House of the Dead #mysteryfriday

Dollhouse.

With drooping shoulders and tired eyes, Luna sat with her physics book trying to study for her upcoming test. She heard the librarian preparing to close the library but waited for her to force her out. Luna knew she had to get a B in the upcoming test in order to play at Nationals. Ever since she picked up a basketball, Luna had dreamt of this and now that it was so close, she could almost see herself scoring the winning basket. "Excuse me miss but the library is closed!" Luna lifted her head from the desk, opened her sleepy eyes and saw the librarian towering over of her. Nodding, she gathered her stuff and headed towards the parking lot. Being the last person to leave, her red convertible was the only car left in an otherwise quiet and empty parking lot. It was so quiet down here that even a single beep of her phone rang throughout the empty space. The sound caused a few scurrying noises in return but knowing the parking lot contained rats, Luna payed no heed to the sound and began reversing out of the lot. Had she looked into it, she'd have seen a shadow in the corner, too big for a mice. Luna began the long, straight drive home.
Listening to her favourite song on the radio she drove airily, ignorant to the fact of how unusually quiet and deserted the road was tonight. After driving a couple of blocks, Luna was surprised by the creeping darkness ahead. The streetlights on this part of the road were either turned off or flickering uncontrollably. But unfazed by the darkness, she turned the headlights to the brightest and continued on. Worrying about her test tomorrow, Luna sped up and hurried home hoping to study some more. All she could think of was, her playing at the Nationals. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice something or someone jump in front of her car until the very last minute. "Oh shit!!" she cursed and turned right to avoid a collision. She pushed the brakes hard causing the car to skid across the floor in circles and slam into an oak tree. The impact of the crash not only destroyed the car but threw Luna forward in her seat, causing her to hit her head to the steering wheel.
Still dizzy from the crash, she stirred in her seat and tried to open her eyes but a thick red liquid hazed her vision. She wiped her forehead and eyes with the back of her hand causing a sharp pain to elude from it. Looking in the rear-view mirror, she saw she had a deep cut that ran from the top of her head to just above her left eye which was bleeding. Hazily she stumbled out of the wreaked car and began searching for her handbag inside the car. She emptied the contents of the bag causing her handkerchief, lipstick, money, tissues and phone to tumble out onto the concrete floor. After tending to her wound and tying her handkerchief around hee forehead, she picked up her phone and was amazed to find it unaffected by the crash. She tried calling for help but unfortunately there was no network. Realising she was out of options, she decided to wait for help. As Luna waited for a car to arrive, for the first time that night she noticed just how quiet and barren the road was. Recalling back, she realised that the whole drive, she had not seen another car on this road.
Feeling helpless, Luna tried to distract herself from having a panic attack by searching for network. She tried to see if she'd get a signal by walking around waving her phone in the air to find the ideal spot. Just then, the message from earlier popped up. She tried to close it but pressed 'View' by mistake. The message read: 'Your death is near Luna. Prepare yourself'. The place where the sender's name and number should appear was blank. The message did give Luna the creeps but deciding to focus on the bigger problem at hand, she resumed her task of finding signal. While doing so, she failed to realise how close to the edge she had come until she slipped and fell into the valley below. It wasn't a steep valley but due to the former crash and her wound, Luna felt like someone had punched her in the gut. Dried leaves and twigs got stuck in her hair and bile began to rise in her stomach and she vomited in a nearby bush. Luna had never felt so miserably before. She thought she had run out of luck when she a small hut-house caught her eye. The house was so brilliantly hidden behind trees and bushes that no one ever saw it from the road. Luna herself would not have seen it if the light inside the hut wasn't on. Luna contemplated whether anybody even lived in such a secluded house when a shadow moved across the window and lifted her spirits.
Luna finally thought she had found help but little did she know what that house contained. As she began towards the house, she didn't know why but she felt an uneasy feeling wash over her. She tried brushing it off but it just kept growing as she got closer to the house. When she reached the house, she was taken aback by it's appearance. Most of the plaster had peeled off, creepers and moss had taken over the walls, the tiled roof was missing a few broken tiles yet the door had no signs of dirt, the glass on the windows were clean while the curtains were ripped and soiled. The house made Luna question her decision but she knew she had no other choice.
She took a couple of steps and stood in front of the door for a minute. A voice in the back of her mind kept telling her to find another way, any other way but she had already tried and failed. So with shaky breath and uncertainty, she lifted her arm to knock. Her hand was only a couple of inches away from the door when the lights on the inside went out making her jump back. She tried to control her racing heart by assuring herself that the person must have turned them off, preparing to go to bed. But no matter what she did or said, she could not stop her nervousness from growing. She took a couple of deep breaths, pushing her ridiculous thoughts to the back of her mind and knocked on the door. She awaited reply but only got silence in return. She knocked a little harder the second time and this time the door opened on it's own. She freezes as the door creeks and opens slowly. "What kind of person forgets to lock their door before sleeping?" There was only one way to find out. Luna tried calling out but she didn't know whom she was calling for. "Hello. Is anybody here?" she asked as she cautiously stepped into the house. No sooner did she step inside than a horrible smell hit her. It smelt like rotten fish or meat; someone must've ruined their dinner she thought but she knew it wasn't the case. She covered her nose and moved along the walls, trying to find the light switch. When she found the switches, she switched them but the lights wouldn't come on. "But how can that be? They were working not long ago." This was the final red flag. Luna knew something was not right about this house and she decided she wanted to run away from this house. She turned and began walking towards the door but it was so dark she bumped into something throwing something down. Touching it, she felt a soft, mushy substance which felt very odd and gross. Removing her phone, she turned on the flashlight and shined it on the thing she had knocked over. What she saw in front of her made her breath get caught in her throat, her knees go weak and sent a icy chill down her spine. She shrieked in horror and jumped back away from it but stumbled over the fallen head and fell down next to it.
