The House on the Hill

Chapter 6: The Message

Ava frantically picked up the headphones and put them over her head. She pressed the green button, assuming it was the play button, and began to listen.

The audio was really staticky and she could make out a few moans of pain and agony in the distance. She pressed the headphones closer and tighter against her ears.

After a few more moments of static, she began hearing whispers...the whispers were too hard to make out....but she could tell it was murmuring.

She kept listening and before long, heard a terrible hum of an old scratchy voice. The voice was haunting, and a wave of nausea swept over her, but she didn't stop listening. The voice was saying something. But it was too distant to understand....

As the audio went on, the voice got clearer and clearer until she heard a sentence.

He knew too much

The voice whispered.

He knew too much. He must never leave. I will haunt him...forever...

The voice rasped.

Suddenly Will's screams played on the tape. He screamed in pain, over and over, causing Ava to gasp and hold her hand over her mouth. The screams were twisted and forced, like someone was torturing him.

Deep laughter filled Ava's ears as Will's screaming drowned in the sound of crackling static.

One by one you shall follow him,

The more you know, the more time you'll stay,

Never to be freed, never to be freed, never to be freed,

The voice repeated it over and over until it was only that she could hear. No more static. Just the bone-chilling voice, played over and over like a broken record, shattering Ava's hearts to pieces. She felt sick. The ghost was torturing Will. She took off the head phones and ran to the toilet. She placed her shaky hands on either side of the toilet bowl and stared at the water below her. Her eyes weren't focused correctly. Her mind was still wandering unexplored thoughts about the old man. Her ears were stuck in the broken record effect of the voice of the old man...

She almost threw up, but she was able to regain herself. She walked slowly back into the living room, taking small, deep breaths. Brian greeted her with a weak smile, though his face was paler than ever.
"So," he said, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat and tried again. "So..."
The group turned to face him.
"I'm sorry you had to hear that. Clearly, this is a spirit, not a ghost."
"What's the d-difference?" Stuttered Harry, who was comforting his sobbing mother on the couch.
"The difference," said Nick, standing up from his chair and pacing around the room. "is not really big, though it's enough to be classified as two different groups."
"That's right, and the difference between a ghost and a spirit is that ghosts are lost souls who couldn't find their way to Heaven or...well...Heaven or Hell," Quinn added, looking around nervously before continuing.
"On the other hand....spirits are souls who aren't exactly lost..."
Harry and James exchanged glances of confusion.
"What do you mean?" James asked.
"I mean that spirits...they choose to stay in this world. They think that they still have to do something in this world first before they can rest in the other worlds."
"Most ghosts look for help, and mean no harm. They just want to get to their rightful place. But spirits...they look for things to do, people to haunt, objects to posses, people to revenge on...and they usually do mean harm," Riley added quickly. She examined Harry and James's identical looks of confusion and rolled her eyes.
     "In other words, ghosts are good and spirits are bad."
"S-so you said the old man is...is a spirit?" James spattered as his breathing grew more intense.
"I'm afraid so," Brian said as he sat down on a chair next to Ava.
"So, the old man sounded like he was torturing Will!" Ava said, her voice trembling.
"Well, here," Brian said as he exhaled and turned to face Ava. "Spirits...they are the mischievous ones...they leave clues for you to find...they can also toy with your mind, more than Nick toys with his rubix-cube," Brian smirked at Nick, who perked up when he heard his name and quickly stuffed his cube in his pocket, his ears turning a deep shade of pink. "Anyways, some things they want you to think, but aren't true," he said in a comforting voice. "So I promise, even after all our equipment got destroyed, we will try our hardest to find Will and to save your family."
Ava smiled up at him, who was smiling back.
     "Thanks," she said.
     "L-let's analyze the audio," Riley said as she put her feet up on a chair. "So the spirit said the more you know, the longer you stay. So Will knew something that you didn't. That's why the spirit took Will in the first place."
Suddenly the fire in the living room fireplace gave out, leaving all of them in the cold. Ava shivered as she hugged herself tightly.
     "So....you mean to say that the more we know, and the closer we are to solving this, the more danger we are in of being taken away, just like Will?" Asked Ava. Riley nodded slowly and hesitantly.
"I think that the spirit is afraid of us finding out how to capture it..." Nick said, his ears still a shade of hot pink.
     "Yeah. But...we only have this audio. We only have this as evidence...what're we gonna do now?" Ava said as she stood up.
     "That's a good question, actually," Brian agreed.
     "Should we split up and look for clues?" Harry suggested.
     "Who're you, Freddy from Scooby Doo?" Riley giggled as Harry blushed furiously.
     "S-sorry, I was just suggesting..."
Riley laughed some more and stood up from her seat. "I'm going to get some extra equipment from the truck...or at least check if we have any more."
She walked over to the door and stood in front of it.

The team waited for a few seconds, expecting her to open the door, but she stayed put. Nick stood up.
     "Why aren't you opening the door?"
No answer.
     "Are you okay?.."
Finally Riley flinched and turned to the team.
      "Oh, sorry, I just...had an odd feeling..." She said, scratching her head. She reached out to open the door....and she screamed.

As soon as her fingers brushed against the doorknob, the walls on either side seemed to jump to life. With a sickening crunching sound, the walls seemed to extend over the door, like hands reaching for something unreachable. They clamped shut over the door and with another crunch turned solid and stiff again, only this time, there was no door. The wall had covered it completely.

Riley was on the floor, clutching the spot where her heart was.
     "Riley!" Yelled Harry and he broke apart from the tight embrace of his mother and knelt down beside the girl who was now breathing frantically.
     "Are you okay?"
No answer. Her expression was stuck in a state of mortal terror. Suddenly she moved her lips, as if trying to say something.
     "What is it?"
     "I saw him...the old man!...I know!!" She sputtered as her eyes widened. She grabbed Harry's hand and pulled him closer and whispered:

  "The door! We're trapped in!! The old man is coming!"

And to everyone's horror, Riley collapsed to the ground.

Suddenly the whole team heard a voice echoing through the whole house. It was the same rough voice from the audio.
Hahahaha!
It laughed.
  You are never getting out! No doors!

Ava gasped and subconsciously grabbed Brian's arm.

Two down! Who's next?

The next thing they heard was Riley's horrible scream and the man's cracklings laughter before the lights flickered out...

...Suddenly it was silent. So silent it was deafening. They were left in complete darkness...

Two words were echoing though Ava's head:

Who's next?