The House

The year was 1953. It was a cool, crisp twenty-ninth of October. Usually, after their chores and homework were done, Kathy, 8, and her brother Jonathan, 15, along with their friend May, 11, and her cousin Adam, 13, all went to Joe’s Arcade, the local hangout of Leaport, North Carolina. Instead, they all decided to meet at the end of their dead end street, Farrow Avenue, and go for a walk through the woods. They were all bored since the arcade was too crowded and supper wasn’t ready yet. Their town was a small town, so there wasn’t any other places to go besides the woods. Plus, the old, burned O’Leary house was out there.

Although everyone in Leaport knew it was there, they also knew to stay away. A raging fire, which started suspiciously back in the 1930’s, burned the O’Leary house. The O’Leary’s mysteriously disappeared that night, too. Nobody saw them leave and there wasn’t any trace that they perished in the fire when the firefighters got there. Yet, the townsfolk still say that the O’Leary’s were lost in the fire and that their spirits still haunt the house, seeking revenge on those who started the fire. The townspeople also say that you can hear their moans and piercing screams in the night. Although the dilapidated house was boarded up shortly after the fire, the townspeople wanted to knock it down completely because they claimed that it housed ghosts. But the mayor refused to do it because the house was considered a historical landmark, being as it was part of the Underground Railroad. Jonathan learned this in school, and just thought it made it all the more chilling.

The children were always told to stay away from the house and also the lake that was in front of it. But they were all so curious to at least see the house, especially Adam, who had a thing for ghosts. Kathy, being the youngest, wasn’t so sure she wanted to go. But after much debate and a promise of a warm chocolate chip cookie, Kathy decided to go. Although it was only a 15 minute walk from their street to the lake and the old O’Leary house, it felt like a lifetime with the maze of trees in the woods. Some of the trees had posters on them, and one read LOST DOG PLEASE FIND.

As they made their way through the woods, it started to grow dark. The sky turned from a bright blue to a deep orange and red, and May took this as a sign to head back. She didn’t say anything to the others, though, for fear that she would be branded a scaredy-cat. Kathy, who was only 8, didn’t seem scared, so why should she!

They were making good time and they were just coming to the clearing in the woods. The children could see the house, just over the lake, when they heard a terrifying sound. The kind of sound that could scare even the deepest sleeper out of slumber. It was the howl of some horrifying creature, or maybe it was a scream from some undead spirit! Could it be from one of the O’Leary’s? All the children screamed and ran! They ran every which way, but didn’t realize that they had got split-up. And then the creature howled again...