House of Monsters

Chapter 5: All For a Flashlight

Warning! This chapter is bloody and graphic! You have been warned!

"Coast clear. For now." Amber said as she took a look around the first floor before completely emerging from the stairs. The rest of us followed her out, careful to not make a sound. 

  I pointed up into the second floor. "I remember Adeline had a flashlight. Maybe she dropped it before that thing came in."

  "How did we get from being normal kids to scavenging dead bodies?" Anika sighed.

  "We're not scavenging dead bodies. We're just kids picking up dropped things, trying to escape." I replied.

  "What about that monster though?" Caroline asked. "It could be literally anywhere. What if there's several of them?"

  "Then we don't die." Evey bluntly said, then started walking up the stairs. Caroline and Amber started walking up after her, but Anika and I hesitated. Anika reluctantly went after them, and I went after her. I looked down and caught a glimpse of the living room. The windows were open.

  "Come on," I heard a voice impatiently call me. I snapped back to reality, one where the living room windows were sealed shut. "Coming." I replied, and ran up the remaining stairs. 

  The second floor was as exactly as we left it, which was surprising. I guess I was expecting blood. And maybe a monster waiting to take us away to who knows where. 

  I turned my attention to the office door, which was closed. We were looking at each other, none wanting to open the door. 

  "Let's get this over with," Caroline said as she suddenly took a step forward and swung open the door.

  There was nothing. I mean, there was the desk, bookshelf, and the other things, but there were no signs of Adeline or Sahithi, except for a flashlight.

  Evey picked up the flashlight and held in front of her. "Bingo!" She said with unexpected enthusiasm. "Come on, we got what we need. Let's go back dowwww..." Her voice trailed off as we heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. "Not down." She quickly added. 

  "Jump!" Anika said and we all jumped without thinking. On impact, the floor beneath us gave away, and we fell through. I heard the sound of breaking glass and snapping wood as we crashed down. I stood up against the will of my body. We were all in terrible shape to run. There were bits of glass that cut us, splinters that painfully stabbed into our joints, and planks of wood that fell down on top of us. We'd landed in the dining room.

  I heard the unhuman footsteps pause. Anika's quick thinking had saved us from a certain death, but it had an inconvenient after affect. 

  "Come on!" Evey said as she quickly stood up and ran down the hall to the basement stairs, leaving a trail of blood as it dripped off. I followed her, my body screaming with every movement. Amber, Anika, and finally, Caroline, came after us. I heard a loud crash behind us, which could only be the monster which had jumped in after us. Unfortunately, Caroline was severly injured and collapsed to the ground.

  "Help me! Please..." She cried out as she tried to drag herself forward, leaving a streak of dark red blood on the light wooden floor. Evey stopped and looked back. 

  "Evey! Help me! EVEY!!!" She cried out yet again as the monster crept up behind her. I made the huge mistake of turning around. 

  The monster had a faceless, bald, human head upon a long neck. There was no torso or limbs. The neck was the body. The only way of self transportation it had were the two hands at the bottom of the neck, palms facing down. Human hands were sprouting from the sides of the neck, reaching for Caroline. Suddenly, the creature grew an arm for each of the hands on it's neck and shot the newfound limbs towards Caroline. 

  A shrill scream echoed around the house as the monster picked her up. The facial skin melted away to reveal a mouth filled with jagged, bloodstained teeth. 

 "HELP ME!!! PL-" Caroline's screams were cut short when the monster started to tear her to shreds. I watched with wide eyes, tears streaming down my dirty face, as Caroline continuously screamed, knowing I'd never be able to unsee this.