Board Thread:Writer's Workshop/@comment-29076144-20161016043829

Growing up as a kid, everyone hears those crazy stories and legends about the unnatural. And most kids are quick to the believe those stories. I was 12 years old, and I lived in decent sized suburban neighborhood. It was covered with trees, especially huge maple and pine trees that towered over the houses. The neighborhood seemed big for a kid, but wasn’t actually all that big. I had about four other friends that lived in there too. We would hang out sometimes and ride our bikes around the neighborhood. About a block from house was an old, decaying, red, wooden house with a brownish-blueish roof. The yard was overgrown and the amount of trees in it covered it like a blanket. We called it the Scary House. I was legitimately scared of that place. There were all sorts of stories about it. Apparently there was biker in the neighborhood who went missing one night, and they found his bicycle on top of the roof of the house. A team of construction workers tried to destroy the house, but were chased out by some sort of monster. My favorite one was about 13 different ghosts that haunted it. Each one had a different ability. One could always hear you and another could always see you. I only really ever half-believed this stuff, and I only got more doubtful as I got older. Two of my friends that lived in my neighborhood were older than the rest of us. One of them was sort of a jerk. His name was Allen, and he was always doing stupid things. But he wasn’t annoying enough to were we hated him.

We were nearing the end of October, and Halloween decorations had filled the streets. I had just gotten out of school and was riding my bike home with David, my other friend, and Allen

“Hey dude, you know what would be sick?” Allen shouted out to us.

“What,” I replied, only paying half-attention.

“This Halloween, we should actually go inside of the Scary House.”

“Do you know how stupid that would be, if we got caught we would get in so much trouble. They could get there police involved, that shit’s illegal, even if it is abandoned,” David said to him with a stern voice.

“Don’t be scared guys, I can get us all in without anybody finding out,” Allen called out back.

This idea did sound a little stupid to me, but I did think it could be fun. I had always wondered what the inside looked like. We never got to see it, as most of the windows were boarded up.

“I’ll ask Jim if he wants to go,” I said to Allen.

“John! Don’t be such an idiot dude!” David yelled at me.

“It’ll be fine bro, nothing bad ‘ill happen. Dude, it will be fun,” I responded.

David looked down.

“Fine, i’ll think about it,” he finally said.

Days went by and decorations filled up the streets. Everything from jack-o-lanterns to pop up ghosts, skeletons, and monsters. Jim agreed to go to the house, and so did Allen’s friend Elliot. But David was slow to decide. We would bother him everyday at school to go with us. The day before Halloween, a Friday, he finally agreed to go with us. I think he just caved in to peer pressure. His only condition was that we stayed in there for an hour, and no more.

Halloween had finally come. Tv channels were playing horror-movie marathons, and I had been sitting on the couch, all day, eating candy.

“So what are you gonna do tonight John?” My mom asked me when she got home from work.

“I’m going out with Jim and David,” I didn’t tell her about Allen and Elliot, as my parents didn’t like them and thought they were a bad influence.

“Aren’t you too old to trick-or-treat?” My mom chuckled a little.

“Nah, I bought a dinosaur costume that looks like it will scare the crap outta people! Plus, free candy!” I proudly told her.

“Alright, just whatever you do, stay out of trouble. And don’t get hurt!”

“I won’t Mom…”

The sun began set around six o’ clock. By then, we were already getting anxious kids ringing our doorbells, begging for candy. They were all wearing different sorts of costumes. Everything from ghosts and clowns to robots. It was my job to hand out the candy to the kids. Around 8:30 I got hard knock on my door. I came to the door expecting more kids, but instead I was greeted with David and Jim, who weren’t wearing costumes and asking for candy.

“Dude, you ready to go,” David asked me.

“Yeah bro. Hey Mom, i’ll be back in an hour!” I screamed out before leaving my house. David and Jim had their bikes sitting on the sidewalk. I went around to my backyard to get mine and came back with the grey bike.

“You sure you want to do this man?” David asked me one more time.

“Just chill dude, it’’ll be fine,” I said back to him with an annoyed tone. We rode in silent to the house. It was a full moon tonight, and pretty cloudy too. Even thought it was getting pretty late, there were still a good amount of tricker-treaters out. The Scary House was only a block away from my house, so it didn’t take long to get there. When we arrived, Allen and Elliot were sitting by the gate to the backyard.

