It’s been 20 years since my friends walked into those dank halls of the abandoned stone church, and never returned. My town wasn’t as small as some rural towns, but our population couldn’t have exceeded 5,000, and there was so much field to play in. the biggest curiosity among the school kids however was the abandoned church that sat lonely among the overgrown grass.
Kids at school would whisper that the church left money behind, and it was ripe for explores to pick, but we were all too scared to set foot near that place. There were “condemned” and “no trespassing” signs everywhere and when we asked the adults, they said that the building had asbestos and lead painting so it wasn’t safe to run around.
But October of 2003 my dumb ass friends decided that they were going to be the first to explore, pillage and uncover the truth of the desecrated grounds and that on the night of the full moon; Halloween, we would go there and see what the place had to offer.
I declined as getting lung cancer at the age of 13 was a big no from me. my friends said I was chicken, but I wasn’t going in there, it was creepy and dangerous. They all went without me and that was the last night I ever saw them. for a whole year after that I was interrogated, by police, worried sick parents and even some local news press.
I remember my friends fondly. Bella my old flame, smart and energetic. Kyle the dumb ass of our group, slow thinking but good meaning. Lastly there was Billy the only one in the group who I knew before we met Bella and Kyle.
When I turned 27, I got out of the state and started a new life elsewhere, it didn’t really work out, things have been rough financially, I can’t get a girlfriend and am terrible at talking to people. Having nowhere else to go I go back to my old childhood town, because I was going to figure out once and for all what the hell happened to my friends.
I drove through my town, it’s not to different from my childhood apart from the fact that a few businesses are now up for sale. Just like this place to stand still even when the rest of the world had gone to hell and back. Driving down the road, I saw it out my window, the church still standing with overgrowth and ominous energy.
It was still early in the morning, and I didn’t want to waste any sunlight, plus going into town meant I might run in to somebody and I wasn’t here to catch up with people. I drove down the dirt road that cut through the grassy plains and arrived at the cathedral with the rising sun behind it. I paused for a moment both to get my things and steal my courage. I grabbed a flashlight and a pistol I carry with me and walked in the direction of the church. I had my phone but wasn’t about to film myself trespassing.
It wasn’t enormous but it was definitely sizeable, I had three whole floors to get through including the basement. I opened the door and the light almost vanished in the Vanta black abyss on the other side. I turned on my flashlight and shinned it down the hall where the stairs to the second floor was, then I shined it on the stairs that lead to the subterranean level and then I turned my light to my side and shinned it down the gathering hall.
The pews still stood with bibles in the back sleeve of each row. I walked through the murk and up to the stage where I could see a half empty bottle of wine and knocked over goblet.
I was starting to get a theory in my head but didn’t pay it thought, mostly because I didn’t want it to be true. after a short investigation of the hall, I went upstairs where the offices were. When I got to the second floor I found two doors, the first one I went through was full of documents and unremarkable stuff, just budgets and plans then I opened one of the office drawers incredibly enough I found money, stack of Benjamin’s even, I guess the rumors were true. but that means also my theory is true.
Whoever was here left in a damn hurry.
Beneath the money I found a key and later found that it went to the adjacent door down the hall. I went in and what I found was alarming to say the least. A skeleton slumped over the table. In one hand he had a bottle of whiskey and in the other a revolver. I took the gun, no bullets but still a nice piece. There was also a note on the floor by his feet. I picked it up and what I read was vague and disturbing.
“I never wanted it to come to this, I thought what we were doing was holy, I was willing to do anything to see our savior reborn into this world! But this blood on our hands, and this thing we summoned.
I can’t”
Blood splatter made the second part of the letter ineligible, and I am starting to get the feeling that the cops never investigated this place. I had to know for sure what happened to my friends and who in the town knew more then they were letting on.
There was only one more floor to investigate, the basement.
As I walked down the stairs, I could feel myself descending into madness in real time. Why didn’t the police thoroughly investigate this place? What did they do? Are my friends even dead? As soon as I got to the basement, I got my answer. On the floor was a skeleton of a child, and across the hallway a barred door. When I approached it, I was sent back by a loud BANG! My heart raced as something threw itself against the doors on the other side, the old wooden bar holding the door shut was to old and moldy to hold and began to break.
As a bit of the door open, I could see a long tongue emerging from the breaches in the door and when I saw it I turned around and ran straight for the exit. By the time I ran up the stairs I heard the doors bust open and ran so fast for the door I thought I was going to take flight. When I busted out of there I ran to my car and looked back. There it was one the other side of the door, unmoving and cloaked in shadows. The only feature I saw was a grin full of razor-sharp teeth that I swore were made of iron. It turned around and I watched its body coil back into the shadows until all the remained was its tail, then nothing.
I was sure of three things; one that thing doesn’t like sunlight. Two, my friends were dead. And three, I can’t trust anyone in my town anymore. I got in my car and drove as far away as I could.