Love in the Eyes of Death

The House on the Hill

She crossed into the haunted house. Nothing could ever prepare her for what she is about to encounter.

"Now cough up the cash", Claire said, as she just won a bet. Alex, looking disappointed, reaches into his pocket and gives Claire twenty dollars. "Damn, Bill, you know how to pick them." William started to smirk at him, and when he saw Claire, he started to smile and proceeded to keep his head down.

"Alright, Trent and Conrad, you guys check upstairs, Alex, check the basement, Claire and I will check the ground floor." Everyone agreed with what William just said, except for Conrad. Deep down inside, Conrad was petrified. He heard of the stories that came from this place, about how a nice, friendly family man murdered his wife and two kids when she found out about his affair. He started to protest "I do not think this is a good idea, guys.". Nobody listened to him and proceeded to check the house for a living soul.

They searched the haunted house from top to bottom, and they did not find anyone, even though there was a black car parked outside of the house. As soon as Alex was about to head back to the living room, he caught a glimpse of a light underneath a bookshelf. Making his discovery, Alex shouted "Hey guys! You better come and take a look at this." Everyone dropped what they were doing and converged to his location.

"Nice find, Alex," William says as he pats Alex's back. "Now we just have to look for a way to get this open.". William and Alex tried moving the bookshelf, but it would not budge. "Looks like it is attached to the floor. Everyone, look for a crowbar or something so we can pry this thing open.", William says. Everyone started to look for a bookshelf. Conrad noticed a pattern on the bookshelf. Most of the books are all fiction written in the sixties to the eighties. But there was only one book, written by a philosopher named Joseph Campbell, which was something that is of interest to Conrad. The moment he pulls down the book, the bookshelf shifts to the right, revealing a hidden staircase. "You guys can stop looking for a crowbar. I got it open."

William stood in front of Conrad, patted him on the shoulder, said "And that is why we brought you along." and walked into the hidden staircase. Conrad started to feel some sense of happiness inside him after hearing William's praise. The haunted house may be made of wood, but the walls in the hidden staircase were made of white concrete, the lightbulbs shining bright. Now all of them started to feel scared inside, but they have not come this far just to give up now.

When they were at the bottom of the staircase, there was a mysterious door with a keypad on the side. Alex then said "Well, shit. Does anyone knows how to hack this thing?" Trent raised his hand. "I do," Trent says as he proceeds to step forward. He pulls out a wire in his left pocket, his phone on the right. Trent connected his phone with the keypad and minutes later, "et voila", says Trent as the door slides open. Alex then says "Once more unto the breach, dear friends". They all went in, not knowing what lies ahead.

Behind the mysterious door was a lab that had glass panels for walls, leaving the group vulnerable to random scientists and guards spotting them, Fortunately, there was some lab equipment that was big enough for the group to hide behind and into the rabbit hole they go. As they ventured deep into the lab, they were disgusted by what they saw.

When the group was deep into the lab, they saw people chained up, and tried to get out. They looked like they were down in the lab for weeks, their skin dried up and it was remarkable they still had the energy to try to escape and break down the walls with their bare hands. As they were about to go even deeper, they passed a little girl trapped in one of the cells. Her skin looked fine than the others, and it seems she was there recently. Every single person in the group was sad and sickened by it. But something snapped in Trent. He reached into his pockets to grab his smartphone and wanted to free her. William tried to stop him. "Trent, stop! You are going to get us in trouble!" William said. Trent then replied "It's a little girl, William! I can't just leave her behind like that." William agreed with Trent, but he still thinks it is a bad idea, so he gathered everyone and hides while Trent hacks the cell open. Little did he know, the floor in the cells is filled with motion detectors.

When Trent stepped foot into the cell, the alarm started ringing. Guards were getting ready to storm the cell. They do not have time, so Trent rushed into the cell. When he saw the young girl, he said "Don't worry. I am going to get you out." Trent approached the girl and he tried lock-picking the chain. As soon as he got closer to her, she lunged at him and bit his neck. Trent screamed in terror and his friends can do nothing but hear his screams. The guards arrived just in time to watch Trent bleed out from the neck. They opened fire on the girl, but that did not kill her. The bullets managed to push her back, but she still attempted to walk toward the guards. Suddenly, Trent's eyes started to open.

When Trent's eyes started to open, the first thing he did was lunge at the guard shooting at the little girl and he started biting the guard's stomach. With the help of the little girl, his guts were all over the floor. The other guard tried to shoot them, but he was in shock at seeing his partner getting eaten alive. The guard ran away and locked them inside. During the midst of that, he did not hear the sounds of the glass panels cracking and breaking. And suddenly, the prisoners broke out, and the corridor is filled with them.

When the prisoners escaped from their cells, the whole group started to panic. "Run! Head back to the entrance!", William screamed from the top of his lungs, and they ran. They ran as fast as they could. While they were running, one of the prisoners broke a glass panel and tackled Alex. William tried to help him, but there was another prisoner that pushed him to the ground. He tried pushing the prisoner away, but he was too strong for William. He was bitten, and there was nothing Conrad or Claire could do. They had no choice but to leave them behind for their survival.

Conrad and Claire were nearly at the entrance. Conrad saw the computer room nearby and said "Head for the exit, I'll lock them in here. No one could ever know what happened here". Claire wanted him to leave with her, but he snuck away like a ninja fast enough before she could say something. When Claire was about to move, she felt someone grabbing her ankle. It was William. But he was no longer human. William kept moaning and crawling towards her, his eyes look dead. Claire stomped his head and head for the entrance.

When Claire was at the entrance, she turned around and saw Conrad hard at work on the computer, trying to seal the lab down. The room he was in was surrounded by prisoners trying to get in. In a matter of seconds, the lab door started to close. Claire saw Conrad turn around to get a good look at her. He smiled at her before the prisoners pushed him to the floor.

"'I'm sorry, guys. I'm so sorry", Claire says with her hand on her mouth and her tears streaming down her face. She walked out of the haunted house. Claire turned around and looked back at the haunted house one last time to say goodbye to her friends, and walked away from the house.

Claire may have walked out of the haunted house alive, but she failed to notice the bite mark on her left leg.