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Billy looked at his friend Jake in confusion. "Hold up, hold up, hold up. Are you trying to tell me that you," he said incredulously, "saw a ghost up at the Old Redwood house...the one on the hill?"
The two boys were sitting across from each other at the park that was in the center of their small community. They sat on an old bench, that had seen much better days, underneath an old willow tree. the low-hanging branches swaying gently in a gentle summer breeze. The boys sat opposite each other, Billy was about 11 years old, while Jake had just turned 12. Billy had bright red hair and he had so many freckles on his face and arms that he constantly looked covered in mud. Jake had light brown hair and was missing his front tooth, from a dare Sara Wilkins made. Billy was short and Jake was tall and lanky, both boys were slim from running all over town all summer. Jake had just finished a story of his meeting of the ghost of Old man Redwood, currently, he was sitting back smiling smugly, Billy was staring at him with a disbelieving look.
Jake's arms were crossed over his chest, his head tilted back and eyes closed. 'Yeah, look upon the awesomeness that is called Jake Phillips.' His mental smug, pat-on-the-back comment fiercely halted as he saw his best friend, his brother-in-arms, his bro, was bent over laughing. He was laughing so hard, Jake could see tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. Jake glared at his best friend, Billy, as he bent over laughing. Jake stood up in anger when Billy fell to the ground clutching his stomach, he was laughing so hard that he was rolling around on the ground, getting covered in grass, dirt and leaves.
"It's true!" Jake shouted. "I saw him, I saw him!" Billy sat up wiping away a few tears of laughter.
"Sure you did, Jake. And I'm filled with candy!" Billy started up again as Jake walked around and stood in front of him.
"I swear Billy, if you don't stop I'm going to....to..." he trailed off after delivering the half-threat.
"You'll do what?" Billy taunted him as he stood up clutching his side. Jake let out an animal-like growl and tackled Billy to the ground. The boys shouted and yelled as they punched, slapped, kicked. They did about everything but eye-gouging and groin shots, there were just some lines you did not cross.
Around them pedestrians walked by with a small glance before returning to their errands. The sight of the two boys fighting was a regular scene in the small town of Lake Falls, Oklahoma. After a few minutes of the boys wrestling and rolling around in the dirt, Jake managed to pull Billy into an arm-bar, and pulled with all his might. He pulled and pulled until Billy slapped his leg hard three times in quick succession.
"Uncle! Uncle! Dang-nabbit Jake! Let me go!" he shouted loudly. Jake released him and quickly jumped to his feet panting, Billy followed holding his arm rubbing it. Both boys stood facing each other panting from the small scuffle.
"Why don't you believe! I said I saw him, and I'm telling you the truth Billy." Jake exclaimed loudly.
"Maybe 'cause after you "telling the truth", Billy said making quotation marks with his fingers,"then maybe I'd believe." Jake exhaled and nodded in understanding, his face looking downcast. His best friend didn't believe him when he saw an actual ghost!. And he's acting like he'd be all brave if he saw the dang ghost. I mean he wouldn't even go up to the house and play Ding-Dong-Ditch when they were seven and got dared by Butch and his gang. Jake's thoughts trailed off, and his downcast turned into a wide, almost evil-like smile. He smirked and crossed his arms and looked at his best friend with an evil gleam in his eyes.
"So, you're saying that you don't believe me, correct?" he asked his friend.
"Yes, nimrod, I'm saying I don't believe you saw the ghost." Billy retorted. Jake smirked, and nodded in acceptance.
"So, what would it take to sway your belief to my side." he asked.
"Well," Billy began. "I don't know really..." he trailed off thinking of ways.
"Hey Billy, remember when Butch and his old gang dared us to play Ding-Dong-Ditch at the Old Redwood house when we were, like, seven?"
"...Yeah... What about it?" Billy asked slowly, almost like he was edging around a wild animal. His arms hung at his side, his feet dug into the soft soil ready to sprint off if he had to. Jake smirked and walked towards Billy and stopped about a foot and a half away from him.
"I dare you to play Ding-Dong-Ditch at the Old Redwood house." His dare was met with silence, Jake's triumphant gaze met Billy's unbelieving one. Billy opened his mouth trying to speak, but no words formed. "In fact, I. Double. Dog. Dare. You." Jake stated in an even tone. Billy's mouth dropped open in shock, his eyes widened until the whites of his eyes could be seen. Billy's mouth opened and looked like a fish.
