The old house on Elm Street stood as a decrepit relic of a forgotten time. Its dilapidated facade concealed a dark history, whispered about by the townsfolk. The pathway to its door was cracked and overgrown by weeds. Its windows were dark, and blank, like deep hollows.
Tales of mysterious disappearances and unexplained phenomena swirled around the house, casting an ominous shadow over the neighborhood. It was a place of dares for children, something the adults never discussed, and a black mark on the community.
Those that knew hoped it was all over and done with, that in time the truth would fade, and old wounds heal. They were naïve.
One fateful night, Lily turned a fresh page.
A teenager, she felt something simmer inside her. The lies and denial were too much. She couldn't take it anymore. Her sister had lived, was real, had vanished. They tried to take that from her, saying it was a bad memory, a dream, only a nightmare. She hated them. But she would find out why they went to such lengths. She would expose them, their hypocrisy, their lies.
She would do it for Ash.
She came to the old house on Elm Street. The night was cold. Wind rustled the fallen leaves. For a moment, she stood on the street, staring up at the wreck, at gables and eaves and moss covered stone. It held secrets. It sighed with the weight of evil deeds. It sat fat as a toad stuffed from black flies. As she stared, she shuddered with a stray and foolish thought.
It was staring back at her.
She ventured to the house, and broke the kitchen side door open, letting it swing on a squeaky hinge. It was easy. Yielding. Almost an invitation. She was driven to find the truth, but did not know what it would be. Ash had vanished here. Lily had been too afraid to follow. She had stood on the street until sunset, then, crying, came running to her mom, begging for help.
A criminal? Some rotten pit that trapped Ash? Stuck and suffocated beneath the floorboards? Lily did not know. Or, some supernatural monster? There were playground rhymes and children's songs, all made up to scare the young. Pillow Smiles, and Daddy Long Legs. These were just make believe, town legends like every town had, all different, and all the same.
The truth would be worse, she feared.
Armed with only a flashlight and her waning courage, she stepped over the threshold, entering a realm of eerie silence.
It was not what she expected. A house, and nothing more. Somehow, it made things worse. The left over plates, the old furniture out of fashion, the leavings of lives abruptly abandoned. Why? Where did they go?
As Lily explored the creaking corridors, the air grew heavy with an unsettling presence. Shadows danced on the walls, and the house seemed to breathe in whispered secrets. Every step echoed through the empty halls, amplifying her growing unease.
She was spooking herself. Her nerves were frayed, and her emotions high. Being here was already a leap forward. It was too easy for her imagination to run wild and jump at every sound, or to think the winds muttered words when they only blew.
She sighed. Lily smiled inwardly, thinking of Ash. In a way, she was proud to have come this far. For years, she had been too afraid. Then she dreamed of coming inside. She dreamed of finding some clue and setting the past to rest. She dreamed of Ash.
Well, she had done it. She had come, and proven this place was nothing, no more than a tomb, a grave. She let go.
In the dim light, Lily moved forward, and stumbled upon a room engulfed in darkness. Hesitant, she pushed the door open wider, revealing a space frozen in time. Dust-covered furniture stood as silent witnesses to the house's forgotten past. But something else caught Lily's attention—a worn-out photograph on a shelf.
As she picked up the photograph, a chill ran down her spine.
The image depicted a family, but their faces were distorted and blurred, as if captured in a moment of terror. It was wrong. There was something awful about it, and she flung it to the floor with force. Lily's heart raced, and she felt eyes watching her from the shadows.
She wasn't alone.
Suddenly, a mournful wail pierced the silence, causing Lily to drop to her knees. The house seemed to come alive, groaning and moaning in response, as if awakened by her presence. Dust fell from the ceiling, and old boards buckled and relaxed, as if pressures were pushing and pulling the whole house into new shapes.
Frantic, she tried to find her way out, but the house shifted its layout, trapping her within its labyrinthine corridors.
What? Her words were curses, fear, denial. Eyes wide, she turned, spun, ran in directions that made sense, but ended the same.
Whispers echoed through the walls, growing louder and more menacing. The air turned icy, as if the house itself hungered for her fear. Shadows writhed and twisted, taking on sinister forms that seemed to reach out for her. Not hands. Claws. They dug at her shadow, and pulled her back. It was all she could do to rip away and run.
In a desperate bid for escape, Lily sprinted down the hallways, her heart pounding in her ears. But the house played tricks on her, leading her in circles, teasing her with false exits. She came to a window and pounded at the panes. They were impossibly solid. Her flashlight hammered without effect. A chair bounced off the glass.
Oh, god, she thought. Down on the street were children. Staring up at her. Some older, some adults, as she looked. But children. And Ash.
Panic consumed her as the house closed in, its malevolent presence overwhelming. She fled, a last time. This was it. She knew time was running out. It had to work, now or ... never.
Just as hope began to fade, Lily stumbled upon a hidden staircase. It hadn't been there before. But now it was, revealed, inviting. Without hesitation, she descended into the basement, hoping to find an exit or some respite from the house's grip. But darkness enveloped her, and the stairs seemed to stretch endlessly downward.
She stumbled, fell, and was dragged, descending or deposited in the dirt at the bottom. Groaning, and bruised, she looked up the way she had come. At the very top, so far away, the open door let in light. Then it shut.
Her flashlight was all she had. In the depths of the basement, Lily limped forward. There was no going back. This was it then, the place at heart of the old house. And here, she discovered the forgotten secret—an ancient room of stone, marked in weird ways, with crude and vulgar faces carved upon the walls. Symbols etched into the stone floor glowed ominously, breathing with life in slow and ragged gasps. The air crackled with supernatural energy. It felt like pressure. Like she were at the bottom of the sea, beneath a mile of water. It was a room of dark power, a place where unspeakable acts had been committed. Every part of it oozed a history of despicable deeds, witness to it all, to the horror and violence.
And there the altar.
Around it, the bodies of others. She fell beside a pink backpack, stained and moldy. She recalled the frog patch their mom had sewn on it, matching the one Lily still had. Fingers clutched it, even as her eyes could not loiter upon the stacks of bones and dessicated flesh.
With trembling hands, Lily realized that the house demanded a sacrifice—a life to appease its insatiable hunger, to bring it life. How long had it eaten here, a hunting grounds, claiming the foolish and unwary as it pleased? What was this place? Older than the first peoples. Older than time? Panic gripped her, but she knew there was no escape. The house had chosen her, and she had become entwined in its web of terror.
As the shadows closed in, the house claimed its next victim, forever adding another chapter to its macabre history. The old house on Elm Street would continue to stand, its dark secrets buried within its decaying walls, waiting patiently for another unsuspecting soul to dare to enter its unhallowed realm.