Just a Dare

It was a dare. A foolish dare. I didn’t know what I was doing. But I trusted them. They’re my friends after all. Right? I remember the look they gave me. They all had an ice cold l ook on their face’s. I lost a bet. They all settled it as a dare. I had the most confidence of the bunch it seemed. It was a dare. Did I do this to impress a girl? Or for my friends to understand me more? What was the dare? Well simple. To spend and hour inside a rundown house. Sounds easy right? Well It would without all the reported haunted rumors. I’m lucky at least. They would have sent me in there for two hours, If i didn’t already knew my friends. Three if they were bored. Four if they hated me. Five if they despised me.

I was a very young kid. About the age of 14. I had the best grade in the class. Also the son of the principle of the school. I wondered if they became my friends because of who I was related to. Heck, maybe they thought of being my friends would mean they can get higher grades. Bah, enough of that. I had to go inside this house. It was a dare after all. My “friends” even told me that they would come in if I didn’t come out after the hour. I bet only 2 of them will bother to come and get me. I looked at the house and started walking towards it. It’s a dare and I had to do it.

The house was very dark. I could barely see a thing. Luckily they gave me a flashlight. Forgot to mention that It seems, sorry. I was a 14 year old kid. A 14 year old kid who entered a “haunted” house alone. I had to go around the house. Yes that’s true. I needed to explore the house. From top to bottom. So i first head to the left down a very small hallway. Shining my flashlight around the hallway and see old pictures of the former owners. Some of them were even broken, or missing and a bunch of tears on the wallpapers was visible.

The first place I ended up at was the kitchen. It was hard to tell since it was nearly falling apart. I looked inside the cabinets. It had some old cans of soup, tomato and chicken soup. I then checked the drawer. There were only three drawers out of the six. I looked in them and saw nothing but dust and some silverware. I was a mess inside the kitchen. The table was completely destroyed and there were holes in the walls near it. While I was exiting out of the kitchen I heard a noise. It was faint but clear for me. I said hello out to it, but I heard nothing. So I continued to explore the house.

The house was very quiet. So quiet that I kept thinking if the group left me. All I heard was nothing but the wind blowing through the cracks on the walls. I entered now what it seemed to be the living room. It was all ripped apart so It was kind of hard to assume what was the area. Upon entering the room I step on some glass shards. While I was looking down at the shards I saw what I thought was blood. I kneeled down towards the blood. It was all dried up and the blood seemed to have a trail from behind. I followed the trail and the blood seemed to started near a cabinet. I looked inside the cabinet, but there were nothing inside of it. I then looked behind the cabinet but nothing was behind it. Finally I looked under the cabinet. I shined my flashlight under it and saw a key. I tried to reach it but couldn’t. I looked around the room and found a fairly large stick. I went back and stuck the stick out to get it. I managed to get it. The key was bronze with a bit of silver still shining. I guessed it was rusted.

Once again I heard a noise. But it was clear this time than before. The noise I got out of it was a voice. It said “Don’t” but that is all I was able to hear.

I headed out of the living room when I saw something standing in front of me. It was a person. A man It looked like. He was all hunched over with long brown hair. He was wearing really old ruined clothes with no shoes. I remembered he twisted around a lot and softly laughing. He looked at me and his one eye was missing and the other was bloodshot. He was covered in blood from his face to his toes. He grabbed a knife from his back. A knife that was actually IN his back. While he was removing the knife from his back he was tearing up and laughing softly while staring at me. I was frozen in the spot. I thought I was going to die. All because of a stupid dare. The stranger showed me his arm and put his knife against it. He then slowly pull the knife upwards on his arm. There were blood pouring out. The man stilled stared at me and was still tearing up and laughing softly while he was doing it. After he was done he stabbed himself through his missing eye. He grabbed the cut and managed to rip open his cut and revealing his muscle and bones. He was still staring at me. I felt sick. I wanted to leave. I covered my eyes. I heard his laughing still. Afterwards I opened them and found out he was gone.

I was still frozen. I was sweating a lot. My breathing was heavy and I was about to cry. I ran towards to the front door. But I found out that It was locked. I tried to use the key but it didn’t fit. I also tried to call for help. But no one was answering me. The windows were all bolted with wooden planks. I was young and not strong enough to kick down a door. I turned around and slowly slide down the door. I was crying while sitting, wishing for someone to help me. The images from that man still were there. I can still hear his laugh in my head. Also hear the sound of his skin opening. I was alone I thought.

While I was crying I heard that familiar sound again. I looked up and saw a figure. It was a woman wearing what looked like a wedding dress. She got closer to me. When she got too close I was her face. She had short orange hair and a large cut across her eyes and a bloody nose. She reached out her hand to me. She told me not to cry. I sat there and looked at her hand and at her. I couldn’t trust her I felt like. But she was completely different than that man I’ve met before. I grabbed her hand and she pulled me up. She looked at me and smiled. I felt warm after she gave me that smile. I felt, safe.

I told her that I couldn't get out of the house, and I showed her the key. The woman told me that there is a way out of the house. She guided me up stairs. While going up stairs I heard a nother familiar noise. I looked down the stairs and saw that man again. He was sitting down stabbing himself. He then looked right at me while he was doing it. Once again softly laughing and crying at the same time. I hide behind the woman. The woman looked at me and told me not to be afraid. I thought she was crazy. How can any kid be not afraid of that? I looked at the man and he had his knife in his hand. He grabbed his tongue and cutted it in half. I stared at the man while he was staring at me. He suddenly walked towards me. I stood there still while he was walking towards me. He finally got nearly in my zone and laughed at me. He said to me in a very grunty voice saying “good” and just like that he was gone. I looked up at the woman and she smiled at me. I yelled at her saying that I wanted to leave. I yelled at her so loud that I echoed across the house. She then pointed at what looked like a switch. Next to that switch was a key. I ran to the grab the key. After I grabbed the key the woman looked at me once again and smiled. I asked her if these were the keys that I can use to leave. She told me they were.

I heard the others from outside and they barged into the house. They were calling me since they heard my yelling. The woman kneeled down to my height and gave me a hug. I asked her about the switch and what it does. She told me that I will help me in a way. I looked at her, the switch, my friends, and the key.

What should I do?