Unleashed! Chapter Six

SIX

“What the fuck can stop that thing?” the sheriff wondered, trapped against the patrol car as the creature came closer.

“No idea, for now I think the best we can do is get out of here for now,” the boy said and crawled behind the wheel.

“I guess you’re right, kid,” the sheriff agreed and opened the door of his car, sliding in quickly while firing once more at the creature for good measure.

The boy stepped on the gas as The Otherworldly thing clawed at the car, catching air as the car sped off. The sheriff was pushed back against his seat.

“Whoa! Be careful! I don’t want you to run us off the road with that kind of speed!”

“Don’t worry, sheriff. I’ve driven faster cars than this one on way more dangerous roads,” the boy said, thinking back about the time he thought maybe ice road racing would scare him.

“You’ve got some explaining to do, kiddo!” the sheriff said as he glanced in the rearview mirror, watching the monster disappear in the distance. “Just what the hell was that thing back there?”

“I guess there are several options. It can be that creature was the inspiration for one of horror writer Kingsbury’s stories or that thing somehow sprung to life from Kingsbury’s imagination.”

“The fucking hell what?”

“Yeah, I know it sounds crazy.”

“Crazy? Insane! I must me dreaming or something. Shit, maybe my wife is right and I am working too much.”

“You’re not dreaming, sheriff. Or we both are.”

“So why were you in that house? It’s been empty for years!”

“I sorta snuck in, hoping a night there might scare me,” the boy explained.

“Snuck in? That’s illegal, kid. I should arrest you for that.”

“I think you’ve got other things to worry about right now. Like a monster from another dimension in your town.”

The sheriff ran a hand through his hair, letting out a big breath. “I just don’t believe this…”

“You’d better,” the boy said.

“And what is that stuff about hoping you would get scared in there? And why the hell do you seem so calm about this shit? I almost wet my bloody pants and I did a tour in Afghanistan.”

“I don’t get scared. But I want to learn how to.”

The sheriff shook his head. “You’re a weird kid, aren’t you?”

The boy shrugged. “Guess so.”

The sheriff laughed and extended a hand. “Sheriff Joe Baxter, not sure it’s nice to meet you.”

“Hey, I got you away from that monster, didn’t I?”

“You are one piece of work. So what do we do now?”

“You’re the law and order of this town. I’m just a seventeen year old kid. I suggest you tell us what to do.”

“That’s funny, real funny… Well, guess I should just get some more firepower, get back over there and send that thing back to whatever hell it came from.”

“Firepower didn’t really seem to do much against that thing,” the boy pointed out.

“If you have any fucking better idea I would be happy to know about it,” Baxter growled.

“Sorry. Don’t know, it’s my first demonic caterpillar too,” the boy said.

“Maybe I should just call for backup. Or the damned National Guard or something,” Baxter suggested.

“I’m not sure the National Guard is going to believe you. By the time you’ve convinced them that creature might have done God knows what.”

“Wiseass. But I guess you’re right. So yeah, I call my deputies to help out.”

“What are they armed with?”

“Shotguns and pistols. Just like me,” Baxter said.

The boy gave the sheriff a look.

“Fuck you. Yeah, that’s not going to work either. I’ve got some stuff from my days as a Marine at home that might do the trick though. Let me take the wheel and I’ll drive us there. We’re far away enough from that thing by now.”

The boy hit the brakes, almost launching Baxter through the front window. The sheriff was barely able to keep himself in his seat, thanks to his seatbelt.

“Crazy kid,” Baxter muttered and switched places with the boy. He hit the gas and they were on their way.

“Whatever you’ve got at home I hope it’s enough to stop that thing,” the boy said.

“If it ain’t I don’t know what is. And we’re royally screwed,” Baxter said, tightening his hold on the steering wheel.

Unleashed! Chapter Five

FIVE

The door to the library splintered to the boy’s amazement. Raptorial forelegs poked through the wooden door, tearing it apart like cloth. Full of anticipation the boy waited for what was moving those legs to appear into the room. When it did he wasn’t disappointed. It looked amazing, uncanny and… Otherworldly.

The creature skittered into the library, mandibles snapping, it’s many eyes scanning the room for prey like crazy. Yes, this was exactly the caterpillar-creature from the book. Something to fear, surely. But still, the boy registered nothing of the sort.

