The Lockwood House

I’m not particularly a religious person. I never really connected with the idea of believing in a God or a Devil; something like religion never really resonated with me until the night a few of my friends and I explored the Lockwood house.

My mother gave me a laptop this morning; she thought that it might help me cope or whatever so here I am, typing what I remember. I haven’t been able to sleep; there’s a shadow that stands in the corner of my hospital room at night, and sometimes I hear voices inside my head telling me to do things, and I’m terrified. 

No one believes me. They keep stating that my traumatizing experience must have triggered my anxiety. They called it a dissociation or detachment from reality, I think. Whatever. I know that what I saw in that house was real, and what had happened to my friends actually did happen. We just wanted an experience. We never really stopped to evaluate the risks that might come with it. 

I guess I’ll start from the beginning.

It was Friday morning, and I decided to kill some time in the library across from my high school. The greatest thing about being in a library was the calming atmosphere. I leaned forward on the worn sofa and rolled my eyes as I turned the page.

*What?* I scoffed. *Why is this even a thing someone would think is even remotely attractive?*

[ I am a lot to handle, but I can assure you that you’ll have fun handling me, love ] 

*Seriously? I’ve met drunk perverts hanging outside of bars with better pick up lines than that* I thought to myself. I didn’t think it could get any cringier until I read the next line. 

[ My heart did an unexpected flip, startled by his bizarrely attractive smile ]

I frowned inwardly. *You know what you really need instead of a creepy-ass stalker boyfriend? A cardiology consult* 

“So annoying,” I sighed. *How is this tripe a best seller?*

“What’s annoying?”

“Oh, shit.” I squeaked. I sat upright and turned around, instinctively about to clog the person when I realized who it was. Harlen leaned up against the wall with a tilted smirk on his face. He stood between me and the fluorescents. 

Harlen was a fellow classmate and a friend of Mark’s, who was an older guy Albie, and I guess Harlen hung out with. Harlen was a tall, attractive guy with an athletic build, short obsidian hair, and grey eyes. To quote the main character in the novel, Harlen was the kind of trouble smarter girls than I had fallen into with disastrous results and a few regrets. 

My cheeks flushed and I closed the book as he cocked his head at me. “Did I seriously scare you?” He joked, but his smile faltered slightly as I glared up at him. 

“Dude,” I groaned. “Don’t sneak up on me like that,”

“What? I didn’t sneak,” He crossed his arms over his chest in protest. “No sneaking was involved. I just walked over here. And to be fair, this is a library-silence is sacred in a library so technically we’re supposed to sneak. We’re also the only ones in here right now anyway, so who cares.” 

My eyes did a pointed sweep of the decidedly empty area before settling back on Harlen’s with an unamused glower. “Yeah,” I said. “I’m pretty sure the zero other people in here appreciate the deceptive aura of calm. What are you doing here?”

“Well, actually I was doing some research for a paper I’m writing for English.” He tightened his grip on his bookbag. “I was told I’d find you here,” He explained. 

“Why?” I asked. “I didn’t tell anyone that I was here.” 

“I’ve got my ways of tracking people down.”

When he saw my expression, Harlen rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on Kaya. I’m just kidding! Is it really that weird that I happen to be in here the same time as you?”

“I guess not.”

“I’ll let you get back to reading, then. Oh,” He started. “I almost forgot. Meet us down at the Love Triangle for lunch. I found a cool place for us to urbex.” 

My friends and I loved urban exploring. Most of the time it was exciting and exhilarating. Sometimes it was a challenge; some places were remote enough that you could simply walk in through the front door like a welcomed visitor. Other times we would be forced to climb up over fences or crawl through windows. 

There was this one time we decided to check out a drainage tunnel because a few people have sworn they heard ominous laughter coming from it. Water seeped into our clothes and we shivered at the coldness. I remember that I cracked a joke about the movie “IT” when we suddenly heard a loud BOOM right next to our heads. I have no idea what caused the sound, but I doubt that it was anything paranormal. 

I was in the middle of stabbing at a large crouton with my fork when Harlen, Albie, and Jessica took their seats at the table. 

“Hey, Kaya,” Albie said as he sat down beside me. Albie and I have been friends since we were little. He was a skinny black guy with a box fade haircut and light brown eyes. We were neither popular nor unpopular. We were what some people called, “drifters” and, according to Albie, those whose social standings meant that if he made random eye contact with someone in the halls he would probably get a nod back, and maybe even a quick “Hey” or “What’s up” If you didn’t know us personally you’d likely assume that we were siblings, especially with the way we acted around each other most of the time.

“What took you guys so long?” I asked, pointing my fork in his direction. 

“It was my fault. I’m sorry.” He grumbled, as he unzipped his lunch bag. “Mr. Golbloom chastised me for like, ten minutes.” 

“To be fair, You were looking at your phone in class.” Jessica said. Jessica was Albie’s girlfriend, a petite girl with long blond hair, and hazel eyes. “And that wasn’t the only thing,”

Albie sighed. “You’re not wrong, but he’s kind of an asshat.”

“You should use that filter once in a while,” Jessica said.

“Oh baby, since when have you known me to have such a filter?”

“Oh please,” I scoffed. “You just choose not to use it.” 

Albie gave me a frown and tossed a baby carrot my way, which I was able to dodge easily. 

Harlen cleared his throat as he pulled out his phone. “So, shall we get to it, then?” 

From what we could find, The Lockwood house had been abandoned for years now, but a few people who have walked the trail close to the place have claimed they could see the spirits of the family walking around inside, and others had even heard music coming from the house. When they went to investigate, there was no one inside.

In 2010 Ethan Lockwood brutally murdered his wife, Anna Lockwood, and her parents Steven and Isabelle Thompson in the middle of the night. Authorities found Anna’s parents dead in their bedroom; both of their bodies were in pieces, and their daughter’s body was found in the basement. Anna had multiple blunt force head injuries and what’s worse, her eyes and tongue were missing. Ethan’s body was found in the living room with a shotgun beside him, and a deep laceration on his neck.

“Get this,” Harlen said, as he scrolled down. “There was a survivor – a ten year old boy. He also had a twin brother, but he was never found.” 

“Holy crap. What happened to the boy who survived?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I guess that part was kept confidential,” Albie said. “For the boy’s protection I guess.” 

“Poor baby,” Jessica frowned. 

“So,” Harlen said. “Are you guys up for it?” 

¤ ¤ ¤

We all crawled into Harlen’s truck around 6pm and headed to the Lockwood house. Albie took his video recorder and held it in front of his face. “Hey, what’s up guys, gals, and nonbinary folks!” Albie spoke with conviction as he stared wide-eyed in the video recorder. “We’re going to prove that ghosts are real!” 

I rolled down the window and glanced out at the scenery. I laughed to myself when we passed a large cornfield. “Guys, this seriously looks like we’re going straight into a modern day horror film.” 

“It really does,” Jessica agreed. 

“I can already feel this place, I’m beginning to sweat all over.” Albie exclaimed as he turned his camera to the window then back on himself. 

“Like something about this place isn’t right at all? That’s pretty understandable, considering.” Harlen said, turning down a gravel road.

“We’re gonna recieve a ton of views for this!” Albie smiled. He turned the camera toward Harlen who waved back from the review mirror.

“Dude,” Harlen chuckled. “I bet some of these viewers are going to think you’re crazy because you’re willing to allow something to throw you across the room and-possibly-murder you for content.” 

We pulled up to the gate in front of the two – story colonial home. There was already a green van parked outside the gate to the property. Mark greeted us at the gate with a colorful bottle of vodka. Mark was an average looking guy in his early 20s with shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. He raised the bottle in his right hand with shot glasses in the other. 

“Hey, guys,” Mark handed each of us a shot glass. “Did you get here alright?” 

“Oh yeah. I’ve driven passed this place a couple of times, I didn’t even need the GPS” Harlen said.

“This definitely screams illegal.” I commented, pointedly toward the large house.

“Only if we get caught, but this place is abandoned so I doubt we’ll get into any trouble with the law.” Harlen said.

“I’m giving you alcohol, and you’re more worried about “breaking and entering”? Mark laughed. 

Albie took his shot and made a face. “This tastes like Tucan Sam fucked me.” 

“Ew,” Jessica grimaced.

Harlen and I laughed. Mark only snorted.

After we each had several shots of vodka, we got ready. We each grabbed a headlight in order to keep our hands free, gloves, and disposable face masks and placed them into our backpacks, along with first aid (just in case). Mark had been urbexing for a while, and he was always prepared with supplies just in case anyone forgot to bring something. 

