Darkness Falls (standard:horror, 4104 words)
Author: Maddie's socks	Added: Jul 07 2005	Views/Reads: 3150/2169	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
an old haunted house on a hill that has lain silent for centuries is woken from its slumber by three curious teenagers eager to prove themselves. horrors and strange happenings await them inside the house's dusty halls. monsters and mind tricks are at ev

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Leona took a breath and opened the car door. The moment her feet touched
the pavement, a jolt went through her body. Uttering a small cry, she 
toppled backwards into the car and stared fearfully at the grey 
concrete that had hurt her. 

Dan touched her shoulder gently. “What's wrong? What happened?” Leona
could only shake her head vehemently, push his hand away and breathe 
deeply to try to regain her composure. Tentatively, she lowered her 
foot to the pavement again whilst biting her lip apprehensively. 

Nothing happened. 

Leona let out her breath, hardly aware that she had been holding it. She
got out of the car and straightened up, relieved. 

A winding path led up the hill and disappeared into the wild rose bushes
outside the house, as if it couldn't bear the sight of the decrepit old 
house above it. Silhouetted against the sky, it looked like a large 
monster crouching on the hill, with peeling paint and warped grey wood. 
It was three storeys high, and towered over the surrounding trees with 
a strange menace. The plants and trees around the house were overgrown 
and wild after years of being left to the elements. The roses were 
tangled and climbed up the walls of the house as if they could squeeze 
it to dust with their vines. 

Leona shivered and rubbed her arms as she hugged herself in fear. She
had a bad feeling about this. 

They found Mina sitting with her back to the leafy hedge by the road.
She tilted her head to look up at them, looking strangely vulnerable. 
“I didn't trust it to sit with my back to it,” Mina said, gesturing at 
the house behind them. Neither Dan nor Leona thought this was a stupid 
thing to say. 

She got up and they all walked together towards the house. As they
entered the encircling arms of the neglected undergrowth, Leona felt 
another chill shake her, as if an ice cube had slipped down her spine. 
Her head shot up, and she stared at one of the dusty windows of the 
house. 

Nothing was there. Leona relaxed slightly, but still kept alert and wary
of the disturbing house. But, she thought to herself, we're not even 
inside yet. Dan set a hand to the peeling paint of the door and pushed 
lightly. The door swung inwards without a sound and Dan drew backwards 
in surprise. “That's strange...” he let the sentence fade away, and 
they heard it whisper through the house like an eerie breeze. 

The three teenagers each mentally braced themselves before stepping
across the threshold. Leona felt immediately like something didn't want 
her there. The feeling intensified as they walked deeper into the 
house. Dan opened the first door they got to, which happened to lead 
onto a sitting room. 

Everything was layered in dust at least an inch thick, and the furniture
was tattered and rotting. You couldn't see out of the windows for the 
dirt, but Leona wanted to see the road, for insecurity problems were 
pressing round her from all sides. So she rubbed determinedly at the 
grime covering the window pane, until a small circle of the outside 
world became visible. 

Leona peered through it to look at the reassuring shape of the car- what
she though of as her escape vehicle. When this was over, she didn't 
want to ever come back. A shadow flitted across her field of vision, 
and disappeared behind the rose bushes. It happened so quickly that 
Leona began to think it was her imagination, so she turned away from 
the window back to the others. 

Dan was turned away, looking at something on the wall, but Mina was
staring over Leona's shoulder with her hand clutching at her own heart 
and her eyes wide as they could be. Leona sprang away from the window 
in terror before looking back. 

There was nothing there. Mina started to shake, and then howled with
laughter, holding her sides in mirth. “I can't...I can't believe you 
actually...fell for that!” she was stuttering and gasping in her gales 
of laughter. Leona shot her a look of contempt, but she was 
embarrassed. 

When Mina had finished wiping the tears of laughter from her eyes, she
said “Oh my god, Leona, you're so gullible...you've made me need the 
loo now. Do you know which door opens onto the toilet?” she stuck her 
head out of the sitting room door and looked up and down the corridor. 
Then, opening the door wide, she walked off down the hallway. 

Leona sighed. “You'd think she'd be a bit more serious considering the
situation we're in.” 

Dan grinned and came to stand beside her. “Don't worry, we're going to
be --” he was cut off by a scream that came from down the hall. 