The creature hissed at the boy as it neared him as soon as the six pair of pro-legs could. The boy stepped back. While he wasn’t afraid, he had the feeling this wouldn’t end well as soon as those mandibles or raptorial forelegs came to close. Looking for some kind of weapon to defend himself the only thing he could find was a chair. He hurled it at the creature, that just swatted it away like a bothersome insect. With a louder hiss the creature suddenly speeded up, perhaps annoyed by the projectile. Tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick the pro-legs sounded.

The boy ran to the window, trying to open it before the creature reached him. The window was either locked or stuck though. With all his strength the boy kicked at the window. Once, twice, the third time being the charm and breaking it. He crawled through it, body first. Something tugged at his jeans. He looked behind him and saw the creature had caught hold of his jeans with one of his forelegs. With his other leg he started to kick at the creature. It felt like kicking a leather couch. The horror didn’t seem to be discouraged much by his kicks. He needed something else to get out of it’s grip. He grabbed hold of a shard of broken window and stabbed behind him with it. He felt it dug into something, ripping through it. There was a hiss, higher this time, always like a wail that satisfied him he had hurt the Otherwordly thing. He felt the grip on his jeans go and launched himself through the window.

As he hit the ground the rolled with the impact like he’d learned from skydiving and quickly got up again. He looked at the broken window where the raptorial forelegs were widening the hole, eager to get through. The boy understood he had to be fast. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, away from the house. He managed to reach the road, his lungs burning, his side aching. A loud screech, something barreling into him as he got up in the air and landed again on the concrete. So much pain.

Legs standing next to him as he lay there on the road. A voice, “Why the hell didn’t you look where you were going? I could have killed you?”

The boy rolled around so he was on his back, able to look the source of the voice in the eyes. It was a muscular looking man in his forties wearing a sheriff’s uniform. He had a three-day beard and cool blue eyes. So he’d managed to get run over by a sheriff’s patrol car?

The boy pointed at the house. “There’s a monster in that place. And it’s coming after me. We need to get away from here, fast.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” the sheriff said. “Are you on drugs or something?”

“No, just look! Look! It’s coming through the window!”

The sheriff turned around, his jaw going slack. “What the actual bloody hell…”

They saw the creature slither through the broken window, down the wall of the Kingsbury house. The sheriff looked at the boy, wide-eyed, back to the creature and back to the boy again.

“What is that thing?”

The boy got back on his feet, leaning on the hood of the patrol car that had hit him, body bruised and bleeding from several cuts and scratches. “I think it is something from another dimension,” the boy said.

“Another what?”

“It’s complicated. But I think we’d better get away from here.”

“I can’t let that thing loose on my town,” the sheriff said. He drew his gun and aimed it at the creature that was skittering across the grass towards the road.

The thing hissed again. The sheriff fired at it, bullets digging through the dolphin-like skin. Green blood oozed from the wounds, but although it seemed to be slowed down by the bullets it didn’t stop it. To the boy’s amazement the wounds just closed again.

“Those bullets are not stopping it,” the boy said.

“Fuck that! I’ll just need bigger bullets,” the sheriff said and got a shotgun from the patrol car’s gunrack. He racked the shotgun and fired at the creature again. Shards of flesh flew off where the shotgun hit. Unfortunately, the flesh just grew back again.

“Damn! Damn!” the sheriff cursed, his back against the patrol car, still firing the shotgun but knowing it did no good. The creature was coming their way and there seemed no way to stop it.

Unleashed! Chapter Four

FOUR

The boy inspected the pulsating thing. It was like some sort of cocoon, roughly the size of a grown man. Inside of it seemed to be several green pulsating lights. The cocoon seemed to be covered in a snot-like substance that looked pretty disgusting. The oddest thing though were the hundreds of eyes that covered the cocoon. The eyes looked in all directions, and resembled those of a reptile.

The boy squinted his eyes a bit to protect them from the pulsating lights. He tried to make out what was in the cocoon besides the lights. He could discern some kind of lumpy form. Was it… moving? He came a little closer. That humming sound was quite annoying. He stuck out a hand to touch the cocoon. All eyes suddenly were on him. That was interesting. Were they part of the cocoon or part of what was inside of it?