“So, what happens if we’re not alone in the house?” Jessica asked.

Even though urbex sites are technically “abandoned” that didn’t mean you wouldn’t run into other people inside like squatters or addicts, and they may not react well to seeing a stranger in their space.

“It’s a good thing I brought this along,” Mark said. He pushed his jacket aside and revealed a hand gun tucked inside its holster. 

“Holy crap, man.” Harlen said. 

“I can’t believe you brought a gun.” Albie said.

Jessica and I were speechless. It’s a good idea to bring some sort of self defense tool just in case your physical safety is threatened, but bringing something like a gun raises the risk of you accidentally injuring yourself.

“Of course I did. It’s always good to carry protection.” Mark explained.

A few minutes after, the five of us walked up to the large rusted gate. With a little bit of work, we each slipped through the bars and headed up to the house. 

“You know those haunted attractions where people dress up in order to scare the shit out of you, except it’s actual demons and they’re going to steal your soul!” Jessica smiled beside Albie who threaded his fingers through hers. “It’s actually kinda thrilling.”

“Awesome,” Harlen smirked. “I’m glad you sound so optimistic about it.” 

“I try to be!” 

We stepped up onto the porch, which wrapped around the front of the house. The paint on the door was chipped with age in places. “Are you guys ready?” Harlen asked. “Once we enter this house, we will possibly become vulnerable to any demonic presence that might reside here.” 

I rolled my eyes. “If I’m in serious danger, I’m getting out. I’ll throw myself out the window if I have to.” 

“I’m on Kaya’s team,” Jessica agreed. “Team rational.”

“What, and risk getting a broken leg?” Albie asked.

“Better a broken leg than having your soul taken by a demonic entity.” I replied.

“Alright, guys let’s do this.” Harlen said. He opened the door and the five of us headed inside. 

The front door opened up into a foyer. Straight ahead of us was a staircase that led up to the second floor. There was a spacious living room to our right and a dining room to our left, and from there, an alcove enterance that led into the kitchen. I could tell that this place had been abandoned for years; there was cobwebs and peeled paint on the walls. There were remnants of furniture left ripped, dismantled, and stained which laid disorderly on the floor of the living room, reminding me of death. 

This had once been the home of a happy upper-class family, full of life. Now it was replaced by ghosts of the past, vermin, spiders, dirt, and trash. The smell of rot and the taste of regurgitated food made me grimace in disgust. 

“Why hasn’t anyone fix this place up and put it back on the market?” Jessica asked.

“Who really knows,” Albie replied.

“Hello!” Harlen announced as he twirled on his heels. “Are there any spirits here?” I glanced over at Harlen with a look and he shrugged. 

“Is this what you guys imagined?” Mark queried. 

“Sure, minus the dead bodies,” I walked into the living room and spotted a mid century record player console propped up against the wall next to a grand piano. There was a record still on the turntable, “You Belong To Me” by “Patience and Prudence”

“Hey, come check this out.” Out of curiosity I placed the stylus and tried turning it on, not really expecting anything to happen. I jerked my hand away when it began to play. 

I quickly took the needle off, a little creeped out. “Holy crap, that scared me.”

“That thing still works?” Albie asked, as he inspected the record player. “That song is kinda sweet,”

“No it isn’t,” Jessica frowned. “It’s the kind of song you would hear while being tortured to death.” 

After we goofed around a little bit, we all decided to begin exploring around the house. Mark started up the stairs and asked if anyone would like to join him. 

“I’ll join you, man.” Harlen said. He gave me a wink before heading towards the stairs with Mark, and I glanced over at Albie and Jessica as they disappeared down the hall.

I was alone.

I walked over to the piano, and carefully lifted the lid up and over to reveal its keys. My fingers traced the lines in between them and pushed down lightly on a few. The deep sounds reverberated around the room.

My eyes drifted up to the small picture frame sitting on top of the piano. I absent-mindedly bit my bottom lip and reached up to grab the frame. My fingers trailed across the picture, leaving an oily impression against the glass that held the picture in place. A family of four stared back at me and I realized that it was Ethan, Anna, and their twin boys. I was so focused on the twins that I almost didn’t hear my phone alerting me that I had a new text message.

It was a text from Albie.

From “Albie” at 6:45pm: Meet us down in the basement. I want to show u something.

To “Albie” at 6:46pm: What is it?

From “Albie” at 6:46pm: There’s some cool shit down here. Hurry up.

I rolled my eyes and placed my phone in my pocket as I made my way down the hall. I paused at the top of the basement stairs. I could hear Jessica and Albie, the beems from their headlights bouncing around. 

“Albie?” I called out. 

“Yeah, Kaya, we’re down here.” He replied. “Come on down. We have something to show you.” 

“Alright, I’m coming down hold on.” I carefully descended the stairs and turned the corner. “So, what did you want to show me-” 

My voice died in my throat. It was dark down here, and my friends were nowhere to be seen. I was gripped by a sudden sense of unnease. I stood near the stairs and turned on my headlamp. “Hello? Albie, this isn’t funny, dude.” 

What answered me was silence. Absolute silence. I was alone, or I thought I was until my light fell onto something moving a few feet in front of me. It was an androgynous looking kid around my age with pale skin, shoulder-length black hair, and violet eyes. They wore a long sleeve gothic cloak poncho, over thin black leggings. Their lips pulled back into a malicious grin as they came closer to me. I watched in horror as their eyes rolled to the back of their head and their mouth split open wide, revealing sharp teeth. 

They reached out for me and I screamed in terror, my instincs finally kicked in. I bolted up the steps, and stumbled into the hallway. I ran for the front door and tried to leave, but it wouldn’t open. *What the hell?!* that made no damn sense! My heart sank into the pit of my stomach. Suddenly I felt something touch my shoulder. I screamed, ready to defend myself.

“Hey. Hey! Kaya, stop it’s me, Albie.” 

I stopped struggling as my eyes refocused on the familiar faces in front of me. Albie, Jessica, and Harlen stared back at me with confused alarm. 

“Are you alright?” Harlen asked. “What happened?”

I shook my head and quickly glanced behind them at the basement door, but there was nothing there. I know I hadn’t imagined it! I turned my attention back to my friends. “I saw something down in the basement! I want to leave. Now.” 

“What are you talking about, Kaya? Hold up, did you see something down there? Holy shit. The ghosts didn’t think one of us would see them, but we did. Can you-“

Before Albie can finish his sentence, I roughly pushed him away from me and turned back to the door. “Damnit, Albie! I don’t want to be in this fucking house anymore! It won’t open! Why won’t it open!” 

“Seriously, Kaya what the hell?” Albie asked, almost annoyed.

“Just relax, Kaya. Let me give it a try, alright?” Harlen offered, calmly. He grabbed the knob, but it stayed shut. “What the hell?”

“See? I told you it won’t open!” I hissed.

“What do you mean, “it won’t open” let me give it a try.” Albie shoved his way passed us. He motioned for all of us to stand back and we watched as he tried to use his whole body against it.

“M-maybe the door’s jammed.” Jessica exclaimed. “Let’s chill out. The front door isn’t the only exit out of this place.” 

“Jessica’s right. Let’s try the door in the kitchen.” Harlen said. We entered the kitchen and Harlen quickly made his way over to the screen door that faced the forest. He cursed under his breath. “Damnit. Nothing.” 

“Hold up, guys. Where’s Mark?” Albie asked.

Harlen quickly pulled his phone out to call Mark when we all collectively got a text from him. Reminding us that we had set up a group chat for easy contact. Harlen glanced back at me with an odd expression I couldn’t name. I opened my texts and a sharp stab of dread settled in my stomach. 

From “Mark” at 7:05pm: I’m down in the basement, Harlen. Where r u? 

From “Mark” at 7:06pm: Harlen is that u? It’s not funny, man.

Harlen texted Mark that we were all in the kitchen. I watched as the three small dots in a text bubble pending before it disappeared and Harlen’s cell phone rang. He answered and placed Mark on speaker phone. 

“What the hell do you mean you’re in the kitchen? I definitely heard your voice down here.” 

Harlen cursed, and told Mark to make his way to the kitchen. Harlen started toward the basement and we all followed right behind him. Before we could reach the stairs to the basement, however, the door swung shut, the force of it knocked us backwards. We heard Mark’s gun go off several times followed by his peircing screams of terror before they were abruptly cut short. In our inebriated panic, I failed at the last second to realize we were all running in different directions. 

I remember running up the stairs and locking the bathroom door behind me. My heart pounded painfully against my ribcage as I fumbled for my phone, thankful that it hadn’t fallen out of my pocket. I willed myself to control my sobs and called 911, but for some reason my call wouldn’t go through. 

