All of the old stories said that the building had a face. Two sunken eyes and a lopsided jaw hanging off to the side. The wood was waterlogged black, and groaning with the shifting earth. Maybe that’s why everyone was so sure it was haunted. If an abandoned building has a face, a creepy face at that, and was successfully groaning, agonizingly I might add, then it must in fact be haunted. The logic seemed flawless.
The grass wasn’t as patchy as expected of a excellently haunted building, but Allison would make due. By make due, she had to withstand it. Now that she thought about it, standing in the driveway of the place, it was actually kind of strange how unpatchy, green, and well-kept the lawn looked. Well, it was a shitty lawn overall, but in retrospect and compared to the rickety old building, it looked pretty good.
Grass isn’t the point of this story, though if a little grass was introduced the plot it might be a little more enjoyable. Nonetheless a dare was a dare. A dare was a dare that Allison had to bear.
Allison, the hot headed stereotype that she was, had been dared to spend the night in that god awful building. Glancing back over her shoulders she could see her group standing by the car. Andy and Brian were leaned against the hood of the jeep, probably being too handsy for the group’s comfort. She rolled her eyes. Alex and Dusty were just staring at her in the darkness, grinning. Kind of creepy.
They were such fucking idiots. She thought, her discomfort speaking loudly. This was all so fucking stupid. She was nearly screaming. Her hand was clenched tightly around a flashlight Alex thought could be funny to give her. It didn’t have any batteries. That’s why he thought it would be funny. It wasn’t funny.
The cold air outside showed in her breaths, and her eyes stung. All of these things were excuses she could use ineffectually to get out of this stupid dare. But…. a part of her really wanted to go inside, the curious part. The other part needed to both prove to them all that she could do whatever she said she could, and that she wasn’t afraid of anything. Both seem trivial if she died in there. And she was definitely afraid of a good amount of things.
“This is fucking ridiculous!” She screamed for the last time at them. She could hear and see them giggling, but Alex, the tallest of the group stepped out of the darkness towards her. Alex had light brown hair and a square head. He was barrel shaped and a foot taller than she was. Alex had a brotherly look in his eyes, but he seemed more amused. He motioned for her to walk back to the rusty old gate to meet him. She grit her teeth and trotted over. She knew that there was a fifty fifty chance he was going to either ridicule her or console her. She could never tell when he was going to do either so she had to just go with it. He leaned over to her ear, and she listened.
“Stop being a pussy and do it already!” He hit three octaves her ear couldn’t handle and it rang in her head for a bit. She punched him in the arm and shoved him back, but he was grinnin’. He thought he was so funny. There was no turning back and she knew it. Allison would never live it down if she made Andy drive her jeep to such a shady spot with no sort of humiliation involved.
“I’m going.” She turned on her heels and marched right into the front door.
The door was aged. The wood was sleek and the carvings were clear even after all the water damage. It wasn’t locked. She tried to push it open, but it wouldn’t budge. Alison thought about turning around and screaming about how it was locked, but she knew Alex would graciously take that opportunity to immaculate her. He’d open it for her, and make some snide comment about, “Daddy’s little girl”
She shoved the door in. Pieces of woods cracked and spit from the frame, inside of the house, which was a relief.
Two steps in and the ground groaned under her, like it’s had been woken up by her. It was dark. Too dark to see anything, then the door slammed behind her. Shit. She thought. She swallowed hard, balled up her fist, and felt around with her feet. She was stupid. Being dared into this dumb old house was a bad idea. She was always duped into things when they said these silly words, “I bet you can’t.” The competitive blood just fucks up her chances at survival. If she was meant for a long life that’s gone now.
A dim light began to shine off in the distance, a soft, sudden glow. Allison should have thought twice about the appearance of the light, but she was just excited to see. The light danced around the small room, old tables and pencils scattered around the place. It was a bit weird…like a boarding school room. Allison took a few steps forward, her curiosity peaked more than just her fear. She pulled out her phone and started to snap chat with Alex.
She angled the phone for a selfie with the glowing room in the back ground. Just as she snapped the picture and hit send, her eyes settled on the roof of the room. It was white, pasty and bare. Not a single light fixture. Wait. Allison’s skin started to crawl as her eyes darted around the room. Where is the light coming from? She whirled around. Those bastards think they’re so fucking funny. Alex is good but she didn’t think he was that good. She dialed Alex’s number.
The phone rang and rang. He was such an ass.
“Stop calling me, you idiot. You’re supposed to be scared and alone for the night. Not sending selfies and calling me.” His voice slightly irritated.
“Okay shut up for a second and tell me how you did the lights in here, and I’ll leave you alone.”
“What?” He began, the other guys laughing in the background, “What lights?”
Allison rolls her eyes, “You’re a fucking asshole. At least promise to tell me when I’m done here. Bye!”
“Fine bye.”
The line goes dead. And for a few moments the entire area gets silent. Like the eerie silence in movies before something happens. Just when Allison opened her mouth to commend Alex on his perfect performance, the roof caved. The ceiling falling in so fast that she couldn’t move out of the way. A rock smashed into the middle of the room, a few feet from her. She staggered back. A rock, that chipped off flew at her, crushing her against one of the walls. Her head smashed back the hardest. The air got plastery and dusty.
She groaned there for a moment. Through her brown bangs she could vaguely see the moonlight falling in through the hole. Her body doesn’t ache yet, but her head is ringing and everything is hard to focus on. Before she could even move a muscle, let alone get the feeling back in her body, a face appeared in front of her. Big round eyes, cartoonishly drawn. And a small mouth. It looked at her for a moment. The silent fear that built as he glared at her, jolted her body alive. She shoved the creature away from her. It took a few steps and stood there staring. She was terrified and suddenly the pain was coming back and is radiated from her legs and her head.
She was too afraid to take her eyes off of the hunching creature, to see her legs. It eyes never wandered from hers. There was another crash. The room filled with plaster and dust again. A sharp pain hit her chest. Allison couldn’t breathe. She was clawing and tearing at the wall around her, when the strange monster surfaced in front of her again.
“I’m going to help you.” it said.
Then these spidery fingers caressed her. Tears rolled down Allison’s face. A part of her body had gone numb. She just couldn’t stop trembling. The spider fingers went into her mouth and yanked her jaw open. OH GOd oh GOD! She could feel the skin splitting in her mouth. She was screaming but she wasn’t sure how loud. She was drifting in and out of the pain. In and out of consciousness. Soon her mouth had been opened wide like a jar lid. The creature stuck it’s feet in first into her mouth, her body inflating like a suit to it’s body. Then it’s arms went in, and lastly its head. It used her arm to pull the cap of her head on.
“Allison!” Brian’s voice dragged her out of sleep. Brian is her actual older brother, who was also part of the group of friends she hung out with. He and Alex are childhood friends, “Get your ass up already!” He said, “You passed the test with flying colors.” He he was being sarcastic, slapping her lightly in the face. Allison would have replied like the snob she was, but she couldn’t shake the feeling. The images of what she supposed was a dream now. She looked around the well-lit building, “You slept like a baby.”
“Alex!” She called out.
“Not your own bother. Wow.” Brian’s tanned face fell out of view and in came Alex’s. Alllison had perfect vision…but the image of Alex had gotten blurry and hard to see. Why?
[incomplete/ dropped]
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