It reminded him of something from one of Kingsly’s books. He wondered if that thing had inspired the writer maybe? He gentle touched the cocoon. It seemed to slightly vibrate, like an engine or something. He took away his hand which was now covered in snot. That was pretty gross. He may not know fear, he could sure as hell find something disgusting. He wiped his hand on his shirt and felt sorry for it afterwards. This was the only shirt he had left, as he liked to travel light.

Was this thing responsible for the slaughter of that poor cat? It didn’t seem to be though. It lacked the appendages, claws or teeth for that. It only had eyes. Or was it whatever was inside it. It didn’t look like the cocoon had been opened though. Whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be of this world. Fascinating.

He gave it a little poke with his finger. That intensified the humming sound, the lights started to pulsate faster, the eyes went wild, spinning. He took a step back. Had he hurt it somehow? He hadn’t meant to do that, he just wanted to learn more about it.

Kingsly had written stories about these beings from another dimension that he called The Otherworldly. Beings that defied all human logic, creatures with great powers that lusted for blood, wanted to enslave other dimensions. He couldn’t recall anything like the cocoon but it sure had the characters of something not from this world. He wondered if maybe he would be able to find something about it in Kingsbury’s library. He figured he could have a look.

He left the room and made his way to the study. He scanned the shelves of the library, searching for Kingsbury’s own books. He found an anthology of Kingsbury called The Otherworldly. He took it from the shelf, sat down behind Kingsbury’s desk and started to leaf through it.

The book contained several stories of The Otherworldly, detailing how they tried to leave their own dimension, invade ours and how brave men managed to thwart them. That or be slaughtered or go insane. There were some pictures in them as well. He marveled at the pictures of the strange creatures, beings with fangs, tentacles, wings, claws, bulbous eyes, scaly or slimy bodies. Nothing that resembled the cocoon though. There was one creature pictured that interested him especially. It looked almost like a caterpillar, but with a dolphin-like skin. It was big as a human, had a dozen eyes. It’s many legs resembled those of a green mantis. Caterpillars evolved in butterflies from a cocoon, right? Was he up to something here?

He quickly read through the story that the picture illustrated. It told the tale of a farmer who one day discovers one of The Otherworldly, the caterpillar-like being burrowing through the earth in one of his barns. His livestock has been brutally slaughtered, the smell of death and the flies that had been drawn to it making him puke. He manages to find the courage and strength to get his shotgun and tries to shoot the monster. The Otherworldly instantly heals from every shot though and ends up ripping the farmer to shreds before burrowing back into the ground. So in that one the humans lost.

The boy closed the book. Was that cocoon maybe holding the caterpillar-like creature from that story? It sounded totally crazy. These things couldn’t be real, right? They had to be just imagined things from Kingsbury’s creative mind. They had to! If these things were real, wouldn’t someone have encountered them earlier? Wouldn’t they have been featured on thousands of TV-shows not to mention the internet? But he couldn’t deny what he had seen. That thing really did look like something from another dimension. Or was he just going crazy like Kingsbury?

A scraping sound interfered with his thoughts. Like something sharp dragging across the floor. The sound started to come closer.

Unleashed! Chapter Three

THREE

The boy ran up the stairs two at a time. The light of his phone illuminated the walls, the floor and the ceilings in a wild pattern as his arms moved while he ran. When he arrived upstairs he saw something skitter away. Something small and dark. Nothing that looked like a ghost. He followed the dark thing into one of the rooms.

He almost stumbled on an overturned chair. Scanning the room with his phone’s light he determined this had to be the master bedroom. There was a two-person bed, a large closet and a painting of an angel on the wall. On the bed was the creature he’d seen making his way across the hallway. It was furry, glowing eyes in the dark and it snarled at him. It wasn’t anything to put any sense of fear into him though, nor any man. It was a black cat. And with the lack of fear came quite a lack of superstition, so the whole thing about a black cat crossing your path meant bad luck was a bunch of bullshit to him.

“Easy buddy,” the boy told the cat, slowly extending a hand. He liked animals. This one was probably just a bit frightened by his sudden appearance and meant him no harm. He came closer to the cat, step by step. The cat snarled again.

The boy was almost close enough to pet the animal. “Easy… Easy…”

With a loud hiss the cat jumped at him, his claws barely missing the boy’s face. The cat ran past him. The boy thought of running after it again but decided he didn’t want to distress the animal anything more. He’d never seen a cat that distressed though. Was it just because of his own presence? Tales had it that animals were more attuned to the supernatural, could see things humans couldn’t.

