was a sticky note with some unfamiliar characters on it. But I was too curious to think what this might mean, and I ripped down the boards with ease. There appeared to be nothing but bushes and trees first, but my eyes finally settled on a house, about 300 meters away. And there was a window parallel to mine. And at the window there was a face. Smiling at me.

The Aftermath
The face was like nothing I have ever seen before. The only distinguishable features were the eyes and the mouth, and the eyes were a pure black, no pupils, no white. And that smile. It was unnatural, it was too large. It went across the entire face. I was too scared to move, I could feel the sweat running down my forehead. For about 10 seconds, we stood there, staring at each other. Then I finally managed to break into a run and got the hell out of there. I slammed the door shut and didn't look back. I ran straight to my room and hid under my sheets until my mum came back.

For the rest of the day, everything continued as normal. I didn't mention the encounter to my mum. After dinner I went straight up to my room. I try to stay as far as possible from the staircase leading up to that room. I slumped down on my bed and went on my phone. I thought that this, perhaps, might take my mind of the encounter. I went to sleep that night slightly happier, thinking that maybe it was all just a nightmare, and waking up the next morning it would finally end it.

The Evacuation
When I woke up, I really thought yesterday was all just a nightmare. However, while having my breakfast, I heard a banging on the door. It was deafeningly loud. My dad opened it and there were about 10 police officers, panting and speaking quickly. One of them said: "We need you out of here. The house in the bushes over there has turned out to be holding the corpse of a young girl who disappeared last summer." The policeman's finger pointed towards the house where I saw that face. I immediately turned away. So it wasn't a nightmare. It was real. "We need to use your house as a surveying point of the house. You will be given temporary accommodation.". As he said this, a few police officers began escorting us away into a unmarked police car. He drove us away towards the nearest police station. I was sitting there, thinking about what had happened, what I had seen the previous day, when I heard a choking noise coming from the drivers seat. I saw the police officer vomit blood and he suddenly slumped over the steering wheel. I then saw the face again. On the windscreen, smiling at me. My family seemed oblivious to what was happening; they simply sat there as they were a minute before. I saw the police officers corpse jerk, and I saw his face transfigure. The pupils dilated and became much bigger. The nose simply disappeared of his face. The mouth became a smile. The smile of the girl that I saw.

I thought this was unreal. How could this be? The car swerved of the road and hit a tree. Then everything went black.

The explanation
I woke up in my bed. It was raining outside. I shook my head several times. Was this all just a dream? I got out of bed, confused and dazed, and looked at the newspaper. I could find nothing about the police or the crash. I then realized I was alone in the house. "Hello?" I called out. No one answered. But yet, I had the feeling I was being watched. I could feel the eyes staring at me. I was uneasy, so I went for a walk. I was so focused on thinking about what had happened, I found myself bumping straight into the house. With the girl in it. I, however, did not see this. In front of me, I saw my house. With my family in it. Thinking it was my house, I entered the door. Suddenly, the reality hit me. This was not my house. My brain must have tricked me into thinking that it was my house. Now, I am an active disbeliever of the supernatural, so I simply thought this entire experience was just a trick of my mind. But as I walked towards the door, I could tell someone was watching me. There was no doubt in my mind. I could feel the evil in the house. The presence of some being overwhelmed me. I was sweating like mad. I tried to open the door, but it was locked from the outside. Some pranksters have locked it, I thought. I then knew I would have to turn around. I held my breath and spun around. But there was nothing there. An element of relief came over me. There must be another way out, I thought to myself. I climbed up some stairs identical to the ones in my house. I came across a single door in a narrow passageway. As I entered the room, I noticed it was small; I could barely stand in it.

As I looked around the room, I heard a voice echo in my head. It bounced around in my skull. I fell to the ground. The voice spoke to me. It said: " You poor boy. So curious. Didn't you read the notice on the boards on the window?" My mind sped back to when I saw the letters on the sticky note on the boards. " Did you not know what it meant? It meant stay away. You should have looked up the history of the house." I did not know what to say or even think. Some supernatural being was speaking to me, and yet I knew what it was saying was true. I was curious. Yet I had read the history of the house. It said of a time when there was a witch hunting going on, back in the 1600's. The witch was brought to where the foundations of the house now are, and she was trialed and declared guilty. She was burnt at the stake there. Her lat words were a curse to whoever should step foot on that soil again. 10 days later, all her prosecutors who were there at her death died mysteriously. And the same fate awaited whoever went there. In the 1800's, the council decided to build some houses there to try and forget the history of this place. They were careful, however, not to build it directly on the grounds where she died; only close by. About 150 years later, a young girl had been strolling by, picking blackberries by herself. She noticed a bush full of them. Right were the witch had died. She, however, did not know this. She went to get them... and that's all historians and police know. She disappeared the same day without a trace. The parents of the child, being very rich, paid to have a house built there, where they decided they would live in memory of their daughter. This, however, was not a good idea, as the parents disappeared only 3 days after the moved into the house. Vanished without a trace. Just like the daughter.

The voice came back to me. It said: "I was her. You knew these grounds were cursed. Whoever as so much lives within 500 meters of them are under the witches curse. And you dared to look at the house where my parents died?" The voice became angry and it started shouting. My head was throbbing. "Well" it said, suddenly laughing " Your parents has suffered the fate that mine suffered. Now it's your turn". I managed to pull myself up to run, but a force pulled me down. Down into the earth. And there was nothing but black.