Leona ran down the corridor with Dan hot on her heels, following the
footprints in the dust that Mina had left. She flung open the door that 
they led to and found Mina standing in the middle of the room, which 
was obviously a toilet, with an expression of utter terror on her face. 
Dan entered the room behind Leona, and asked frantically “What is it? 
What's wrong?” 

In answer, Mina screamed, “Don't let the door close! Quick!” Dan spun
round and grabbed for the doorknob, but it was too late. 

The door clicked closed, and then seemed to melt into the wall until
there was no trace of it left. Leona stood dumbfounded, staring at 
where the door used to be. Dan ran his hands over the wall, searching 
for a nuance or something that would let them out of the room. Mina 
screamed again. 

“What? What now?” Dan and Leona asked in unison. She pointed at the far
corner of the room. Which was crumbling away. Dan looked around 
manically for a way out. A door was materializing into existence on the 
other side of the room, and Mina leapt at it, grabbed the door handle 
and threw it open. Dan and Mina tore out of the room, but Leona was 
standing transfixed, staring at the hole in the floor. Dan ran back 
into the room “Leona! What are you doing? Come on!” then he caught 
sight of what she was looking at. 

The hole in the floorboards was quickly widening with every passing
second, and beneath the wood was a darkness so black it seemed to 
absorb light. But pinpoints of light started to twinkle in the 
blackness, hundreds, thousands of little glittering ovals. What were 
they? Then Dan realised, and he tugged urgently on Leona's arm. 

They were eyes. Little malevolent eyes staring at them from under the
floorboards. Dan cried out in horror and physically dragged Leona from 
the disintegrating room. They stumbled out of the door and Leona 
collapsed in a heap at Dan's feet. Her eyelids fluttered and Dan hauled 
her to her feet. Mina watched apprehensively, with one eye on the door 
of the room they had just escaped from. All three of them were 
breathing heavily, as Leona had just come round. 

“What now?” Mina demanded, “What are we going to do? We're stuck in this
goddamn house, and probably will be until we die!” Her voice rose as 
she finished her sentence, and her eyes were wide, her hair 
dishevelled. Mina was hysterical. 

Dan tried to think logically. “We need to get out, so look for any doors
that we recognize.” 

But they were in a completely different part of the house than before,
and they couldn't see any promising doors. Leona was shivering with 
shock and fear, and staggered when she got up. She groaned, and fell 
sideways into a doorway. The rotten door offered no resistance, and 
Leona crashed through it and lay on the floor the other side. Dan 
rushed over and knelt beside her worriedly, brushing her hair out of 
her eyes. 

Mina touched his shoulder, “Dan,” she whispered “We need to leave...now”
Dan raised his head to survey the room. 

A huge black...thing was standing, no, sitting? Dan didn't know. It had
a long slug-like tail as its lower body, and the upper half was slimy 
and glistening. It had a large, slippery head with dull, flat eyes 
either side of it. A thick black tongue slid out of its wide mouth to 
moisten its lips, and it hissed maliciously at the intruders. 

Dan swallowed audibly and started to back slowly out of the room,
dragging Leona along the floor with him. 

But at that moment Leona woke up. She saw the menacing monster towering
above her, and screamed. The thing let out a guttural roar and moved 
towards them surprisingly fast on its slug tail. Leona leapt to her 
feet and pelted out of the room. The teenagers ran through the dusty 
halls, trying to outrun this monstrosity that was following them. But 
they could not lose it, and then an idea struck Leona. “Run up the 
stairs! It might not be able to follow!” she swerved to the right, 
grabbed hold of the banister and swung herself onto the stairs. The 
sound of feet pounding echoed through the old house, waking ancient 
beings that stirred from their slumber with an irritable roar. The 
whole cursed house reverberated with sound, and Leona clapped her hands 
over her ears. 

Her foot smashed straight through a step, the splintering wood piercing
her leg. She cried out and wrenched it free, falling full length along 
the stairs. She looked behind her. No one was there. “Dan?” she called. 
Then, desperate she called again “...Mina?” There was no answer. 

Mina ran and ran and ran. She threw herself against a door, tore into
the room and slammed the door shut behind her. She turned to find 
herself in a room bare of furniture, the wallpaper mouldy 
and...disintegrating. She stared in wide-eyed terror as the walls 
turned slowly to blackness, and the little demon-eyes came out like 
stars at night. 

