The house

“On a dark and stormy night” 

“Oh don’t start like that…Those stories are always stupid,” I say as I adjust my seating position. “Can’t I just go trick or treating now?” 

“No. It’s too early. No one's handing out candy yet,” Violet responds, glaring at me. “Plus your friends aren’t even here yet..Now can I continue my story?” 

“Fine,” I say begrudgingly as my two younger brothers nod their heads, obviously engrossed in her lame story. 

“Ok so..where was I? Oh yes. On a dark and stormy night, it is Halloween just like today, and a group of kids just like us, go trick or treating and they go up to a small dark and creepy house. They walk across the dead lawn…into the dark house…and…” Violet says pausing for dramatic effect. “BOOM! They get trapped inside! Forever!” she yells, making our younger brothers scream in fear. 

“Oh my god it’s not that scary.” The doorbell rings and I stand up. “They’re here. I’m going now.” 

“Alright, be back before it’s too late,” Violet says, helping one of our brothers put on his costume. 

I go outside to where my two friends are waiting, Lucas and Kathy. “Hey ready to get some candy?” I ask them. 

“Yeah let’s go,” Kathy says. 

After a few hours of trick or treating we have filled up our baskets and are just walking  around the neighborhood when Lucas pauses. 

“Hey, we should go to that house,” Lucas says, pointing to a small house that has a dead lawn and the paint is peeling. There aren't any lights coming from the windows. 

“I don’t think anyone lives there...haven’t seen anyone outside that house in years,” Kathy responds standing next to him. 

“Yeah, that’s why we should go in. There could be some cool stuff left in there,” he says smiling. 

“I don’t know guys. Isn’t that illegal?" I ask them not wanting them to know the true reason why I don’t want to go inside...I’m scared. The house looks exactly like what Violet described in her stupid story. 

“I mean, I guess if we get caught.” Lucas says. 

“Yeah come on, you’re not scared are you?” Kathy teases. 

“No I’m not. Fine we’ll go in..but just for a minute okay?” I say hesitantly. They both smile and they turn and walk up to the house; I slowly follow behind. As we walk across the dead grass I can’t help but still think about Violet's story..about them being trapped forever. “No, it was just a dumb Halloween story to try and scare me.” I think. Lucas opens the house door and smiles. 

“I didn’t think it would be unlocked,” he admits as we walk into the house. It’s as dark as it looks from outside. Kathy turns on her phone's flashlight and Lucas and I follow suit. After about ten minutes of Kathy and Lucas exploring the small dingy house I decide it’s time to go. 

“Hey..guys can we go home now?” 

“But we’re still exploring,” Kathy whines. 

“Please! My sister said I had to be home at ten and it’s already eleven,” I plead. 

“Alright fine,” Kathy says walking over to where I am standing at the door. She puts her hand on the door handle and tries to open it, and she tries again and then again but it still doesn’t open.

“This isn’t funny Kathy…I want to go home,” I say practically pleading.  

“I’m not trying to be funny! It’s not opening!” she says, panic creeping into her voice. 

“Move over, let a strong man try to open it for you,” Lucas says, pushing her aside and trying to open the door. “Crap…It really is stuck,” he says with a mix of defeat and fear in his voice. He looks back at us. “Now what?” 

“Can’t we break the door down or something?” Kathy asks, trying not to sound scared but failing. Just as she says that we hear a noise of something coming down the stairs. We all whip around to face where the noise is coming from. We see a figure of a person. 

“I thought you learned not to go into abandoned buildings, it’s not safe,” Violet says walking towards us. 

“Violet, what are you doing here?” I ask.

“Making sure you guys are okay,” she answers as if the answer was obvious.

“Well we’re not. The dumb door won't open,” Lucas says as he gestures to the door. 

“I think I saw a backdoor, when I was looking for you three,” Violet says, walking the opposite direction. We look at each other and nod, then go follow her. We go farther and farther, and get deeper and deeper into the house until we get to a door. 

“Okay we’re here,” Violet says, stepping away from the door so we can get a good look at it. 

“You go down first. I think I left something in the other room,” Violet says, backing away from the door. Lucas walks over to the door and gently opens it revealing a set of stairs. 

“This isn’t the outdoors,” Lucas astutely observes. 

“What are you talking about?” I ask as I walk over to where he’s standing. Kathy joins us standing next to me. Just then I feel a hand on my back and a face close to my ear.

“I warned you not to come here,” Violet whispers in my ear before shoving all three of us down with a hard push. 

We fall down the stairs into the deep darkness below. It feels different than normal stairs. It feels like we’ve been falling for a long time. Then at some point even the feeling of the stairs goes away and down we go still. We’ve been falling for a long time now. I don’t know if it’s been hours or days. What I do know is that I’m alone, I don’t know where Lucas and Kathy went but they’re gone now, and I am alone. That thing that pushed us wasn’t my sister. I don’t know where she went but I think she’s gone too. I can feel my vision going dark. I guess this is the end.