Tuesday, 17 January 2012

We all stared at the old house. We were scared stiff. The cold wind cut through us like ice, making the window shutters rattle. The moon cast an eerie glow over the abandoned huge house, but other than that, the sky was dark. “Please remind me why we agreed to do this?” Maria asked, pushing her long black hair out of her eyes. “Because we were dared to. And we’ve been terrified of this house since we were seven so its time we found out what is actually behind the doors of Oak Tree House,” I reminded her. “Well. Yes, that’s fine. But why do we have to do it on Halloween?!” Suzy demanded, hands on her hips. I sighed. Why didn’t they understand? Wasn’t it obvious? I thought it would be fun, and I decided to bring my two best friends with me because we’re always together. Also, I was scared too, but I wasn’t going to admit that! We shuffled up to the house, our footsteps barely audible above the rustle of the trees. The floor boards creaked as we stepped onto the wooden porch and froze, staring at the door. “Did you hear the?” Maria asked, frantically grabbing my arm. “It sounds like a drip drip drip,” I agreed. We slowly crept towards the dusty, blue door. I crouched down low, took a deep breath and looked through the letter box. The drip drip drip noise was a runny liquid running down the stairs, only visible from the moonlight shining through the sky light. I stood back up and opened the door…


We were engulfed in darkness as we stepped inside and the door banged shut behind us. The darkness was suffocating until our eyes adjusted and we could see we were standing in a small hallway with the stairs right in front of us. The liquid was still running down the stairs, creating a pool at our feet. “Let’s see what the liquid is. Let’s go upstairs”, I whispered, as if whatever doom awaited us could somehow be prevented by how much noise we made. Gripping each other’s hands, we ascended the stairs, Suzy and Maria in front and me behind. The silence was deafening as we reached the top but the dripping noise could still be heard. Suddenly, Suzy and Maria fell out of my grasp, screaming. Standing at the top of the stairs, I frantically shoved my hand in my pocket and grabbed my phone. Clicking random buttons, I held my phone at arms length. Through the tunnel of light my phone had created, I could see Maria and Suzy were sprawled out on the floor, a look of horror on their faces. I pulled them back up and observed the liquid. It was clear and freezing. “It’s just water,” I told them. It covered the whole landing. But where was it coming from?


“Look!” Suzy shouted, pointing to a door on our right. The water had seeped through the gap under the door where light could be seen. Maria tip toed forward, turned the door knob and peered inside. She retreated suddenly, as pale as a ghost and weak at the knees. She collapsed on the floor, shaking like a leaf. Suzy and I hastily dropped to the floor, shaking her, willing her to tell us what she had seen. But her eyes remained closed, her face expressionless. “Oh My God”, I screamed. “Don’t worry. She’s just fainted,” Suzy reassured me, “We need to go and see what’s behind the door. It’s ok. Let’s do this together.” I grabbed Suzy’s hand with such a force, she gave a quiet groan. I smiled apologetically and squeezed her hand. We opened the door and looked inside. It was a blue bathroom. The tiles were crumbling and dirty, the mirror unreflectable form the thick layer of dust and several spiders hung off the ceiling. The floor was ankle deep in water. The bath was full. As we moved closer, we could see the water wasn’t the only thing in the bath. It was a body. 

The woman who lay in the bath was wearing a V necked jumper and faded jeans. Her eyes were open, the whites were blood shot and the iris’ were blue. Her long blonde hair swam around her like a mermaids’. Her skin was alarmingly white, as though the blood had been sucked out of her. But what was most shocking was that her neck was swung back, the two bloody holes clearly visible. We ran out of the room and made an even more gruesome discovery. Maria was gone.


My heart was beating uncontrollably, I couldn’t see, hear, breathe. Maria was gone, Maria was gone. We looked down at the floor. There was a clearing in the water, as thought a body had been dragged through it... Maria! We sprinted down the hall and into a room. Maria was lying on the floor, the vampire sucking from her neck. From the colour of her skin, we could already tell we were too late. He glanced back and spotted us. He was wearing a long black cape, his face not visible with the hood draped over him. We both ran into separate rooms. I banged the door shut and crouched down in a corner of the room. It was pitch black. I imagined Suzy next door, scared and alone. Suddenly my heart skipped a beat. Her screaming had already started.


It stopped soon after. The silence was even more unbearable. I knew he was after me next, hungry for more. His footsteps could be heard outside the door. I held my breath. The door creaked open, letting the moonlight seep in. He spotted me immediately and moved over. He removed his hood. He had a mass of red curls, an alarming contrast to his chalk white skin. His eyes were black and his mouth opened, revealing his fangs. “Please. No,” I begged, as he pushed my hair aside. “You have no idea how lucky I was tonight,” his voice was croaky; “I never expected to get more than one victim. But then you three idiots walked in. you didn’t even make it hard. You were so easy. You’re going to get what you deserve”. He leaned further over. My scream was soon stopped as his teeth sank into my neck…


I awoke on the cold hard floor. A wave of hunger washed over me. It wasn’t surprising as I could have been there for days. Suddenly, I remembered the vampire. It must have been a dream. I thought I was fine. But then I felt the sharp pointy teeth against my lip. They were mine…

Thursday, 12 January 2012

                                                           The Mysterious Man


''Are you Charlotte?'' the man asked.‘I am indeed’ Charlotte replied, ‘Who may I ask is calling?’, ‘Charles Baker’ he replied as he thrust out his hand.  Despite the warm friendly gesture his eyes remained icy, his face expressionless.  Charlotte, who had begun to feel uneasy, took his hand gratefully.

