My fingers followed the raindrops as they sailed down the truck window. The fact that today was going to be one of the worst days of my life was a really ironic reason for the. I detest moving; it is one of the worst things parents could do to a fifteen year old. My hatred for moving was almost close enough to match the hatred I had for the suburb. The people there acted weird and had a very weird look in their eyes. They looked as if they were just an empty shell. My mind raced of thoughts of never seeing my friends again; the pain they must have gone through made me feel worse.
We arrived at the gates of hell, where I would be spending the rest of my teenage years. The solitude of this place made me shrivel; oh how the ambience enters me with fear; it makes the very hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The gatekeeper opened the giant impenetrable gates trapping us.
We were stopped by two scrawny people; they stepped to the driver window
“Hey there, my name is Jessica and this is Tom” The lady pointed to the other scrawny man standing next to her. They too had that same vacant look in their eyes.
“We started this suburb.” She said while looking back at me.

“Hello.” My dad said with a high tone. “My name is Jason; this is my wife Sarah and our son Jack.” I waved at them trying to be polite but my intentions failed as the look on my face became grim with disgust for this place.
“Well if you want to we can have some people come over and help you unpack.” She politely said.
“No thanks, we can handle it.” We were told that there would be furniture already in the house. Each house here comes with furniture but to me it seems creepy, their too nice here.
“Well, if you have any questions the number to the office is on a card on the kitchen table.”
“Thanks.” My dad replied
“Have a good day.” They said as we drove off.
My dad searched for our new house. “1023 Maplewood Drive” my dad said as we pulled into the drive way. The rain suddenly poured down harder. The grass was green and the door was painted white to match the houses outside walls. The house was two stories with an attic window.
I heard something, something soft; it is hard to make it out. It came again but this time it was somewhat louder I could almost make it out it sounded like ak elp us it was still hard to make out but then it came again it was loud enough to hear. Jack, help us. It sounded as if it came from the attic so I looked up. “Ah!” I screamed in terror; I saw something in the window. It had horrible black eyes with blood running from them and a pale face; it seemed to be a small boy. It quickly vanished after my scream.
“What is it?” My mom asked
“I…I think I saw a face in the attic window.”
“You’re just seeing things.” My dad replied
“No dad, I really saw something.”
“Jack, you didn’t see anything, there’s nothing to see nobody is in the house.” My mom looked at me like I was crazy.
“But I think I saw a ghost!” I exclaimed while pointing towards the attic window.
“Jack.” My dad looked at me with disbelief. “It is impossible for there to be a ghost here, for one, there is no such thing and for two this house is new.”
I sat in silence in the back of the truck.
“Come on Jack help us with the boxes.”
I got out of the truck and walked to the back. There were a bunch of boxes that needed to be taken inside. I grabbed a medium sized one and took it inside; it was heavier than it looked. The inside was lovely completely furnished, and the living room was huge. I sat the box down and continued to get the others. After I had finished I admired the pile of boxes sitting in the living room then picked mine out of the bunch and carried them up one at a time. After completing the seemingly never ending task I went to inspect the attic where I saw the face.
I hesitantly opened the door to the attic and stepped in; a cold chill dashed across the front of my body; I jumped. It seemed like there was nothing up here; then I saw a shadow dart across the corner on the opposite end of the cold dusty room. I attempted to make haste out of the room but the door slammed shut. I kept pushing and pushing on the door handle but nothing happens. I turn around and a little boy is standing right behind me. He is shirtless and looks as if he has dirt on him; he walks over to the center of the attic. I am paralyzed with fear; I can’t even talk. He gets down on his knees and writes something in the dust; he looks at me with cold black eyes and disappears before mine. Though it’s hard I find it in me to move once again. The room got warmer; I forced myself to move to the center of the room. When I looked down I saw a message in the dust: Help us. Weird enough, my dad told me that this house was new and there is already a thick layer of dust in the attic.