That bed looked quite inviting he thought. Maybe, if there were indeed ghosts to be found in this place they’d show up at night? It had been quite a long drive over here. He could use some sleep. So he just made himself comfortable on the bed, not bothering to undress or get under the covers. He’d been travelling so long and so light, sleeping everywhere he could he never had any trouble falling asleep.

The bed was just as comfortable as it looked, adjusting to the weight of his body like a loving caress. He lay there, looking at the ceiling, listening to the sounds of the woodwork creaking, the wind blowing against the window. He was reminded about the trouble his parents had understanding that unlike other children he’d never feared the dark, had never needed a nightlight or a teddy bear to comfort him. In a way he felt like he’d robbed them of a very essential part, essential longing of a parent to protect a child. He remembered very vividly how he’d been standing at the window one night during a thunderstorm, fascinated by the lightning that painted the dark sky in beautiful colors. His mother had entered the room, worried about him. She put a hand on his shoulder, telling him everything would be alright. He told her he wasn’t up because he was afraid but because he was hoping he might feel something like it. He couldn’t help seeing the disappointment in his mother’s eyes. One of those crucial moments that had him looking for fear when he turned sixteen. With that memory he slowly drifted away…He woke up from some kind of light, not aware how long he’d been asleep. The light was green. It seemed to pulsate. It illuminated the hallway. He got out of bed, walked towards the hallway. He didn’t need his phone, the light bright enough for him to see in the dark.

He felt something brush his foot. He couldn’t quite make out what it was. He bent down on one knee and had a closer look. What he saw had him gagging. It was what once had been the cat. It looked like it had been torn open, guts spilling out of it like stuffing out of mattress. What the hell had happened to this poor creature? Was there another animal in here? One that preyed on smaller ones? It must have taken quite some strength to pull apart the cat’s body like that and very sharp teeth.

He got up, looking down the hallway, looking for either the predator or the source of the pulsating green light. No sight of the predator, but it was clear where the light was coming from. One of the two rooms he hadn’t been in yet. He made his way over to it. As he came closer he could also make out a strange sound coming from it. It was like a hum. A low, throbbing hum. Not like a person humming, but also not like the hum of a machine. It was somehow a mixture of those two. A sound he’d never heard before. It drew him to the room like a moth to a flame.

He entered the room, probably the guestroom. There was a one person bed, a small cabinet, a small table and a chair. No paintings. The green light in the room made it easy enough to make out all objects in the room. It almost hurt his eyes in the dark even. The thing that was creating the light was also the source of the humming noise, as he’d thought. It was also something he’d never ever seen before. It looked as organic as it did otherworldly. Like something from a fever dream, something from what most folks would perceive as a nightmare. The boy was mainly just fascinated by it, like he’d been fascinated by the lightning. He slowly came closer to the hellish thing.

Unleashed! Chapter Two

TWO

The truck stopped right in front of the old building where the boy wanted to go. The evening was starting to fall and the light of the moon gave it an even eerier look.

“This has to be it,” Tommy told the boy.

“Looks just like in the articles I read,” the boy said.

“Fucking creepy looking place,” Tommy thought.

“You think?”

“Well, don’t you? Oh shit, sorry… Never mind,” Tommy said, blushing.

“It’s okay. Thanks a lot for the ride.”

“Yeah, sure. It’s been interesting meeting you, dude. Be careful,” Tommy said.

“No worries,” the boy said and left the truck.

The truck drove off, the boy giving a wave before he walked to the Kingsbury building. He took a walk around the house, taking it all in and looking for a logical way in. He noticed there was an open window. To be sure though, he tried to go for the easy way in and just tried the door. It was locked. He figured he’d be able to pick the old lock easily enough. He’d picked up some lock-picking skills as for some time he’d figured maybe doing some breaking and entering would be scary. Unfortunately the idea of getting caught and entering strange houses without any idea what was behind the doors whose locks he picked didn’t do anything to him. After inspecting the look he decided to go in through the window.

He walked over to the window, standing on tiptoes, jumping to reach it. He couldn’t quite make it though. For a minute he thought about going back to the door. Then he noticed the tree that was pretty close to the house. That might be just what he needed to get closer to the window.

With ease he climbed the tree, not minding the gusts of wind that shook its branches while he climbed his way up. When he was high enough he climbed to the end of a branch. He gripped it tight, swinging from it, thrusting his legs forward and back until he was sure enough he had the momentum he needed and then just catapulted himself to the window.