“Yo what’s up guys, y’all ready?” Elliot smiled when we came up. They both had flashlights and Allen had backpack on. We waited a while for it to be completely clear from other people. Luckily no police drove by, because a group of teenagers sitting outside an abandoned house on Halloween looked pretty suspicious. We climbed over the gate and jumped into the overgrown backyard. There was a turned over stone bench, and what looked like a car from the 70s parked in the garage. Allen immediately went up to the backdoor and turned the rusted bronze handle, which caught on the lock.

“No shit it’s going to be locked bro!” Elliot made fun of him. Allen ignored him and pulled a crowbar out of his backpack. I suddenly felt uneasy about this whole thing. David and Jim’s eyes widened. He brought the crowbar down on the handle again and again till it broke off; and then preceded to kick the door in. Elliot and Allen turned on their flashlights and stepped in. We followed. There were white sheets covering all the furniture, and everything was covered in dust.

I felt chills run down my spine. We came to the kitchen and Allen took off his backup and pulled a black box out of it. He set the box on the table and pulled out a board and another object. Elliot shined his flashlight on the board, revealing and Ouji board. I felt my heart drop.

“Oh no, no!” Jim yelled out. It was the first time he had spoken all night. Jim was a shy kid, but he loved horror movies. He had always thought stuff like this was too far thought, and he, like me, was legitimately scared of it.

“What the hell is this?” David scorned Allen with a disappointed look on his face.

“Geez guys just calm down, you gotta do more than just look around inside this house. There is only one real way to find out if this is haunted,” he replied with a sly smile. Allen and Elliot sat down. I hesitated for a few seconds then followed them. My parents had always told me to stay away from this game, but now I was curious…

David looked at me with disapproval. Jim’s eyes darted between the three of us and David. He finally decided to sit down at the table.

“Well? Are you with us or not?” Allen smiled at David. David sighted loudly and sat down.

“Good,” Allen reacted with satisfaction. He put the glass cup upside down on the board and we all put our hands on it. Elliot had a slight smile on his face, as if he wasn’t taking it seriously and trying to stifle back laughter.

“Is there anyone here that would like to talk to us?” Allen asked aloud. Elliot giggled. We waited and waited, but nothing happened.

“If there is anyone here, please tell us now!” Allen shouted, a little angrier and more authoritative. The glass began to move, starting at Y then to E  and  S.

“Stop messing with us, you’re doing that!” David looked at Allen with a steely expression.

“I swear i’m not doing anything!” Allen sounded like a little kid on Christmas.

“What is your name?” Allen asked even louder. The glass began to move again. It went from J to I to M. Jim’s eyes widened and he looked up with an uneasy demeanor. The table began to shake. The two flash lights popped and darkness covered the table.

“What the fuck just happened,” David shouted into the darkness. My eyes began to slowly adjust. Everyone was sitting down, everyone but Jim. He was standing still, looking straight ahead.

‘J-jim? Are you alright?” I asked nervously. Jim turned around and walked to the fireplace in the other room. Elliot and Allen were completely silent. David had stood up and was watching Jim, who had bent down and picked something up. I couldn't make out what it was. David began to walk towards him.

“Jim man, what are you doing? There isn't actually a ghost in here,” David tried to reassure him. Jim stepped towards David. I could see that he was holding a rusted fire poker now. Allen and Elliot had stood up too. Jim suddenly thrusted the fire poker right through David’s chest. The bloody tip popped out of his back. Allen screamed and sprinted towards the broken-down back door, followed closely by Elliot.

“You’re right, there are no ghosts in here,” Jim said to David in a calm voice, before pulling out the poker and letting the dead body drop to the floor. I shot up and followed Elliot and Allen to the door, knocking over the table in my frenzy. As I ran out of the house, I heard Jim laughing behind me.

Allen and Elliot were already waiting for me on their bikes.

“Come lets go!” They shouted as I jumped on mine. We quickly took off, leaving the house behind us.

We pedaled as hard as we could down the sidewalk, passing trick-or-treaters.

“Guys we need to stop and talk about this,” I said to Elliot and Allen, but they did’t listen.