She was about to open the door again when it shook behind her as
something slammed against it. Mina bit her lip and pressed herself to 
the door, trying to hold back whatever it was on the other side. The 
door shook in its brackets again, and Mina started to sob 
uncontrollably. I'm going to die, I'm going to—the door splintered 
under her hands and she was thrown forward towards the ever watching 
eyes. 

Landing on her hands and knees, Mina turned over and looked up at the
great black wolf that was standing over her. Strings of saliva hung 
from its slavering jaws and its eyes glinted yellow. 

Mina prayed with all her heart, and kept on praying until the pain was
too great to withstand. She let loose a terrible dying scream which was 
cut short as the wolf slashed her vocal cords with its teeth. Mina was 
still hanging onto her last spark of consciousness when the wolf's 
sharp claws laid open her ribcage and its jaws tore into her 
still-beating heart. 

A hiss escaped the monster's lips as it coldly surveyed Dan. He had hold
of a chair and was brandishing it at the demon before him. Dan knew it 
was useless, but it was the only hope he had. The blood-stopping scream 
rang in Dan's ears and his heart skipped a beat. Was it Leona? “I'M 
COMING!” he cried. 

Throwing the chair at the monster, Dan skirted past it as it roared in
pain. The chair had hit it in the eye. White fluid was pouring down its 
face and it writhed on the floor. Dan took no notice and ran down the 
corridor towards the sound of the scream. 

One door was in fragments on the floor, and Dan took no heed of the
splinters that jabbed through his trainers into his feet. What lay 
before him made him stand still in shock and horror. 

A giant wolf was crouched over one of his friend's bodies, and a
disgusting squelching sound was coming from its jaws as it chewed on 
the remains of his friend. As he watched, it gnawed off a piece of the 
girl's lung, flipped it up into the air and caught it in its wide open 
mouth. 

Dan retched, holding onto his stomach as the horror of what he was
seeing took its toll. The wolf raised its furred head from its meal 
with its ears perked up. Blood covered its muzzle and dripped onto the 
floor, making puddles of red that soaked into the wood. 

It growled but didn't make a move towards him. Dan watched, shivering,
as the wolf finished its meal. When there were only bones and scraps of 
flesh left, the wolf turned to look straight at Dan. It looked as if it 
was considering attacking him, then decided against it. It had just 
eaten enough meat to keep it satiated for a century or so. As Dan 
watched, the wolf raised its muzzle to the ceiling as if to howl, but 
then its particles drifted apart and it dissipated like smoke, 
returning to its lair under the house to sleep. 

Dan approached the wreck on the floor that used to be a human until
around half an hour ago. He had to make sure which of the girls it was. 
He couldn't tell from this distance, so had to go closer to the remains 
of his friend. He turned his head away from the smell of metallic blood 
mixed with decaying flesh. Nothing was there that could tell him who it 
was. 

Then, on the floor, by the skull that had been cracked like an egg, Dan
spied a strand of hair resting on the floor. 

It was slightly curled, looking so innocent as it lay there. Dan held
his breath as he picked it up, hoping against hope; while mentally 
apologising to the dead girl's spirit that it wasn't Leona's hair. 

It was blonde. 

Dan almost cried with relief, but had to turn away to be sick after
being so close to Mina's rotting remains. After feeling marginally 
better, he rose and left the room, making the sign of the cross as a 
sign of respect for the dead, and went to find Leona. 

At that time, Leona was walking down a corridor, opening every door she
came to. She was getting desperate. Every door she had opened so far 
opened onto a solid brick wall. She couldn't go back downstairs because 
the monster would be there, and she couldn't find a way out up here. 

Leona set her hand to the handle of another door. She opened it. A brick
wall stared her in the face. She kept trying for about 12 more doors; 
she had lost count by now, before sinking to the floor in defeat. 

The house was playing mind games on her, she was sure. It was like a
hall of mirrors. Leona felt so tired, she just wanted to lie down and 
sleep. But she forced herself to get up and keep trying door after 
door. 

Just as she was about to scream with frustration, Leona caught sight of
someone lying on the floor a little way off. She ran up to them, her 
heart in her mouth. 

It was Dan. But he was hurt. Leona tucked her hair behind her ears and
knelt down beside him, cradling his head in her arms and whispering his 
name. His eyelids fluttered and his eyes opened. 

