The Haunted House Wikipedia Commons
Matthew was running faster than he knew he could. The house was deceptively large, each turn seeming to reveal another long hallway. He had completely lost his friend in the chaos. He could hear the entity chasing him cackling as it raced down the hall, looking into each passing room along the way. "If I find Josh I'm going to kick his ass," he thought to himself. "I can't believe he roped me into exploring another haunted house."
Matthew had known Josh for quite a long time. Josh was the quiet kid who always got great grades, but was secretly a thrill chaser. He never seemed to hang out with anyone, typically preferring to keep to himself. Matthew, however, was known to be kind of a troublemaker in school. Teachers always got onto him about talking too much, or not turning in his homework. The two became an unlikely duo after they discovered a shared interest in all things supernatural. It turned out, though, that Matthew was actually quite a scaredy-cat compared to Josh. Josh would find nearby abandoned buildings for the two to explore in search of ghosts. Every trip before this one had been exactly the same. They explore the house for a while, find some minorly creepy items, try to contact the ghosts, then leave disappointed but unharmed. This time, however, they had angered something.
Josh had been scrolling through a Reddit page that discussed unsolved murders when he noticed that this house was in his area. He immediately called Matthew and told him to load up his gear and meet him at the address that night. The house they were exploring this time had been abandoned sometime in the 1970s which was apparent to Matthew from the dusty bean bag chairs, the wood paneling, and the bright green carpet. He had seen similar features in his grandparents' home. On the outside, the house looked shockingly average. Obviously in bad condition, with an overgrown garden and most of its paint having faded away, but it was still somewhat charming despite its bad reputation. It wasn't until the boys made it inside the house that they realized what they had gotten themselves into.
As Matthew rounded the corner into the kitchen, he swore he could hear whatever was chasing him slow down. Matthew leaped into the closest bedroom and found his friend hiding in the closet. "What the hell, Josh!" Matthew exclaimed. Josh quickly tried to silence Matthew but to no avail. "First you convince me to come with you again, then you run off without me when things go wrong!?" Josh put his finger to his lips signaling for Matthew to be quiet. Matthew however was too caught up in his anger to realize what he was doing. The door to the bedroom slammed open violently and a figure materialized, instantly sending a horrible chill into the air. Josh pleaded desperately with Matthew to calm down as the figure approached the door, floorboards creaking under its weight. A massive arm smashed through the closet door, pulling Matthew screaming through the hole. Josh escaped soon after, totally in shock, but happy to be alive.
Author's Note: This story is loosely based on "The Turtle and The Geese," a story about a turtle who two geese offer to fly to a new destination by biting two ends of a stick as they fly, and having the turtle bite the middle to hold on. While mid-flight, some children spot the animals and begin to mock the turtle. The turtle decides to respond and falls to his death when he opens his mouth to speak. After reading "The Turtle and the Geese," I knew I wanted to rewrite the story in a completely different context while keeping the message alive. I ended up deciding on a horror story after thinking about different situations in which a character with a loud mouth could end up in trouble. This story is almost completely different from the original I was referencing, but I feel that the theme is somewhat intact. It was also important to me that the loudmouth character is aware of the consequences of performing such action before they are in danger. I also quite like how this story isn't told chronologically. I decided to start midway into a chaotic moment, then pull back into some exposition. There's no real reason for this, I just thought it was interesting. For some reason, I keep writing horror stories. While I do enjoy horror movies and books to some degree, they definitely aren't my favorite genre. I'm not sure if it's because they are easier to write or something, but so far I really enjoy writing horror stories. I'd be lying if I said that I put much thought into planning this particular story. It sort of just unfolded like this as I imagined these two kids exploring haunted houses. Upon rereading this story, I realize that I may have modeled Josh after myself.
Source: "The Turtle and The Geese" from Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt.