Short Stories

Abandoned

The ghostly trees stood starkly against the bleak landscape, their skeletal frames looked naked as though stripped of their emerald dignity. All that remained was their wooden armor and razor ridden branches. The insatiable winds tore at the house, striking it from every angle. A piercing howling was the only sound to be heard, caused by the raw and biting winds. But still we hesitantly crept onwards into the clearing that held the house. Wound up bramble bushes were sparse and dotted around like a meticulously designed pattern.

A winding dirt track led up to the old mansion. All the windows were long since smashed through. A lonely rag hung from a tarnished curtain pole and waved at us in the wind. The highest window, in the roof, was boarded up with planks. The peeling paint fell like snow to the ground in the fierce wind. A shadow raced past the top window, behind the boards, and a wooden plank fell from the window. A dust cloud arose from the ground as a result of the force of the fallen plank.

The front door was ajar and hanging off its hinges. I pushed my hand against the rotting door as it slowly creaked open. Sitting on the floor was a china doll with broken eyes sat staring at me. The wooden floorboards creaked and were rotten after being left for so many years to decay. Cobwebs hung like convicted criminals from the cabinets holding china plates and crockery. A broken down door lay on the floor and made a platform to the next room. The room held shelves lining every wall, they were filled with jars of coloured substances and figures that resembled body parts. Shattered glass was strewn across the floor. The begrimed lightbulb overhead flickered in the already dim light.

A tenebrous staircase climbed the greying wall and the planks of wood creaked as we cautiously climbed them. A long corridor lead on towards a single oak door. The door held a brass doorknob and strange markings which were carved into the wood façade. The doorknob turned... and turned... and finally the door creaked open until a sliver of light could be seen through the crack. In we stepped