He drove the car in through the drive in and parked it carefully around the side of the house. Kurt led us out of the car and into complete darkness. There were no lamp-posts around; even the moon was blocked out by the trees. We stood there helpless until I saw a burst of light flash in my face. I put my hand in front of my ducked face whilst I tried to see what it was. It was Kurt with a torch light.
“Come on, let me show you lot the house,” said Kurt as he led us through the undergrowth to the back of the house.
I could tell by the light emitting from the torch that the grass had not been cut for at least a couple of years. There were a few trees surrounding the back garden. The wind was still blowing and it made a whistling sound as it went through the trees. I was scared; I mean there could be serial killers or drug dealers hanging around here. Had Kurt realised how secluded this place was? We could end up in real trouble. The least of my worries were ghosts.
“Errm…excuse me Kurt but why are we going through the back?” asked Marco.
“The front door is locked,” replied Kurt plainly still leading us. I swear, that guy needs to lighten up a little and be a little more enthusiastic. If he doesn’t he’ll probably end up working for a Japanese robot company.
We finally ended up at the back door which was nothing special: a wooden door engraved in Victorian patterns running parallel in two long stripes straight down the door. There was no glass in the door. Kurt held the handle and pushed the door with a considerable amount of strength, opening it into the first room.
There was not much in here either. There were two opposite walls with kitchen worktops running all the way along. There was a fairly large, rectangular object in the corner which I suspected was a fridge. The space in the middle of the room was spoiled by a square and rather ugly wooden dining table. There was a dusty smell floating in the air which created an old and unsettling atmosphere. I could feel the cold for the first time since I got out of the car. My body started shivering.
“Come on, lets move on,” I said.
Kurt nodded as he opened the second door. Marco and Tina followed. As soon as Kurt opened the door, he slid his arm up and down the left side of the door as if he was looking for something and I heard something click. The light sparkled out from the crystal chandelier and spread all over the room revealing the beautiful antique furniture carefully placed in the middle and along the walls.
There was a fireplace dominating one wall and an armchair placed in front of it. Bookcases were aligned along the walls and there were comfortable looking sofas arranged in one corner of the room. There was an Indian-patterned rug in the middle which made the room look classy. On one side of the room a white sheet was covering a large and bulky. It made me curious. Why was this the only thing in the whole room which was covered? What was under the white sheet? I was just about to reveal answers to my questions as I reached out to uncover the object when…
“I guess this is the living room,” interrupted Tina looking around with her eye lids drooping. I took it she was tired.
I looked around to see that Marco and funnily even Kurt looked tired.
“Ok lads, and girl, I think it’s time we get to bed,” I said.
“Good idea. Which way is it to the bedrooms?” said Marco as he followed Kurt through another other door.
We all followed him up the stairs as he led us to the first bedroom. Tina just walked straight in and slumped herself on the bed. We walked past the bedroom, past the bathroom to the next bedroom. It contained two beds.
“I’m taking this one,” said Marco.
“Who’s gonna sleep with you. You snore like a pig, man,” I said, trying not to sound too harsh.
“Yeah, good point. Ok then I’ll take the last one,” he said as he walked off to his room. At least he admitted it. It was a surprisingly long hallway. You probably couldn’t hear any sound from one bedroom to the other.
I turned around to talk to Kurt but he was gone. Where did he go? I looked up and down the hallway but he was nowhere to be seen. I entered my bedroom and I saw him asleep on the bed near the window. He looked like a doll, positioned perfectly on the bed. He would make a great robot one day.
I just climbed into my bed. It was surprisingly comfortable. The room was nice and warm so I didn’t feel like pulling the covers over me.
Kurt was very quiet. He didn’t make a single sound. He just lay there. For all I knew he could be dead!
I’ve only known the guy for a year. He moved into our area with his uncle just before last Christmas. Both his parents were dead, sadly. I always thought the set-up strange; Kurt was always by himself and seemed to live alone. He told me that his uncle was always on business which was why I had never met him. There was something sad about Kurt. He was probably still grieving for his parents who had died when he was young. I felt sorry for the guy sometimes. I’d try and cheer him up sometimes but it’s as if he was dead from inside. He was never happy or angry or sad, especially since his addiction to the drugs.