But this wasn't Dan! His eyes were maliciously red, and he smiled
terribly up at her, reaching up with his hand, as if he wanted to claw 
her eyes out. Leona recoiled in horror, and the apparition slowly 
turned to dust in her arms, trickling out of her hands like sand. 

Leona sat against the wall and cried hard. Sobs racked her body and she
curled up in a ball and rocked herself, weeping all the while. She 
wished Dan were here. Or even Mina. Anyone, just so she could be free 
of this terrible loneliness and endless mind tricks of this house. Her 
thoughts just made her sob all the harder until she was howling out her 
anguish to the world. 

Suddenly arms were around her, comforting her and stroking her hair.
Someone was softly calling her name repeatedly. “Leona, Leona, Leona 
it's all right, it's okay...” it was just nonsense words that neither 
of them understood, but it was the tone of the voice that calmed her 
and stopped her tears. 

She looked up at who was holding her through a haze of tears, and he
wiped them away softly with his thumb, still whispering “Leona, Leona.” 
He held her close and she felt safer than she had done for a long time. 
When her crying had stopped, he lifted her face and gazed down at her. 

Leona's face was streaked with tears, her eyes red and she was still
breathing in short gasps, but she was beautiful, and Dan loved her with 
all his heart. She spoke, “But...are you another trick? There was 
another one before and...” 

Dan smiled down at her and kissed her lips that were salty with tears
and then said, “Was that real enough for you?” Leona looked away and 
smiled, then raised her lips to his again. 

They got up and walked over to the first door they saw, Leona leaning
heavily on Dan's side. For a miracle, it wasn't another brick wall and 
Leona almost cried again in relief. A window was on the other side of 
the bare room, and Dan crossed over to it, rubbing stubbornly with his 
sleeve until a small circle was cleaned off. He peered out of it and 
was intensely relieved to see the front drive and his car sitting 
outside by the road. 

The ground wasn't that far away, and Dan thought it would be better to
jump out at this level than risk going downstairs again. He explained 
his plan to Leona and then set to work. 

Leona dug her fingernails underneath the rotted window frame, pulling
savagely until the frame budged minutely and the nails on some of her 
fingers were torn off. She ignored the again and tried again and again 
until the window frame clattered to the floor at her feet. 

In his happiness at their having a way out of this demon house, Dan
lifted Leona off her feet, swung her round and planted a kiss firmly on 
her mouth. She looked up at him adoringly but then caught sight of 
something behind him. 

The walls were turning black... 

“Dan! The walls!” 

He looked behind him, saw it for himself and said “We've got to
go...now. I think it means one of those demons is coming. Get behind 
the door” 

Leona pressed against him and he put his arms around her reassuringly. A
rasping sound echoed down the corridor, and Leona shivered in fear. In 
the doorway appeared the slug-like demon, and it was hissing furiously 
from the pain in its eye. The eye had gone milky white- it was blind. 
The creature's hands flexed as if it wanted to strangle something. Dan 
was willing to bet that thing was him. 

It roared in frustration as it couldn't see its prey- its blind eye was
facing Dan and Leona. But then Leona couldn't stand it anymore. She ran 
for the window, but a black hand shot out and grasped her arm in a 
terribly strong grip. Leona screamed with pain and the demon drew her 
closer towards it, its grip tightening, and causing the girl's face to 
tighten with pain as well. 

Dan leapt out from behind the door with his hand lifted high. “GET AWAY
FROM HER, YOU GODFORSAKEN REJECT!” and he brought his hand down in a 
chopping motion, hitting the demon in its pallid white eye. The eye 
burst and spattered everyone with white, then red fluid. The creature 
screamed so high it broke the glass in the window, despite the fact it 
was on the floor. It raised both its hands to clutch at its face, and 
Dan pushed Leona towards the open window. 

She vaulted out of it into open space. No time to worry if she made it
down okay, for Dan it was leap before you look. He fell through the 
air, his arms flailing helplessly, then hit the ground and rolled to 
one side. Luckily the fall had not broken any bones, and Leona was 
standing with hand outstretched to help him up. 

Together they ran away from the demon house on the hill, and reached the
car. Dan was horrified to see that all the wires and components had 
been wrenched apart with a vengeance. But there was nothing they could 
do, so they pelted down the road, never stopping until they reached 
Dan's house. 

They collapsed in a heap on the doorstep, and held each other close as
if something would tear them apart. 

“Let's never go there again, huh?” Dan asked. 

Leona laughed and lifted her lips to his. 


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