“Guys!” I screamed. They stopped this time.

“Yo what the hell was that?” Elliot said with a shaky voice.

“Jim obviously went crazy! I knew that kid was always too quiet,” Allen responded.

“I’ve known him for almost my whole life. He’s quiet, but not a psychopath,” I responded.

“Plus, you saw that table shake and those flashlights break. No human could that without touching them,” I continued.

“Are you saying he’s possessed? That’s not possible,” Allen said with an angry tone.

“Guys who cares? He’s turned into a killer either way. We need to get to our parents house and get the police,” Elliot said. My house was the closest, so we decided to head there. I don’t think any of us had ever pedaled as fast as we did to get to my house.We arrived in a little under a minute and parked our bikes in the driveway. I unlocked the backdoor and stepped inside.

“Mom, Dad, you home…” My voice faded away as I stepped into the living room. Blood was everywhere; all over the floor and the walls.

I was hit with rush of emotions. Fear, anger, and sadness overwhelmed me. Elliot and Allen stood there in silence. I didn’t know what to say.

“I’m going to kill that piece of shit, possessed or not!” words finally came to my mouth.

I went and grabbed the home phone, and dialed 911.

“Hello, what’s your emergency?” was the answer. I began to speak franticly.

“We went to an abandoned house, and my friend, my friend, he killed our other friend, and my parents too!” I mumbled quickly.

“Calm down sir, can I have your…” The phone cut off. So did the lights.

“Yo it’s not safe here. We need to go somewhere else,” Elliot whispered.

I could hardly think straight, but we were sitting ducks if we stayed here. We left the house and walked through the garage and to the driveway. Our bikes were gone, and I noticed the street lights flickering too. One by one they shut off, all except for the one at the end of the street. Under it was the black outline of a person standing still. I couldn’t make out who it was, but I had a feeling it was no one good.

“Guys,” I poked Allen’s shoulder and pointed towards the figure. Elliot and Allen turned around and looked. The figure raised one of his arms holding what appeared to be a long stick and waved. Shivers ran down my spine.

“Let’s get out of here,” Elliot said and took off running in the opposite direction. Me and Allen followed. After sprinting for almost a block we slowed down to a jog then a walk.

“What are we gonna do now?” I asked them.

“Grace! We could go to her house, it’s not that far away,” Elliot suggested. Grace was a girl from our school who lived in our neighborhood. Me and Allen agreed and we walked in silence to her house. It was getting really late, and there were almost no more trick-or-treaters out. The front yards of houses were still filled scary monster statues and decorations. I felt uneasy walking by them, as I never knew if one could be Jim trying to trick us.I grew paranoid and was constantly scanning the surroundings.

“Guys we booked it to John’s house, how the hell did Jim catch up to us?” Allen was the first to speak in a while. I didn’t want to talk, and continued to just look around.

“And those lights, I think we know that Jim isn’t human anymore, so what is he?” Elliot responded.

“He has to be possessed by something evil. Most ghosts are probably not going to go violent like that, so i have to say a demon, as crazy as that sounds,” Allen said back. I shook my head, a day ago he would never have said something like that. Now we were all just confused, and I was more angry than anything else.

About 2 blocks from Grace’s house, I saw someone on a bike riding towards us fast. I thought it was weird but nothing dangerous; until I recognized it as mine.

“Run!” I shouted on top of my lungs. We all took off in a full sprint, but it was futile. The bike was faster than us. I looked back and noticed something weird. Jim was holding a jack-o-lantern. As he got closer, he raised and threw it with inhumane speed. It hit Elliot, who was behind all of us, in the back of the head. He grunted and fell down to the ground. Allen stopped running and turned around. I stopped too and grabbed his shoulder and pulled.

“Come we have to go!” I shouted into his ear. Jim jumped off the bike and picked up Elliot with one hand by the neck. He was holding the ash poker in the other.

“What’s the matter? Not in the halloween spirit?” he taunted him before driving the ash poker through his back. The bloody tipped popped out his chest. Elliot let out a little whimper before his eyes fell shut. Allen let out a scream and took off running. Jim dropped Elliot’s body and turned his head towards me. I took off in full sprint in the opposite direction Allen had gone. Eventually I came to a house that had a yard full of decorations. I found a set of ghosts propped up behind a bush and hid behind it, panting as a laid down.