The room was surprisingly cosy and warm but for some reason, I couldn’t get to sleep. My eyes were wide open and I tossed and turned around on my bed like a fish caught in a fisherman’s net.
Creak. Creak. Creak. I heard the floorboards creaking as someone walked slowly on them. The creaking was getting louder and louder. The person was coming this way. Suddenly, I felt a shiver run down my spine. I was really scared.
Creak. Creak. Creak. My heart was beating really fast now. I slowly slid under my blanket until it covered my shoulders whilst still fixing my gaze on the door where I could catch a glimpse of who or what it was.
A fairly large, dark figure came into view from the right and it turned its head cautiously towards me round the door and stared at me for what seemed a long time. My heart was almost doing somersaults with fear. He just stood there outside my room staring. I had to do something; I couldn’t hold this tension any longer.
“Who… who is it?” I somehow got out of my mouth whilst I choked myself with the blanket wrapped around me.
“It’s me,” he said in a quiet tone so as not to wake anyone. His voice sounded very familiar but I couldn’t recall whose voice it could be.
“Me who?” I asked very curiously.
“Me Marco,” he said.
What an idiot I thought to myself. Who else could it have been? I just got myself worked up about nothing.
“Where are you getting off to?” I asked him.
“Who? Me? Oh, well…um… I… I was just…erm… just going to the toilet,” he managed to say followed by what sounded like a guilty laugh.
“Oh ok,” I said after he finished his horse-like-laugh. It would have made me laugh but I wasn’t in the mood.
I saw him nod slightly as he turned around and headed slowly to the toilet. I had no choice but to return to my mission trying to get to sleep. My fear seemed to have gone which made me more at ease but I still didn’t feel sleepy. Suddenly, an idea popped into my head; I could count rabbits coming out of a rabbit hole until Marco returned from the toilet: One, two, three, four… two-hundred and seventeen, two-hundred and eighteen… zzz. I drifted off to sleep sometime after the number two-hundred and eighteen but I didn’t notice Marco go past my open door.
CHAPTER 3
Creak. Creak. Creak. CRACK!
“Owww, damn floor boards!” I heard someone yell.
I shot up out of bed and ran into the hallway to see what had just happened and I found Marco half sticking out of the floor.
“Hey man, what the hell are you doing down there? Stop messing about and get up,” said Kurt as he passed Marco on his way to the bathroom. Marco must have woken everyone up with that accident.
I checked my watch and it was eight in the morning. I wondered where he had been this time. I grabbed his hand and pretended to have trouble pulling him out of the hole.
“Man, you are so fat. You shouldn’t eat too much or you’ll end up making holes in the roads,” I said as I tugged at him.
“It wasn’t my fault. I was walking so carefully over the blasted floorboards,” he said with glint of anger in his tone.
“Where were you coming back from anyway? Did you stay in the toilet all last night?” I asked him.
He reacted in the same way as he had done yesterday night: “Me? Oh I… I was just erm… I went again the second time,” he said followed unsurprisingly by his amusing laugh.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I pulled him out effortlessly. I went to the bathroom as Marco made his way downstairs. They had started unpacking all the cases of stuff from the boot of the car.
When I arrived downstairs, Tina was placing the food into the refrigerator and I could see Marco and Kurt checking the back garden out. Before I ate my breakfast, I thought I’d help Tina put the food away so I passed the food to her and she put it into the fridge.
“Do you know what happened to Marco this morning?” I asked her.
“No. What happened?” she asked as she stopped working. She had a concerned tenor in her voice but I couldn’t see her facial expression as her back was turned towards me.
“He got stuck in the floor,” I replied waiting for a comment of any sort but she just stopped completely and didn’t move.
She was staring out of the window and if my eyes weren’t fooling me, she was watching Marco as he strolled through the over-grown grass.
“Hey, Tina. Hello? Are you there?” I said trying to wake her from her day dream but it didn’t seem to make a difference, so I gave her a nudge on the arm which seemed to do the trick.
She awoke with a little jump and abruptly turned her head to face me. I could see her change from light creamy colour to a strawberry red. It suited her red hair perfectly.
“What happened to you?” I asked her.
She looked at me and immediately started putting the rest of the food into the fridge. I left her to finish it on her own. There was only a bit left anyway. I just had a bowl of cornflakes. I wasn’t very hungry.
