The Mystery of the Abandoned House

Chapter one

It all began on a cold, cloudy day that seemed like every other in the freezing winters of Smithtown. Adam pranced down the street in the frigid air of the sunrise towards James’s house. It was finally the holidays, and Adam was one of those people who were never happier than to end the semester. He was the most energetic person that James knew, not that James knew many people. James was an introvert and almost never spoke to people unless necessary. Adam was the only person that he felt he could truly trust.

As James sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast, he heard a jolly knock at the door and reluctantly rose from his seat, and went to go answer it. At the door stood Adam, covered from head to toe in frost, and smiling from ear to ear. As he came inside, Adam looked the most excited that James had ever seen from him.

“What's up? You look like a pirate who just discovered a hoard of treasure that they’ve been looking for!” inquired James, knowing the look that Adam gave when he had just discovered something new.

“of course I'm excited! Haven't I told you yet? There’s an old abandoned house in the woods not far from here!” said Adam. Then, lowering his voice to a whisper “people say it’s haunted”

“I've never heard of this haunted house before! Did you make this up?” whispered James back. He hoped that Adam had just made it all up. Knowing him, Adam would definitely want to explore it.

“what? I would never make up something like this! I so want to go explore it, but no one will come with me!” pouted Adam.

James sighed, rolling his eyes. This was always the moment when he said that he would go, but he always ended up as a chicken. He made a vow to himself that this time he wouldn’t be such a chicken. This time he would go with Adam to investigate the haunted house.

“Fine. I'll go with you to this abandoned house that is absolutely real.” muttered James in a disappointed voice.

Adam cheered enthusiastically like every other time that James said he would go along with him. Then, Adam calmed down and looked James in the eye. Then he muttered something to him, that he could barely catch. “Please don’t chicken out this time. I don’t have anyone else to go with me.”

they agreed to go the next night, as no one would notice they were gone.

As James lay in bed that night, he began to wonder if doing this was the best idea. He fell asleep as the heavy rain fell and the wind howled as the storm raged outside.

Chapter two

As the sun began to fade behind the tall mountains to the west, James began to dread the trip with Adam. He made his way behind his house in the dark, as that was where Adam said he would wait for James. When they met, they began the short walk through the woods towards where Adam said the house was, all the while, James was becoming more and more anxious with each passing minute. He heard the crunch of the thin blanket of snow underneath his feet in the deathly silence of the night. As they wound their way through the thick trees, the light of the sleeping town grew dimmer.

After a short while of walking in the darkness, Adam spotted the house up ahead. It was a tall house that towered above them, and many windows were cracked as the crumbling building stood in what remained of what was once a lush garden, now overgrown with weeds and grass that almost reached knee height.

“Holy moly! That looks more awesome than how I imagined it from the rumors!” Said Adam in awe.

“Looks more haunted than I imagined.” Muttered James under his breath, regretting coming, thinking that he could’ve been at home in his warm bed instead of out in the woods at a haunted house on a cold winter night.

“Come on! It looks nice and all on the outside, I want to see the inside though.” whined Adam, starting to walk towards the house over the worn stones of what was once a path winding its way to the house. As he got to the door, Adam rattled the door handle, finding the door locked, he turned to James with a look of defeat.

“The door’s locked. I guess we can’t explore the house then.” Mumbled Adam, barely able to make eye contact with James, feeling guilty for dragging him all the way out here just to be sent back. “You win. We can go back now”

“I don’t want to be the coward again.” said James, putting his hands in his pockets. He jolted as his hand touched something cold, and he pulled a bent old paperclip out of his pockets. Just then, he got an idea. “I can try to lockpick the door if you want?” called James to Adam, still afraid of the creepy old house. Adam looked up at him, his eyes gleaming brightly.

After a few long minutes of picking at the lock, James finally heard the click that showed he had succeeded in his job. Adam jumped into the air at this news, cheering with joy that he could finally enter the house.

As they cautiously walked into the hallway of the crumbling structure, the wooden floors moaned with every step as the light of the pale moon filtered through the cracked windows, illuminating the rotting wood and old carpet. As they made careful steps down the hall, they heard a loud bang as the door blew shut, and James made out a slight click as the lock fell back into place on the other side of the door. The light that had been coming through the door suddenly disappeared, leaving them in darkness.

Chapter 3

As their eyes adjusted to the new darkness, Adam looked around to find James curled up in a ball on the ground, shaking in fear. Adam helped James to his feet, reassuring him that everything was alright. They began again to travel down the now dark halls, feeling their way along the walls until they found a doorway. Adam led the way, finding stairs leading down.

“Must be some sort of basement. Should we go in?” whispered Adam to James, beginning to feel afraid as the dead trees tapped on the remains of the windows.

James was trembling in fear of what might be in the spooky pitch-black basement. He had seen enough horror movies to know that the basement was always where the killer lurked until the unsuspecting victim walked down to the basement to fetch something. James shuddered at the thought.

“I don’t know if this is the best idea,” whispered James “What if there’s something down there?”

“Come on dude, you’re such a chicken. There’s nothing down there. It's just a normal basement, like the one in your house.” said Adam, visibly annoyed with James’ cautiousness.

“Fine. But it’s not my fault if anything goes horribly wrong down there.” Sighed James.

As they descended into the darkness, James took possibly the last look at the moon he would ever see. They shuffled down the steps into the blackness, leaving the door open as a means of escape if anything happened down there.

