Part 2
https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/ukkyyd/they_never_left_the_house_across_the_street/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
The house I grew up in was our entire town’s very own attraction spot, for all the wrong reasons. It was akin to the murder house of american horror story, minus the infestation of evil spirits and ghost babies. Four families died within it, 15 people in total, three being under “mysterious circumstances” and one of which was a full blown, straight up sacrificial, ritualistic familicide. If you couldn’t guess that last one was what set our position of that one family in the death castle in stone. Along with this there was a big scandal about the old couple who lived in the house before us about 20-25 years ago I think. Apparently they were stalking the kid across the street for years until skipping town after being spotted outside his window.
I’m sure you’re probably already asking yourself
“well why in great holy hell would anyone move into that house?” and my answer to you would be a mom’s job change, a great price, and on top of all that, being the son of a paranormal investigator who saw the place as a gold mine of research, and yes my old man is a total geek. Despite all this I was never really scared, I mean sure i’ve felt a little unnerved at times, maybe an occasional small shiver down the spine, but both me and my dad would get more so excited about those moments. “Every small discovery is a step towards a break through.” He’d always say, and I’d be lying if I said being raised by a horror mystery junkie of a man didn’t spark my own interest in the paranormal. It probably helped that the house was just under 400 years old, the most recent death taking place in the early 1800s, and there had been plenty of families to live there before us with no fatal or dark incident.
There was one strange phenomenon that occurred rather often however. Every now and then, the house would suddenly fill with the smell of fire and smoke, kind of like a bonfire. It was brief, only lasting no more than about 2 minutes, tops, but was extremely strong. There had been plenty of times we had to evacuate the home in fear of a possible fire. We searched everywhere for the source of it, but the smell literally couldn’t have gotten stronger, and there were no visible fires or smoke to be seen anywhere within the house, hell the smoke detectors wouldn’t even go off. This meant we had no real way to determine if we were any closer, so we eventually just got used to it until it became little more than an annoyance. It wasn’t until my high school graduation I found what really caused the smell.
I got home late due to a graduation party, I think sometime around midnight, and my parents had gone out for dinner earlier that night. So I had the house to myself, one that quickly filled with an all too familiar smell. I began searching for the source, and thanks to my evening of underage drinking, was determined to find it, even well after the smell faded. I eventually ended up in the attic, and after a few good minutes of tearing through old boxes and halloween decorations I spotted something that caught my attention, an oh so thin line running down the wooden wall, just barely noticeable. After further investigation it wasn’t just a line, but a box outlining, the box itself being a slightly darker shade than the rest of the wall. Out of pure curiosity I pulled out my pocket knife and slid it into the crack all the way down to the handle…and moved the wall.
Coming to the conclusion it was a panel of some sort, so with a little more prying, I eventually popped one of the corners out enough to get my fingers underneath and carefully removed the panel to reveal a long fire escape ladder, ironically reeking of smoke and fire…along with what smelt like burnt, rotten meat, and for once in my life, the house sent a slight ping of fear through me. I debated going down for a good while, but with a push of curiosity, as well as being fueled by a good amount of liquid courage, I crawled through, and began climbing downward.
with each rung my feet would touch, that liquid courage quickly drained from my body, and by the time they connected with a broken, uneven brick floor I was damn near completely sober. I took one more look up, before taking a deep breath , and turning my back to the ladder to face a long, bomb shelter like hallway, filled with a dim glow of crimson flood lights. I paused for a moment, the thought of turning back running through my brain, but my curiosity was too strong, and took over my legs, pushing me onwards no matter how much my conscience told me otherwise. The hallway went on for what felt like hours, as the smell of flames and charred meat, until finally reaching a corner leading to a large, bright cement box like room with marble tiles. In the center kneel a robed figure, praying to a large pale statue of some sort of crow demon…surrounded by four charred bodies.
Despite their melted rotten flesh, their clothes were spotless, all of which were dressed in colonial attire.
“ah, another visitor, welcome my child. I ask, do you wish to follow the great one, and unlock the secrets of the world? escape the apparent mortality humans hold?…or do you wish to feed him?”. The robed figure announced in a raspy, gargled voice as they slowly turned around and removed their hood to reveal a withered corpse of a woman with a near toothless, decayed smile. “wha-what the fuck.” I finally managed to get out in a choked quiver as my eyes darted between the walking mummy and the burnt corpses, but for some reason most of my attention was drawn towards the large statue of what I now know as the beast. It was a demonic amalgamation of a beast, yet had an unexplainable grace to it. The woman must’ve noticed my mesmerized stare towards the creature as she spoke up once more.
“I see you have promise. The great beast is calling out to you, I can see it in your face. Perhaps it see’s potential within you, and we can certainly use more assistance after my husband lost his way, and had to be dealt with.” She said as she stepped closer, causing me to fall onto my ass as I tried to back away. she stood over me with that decayed smile growing ever so wider. “Thankfully, after many centuries of trial and error, Our true lord and I have grown one step closer to conquering death itself. However the dead are still far less useful than those with warm blood.” She continued as she slowly leaned over to meet me face to face.
I had been so afraid, yet entranced with this woman and the things she was saying, I had almost failed to truly process what she meant, but once I did, that warm blood of mine she was talking about quickly ran cold as I looked behind her back to the center of the room…to see the corpses were gone. I had been so lost in everything she said I had completely missed the fact they had moved…until I was grabbed from under the shoulders and forced up by two of them, there cold, rough touch sending shivers down my spine as they raised me to my feet, before the other two walking husks grabbed those too, quickly carrying me to the statue, now up close to it I was able to see it had been of what looked like ivory. I kicked and screamed as hard as I could but it was no use, they were mind controlled zombies they most likely couldn’t feel a thing, and even if they did, they lacked the free will to do anything about it. I was quickly brought to my knees and held down as the woman joined her slaves, forcing my head up and holding my eyelids open to keep my sights locked onto the statue…that began to crack.
“Let us see if you are worthy of his judgment.” she whispered as the great beast shedded its pearly white Ivory shell, revealing a slick, black feathers, and two large pairs of bat wings underneath. The beast jerked its head towards me, and looked into my watering eyes, before it started to press its long beak against my forehead. I was fully expecting the thing was gonna send its steel like beak through my skull…but instead it showed me
Visions of heaven and hell, space and time, the many possible futures and deaths I may have, It showed me everything. The next thing I knew I was waking up in my bedroom, sun high in the sky. I never knew my parents, I couldn’t let them know what dangers were under that house, in fear they would attempt to visit the great one, and possibly end up being unworthy. The visions it has shown me have run through my head every night in my dreams…and lately it’s becoming harder and harder to resist the urge to return to that house and visit the beast once more.