"Fine!" he shouted, trying to sound like he wasn't scared. "I accept your stupid dare Jake! And when I ring that stupid doorbell, then you'll finally know that there is no such thing as ghosts!" Billy shouted. Jake glared but nodded and began walking away, Billy looked at his back before he ran to catch up to him, and they began their walk up through the town, up the hill and down the really long driveway that led to the front door.
The two boys trekked to the big hill that was about half a mile out of their town, they began the long walk up the trail on the hill. Leaves crunched under their boots as they walked, the breeze ruffled the boys shaggy hair. After about what seemed to be ten minutes of walking up the steep hill, the boys had to stop to take a breath. Jake had his hands resting on top of his head taking deep breaths, filling his lungs until they hurt before letting it out in a big exhale. Next to him, Billy stood bent over, his hands pushing on his knees, his lungs wheezing. Jake heard his wheezing and rushed to Billy, he rubbed his back and searched his pockets.
"Where's your inhaler?" he asked trying to keep his voice steady and even, so not to panic his friend. Billy, still panting and wheezing for breath, pointed to his boot. Jake crouched and searched the inside parts of the boots. Finally, Jake found the inhaler in Billy's left boot resting on his ankle bone. Jake stood and handed it to Billy, who quickly administered two pumps of the medicine. The boys stood next to each other, calming their breathing before they set off again up the hill. They were about at the half point when the boys heard something. Jake and Billy turned their heads to look all around them. They searched the trees surrounding them, they searched the tree tops above them, they searched up the hill, down the hill, beside the trails. they looked everywhere they could. Billy began getting spooked when Jake tapped his arm.
"Come on, let's hurry up and get to the top." he said nervously. Billy nodded.
"Yeah..." Both boys began to walk again, their nervous eyes looking around them, looking for the thing that made the noise. They were so tense waiting for something to come out of the forest, that when they next heard a noise both boys practically jumped out of their skins.
"It's alright Billy, it was just a dog barking." Billy looked up in embarrassment from his position on the dirt. He jumped up and brushed off his clothes. Looking around he heard a dog barking in the distance. "Must have startled the birds." Jake mused. Billy nodded looking around.
"Anyway, let's get out of here." Billy said anxiously. Jake chuckled and pointed at his friend.
"You're just scared. Haha, scaredy cat." Billy glared and slapped his friend's hand away. Walking ahead. 'To be completely honest, I'm glad to get out of here too.' Jake thought. with that thought, both the boys hurried their pace up the hill. About twenty minutes of walking later the boys finally reached the top of the hill and could finally see the old, rotting house. The bricks on the walkway were old, brittle and falling apart. The two boys nervously edged their way to the driveway, the entire time they traveled the path, the old, creepy house was staring at them; it was almost like it was staring at them and daring them to enter. They finally reached the front of the house, and they finally got a good look at the Old Redwood house.
The house was made out of wood, like most houses, but the wood was so old and unkempt that it was rotting away and large planks were missing. the Large brick pillars that once helped support the wrap-around porch on the second floor were merely stumps covered with mud and overgrown shrubs. The porch had finally rotted away and crumbled to the ground years before. All of the windows had been broken and boarded up, the walls had graffiti on it. Making the once regal looking house looks more like it belongs underneath a highway or in a junkyard with the amount of destruction and damage it had. The walkway leading up to the house had bare, dead trees with broken stone surrounding the boys. The two kids looked around and found that the broken pieces of stone must have been from the creepy looking gargoyles that used to stand on the top of the house when it was in decent condition. The boys walked towards the old, creepy house when all of a sudden, Billy stopped and shouted in alarm.
"Aaahhhh! What the crap! Jake, you numbskull!" Billy shouted
"What!? Who you calling a numbskull, birdbrains"
"I knew you were full of crap." Billy started with a sense of relief in his triumphant gaze. Jake watched as Billy stomped up the walkway, up the crumbling steps and up to the dark, rotting, domineering front door.With a sense of triumph, he raised his closed fist and pounded on the door.
"Alright Billy!" Jake shouted in glee, already backing up down the driveway. "You knocked, now let's get out of here." Billy turned to him facing away from the door and crossed his arms. His steady gaze holding Jake's confused eyes and smirked.
"Why should we leave Jake?" he asked. Jake looked confused for a second before responding.
