Excerpt for Haunted House-Real Ghost Story by Arul Das, available in its entirety at Smashwords

HAUNTED HOUSE-REAL GHOST STORY

ARUL DAS

Copyright 2012 by ARUL DAS

Smashwords Edition

Introduction

Are we truly scared by what we know and understand? Sometimes just knowing what is

out there and where it came from can take the realism from the horror itself. But what if

something was out there and its existence could not be explained. What if there was

something out there the existence of which was so evil and terrifying, it had no

explanation. This is about a large house, which is surrounded by a large iron fence. The

ground is covered with weeds and tall grass. The house stands on a quiet street in a quiet

town. It hasn't been lived in for as long as the oldest resident of the town can remember.

The mere sight of the house is responsible for it's own loneliness. Boards on the porch are

loose and creak in the wind. Passing baseballs, which still sit where they landed, has

broken most of the windows. The paint is old and gray from years of sun and weather

abuse. The upstairs windows are covered with large curtains, which flap in the wind,

confirming the mystery of what lurks inside. The house is an eerie sight, but nothing

compares to the unspeakable horror that lives in the lower levels. Often shadows can be

seen through cracks in the wood. Sounds can be heard from different parts of the house,

sounds that would make your hair stand on end. For as long as can be remembered, no

living person has entered this house. But, for this small town that was about to change.

ONE

As the thunder cracks and the rains fall in a small town, everyone is inside escaping the

storm. The thunder can be heard for miles as it echoes through the night. The lightning

flashes through the sky, exposing deserted streets and abandoned front yards. In a dark

alley, a homeless man lies in his wooden box trying to stay dry. Suddenly a gust of wind

rushes through a cut out window covered with plastic. The wind proves to be too much

for old wood and rusty nails, as the house blows apart. Now exposed to the elements, the

homeless man runs to seek shelter. He runs from the alley, into the streets, and starts

searching for a place to stay till the storm passes. As he runs down a lonely street, he

notices a large house with an iron gate. Remembering the towns’ people talking about the

house he hesitates, but as the rains increase and the thunder continues the man decides to

take his chances inside the house to escape the storm. Once inside, he shuts the door and

shakes off excess rain from his clothing. He looks the house over and quickly notices an

old lantern sitting on a dusty table. He takes the lighter from his pocket, blows the dust off

the old lantern best he can, and begins to light it. As it lights, his attention is immediately

turned to a blood stained cat that rushes by and escapes out an open framed window. With

his heart pounding, he quickly gets a hold of himself.” Stupid cat," he says as he begins to

explore his new shelter. As he walks the house, he notices the walls and doorways are

covered with cobwebs. The floor creaks under his feet, as he finds an open door leading

downstairs to the cellar. He slowly descends. At the bottom of the steps, a large box sits in

a corner. Hoping to find dry clothes or a blanket to keep him warm, he starts looking.

Suddenly he hears a deep growl coming from a three by three opening in the wall. “ Is

someone there?” he asks as he starts to tremble. The sound continues, as he slowly makes

his way to the hole. Shaking uncontrollably, he lifts his lantern to inspect the opening.

Suddenly a figure darts from the hole and knocks the light from his hand. It crashes to the

dirt cellar floor as it goes out, leaving nothing but the sound of the man screaming as he's

pulled through. In the darkness, his screams are drowned out by the sound of his bones

crushing. He lets out one final scream, before all goes quiet.

The next day, the sun is shining, the storm has passed and the residents begin to awaken in

the small town of Oaksdale, Mississippi. In the house of Tim and Ann Freeman, the smells

of bacon frying and coffee brewing fill the kitchen. Upstairs, their son Tommy lays fast

asleep. His room is like any other young boy’s room, with pictures of his favorite sports

stars taped to the beige colored walls. On a corner desk, is a small computer he hardly

uses other than talking to an occasional friend or two on the internet. Next to the

computer, sits a twenty five-inch TV and his collection of video games. His closet is a

cluttered assortment of GI. Joe’s, matchbox cars, and of course a pile of dirty laundry. His

bedroom door slowly opens and Rufus, a large tan and black German Shepard slowly

makes his way towards Tommy’s bed. Tommy slowly awakens to Rufus licking his face. "

I'm up...I'm up," he says, as he pushes the dog away. Lifting himself from the bed, he rubs

his eyes and stares out the window. Outside his window, birds are chirping and land in a

nest in a tree in the front yard. Beyond the tree he sees the old house, the iron gate almost

surrounding it, and then remembers the stories he has heard about it being haunted. His

head is quickly filled with fear and excitement, as he gazes at the abandoned house. He sits

there motionless as if frozen by its mystery. Suddenly he jumps, as he is startled by his

mother’s voice calling him to breakfast. "Coming mom", he shouts as he takes one last

look before getting dressed and running down stairs to eat.

He sits at the table to enjoy his favorite breakfast of bacon, eggs, and toast and overhears

his parents talking about the new neighbors who moved in beside the old house. As Ann

takes a pie out of the oven, she wonders where they came from, and they talk of going

over to introduce themselves to the new neighbors after breakfast. They hear Rufus

barking from the yard, and after several attempts to quiet the dog, go out to look. They

walk out to a nice green lawn with an old rusted swing that sits beside a small bird feeder.

As they approach the barking dog, they see him standing excitedly over the same cat the

homeless man had seen. The cat is lying in a pool of its own blood and missing an ear.