She crawled backwards until her back touched the wall. To be sure she saw it right, Luna shined the light again on the corpse sitting on the rocking chair. Her eyes flooded with tears as she watched the headless corpse rock back and forth while it's head was fallen on the floor. The head didn't look like a head of a human anymore. The flesh was almost completely eatten, the eye sockets no more contained eyeballs but two empty circles for beetles and centipiedes to make their home and a small piece of the scalp with a few grey hair strands still attached was the only flesh left on the head. If that wasn't enough, Luna could even make out the cut marks on the base of the skull where the bone had brown stains of dried up blood. Being a biology student, Luna had dissected frogs before but the sight in front of her paralyzed her with fear and disgust. "Get out! GET OUT!!" the voice in her head was louder than ever. She knew she wanted to run away from here so she finally mustered the strength to get up and do it. With the flashlight in her hand, she ran in the opposite direction of what was the bedroom and entered the living room.
This room stung Luna's senses so much she felt surrounded with death. With her heart beating rapidly and having difficulty breathing due to the stink, she knew she had to get out of the house as soon as possible. She glanced furtively around the room but due to the pitch black darkness, could not see a single thing. She knew she had to use her flashlight but the thought of seeing another decaying body caused bile to rise up in her throat and tears begin to flow. Again, she knew she had to do it. With shaky breath and trembling hands she shined the light across the room. She almost leaped for joy when she saw a window behind the sofa. She hurried around the sofa, towards the window and tried her best to open it but failed miserably. It was as if someone had glued the window shut. She was sobbing uncontrollably now as she turned around and leaned against the window. She opened her eyes and screamed with fright when she saw another body in front of her. This one was sitting on a sofa facing the T.V. almost as if it were watching it. This one, like the previous corpse was also half decayed but at least this one still had it's head on. But this one smelled even more ghastly due to all the attack wounds it had on its torso as if someone had cut it open with a chainsaw. Luna began to hyperventilate when she saw it's intestines spilling out. She summoned all her strength to run to the opposite corner of the room. Her feet not being able to support her anymore, gave out and she fell onto one of the dinning chairs. Feeling something crawling on the dinning table, she flashed her light and saw the table covered in a mess of invertebrates falling from the open mouths of two more bodies; One to her right and the other to her left. They looked as though they were having supper with plates and spoons placed on the table. The only difference though was that they were the supper to all the creeping, crawling insects skittering in their open mouths and falling onto the table amd plates. Realising the horror she was surrounded with, Luna jumps off the chair and just starts screaming from the top of her lungs. "Help." "Get me out of here." "Please" She tries and tries until her throat turns dry and she falls down crying. Just then, the message she received in the parking lot comes to her mind. Was this all planned? Is the sender of that text behind all this? She was hiccuping due to all the crying when she saw a ray of dim light come into the room. Lifting her head, she saw the front door open and a dark silhouette standing there looking at her. As she looked at that person, a feeling of impending doom washed over her.
That person easily found the switch and turned on the lights. The bright lights blinded Luna but when her eyes adjusted to them, she saw the person advancing towards her. She saw the look in his eyes and immediately knew he was going to try and hurt her. She wiped her face and stood up as he came near and near. She didn't want to fight, all she wanted was to escape and now she knew how. The door.
She was still trying to think of how to dodge him when he leaped onto her and pushed her body flush against the wall. Luna hit the wall hard causing the wound in her head to reopen and feel blood run down her face. Before Luna could register what was happening, the person caught Luna's neck with both his arms and began choking her. But Luna was not one to give up without a fight! Adrenaline pumped into her veins and she kicked him in his vulnerable area with her knee forcing him to release her from his death grip. As he caught his crotch and backed away, Luna took the opportunity and ran out of the house as fast as she could.
She thought she was out of danger when the stench no more eroded her senses and she could breathe again. But still haunted by those images, Luna kept on running. She kept running until she had to be stopped by a pair of strong arms. "Shush, Luna. It's ok." The voice was comforting and soothing. And without opening her eyes, Luna snuggled into his chest and cried her heart out. The images flooded behind her closed eyes and she cried until she ran out of tears. All the while, he engulfed her into a warm embrace and stroked her hair calmly. It worked as always as Luna sniffed her last few tears and looked into his eyes. They stared into each other's eyes a few minutes and then he smiled down at her. His smile was strange and new. It did not contain love and care but resembled a predator looking down on his prey. Luna heard footsteps behind her and felt another pair of eyes on her. He looked behind her and signalled for the person to come closer. Reality hit Luna square in the face as she looked at him in bewilderment. The truth stung her worse than anything else that night and her limbs went weak. "YOU??!" she more accused than asked as she felt the arms that were so far loving stroking her, encoiling around her like chains. He smirked evily. "He gets his doll for his dollhouse and I get you out of the way. So everybody wins!" He replied calmly, emotionless. Suddenly, Luna felt a sharp, excruciating pain and she knew she lost the fight. "Don't worry. You'll be his special doll." These were the last words Luna Benston heard before falling to the ground and succumbing to the darkness.