The House at the End of the Street

Chapter One: The Beginning

The day began. It was a cold, rainy morning. The sky was a dark grey, black almost. There was a light fog that spread across the town of Ocean Springs, Mississippi. It was located at the very southern tip of Mississippi. It was Monday morning and I hadn't told anyone about what had happened last night, so I was hoping Jhett would help me cool off a bit. What was weird was that nobody said anything about their disappearances, like Charlie and Carter, didn't exist and it was all my imagination.
I walked into the school's front doors with Jhett, one of my best friends. We had known each other for three years but had rarely talked since we never had the same homeroom. Until the eighth grade. We walked to the back of the school, the third hallway to be exact, where our first period class was.
"That's why we should have a concert at the Peter Anderson festival!" Jhett exclaimed.
I happened to pay no attention to what his reasoning was, but I just went with it. I was trying to tell him, but I couldn't find the right time.
"Yeah. I totally understand. Also, why won't they let bands play at the PA Festival?" I said, trying not to make it obvious that I wasn't paying attention.
"I just said why! Because people think that it'll be annoying! I'm starting to think you aren't listening to me," Jhett replied.
All of a sudden, some kid came flying from nowhere and shoved me on the ground. I smacked my head on the ground and looked up to see the kid who hit me. It was some kid, maybe a little bit taller than me, but it wasn't his fault. Someone dragged him and lifted him into the air by the collar of his shirt. It was Ricky the school bully.
"Damn it," I mumbled.
"Where's my money, Connor?" Ricky asked, aggressively.
"Dude! I have no idea! I swear I gave it to you!" Connor said, flailing in the air.
Ricky was the bully of the school and believed he should be in charge of everyone. He was a teacher's kid, so he thought he was so important to everything. Ricky was one of those people who was an ass just to be an ass. He wanted to be cool, but we all knew he had failed at that.
"You alright, Zack?" Jhett asked me.
"I'm good," I replied, Jhett helping me back to my feet.
Jhett walked over to Ricky, still grasping the kid by the collar of his shirt. I could clearly see another kid, a girl, behind Ricky.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Ricky?" Jhett said to him, Ricky's head slowly turning to look at Jhett.
Ricky started chuckling and walked over to Jhett. The girl started backing away and mouthed to me 'no'.
"You really think that's gonna stop me?" Ricky said, shoving his face into Jhett's.
Ricky had told many kids they should know better not to mess with him, so Jhett decided to mock him, not realizing his mistake.
"Leave those kids alone. You should know better," Jhett sneered.
"Oh, don't play that game. You don't know what kind of things I could do to you," Ricky replied, cracking his fists trying to make Jhett scared.
"Fine. I'll tell you who you really are. You are an idiot who believes nothing else than you should be in power. You are an idi-" Jhett didn't finish before Ricky grabbed his shirt collar and lifted him into the air.
"Jhett!" I exclaimed.
Jhett started flailing, showing that he couldn't breathe. Ricky was still as a statue while smiling as Jhett started suffocating.
"Oh no," I said.
"Let him go, Ricky!" Another kid screamed from the corner.
"Oh, shut up, Jack!" Ricky replied.
Then, Jhett kicked Ricky in the... yeah you know where. Ricky dropped Jhett, but grabbed his back and tossed him into the wall. Ricky's arm was now holding Jhett up onto the wall over his neck.
I saw my chance to get a hit on Ricky. I kicked my foot into Ricky's shin. Ricky staggered back in pain, finally, a teacher came from the hallway next to us and stopped the whole incident.
"What is going on here?" the teacher said.
"Nothing! Just having a little joke with these kids here," Ricky said, making the worst lie ever.
The teacher knew he was lying and talked some sense into Ricky, what Jhett had originally tried to do.
"Ricky, get to class or I'll have to give you detention," the teacher replied.
Me, and the other two kids didn't get into trouble and congratulated Jhett for being brave and standing up to him. Jhett and I started to walk to class when the two kids stopped us to thank us for helping them.
"Hey, sorry about him. He's an ass. I'm Conner, by the way," The girl said.
"Hey, I'm Jack. As Conner said, he's an ass. He's got the IQ of a dinosaur," Jack cracked, laughing.
Jack and Conner split into the second hall while Jhett and I went to the third. We walked into a class where the teacher was just writing about our assignment due today. It was weird without Charlie or Carter, but no one said anything about them.
As the teacher started calling role, she never once mentioned anything about Charlier or Carter. I raised my hand.
"Yes, Zack?" Mrs. Sullivan asked.
"You forgot about Charlie and Carter. Charlie Smith and Carter Monforton," I replied.
"We don't have Charlie or Carter in our class," Mrs. Sullivan said.
I sat back in my seat wondering what I had done. I had basically made them disappear from existence. As time passed, I kept trying to figure out what and/or why they didn't come to school or if they were even alive after last night. I haven't paid attention in class that entire period.
I found a girl named Gracie and asked her if she remembered them.
"Hey! Gracie!" I whispered to her.
"What's up, Zack?" She asked back.
"Do you happen to remember Charlie and Carter? You know, the kids who sat next to me in Ms. Morgan's class?"
"So I'm not the only one..." Gracie said to herself.
"What?"
"They came to school Friday, right? Like, they were in class,"
"Yes! Oh, thank god," I replied, ending the conversation when Mrs. Pennock, my math teacher, came over to us and told us to be quiet.