He covered his face with his crossed arms as he went through it. He landed inside the house, rolled on the floor and got up again. He had a look at the room. It looked like it had just been abandoned, instead of decades ago. This had to be the bedroom of the children, as there were two beds that had porcelain dolls and stuffed animals on them. He picked up one of the dolls and stared in its glass eyes. He knew those kind of dolls gave some people the creeps. One of those fears he had never understood. Why fear a lifeless toy? He threw it back on the bed and walked around the room. He still had enough light from outside, coming through to navigate around it.

He wondered about how hard it must have been for the kids to have lost their father at a young age. While he did not fear the death of his parents and had left them without much trouble to go on his search for fear he did love them and didn’t want anything bad to happen to them. The owner of this place, writer Bryan Kingsbury had taken his own life when they were just ten and seven. The boy had read all about Kingsbury’s life. In fact, he’d read all of Kingsbury’s books. The subject of his books had fascinated him as they were all full of stories of cosmic horrors. Although fascinating reading it had never given him goosebumps. Some people thought Kingsbury’s own work had made him insane, thus prompting him to blow out his brains with a shotgun in his study. The urban legend had it Kingsbury’s ghost still haunted this building. The legend had been strong enough for the house to be left unsold ever since his death, more than forty years ago. There had been some tries to get it sold, at very low prices. Each time potential buyers had felt so ill at ease in the place they refrained from it. The boy had read stories that people swore they could actually feel the cold presence of death and its stink in the abandoned old building. So far the boy could neither, though.

He walked out of the children’s room and ended up in a hallway. He thought about going through the rooms there but decided it would perhaps be more logical to start at the beginning, downstairs. He walked down the stairs, being careful not to make a misstep as the light outside was fading. He wasn’t afraid of falling, but he wasn’t stupid either.

The stairs took him to the very large living room. There was a huge couch, some tables, a fireplace and a red plush carpet. The wall was decorated with a boar’s head, two crossed swords and some paintings. One was of Bryan Kingsbury himself. The boy walked closer to it so he could inspect it. On the painting Kingsbury was wearing some kind of fancy suit with a pocket watch on a chain. Kingsbury was a gaunt man with a bush black beard and piercing eyes. He exuded pain and darkness like his stories did.

The boy walked to the adjacent door and found himself in the kitchen. He opened some of the cabinets, discovering there were still pots and pans in them. He sat down on the kitchen counter, just taking it all in. Trying to feel something that could be seen as dread or fear. He felt neither, so he jumped off and walked back to the living room. There was another door there which he opened and walked through.

He found himself standing in the study. The exact place where Bryan Kingsbury had taken his own life. It had gotten darker outside, so the light from the window was hardly sufficient to look around. The boy took out his phone and used the flashlight app from it to guide his way through the room. There was a huge library full of books with subjects like the occult, mythology and the like. It was clear where Kingsbury had gotten his inspiration from.

There was the desk where not only Kingsbury had written those dark and horrific books of otherworldly horror but had also sat when he’d pulled the trigger of the shotgun that had ended his life. The boy sat down in the chair where Kingsbury had been in. He closed his eyes. He imagined his finger around the trigger, the gun between his legs. Pictured the cold steel of a shotgun against his chin. Had Kingsbury feared the appending death that the gun promised him? In his mind’s eye he saw the splattering of Kingsbury’s brain matter across as the shotgun blast destroyed his cranium with a loud BANG!

What was that sound? Was that coming from upstairs? Was he just imagining things? Was this maybe the effect fear had on a normal human being? Then there was another banging sound coming from upstairs. He got excited. Cool! Was he really about to see some kind of ghost perhaps. He jumped up from the chair and ran to the living room, up the stairs as fast as he could.

Unleashed! Chapter One

ONE

The wind whipped his longish hair around his face. The bridge was empty except for himself. The boy looked down. It was a long, long way down. He turned his head to the young man next to him. Tommy was an athletic guy with spikey hair and a Thrasher T-shirt. He was also the one who tied the bungee rope around his ankle.

“You ready, pal?” Tommy asked.

The boy gave that some thought. He was hoping to feel something akin to fear, staring in the depth from that bridge. Still, he felt nothing of the sort. In his sixteen years on the planet he’d never really known the feeling of fear. That’s why he’d come here. In fact, that was the reason that for the last few months he’d been traveling across the country, looking for the feeling of fear.