"Because it's how you play Ding-Dong-Ditch dude." shaking his head in confusion having to explain to his friend how to play the game that they played religiously when they were little.
"I don't see the point, seeing how you set this all up to scare me!" Billy shouted accusingly, pointing his finger at Jake. Jake stood still in shock before glaring and pointed a finger back at his friend.
"What do you mean that I set this whole thing up?" Billy's eyes narrowed and widened his stance, like he was preparing himself for a jump attack.
"You lied and said that you saw the ghost of Old Man Redwood just so you could scare me! So, you double dog dared me, I said 'Sure, why not', which was stupid, and you got someone else to help you with this evil plan of yours. You had someone make those dog barking noises on the trail, and you have someone in the house looking creepy and I bet that the person that comes to the door is gonna be some guy from school!" shouted Billy. Jake looked on in shock that his friend accused him of something that elaborate. Everybody in town knew that Jake was the strength to Billy's brains. Jake simply did not have the brain power to accomplish what he was just blamed for, Billy, however, did have the brain power. He watched as Billy, out of breath from shouting his accusations, turned back to the door and began pounding on the door once more.
"Hey! Open up cowards! I know you're in there! Joke's up, come one out guys! I'm not going to get scared guys!" Billy shouted at the door. Jake's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. He opened his mouth to correct his friend that no one was in there, when out of the corner of his eye, Jake saw a dark cloaked figure standing in the archway of a broken window that had the boards torn off. Jake stopped and looked up at the figure, but it had disappeared. With fear beginning to course through his veins, he kept his eyes trained on the spot where he saw the figure and reached out to his friend.
"Billy." he said with a soft, almost trembling voice. Billy did not hear him and kept with his obnoxious pounding and shouting. "Billy." he said with a louder tone of voice. His friend continued pounding, either unaware of Jake saying his name or ignoring him. Jake was done and wanted to get out of there, so he ran up the steps and grabbed his friends shoulders and turned him around and shook his body.
"Billy! I didn't set you up! I don't have anyone in there! Any and all noises you heard or anything you saw or thought you saw was real! Now, I just saw the creepiest cloaked guy in the fricking house! So, if you are done with the stupid pounding! Then let's get the frick out of here!" Jake shouted at Billy. Billy's face went through a myriad of emotions.
First, there was an annoyance, then there was disbelief then there was pity, like he was pitying his friend for being scared of something that didn't exist, finally his face took on a look of terror. His head whipped to the house, Jake, back to the house, back to Jake. Before finally, his gaze landed on the door, went to his hand and his entire face paled two shades of color. Billy began shaking and nodding, his knees knocking together.
"Yeah, let's get out of here." he said in a quiet trembling voice. Jake nodded in relief and let go of one shoulder and went to sprint off out of the property, down the hill and to safety. The boys had barely gone two feet before the old rotting door slowly creaked open, revealing the pitch black darkness inside the house. The boys froze in fear, their feet refused to move. Jake felt a soft breeze coming from inside the house, carrying the smell of musty, mold and death. Old creaks followed the door opening. Jake's frightened mind stalled before making the connection. 'Those... sound like... footsteps.' he thought. Jake tugged and tugged on Billy's arm, trying to move his friend from the spot he was practically frozen to. Billy did not move a single inch, his gaze trapped on the darkness that lay past the doorway.
"Billy! Come on! We need to go, now!" Jake yelled, trying to break his friend out of the trance he was in. It seemed like Billy was in a whole other world. Billy continued staring at the doorway, his head tilted to the side and watched, in a detached fashion, as the darkness moved. It swirled and rolled and tumbled, like dark seas in a thunderstorm. His body felt like it was filled with lead and was frozen to the ground, he couldn't move any of his limbs. His head felt like it was filled with cotton. He felt a tugging sensation on his arm, but he couldn't do anything. He couldn't talk, move, nothing; and it terrified Billy. His head straightened to stare straight ahead, and with a crushing amount of terror, he watched as a large, bony hand stretched out from the darkness. The bony fingers spread wide and reached for the boy. Jake watched in horror as he watched the bony, slimy hand grasp his friends face. The bony palm resting on the front of Billy's face. The fingers spread and stretched and grabbed different parts of his skull.