We walked to our third period where our World History teacher, Mrs. Morales, came up to me and asked a startling question.
"Where are Charlie and Carter?"
I stood still and fainted, hearing Gracie's voice as I saw black splotches in my vision. I woke up in Mrs. Morales' class as if nothing happened. I looked over to Gracie and the bell rang for lunch.
"You alright, Zack?" Gracie asked me.
"Yeah, I'm fine," I replied.
We walked to the cafeteria and I saw through the huge cafeteria window that the wind started picking up. I didn't let it bother me and I kept walking. I suddenly stopped and felt a spiritually feeling running through my body.
I was drawn to the window, like some kind of thing was pulling me towards the window. I looked up into the sky and saw something horrifying. It was an exact representation of what happened last night. My breathing got heavier and heavier as I saw Charlie get sucked into the underworld and Carter screaming for me to help him.
I could feel a tear fall on my face as I saw myself trying to help my friends, but I knew the outcome. I could see black splotches in my vision again, but before I could faint, Jhett grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the window.
Good thing too since a giant tree came flying into the window, right where I was. It seemed as if death had gotten two, and wanted three... me. Jhett looked at me.
"Are you okay? Zack!" Jhett yelled.
I jumped and felt a huge shiver run down my back as the lights grew brighter and brighter... than... nothing. I was back in the class with Jhett checking me out, making sure I didn't lose my pulse or I didn't have any brain trauma. I felt like someone had smashed my head with a shovel. Nothing else that bad had happened to me... until sixth period.
Sixth period began and Gracie and Jhett offered to watch and make sure nothing bad happened to me. It started raining hard. I looked out the window, then KABOOM!!!
A strike of lightning sent thunder throughout the air. The lights started flickering, then darkness.
"Don't panic, it's just a little power outage," Ms. Morgan said, trying to calm us down.
"Yup. There's the power outage I was waiting for," Jhett said sarcastically.
"It'll be fine. They'll fix the lights in a minute or two," Ms. Morgan said.
Twenty minutes later and there was still no power. A few kids in the class started freaking out a little bit, one being myself since my brain was still a hot mess. It occurred to me that we wouldn't have power for a lot longer than a few minutes.
"What do we do now?" a kid named Matt asked.
"I guess we wait until we leave, maybe a few more minutes," Ms. Morgan replied.
I raised my hand and asked to go to the restroom since I hadn't been since lunch at 11:30.
"Just be quick," Ms. Morgan replied to my question.
I walked down to the bathroom but got stopped by the ART teacher, Mr. Allen.
"Where are you going?" Mr. Allen asked me.
"Down to the restroom," I replied quickly.
"Ok. Just don't be long,"
I walked into the bathroom. There were four stalls, each closed. The scariest thing of all was that it was dark, pitch black, like space without the stars. Then, I looked into the mirror. My hair was messed up bad from fainting twice.
"Stupid haircut," I mumbled under my breath, still trying to fix my mess of a haircut.
All of a sudden, one of the stall doors started opening, creaking so much it made my head hurt. It hit the wall with a slight bang, but it stopped. I peeped my head from the furthest stall and stuck my head out to the center of the bathroom.
Nothing. I could feel the same sense of terror and bad feeling as in the cafeteria. Someone or something started making a deep gurgling sound and walking in circles. I stood, petrified with fear.
"This-This has to be a prank, right? Ricky? You there?" I called out, trying to calm myself down.
Then, the door of the bathroom slammed shut, BAM! The sound stopped and I could see a figure in the darkness.
"Get the hell away from me!" I shrieked, falling onto the cold bathroom floor.
I grabbed my phone from my pocket and switched on the flashlight. Hanging from a hook in his mouth was Ricky's body, bloody and his limbs tangled in each other. Ricky's eyes opened. They were bloodshot.
"Oh my god!" I yelled, backing away from the scene.
I turned around and started to bang on the bathroom door, hoping to get the attention of someone. I turned back around to see Ricky get sucked into the wall and Carter's body replacing him. The sight of Carter's dead body hanging from a hook the same as Ricky's terrified me.
"Carter!" I screamed.
I stood frozen. Carter opened his eyes, his too were bloodshot. He looked as if his flesh on his bones were falling off. If you saw him, you could see his veins through his pale skin. What had scared me the most was when Carter started talking. His voice was deep and raspy.
"Hey, Zack... you wanna play a game?" Carter asked.
It was a scene right out of SAW.
"Get away from me!" I yelled again, trying to get myself away from Carter.
Carter pulled himself off the hook with his bare hands, not making a peep. Blood was dripping onto the floor from his face, where the hook had been.
"C'mon, Zack! It'll be fun!" Carter negotiated.
I met the wall and saw and watched as a demon flew through the wall, like a ghost, and grabbed Carter by his legs.
"Zack! Help me!" Carter screamed, but it was too late and Carter was pulled under the ground, probably the underworld.
Then, the demon came back and grabbed me by my neck, lifting me upwards and close to the ceiling. I could hear Jhett and Gracie pounding on the door. Then, the door swung open and Jhett plus Gracie saw my levitating body with the demon grasping my neck.
"What the hell?!" Jhett yelled, running over to try and pull me down.
I couldn't breathe as the demon lifted me further and further into the ceiling. Then, Mr. Allen came running through the door and the demon disappeared into thin air.
"You alright kid?" Mr. Allen asked.
I started seeing black splotches again, as I fell unconscious.