The House That Never Was

I: A House Off In The Darkness

The night was dark and eerie on a long, deserted road. The only light was from the headlights and an occasional flash of lightning.

Six friends had set off on a road trip to find fun and adventure before going their separate ways. John and Joanne were set to go to college. Steve and Jack were going into the military. Lisa was enrolled in fashion design school, while Angie was off to acting school.

"Are you sure this is the right road, John?" Joanne asked.

"According to the map this is a shortcut." John replied.

"Some shortcut." Lisa said with a hint of sarcasm in her voice. "There has been nothing since we turned onto it."

"We'll be back on the main road before long." John told her. He was the only one that was really sure of that.

For everyone else, it was like the road was going to go on forever. It began to feel like the more they traveled on it, the longer it would take to reach the end.

"Seriously, how long are we going to be on this road?" Steve asked.

"Look! We'll be on the main road soon!" John shouted back at him, then paused. "I'm sorry guys. I guess I'm just tired."

"We all are." Jack said to him. "Maybe we can find a place to pull over for the night."

"Sounds good to me." Angie chimed in.

However, any possibilities of finding somewhere to stay for the night seemed to be nonexistent. There hadn't been any signs of life for miles. Nothing but darkness along a road of empty fields.

Then, as if their night had not been long enough, the van started jerking and sputtering. John managed to pull it over to the side just as the engine died.

John started getting frustrated after trying several times to get the engine to turn over with no luck. He clenched his fists and slammed them down hard on the steering wheel.

"Great!" John exclaimed. "Now what!?"

"Let me look at it." Jack said.

Jack examined the engine, but had found nothing wrong with it. He was puzzled as to why it wasn't running. The best he could figure is it just simply quit working.

"I can't find anything wrong." Jack explained with a hint of frustration in his voice. "There isn't any reason that I can find that would keep the engine from running."

"What do we do then?" Angie asked.

"We walk." Steve told her.

"According to the map, it's only about five miles to the main road." John told everyone. "We're bound to find something there. Maybe we can flag down a car or find a phone."

Each step felt as if they were getting nowhere. No matter how far they walked, it looked the same as it did behind them. Each field was the same as the last. There were no signs of life other than the grass. There were no animals, no people, and no houses. There was only silence, darkness and isolation.

"It feels like we've been walking forever." Joanne complained. "There's nothing here. There hasn't been anything around here all night."

"Hopefully we don't have much farther to go." Steve said.

Then, adding to the events of the night, it began to rain. It started slow and light at first, then it got faster and harder. It didn't take long for all of them to get soaked to the skin.

"Great!" Angie shouted at John. "Just great! First, you bring us out to the middle of nowhere. Then, your crappy van breaks down so we have to walk God knows how far to God knows where. And now, it starts to rain! Anymore bright ideas? I mean, nothing else can go wrong could it?"

"Will you shut the hell up!?" Joanne shouted. "You're not helping the situation, so just shut your damn mouth."

"Back off, Joanne!" Steve demanded.

"None of this is helping us. Standing here yelling at one another isn't going to get the van fixed, and it sure as Hell isn't getting us out of this mess." Jack pointed out.

"Yeah. What a way to spend our last summer together, huh?" Lisa asked.

"Guys?" Joanne called to everyone. "Do you see what I see?"

"I didn't notice that before." John said. "Did anyone else?"

Everyone shook their heads. None of them had noticed before that off in the distance was a huge house. It was gigantic, dark and creepy like an old sanitarium. It looked to be centuries old. It was like it appeared right out of an old Boris Karloff film.

"Come on." John said. "Let's hope there's someone there."

So, at that moment, they set off hoping to find help and refuge from the storm not knowing what was in store for them. No one knew what really lay within the walls of that house, or the fact that night might very well be their last.