I Survived A Horror Story

Chapter 1

The sky lit up, flashing white before being followed by the boom of thunder - but no rain came from the grey clouds. I stepped back from the doorway, my eyes following my sister's red sedan as it drove away, vanishing somewhere down the bare road. Squaring my shoulders against the sudden breeze, I tightened my hold on the duffel bag and considered the deal I had made the day before.

One night. I frowned and looked up at the old, Victorian house, deciding if it was worth it. Did the bathrooms even work? Forget the bathrooms, there was probably no furniture left either. The door handle turned before I could even touch it and I looked up at a girl with short hair and thin glasses. "Are you coming in or not? You took so long, I just let the door close. "

"Coming, coming," I said, and strolled past Yara into the house, my eyes widening in surprise. The room opened up into a space with couches, a glass table, and even a vase perched precariously on top of a stand by a long staircase. Everything was neat and tidy, and as the door swung closed beside me, I got the feeling that the house was just waiting for someone. I breathed in and felt myself smile, despite the confusion filling my chest.

And then I turned around and realized no one had closed the door.

Yara, Michelle, and Melissa were walking out of the living room and somewhere into the kitchen, and I was left alone, standing by the door. Creepy, I thought, even though logically I figured it must have been the wind. I dropped my duffel bag by a couch as I wandered deeper into the house, following in the path my friends had taken. "Hey!" I called, as I slipped into the kitchen, "Why does this place look so nice?" I pulled open a cabinet and stared at the white plates stacked on top of each other.

"Because someone owns it," Michelle said, sparing me a glance as she tugged on the handle of a drawer and revealed several knives. My stomach flipped.

"So," I slowly closed the cabinet, "We're trespassing?"

Michelle grinned deviously and shut the drawer, "You could say so."

I blinked and stared at Michelle. Of course. "We just broke into a house," I said.

"The door was already open," she said, shrugging, "Besides, trespassing is not a major crime."

"But it's a crime," I said, wondering why on earth my sister would support this.

"Not if we don't get caught." She wagged a finger at me and I sighed. I watched silently as she returned her attention to the drawers and busied herself rummaging through them. Then she paused and looked up, "Don't be worried, I was just joking. Melissa did some reading up on the house, ask her."

"Melissa? Reading?" I crinkled my nose and caught the attention of Melissa, who promptly crossed the kitchen. She glared at me and folded her arms across her chest.

"It was your sister who made me," she said, "But it was... a little interesting." She uncrossed her arms and blew a strand of wavy hair off her face, "Basically some guy bought the house but never uses it. It's locked sometimes, and unlocked at other times. And it has a history, so people usually stay away." Melissa ticked the points off on her fingers as she talked, as if trying to remember everything she read, when she stopped. She smiled, "Oh yeah, somebody died here."

"Here?" I felt shivers run up my arms and I rubbed them uneasily, glancing around the kitchen, "You better not be playing, you know I hate that stuff."

"Not here here like the kitchen. I mean, I don't know, but somewhere in the house. I got bored after that, so that's all I know," she glanced around the kitchen too now, her eyebrows furrowed in thought, "But the point is, people came here all the time with no consequences."