The Killer Farmhouse
The air around you is cloaked in darkness, as you approach the old abandoned house out in the country. The property is shrouded in dead trees. The ground is saturated from rain, though the smell from the ground is rather suspicious. You glance at the light from the full moon trickle through the crackling branches and across a black wrought-iron fence, which surrounds the house. The house itself is an old farmhouse made of old lumber and displays two floors. The white paint appears to be flaking off with the chipping wooden boards. Though dead, the trees cling to their leaves, pretending to be alive. In the wind you hear whispers dash around you. You hear the laughter of children, but see nobody. Overhead you hear the crackle of thunder. Suddenly you hear the wailing snarls of an angry dog approach you from behind. You turn to see him, but there’s nothing behind you. You turn back towards the house and see the gate to the fence is missing. You notice in the front yard a painted-pink iron swing set with the swing rocking back and forth by itself. Continually you hear children laughing and people whispering, but see nobody around you. As you approach the swing, it still swings then stops abruptly. Above your head you hear the cries of a flock of crows, nesting in the trees. Cautiously, you approach the house. In the pitch-black bushes in front of the house, you hear snarling and see sinister red eyes glowing at you. Swiftly the eyes vanish, but the growling never ceases. You ascend the stairs leading up to the front porch. From the porch, you hear the sounds of a baby crying. You follow the sound to a white and pink woven baby carriage, lying on its side without the child inhabiting it. You hear laughter all around you. You see flashes of a four-year-old girl with braided brown hair and a white night gown. She keeps asking you if you’re her mommy, and then vanishes from your sight. From inside the house, you see mice scampering across the braided-frayed green rug and hardwood floorboards. Shadows loom across the floor. A storm crashes overhead, with flashes of lightning illuminating the clouds. The growling continues and you hear something approach you from behind. You turn to see it, but and find nothing behind you. You continue to hear laughter and voices around you. You reach for the knob on the front door, and find it unlocked. Suddenly you hear a branch from a dead tree, topple and hit the ground outside. Then you feel it raining, and try opening the door. Despite it being unlocked, it won’t open, as though someone or something is trying to keep it shut. You finally tug on it and open it, to find nobody behind it. Instead you hear a sinister laugh from an old woman cackle across the dark house. From the entryway, you hear a telephone ringing. Then you see a black candlestick phone with the receiver resting on the hook. The antique phone stands upright upon the wobbling oak end table, which stands on the other side of the couch, opposite the door. The couch is torn and weathered, with the springs stabbing through the brown, upholstered cushions. The phone keeps ringing, but when you grab the receiver off the hook, you quickly discover the cord severed. You hear voices behind you, the voice of an old woman whispers through your ears, but you can’t see her. Instead you see a dark shadow float away from you. You walk slowly through the entryway, when you hear a piano playing in another room. You glance at the room, towards the piano and see nobody there and the piano keys remaining still. Again you hear voices and hear a dog snarling behind you. Someone whispers to you, calling you Emily, repeatedly. Outside the house, you hear laughter of a man and hear someone thumping on a drum. The wind howls and moans with a bizarre echo mixed in. In the house, you hear the wailing of a baby and the whispers of a woman, descending a wooden staircase. Cautiously you approach the stairs, tiptoeing as quietly as you can. Despite your caution, the stairs creak with every step up. Once again, you spot the little girl at the top of the stairs. “Have you come to play with me?” she asks, disappearing and reappearing in front of you. You say nothing; instead your mind and ears are fixated upon the footsteps of the dog behind you. You continue to hear growling behind you, and continue to see nothing. In a huge dark shadow, you see the red glowing eyes staring at you. Trying to break the tension, a trumpet plays wildly in the distance, but only adds to the tension instead. You hear the antique phone ringing again, but for some reason the sound is as loud as it was. You turn around and see the phone behind you, as though it had followed you. “Pick it up, dear,” whispers the old woman’s voice. You freak and back towards the end of a hallway. You approach a room and see a child-sized princess bed. In the bed, the skeletal remains of the child lies wearing the same sleeping gown. You see the child’s remains and start to panic. You race away from the room and notice the creature staring at you in the hallway, growling and snarling at you. You panic and back away quickly from the menace. You hear it growl and echo throughout the house. You hear it licking its mouth and see its shimmering white jagged teeth. Outside, you still hear thunder overhead and wind moaning. On the floor of another room, lightning reveals the remains of the old woman and the infant in her arms. Screams continue to echo from the baby. The woman lies on the floor, mummified with a black tattered dress and a frozen shocked look on her face. You scream and race toward the stairs. The creature immediately gives chase and bounds after you. You race down the stairs and towards the front door. Suddenly the door slams shut. You try to pry it open, but it won’t budge. You frantically search for an exit, as you continually feel the foreboding presence of the menacing dog. It stalks you from the shadows, preparing to lunge. You race through the house, frantically searching for an exit. You find a screen door next to the counter in the kitchen. You yank the door off its hinges and start to race out, when you hear an old man laughing and feel resistance from him pushing you back inside. You finally break from his resistance, only to see the mummified body of a bald old man with a long white beard dangling from his opened jaw. Black overalls hang loose on his body, contrasting against his pale white skin. The creature sneaks along the shadows behind you. Its black fur shimmers in the moonlight, offering no comfort to you. You back away from the menace, and trip over the legs of the dead man. You stumble backward over the corpse and the end of the porch. You land on the hard ground of the pathway, hitting your head. You struggle to your feet, ignoring your injury and race away from the house, with the dog in pursuit. Suddenly, you feel woozy and see a trail of blood leading from the house to you. You see the front yard fence just a hundred feet away. You stumble towards the front, with your feet sticking to the sticky ground. The black dog growls after you, tracking the scent of your blood trail. You struggle towards the fence. Your vision becomes blurry with every step. You feel yourself going in and out of consciousness, as you become wearier. You finally make it to the fence, but find it difficult to cross. Around you, eerie voices laugh and sneer after you. You hear the dog approaching, zeroing in on you like a vulture. You cling to the fence, trying to walk towards the exit. Every step becomes a struggle. You’re now only within twenty feet from the gate. You see the swing set again with the seat rocking back and forth. The little girl sits on the swing, looking at you with a smile on her face. “Don’t worry. Soon we’ll play together forever and ever…” Slowly you can’t hear or see anything. Then just before the gate, your body drops to the ground on its stomach. Your mind goes blank as you succumb to the wound on the back of your head. You barely notice the giant black dog on your back, tearing your body to shreds. All you notice is nothing but silence. That and the lingering memory you had of your life, just shortly before you died.