“That phone call was probably just a stupid prank, why do we have to come all the way to this neighborhood for nothing…” the officer in the police car complained.

“Will said we had too, plus, it’s better to be safe then sorry; you know,” his partner replied.

The two policeman were cruising trough the neighborhood in a small patrol car. They were there because someone had called earlier saying their friend had been stabbed. So far, they hand’t seen anyone out.

“It’s so weird, normally on halloween you will at least cars out, going to parties you know…” the partner said with a trailing voice. The driver didn’t reply, as he was in a bad mood and didn’t want to be out there that night.

After about 15 minutes of driving around, a small, frail kid with long black hair came into their headlights. He was just standing still, head down. The officers noticed blood all over him too, and an ash poker in one of his hands. The two officers glanced at each other with suspicion before one got out of the car and began to walks toward the kid.

“What are you doing out this late son?” he asked calmly. There was no response.

“It’s alright, i’m here to help…” The officer put his hand on the kids shoulder, and the kid jolted up and stabbed the officer in the stomach with the ash poker. The officer gasped and stepped back. The kid pulled out the ash poker and swung it like a knife. The tip sliced open the officer’s throat and he fell onto the black concrete road, bleeding out. The other officer was in shock. He pulled out his pistol and aimed.

“Drop the weapon!” he shouted at the kid. The kid just stood there, staring at him.

“I said drop it! Or I’ll shoot!” he shouted again. The kid began to step towards him.

The officer opened fire. Three shots rang through the night. The kid fell too the floor, two bullet holes in his chest and one in his stomach. The officer lowered his gun. He was breathing heavily, and could barely think straight.

Oh my God… I just killed a kid… The thought had hit him. He holstered his pistol and turned around and leaned into the car to radio in. As he was lifting the walkie-talkie, something grabbed the back of his neck. He dropped the walkie-talkie in shock and pain. Whatever was grabbing his neck turned him around to face it. He was face-to-face with the kid.

“It’s going to take a lot more than that to get rid of me,” he mumbled angrily through gritted teeth. He squeezed and there was cracking sound. The officer let out a small grunt before going silent. The kid dropped the dead body in the front seat. He pulled out the pistol and walked away, leaving the two dead officers behind him.

It had to be at least 20 minutes now! I thought to myself. I had still been hiding behind the ghost decorations. So far no one had come and tried to attack me, or spoke to me for that matter.In fact I hadn’t seen anyone the whole time, not even another car. I slowly got up and looked around. I couldn’t see anyone anywhere. I slowly and cautiously made my way through the yard and towards Grace’s house. Soon it came into view and I noticed another person walking towards her house too. I froze for a second, but then relaxed when I noticed it was just Allen. For the first time in a while, I felt a little cheerful.

“Allen!” I shouted out as I ran towards him. He jumped when he turned around and saw me.

“I thought you were dead!”

“Nope i’m still here, let’s get inside,”

We knocked on the door hard and didn’t stop till we got an answer. A middle-aged man with  a beer belly opened the door.

“What are you doing knocking on my door at this hour!” The man wore an angry expression.

“Sorry, but you have to understand, our friends are dead. There’s someone out here trying to kill us!” “What the hell are you talking about? Are you boys drunk or high?” The man furrowed his brow.

“No, we need to call 911 immediately. I’m being serious,” I told him with a straight face.

The man was silent for a second then sighed.

“Alright come on,” He said and then stepped out of the way to let us in. We stepped inside the house and he shut and locked the door behind us.

“Hey I know y’all, y’all are those boys from Grace’s class. She says y’all are a little weird,” The man told us. I almost smiled at the little joke, although I couldn’t tell whether he was joking or being serious. He went over to the staircase and called Grace’s name. A few moments later a black-haired girl came walking down the stairs. She smiled when she saw us.

“Hey guys… um what are you doing at my house at 12 at night?” her smile transformed into a frown.

“This is going to sound crazy, but Ellliot, Jim, and David, they’re… they’re dead,” I stared at her with unblinking eyes.

“Sure they are…” she laughed a little. I continued to stare at her with the same expression. Her face darkened.

