Dea Mortem: Short Horror Stories

Illusion of Ignorance

My name is Connie Woodrick. I live in a slightly modernized area, but most of it is still old buildings and farmland. I’m a nineteen year-old girl who loves to take walks on her own at night. I know what you’re thinking; you idiot! Yes, perhaps I am, but it made me feel utterly alone in the world. I felt like there was no one who could hold me back. Constantly during the day I was being torn down by many of those around me, so nighttime was the only time I could find peace.

I always took the same path every night, down past the modernized buildings and the trickling off older buildings until I was surrounded by farmland, paths, and hills. Here there was nothing except for the savory silence and absence of life. It was here that I found my serene escape from the world. Somehow the rows of corn growing up around me, rustling slightly in the breeze made me feel as though time stood still here. I could escape for as long as I’d like to.

I had taken the exact same path that night. It’s been a couple of weeks, but I remember it as though it had happened just the past hour. I remember a calming peace and a cool wind blowing in from the mouth of the canyon to my left. I had been thinking about the event earlier that day when I had fought with my brother over who had left the stove on. It had been just like every other night as the moon rose- full- above me.

The first thing I found odd was the house that rose to the left- the cleared corn field seeming barren where it stood. The house itself was small and wooden, rotted and gray. There was a short fence enclosing it- the decayed wood falling from the tethers in which it had once been bound. The gate lay on the ground, appearing to be charred at the edges. It half lay on a short path beaten into the earth by many feet that lead up to three steps and a porch. The porch stretched across the front of the small wooden cabin, a banister looking like it was about to fall off connecting to the roof in thin beams. The door hung ajar- ripped from at least one of its hinges and creaking slightly in the gusts.

I knew then that I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. I had never seen this building before on any of my walks and it seemed so empty and neglected in the tenebrous night that I couldn’t help but be entranced by it. I wondered vaguely if anyone lived there and if they were alright. If it was abandoned- just as well, but if someone were hurt inside, they’d like to be found, right?

The open door revealed a void darkness so complete that even the shafts of light penetrating the roofed patio from the moon above did not illuminate the threshold.No sound could be heard inside, and there was the odd vacancy of activity beyond the rotted wood door. It was as though time itself had ceased the swinging pendulum within the portal.

I hesitated, fear rooting my feet to the barren earth as fantasies of horror threatened to overtake me. It was only by sheer curiosity and duty that I inched forward, ever wary of my surroundings. I heard every sigh of wind and every crack under my feet, but the unpleasant air wafting from the dark foyer carried an oppression that told me there could not have been sound to break the house’s vigil.

My breath hot and ragged I ascended the two steps to the porch, wincing as each shift of weight brought a creaking moan from the boards.

I peered into the gloom, daring not even a breath as the musty scent of mold and decay threatened to suffocate me. The heavy atmosphere pressed the limits of sanity and imagination as I shivered in the slight crossbreeze.

I tentatively stepped into the entryway. The tension was unbearable as my eyes adjusted to the crypt-like blanket of shadow, yet I dared not turn back. Every nerve screamed for me to find escape within the familiarity of the world beyond. Every thought brought another layer of dread to crystallize sharply in my stomach, making the darkness spin as sickness of anxiety overtook me.

I closed my eyes and took a breath. Upon opening my eyes I saw a faint light, moving slightly, straight ahead. I searched for the wall with my hand, keeping my eyes on the faint luminescence. I found the wall directly to my left and I used it to guide me to the curiosity down the hall.