Chapter 4

As they reached the bottom of the short staircase, Adam sat and reached into his pocket, only to realize that he had a small packet of matches, with only a few left in the box. He called out to James if he had anything that they could use as a torch. James didn’t have anything, so Adam just lit a match, to illuminate the area around him. As the bright orange flames sprouted up, the two boys looked around, seeing the vast expanse of the basement to explore. Adam got to his feet, as he had been seated, and began to walk forwards towards the far corner, so that he knew what the area looked like if he ran out of matches. James followed, not wanting to be alone in the eerie silence and darkness of the basement. They looked through the items scattered around the area, such as containers of construction tools and old woodworking equipment. There was also a collection of shells and sand, and other things from the beach. There were also various random items that seemed to be thrown around, in every direction and corner there were stacks of things like old toys and various pieces of furniture, usually broken.

“What a waste of stuff.” remarked James, picking up a nail that was lying on the ground, and without thinking, put it in his pocket.

As Adam ran through the small box of matches, the shadows seemed to deepen, and many times James turned around to check if there was anything following them. He could have sworn that there was a third shadow against the dimly lit wall. As the final match flickered with a small red flame, the two decided to turn back, as being here in the dark would be the worst nightmare for the both of them. As they began to walk back, they saw the mounds of things had seemed to move, now blocking the path that had once been a clear walkway for anyone. The quick tapping of the two boys’ feet was not the only noise that could now be heard.

Chapter 5

James’ heart beat in his ears as they sped to a run, trying desperately to find their way back to the beloved light of day. Suddenly the room went black as the last match died down. Adam and James stopped dead in their tracks in fear of falling into something.

“James? Where are you?” Called Adam, whose voice was now trembling as they could hear the small footsteps of what could be mistaken as a mouse.

“Is that you moving?” Replied James.

“I thought it was you.” Whispered Adam, now terrified.

James let out an ear-piercing scream as Adam grabbed his arm.

“Shh! We need to stick together!” Hissed Adam “If we split up, we might never get out!”

As the two ran together, Adam tried to feel along the wall, thinking that if there was a door, it would have to be on the wall. Eventually, they made their way to the short staircase again, and after quickly running up it, they found the door closed and locked.

“This can’t be the door we came through!” Called James down to Adam. “We left the door open!”

“But there aren’t any other doors in this basement! This has to be the one we came through!” Answered Adam. “I’ll go and feel along the walls again, just to be sure. If I find the door we came through, I'll come back to get you. In the meantime, can you try to lockpick that door just in case?”

“Please don’t get yourself killed!” James jokingly called out to Adam, desperately trying to lighten the mood.

As James began to pick at the door with the small nail that he had picked up earlier, he heard Adam’s footsteps slowly fading away into the deathly silence of the seemingly infinite shadows of the basement.

“c’mon, c’mon, c’mon!” He muttered at the lock, as it refused to unlock.

Finally, James heard the promising click of the lock.

“Adam!” He called out. “Adam! I got the lock!”

No reply came for a long while after James called.

“Adam?”

James called for Adam for a long while, with no response to his efforts. After a few minutes, James heard someone scream.

Chapter 6

James ran down the stairs, away from the door, and frantically called Adam’s name, desperate to hear a response from his only friend. The only noise that he heard when he stopped to listen was small footsteps, not Adam’s. He heard a giggle come out of the shadows. It sounded like it came from a little girl, no older than 4 or 5. A shiver went down James’s spine as he realized that Adam would probably not be coming back from his expedition into the darkness.

“Who’s there?” said James, trying to keep his voice steady.

As he slowly advanced forward, it became increasingly harder to stop himself from turning and running out of the house and away from whatever was waiting for him in the darkness.

‘I can’t just leave!’ James thought to himself. ‘I can’t just leave Adam here!’

James battled with his thoughts, one minute arguing that Adam needed his help, another saying that Adam could be dead, and if he ventured out, he might also die.

Finally, James turned back to the door, and just as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he heard that same small giggle, now closer. As he whirled around, he saw something coming towards him. It looked like it had once been human, but no longer. Now, it was a translucent blue figure that seemed to float a few inches above the ground. It looked like a young girl, seemingly dressed in what looked like old Victorian clothing. There was no mistaking that. This was surely a ghost. Just as James reached the handle to open the door, he felt a cold wind blow around him, and the world faded into black, the last thing he saw was the smiling face of that hideous creature that had haunted this place for an unimaginable amount of time.

Chapter 7

As he slowly awoke, James’ eyes tried to adjust to the bright light of day. A cool breeze blew, and the trees waved at him. He sat up and looked around in a mix of awe and fear, wondering how he got there. All the memories of the old house began to flood back to him, and he looked around with a small glimmer of hope that it may have all been a dream. That small glimmer of hope was crushed as he saw the house that stood in front of him. James leapt to his feet and took a few steps back, wanting to be as far away as possible from that hideous old ruin. James ran as fast as he could back to the town, to try and get someone to help him possibly find Adam.

As he finally reached Smithtown again, he immediately went to the police station to file a report for a missing person. Luckily for James, the police listened. That was the beginning of the search for Adam.

It’s been 5 years since then, and Adam was never found. I wrote this so that if I go missing just like my old friend Adam, someone might know what happened to me. I've decided that tonight, the exact night that we went to that terrible house 5 years ago, I’m going to go and see if anything has changed there. And if Adam is there, as ghost or person, I'm going to find out. I'm not risking going with anyone this time.

If anyone finds this, don’t go after me.

(Credit to the person who wrote this, not my work)