“You’re not joking, are you?”

“Damnit I can’t find the home phone!” I heard the father cuss from the kitchen.

“I’ll go get my cell phone,” Grace remarked and slowly walked up the stairs. While the father continued to look, me and Allen sat on the couch in silence. Minutes passed, yet Grace did not come back down.

“She never takes this long to find her cellphone…” the father’s voice trailed off as he walked over to the bottom of the staircase.

“Grace? You’re taking forever up there!” The father shouted. There was no response. A sudden ringing erupted below me. It was coming from under the couch cushion. I jumped off the couch and threw away the cousin, revealing the white phone. The father came over and picked it up, pressing the green answer button as he brought it to his ear.

“Hello?”

“Hello Robert, have you seen your daughter Grace recently?” A low voice responded on the other end.

“You son of a bitch,” Robert cussed and began to walk over to the stairs.

“Nah ah ah ah, she isn’t in her room anymore,” the backyard lights came on, revealing a girl strapped to a chair in the middle of the yard. I saw Robert’s face convey a mix of emotions; mostly anger. He began to rush violently towards the backdoor.

“Take one more step and i’ll put a bullet in the side of her head!” The voice screamed angrily. Robert obeyed and stood still, bitting his lips.

“Good, good. You see, I saw something like this in a movie once, …well Jim did. You see he was a big fan of horror movies. I liked that, gave me all sorts of ideas and tricks to pull. This might seem a little cliche… but I like it. I have a few questions, a trivia. You answer the questions right, and maybe i’ll let her go, maybe not. Hand the phone over to Allen please,” Jim said with a nasty tone.

“I’ll kill you…” Robert whimpered before reluctantly handing over the phone to Allen, who slowly put it up to his ear.

“Allen, how do you feel knowing you caused all this, knowing this all rests on your conciseness…”

“Shut up!” Allen screamed suddenly.

“Speak when I tell you to, unless you want this bitch to die. Now Allen, you are a douchbag, plain and simple. You know why you are? Because you know you have a pitiful and meaningless life. You think no one will like you unless you are funny and try to fit in. That’s why you make fun of people. Because you know it makes you feel better about yourself. Yes, you hate yourself. And now you hate your self even more. Am I right or am I right?” Jim’s voice sounded happy at the end there.

“That’s not true!” Allen spoke rapidly and harshly. I jumped as a shot rang out. Grace mumbled a scream through the rag covering her mouth. I saw blood run down her right leg. Robert turned around and ran into his room.

“Wrong answer. Next it will be her other leg then her head!” Jim hissed into the phone.

“Now, what was that answer again?”

“Yes, it’s true.”

“Good.”

Robert came out of his room holding a revolver. He threw open the door and stepped outside, holding the revolver up at the ready. I was excepting Jim to shoot him and/or Grace any second, but he didn’t; at least at first. Robert walked slowly and cautiously around the backyard. When he was waling towards the corner of the fencepost another shot rang out. Robert fell to the floor without making a word. Grace mumbled a scream again. Allen quickly ran out to her and began untying the ropes that ensnared her arms and legs. Another gunshot went off and I saw blood explode out of Grace’s head. It covered Allen from his stomach-up. I heard a door creak open and noticed the shed in the corner of the yard open. I was too overcome by adrenaline to feel any grief for the two deaths I just witnessed for now.

“Allen! Get back in here!” I screamed, but he wasn’t moving. I heard Jim, or whatever it really was, laughing form the shed.

“Hmm, a chainsaw? Nah, too cliche. Ohhhh, this will do,” I heard him speak loudly and cheerfully.

Robert groaned as he began to move again. He slowly began to pick himself back up. I saw Jim come out of the shed. He was’t carrying a gun or an ash poker, but instead had a blue circular saw in his right hand. I also noticed three bullet holes in chest and stomach. He headed straight at Robert in a fast walking pace. Robert tried to reach for the revolver, but it was too late. Jim flicked the saw on and brought it down on Robert.

I heard him scream and looked away quickly. I didn’t know if I could see any more blood or death that night. I felt like there was nothing I could do to stop this demon or whatever was doing this. I felt like lying down and just accepting my fate. It wasn’t like I had a family to go back to anyway. But as Robert’s screams and the sound of the saw stopped, something inside me snapped. I had to take action. I needed to teach this motherfucker a lesson. Jim looked over at Allen and dropped the saw.