Jake was terror stricken now, he gave one last finally tug on his friend's arm, hoping to loosen the monsters hand. Billy's arm didn't move, it was like it was made from a stone statue. Jake's hands slipped off of Billy's arm and caused Jake to fly off and fall back on his butt. His hands were scraped from landing on the gravel of the driveway. He watched as the hand rose Billy up from the ground, and watched with wide eyes as his best friend dangled in front of him. Jake was frozen on the ground as he watched his friend's eyes grow wide with fear, finally realizing what was happening. Jake reached his hand out and shouted.
"BILLY!" he yelled at the top of his lungs. He watched in horror as the bony hand squeezed Billy's head harder, and Jake heard a dark, almost wheezy noise, and after the noise reached Jake's ears, his best friend quickly disappeared into the old house filled with darkness, and the door closed behind him with a loud thundering SLAM. Jake sat frozen on the ground, staring at the door. He slowly stood on shaky legs and walked hesitantly towards the front door. When he finally got close enough, his hand tentatively reached out to the door knob, his fingertips brushed the door knob when he heard a terror-filled, pained scream. Jake jerked back and fell scrambling back. He stood panting looking around, edging towards the front of the property. His gaze looked like it should belong on a wild animal that was cornered, ready to attack anything in sight. Jake stopped and breathed heavily looking up at the house, hoping, almost willing, for the creature to be at the window or maybe even catch a glimpse of Billy. He saw movement run past the window, it was a dark mass, with what looked like a small piece of color. Jake started towards the house once more until a harsh shout broke the air around him. He stumbled, he heard the scream again and again. It was never ending and it had pierced through Jake's skull and bounced around his brain. Filling and interrupting his thoughts, until all he could hear was that terror, pained scream of his best friend.
Jake pressed his hands to his ears and ran back down the driveway towards the trail that led to the hill. He was running and running, his feet making a steady beat of Thump Thump matching his racing heart beat. It wasn't until he was halfway to town before he realized two very terrible things. The realizations caused him to stop. The wheezy noise he heard... when that monster's hand was on Billy's face ... was.... a ... laugh. And those screams and shouts Billy made...oh god... the monster.. is ... torturing him. Jake bent over and began retching all over the ground, some splattered on his shoes. But he didn't care, he was already running to the town, sprinting as fast as he could hoping somebody would believe him. He reached the bottom of the hill and ran hard to the town. The sun was setting when he finally reached the center square. Out of breath, panting and wheezing, he ran to every adult he could find, he frantically told them what happened. Only, they wouldn't listen to him. As he recounted the day's events to the adults, all he got were disbelieving and annoyed stares. He watched with despair as one by one, the crowd of people around him left, thinking it was only a prank. Not to long later, the town square was emptied and the only thing that was left were Jake and the street lights.
"Why won't anyone believe me!?" Jake shouted to no one. His knees gave out and he fell to the ground, tears ran down his face as he sobbed quietly. One by one, unnoticed by Jake, the street lights were shutting off until the last light remained. Illuminating the crying boy. A cold breeze flitted by, carrying the scent of death and mold. Jake lifted his face to the wind. 'Wait, I ... know this smell.' he thought. He slowly rose up, dread filling him. His eyes looked around, desperately looking for that dreadful, cloaked figure he felt a sense of coldness seeping through his clothes, he entire body froze as he felt bony hands gripping his shoulders.
"I believe you little one." it said with a deep, scratchy, terror-inducing voice, directly into Jake's ears. It made the dark wheezy noise again. Jake closed his eyes and his body began to shake and tremble, he couldn't stop it.
"What did you do to Billy?" he asked in a trembling voice. He didn't want to know, but he needed to know what happened to his best friend.
"You will soon see, puny maggot." Its deep, grainy voice grated on Jake's nerves. The wheezy laugh got louder and louder. "But for now, it's time you disappeared insect." the monster laughed harder this time. Jake's eyes widened in time to see the creatures arms come around and surround Jake in darkness. The wind rushed and whirled around them, it was like the creature was being lifted and carried by the wind. The last thing Jake saw as he descended into darkness was the last lone street light. The creature landed inside the house and pushed Jake further inside the cold interior. The monster followed behind him, Jake watched as the monster lent forward and pushed close to Jake's face. The creatures bony hands reached up and gripped its hood and in one fluid motion, ripped it off his head. Displaying the creatures face to Jake. Jake met the creatures face and let out a bloody murder scream.