“Nononono! Fuck, please no.” I collapsed against the bathtub and cried into my sleeves. Paranoia nearly consumed me once I thought of my friends and every horrible scenario when I received a text from Albie. I looked at it confused. 

I wiped the snot from my face and quickly texted him back. How in the hell was I able to receive his texts when I couldn’t get ahold of the cops? 

From “Albie” at 7:20pm: Apparently we can contact each other in this house, but our phone’s service seems to be cut off from the outside world. Where r u?

What the hell is going on in this place??

To “Albie” at 7:21pm: I’m in the upstairs bathroom. Do u know where Harlen and Jess are? 

From “Albie” at 7:25pm: Jess is with me. I don’t know where Harlen is. 

My stomach dropped, but before I could reply Albie sent another text, and what I read made my blood run cold.

From “Albie” at 7:25pm: There is smthing moving in the hallway outside the room we r in. Stay quiet and keep ur phone on silent. If we need to contact each other use text.

It was around thirty minutes after when Albie replied with another text updating me with their situation. The thing stalking outside their room a while ago was gone now, and it hadn’t come back.

From “Albie” at 8:00pm: We’re going to make our way to you. Stay where u r

To “Albie” at 8:02pm: Ok. Be careful. 

I slowly got to my feet and set my phone down beside the sink and took a deep breath to level my breathing. Suddenly, I heard something pound against the door. I screamed and stumbled backward. “Holy shit!”

“Kaya?” It was Harlen. “Kaya, is that you?”

“H-Harlen?” I collected myself and made my way over to the bathroom door. I walked into the hallway, relieved that I wasn’t alone anymore. Harlen was safe, thank God. “Oh my god, Harlen I’m so glad you’re-“

I gasped, and I stumbled forward as the door behind me slammed shut. I felt a sudden wave of dread wash over me as my eyes swept up and down the vacant hallway. Whatever was keeping us here tricked me. I quickly tried going back into the bathroom, but it wouldn’t open, not only that but I left my phone by the sink. “No! Damnit!” I needed my phone, it was my only way to stay in contact with my friends, and how was Albie going to know where I was? I had two options, I could try and make my way to Albie or find another place to hide. 

My heart thudded loudly in my ears as my headlamp bounced off the walls, chasing nothing more than shadows. I stuck close to the wall as I made my way down the hall. From somewhere down the hall, I heard a voice call out. It was Albie’s voice telling me to come over to him. I hesitated for a moment. What if it was another trick? It definitely could be since whatever is toying with us was capable of mimicking voices. What if it really was Albie? Regardless, I had to go passed the room if I wanted to find Albie or another place to hide.

“Kaya, we’re in here,” Albie whispered to me as I got closer to one of the bedrooms. I hesitated before I stepped inside. The bedroom smelled awful, like rotten meat hung out in the sun for too long. My headlamp’s light swept the room until it landed on a lone figure lying face-up on the bed. 

“…Albie?” I whispered, tentatively. My voice sounded thin, like old paper. The figure on the bed didn’t answer, but when I I crept closer, I slipped on something wet. I glanced down at the floor. It was blood; a trail of blood led in from the doorway all the way to the bed. “Oh my god!” I screamed. My stomach rebelled and I heaved out my lunch until I couldn’t expel anything else. 

My throat burned as I wiped my mouth, and my chest hurt from sobbing out his name. Mark laid sprawled on the bed, his abdomen was ripped open and what remained of his entrails spilled over his body like a gory blanket. I stumbled backward, I fell against the door closing it shut. I was about to leave when I spotted the gun tucked under Mark’s jacket. 

Oh god, this was probably the worst decision ever and the likelihood that this was yet another trick was high, but I needed something to protect myself with. I’ve watched Mark use it before when we all went camping a year ago, so I kind of knew how to use it. I steeled myself and started toward the bed. 

The closer I got the more I can see the damage done to his body; his abdomen and chest cavity were open and hollowed out. The skin looked like it was rolled back, torn and ragged. His sternum was completely gone, a few of his ribs were cracked so they protruded from either side of his body like fangs. Half of his bottom lip looked like it was chewed off and his left ear was missing. I shook my head and tentatively reached out for the gun. Just as I grabbed it, I felt something gooey covered on the grip of the gun. 

I yelped and dropped it on the floor. I cursed and bent down to pick it up. Once I did I wiped the substance off with my sleeve with a grimace and made sure the safety was on. I was tucking it into my jacket pocket when something dripped onto my hand. I looked up and saw Mark or what used to be Mark looming over me from the ceiling like Spiderman. His eyes were oily black, his face twisted in an agonized and vengeful expression. Before I could move, he threw himself at me.

Somehow, I managed to dodge him and wrench the door open, hitting Mark as he lunged at me. The blow was hard enough that it sent Mark sprawling across the floor. I rushed out of the room and back into the empty hallway. I took a chance and looked back, but Mark wasn’t there. 

When I reached the end of the hallway, I felt hands grab me and pull me around the corner. I opened my mouth to scream, but a hand clamped over my mouth, silencing me. Panic cut through my body like a hot blade, and new found adrenaline flooded my system as I twisted and shoved at the person holding me immobile.

“Kaya, stop,” Albie hissed. “It’s me.”

I turned around and my eyes widened with tears as Albie released his hand from my mouth, and Jessica pulled me into a hug as I told them what happened. Albie pointed towards the stairs and motioned for us to follow. Albie led us into the foyer. We heard movement in the basement so as quickly and quietly as we could, we crawled inside a closet across from the living room.

“What are we going to do?” Jessica asked. “We have no weapons!”

“I found this on Mark’s body.” I exclaimed as I showed them the hand gun. 

Albie got to his feet. “ah, crap…I’m going to be right back. I left my camera in the kitchen.”

“What? Hell no.” I hissed. Splitting up is a terrible Idea! Risking his life for that damn camera? Was he an idiot? 

“Just stay here, alright? Kaya, keep that gun out.” He said, with no room for an argument. “Whatever this thing is, it can mimic our voices so we’ll need a password to distinguish them from us.” He took out his phone and typed *Last Alliance* 

After he left, I crawled over to the door and locked it. I sat down next to Jessica who was sobbing. I turned to her and placed my palms to her tear stained face. “Hey, Jess. We’ll make it out of here alright? I promise-” 

Jessica shook her head and pushed my hands away from her face. “Don’t say that shit to me. We’re going to die here, Kaya!” She hissed. “Why is this happening? I wanna go home!” 

I sat back against the wall and sighed.

Ten minutes later I heard movement coming from outside the room. I quickly got to my feet and placed my hands on the door. 

“Last Alliance,” Albie whispered, rather quickly. “Hurry up and let me in.”

I hadn’t even released the door knob when Albie pushed passed me and helped Jessica to her feet without much protest on her end. “Shit, it was him all along.” 

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“I caught it on camera!” He whispered frantically. “The reason he brought us out here wasn’t to-shit-” he was breathing hard. He moved toward me and shoved the camera in my direction. “Here, hold onto it for-” His sentence was cut off abruptly as the thing that used to be Mark drilled his fist into Albie’s chest from behind. Albie’s eyes widened as his mind had come to the realization at what happened. 

Mark dropped Albie’s body on the ground and his lips twisted into a manic grin as he examined his blood-covered arm. “He was spying on us,” Mark said, but it didn’t sound like Mark anymore. His voice sounded like several voices overlapping, fighting for center stage. “He didn’t think that we would notice, but we did.” 

We screamed, and holding onto the camera with one hand I pulled her toward me with the other, quickly. We couldn’t save him, and I knew that if we didn’t move now we would end up just like him.

Jessica and I bolted down the hallway and back up the stairs. We found an empty room that must have been a personal office at one point, and barricaded ourselves inside. I cursed when I noticed the room we were in didn’t have a window wide enough for us to escape through. I sat against the wall beside Jessica who sobbed into her sleeves.

I glanced down at the camcorder which felt heavy in my hand. What did Albie capture on camera that had him so upset? I turned it on and what I saw on the screen made my blood run cold. It was Harlen, the kid from the basement who stood beside Harlen, and the thing that used to be Mark; Harlen was speaking to him, but it was in a strange language that I couldn’t understand. After he was finished, the thing that used to be Mark knelt down as if Harlen was some kind of royalty, and that was where the video stopped. 

I heard that thing right outside the room we were in. He was telling us that no matter what we did, we were not leaving this place. A few seconds later, he broke through the door, pushing the desk and chairs out of the way with ease. With the force, one of the chairs knocked me to the floor. 