“I guess,” the boy said.

“Then jump!” Tommy told him.

The boy took a leap, arms stretched wide without any hesitation. For a moment he felt like he was flying. That felt pretty good, not scary. Just good, free. Then he dropped down, wind rushing past his face. Tommy had warned him there might be a bit too much wind, but the boy had insisted he wanted to do the jump anyway. He saw the ground heading his way, he knew that for not to die, the rope tied to his ankle harness had to be the correct length, the ankle harness had to be fit around his ankles perfectly, the rope had to be sturdy enough. He wasn’t blind to those facts. He just didn’t feel any fear.

Then there was a powerful tug on his ankles, as the rope was stretched taut. He grunted, the tug somewhat painful. The fall had stopped. He was now just swinging by his ankles in the wind.

“Whoo-heeeeee! That was quite some jump!” he heard Tommy yell above him.

Hanging there in the air the boy felt disappointed. He had so hoped to feel some kind of fear. But no, he was still the boy without fear.

*

Some time later the boy was having a Cherry Coke at a gas station near the bridge. He was sitting on top of the hood of Tommy’s pick-up truck. With a big, flashy font the door of the truck said Tommy Swan, Extreme Sports. Tommy was drinking a Red Bull.

“I’ve never seen anyone jump down with such wild abandon before,” Tommy said. “And shit, I’ve seen some reckless adrenaline junkies.”

“I told you, I don’t feel fear,” the boy said.

“How can that be? Everybody feels fear, right? I mean, maybe for different things, but still…”

The boy shrugged. “I don’t.”

“Okay, obviously you’re not afraid of heights. But maybe, I don’t know…  Maybe you fear snakes? Or spiders?”

“I had a bunch of tarantulas crawling over me. Went into a snake-pit. Nothing.”

“That’s wild, dude! Pretty awesome.”

“It’s not. I feel… Incomplete. Not human. I’ve read up a lot about the subject of fear. How it rules many people’s life. Fear is something that also makes life worth living, you know? The fear of losing someone makes you also aware you love them. The fear of death makes you live your life to the fullest every day. I miss those feelings. Ever since I can remember.”

“Shit, is that some kind of medical condition or something? You ever go to a doctor or shrink with that?”

“Doctors, shrinks, all kinds of smart people. They haven’t ever encountered someone like me. Through the years I tried to feel fear by reading horror novels, watching hundreds of horror movies. Nothing. I decided to leave home, go off an some kind of adventure, you know. Alone traveling around this big country… That should be a bit scary right? It’s not. Not to me. And I’m afraid that bungee-jumping didn’t make me feel any fear either.”

Tommy scratched his head. “I guess I can imagine that maybe feeling no fear isn’t as great as you might think. So, what are you up to now?”

“I’d appreciate it if you could give me a ride to a town called Arkham’s Lot. Ever heard of it?”

“I think so. Small town, not much going on.”

“Right. It also has a very haunted house.”

“A haunted house? Like I don’t know, the one in Disneyland?”

“If the stories are true it’s nothing like Disneyland,” the boy said after a sip of Cherry Coke.

“More like The Amityville Horror then?” Tommy asked.

The boy smiled. “Yeah, something like that.”

“It’s quite a drive. But I’m sure you have some interesting stories to tell me along the way. I don’t have any customers the rest of the day, so I guess I can take you.”

The boy jumped off the hood. “That’s awesome! What are we waiting for? Let’s ride!”

Unleashed! Prologue

Angie had been first introduced to the world of Urban Exploring by her former boyfriend. Now, after she’d left that asshole Jake because it turned out he was sleeping with her best friend, she’d gotten her new boyfriend interested in her hobby. Jake was a totally different guy than Mark was. Mark was this jock-type macho prick, while Jake was an eloquent, slightly shy dude. Hell of a photographer too. She’d learned so much about photography from him. She was taking him along on his first urbex trip.

She remembered the first time Jake told her about his hobby. Entering abandoned places and taking pictures of them didn’t sound too thrilling at first. But when she accompanied him on her first trip the adrenaline rush of managing to find a way to get into an old building, which was still more or less illegal, triggered something inside her. She’d always wanted to be more of a wild child but her catholic upbringing had apparently been so strong she had a hard time of letting loose. This was a nice relatively safe way of doing it. Well, you had to be careful on those old stairs because they might give in under your weight of course. And once there had been this neighbor who had seen them enter the building and chased them out with a shotgun.