“What? I don’t understand.” I said aloud hoping for some type of response. Now I just feel like I’m talking to myself.
“Jack.” My mom yelled from the bottom of the stairs.
“What mom?” I asked.
“Come downstairs for a minute.”
I turned around towards the door of the attic; hoping it would open. As luck would have it, it opened. I walked down the stairs still pondering if I should tell anybody what happened.
“Jack, these are the neighbors the Fergusons, they have a 15 year old too.” My mom stepped aside reviling a family of three. The mother has long blond hair that curls up at the ends with blue empty eyes and she is very thin. The father has short dark brown spiky hair with a clean shaved face he stood about six foot five with the same eyes as the mother. Their daughter about is about five foot seven with long brown hair and baby blue eyes. She was the only one who didn’t have those creepy soulless eyes; she looked full of life and somewhat happy to see me.
“Hi, I’m Jane.” Her voice was melodic and cheerful.
“Hey I’m Jack.” I really didn’t know what else to say. “Jane, why don’t you and Jack go outside and find something to do while we talk to the Neumann’s for a little bit. And Jane take this umbrella so you and him don’t get wet.” I hated my last name, I really don’t know why. “Come on.” Jane said while pulling my hand and leading me through the door. When we made it outside Jane looked at me and said “What do you like to do?”
“I don’t really know. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure, what is it?” she looked at me and waited for my response.
‘“Why are you so cheerful, especially in this hellish place?”
“You’ll learn to be okay with it, and actually I really shouldn’t be that cheerful.”
“What do you mean?” I looked at her.
“Well you see I’ve had a couple friends around my age that lived here but…”
“Did they move or something?”
“No, they disappeared.”
“Like up and left?’
“No, they just went missing. Nobody knows where they went; their parents still live here.” She looked down.
“That sucks.” I looked at her. “I do have one more question.”
“What’s that?” She asked.
“What’s with the weird look in everybody’s eyes around here?”
“I’m not sure but I’ve noticed it too. My parents got that same look a couple weeks after we moved here. It’s really weird that I haven’t seen any kids with that look.”
I heard my voice called from inside the house so walked to the front door. “Jack, we’re going out with the Fergusons tonight, we’ll be home around eleven. You and Jane are going to stay here by yourselves; do you think you can handle that?”
“I guess.” They walked out of the house without another word to neither me nor Jane. I looked at Jane “My parents looked kinda strange; did you notice it.”
“Yeah, they did look weird; I think maybe it’s your dad’s goatee.” She started cracking up; I couldn’t help but laugh too.
“Ha-ha very funny.”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t help myself.” She gave me a quick smile. “Come on I want to show you something I found.”
“Huh?” I asked.
“Just come on!” She pulled my hand.
We walked outside and to the back; there was what seemed like a forest. We followed through a path for what seemed like miles all the while the sky grew darker. We reached what looked like a tunnel. “I found it a couple of days ago but I was… kinda too scared to go in it alone. Do you want to go in it with me?”
“Well I’m not sure if—“She cut me off.
“Too bad chicken, you’re going.”
“Ok, ok I’ll go.”
We walked down the steps the sunlight began was already gone. “Ew it stinks down here.” She snickered. It did stink. I felt something touch my hand; it was Jane, she grabbed it and didn’t let go. “What’s that for?” I asked
“Let’s go back, please.” She replied. I felt my stomach clench. The smell began to get worse.