“Allen, Allen, you are making this too easy you know that? Where’s the fun if your victims don’t even fight back?” I saw a smile from across his face as he began to walk over.

“You were Jim’s least favorite, so i’m going to take my time, for his sake,” Allen dropped the rope he was holding in his hands and turned around to face Jim. I could see the fear in empty eyes. Jim wasn’t looking in my direction so I took this moment to do a sort of crouch-jog thing over to Robert’s bloody mess of a body, where he had left he saw just sitting there.

I can’t believe he actually just left this! I thought I as I picked it up. I winced as my hands made a splotching sound as they came into contact with the blood on the handle. I heard a whack and turned around to see Allen on the floor and Jim standing over him.

“I’m going to break every single one of your bones slowly, starting with your legs. I crouched and snuck over as I saw and heard repeated kick after kick to Allen’s body. When I got within a few feet behind Jim I sprung up, ready to turn on the saw and bring it down on his neck. Jim whipped around and grabbed my arms, holding the saw back. Whatever this was had a lot more strength then Jim ever did in real life.

“You really think I didn’t see you trying to be all stealthy and sneak around? You see I just wanted you to feel like you had a little bit of hope, just so I could snatch it away from you,” he mocked me as he squeezed my arms. I felt like my bones were going to crack any second. Jim was just staring at me with wide eyes and an unnatural smile. I gritted my teeth and let out a little whimper as I felt my left arm erupt in sharp, fiery pain. Suddenly Allen jumped up and latched onto Jim’s back like a monkey, covering his face with his hands.

“Let go of me!” Jim let go of my arms and spun around with such tremendous force that he knocked Allen completely off his back and onto the ground again. I didn’t hesitate and turned on the saw quickly, almost missing the switch in my haste. I brought it down with no restraint on Jim’s neck. Blood began to shoot out like a geyser. Jim let out an inhumane scream. I kept pushing and pushing, getting soaked with the blood like I had jumped into a pool of it. The momentum almost made me trip when the blade had nothing left to cut through and I was still pushing hard. I turned off the saw and dropped it, breathing heavily. I was completely crimson above my waist and on the ground below was Jim’s head, separated from the rest of his body. I wasted no time, almost immediately turning around and heading back to the shed. I came back out when I was holding one of what I was looking for, garbage bags. I also had a gallon of gasoline in my other hand. Allen had stood back and was watching me without any noise. I ignored him back as I put Jim’s bloody body and head into the black bag. Without saying a word I opened the side gate and began to walk down the street, leaving Allen alone in the yard behind, with a single goal in my mind.

I stood alone in the dark for what felt like hours, but in reality, it was just minutes. Everything that happened tonight felt surreal. I felt like I would make up any second and come down to greet my happy parents with a “good morning”, but that would never be the same again. All of this, was my fault. I felt empty inside. All my life I just wanted others to like me. I just wanted to fit in, be popular. You could say I was an asshole, a douchebag, but I didn’t know it would cause the deaths of others. Hell, I didn’t even think about it much at all.

I looked down at my body. I was soaked in blood, but not as bad as John was. One of my legs felt like it was on fire, but I could still walk. I limped my way back to the empty house. David, Jim, Elliot; all my friends were gone now. And John… well John looks like he’s gone crazy. I know he will never be the same again. The phone was still lying on the floor by the door, just where I had dropped it. I picked it up and slowly dialed 911. i told them everything expect for the part about Jim being possessed by a demon. It ended with the operator telling me they would be over there as quick as they could. I hung up and dropped the phone on the floor again, not being in the mood to stay on the line. I knew nothing bad would happen now. I decided to head out to the front yard to get some fresh air and wait on the police. I sat on the single brick step in front of the door and buried my arms into my head. All the other lights in the other houses were off, which meant they probably just slept through the whole thing. I waited forever, with no company other than my grief and misery; but eventually heard sirens blaring off the distance. It sounded like they were getting closer too. I also noticed something else too. A column of thick, black smoke, coming from not far off in the neighborhood. In fact, I knew it was  directly coming from the same location as the Scary House.  