I was here

    I was here

    Abandoned houses, always a source of inspiring fear in the hearts of many, with there decaying look, falling apart from everywhere and the single presence of them makes us shiver, if just for a small moment at least, but what makes them even more creepy are the stories about them, from tragic to absolutely terrifying ones and how in some if not in many of them the lost souls return to haunt the place where there lifes were taken so sudden and not let the living to live a normal life. But in those that remain completely abandoned, in where there older owners never return and remain completely abandoned, what sort of dark and gruesome secrets may lie, lurking for unsuspecting souls to wonder....
       
          It was a dark, moonless night, the roads were completely empty, no sounds at all, just the faint blow of small wind slowly moving the trees that already started to grow leaves after the merciless winter from that year. A small screeching sound could be heard from an old sign situated on a crossroad, one going left and toward the main town, the other right and going to a large and dark forest that few dared to venture in alone, the sign appearing to be prepared to fall after so many years of serving its duty and so it did, falling down with a powerful metalic noise. It was silence ones more, even the faint wind stopping. But silence was rapidly broken when the noise of a powerful engine, thundering on the road alongside a strong rock music was heard. The said noise and car belonged to 25 year old Matthew Roderick that was retuning from a party alongside with his friends Michelle, Jordan, Maya and Brad. The five spent most of there night having fun at the party that was celebrating the graduation of there friend Antonio and that was preparing to leave in England to continue his studies. And after almost 15 hours of eating ( since Mattjew decided to start the party very early in the day ) playing and dancing, Matthew and the others decided to leave back to there town and at there homes. But while on the road, because he was still a bit dizzy after literally falling on the table from to much wine, Matthew couldn't remember so well the road back to home, since it consistent from many twists and turns and crossroads and if you did took the right path, you got lost very easily. But luckily there were still the signs to guide him, all that he neaded now was to not fall asleep.

-,,Matthew, have you felt asleep ?", said Maya.
-,,What, no, I was just making sure that I wasn't stepping accidentally onto the acceleration, that's all."
-,,Yeah, sure of that, should I alos bring your Teddy bear and some hot milk ?", said Brad
-,,Oh just shut up Brad", said Jordan
-,,Leaving this aside, I'm pretty busy on looking for some signs to guide myself since that wine that I drank totally threw me off, so you should better lower down the volume of that music because I can't even here my thoughts !", said Matthew
       So farr, everything was goings well and they already made three quarters of the road to home, but then a big problem appeared that Matthew didn't realy saw it coming: a crossroad that had no sign nor any indications to which direction head were. So by just pure guessing, Matthew decided to go on the right one, but how much this mistake will cost him and his friends. Going more throw the road, his friends started to have doubts about his choice, since they also didn't remembered for the road to lead throw a forest, especially a so dark one. But Matthew was sure that he did the right choise and so he continued. Going halfway throw the road, the car suddenly stopped and the wheels weren't moving at all. Getting out from it, the group saw that all of the tires were punctured. Lowering himself down, Brad saw that there were nails in tires. This raised lots of questions, like how did nails even reached on the road and who putted them there ? Was it on purpose or an accident ? After raising up and deciding to look for spare tires in the back, Matthew also lowered down to see the damage, but while looking he saw a nail that had a piece of paper attached to it and which wrote ,,I was here". Deciding to ignore this, all of them were faced with big problem, they didn't had any spare tire so they had to go all the way back home on foot since they thought that there wasn't a long distance left. But luck wasn't on there side for it soon started to rain with heavy drops and abundantly. They decided then to try to find a place where to take shelter until the rain passed, but the wall of water maide by the drops was to hard to see throw and the trees weren't helping either. Eventually, Michelle saw a light coming deep from the forest, and where's light there are also people and a house. Rushing towards it, they saw that it was coming from the windows of a large mansion that wasn't at all a good sight: most of the windows were broken, the exterior wood of the house was completely visible, large piece appearing to prepare to fall in any minute, the doors were filled with holes and the frontal statutes of the house were completely covered with moss and all sorts of vegetation and were filled with cracks, one of them even loosing most of its face and the pieces could be found at the base of it, completely untouched. And right when they were preparing to go closer to it, the doors suddenly opened with a heavy screeching sound and suddenly hitting hard the outer walls.

