Do you like scary stories? How about monsters and things that go bump in the night? If you do, then I have the collection for you. This is an anthology of short scary stories, all of which are original; with more being added as time goes on. If you...
It has been said that the house at the end of the long winding road was haunted. Jessica didn't believe this, of course. She didn't believe in monsters, ghosts or anything like that really. She was a normal girl with friends, and she believed the house at the end of the road was normal too.
What wasn't normal were the people inside. They didn't come outside much and though they smiled and seemed friendly enough, there was something about them, however slight, that seemed off. In a way, they almost seemed fake, like store mannequins given life.
One day, she said, "Those people are so weird."
"They're just different." Her mom scolded. "Why don't you bring them one of my special pies?"
Jessica didn't want to, but in order to make her mom happy, she said 'yes'.
As she walked up to the house, she couldn't help but feel like the windows were a pair of dark eyes, watching her.
The family answered the door; all of them wearing a smile that stretched ear to ear.
"Here's a pie my mom made." Jessica said. She handed it over.
They thanked her and then, to Jessica's surprise, the family invited both her and her family over for dinner.
Jessica's family was thrilled. Except for Jessica. Something was wrong with these people, though she still couldn't figure out why.
When the night of the dinner came, she felt very worried. The dinner went well however. Perfect, actually. Just like the house, the family's clothes, and their smiles. But above all else, their food was without peer. Jessica's parents couldn't stop talking about the stuff for days after. It was all that filled their conversations. And because they had been given leftovers, it was all they ate.
Jessica wouldn't eat the food though. While her parents said it was tasting better and better, to Jessica it tasted more and more like saw dust. She tried telling them, but they wouldn't listen. In fact, they would share their delicious food with other members of the neighborhood until everyone was raving about the food. This went on for weeks until finally, the entire neighborhood got together with the strange family at the end of the road. They threw a great feast and everyone was invited.
Jessica, however, did not go. The way that family smiled... The way everything about them seemed too perfect... It made her skin crawl. As her parents partied in the house, she decided to walk around it in the hopes of finding something out about her strange neighbors. When she went into the backyard, Jessica tripped over something. At first she thought it was a stick, but then she realized it was a bone! Jessica didn't see a dog in the yard. In fact, there weren't any animals anywhere near the house.
She gave the bone a tug. It was attached to a hand and that hand was attached to a body! A person had been buried in their yard. A chill crept over Jessica as she recognized the clothes that clung to the skeleton. They belonged to one of her neighbors that had moved away. Or, at least, she thought they had moved away.
That's when Jessica realized something horrible. Monsters were real.
You see, she had been learning about sea life in her class at school. The angler fish used lures to attract fish into its gaping jaws. But what if there was such a thing on land--and not a fish, but a house? One with delicious food and strangely fake people?
At that moment, Jessica could no longer hear the sound of a party, only the satisfied groan of a full house. She ran away, down the road, as fast as she could run, only stopping when there was enough distance between her and the house.
When Jessica turned around to steal one last glance at the house, she was greeted by the ear to ear smiles of a fake family, waving at her from an empty house. The house, now more than ever, with its dark windows and toothy porch, resembled a giant skull.
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The next day, the house was gone. In its place was a hole filled with bones of friends, family and neighbors. Meanwhile in the town over, a new house had sprung up on the outskirts of town, and no one thought to question the odd smiling family. Especially not after they tasted the food...