He released a sick and twisted laughter, and stalked toward me, eyes filled with malice. Jessica grabbed something heavy from the floor and chucked it at Mark. Mark was startled for a second, and then slowly turned his attention to her. She yelped and frantically swept her eyes around the room for anything she could use as a weapon. He lunged for her and they collided to the floor. 

I fumbled for my jacket’s zipper for the gun, but I was too late. I watched in utter horror as he ripped into my friend; her screams of terror and agony will haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. I pulled myself to my feet, my back bumped into something hard. A metal filing cabinet. Mark turned his attention back on me, but before he could reach me, he tripped over something and he fell to the floor. I shifted, and using my whole body weight, I managed to tip it over. It landed on top of Mark with a sickening crunch of bone and viscera. 

I slowly made my way to Jessica’s body and collapsed to my knees. I clutched at my own head and screamed until it hurt. At that moment, all I wanted to do was crumble in defeat. My voice had broken into heavy sobs so loud and ugly that I almost didn’t hear Harlen’s footsteps behind me. 

“Kaya, is that you?” He called out to me, his voice full of worry. I was hardly listening to him. This was his fault! Rage spiked through me like a knife to my gut, it twisted and turned until I was all ground beef inside; I had the sudden urge to pull the gun from my jacket and-no, I had to calm down. Maybe if I feigned ignorance, I might still have a chance to escape, however slim that was. He bent down, and I let him pull me along with him without protest. With his eyes forward, I slowly put my hand on the gun.

We were almost to the kitchen when Harlen turned around, and leaned against the wall. “So, you know, don’t you.”

It wasn’t a question. I slowly pulled out the gun, unlocked it, and trained it on him. He stared at me with an unsettling expression, and I could have sworn his eyes were black. I suddenly felt an intense pressure pour down on me. I could feel a miasma of something intense as his eyes bore into mine; my arms trembled with the effort of keeping them aloft. The gun clenched tightly in my hands like a life line. I couldn’t faulter. I knew that if I did, even for an instant, Harlen would undoubtedly kill me.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Kaya. You’re not getting out of this house unless I say so, so let’s just chat, hm?”

I shook my head and raised the gun to his chest, and for a brief moment I caught a glimpse of a surprised expression on his face when I pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot reverberated around me. I pulled the trigger again and again, but the gun was empty. I dropped it to the floor, my hands shaking. He glanced down at himself. “Huh. Well, would ya look at that, you managed to get me through the ribs, good job.”

I was running before Harlen finished his sentence. However, he wasn’t coming after me-at least not yet. Figures. I couldn’t leave this place so he had no reason to put much effort into the chase. I stumbled through the house, catching myself on overturned furniture in order to keep my balance as I made my way towards the stairs.

I tripped over something and I caught myself against the wall across from the stairs. I paused for a moment to catch my breath. The house seemed to resonate with his manic laughter. I glanced behind me, and I felt a wave of cold dread as he sauntered toward me down the hall. Hands in his pockets, with an almost amused expression. 

“Where do you think you’re going, Kaya?” He asked. “Didn’t I tell you before?”

The words, “There is no escape” suddenly appeared all over the walls in blood. I cursed, and pushed myself off the wall and bolted up the steps, down the hall, and into one of the bedrooms and quickly closed the door. I looked around at what was once a child’s room. There was a twin sized bed in the center of the room, a nightstand across from the closet, and a bathroom.

I spotted a decent sized window and I ran over to it, but it wouldn’t open and I cursed when there was nothing around me to break it with. Without any time to come up with a plan, I quickly slid underneath the bed and turned off my headlamp. I immediately cursed at myself again, of all the places to hide I chose the first place any one would look! 

I contemplated whether or not to find another hiding place, but before I could move I heard him make his way down the hall singing that creepy ass song. “My honey I know with the dawn that you will be gone, but tonight you belong to me, just little ‘ol me~” 

The bedroom door opened. I covered my mouth and tried to silence my breathing, hoping to God that he wouldn’t find me under the bed. I watched in fear as he closed the door behind him and made his way over to the bed. The bed dipped slightly as Harlen’s weight sank onto it. He told me things I didn’t want to hear and more. This monster-this demon-slithered into our lives just for all of this to happen. 

My eyes widened and I tucked my arms to my sides, the wooden bed frame gave a protest above me as Harlen laid down on top of it. Then he sighed, almost forlorn. “This was my brother’s room, you know. Coming back here brings back so many memories,” 

Right after he said that I felt something prickle behind my eyelids. I shut my eyes tightly as gruesome scenes appeared inside my head. There was so much blood, and images shown of a young boy in pajamas stalking through the house with an ax in his hands picking off his family members one by one-doing things a normal child his size wouldn’t be able to do, but Harlen was anything but normal. I felt bile rise in my throat but I managed to keep it down. 

“The final stage of grief is acceptance, Kaya.” He said. His cruel voice brought me back to the present. “You have a lot of spirit, I like that. I’m also in a good mood so I’ll give you two options: you can either die here or you can become an important piece in my domino set. You should be grateful that I’m even giving you an option. So, what’s it going to be?”

I opened my mouth and closed it again; what was I supposed to say to something like that? What was going to happen to me if I said yes? If I said no… 

A low growl -yes, a growl- rumbled above me and I felt something snag my ankle. I panicked, my fingers tore into the wooden floor as I was dragged out from underneath the bed. I was thrown across the room, pain shot up my back as something bit into my spine. Harlen straightened up and started toward me. I quickly averted my gaze, the panic swarmed all over me like a hive of angry bees. 

“Wh-why are you d-doing this?” I asked, my breath hitched between sobs. 

Harlen knelt down in front of me. “Hey…hey look at me, Kaya.” 

Absolute terror gripped me as he forced me to look at him. His features weren’t human; the light of the moon highlighted the inhuman planes of his face. Black, spidery thread-like lines creeped around his forehead and right beneath his oily black eyes. His mouth had split open, wider than any human mouth was capable of. 

His nails grew long and sharp against my chin. It was mesmerizing, fascinating almost, like watching a lion’s face before it tears yours off. Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe; my lungs felt swollen and inflamed, my hands came up to my throat as I coughed and wheezed. Was this an asthma attack? No, it was Harlen. 

“When I ask you a question, do not answer it with another question do you understand?” He snarled. “You will understand why when you arrive. Now, will it be a yes or a no?”

His features calmed and he looked human again, and whatever power on me broke, it allowed me to inhale sharply. I gasped. I wanted to scream at him, I wanted to rage. Instead, I dropped my hands on my thighs. I wanted to live. 

¤ ¤ ¤

“Kaya, honey” My mom said, as she came into my hospital room, “You’ve got someone to see you this morning! One of your friends from school, I think.”

I placed my book down on the table beside me. She bent down and gave me a kiss on the forehead. “And he’s very attractive,” She whispered, “It’s not every day a tall handsome boy comes to sit by your bedside.”

I nodded and gave her a small smile. It drooped just a little when Harlen came around the corner with a bouquet of flowers. My mom smiled at him and walked toward the door, “I’ll just leave you two alone. What did you say your name was again?”

“My name is Harlen,” He said, as he stepped forward. “Harlen Lockwood.”

“Nice to meet you, Harlen,” She said, smiling back at him before exiting the room.

Harlen placed the flowers on the table and sat down next to the hospital bed, he placed a hand on my thigh. “I’m so glad you’re feeling better, Kaya.” He said. He gently pushed a loose strand of my hair out of my face and gently tucked it behind my ear. “Remember what we talked about. You will come to me after you are discharged from the hospital,”

I shivered at his touch, and out of curiosity I asked, “What happens if I don’t?” 

Harlen let loose a dark chuckle. His head dips until his lips skate by the curve of my ear. “Then I’ll hunt you down.” He whispered to me like it’s obvious. “I’ll kill you and everyone you care about. I’m capable of all sorts of horrors; things you can’t even imagine.” 
I watched as Harlen stood up from the seat.

“Now, I’ve got a few things to do before you arrive,” Harlen said, smiling down at me. He paused by the room’s door. “I’ll see you soon.”

His visit was a few days ago. I’ll be discharged tomorrow afternoon. I’ve made up my mind; all of those lives are dependent on me. Everything that happened that night was real. I know that most people won’t believe me, but to be quite honest I don’t care anymore. I’m going to leave my laptop here.

Mom, if you find this I’m so sorry. I love you so much. Goodbye. 
I’m not particularly a religious person. I never really connected with the idea of believing in a God or a Devil; something like religion never really resonated with me until the night a few of my friends and I explored the Lockwood house.

