My dad is a well-known photographer. We always lived in the city, until my dad said the city was upsetting him and money was tight. Rent in the city was too expensive. He didn’t have much to photograph anymore. My parents found a house in a small town, but they hadn’t shown me any photos. As an only child, I was always bored. I would be leaving my friends behind.
Wolf Hollow was the name of the town in Indiana. It was a big change from Detroit Michigan. It was an old rusty farmhouse with pieces chipping off. It looked haunted. The inside of the house looked better than the outside, and the real estate agent came by. He told us our neighbor was a nice old man named Albert. The house next door looked even worse.
I got on the bus for school. It was October. I heard laughs. I couldn’t find an empty seat. A girl with blonde hair and a purple hair band offered me to sit next to her. “Hey dufus!” A boy shouted at me.
He leaned up to my shoulder and said “That farm you live on is crazy, man! Your neighbor is a lunatic. You need to get out, dude” I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. Another boy said “Wait til you find out about the dogs. They come out at night. You won’t ever sleep.”
I worried myself sick. I wondered if Albert was really a psycho and I wondered about the dogs. A few days later, I started hanging out with the girl. Her name was Shirley.
I saw a light flickering off and on at Albert’s house. I tried to convince myself that it’s just an old house and he probably never changed the light. Then I heard howling. I saw the shadow of a dog. I wanted to scream but I didn’t want to wake up my parents and I had school in the morning. After a while, the light stopped flickering and completely shut off. I saw a shadow in the window of the house several times. I watched for about 2 hours. A few times the shadow would come back and the light would flicker but then it would stop. I wanted to tell Shirley about this but she wouldn’t believe me. Or would she?
I told Shirley about it and she said the old man probably hadn’t changed his light. Every night I would see a shadow. But one night, I’d seen something terrifying. A dog was tied to the tree but it was only a shadow, and a man was beating it with what looked to be a baseball bat. The man was also a shadow. The dog wasn’t howling or whining. The man wasn’t talking. I looked at the window of Albert’s house and 2 red eyes stared at me. I immediately hopped onto my bed and pulled the blanket over myself. I was shaking. I saw a shadow in my room. I wished it was a dream.
Shirley had a crazy idea. She wanted to sneak over to Albert’s house at night and see what was going on. I declined. I would never go over to his house after what I saw. But I was terrified every night now. I saw the glass of the window bust and a man crawled toward my window and tried to climb up. He was unsuccessful. He seemed to be screaming but it just sounded like mumbles. After a certain point in the night, all the shadows disappeared. I could never understand the point behind all of this but I was starting to think Shirley wasn’t so crazy. I also wanted to see what was causing this but I was scared. I didn’t want to die.
One Saturday night, Shirley and I walked over the Albert’s house. We already heard whispers, howls, and mumbling on the way over. The front door was locked and so was the back door. Shirley wanted to check the barn first. She opened the door and the smell was the worst I’d ever smelled in my life. It smelled like something had been decaying. There were several coffins lined up and chains were on the ground. Shirley opened the first coffin. We saw a dead little girl with her mouth open. Bugs were swarming her and she looked horrible. I wanted to cry. “I don’t wanna see anymore.” I said.
“Good call,” Shirley said. “Let’s try to get inside the house.” She picked up a brick and carried it to the back door. She threw it at the door and failed. I heard howls and I saw a shadow of a dog creeping toward us. “Hurry! Hurry!” I shouted. I saw the shadow getting closer and it was howling. She threw it again and it busted the screen door. She kicked it and it barged open. I slammed the door, worrying about the shadow getting in. We were really in here.
“Dexter, don’t make any noise.” She whispered. I heard thumps, howls, and mumbles at the same time. I felt shivers crawl up my spine. As we walked further, I witnessed red eyes staring at me. The same ones I had seen that one night. They came closer. It was a man with his 2 arms and 2 legs on the ground, in the stance of a dog.
“Why must you awaken me?” He whispered.
“I didn’t mean to, sir.” I said.
“Mmmm. That’s what they all said.”
“What do you mean by they?” Shirley asked.
“Those darn children,” His voice raised. “I like being alone, ever since my wife died.”
The man was still on the floor like a dog. His eyes were glowing red. He crawled over to my feet. I wondered if this was the Albert that the real estate agent mentioned. Because if so, this guy was nowhere near being a nice man. The howls were gone. I didn’t see any shadows. All we saw was this creepy man acting like a dog. It was terrifying.
“I see everything you do, Dexter,” He said. “I advise you to pack your things. If you stay, you will be next. I’m out here alone for a reason. Now, leave.”
My stomach felt weird. I thought about telling the police but what if it wasn’t real? As we headed back, the shadows and the howls and all of the mumbling came back. A shadow of a dog was getting closer and we hurried to the door. We banged on it. My parents must’ve locked it. Mom answered the door, half asleep. “Mom! You have to listen to me!” I cried. She looked so confused. Shirley and I couldn’t just be making this up. We knew what we saw. “I know, honey.” She hugged me.
“So,” I muttered. “You saw it too?”
Mom shook her head. “The shadows, the dogs, all of it. I told your father the house looked sketchy. He didn’t believe me.”
“What do we tell the cops?” Shirley asked.
“Nothing,” Mom said. “You two are coming with me. Shirley, are you okay with that?”
“What about dad?” I worried. There was no way she could leave Dad or actually take Shirley along too. I heard howls and mumbling outside again. She rushed us to the car and tried starting the engine. It wouldn’t work. A shadow with red eyes started crawling toward the car. It was the one in the house. Albert. As soon as the engine started, the shadow jumped on the window and started banging. Mom put the car in drive and we zoomed off. I didn’t know how to feel about Mom taking Shirley along with us. As we drove out of Wolf Hollow, I knew one thing. I would never want to come back. Even Detroit was better.