“Marco and Tina have been acting very weird,” I thought to myself. “I’ve never seen them like this before.” Marco entered the kitchen following Kurt. He saw me and turned his head away. I got up and put my bowl into the sink.
“Come on,” I said to Tina as I followed them into the living room.
On entering the living room, the first thing I noticed was the beautiful sun light pouring into the room. It really brought the room to life. The furniture looked new and cosy. We all headed for somewhere to sit. I got the armchair in front of the fire while the rest of them headed for the sofas.
“Well, what are we doing today?” I asked looking around at their faces individually.
We all wanted to start smoking till we couldn’t breathe but we didn’t know what was the proper time to start. I thought it was better if we took advantage of the area and went for a little stroll or a mess about in the light.
“Shall we start smoking now?” asked Kurt as he slightly slid himself off of the sofa ready to get up.
“I was thinking that it’s such a lovely day that we might as well take advantage of it. You know, go for a walk or have a game of football or something like that. Then when it starts getting dark, we can get back inside and do our stuff,” I said hoping for a positive response.
“Yeah, that’s a great idea,” said Tina.
I saw Marco’s face light up for the first time since his little accident this morning. He smiled at Tina and she returned his smile. Kurt didn’t seem that much bothered but I could tell he felt disappointed at not getting the chance for a smoke. Never mind, I could tell today was going to be a great day.
CHAPTER 4
We had a really satisfying football match even though they won. It was me and Kurt versus Tina and Marco. We even had a little picnic on a hill just to the side of where we had played the match. Having stuffed ourselves we felt like a little walk. It was a vast area with no other houses around. There was so much to explore and there wasn’t a better time.
“I say it’s time for a little walk,” I said.
“Yeah,” they screamed simultaneously (apart from Kurt of course). They sounded like ten year olds.
“We’ll come back to the house when it starts getting dark,” I said when I was rudely interrupted.
“We’ll go this way and you two can go the other way,” said Marco as he clutched Tina’s arm. They hopped away in the opposite direction.
“I swear, something is wrong with them two,” I said to Kurt as we started walking and then I saw the greatest thing: Kurt smiled.
Oh my God! Kurt was smiling! I wish I had my Polaroid camera with me at that exact moment. I haven’t seen Kurt smile since… since… well ever since I’ve known him. It was an amazing miracle; it just proved there is a God. It was really good to see him smile but at the same time it made me the most curious man on the face of this Earth. What made him smile?
“Hey Kurt, am I missing something?” I asked impatiently.
“Can you not tell? Tina and Marco are in love,” he said as he watched them skip far away over the hill hand in hand.
Then it hit me. Well, of course they are in love. That explains all the funny looks and smiles they’d been giving each other. I can’t believe I hadn’t noticed earlier. It explains why she was day dreaming in the kitchen. It explains why Marco was upset about not sharing a room with her. It explains why he went over to her room during the middle of the night… wait a minute; he must have stayed in her bedroom all night and came back in the morning the dirty little bugger.
“Come on, lets get back to the house,” said Kurt. He seemed eager. So was I.
We returned to the house and waited for the arrival of our little love couple. Kurt got a book from the book shelf and started reading as he sat in the comfortable armchair. I sat in front of the windows and watched the sun set. It released beautiful shades of red and blue across the horizon. It looked really awesome.
KNOCK! KNOCK! Someone was knocking at the door. “Tina and Marco are back,” I thought. I looked at my watch. It was seven. We’d been here since half-six. The sun had fully set now so I switched the light on and the living room had gained the same atmosphere as yesterday: old yet cosy.
Kurt had gone to open the door and returned with two scruffy people, Marco and Tina. Their hair was all over the place with bits of leaves and grass sticking out. Their clothes were dishevelled. No need to ask what they had been up to.
“We got lost,” Tina offered an explanation.
I was just about to make a rude comment when,
BANG! There was a large thump which was obviously from upstairs. It sounded as if a large piece of furniture had just fallen over but it scared the hell out of us.
“Wait here, I’ll go and check it out,” I said just as I heard some more noises.
SCREECH! SCREECH! SCREECH! Now it sounded as if someone was moving the furniture around. This was also coming from upstairs but I wasn’t sure if it was from the same room upstairs.