“Okay we can turn back now.” Even though we were leaving that place something told me to keep going, but she didn’t want to. Weeks passed and the rain fell harder but we both dreamt of the tunnel. We wondered what was in there. It infected our minds, it would not go away. One day as we sat in silence staring out the window covered in rain, we both knew that we had to go back. “I know your thinking about it.” I looked over at her and she looked down. “C’mon, I’ll be with you.” I looked back out the window.

“Can I tell you something?” She looked at me than at the ground.

“Yeah, sure, what is it?” I sat down next to her. She was quiet for a minute.

“Never mind…” She stood up.

“Are you sure?” I stood up too.

“Yeah, now come on we’re going to the tunnel.” Out of excitement I threw on my shoes and a coat and pulled her along out the door and towards the spot where we were at last. The trip seemed shorter but we both knew it took a while to get there because the sun was setting.

We finally made it. The tunnel looked as if it was never ending. We could see the stairs leading to an eternity of darkness. We stood there for a second and looked; we were both anxious and scared at the same time. “You ready?” Was the only words I could choke up.

“Yes.” She replied while taking a short breath.

And on we went into the tunnel of darkness. We continued down the dark damp stairs for what seemed like an hour. “Look!” She shrieked. There was a small light and I felt something touch my hand, it scared me for a second and then I realized that it was her and I locked my fingers with hers. She began pulling me as she ran down the steps. The light got brighter and we were almost there. The smell was really bad now, it smelled like rust.
We came to the end of the stairs and she stood there with her hand over her mouth. “What is it?” I quickly asked. She couldn’t speak but pointed a finger. I looked in disbelief as I stared at the remains of the missing people; they already started to decompose. Their bodies strayed across the floor with blood dripping from their open chests. Big patches of flesh were missing from each of the bodies where the rats have picked at it; it is gruesome. I recognized one of them; it was the little boy I seen in the attic. “Who...who would do—“we heard footsteps; we both turned around at the same time to see both my and her parents. Alongside them stood Tom and Jessica, the two people who greeted us when we first came to this hell. They had my parents tied up and there was rags stuffed in their mouths. They moved towards us and in an instant everything went black.

I woke up strapped to a table; it was made of stone, it was cold and hard. There was blood all over the straps but it wasn’t mine. Next to me also strapped to a table was Jane; she had blood on her forehead. My forehead hurt too; I tried moving but couldn’t, the straps are too tight. A rat made its way across my stomach “Shew get away!” I blew on it but it didn’t leave. I heard something, it sounded like people talking; I listened carefully. “He’s awake.” One of the voices said; the other one spoke. “We have to wait!”
“Wait? Wait for what” I asked myself. I heard footsteps; small and shallow at first but they grew louder. I heard them coming closer; anticipation also grew. I heard something, something that wasn’t footsteps, I looked over. It was Jane; she was waking up from her slumber. “Wha...Where are we?” she asked.

“Shh! I’m not sure but we have to stay quiet, I think I heard someone coming.” Just as I said that a figure casted its shadow on the wall beside me; I watched as it made its way around this tomb like structure. “Well well, look who’s up.” The figure moved around in front of us. “I guess you’re wondering why you’re strapped to a table.” We both said nothing, we were too afraid. “It’s because you two have been bad and must be taught a lesson like the others, but you two are lucky, you’re not going to die just yet, I must take care of your parents first.” The man quickly left the room.

“What are you going to do to my parents!?” I screamed.

All I heard was laughter, then silence. Fear rose in from my very core.

“What are we going to do?” I asked as I tried turning my head towards Jane.

“I don’t know…Jack, I’m scared.”

“Me too…” That rat had friends; it invited them to come bother me. “Go away!” I yelled at them; they didn’t listen. They moved to the strap and sniffed the blood on it. “What are— Wait! They’re chewing on the strap!” I wiggled around; I could already feel it loosen. Only a minute or two longer and I can break free! I kept wiggling and as I did it got loser and loser. I used all my strength and I felt relief as I hear a ripping sound. I jumped us as fast as I could so I could go help Jane. “Hurry!” Jane shrieked “Just give me a minute.” I said as I fiddled with the strap. “There, come on!” I pulled her up and headed for the nearest exit. “Help me!”

“What was that?” I looked at Jane hoping for an answer.

“I don’t know but it came from here.” She pointed to a room that was behind us.

We turned around and headed for the room.

Once in the room we saw a man standing over a child on a table. The child was screaming horrid screams. We leaned over to the side as much as we could to get a better view; our hearts pounded against our chests. What I saw will stay with me forever; something that won’t go away. The man pulled out a dagger from the table next to him; slowly turning the blade in the light; admiring the gleam.

“You’ve been a bad and you need to be taught a lesson.” As the man laughed he plunged the dagger into the child’s chest. Blood splattered across the knife and on the table. The child made a last exhale as the man dragged the dagger down his chest and to his stomach.

“It’s too late…” Jane whispered as she looked down with tears in her eyes.

“Ha-ha!” The laughter came from behind us. “It is too late, for all of you.”

I couldn’t move; it felt like my feet were glued to the floor. I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. It grew worse and I felt a warm liquid spill down. “Jack! No!” was the last words I heard. Everything fell silent and the lights grew dim. My vision darkened and all my senses began leaving me. Everything went black and I could feel nothing anymore.
The End?