-,,Um guys, I don't think we should go in there, it really doesn't look very good for me", said Maya
-,,Oh, come on,  it's just a dam house, it won't eat you", said Brad
-,,Even so, we still can't stay outside and risk getting sick. Let's go.", said Matthew

     Going in, they saw that it was more bad looking that the outside: the painting from the walls was almost completely off and revealing a brown, lichen filled wood and with small insects coming out and entering in the putrid material, the floor was a complete mess, the carpet was completely ripped apparent and pieces of its crimson, black and green material being scattered everywhere, the wood was swelled up due to the moisture and humidity coming from the outside, and most disturbing there were also dead rats in every corner of the room, some lolooking almost fresh, others having there skeletons striking out from there flesh less skin. The candelabra above didn't looked nice either, being a sick yellow and nearly preparing to fall down, already many of its glass crystals being on the floor, 21 in total, most of them being reduced to just shards. The stairs that led to the upper floor looked extremely old and many of there stare cases missing and the ones left had large holes in them. The furniture was completely destroyed, moss and lichens growing everywhere and the pillows and the sofa were all covered in mould. But the weirdest fact was that there were no spider webs, not even one, everything characteristics for an abandoned house was there but no web, not even a dust one, and also the fact that the light was up in the room despite that the switcher was gone. Seeing all of this, the group started to have doubts whether or not to stay here until the rain stopped. But there conversation was cut short when the doors behind them closed suddenly. Rapidly, Michelle and Maya tried to opened them, but they would clinch.

-(scared voice ),,Now what do we do !!!", said Maya
-,,Stay calm everyone, we can't panic right now, there is most certainly another door in the back, we just have to go throw there"",said Matthew
    But while everyone were preparing to search for the door, Michelle was apparently very uneasy
-,,Michelle, are you alright ?", said Matthew
-,,I don't know but there was something odd that I noticed when the doors closed."
-,,And what was that ?"
-,,I was looking at an odd painting on the wall, it was a bit shredded but still you could see the details, and right before the doors closed, I saw something that looked like a figure of a man and rapidly closing the doors, it was so fast that I didn't saw his face, but it was clearly a man from his shape", said Michelle
    With this concerning thought in his head, Matthew alongside Michelle went with the others to try to find the back door. The first place they searched was the kitchen, thinking it may be there. The kitchen wasn't also a nice place, just like the rest of the house it was devastated, the furniture was cracked and swelled, the oven was covered in rust and there was this odd smell in the air, like some meat was cooked and indeed there was an pot on the oven filled with a some sort of soup. Seeing that what were they searching wasn't here, they decided to continue, but Maya decided to stop a bit to investigate this ,,mysterious dish". Upon inspection, she saw that it looked like a normal soup, even being a bit hot, but it didn't smelled right, not as chicken, not as beef, not as anything that she smelled. But soon she got a disturbing surprise when from the yellow water a finger rose up, a human one. Instantly, she screamed and ran to the rest of the group. Once there, she was shivering uncontrollably and was trying to tell them what she saw. But when they went to see it also, the pot disappeared. Seeing that they were the only people in the house, they new something was very wrong and that made them even more to want to find the door and get out, despite that it was still raining. Going more throw the rooms, they could find any door, but they still didn't wanted to give up. While they were searching, Brad decided to go and investigate the living room, but not for a possible door. Since this is a mansion, he thought that there could be some gold or jewelry left behind. And so that he started to look in the sofa, behind the furniture, under the carpet,  but he didn't found anything. Eventually he decided to search one more time in the sofa, but right before he could lift a pillow, a strange noise started to be heard, like foot steps that were becoming louder and louder until they stopped. Right in that moment, Brad felt a horrible pain in his back and let out a bone chilling scream that made everyone jump. Instantly, they all rushed towards the living room, seeing that from there the scream camed. But then they found the doors looked. Trying to brake in, a second bloody scream was heard and the silence. Thinking that something horrible happened to Brad, Matthew and Jordan started to hit the doors with chairs and absolutely everything they found until Jordan ran into it and broke it off. Raising up and alongside the others he started to look for him everywhere, but there search was ended when Maya found a piece from Brad's jacket on the floor, held by a nail which also had a paper that was saying ,,I was here". Horrified and thinking for the worst, the group now was thinking to find Brad, but a sudden screech and loud footsteps being heard from up stairs and a sound that resembled some meat being ripped made them let the search and get out of there, FAST. Not caring to find any more a door, they decided to break to the window, just only to escape. But as Jordan hitted it, he let out a powerful scream and felt bleeding on the floor. By unveiling the curtains, they find that the windows were covered with barbed wire. It seems that the person that killed Brat now wants to do the same to them, and he made sure they won't escape. Looking at Jordan's injuries, Maya knew he needed medical care fast. But