My mother gave me a laptop this morning; she thought that it might help me cope or whatever so here I am, typing what I remember. I haven’t been able to sleep; there’s a shadow that stands in the corner of my hospital room at night, and sometimes I hear voices inside my head telling me to do things, and I’m terrified. 

No one believes me. They keep stating that my traumatizing experience must have triggered my anxiety. They called it a dissociation or detachment from reality, I think. Whatever. I know that what I saw in that house was real, and what had happened to my friends actually did happen. We just wanted an experience. We never really stopped to evaluate the risks that might come with it. 

I guess I’ll start from the beginning.

It was Friday morning, and I decided to kill some time in the library across from my high school. The greatest thing about being in a library was the calming atmosphere. I leaned forward on the worn sofa and rolled my eyes as I turned the page.

*What?* I scoffed. *Why is this even a thing someone would think is even remotely attractive?*

[ I am a lot to handle, but I can assure you that you’ll have fun handling me, love ] 

*Seriously? I’ve met drunk perverts hanging outside of bars with better pick up lines than that* I thought to myself. I didn’t think it could get any cringier until I read the next line. 

[ My heart did an unexpected flip, startled by his bizarrely attractive smile ]

I frowned inwardly. *You know what you really need instead of a creepy-ass stalker boyfriend? A cardiology consult* 

“So annoying,” I sighed. *How is this tripe a best seller?*

“What’s annoying?”

“Oh, shit.” I squeaked. I sat upright and turned around, instinctively about to clog the person when I realized who it was. Harlen leaned up against the wall with a tilted smirk on his face. He stood between me and the fluorescents. 

Harlen was a fellow classmate and a friend of Mark’s, who was an older guy Albie, and I guess Harlen hung out with. Harlen was a tall, attractive guy with an athletic build, short obsidian hair, and grey eyes. To quote the main character in the novel, Harlen was the kind of trouble smarter girls than I had fallen into with disastrous results and a few regrets. 

My cheeks flushed and I closed the book as he cocked his head at me. “Did I seriously scare you?” He joked, but his smile faltered slightly as I glared up at him. 

“Dude,” I groaned. “Don’t sneak up on me like that,”

“What? I didn’t sneak,” He crossed his arms over his chest in protest. “No sneaking was involved. I just walked over here. And to be fair, this is a library-silence is sacred in a library so technically we’re supposed to sneak. We’re also the only ones in here right now anyway, so who cares.” 

My eyes did a pointed sweep of the decidedly empty area before settling back on Harlen’s with an unamused glower. “Yeah,” I said. “I’m pretty sure the zero other people in here appreciate the deceptive aura of calm. What are you doing here?”

“Well, actually I was doing some research for a paper I’m writing for English.” He tightened his grip on his bookbag. “I was told I’d find you here,” He explained. 

“Why?” I asked. “I didn’t tell anyone that I was here.” 

“I’ve got my ways of tracking people down.”

When he saw my expression, Harlen rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on Kaya. I’m just kidding! Is it really that weird that I happen to be in here the same time as you?”

“I guess not.”

“I’ll let you get back to reading, then. Oh,” He started. “I almost forgot. Meet us down at the Love Triangle for lunch. I found a cool place for us to urbex.” 

My friends and I loved urban exploring. Most of the time it was exciting and exhilarating. Sometimes it was a challenge; some places were remote enough that you could simply walk in through the front door like a welcomed visitor. Other times we would be forced to climb up over fences or crawl through windows. 

There was this one time we decided to check out a drainage tunnel because a few people have sworn they heard ominous laughter coming from it. Water seeped into our clothes and we shivered at the coldness. I remember that I cracked a joke about the movie “IT” when we suddenly heard a loud BOOM right next to our heads. I have no idea what caused the sound, but I doubt that it was anything paranormal. 

I was in the middle of stabbing at a large crouton with my fork when Harlen, Albie, and Jessica took their seats at the table. 

“Hey, Kaya,” Albie said as he sat down beside me. Albie and I have been friends since we were little. He was a skinny black guy with a box fade haircut and light brown eyes. We were neither popular nor unpopular. We were what some people called, “drifters” and, according to Albie, those whose social standings meant that if he made random eye contact with someone in the halls he would probably get a nod back, and maybe even a quick “Hey” or “What’s up” If you didn’t know us personally you’d likely assume that we were siblings, especially with the way we acted around each other most of the time.

“What took you guys so long?” I asked, pointing my fork in his direction. 

“It was my fault. I’m sorry.” He grumbled, as he unzipped his lunch bag. “Mr. Golbloom chastised me for like, ten minutes.” 

“To be fair, You were looking at your phone in class.” Jessica said. Jessica was Albie’s girlfriend, a petite girl with long blond hair, and hazel eyes. “And that wasn’t the only thing,”

Albie sighed. “You’re not wrong, but he’s kind of an asshat.”

“You should use that filter once in a while,” Jessica said.

“Oh baby, since when have you known me to have such a filter?”

“Oh please,” I scoffed. “You just choose not to use it.” 

Albie gave me a frown and tossed a baby carrot my way, which I was able to dodge easily. 

Harlen cleared his throat as he pulled out his phone. “So, shall we get to it, then?” 

From what we could find, The Lockwood house had been abandoned for years now, but a few people who have walked the trail close to the place have claimed they could see the spirits of the family walking around inside, and others had even heard music coming from the house. When they went to investigate, there was no one inside.

In 2010 Ethan Lockwood brutally murdered his wife, Anna Lockwood, and her parents Steven and Isabelle Thompson in the middle of the night. Authorities found Anna’s parents dead in their bedroom; both of their bodies were in pieces, and their daughter’s body was found in the basement. Anna had multiple blunt force head injuries and what’s worse, her eyes and tongue were missing. Ethan’s body was found in the living room with a shotgun beside him, and a deep laceration on his neck.

“Get this,” Harlen said, as he scrolled down. “There was a survivor – a ten year old boy. He also had a twin brother, but he was never found.” 

“Holy crap. What happened to the boy who survived?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I guess that part was kept confidential,” Albie said. “For the boy’s protection I guess.” 

“Poor baby,” Jessica frowned. 

“So,” Harlen said. “Are you guys up for it?” 

¤ ¤ ¤

We all crawled into Harlen’s truck around 6pm and headed to the Lockwood house. Albie took his video recorder and held it in front of his face. “Hey, what’s up guys, gals, and nonbinary folks!” Albie spoke with conviction as he stared wide-eyed in the video recorder. “We’re going to prove that ghosts are real!” 

I rolled down the window and glanced out at the scenery. I laughed to myself when we passed a large cornfield. “Guys, this seriously looks like we’re going straight into a modern day horror film.” 

“It really does,” Jessica agreed. 

“I can already feel this place, I’m beginning to sweat all over.” Albie exclaimed as he turned his camera to the window then back on himself. 

“Like something about this place isn’t right at all? That’s pretty understandable, considering.” Harlen said, turning down a gravel road.

“We’re gonna recieve a ton of views for this!” Albie smiled. He turned the camera toward Harlen who waved back from the review mirror.

“Dude,” Harlen chuckled. “I bet some of these viewers are going to think you’re crazy because you’re willing to allow something to throw you across the room and-possibly-murder you for content.” 

We pulled up to the gate in front of the two – story colonial home. There was already a green van parked outside the gate to the property. Mark greeted us at the gate with a colorful bottle of vodka. Mark was an average looking guy in his early 20s with shaggy brown hair and brown eyes. He raised the bottle in his right hand with shot glasses in the other. 

“Hey, guys,” Mark handed each of us a shot glass. “Did you get here alright?” 

“Oh yeah. I’ve driven passed this place a couple of times, I didn’t even need the GPS” Harlen said.

“This definitely screams illegal.” I commented, pointedly toward the large house.

“Only if we get caught, but this place is abandoned so I doubt we’ll get into any trouble with the law.” Harlen said.

“I’m giving you alcohol, and you’re more worried about “breaking and entering”? Mark laughed. 

Albie took his shot and made a face. “This tastes like Tucan Sam fucked me.” 

“Ew,” Jessica grimaced.

Harlen and I laughed. Mark only snorted.

After we each had several shots of vodka, we got ready. We each grabbed a headlight in order to keep our hands free, gloves, and disposable face masks and placed them into our backpacks, along with first aid (just in case). Mark had been urbexing for a while, and he was always prepared with supplies just in case anyone forgot to bring something. 

“So, what happens if we’re not alone in the house?” Jessica asked.

