The House on the Hills

Teaser

Silence. The whole world stopped motion as I walked through the damp, tangled forest, light piercing through the gaps between the leaves and trees, pouring me with the golden rays of sunlight upon me, allowing me warmth in such a harsh, dense atmosphere. As I walked, I came across a shallow, turquoise river. It sprung over the limestone rocks on its way, giving the water a slightly cloudy look. I felt something wrong. Turning away from the river, I walked deeper into the forest, reaching a part where it felt like the sun hasn't touched in years until I came across an old abandoned house, hiding between a band of tangled trees on top of a low hill. The sun was already down, giving the house a ghostly look. The house shuddered on the hill, wishing the rays of the morning light could soothe it's hard surface and weary walls. It looked so old, so.. empty. When was the last time it heard the laugh of a child or the cries of a newborn? It simply stood skeletal on the lonely hill, a generation broken within time. Stripped of the splendour she may have been, she lumps towards the pull of gravity. My footsteps on the dry floor creaked under my very feets until I reached the door. I laid my hand on the rusty, bronze orb and opened the door, which let out a creak loud enough to scare nearby birds. I stepped inside the house and as soon as I stepped in, the door shut immediately, sending a shock of chill down my spine. Now something was definitely wrong..

The smell of damp invaded my nose, light dimly penetrating through the scarred windows, filling the house with obscured white light. In front of my way a spiralling galaxy of dust, swirling towards the light, as the angels move towards the heavens. My heart was attempting to break the walls of my chest, my head receiving punches threatening to floor me, sweat moving from forehead to my eyes, giving me the vision of a mole. Flaking paint lined the floor with dust and the microscopic bodies of unfortunate creatures. The curtains hanged limp over the windows, giving it a spooky atmosphere. But there wasn't much light left for the day after all. The atmosphere was heavy with expectation as the floor resounded with the dull movements of my footsteps. The paintings hanging by a thread, covered with a century's worth of cobwebs. That's when I heard it, the faint snarling of a wolf-like creature. So far but so clear and getting closer. That's when the creature showed itself to me...