Frights at Twilight (Part 6)
Sloane Baecker (7)
Chapter 11- Out of Town
Perry went to sleep, terrified. Not of what she’d dream about, but about what she would do to Bea. Bea was sound asleep, but Perry was tossing and turning, panting, and losing her mind in her dream.
This kind of terror was only rivaled by the dream of hers, that went into depth; the one that caused all of the worry. This dream went into the same kind of depth, but this time Bea died. This time Perry had killed her.
Perry woke up in tears, scared out of her mind, hyperventilating. She looked over her shoulder and saw Bea breathing and sleeping peacefully.
Perry didn’t want to live like this. She wanted to go somewhere- alone, a place where she can’t hurt anyone. She searched through all her memories and then searched every corner of the internet for something. She came up empty until she finally recalled a memory from her childhood. She remembered a ghost story from her town.
Ms. Marley was an old woman who committed suicide in a house in the town she grew up in. Since the old woman did not have any family and friends to pass the house on to, it became property of the city.
Perry went in there once when she was just older than 5 she couldn’t remember much but she came out terrified and almost haunted.
The city hired a company to renovate it. No company ever made it through all of the renovations. The city decided to try and sell it, but anyone that entered that house always came back out, traumatized.
Whenever children found out about the story, they started going in. The results were always the same. They all came out scared. Scared into muteness for years.
Perry knew it was dangerous, but already feeling out of her mind, she came to a conclusion, “What do I have to lose?” She packed anything she thought she’d need and stopped by her brother’s house on her way to the house. They weren’t that close, but he did check in on her. She knew if her brother knew where she was going, he would never let this happen. She also knew that if she left without telling him, he would worry. She left him a note in his mailbox.
Perry got to Ms. Marley’s house around 3:00 am; she was exhausted. She walked into the house and somehow it all felt strangely familiar, yet very eerie at the same time.
There were rats running at her feet, dust and cobwebs on every surface, and old styled furniture everywhere.It wasn’t scary enough to make her turn back though. After everything she’d seen in her dreams, this was easy to power through.
She cleaned up the bedroom just enough to feel comfortable enough to put here things down. All of it still felt vaguely familiar. Headed to grab a drink of water from the kitchen, she was stunned still.
She was immersed back into the time she came to this house as a child. Perry walked in through the same doorway she’d been standing in. There was less dust and it was sunny outside. Perry stood there watching an old woman with very old and tattered clothes, just standing in front of the window that was centered in the kitchen. The old woman just stood there with her arms at her side, looking out the window, completely still.
Little Perry walked up to the tall shadow of a woman and tugged on her right sleeve that draped over her hand.
“Hello?” she asked. There was no response. She tugged again, “Hello, ma’am?” With no response, Perry let go and was about to run out when the shadow swiftly and silently turned around then knelt down for her eyes to reach Perry’s.
Perry was frozen with fear, too scared to move, but she should’ve. She should’ve run out and kept away from the house. Perry saw through the eyes of young Perry. The woman wasn’t a woman, but a faceless figure. She jumped and gasped.
The ghost had no visible face, she wore a thick veil keeping her face hidden. She put her finger to her mouth and gestured for Perry to stay quiet. The faceless figure lifted her hand, spread her hand from her palm to her nails as wide as she could and gently placed it covering Perry’s whole face. Perry couldn’t recall anything after that. Nothing except that the next day her terrors started.
Perry blinked and the vision was gone. She stood alone in the empty dusty kitchen.
Chapter 12 ~Something Amazing~
Bea remembered Perry telling her about Ms. Marley’s house a couple of times, long time ago. Bea didn’t know that much though. She remembered the fear and panic that overcame Perry as she discussed the old house. Furry and her own panic filled Bea now.
“Then why are you here? Why aren’t you over at Ms. Marley’s house trying to convince her to come back?” Bea asked Harlan angrily.
“Well, I figured she can’t live there forever, and you’re braver than I am. I can’t go into that house, people who enter never come out the same. Perry somehow did so, I figure she of all people would be fine there.” Harlan recited quickly and nervously.
Harlan seemed confident in his argument, but Bea couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Bea had to calm herself before she spoke again. She inhaled then slowly exhaled. “Harlan, you’re telling me you’ve let your own sister go into a very haunted house because you’re scared? Can you imagine what could happen to her if she goes in there a second time? Because she definitely didn’t come out of there ‘fine’.”
Harlan was flabbergasted; he’d never seen Bea talk so aggressively before. Bea made fierce eye contact with him as she waited for a response not letting him look away. She left the library and started a route to Ms. Marley’s house.
Bea didn’t know how long she would be gone, and she didn’t know what to pack nor what to expect. She just hoped for the best and prepared for the worse. It was a long drive, no breaks, feral roads. She was exhausted, the drive hadn’t made it any better. She wanted to get sleep but not more than she wanted to find Perry and save her.
The house wasn’t on any mobile maps. Once she got into town, she had to ask for directions around town. The people of the town gave her a very concerned look, asked a million questions, and some people even thought she might be deranged, but they ended up giving her what she wanted. Bea finally drove up to the huge, trashed, and aged house.
“This has to be it.” She grew increasingly nervous as she observed more details about the house, but an instant relief washed over here when she saw Perry’s car halfway hidden behind the house.
“Oh my god!” Bea gasped. She ran into the house shouting her name “PERRY! PERRY, Where are you?”
She ran all throughout the bottom floor and she saw nothing but an eerie, old house. She ran up the stairs and saw footprints in the thick dust leading to what she assumed was the main bedroom.
“Perry?” *gasp*
Perry laid still on the creaking bed. Bea couldn’t tell if she was asleep or dead. A wave of guilt, anxiety, and fear rushed through Bea’s body. She ran over and checked her pulse. Bea left out a huge sigh of relief, Perry was only sleeping. She was shifting slightly in her sleep. Bea climbed onto the bed ready to calm her from her terrors but something amazing happened, something insane.