She’d heard the stories about the building she and Mark were walking towards. It was said the place was haunted. Those were usually the coolest places to enter. She’d been in supposed haunted houses before and had never seen any truth to those rumors before. The whole folklore around it made it a bit cool, though.

The Kingsbury House seemed to have come straight out of a James Wong movie. It was huge, there were no other buildings connected to it and there were a lot windows. It looked very old.

Angie tried the door first. She winked at Mark. “Always try the easy way first.”

“Right,” Mark said who was already looking around restlessly, like a rabbit afraid an eagle would come sweeping in. “So what happens if someone calls the cops again?”

“Don’t worry, Mark. Usually you just get a warning or something. Don’t be a pussy.” Angie felt a bit guilty about pushing Mark that way. The fact he was something of a pussy was part of his appeal, the total opposite of Jake.

The door was locked tight. “Let’s go see if there’s a window we can get through.”

Mark swallowed. “Okay.”

They walked around the house, looking up at the windows, trying to see if there might be an open one. After fifteen minutes they had come to a conclusion.

“Looks like they are all locked,” Angie said. “Guess we will have to go for Plan C then.”

“Plan C?” Mark asked.

“Yeah, can you give me a little boost so I can reach a window?”

“But they are closed.”

“Not for long,” Angie said with a wicked smile. Maybe she was enjoying this stuff too much these days.

She folded her leather jacket around her arm. Mark folded his hands together so she could step on it and reach the window. She smashed out one window panel.

“Angie!” Mark sounded shocked.

“Relax,” she said and used the hole that was now in the window to reach the handle inside. Without much difficulty she opened it and managed to crawl inside.

Mark looked up at her in the window. “Now it’s really breaking and entering, isn’t it?”

“Technically, I guess… Come on, jump! I’ll pull you up inside.”

Mark jumped as high as he could. Angie grabbed both his wrists and pulled while he kind of climbed the wall. With a large tug he tumbled inside, flat on the floor.

“Easy-peasy, right?” Angie said, smiling. “Let’s go have a look.”

Mark brushed off some dust and got on his feet. “Okay.”

“This looks to be the bedroom of the kids,” Angie thought. Indeed, there were two small, beds, some old porcelain dolls and stuffed animals.

“It’s still really well-decorated,” Mark noted.

“Yeah, cool, huh?” Angie said.

“I guess.”

Angie picked up an old porcelain doll and stuck it in Mark’s face. He recoiled a bit.

Angie laughed, “Scary, right? I love it!”

“Fucking creepy.”

“Maybe we should walk less horror movies,” Angie said.

“Yeah. Hey, what’s that light?” Mark wondered and pointed ahead.

“Are you trying to scare me now or,” Angie started but saw what Mark was talking about. There was a pulsating, green light down the hall.

“That’s strange, I would think they cut off the power a long time ago,” Angie said. She walked out of the room, followed by Mark.

They entered the hallway. There were two doors, leading to other rooms. The light was coming from up the stairs.

“I wonder where that light is coming from,” Angie said.

“I can hear a faint humming sound as well. Can’t you?” Mark asked.

Angie shrugged. “Not sure. I think all that punk rock I’ve been listening to might have damaged my ears.”

“It sounds… weird.”

“Maybe it’s a generator or something?”

“Running on solar batteries then?”

“We’ll see,” Angie said and walked up the stairs.

“Be careful,” Mark said.

What Angie encountered in that room was the most terrifying thing she had ever seen. She’d come over there looking for excitement. But the thing in that room defied all laws of nature, smashing all her notions of life, of reality in seconds. She screamed. Screamed like she’d never screamed before and ran out of the room as fast as she could, bumping into Mark. They both fell on the floor.

“Angie, what’s wrong? You sounded like you saw a ghost?” Mark said.

“Just get up! Get up and get the fuck out of here. Now!” Angie screamed, scrabbling to get on her feet. When she’d managed to, she grabbed Mark’s hand and pulled him along.

She dragged him to the children’s bedroom, almost pushing him out of the window. They jumped down. Angie hurt her ankle but didn’t take the time to lament that. She just tried to get away from that damned, unholy place as fast as she could.