Even though urbex sites are technically “abandoned” that didn’t mean you wouldn’t run into other people inside like squatters or addicts, and they may not react well to seeing a stranger in their space.

“It’s a good thing I brought this along,” Mark said. He pushed his jacket aside and revealed a hand gun tucked inside its holster. 

“Holy crap, man.” Harlen said. 

“I can’t believe you brought a gun.” Albie said.

Jessica and I were speechless. It’s a good idea to bring some sort of self defense tool just in case your physical safety is threatened, but bringing something like a gun raises the risk of you accidentally injuring yourself.

“Of course I did. It’s always good to carry protection.” Mark explained.

A few minutes after, the five of us walked up to the large rusted gate. With a little bit of work, we each slipped through the bars and headed up to the house. 

“You know those haunted attractions where people dress up in order to scare the shit out of you, except it’s actual demons and they’re going to steal your soul!” Jessica smiled beside Albie who threaded his fingers through hers. “It’s actually kinda thrilling.”

“Awesome,” Harlen smirked. “I’m glad you sound so optimistic about it.” 

“I try to be!” 

We stepped up onto the porch, which wrapped around the front of the house. The paint on the door was chipped with age in places. “Are you guys ready?” Harlen asked. “Once we enter this house, we will possibly become vulnerable to any demonic presence that might reside here.” 

I rolled my eyes. “If I’m in serious danger, I’m getting out. I’ll throw myself out the window if I have to.” 

“I’m on Kaya’s team,” Jessica agreed. “Team rational.”

“What, and risk getting a broken leg?” Albie asked.

“Better a broken leg than having your soul taken by a demonic entity.” I replied.

“Alright, guys let’s do this.” Harlen said. He opened the door and the five of us headed inside. 

The front door opened up into a foyer. Straight ahead of us was a staircase that led up to the second floor. There was a spacious living room to our right and a dining room to our left, and from there, an alcove enterance that led into the kitchen. I could tell that this place had been abandoned for years; there was cobwebs and peeled paint on the walls. There were remnants of furniture left ripped, dismantled, and stained which laid disorderly on the floor of the living room, reminding me of death. 

This had once been the home of a happy upper-class family, full of life. Now it was replaced by ghosts of the past, vermin, spiders, dirt, and trash. The smell of rot and the taste of regurgitated food made me grimace in disgust. 

“Why hasn’t anyone fix this place up and put it back on the market?” Jessica asked.

“Who really knows,” Albie replied.

“Hello!” Harlen announced as he twirled on his heels. “Are there any spirits here?” I glanced over at Harlen with a look and he shrugged. 

“Is this what you guys imagined?” Mark queried. 

“Sure, minus the dead bodies,” I walked into the living room and spotted a mid century record player console propped up against the wall next to a grand piano. There was a record still on the turntable, “You Belong To Me” by “Patience and Prudence”

“Hey, come check this out.” Out of curiosity I placed the stylus and tried turning it on, not really expecting anything to happen. I jerked my hand away when it began to play. 

I quickly took the needle off, a little creeped out. “Holy crap, that scared me.”

“That thing still works?” Albie asked, as he inspected the record player. “That song is kinda sweet,”

“No it isn’t,” Jessica frowned. “It’s the kind of song you would hear while being tortured to death.” 

After we goofed around a little bit, we all decided to begin exploring around the house. Mark started up the stairs and asked if anyone would like to join him. 

“I’ll join you, man.” Harlen said. He gave me a wink before heading towards the stairs with Mark, and I glanced over at Albie and Jessica as they disappeared down the hall.

I was alone.

I walked over to the piano, and carefully lifted the lid up and over to reveal its keys. My fingers traced the lines in between them and pushed down lightly on a few. The deep sounds reverberated around the room.

My eyes drifted up to the small picture frame sitting on top of the piano. I absent-mindedly bit my bottom lip and reached up to grab the frame. My fingers trailed across the picture, leaving an oily impression against the glass that held the picture in place. A family of four stared back at me and I realized that it was Ethan, Anna, and their twin boys. I was so focused on the twins that I almost didn’t hear my phone alerting me that I had a new text message.

It was a text from Albie.

From “Albie” at 6:45pm: Meet us down in the basement. I want to show u something.

To “Albie” at 6:46pm: What is it?

From “Albie” at 6:46pm: There’s some cool shit down here. Hurry up.

I rolled my eyes and placed my phone in my pocket as I made my way down the hall. I paused at the top of the basement stairs. I could hear Jessica and Albie, the beems from their headlights bouncing around. 

“Albie?” I called out. 

“Yeah, Kaya, we’re down here.” He replied. “Come on down. We have something to show you.” 

“Alright, I’m coming down hold on.” I carefully descended the stairs and turned the corner. “So, what did you want to show me-” 

My voice died in my throat. It was dark down here, and my friends were nowhere to be seen. I was gripped by a sudden sense of unnease. I stood near the stairs and turned on my headlamp. “Hello? Albie, this isn’t funny, dude.” 

What answered me was silence. Absolute silence. I was alone, or I thought I was until my light fell onto something moving a few feet in front of me. It was an androgynous looking kid around my age with pale skin, shoulder-length black hair, and violet eyes. They wore a long sleeve gothic cloak poncho, over thin black leggings. Their lips pulled back into a malicious grin as they came closer to me. I watched in horror as their eyes rolled to the back of their head and their mouth split open wide, revealing sharp teeth. 

They reached out for me and I screamed in terror, my instincs finally kicked in. I bolted up the steps, and stumbled into the hallway. I ran for the front door and tried to leave, but it wouldn’t open. *What the hell?!* that made no damn sense! My heart sank into the pit of my stomach. Suddenly I felt something touch my shoulder. I screamed, ready to defend myself.

“Hey. Hey! Kaya, stop it’s me, Albie.” 

I stopped struggling as my eyes refocused on the familiar faces in front of me. Albie, Jessica, and Harlen stared back at me with confused alarm. 

“Are you alright?” Harlen asked. “What happened?”

I shook my head and quickly glanced behind them at the basement door, but there was nothing there. I know I hadn’t imagined it! I turned my attention back to my friends. “I saw something down in the basement! I want to leave. Now.” 

“What are you talking about, Kaya? Hold up, did you see something down there? Holy shit. The ghosts didn’t think one of us would see them, but we did. Can you-“

Before Albie can finish his sentence, I roughly pushed him away from me and turned back to the door. “Damnit, Albie! I don’t want to be in this fucking house anymore! It won’t open! Why won’t it open!” 

“Seriously, Kaya what the hell?” Albie asked, almost annoyed.

“Just relax, Kaya. Let me give it a try, alright?” Harlen offered, calmly. He grabbed the knob, but it stayed shut. “What the hell?”

“See? I told you it won’t open!” I hissed.

“What do you mean, “it won’t open” let me give it a try.” Albie shoved his way passed us. He motioned for all of us to stand back and we watched as he tried to use his whole body against it.

“M-maybe the door’s jammed.” Jessica exclaimed. “Let’s chill out. The front door isn’t the only exit out of this place.” 

“Jessica’s right. Let’s try the door in the kitchen.” Harlen said. We entered the kitchen and Harlen quickly made his way over to the screen door that faced the forest. He cursed under his breath. “Damnit. Nothing.” 

“Hold up, guys. Where’s Mark?” Albie asked.

Harlen quickly pulled his phone out to call Mark when we all collectively got a text from him. Reminding us that we had set up a group chat for easy contact. Harlen glanced back at me with an odd expression I couldn’t name. I opened my texts and a sharp stab of dread settled in my stomach. 

From “Mark” at 7:05pm: I’m down in the basement, Harlen. Where r u? 

From “Mark” at 7:06pm: Harlen is that u? It’s not funny, man.

Harlen texted Mark that we were all in the kitchen. I watched as the three small dots in a text bubble pending before it disappeared and Harlen’s cell phone rang. He answered and placed Mark on speaker phone. 

“What the hell do you mean you’re in the kitchen? I definitely heard your voice down here.” 

Harlen cursed, and told Mark to make his way to the kitchen. Harlen started toward the basement and we all followed right behind him. Before we could reach the stairs to the basement, however, the door swung shut, the force of it knocked us backwards. We heard Mark’s gun go off several times followed by his peircing screams of terror before they were abruptly cut short. In our inebriated panic, I failed at the last second to realize we were all running in different directions. 

I remember running up the stairs and locking the bathroom door behind me. My heart pounded painfully against my ribcage as I fumbled for my phone, thankful that it hadn’t fallen out of my pocket. I willed myself to control my sobs and called 911, but for some reason my call wouldn’t go through. 

