The Abandoned Old House

There is a really old house in the small town where my grandparents live. A lot of the younger people in the town believe that the house is haunted, my cousin and I included. You see, this house has been there since the town was built and has changed hands very few times since then. Once was by the original tenant Peter Little, and then again once or twice by a few other people. But no one stayed long after Peter. No one's really sure what happened to Peter. One day he was out in town, talking to the other residents of the town, visiting friends, and then the next day he was just...Dead.

After that people from the town began to avoid the house. They didn't trust it and rightly so. No one will buy it anymore, so it's been empty for many years. But being curious young girls (With a love for the supernatural) my cousin and I decided to investigate the house.

We were young then, barely nine years old, and we didn't think anything would happen, I hadn't grown up in the town, and neither had my cousin. We were there visiting our grandparents over summer break and since it was a small town there really wasn't much to do, and so my cousin Mackenzie and I decided to do some exploring. We were bored and young and thought it would be a good idea to check out what was so interesting about that house. Why everyone was too scared to go inside.

And oh did we learn why.

"Kenzie, this doesn't seem like a good idea, what if Nanny and Grampy find out? They'll kill us!" I exclaimed as we stood in front of the old white house, which had gone brown over time; the over-grown grass of the lawn tickling our knees and the bright sun burning our bare shoulders.

"They won't find out Kia, stop worrying" She answered me simply "I mean, who's gonna tell them? You? Me? No. it'll be fine" she stressed as she started towards the door. Her sandled feet leaving little squished down patches in the knee-high grass.

"I'm still not sure about this Kenz, this doesn't seem like a good idea..." I said softly as we crept towards the door, which hung slightly sideways on it's hinges, brittle and rusted with age.

"Oh don't be a chicken Kia! It's just and old house." She teased, pulling me inside; passing quickly through the half-rotted door.

I finally gave in and let myself be pulled into the dilapidated living room. Everything was old and broken down, and it smelled like rotting vegetation and dirt.

"This is like...so...what's the word?" Mackenzie looked over her shoulder at me, her brows furrowed.

"Surreal? Creepy? Horror movie-esq?" I offered.

"The first one!" we ventured further through the living room and into the kitchen. There was a plate of...something left on the kitchen table; but as far as I could tell if was just a mass of rot and chine in front of a busted up chair.

"Ew!" I cried, as Mackenzie went to touch it.

"Come on, let's got upstairs! Maybe we can see where that guy died!" Kenzie said excitedly, grabbing my wrist.

She led me upstairs quickly, and as we walked we could hear...things coming from upstairs, little frantic scrabbling noises, like long nails running against hard wood.

"What was that?!" I said, clutching tightly to Mackenzie's hand.

"Oh don't be a baby, it's probably just, like, mice or something. Come on." She said simply, leading me quickly down the hallway, gripping my hand tightly.

The floor was creaky and unstable beneath our feet, the boards bending ominously as we made our slow trek down the hallway. We were just outside one door when we heard a huge cash from inside the room; followed by a long silence and then a soft rustling behind the closed door.

"M-Mackenzie...? I-I think we should go..."

"Shh! Be quiet!" She hissed as the door slowly crept open.

"Mackenzie!" I cried softly as she snatched my hand and tugged me into another room across the hall from the slowly opening door.

Our door had just closed when the one across the hall slowly opened. Through the small crack where our door didn't quite meet the frame, Mackenzie and I saw something exit the room. It was small and covered in thick dark brown fur, it's mouth gaped slightly open to show bright white razors for teeth, the tips stained a rusty brown-red. I bit my lip to keep from crying out at the sight of the creature.

Mackenzie was shaking behind me, gripping tightly onto my tank top. I could see her hand on my side and her knuckles were white from how tight her grip was.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, but was really and honestly only maybe five or ten minutes, the creature went back into the room it had come from.. Kenzie and I waited a moment before slowly venturing out. We crept slowly and quietly across the floor. We were almost at the top of the stairs when the door flew open, revealing the creature yet again. I screamed and rushed down the stairs, Mackenzie on my heels, the creature only steps behind us. As we reached the ground floor I grabbed her hand and pulled her roughly towards the door, yelling incoherently at her to move faster.

She gasped something out that sounded like 'I can feel it's fingers on my leg!" But I couldn't be sure, that's what she'd said; my heart beat was way too loud in my ears to hear her properly.

We burst out the door just as Mackenzie screamed in pain.

We hit the overgrown grass and kept running until we reached the sidewalk, clutching tightly onto each other and crying. We collapsed onto the pavement in a heap, breathing hard. Mackenzie was bleeding from five or six razor thin cuts on her calf and ankle, staining the back of her white sandles a brilliant scarlet.

After regaining our breath we stood and started back towards our grandparents' house.

But as we walked I glanced back and that creature was staring out the window at us, white teeth gleaming. It raised paw, as if waving, showing white talons gleaming with my cousin's scarlet blood.

I have never gone near that house again, and I do not want too. Mackenzie and I learned our lesson that day; Don't mess with things you don't understand.