as soon as she rose up, the lights went out and it was complete darkness. Even with a murderer hunting them, Maya still went to see if she can find a medical case to help Jordan with Matthew behind, leaving Michelle behind with Jordan. After searching in the kitchen and even the bathroom, they didn't found anything and so deciding to go back to the others. But as soon as they went throw the hallway, a large crack appeared and Maya felt throw it. Matthew was able however to catch her by her hand, but then he lost his grip and all that he could do was to see Maya disappear throw the darkness with her scream echoing in his ears and once more it was silence. Knowing that no one can survive a fall like that, he continued his way back to Jordan and Michelle but soon he heard two horrible screams and knew what was about to happen. Arriving in the living room, he found Michelle with a large wound in her arm and no trace of Jordan. She then told him that the killer tried to stab her in the chest but he ended up stabbing her in the arm and crippling her, and afterwoods he took Jordan and dragged him, as she saw, up on the stairs but he didn't killed him, at least not yet. This time however Matthew didn't wanted to lose another friend. So he left Michelle near the couch, went to the kitchen, took a few knifes and gave her one in case that he returns after her while he goes up after Jordan. With heavy steps and sweating from all inches of his body, Matthew continued his path, with rapid but also careful steps so that he wouldn't fall throw the putrid wood. Reaching up the end of the stairs, he went throw a hallway and at the end he found a door that led in the garret. Taking a deep breath, he putt his hand on the rusted handle and slowly opened the door, preparing for everything. With his heart beating without control and shivering with fear, he slowly started to call for Jordan, but then while he was advancing, he hit something and felt. At first, he didn't knew what he hit, but just as soon as the rain stopped and the large, shiny moon appeared, the room light up and then he knew what he hit: the bodies of Brad and Jordan, hanging from the selling with there heads imbeaded in large hooks, with one of Brat's arms missing. But this was just the beginning, from below the window, a figure started to rise up and and make a very creepy noise that remained of the weird soumds Hannibal made in ,,Silence of the lambs". But this was nothing compared to what he saw next which was the entire face and body of the killer, he was tall and spindly, had a skin that appeared to be painted with white and red that most certainly was blood, his eyes were large and staring straight to him without even blinking, and he was grinding at him with a lip less mouth and he had a leather jacket covered with white paint and blood and that the number 18 on the right. While he was trying to take his knife, the man tried to hit him with a large machete, nearly cutting his throat. Avoiding the attack, he felt down but he instantly thrown himself aside rigt before the killer lunged on him and impaling the machete deep in the floor. Trying to raise up and preparing his knife, he didn't had enough time and thrown himself on the right before he would have lost his head under the killers knife. But he was to ignorant to observe the barb wire that was there and he felt head on in it. With an almost unimaginable pain circulating throw every inch of his body, he rolled himself aside with some wire around his legs, basically immobilizing him, and what worse moment could it be, for instantly the killer looked at him and slowly walking towards him, his eyes not even once taking there sight from him and his tongue slowly coming out of his mouth and liking his teeth. Knowing that this was his end, Matthew all he could do now was to close his and hope it was quick. But just as soon as the man rose his large knife, the window broke and from it Maya came and with a high speed, she hit the man from the back and knocked him down. This was a complete surprise for Matthew, all this time thinking that she was dead, but in reality, she indeed felt but luckily survived with no injuries and during this entire time she was able to find an exit, come and take Michelle and then come after him. After going over the joy of reunion, Maya carefully took Matthew, went throw the broken window and slowly started to go down the roof and eventually reaching down a where Michelle was waiting them. Now being out of the house, all that they had to do was to find a mean of escaping faster since both Matthew and Michelle were badly injured and couldn't run.

-,,Ok, so now what do we do. We were able escape from the house, but me and Michelle are..aargh.. to injured to run, especially that I still have this wire around my legs !", said Matthew
-,,Don't worry, I solved that problem to", said Maya
-,,Wait how ?", said Matthew
-,,By using a car obviously", said Michelle
-,,But we don't even know where we left our car and even so the tires are completely destroyed"
-,,No, not that car. During my search,  I was able to find a car hidden in the mansion and surprisingly it still works and it's completely filled so we can drive all our way back to the town", said Maya
-,,Then what are we waiting for ? Let's go !!", said Matthew

    And so they did, all of them going to the car and carefully going inside, the group rapidly left and headed to there town. Once there, they were able to tell the police what happened and also they took Matthew and Michelle to the hospital where they fully recovered.
     Two days later, the police arrived at the mansion and to there amazement, they didn't found anything, but absolutely anything, no furniture, to paintings, no bodies, absolutely nothing, but there was one pretty gruesome discovery that they made in the garret, a red skull that had a knife impaled in it and with a small piece of paper in its mouth. When one of the officers picked it up, it was written ,, I WAS HERE ".