The Abomination Man

The Abomination Man
WARNING: Do NOT read at night.

Haley entered the dusty hallway where the middle of the abandoned mansion lay. She'd been hired clean out the house of a rich man, once a soldier convicted of genocide, who died of his injuries many hundreds of years ago. The mansion didn't feel like a home - more like a haunted house. The light shone through the windows and the cracks in the floorboards creaked as she walked on them, sweeping the dust from the corners of the room.

Walking further down the dimly lighted hallway, she saw a small trapdoor. Opening it up, she went down underneath to clean out the cellar. Perhaps they could make this place into a study or laundry room for the next tenants. As she descended down the stairs, the light began to fade away and soon it was as dark as night.

Trying to work with the dim streaks of light going through the gaps in the floorboards, she started to move the strange cardboard boxes out near to the staircase and swept the edges of the floor. Soon, she couldn't see anything and took out her phone, a dim light to support her whilst she tidied the place, ready for renovation. It was starting to get increasingly colder as she walked through the cellar. She felt for a wall, but there was none, just empty space. Never had she known a cellar as big as this...

She shone the light of her phone in front of her. All she could see was boxes and empty space. It was too big to clean that day. They'd just have to find a way of cleaning it out afterwards. She walked back towards the area of the staircase, where the trapdoor lay wide open.

Suddenly, she heard a slam. The room became dark and colder, whilst creaking noises started to emerge. The trapdoor had somehow shut on its own. Haley became scared. She wandered up the stairs, however she screamed as she slipped, realizing the light of her phone was not enough to guide her up. The door was shut tightly and could only be opened from the outside... She screamed out, hoping the builders that came with her would hear her, however nobody answered. Her phone was running out of battery, and she shivered, looking down at the cold, dark insides of the cellar.

She shone the light around. The light shone onto a little wooden sign, with little black letters carved into them. Haley walked towards the sign to examine the letters closer. It was much further into the depths of the cellar. She squinted as she tried to make out the letters.

Walking closer, she realized that it said, 'OUT' with a little arrow pointing into the direction of the cellar. There must be a door or something at the other end,she thought with a sigh of relief. Still, it was pretty scary being all alone in a dark tunnel.

Haley walked deeper into the cellar. It seemed like it would never end. Walking around and touching the walls next to her, she was just about to doubt herself that there ever was an opening, when she saw another sign. It had an arrow pointing the way she was going. The sign gave her a little relief. Then, her phone light shone onto a newspaper, with an article titled "Abomination Man Kills 200." Wiping off the cobwebs, she picked up the paper and read the first paragraph:

1926: Abomination Man John Diskuff of Germany kills 200. 200 British citizens were killed after a soldier under the name of 'John Diskuff' set a forest on fire. The accused man is nowhere to be seen and is rumored to be injured, either one or both legs disfigured after a previous, serious bombing.

It was probably the doing of the man that lived in this house. Genocide and a German soldier - it matched. It was this ruthless killing machine that was nicknamed 'The Abomination Man,' for his doings.

Haley walked further into the cellar hoping to see a door, but the light revealed nothing. Then, she spotted another sign in the distance, written in black letters. 'Keep Going,' it said, with an arrow pointing further into the darkness. Whoever made the signs must've thought people wanted to go to the loo or something. Haley walked further in, spotting another sign. This time, it was written in small red letters.

'Are you still going?' it said.

"Yes, I am," chuckled Haley quietly. She stopped and looked around. Seeing another newspaper, she bent down and read it:

"1928: Abomination Man Strikes Again.  Two years after his last attack, Abomination Man, also known as previous German soldier John Diskuff is suspected to have killed 50 people after burning down a set of tents in the eastern coast of England. He is still on the loose. Witnesses please appeal." 

Standing up and walking again, Haley descended into the darkness even further. Spotting another sign, she walked past it, not bothering to look. Then, she saw something and looked back, walking to the sign again:

"Are you still ALIVE?"

Haley felt a chill run down her spine. It was written in bigger, dark red colored ink. This sign creeped her out. She just wanted to get out of the place already, as it was very cold and the darkness was scaring her. Walking at a slightly faster pace, she spotted a pile of newspapers, all with the name 'Abomination Man' as their headline. As the dates increased, she saw a paper that caught her attention:

2 Builders Missing After Visiting Previous Abode of Abomination Man

She put down the newspaper and started walking faster. Haley was cold, hungry, scared and miserable, and had no idea how long she'd been in the building for. Spotting another sign in the distance, she walked towards it:

"Entering the graveyard"

Haley was confused and utterly in shock. What did graveyard mean? She walked forwards, starting to pant. Her phone was running out of battery and if she continued like this, she wouldn't be able to see anything soon. The light was dim and hard to with. Shivering from the cold, Haley suddenly spotted another sign:

"GET OUT NOW"

Her eyes widened, and her heartbeat raised. Something was wrong here - totally wrong. Where were the arrows that guided her before? What was with the disturbing messages? Haley shuddered. Her instincts told her to do something. She started sweating and before she could shriek out loud, she spotted another sign nailed to the wall:

"HAHA. YOU'RE DEAD NOW"

The words were written in dark red ink...wait - no. That wasn't ink at all - it made drip marks down the wooden signboard and was uniquely dark red. IT WAS BLOOD. Real blood. Haley was sweating hard now. What the heck was going on? Were there ghosts?

"Help," she yelled, "HELP!!!"

Her own voice echoed through the cellar, which seemed to carry on as far as the world would go on for. She started to panic, and ran forwards, ignoring the signs and newspapers she ran past. Crying and screaming, she ran as fast as she could, not noticing the paper boxes increasing in number and newspapers strewn across the floor that she was treading on. Suddenly, she screamed out loud as she tripped over something, rather like a long box, and fell flat on her face. Her phone landed on the floor next to her, and after a brief moment of choking on her own tears, she picked it up and used it to look around. Her heart was in her mouth as she spotted a little brown sign with red writing on it. Dreading the worst, she walked over and read it - it was not anything she'd expected:

'HERE LIES JOHN DISKUFF. ABOMINATION MAN - 1895-1943'

Looking down, she spotted that she had tripped over a small wooden coffin. She turned around to run, but her head slammed into a hard wall. There was no more empty space. The tunnel ended here - there was no way out. Haley cried, and walked around the coffin to run back through the tunnel, tripping over paper boxes and other items as she passed. Suddenly, she heard a creaking noise. Pointing her phone light over the the coffin where the noise came from, she saw the lid open and a large, bony hand emerged from the side.

Paralyzed with fear, Haley fell down on the cardboard boxes and stared straight at the coffin. Something emerged from the box - a man, with bandaged arms. Wait - it wasn't a man. It just had a skeletal head with a few strands of hair and two arms attached to a torso. It had no waist and no legs. Its hollow eyes stared straight at her, its teeth twisting into a crooked smile as it cackled. John Diskuff - the living corpse of the Abomination Man.

Screaming, Haley jumped up and ran. She closed her eyes and ran as fast as she could, not thinking about anything except for the hideous sight she'd seen. Then, she stopped in her tracks as she smelt something. Something was...burning. She hadn't noticed that her phone ran out of battery, however the hallway was still lit up. Looking back, she saw red and yellow everywhere. The cardboard boxes and newspaper carried the fire swiftly towards her.

"Help, HELP, HELP!!!!!!!!!!" She screamed, running and clawing at the walls. Turing around, she saw a silhouette of a man - with a skeletal head and no legs, walking and supported by just his arms. His grey skin shone in the flames, and he opened his mouth to cackle.

Then the flames engulfed her.