The Farm House: Chapter-2A

Continued from last time...

Eric was alone in his uncle’s house. The 11:00 O’ Clock news was on and there was some story about a guy who raised a record-sized pumpkin and was exhibiting it at the fair. When they ran stories like that, you know that it was a slow news day. His uncle's cat Elsa, was doing her usual routine of sitting and staring at him; that cat wasn’t good for much else…what cat is? It was when the news was over that Eric realized what happens next…bedtime. He knew that he would have to go to bed, but the thought frightened him, and he didn’t seem to know why. It could have something to do with the fact that he would have to turn-off all the lights and try to sleep in the dark, empty, and let’s not forget, BIG house. The fact that there were neighbors all around him did nothing to alleviate his anxiety. It was a well-known fact that when the lights went out, the ghosts came to life. Everybody knows that!

“Elsa, will you stop that tearing around like that! You had all day to play, there’s no need to run around the house and…”

He stopped in mid-sentence when he saw what Elsa was doing. That stupid, brain-damaged cat was sitting at the base of the stairs and staring. As he sat there and looked at her, Elsa started growling and hissing into the dark stairwell. The feelings that washed over him were ones of fright and dread. Knowing that the stupid cat had seen or sensed something in the house, he knew that drifting off to sleep would not be an option until he went and checked things out. So, Eric got up out of his chair and did what any normal person would do and opened the front door. He did this not so he could run outside, but to give himself a sense of security. He knew that beyond the front door lay the neighbors and safety. It never occurred to him that the front door was a full 30 feet from the staircase door. However, in this case, it's the feeling that counts.

Eric slowly turned from the front door and started for the rear of the house. “Elsa, what do you think you're doing?”

The sound of his own voice comforted him, although it did nothing to alleviate the tension from Elsa. As Eric neared the staircase, turning on every light within his reach, he saw that Elsa’s fur was standing on end and the growling grew louder. When Eric got to within a few feet of the doorway, Elsa started to back away, spitting at the door. It suddenly grew very cold in the hallway and Eric sensed something else; it was a feeling very hard to describe, but he felt the presence of evil and it seemed to be coming from the stairwell in waves. It took every ounce of strength his body could muster, to go those last few feet.

As he turned to look in the doorway, he comforted himself with his own voice by talking to Elsa, “It's okay Elsa, there’s nothing up there.”

As he looked up the curving stairway, he heard the sound of a creaking floorboard from above him. Elsa, always helpful, took off and headed for the laundry room at the other side of the house. Something was upstairs, when there shouldn't be anything there. The floorboard creaked again. There was definitely something walking around up there. Looking over his shoulder, Eric noticed that the front door was wide open and there was a clear shot to the outside.

Feeling brave, Eric looked back up the stairs and yelled, “Hey, you don’t scare me you stupid ghost!”
All of a sudden, an inhuman howl roared through the house. It didn’t come from just upstairs, but from all around him.

Turning back Eric yelled once more, “Come and get me, you jerk!”

As he turned and started to run for the front door, he heard the unmistakable sound of an immensely heavy footstep at the top of the stairs. Running for the door, Eric noticed that he was not really running at all. It felt as if something was pushing against him and slowing him down. The footsteps behind him grew louder, but now they also came from the direction of the basement. Eric tried to run faster, but it was like running through gelatin. The howls and the footsteps grew nearer from all sides, yet the front door seemed to be just out of reach. The overpowering sense of evil seemed to be suffocating him and making it harder to breathe. The howling grew deafening, the footsteps closer, the fear overpowering. Almost there, the front door is within reach. As Eric reached for the door, something touched his shoulder and as he turned around, he saw a sight that made him…

BZZZZZZZZZZZ, jolting awake to the sound of the alarm clock, Eric reached over and shakily shut it off. He didn’t even consider hitting the snooze alarm, because he knew that there was no way that he would be able to get back to sleep after that dream. He had been having this dream off and on for most of his life, yet he just couldn't understand why he kept dreaming of that house. He'd never even seen that house before and yet, he's having these horrible dreams about it.

To be continued...

The Farm House: Chapter-2B

Copyright © 2010 by Tim A Hicks. All Rights Reserved

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Read from the first installment here... The Farm House Chapter: 1A