The creatures face had completely sunken in, making the eyes pop out of the dark eye sockets. The creatures skin was tight and pulled taut across the skull, it had no nose and it mouth was wide open. It's tongue hung out and wiggled like it was another being, it was moving and flicking as if it was a snake and was looking for its prey. Its mouth stretched into a smile, revealing the sharp, jagged rows of teeth inside his mouth moving at an incredible speed like they were being powered by a motor. A hiss escaped the mouth of the horrible creature.
"What are you!?" Jake shouted in panic, crawling backwards, trying to escape from the monster. It smiled it's horrible smile and crouched lower, practically hunching over in a crouched position, crawling slowly after Jake.
"I'm your worst nightmare." it said. Jake's eyes widened and he opened his mouth to scream. At the same time his mouth opened to release a loud scream, the monster rushed forward with an inhuman like speed in his hunched over form. The door slammed behind them, trapping Jake inside the house with the horrible monster. The last thing that Jake saw was the monster walking to him in his hunched, crunched over form. His breathing quickened, his heart was beating so hard it felt like he was being punched on the inside of his ribs. Jake was scrambling back, trying to get away but never took his eyes off the monster. He watched as the creature smiled and then watched as it disappeared in a flash. Jake stopped and looked around. Breathing hard and sweating, looking around waiting to see if the monster would come back. After a few minutes, Jake began crawling around the floor, searching for the front door trying to escape while he had the chance.
He swept his hand across the floor, knocking away bits of broken glass, pieces of rotting wood, his hand came into contact with something squishy and wet. Jake flinched back, inching his hand toward the object again, he poked along the object slowly bringing it toward him, dragging it on the floor, he slowly got to his feet bringing the object into the light. 'Please, please, please don't be something gross.' he thought to himself, he gripped the object with both hands and brought it into the moonlight that steamed through the broken window. The second the light shined on the object, Jake dropped it and fell back slamming his back into the wall. The object laying still on the floorboards being illuminated by the moonlight. Jake covered his mouth with his hand as he gazed upon the bloody forearm, Jake's breaths turned ragged as he looked closer and threw up everything in his stomach when he saw the bloody inhaler.
"Oh.. god... That's...Billy's..." Jake said horrified. His hand dropped from his face and hung limply at his side. Jake stared at the limb numbly, not caring about the fact that he was currently trapped inside a house with the monster that ate his best friend. Nor did he care that he was bleeding from the broken glass on the floor. And he didn't care that his body was slowly turning cold and his nose was filled with the stench of death. Jake heard creaking noises ahead of him. He raised his eyes to look into the shadows and saw something thrown into the air, he watched as it arch in the air and bounce twice on the floor before landing and rolling towards Jake's still form. His eyes widened and he felt bile crawling up his throat as he stared at his friend's severed head, Billy's eyes staring at the floor his gaze glassy. He felt coldness seeping into his back as he felt one bony hand grip his shoulder and the other grip the top of his head. The hand that was gripping his head began a rubbing motion.
"Your friend was quite delicious." it said in his ear. Jake's breath stalled and his heart skipped a few beats as fear began coursing through his veins. Freezing him, making him unable to move or react, or even get away from the monster. "But, I have a feeling that you will be more so." it said gleefully. Jake's eyes widened as the monster grabbed his hair and yanked his head aside. The creature dove into his neck, its vicious teeth ripping the boys flesh tearing it apart as the creature ate and drank the boys blood. The creature thrashed his head tearing off the boy's head almost completely. The last thing Jake saw before he was swept away into the darkness was his best friends glassy eyes, before his vision turned dark forever. The creature continued to feed, not caring that his prey was dead, the thrashing teeth severing the dead boys head allowing it to fall to the floor, blood splattered on the walls and floor. The creature stood up straight, its bones cracking back into place, its cloak fell off its shoulders revealing a sunken-in form, bones jutted out from its taut skin, the skin color was a nasty murky gray, blotches of black and pasty white covered the creature. It had talons for fingers and toes, it was a bag of bones covered with tight leather skin. It had a bald, misformed head with little bits of stringy, straw-like hair. It threw back its head and swallowed the last bit of flesh in its mouth. It flexed its talons and let out a loud roar that traveled across the property and into the woods, startling every living creature. The creature rolled its head cracking and popping bones back into place. Its mouth was covered in blood and bits of flesh hung from between its teeth.
"I was correct," it said, licking its lips. "Those tiny humans were quite delicious. Perhaps, I could find some more."
THE END