“Nononono! Fuck, please no.” I collapsed against the bathtub and cried into my sleeves. Paranoia nearly consumed me once I thought of my friends and every horrible scenario when I received a text from Albie. I looked at it confused. 

I wiped the snot from my face and quickly texted him back. How in the hell was I able to receive his texts when I couldn’t get ahold of the cops? 

From “Albie” at 7:20pm: Apparently we can contact each other in this house, but our phone’s service seems to be cut off from the outside world. Where r u?

What the hell is going on in this place??

To “Albie” at 7:21pm: I’m in the upstairs bathroom. Do u know where Harlen and Jess are? 

From “Albie” at 7:25pm: Jess is with me. I don’t know where Harlen is. 

My stomach dropped, but before I could reply Albie sent another text, and what I read made my blood run cold.

From “Albie” at 7:25pm: There is smthing moving in the hallway outside the room we r in. Stay quiet and keep ur phone on silent. If we need to contact each other use text.

It was around thirty minutes after when Albie replied with another text updating me with their situation. The thing stalking outside their room a while ago was gone now, and it hadn’t come back.

From “Albie” at 8:00pm: We’re going to make our way to you. Stay where u r

To “Albie” at 8:02pm: Ok. Be careful. 

I slowly got to my feet and set my phone down beside the sink and took a deep breath to level my breathing. Suddenly, I heard something pound against the door. I screamed and stumbled backward. “Holy shit!”

“Kaya?” It was Harlen. “Kaya, is that you?”

“H-Harlen?” I collected myself and made my way over to the bathroom door. I walked into the hallway, relieved that I wasn’t alone anymore. Harlen was safe, thank God. “Oh my god, Harlen I’m so glad you’re-“

I gasped, and I stumbled forward as the door behind me slammed shut. I felt a sudden wave of dread wash over me as my eyes swept up and down the vacant hallway. Whatever was keeping us here tricked me. I quickly tried going back into the bathroom, but it wouldn’t open, not only that but I left my phone by the sink. “No! Damnit!” I needed my phone, it was my only way to stay in contact with my friends, and how was Albie going to know where I was? I had two options, I could try and make my way to Albie or find another place to hide. 

My heart thudded loudly in my ears as my headlamp bounced off the walls, chasing nothing more than shadows. I stuck close to the wall as I made my way down the hall. From somewhere down the hall, I heard a voice call out. It was Albie’s voice telling me to come over to him. I hesitated for a moment. What if it was another trick? It definitely could be since whatever is toying with us was capable of mimicking voices. What if it really was Albie? Regardless, I had to go passed the room if I wanted to find Albie or another place to hide.

“Kaya, we’re in here,” Albie whispered to me as I got closer to one of the bedrooms. I hesitated before I stepped inside. The bedroom smelled awful, like rotten meat hung out in the sun for too long. My headlamp’s light swept the room until it landed on a lone figure lying face-up on the bed. 

“…Albie?” I whispered, tentatively. My voice sounded thin, like old paper. The figure on the bed didn’t answer, but when I I crept closer, I slipped on something wet. I glanced down at the floor. It was blood; a trail of blood led in from the doorway all the way to the bed. “Oh my god!” I screamed. My stomach rebelled and I heaved out my lunch until I couldn’t expel anything else. 

My throat burned as I wiped my mouth, and my chest hurt from sobbing out his name. Mark laid sprawled on the bed, his abdomen was ripped open and what remained of his entrails spilled over his body like a gory blanket. I stumbled backward, I fell against the door closing it shut. I was about to leave when I spotted the gun tucked under Mark’s jacket. 

Oh god, this was probably the worst decision ever and the likelihood that this was yet another trick was high, but I needed something to protect myself with. I’ve watched Mark use it before when we all went camping a year ago, so I kind of knew how to use it. I steeled myself and started toward the bed. 

The closer I got the more I can see the damage done to his body; his abdomen and chest cavity were open and hollowed out. The skin looked like it was rolled back, torn and ragged. His sternum was completely gone, a few of his ribs were cracked so they protruded from either side of his body like fangs. Half of his bottom lip looked like it was chewed off and his left ear was missing. I shook my head and tentatively reached out for the gun. Just as I grabbed it, I felt something gooey covered on the grip of the gun. 

I yelped and dropped it on the floor. I cursed and bent down to pick it up. Once I did I wiped the substance off with my sleeve with a grimace and made sure the safety was on. I was tucking it into my jacket pocket when something dripped onto my hand. I looked up and saw Mark or what used to be Mark looming over me from the ceiling like Spiderman. His eyes were oily black, his face twisted in an agonized and vengeful expression. Before I could move, he threw himself at me.

Somehow, I managed to dodge him and wrench the door open, hitting Mark as he lunged at me. The blow was hard enough that it sent Mark sprawling across the floor. I rushed out of the room and back into the empty hallway. I took a chance and looked back, but Mark wasn’t there. 

When I reached the end of the hallway, I felt hands grab me and pull me around the corner. I opened my mouth to scream, but a hand clamped over my mouth, silencing me. Panic cut through my body like a hot blade, and new found adrenaline flooded my system as I twisted and shoved at the person holding me immobile.

“Kaya, stop,” Albie hissed. “It’s me.”

I turned around and my eyes widened with tears as Albie released his hand from my mouth, and Jessica pulled me into a hug as I told them what happened. Albie pointed towards the stairs and motioned for us to follow. Albie led us into the foyer. We heard movement in the basement so as quickly and quietly as we could, we crawled inside a closet across from the living room.

“What are we going to do?” Jessica asked. “We have no weapons!”

“I found this on Mark’s body.” I exclaimed as I showed them the hand gun. 

Albie got to his feet. “ah, crap…I’m going to be right back. I left my camera in the kitchen.”

“What? Hell no.” I hissed. Splitting up is a terrible Idea! Risking his life for that damn camera? Was he an idiot? 

“Just stay here, alright? Kaya, keep that gun out.” He said, with no room for an argument. “Whatever this thing is, it can mimic our voices so we’ll need a password to distinguish them from us.” He took out his phone and typed *Last Alliance* 

After he left, I crawled over to the door and locked it. I sat down next to Jessica who was sobbing. I turned to her and placed my palms to her tear stained face. “Hey, Jess. We’ll make it out of here alright? I promise-” 

Jessica shook her head and pushed my hands away from her face. “Don’t say that shit to me. We’re going to die here, Kaya!” She hissed. “Why is this happening? I wanna go home!” 

I sat back against the wall and sighed.

Ten minutes later I heard movement coming from outside the room. I quickly got to my feet and placed my hands on the door. 

“Last Alliance,” Albie whispered, rather quickly. “Hurry up and let me in.”

I hadn’t even released the door knob when Albie pushed passed me and helped Jessica to her feet without much protest on her end. “Shit, it was him all along.” 

“What are you talking about?” I asked.

“I caught it on camera!” He whispered frantically. “The reason he brought us out here wasn’t to-shit-” he was breathing hard. He moved toward me and shoved the camera in my direction. “Here, hold onto it for-” His sentence was cut off abruptly as the thing that used to be Mark drilled his fist into Albie’s chest from behind. Albie’s eyes widened as his mind had come to the realization at what happened. 

Mark dropped Albie’s body on the ground and his lips twisted into a manic grin as he examined his blood-covered arm. “He was spying on us,” Mark said, but it didn’t sound like Mark anymore. His voice sounded like several voices overlapping, fighting for center stage. “He didn’t think that we would notice, but we did.” 

We screamed, and holding onto the camera with one hand I pulled her toward me with the other, quickly. We couldn’t save him, and I knew that if we didn’t move now we would end up just like him.

Jessica and I bolted down the hallway and back up the stairs. We found an empty room that must have been a personal office at one point, and barricaded ourselves inside. I cursed when I noticed the room we were in didn’t have a window wide enough for us to escape through. I sat against the wall beside Jessica who sobbed into her sleeves.

I glanced down at the camcorder which felt heavy in my hand. What did Albie capture on camera that had him so upset? I turned it on and what I saw on the screen made my blood run cold. It was Harlen, the kid from the basement who stood beside Harlen, and the thing that used to be Mark; Harlen was speaking to him, but it was in a strange language that I couldn’t understand. After he was finished, the thing that used to be Mark knelt down as if Harlen was some kind of royalty, and that was where the video stopped. 

I heard that thing right outside the room we were in. He was telling us that no matter what we did, we were not leaving this place. A few seconds later, he broke through the door, pushing the desk and chairs out of the way with ease. With the force, one of the chairs knocked me to the floor. 

