Horror Story

[Gildarts]

“Shit, we should go,” Emily still couldn’t believe what she was seeing, but it seemed her lips had processed it fast enough.

“What? Go? Go where?” Mitch asked, not having seen what lay behind the tan curtain.

“Look,” the curtain rings clashed along the steel rod in a metallic chime as she pulled them open, “Those are all unmarked graves, look close at the size and shape. Someone worked hard on those. God, my hand is shaking,” the redhead said audibly and tried to get her hand under control.

“Graves?” Kat’s jaw dropped as she received what Emily had said, “No… It can’t be.”

“But.. Where do we go? If we go out there, we might be who ever owns this house’s sitting ducks,” Mitch mused.

“He’d have the home-field advantage if we stayed here, but we have more numbers, and this house seems unlivable, which means maybe they abandoned their cause or died. I’m not sure how I feel about going back out there. This at least we can lay somewhat low until the sun rises.” Jamal stated.

This was when democracy backfired. People were panicked, no matter the decision, it would be made out of fear. Logic would kick in, and staying would be the more logical of the two, there was safety simply in knowing what they were up against. Emily however thought that anyone who had killed as many graves that were out there knew how to kill people swiftly and without injury because well, he’d lasted this long, right?

“That is so creepy Em. I don’t even… I would’ve never guessed those were graves, maybe he’s just a misunderstood farmer,” Kat wanted to believe it, so she spoke her wishes out loud.

“Do you want to continue searching the rest of the house?” Jamal asked the others, they could leave and turn tail right now, going out into the black abyss of the growing night, not knowing where they were going.

“No,” Emily stated firmly, “Let’s take some firewood and any kindling we can find and make camp in the forest.”

“Are you kidding? At least in here we’ve got wall to protect us against the things out there!” Kat disagreed, that was one against her.

“I think at the very least we should see if there’s anything else that can be found.” Mitch stated. Emily gripped her big ol’ knife’s handle harder, out of the fear she felt, the unease of danger. She couldn’t know when it would strike. She gulped down the dryness throbbing in her throat.

“Okay, we’ll search the rest,” Jamal said with some hesitation in his voice. “Cellar or attic first?”

God, if those were the choices, I didn’t know which one was less creepy. Emily thought to herself and waited till everyone else had filed out of the room to follow their steps.

“Attic,” Kat had spoken up, and Em thanked her as she played through all of the horror movies that ended in the basement of the spooky haunted houses. Then she blinked, realizing that the basement would then be the end of their search.

Crap. At the very least, Emily managed to angle herself the last up the ladder. It seemed to be the most sturdy part of the house and wasn’t weathered from time or the brashness of climate. She hurried up though, for the place she ascended was a little square cut out of the attic’s floor, and it creeped her out how she couldn’t see her feet, she had a fear that a hand would shoot out, hitch onto her ankle and drag her down.

The others were all gathered around, looking through some of this man’s dirty laundry, though not in the literal use of the term. They dredged up old pictures and photo albums which were quickly sifted through, and they could only guess which of the many people in the photographs was the killer and owner of this house.

“Oh… Oh God,” Emily said and her voice broke. Somehow she’d gotten stuck with the last uncharted corner of the attic, and she was opening a dusted over trunk and she unveiled a pile full of tiny shoes. There were likely twenty in this little chest, and there were several chests next to it. The little shoes belonged to little girls, most of them were different, some were the same, some were white, some were purple with cute little decals on them, some had mud splattered on them from splashing playfully in puddles. All of them horrified her.

It was now that she knew who was in those graves out back.

“What? What is it Em?” Mitch came up from behind her and saw the pile of shoes, he opened up the other two chests and the findings were the same, but with different types of shoes. This guy was a sick fuck and these were the trophies he took from the dead little girls he’d axed.

The pair of shoes she’d grasped in her hand fell to the ground as Emily realized, “Guys, I just realized… He’ll know what to expect if he comes home now. We left the lights on.”

Then it happened. There was a knock at the door.