Stone Soup

Where young artists paint the world with words

The international magazine of stories, poems, and art by young writers and artists. Published continuously since 1973.

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The House 10-24-020

The House

I was going on a hike in the forest by myself. The skies darkened. Rain clouds appeared. Wild rain poured down. I had to turn back, but it was too dark.

I wasn’t afraid. How could I be afraid? The dark deep forest. Nothing scary. Just dirt and trees.

Then I saw it. There it was. A house. I walked towards it. I knocked on the door. But nobody answered. I waited and waited. Nothing.

I had to find shelter. Fast. I shivered. It was so cold. I opened the door.

CRRRREAAKKKK!

I entered, my hands shaking wildly.

The floorboards moved. “Huh?” I gasped.

Rats skittered across the floor.

“Whew, those were just rats, of course, this is not haunted,” I said, nervously.

I stepped on the stairs.

CREAK!

CREAK!

CREAK!

I opened a door. It was a bedroom. It looked like it belonged to a girl from long ago. There was a broken bed. It had stuffed animals on it and a pillow that was ripped.

One of the stuffed animals looked right at me.

I looked away. How odd, I thought. It’s probably not looking at me. Stuffed animals don’t move anyway.

I heard some walking. I turned around. The stuffed animal fell off the bed. That’s weird, I thought. It was in the middle of the bed, not hanging off. How could it fall off? I looked away again.

The stuffed animal moved towards me on the floor. It smiled at me. Not a happy smile, a scary one. I shrieked. I grabbed my flashlight to defend myself from it. “Back off!” I shouted at it. The stuffed animal’s thread came off. Stuffing was spilling all over. Yet, it was still walking. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” I screamed in horror. My heart was beating fast. Very fast.

Then my flashlight turned off. It was out of batteries. Wait. No. It turned back on. I looked down. Blood was smeared all over the floor.

No! I screamed.

The stuffed animal was staring at me. It had a smug smile on its little face.

Darkness. No light. No sound. No dream. No hope.

Horrified, I ran down to the stairs and ran into the living room, looking for a weapon I could use to defend myself.

I grabbed a broom that was in the living room. The floor moaned. I looked down. A hole gave itself in, and before I could do anything, I fell. As I was falling down the hole, a vampire lunged towards me, like a jumpscare. It bit my neck. Hard. Before I could even do anything, I screamed at the top of my lungs as I fell down the hole with the vampire’s teeth still affixed to my neck. Suddenly, I felt like I wasn’t breathing.

No sound. No movement. Just quiet. I didn’t feel anything. I wasn’t alive anymore. I was dead.