He released a sick and twisted laughter, and stalked toward me, eyes filled with malice. Jessica grabbed something heavy from the floor and chucked it at Mark. Mark was startled for a second, and then slowly turned his attention to her. She yelped and frantically swept her eyes around the room for anything she could use as a weapon. He lunged for her and they collided to the floor. 

I fumbled for my jacket’s zipper for the gun, but I was too late. I watched in utter horror as he ripped into my friend; her screams of terror and agony will haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. I pulled myself to my feet, my back bumped into something hard. A metal filing cabinet. Mark turned his attention back on me, but before he could reach me, he tripped over something and he fell to the floor. I shifted, and using my whole body weight, I managed to tip it over. It landed on top of Mark with a sickening crunch of bone and viscera. 

I slowly made my way to Jessica’s body and collapsed to my knees. I clutched at my own head and screamed until it hurt. At that moment, all I wanted to do was crumble in defeat. My voice had broken into heavy sobs so loud and ugly that I almost didn’t hear Harlen’s footsteps behind me. 

“Kaya, is that you?” He called out to me, his voice full of worry. I was hardly listening to him. This was his fault! Rage spiked through me like a knife to my gut, it twisted and turned until I was all ground beef inside; I had the sudden urge to pull the gun from my jacket and-no, I had to calm down. Maybe if I feigned ignorance, I might still have a chance to escape, however slim that was. He bent down, and I let him pull me along with him without protest. With his eyes forward, I slowly put my hand on the gun.

We were almost to the kitchen when Harlen turned around, and leaned against the wall. “So, you know, don’t you.”

It wasn’t a question. I slowly pulled out the gun, unlocked it, and trained it on him. He stared at me with an unsettling expression, and I could have sworn his eyes were black. I suddenly felt an intense pressure pour down on me. I could feel a miasma of something intense as his eyes bore into mine; my arms trembled with the effort of keeping them aloft. The gun clenched tightly in my hands like a life line. I couldn’t faulter. I knew that if I did, even for an instant, Harlen would undoubtedly kill me.

“Oh, don’t be like that, Kaya. You’re not getting out of this house unless I say so, so let’s just chat, hm?”

I shook my head and raised the gun to his chest, and for a brief moment I caught a glimpse of a surprised expression on his face when I pulled the trigger. The sound of the gunshot reverberated around me. I pulled the trigger again and again, but the gun was empty. I dropped it to the floor, my hands shaking. He glanced down at himself. “Huh. Well, would ya look at that, you managed to get me through the ribs, good job.”

I was running before Harlen finished his sentence. However, he wasn’t coming after me-at least not yet. Figures. I couldn’t leave this place so he had no reason to put much effort into the chase. I stumbled through the house, catching myself on overturned furniture in order to keep my balance as I made my way towards the stairs.

I tripped over something and I caught myself against the wall across from the stairs. I paused for a moment to catch my breath. The house seemed to resonate with his manic laughter. I glanced behind me, and I felt a wave of cold dread as he sauntered toward me down the hall. Hands in his pockets, with an almost amused expression. 

“Where do you think you’re going, Kaya?” He asked. “Didn’t I tell you before?”

The words, “There is no escape” suddenly appeared all over the walls in blood. I cursed, and pushed myself off the wall and bolted up the steps, down the hall, and into one of the bedrooms and quickly closed the door. I looked around at what was once a child’s room. There was a twin sized bed in the center of the room, a nightstand across from the closet, and a bathroom.

I spotted a decent sized window and I ran over to it, but it wouldn’t open and I cursed when there was nothing around me to break it with. Without any time to come up with a plan, I quickly slid underneath the bed and turned off my headlamp. I immediately cursed at myself again, of all the places to hide I chose the first place any one would look! 

I contemplated whether or not to find another hiding place, but before I could move I heard him make his way down the hall singing that creepy ass song. “My honey I know with the dawn that you will be gone, but tonight you belong to me, just little ‘ol me~” 

The bedroom door opened. I covered my mouth and tried to silence my breathing, hoping to God that he wouldn’t find me under the bed. I watched in fear as he closed the door behind him and made his way over to the bed. The bed dipped slightly as Harlen’s weight sank onto it. He told me things I didn’t want to hear and more. This monster-this demon-slithered into our lives just for all of this to happen. 

My eyes widened and I tucked my arms to my sides, the wooden bed frame gave a protest above me as Harlen laid down on top of it. Then he sighed, almost forlorn. “This was my brother’s room, you know. Coming back here brings back so many memories,” 

Right after he said that I felt something prickle behind my eyelids. I shut my eyes tightly as gruesome scenes appeared inside my head. There was so much blood, and images shown of a young boy in pajamas stalking through the house with an ax in his hands picking off his family members one by one-doing things a normal child his size wouldn’t be able to do, but Harlen was anything but normal. I felt bile rise in my throat but I managed to keep it down. 

“The final stage of grief is acceptance, Kaya.” He said. His cruel voice brought me back to the present. “You have a lot of spirit, I like that. I’m also in a good mood so I’ll give you two options: you can either die here or you can become an important piece in my domino set. You should be grateful that I’m even giving you an option. So, what’s it going to be?”

I opened my mouth and closed it again; what was I supposed to say to something like that? What was going to happen to me if I said yes? If I said no… 

A low growl -yes, a growl- rumbled above me and I felt something snag my ankle. I panicked, my fingers tore into the wooden floor as I was dragged out from underneath the bed. I was thrown across the room, pain shot up my back as something bit into my spine. Harlen straightened up and started toward me. I quickly averted my gaze, the panic swarmed all over me like a hive of angry bees. 

“Wh-why are you d-doing this?” I asked, my breath hitched between sobs. 

Harlen knelt down in front of me. “Hey…hey look at me, Kaya.” 

Absolute terror gripped me as he forced me to look at him. His features weren’t human; the light of the moon highlighted the inhuman planes of his face. Black, spidery thread-like lines creeped around his forehead and right beneath his oily black eyes. His mouth had split open, wider than any human mouth was capable of. 

His nails grew long and sharp against my chin. It was mesmerizing, fascinating almost, like watching a lion’s face before it tears yours off. Suddenly, I couldn’t breathe; my lungs felt swollen and inflamed, my hands came up to my throat as I coughed and wheezed. Was this an asthma attack? No, it was Harlen. 

“When I ask you a question, do not answer it with another question do you understand?” He snarled. “You will understand why when you arrive. Now, will it be a yes or a no?”

His features calmed and he looked human again, and whatever power on me broke, it allowed me to inhale sharply. I gasped. I wanted to scream at him, I wanted to rage. Instead, I dropped my hands on my thighs. I wanted to live. 

¤ ¤ ¤

“Kaya, honey” My mom said, as she came into my hospital room, “You’ve got someone to see you this morning! One of your friends from school, I think.”

I placed my book down on the table beside me. She bent down and gave me a kiss on the forehead. “And he’s very attractive,” She whispered, “It’s not every day a tall handsome boy comes to sit by your bedside.”

I nodded and gave her a small smile. It drooped just a little when Harlen came around the corner with a bouquet of flowers. My mom smiled at him and walked toward the door, “I’ll just leave you two alone. What did you say your name was again?”

“My name is Harlen,” He said, as he stepped forward. “Harlen Lockwood.”

“Nice to meet you, Harlen,” She said, smiling back at him before exiting the room.

Harlen placed the flowers on the table and sat down next to the hospital bed, he placed a hand on my thigh. “I’m so glad you’re feeling better, Kaya.” He said. He gently pushed a loose strand of my hair out of my face and gently tucked it behind my ear. “Remember what we talked about. You will come to me after you are discharged from the hospital,”

I shivered at his touch, and out of curiosity I asked, “What happens if I don’t?” 

Harlen let loose a dark chuckle. His head dips until his lips skate by the curve of my ear. “Then I’ll hunt you down.” He whispered to me like it’s obvious. “I’ll kill you and everyone you care about. I’m capable of all sorts of horrors; things you can’t even imagine.” 
I watched as Harlen stood up from the seat.

“Now, I’ve got a few things to do before you arrive,” Harlen said, smiling down at me. He paused by the room’s door. “I’ll see you soon.”

His visit was a few days ago. I’ll be discharged tomorrow afternoon. I’ve made up my mind; all of those lives are dependent on me. Everything that happened that night was real. I know that most people won’t believe me, but to be quite honest I don’t care anymore. I’m going to leave my laptop here.

Mom, if you find this I’m so sorry. I love you so much. Goodbye. 

Credit: Dark Adalia