7th Gateway to Hell (Monster Attack)

7th Gateway to Hell

The music on the radio fades away to static, which unfortunately means I can now clearly hear all of the strange noises emanating from the engine of this banged up old rental car. I knew the guy who lent it to me was dodgy, but I couldn't afford anything better. This trip has already cost me my entire mediocre savings.

I let out a deep sigh as the spluttering becomes more of a grinding sound and it isn't long until the car has come to a complete halt. I bang my fists against the dashboard in frustration. This is slowly becoming just another disaster in the long line of my catastrophic life. I step outside the car and into the blistering heat. My God, America is hot! I think back to the wet and rainy airport in the UK where I was stood only twenty-four hours ago. I can't believe I have managed to travel so far around the world within that time. If I'd known how easy it was, I might have escaped my crappy existence a lot earlier.

I wonder if my mother has gone crazy with worry yet. I did leave her a note explaining my absence so hopefully, she won't phone the police. Although after what happened to my younger sister Olivia only months ago, no one would be able to blame her for an overreaction.

I try to imagine Olivia driving past this exact spot, with a group of her friends, happy and carefree on their gap year before starting university. I know for a fact that she came along this road; she emailed me with a photo as they drove. I pull the picture out of my pocket. I passed that exact tree and signpost a few miles back. I re-read the email that accompanies the image for the millionth time.

Hey Annie-bo-bannie,

I miss you super loads! We are having an awesome time though. Wish you could be here – sorry you couldn't get out of work. We are actually on our way to see something so cool, I'm sure you'd love it. We got talking to a group of guys in a bar last night, and they recommended we go to this tiny little village called Stull. Apparently, it contains a 'stairway to hell' or something ridiculous like that. Anyway, it's supposed to be pretty haunted and full of all sorts of powerful spells––I'm sure it will be a real laugh anyway.

See you in a few weeks. You will have to help me pack for uni, I think I will still be too jetlagged eek!

Love ya forever.

Liv x

Those innocuous words are the last thing I ever heard from her. While she was away, her communication was vague and sporadic so I wasn't surprised that I didn't hear anything else before she came home. I was shocked however when I went to pick her up from the airport, and she didn't get off the plane. None of her group did. They'd had these flights booked for a long time before they even left for the trip. Everything had been so meticulously planned out. In fact, the detour to Stull was the only time I had known them to go off of their strict itinerary.

Afterwards me, my parents and the rest of the kid's families spent weeks on the phone to the police services, the British Embassy, and the American media. Anything to find a clue, a possibility. Five kids just don't disappear into thin air like that. It just does not happen. But no one could find even the slightest trace of their existence and I know the search was pretty extensive. Once stories like this get into the newspapers, the police are put under far more pressure.

I knew something was wrong, I knew we were missing something, so I decided to research Stull. This was the last place I knew they'd been so it made sense to check it out. All sorts of weird and wonderful stories came up, just as Olivia had described, but the thing I found most shocking is that there are only about twenty residents in the whole place. Surely someone would have seen them? Someone must know if they made it to Stull and if they'd also made it out. I couldn't let that fact go. I just can't move on with my life without knowing what happened to her. She will always just be an unanswered question hanging over my head like a black cloud. Of course, I don't want to find out she has died, but anything is better than not knowing at all.