‘Welcome Mr Baker, is there anything I can help you with?’ she asked, back to her usual cheery self.  ‘Have you any idea where Father Smith is? We have a …an appointment.’ That’s strange, Father Smith didn’t mention any appointments today’ she replied.  She shook her long blonde hair as she eyed Charles, waiting for a suitable explanation.  ‘This is a private appointment I suppose’ he replied, ‘I presume he is in his office?’ Charlotte nodded and with a gust of wind he was gone before she could even protest.

Charles stormed down the corridor, his mind racing.  What was he supposed to say to Father Smith?  After what he had done, after all his sinning.  It was barely two hours since the incident; he had hardly been able to get over it himself.  His mind was numb, his body oblivious to the cold.  Finally, he reached the door he was looking for, with a knock he stepped inside.

The room was small and dusty with piles of books in every nook and cranny.  Father Smith was sitting at the large desk in the centre of the room.  The dim light made his bald head shine and improved the wrinkles on his face.  He looked up in surprise.  ‘Charles’ he exclaimed, ‘What are you doing here?’  It must be what ten years now?’  Charles didn’t reply.  The sight of a familiar face was comforting, but the news he was about to tell him was overwhelming. The priest stood up and placed a hand on Charles shoulder, looking him in the eyes for the first time.  Charles took the opportunity then to confess, ‘forgive me Father, for I have sinned’

Charlotte sat there in silence after the mysterious man had left.  The cold weather had created snow, which lightly pattered upon the windows.  She was thinking about Charles, there was something in his eyes that made her shiver, something…unnatural.  She shook the thought out of her head and continued to work.  After a few minutes she gave up, her mind not agreeing to concentrate.  She decided to call her boyfriend Billy.  She picked up the old church phone and dialled the number….

Father Smith’s eyes widened.  Even though he had heard that phrase hundreds of times before, the way Charles said it made it sound much more serious.  ‘What do you mean? What’s wrong?’  Father Smith asked.  ‘I’ve done something terrible Father, Something unforgivable’.  ‘I’m sure the Lord will not see it like that Charles, he is very forgiving’.  Charles sighed, after a moment’s silence he spoke up.  ‘I’ve killed someone Father, I’m a murderer’. The priest’s blood turned cold, his heart began beating rapidly causing him to sweat profusely.  He dropped his hand off his old friends shoulder as if it was a hot poker.  But still his voice remained calm.  ‘Perhaps you would like to explain Charles’ he said.

Charlotte was confused; it wasn’t like Billy to not pick up his phone.  Before she started to panic she grabbed her warm fur coat put it on and stepped outside.  The icy air cut through her like a knife.  She shivered and buttoned up her coat as the icy air cut through her like a knife.  Her boots crunched through the thick snow as she set off down the country road.  After only a few minutes of walking her journey was interrupted by PC Riddle.  ‘Ah Charlotte’ he announced ‘we’ve been looking for you, I am afraid I have some bad news for you’.  Charlotte’s heart skipped a beat.  PC Riddle continued ‘Its Billy, he was run over by a passing vehicle about two hours ago, and I’m sorry to confirm that he died at the scene’.  Charlotte’s knees buckled as she collapsed to the ground.

‘I was just driving home’ Charles sobbed ‘When the butcher boy, Billy I think his name was, appeared out of no-where, I didn’t see him Father , I swear I didn’t see him.  It was only the bump that made me realise what I had done.  I panicked so I just drove on’. Father Smith stared at Charles for a moment.  He was a mess.  His face was all blotchy and wet from crying and his hair looked like a garden of weeds, clearly a troubled man.  ‘You do realise you made a mistake by driving off don’t you’ he asked ‘Yes’ Charles replied as he guiltily bowed his head.

Charlotte’s world felt that it had stopped dead.  She felt numb as she was brought over to Billy, who was still lying by the roadside.  She cried out his name, shook him hard and held him close but still no movement was made.  ‘Who did this’ she screamed.  ‘We have ten eye witnesses who say it was Charles Baker but  ...’ his words trailing off as Charlotte had gone.

Charles got the fright of his life when Charlotte burst into the room screaming at him, ‘It was you, you killed Billy’.  He tried to explain but if fell upon deaf ears as she flew at him in a rage, punching and kicking out as hard as she could.  PC Riddle ran into the room and pulled Charlotte off him. ‘Come on Charles’ PC Riddle said, ‘You’re coming with me’

PC Riddle pulled Charles out of the room, and with one last look at Father Smith, Charles knew he wouldn’t be seeing his familiar face for a very long time…