The Chosen One

The Dare - Katie's POV

I never thought that a simple dare could turn into something dangerous, but I guess I was wrong. I was just supposed to go into the house and grab something to bring back to my friends. It never turned out the way I hoped though. Going into that house only made things worse. I’m not the same person anymore. I’ve changed. I was supposed to be in California going to college, dating hot college guys, and lying out in the sun at the beach. Instead, I’m living in a psychiatric hospital at the age of eighteen.

                Let me start from the beginning, where it all began. It was right after graduation. Tate, Eric, Courtney, and I decided to go out to Old Man Riley’s old place. Apparently, Old Man Riley bought a large amount of land and never knew that the house was there. The house was rumored to be haunted. The best story I’ve heard so far about the house was that some judge named Albert Cunning would lure young women and little girls into the house and torture and kill them. 

                We were all sitting around a very large bonfire in front of the house telling scary stories. The only light that we had was the light of the bonfire. We could see the house clearly. It was huge. It had at least three stories, and that was not counting the basement. The house looked like it should be knocked down, but I could not help but wonder what it looked like on the inside. I have always wanted to go in and explore the old place. I told Tate once before, and he looked at me like I was crazy. I never said anything about going in again.

                As I was listening to everyone tell their stories, I saw something in the bushes move. At first I thought it was some kind of animal; but when it got up and started walking away, it wasn’t an animal. What was walking away from the bushes was a little girl. She couldn’t have been more than six or seven. She had long, curly blonde hair. The nightgown she was wearing was dirty, and it looked like it had been torn. It was also covered in blood. She looked right at me and smiled; then she started walking toward the house.

                “Earth to Katie, are you even listening to me?” Courtney asked, clearly annoyed that I wasn’t paying attention.

                “Sorry, what were you saying?” I looked at Courtney for a split second and then looked back at the girl, but there was no sign that she was even there. Weird.

                “I was telling you guys that Judge Cunning had a daughter who was his accomplice. She helped with every murder and was supposed to take over once he died. The thing is no one knew he even had a daughter; so after he died the town thought the murders would stop. They were wrong though. They continued. Finally, a father of one of the victims decided to come here and take a look around. What he found shocked him. He caught Cunning’s daughter red handed. She was in the middle of torturing his own daughter. Some people say he shot Cunning’s daughter; others say he tortured her. No one really knows what he truly did to her. All he told the town was that there would be no more murders because it was taken care of. There has never been a murder here in Lading since then.”

                “Okay, okay, wait a minute. You’re telling me that Cunning had a daughter who continued his work until she died? That’s messed up,” Tate said while shaking his head. Then he looked at Courtney and asked, “Why haven’t I heard this part of the story? I mean, I’ve heard pretty much all the stories of this old house. Why haven’t I heard this one?”

                “Well, my dad told me this one. He told me that this was what really happened. He said that this story was the truth. He also told me that his dad told it to him, and before that his dad’s dad told his dad; or something like that. I really don’t know.  He said that people really didn’t want to know what really happened, so they just made up their own stories and eventually forgot the truth.”