As the clock struck midnight, the town hall’s bell rang out into the quiet night twice, jarring everyone from their positions that they had settled into outside the manor.
The bell, being their signal, had them scooting out of their positions and slowly walking into the manor. There was no lock. There never had been because everyone was terrified of the manor.
Only hillbillies and outlaws came here.
Their flashlights illuminated the way in front of them and Victoria even had a Glock 19 in her hands. Her own, licensed gun apparently.
The house looked as though it was centuries old. White blankets rested upon the furniture and a thick layer of dust coated every surface. Wind blew in and out of the house frequently through the broken windows and holes in the house, making a sharp whistling noise.
Eon could see why the perpetrators choose this house to hide all the kidnapped men here. Lying on the outskirts of the town, the haunted house kept away all the curious eyes.
“Fuck, this place is creepy” Garret whispered, but even his voice sounded loud in the eerily quiet house. Everyone shushed him.
“We should split up.” Eon said after a few minutes of scouting the family room. It was the worst idea ever, but the manor was huge, set over 250 acres of land. There was no way they would be able to explore each and every crevice of the house before the sun rose. “Victoria and I will go and search the upper levels. Garret, Rick, you guys stay here and continue searching on this level.”
“This is a bad idea dude.” Rick said, but even his warning felt weak to his own ears. Eon gestured to Victoria and led them to the giant staircase in the middle of the foyer.
As they slowly began their journey up, an acrid smell hit them and grew stronger. Eon coughed and covered his face with his forearm and even Victoria scrunched her nose in disgust.
His shoes made a squeaky noise. The kind of noise that you would expect when you stepped in a puddle of water.
His heart thundering, Eon cast his flashlight down to the floor and felt nauseous. He had just stepped on blood. In fact, the entire floor in front of him was drenched in vermilion red blood. He heard Victoria choke and she turned to the side and puked her dinner out.
His heart stilled as he suddenly heard a creaking noise. The noise of a rocking chair. It slowly got louder and louder. He gulped and forced himself to breathe in and out of his mouth. He walked forward to the room where the creaking noise was coming from. There was no one in the room, but the rocking chair was swinging slowly.
It’s just the wind, he thought with relief.
“Eon!” Victoria called out his name in a loud gasp from another room. He ran out of the room. Her face was pale, and she looked sick as she weakly held the door frame.
Eon looked through the doorway and blanched. Bodies littered every inch of the room and piled up to the ceiling. The smell of rotting flesh and iron was diffused across the room so strongly that to breathe Eon had to tilt his head towards the fresh air outside of the door.
Victoria stepped forward, began rifling through the bodies, mumbling “Oh god no, please don’t let it be Victor.” She was close to sobbing now.
Eon had to forcefully grab her by the waist and hold her back. “Victoria, you cannot touch the bodies. It is a crime scene.” He said.
Just then, in the corner of the room he saw a shadow of someone moving. His blood ran cold and he clamped a hand down on Victoria’s mouth to stop her from making any more noise. He dragged her around the pile of bodies and squatted behind it.
Victoria finally realising what was happening, quietened down. The killer was close by and if they weren’t careful, both of them would be just two other bodies amongst hundreds.
Footsteps grew closer and closer. It was a strange shuffling sound, as though one of the killer’s legs was hurt and he or she was limping. He couldn’t smell much apart from the rotting flesh that surrounded them. It was impossible to tell if the killer was a man or a woman.
He took his phone and placed it gently against a dead hand of a person. He pressed the button for the video. They couldn’t confront the killer, but they could definitely catch him or her in the act.
Eon closed his eyes and prayed that this won’t be his last night alive. He turned to face Victoria.
But she was nowhere to be found.
Shit, he thought, where did she go? She was here just a second ago.
The footsteps passed by him and he hoped Victoria was hidden away somewhere safely. He was shaking and trembling like a leaf. He couldn’t shake the icky feeling that came over him when the killer was close by.
When he felt the coast was clear, he slowly stood up, brushing his pants. He picked up his phone and turned around.
He froze and choked on his own saliva. He was gasping in horror, trying to get air down to his lungs. His body suddenly refused to function. His stomach churned and he was pretty sure he was close to shitting himself.
In front of him, stood the ugliest woman he had ever seen. Her red dress engulfed her. Two horns protruded out of the skin of her forehead. Her skin was old and wrinkly with scars all over. It was an ugly, pale yellow colour. Decayed skin. Her nails were long and sharp, with blood coated all over them, while her hair was snow white, cut off in several places at weird angles. In place of her two eyes, laid two hollow sockets that encased never-ending blackness. Her mouth was turned in an ugly scowl and saliva dripped down her front two teeth that eerily looked like fangs.
It was the witch.
She opened her mouth and released a loud screech.
Suddenly, Eon’s legs felt like they were released, and he stumbled back right into a pile of bodies. He tripped and fell over. The witch raced forward and lifted her arms, reaching out for him.
Eon grabbed out, took hold of a corpse and swung it towards her. The witch stumbled back and knowing that this was his only chance, he got up and raced out of the room. The witch was hot on his heels.
He continued running until he reached the small kitchen that was located on the upper level. He scrambled forward, opening every cupboard. There, right below the stove, was a gas cylinder. He rocked it slightly. It still had gas. Not much, but enough to cause a small explosion and maybe even to harm the witch.
He switched on the stove and hoped the gas would quickly accumulate. He pulled out his lighter, just as the witch came barreling towards him. The lighter fell out of his hands as the witch knocked him backwards. He stumbled right into one of the kitchen cupboards.
Eon threw a pot towards the witch, but she managed to dodge it. She came forward with her scrawny hands and clutched his head tightly, trying to crush it. Eon pushed against her hands, but she was so much stronger than she looked.
He grappled against her with one hand, using his other hand he pushed a butcher knife that he had found into her abdomen. She stumbled back and howled in pain.
He rolled away from her and towards the lighter.
I am going to blow this fucking manor up! he screamed in his head. But before he could reach for the lighter, the witch jumped on top of him.
She pushed him down and wrapped her scrawny fingers around his throat. He coughed and choked, desperate to get some air down to his lungs, but it was to no avail. He tried to stretch to the right searching for the lighter.
Any moment now he would black out.
His sweaty hands clamped around the lighter. He twisted it around to grip it correctly.
Black spots began to appear in his vision. His head was spinning wildly and the area around his neck felt numb.
Click.
The lighter didn’t light up.
Click. Click.
Come on now, don’t do this to me, he thought in despair.
Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click. Click.
Please, please, just work!
Boom!
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