“I think there is someone else in this house,” I said as I slowly ran upstairs so as not to be heard. Kurt followed me up.
We checked every room including the bathroom but nothing seemed to have been altered. It must have been the wind I thought to myself as we walked back down the stairs. Tina and Marco looked up at us with anxious expressions on their faces. Then I remembered.
“Oh yeah, I’d almost forgotten. Wait here and I’ll check the attic,” I said as I returned back up the stairs.
It was dark and gloomy and suddenly I wasn’t feeling very cosy any more. I was upstairs in the house and all alone. What if there was someone upstairs and he attacked me from behind. Everyone was downstairs so they’d be too late if I needed help. I started to feel scared. Should I call them up? No I couldn’t, I was even scared of breathing too loud. I was on my own now, having to face my fears.
I reached out to the hook that held the attic door closed and slowly released it causing the attic door to slide open steadily. With the whole attic door open I could see the ladder slightly protruding, waiting to be pulled down. I had no other choice. I took a firm grip on the bottom of the ladder and I pulled it down until it touched the floor.
I slid my hand into my pocket to pull out the torch but I couldn’t find it. What would I do now? I had to go without a torch; there was no going back now. I took a deep breath and I started climbing. The first thing I noticed about the attic was that it wasn’t as dark as I thought it was going to be. The moonlight took care of that. It shone through a window at the top of the attic straight on to something shaped out like a coffin. I could really feel the cold as I walked closer to the object. It was around the same size as an average coffin. As I drew really close I could faintly see two dates engraved into the lid. It was a coffin.
I started shivering. I kept my eyes fixed on the coffin; I didn’t dare look anywhere else in case I saw anything that would frighten the life out of me. I ran my hand along the length of the coffin until I reached the top where I applied both of my hands. I took another deep breath. I’d never seen a dead body before. I didn’t know how I would feel, how it would affect me. It might change me for he rest of my life.
I then had second thoughts about opening it; I mean it wasn’t necessary to open it. I told myself that there wasn’t going to be a body in it. it must have been bought in an anticipation of a death. My real worry was that the image of a dead body would haunt me for the rest of m life. But on the other hand if I didn’t open it, my curiosity would haunt me for the rest of my life. My curiosity was my weakest point.
I decided to open it. I tightened my clench on the top of the lid of the coffin and I took my last breath.
I ripped the lid open to uncover a cloud of dust. I felt freezing cold air pour out of the coffin and penetrate through my shoes to make me feel colder. When the dust had settled, I had a clear view inside the coffin. It was absolutely empty. Perhaps I had been right, it was waiting for someone.
I headed back down with a great sigh of relief. I felt pleased with myself for not being a coward. I just closed the attic door and I headed towards the stairs.
AAAAAAGH!!! I heard a tremendous simultaneous collection of screams which had me impulsively run downstairs to find the most horrible scene that I have ever set eyes on in my whole life.
The bulky thing which had been covered yesterday was uncovered today. It had four holes spread wide and it had a large blade hovering above. I worked out that it was used during the Victorian times for execution. The blade was dripping with blood. Three of the holes were filled with bodies with no heads. The three heads were on the floor covered in blood. They were Marco’s, Tina’s and Kurt’s.
I felt sick. I almost vomited. My head felt dizzy and my legs were wobbly. I took hold of myself and I ran. I kicked the doors open and headed forward. I didn’t stop until I reached the car. I swung the door open and pulled the keys out from under the seat and I screwed the car into gear and drove it out of there as fast as I could.
Tears were rolling down my face. I still felt sick; my best friends had just been killed in the most horrifying and terrifying way possible and I couldn’t do anything about it. My head ached and I couldn’t think straight. I opened the window slightly to give me some air.
A thought crossed my mind and I suddenly braked right in the middle of the road. I felt so empty- the images of my friends appeared before me. I closed my eyes but their faces were deeply stored in my head. Kurt was smiling at me whilst Tina and Marco gazed at each other. I could not fight the overwhelming desire to be with them. I tried to put the car into gear and drive it forward but their haunting faces compelled me to stop. An invisible force was holding me back. Whatever happened I wasn’t going to leave my friends, even if it meant death. The snow started to fall.
I turned the car and I drove really slowly. I was going back into the house. I was going to spend Christmas with my friends…
THE END
