{ Chapter Two }

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by Madame_Sarcasm

by Madame_Sarcasm

Will stomped on the gas pedal at once and we took off, disappearing into the trees and onto the dirt road. Leaves and branches covered the night sky above us, making it even darker outside than it was before. We all sat in silence, the buzz of tension strong in the air, as we made our way to our destination.

A had turned my head to look out the window, to see if I could spy any other tell-tale signs of former life, but it was far too dark outside to see anything that wasn't in the headlights. Not that it stopped me from trying.

Those few minutes felt like hours, but we eventually pulled into a clearing. Surrounded by trees, in the middle of nowhere, was an elegant, if not ancient, two-story home, complete with a front porch. It even have a small garden in the yard (wildly overgrown and more weeds that flowers) and a swing on the nearest tree to the far left (nothing more than moldy rope now). It was most likely the remnants of a wealthy landowner's home. We may have even been a ranch nearby, if we had bothered to investigate more.

We all got out of the van, hauling along any items we had brought, flashlights, cameras, and so on.

But there were already a few things off.

Any other old hotels or empty children's hospitals we'd visited had some form of security. Yes, they were essentially left to rot, but they were all government owned buildings, and at least had a couple of locks on the doors.

This house we had found didn't have any locks at all. Or chains. Or fences.

And another thing, this place, though old, was in surprisingly good condition compared to the other places we've been to. Yes, some of the paint was peeling, and the windows were covered in grime, but it was in relatively good shape, at least in comparison.

So yeah. We found a house in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by a dense forest, which was in unnaturally good condition and unprotected.

I feel like at this point, any sane person would have turned back. So, of course, we all grabbed our things and kicked down the front door with little effort like the goddamn champs we were.

We automatically split up upon entering the house, as we usually did. It was routine by now, get in pairs, do some exploring, and have a little fun. Megan and I took the kitchen, and Will and Caroline took the living room. Since Nathan and Reese were our temporary new members, they were both left to do essentially whatever they wanted.

The first thing Megan and I noticed once we entered the kitchen was the table.

It was fairly large, fit for four people and could hold six on a good day. Wooden and worn down. I'm pretty sure it had holes in it. I don't entirely remember because I was too focuses of what was actually on the table itself. It was set for a meal, not a dish, fork, napkin, nor glass out of place. There was even a small blue vase in the center, full of murky water.

We'd been in plenty of houses before, but this was certainly new to us. Something set up so normally was completely abnormal. None of the silverware or china on the table was even broken or rusty.

As we continued to press on, Megan and I found that the refrigerator had the disgusting remnants of a full stock, and every cabinet and cupboard was filled with more dishes or more food. This was also a first.

Our first reaction was to find the others and share what we found, but once everyone was back together, they all seemed even more creeped out than we were. In the living room, Caroline had found an old TV guide resting on a filthy armchair near a retro television set with these creepy UFOs on the cover.

The walls of the living room were littered with photographs, all dusty and fading, but they all contained the same people, Mom, Dad, brother, and sister, all in their 1970's glory. All of the furniture was really dirty, but in otherwise good condition. There was even a downstairs closet full of shoes and raincoats.

Nathan and Reese had wandered off and found piles of mail next to a window in the study. None of us could tell if the mail was sent to this house or was only written in this house, but the words on the envelopes and letters alike were so worn, it probably wouldn't have made a difference. From what we could make out, however, was that this letter was written on January 17th, 1978. The closest thing to a name we could make out was something like "Richard Kendrick" or "Rachel Kormick" or something like that. Whoever this person was, all of the letters were addressed to them.

Not a thing out of place. Not even after thirty years. A tacky time capsule in the middle of nowhere.

But the longer we were there, the more disturbing the realization that this house had not been moved out of, but straight up abandoned, became. Imagine packing nothing, locking the front door to your house, and never coming back. That was the state this house was in. Complete unplanned departure. But this old house still had plenty of surprises for us, as we would soon find out.