The Haunted House

The Haunted House

Jackson Reed stepped out of his silver Saab, staring up at the menacing looking house in front of him.

“That wasn’t a road, that was a fricking path, man!” his partner exclaimed as he unfolded himself from the passenger seat.

Jackson glanced over at Nathan Benton and grinned. His friend was slipping on his dark glasses.

“How can you see anything?” Jackson asked, knowing the answer he would get.

“The accessories make the man, dude.” Nate cracked his gum loudly. “Now, let’s go see what we got here.”

The night was dark. Clouds scudded by overhead and the moon shone hazily through the cloud cover, giving the atmosphere an eerie feeling.

Jackson knew this place, had been here once or twice as a kid, in fact. The local townies called it The Haunted House, because it looked like one. Jackson could remember some of his own dark nightmares about this house.

“Dude, this is one seriously creepy place,” Nate announced as he followed Jackson to the porch. The steps creaked when they ascended.

An old rocking horse stood to the left of the door, rocking gently. It was white.

“I hate these disappearance cases.” Nate placed a rough hand on the rocking horse’s head, bringing it to a stop. “At least two or three a year. We’re never gonna find this kid. You know that, right?”

“This was the kid’s last known location,” Jackson replied. “We’ve gotta check it out.”

Nate let go of the rocking horse. It remained motionless. Nate stared at it with troubled eyes. “Dude, this place gives me a seriously unsettled feeling.”

Jackson gave him a grim smile and put his hand on the doorknob. “Welcome to the haunting of Hill House.” He pushed the door open and the two men stepped into the shadowed interior, snapping on flashlights as they went. Nate took out his gun, although he didn’t think he would need it. Methodically, they began searching the house.

*****

Jonathan awoke in a dark place. He didn’t know where he was or how he had ended up there. He remembered a white lady and that was all.

Jonathan hated the dark. He couldn’t even go to sleep unless his nightlight was burning brightly. He drew his knees up to the chest, curling up. Terror had stolen his voice. At first, he figured he must be at home, safe in his room, but then he realized he wasn’t in his bed. He was on a cold, hard floor, an unfamiliar floor. His room at home had nice carpeting, but he was sitting on hard floorboards.

He thought back, trying to remember what had happened. It had something to do with the white lady. She had touched him and then he had been here, but what had happened in between?

He remembered hanging out with his friends. Someone had mentioned The Haunted House. Jonathan got chills just thinking about that creepy place. Donovan had noticed how scared Jonathan got. Donovan enjoyed exploiting other people’s weaknesses. He had called Jonathan a little cry-baby, scaredy-cat, chicken in front of Nancy and Heather. Jonathan had thought he would just die of embarrassment, but then Joshua had suggested that Jonathan could go to The Haunted House and prove how brave he was. All he had to do was enter the house and take something from it to show them he wasn’t a cry-baby, scaredy-cat, chicken.

Jonathan remembered it all now. He had been terrified, but he had gone to the house anyway. Jonathan was pretty sure he didn’t believe in ghosts. The house was scary looking, sure, but it was just a house. Nothing bad would happen if he just dashed in, grabbed something, and dashed back out.

But then the white lady had come.

Jonathan hadn’t even made it inside the house yet before the white lady had appeared out in the tangled growth of the yard. She had glowed and Jonathan hadn’t been able to see her features, but she had been pretty, nonetheless. She had given Jonathan a feeling of calming peace.

And then he had awoken here.

That still didn’t really explain where he was. Maybe he was inside the house?

Jonathan realized that he had to get up eventually. He’d starve to death if he just sat there. Moving slowly, he got to his feet. He reached out with both hands, feeling around, trying not to think of all the icky things his blind fingers might encounter.

There were walls on either side of him, but the way forward seemed to be clear, as did the way behind him. He took a step, both hands held out in front of him.

*****

“No sign of him,” Jackson admitted with a heavy sigh.

Nate pulled the front door closed behind them. “Told ya. This house seems to eat kids.” Nate took one last glance back at it. “Fifteen children have disappeared inside this house, never to be seen again.”

Jackson shivered, and not from the cold. He remembered his eleventh year, when the Tansey twins had disappeared. There had been four kids that year, including the twins. “Let’s get out of here,” Jackson said.

The two men got into the Saab. Jackson fumbled with his keys for a moment before he stuck the right one in the ignition.

“Hey man, look!”

Jackson glanced up at the tightly controlled panic in his partner’s voice and peered out of the windshield in the direction of Nate’s pointed finger.

A hazy white figure hovered there, a few yards in front of the car. It was indistinct and it disappeared when Jackson flipped the headlights on, leaving both men unsure of what they had seen. Jackson put the car into gear and backed away from the house, feeling the need to put distance between it and them. He was actually looking forward to going back to the office to fill out the paperwork on this case.