Through the left side of its body are deep wounds that appear to be claw marks. Ann

looks down at the cat and quickly turns her head, as she feels sick. “Whatever could have

done that?” she asked in a troubled voice. “ Could have been about anything ” explained

Tim. “ I’ll inform the police after breakfast”. He then covers the cat with an old wooden

crate lying in the grass, then they all returned to the kitchen.

After breakfast the police were notified, and the Freeman’s go visit the new neighbors.

Tommy’s mother grabbed the pie she had made earlier and they all proceeded across the

street. The new neighbors introduce themselves as Dave and Paula Brown. They had one

son named Billy. After a warm welcome and a piece of Ann’s pie, the grown ups went into

the living room, while Tommy went out to play with his new friend. As the grown ups

talked, Dave asked Tommy’s parents if they had heard the screaming from the abandoned

house last night. He said it sounded like someone was in trouble, but before he could get

to the window it stopped. Tim told them that they had not and told them about the dead

cat in the yard. He also tells them about other animals that have been reported missing,

never to be seen again. "I'm not sure what happened last night," Tim explained," But I'm

sure there's a simple explanation." Satisfied with that, all the parents continued to talk.

Outside the boys played for hours, throwing ball and running in the yard. They soon find

themselves becoming good friends. But, as the sun slowly starts to settle for the night, a

figure begins to move in the old house. The cellar stairs begin to creak, as a true hideous

form makes its way upstairs. As if searching for something, the form walks through the

house. It heads for the window overlooking Billy’s back yard. As the form notices the

boys playing in the yard, it becomes excited. With night slowly approaching, the form

slowly makes its way to the door. It stares at the two boys with a glaring interest. It waits

until the yard is almost pitch black and slowly opens the door. A large clawed hand can be

seen, as the form slowly pulls itself through the doorway. Unaware of the lurking danger,

the two friends keep playing. Ever so closer, the form makes its way to the wooden fence

that separates the houses and the boys from certain death. As the form gets to the fence, it

continues to focus its eyes on the boys. Just then the boys ball hits the fence in front of it.

Its heart pumps with rage as the boys race to retrieve it. Now just a few feet from the

beast, Billy’s back door opens. "Boys come on; it’s too dark to be out their," yells Billy’s

mom. The form, just out of reach of the boys, is distracted just long enough for Tommy to

pick up the ball and run back "Coming Mrs. Brown, Tommy said as the boys headed to

the door. Safely inside, the parents say there good-byes and Tommy and his parents return

home. Back home, Tommy throws on his pajamas, gets a kiss from his parents and is off

to bed as the house goes black for the night.

With most people now asleep, two young men walk down the street. They pass Billy’s

front yard and stop at the abandoned house. The men stand there staring at the house as

they finish their last two beers. " Are you ready? ", Greg says as he opens the iron gate. "

I don't know about this," James says and shakes at the mere sight of the house. "C’mon it

will be fun," he says as he swings the gate open. The two men slowly walk through the

gate and up to the front door. As they start to walk inside the house, the form hears the

men outside and disappears back down to the cellar. Greg opens the door to an eerie

creak, as they walk in. “Let’s look around, ” he says, as James stays close behind. "Do

you think it's true what they say about this house?" he asks. " Hell no, they just say that to

scare us," Greg replies". "Well it's working," James admits as they continue through. They

walk through to an open cellar door and look down to darkness. Greg grabs his flashlight

and begins to walk down the steps. Hesitant at first, James follows. When the two men

reach the bottom of the cellar, they start exploring. " This is creepy," James says as he

follows the flashlight around the room. Greg finally agrees with his friend, as he notices a

large opening in the wall. As they walk over to the hole, the two men discover a narrow

passageway leading in. Greg leads of course, as the men walk down the narrow passage

into an opening. As Greg shines the flashlight around the room, he notices a strong smell.

" Man what did you do, shit yourself," he jokes his friend. But before James could reply, a

noise in the corner attracts his attention. As Greg shines the light at the corner, both men

scream in fear. The light shines momentarily at a large pair of sharp fangs, connected to a

most powerful bite. Large hands swing at the two men, slashing them like a rampaging

beast. Blood splatters everywhere, as the two men have no chance against the beast’s

power. As he tries to escape, Greg feels a tremendous pain across his shoulders. He

screams in pain, as he is slashed open to expose the vertebras in his back. James looks in

horror as his friend falls to the ground. The beast stares at the cowering man, as James

stands frozen. With a quick swipe of its powerful hand, the beast opens up James throat

leaving the man gurgling in his own blood. The beast gives out a triumphant roar as James

legs shake one last time before becoming motionless on the ground. The beast dives on the

man, burying it's fangs around the mans face, as if to taste his last breath. With a loud

crunch, James jaw explodes in the beast’s mouth, as it feeds on the two men until no meat

is left on their bones. And then all turns deadly quiet.

TWO

The new day begins with a knock on the door. Tommy's dad opens the door to find the

police standing on the porch. " You must be here about the cat," his dad said. The police

agreed as Tommy's dad took them to the back yard where the cat laid. The officer stares

at the cat and covers his nose as the heat from the sun starts to rot the body. In a

desperate attempt before he gets sick, he places the small corpse in a property bag. “We'll

take it over to the lab. Maybe they can figure out what did this” the officer said as they

made there way back to the car. "I'd be interested in hearing what you find out," Tim said

as they continued walking. The officer explained to Tommy's dad, that it might take a

while considering they are also investigating the disappearance of two men from last night.


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