THE HOUSE Several years ago, a man by the name of Roland DeFrei lived in a large, three-story green house about two miles outside of Ecruteak City. Roland had grown up in the city, but in his old age, had made the decision to move out on his own, removed from the distractions he felt were spoiling his golden years. The House, as it was simply and efficiently named, had been built decades earlier; the builders had envisioned it as the start of a new town. They and their family lived there for 28 years, waiting for someone else to join them. When no one came, the owners moved to Olivine City. Before leaving, the father made a carving in the wooden mantle above the fireplace. He was not much for words, and as such the inscription was simple: “May the memories of all who lived within The House glow forever in this hearth.” Roland was able to purchase The House for a modest sum of money. Although he had no real family, Roland did not live alone. He was a trainer of Ghost Pokémon, for they helped him imagine an existence after his inevitable passing. When he first moved into The House, it was just him and a single Gastly. The House, conveniently for him, was built in an area where Ghost Pokémon were relatively plentiful. Over the years, he collected more and more of them, each one a new family member, and a new comfort to his slowly failing heart. His last conscious heartbeats were quick and frantic. He was frightened. There had been noises coming from the living room – it sounded like someone had broken in. From his third floor bedroom, he dashed down the stairs as quickly as his aging legs would permit him to travel. As he turned the corner into the living room, he saw the barrel of a rifle and heard a thunderous sound as a hole was blown in his head. The shooter fled as the sounds of something awakening filled The House. When all of Roland’s Pokémon arrived in the living room, they found their surrogate father lying in a pool of his own blood, the culprit having long since escaped. Angered and saddened, they slowly drifted back into sleep. The police found his body a week later. The investigation and cleanup were rushed, especially in its final days. Some people swore they could hear movement in The House, and everybody wanted to leave. In his will, Roland had left The House to the city of Ecruteak. Almost immediately it was sold to a local real estate company. That company tried its best to sell The House for several years, continually lowering the price point. But due to its isolation and notoriety, nobody was willing to purchase it. When the Keeley family finally bought The House, they did so for $80,000 – a fraction of the property’s estimated value. Like Roland, the Keeleys had lived in Ecruteak. But now that the parents, Jan and David, had three playful children, they needed more space. The House, with its three floors and bedrooms, seemed like the perfect opportunity. The move was surprisingly quick, considering the size of the family. There were two bedrooms on the second floor – the first, larger bedroom belonged to Jan and David, while the second belonged to their two little boys, Randy and Jack, both aged 6. The last bedroom, on the third floor, belonged to Olivia, their 5-year-old daughter. For the first few days, everything was fine. The Keeleys were a happy, young family living in their dream home. The long trips into town were occasionally exhausting, sure. But it was worth it, because they felt truly at home in The House. That feeling remained until the fifth day. That night was when Roland’s children woke up. Sensing a presence in their father’s old bedroom, they began there. Olivia was asleep in bed, snug within the confines of her blankets. She did not awake as her covers were torn off, or even as the strange, purple, gaseous limbs lifted her from her bed. When she did open her eyes, she closed them almost immediately. It was bright – too bright. And so hot and dry. And she felt the force around her, lifting her against her will. Olivia was not in her bedroom anymore. Where she was now seemed to match every description of Hell she’d heard in her short life. Randy was the second member of the Keeley family to wake up. He heard a muffled, high pitched sound coming from the floor below him. The sound paused for a moment, only to begin anew – although this time, it seemed more distant. In the corner of his eye, Randy saw his brother rising from bed. But he was not awake. Faint, dark, swirling forms surrounded him, heaving him upwards and too the side, carrying him away from his bed, and finally planting his feet on the floor at the center of his room. Disturbed in the midst of his dream, Jack took in a breath through his nose – and with it came one of the translucent forms, burrowing into his mind. Jack’s eyes opened with a start, and gazed around the room questioningly, as if whatever compelled them to move was seeing The House through human eyes for the first time. Jack turned and walked to the bedroom door, the high-pitched noise audible once again, this time coming from above. As Randy turned to follow his brother, the barely-visible forces in the room raised both beds off the floor queitly. Jack’s face turned back to Randy, a bizarre grin plastered across it. The grin did not falter as both beds were slammed together, causing an ear-shattering boom and crushing Randy’s head between them. The sound was enough to make Jan and David bolt from their beds. Their bodies filled with adrenaline and their actions spurred on by parental instinct, the two ran to their door, violently yanked it open and stared into the hall. They saw their sweet little Jack standing in front of his closed bedroom door, a look of concern on his face. Jan grabbed him by the shoulders and stared him directly in the eyes, too frenzied to percieve the fact that there was something odd about them. “What was that noise, Jack? Are you alright?” She had a vice-grip on the little boy that surely should have been painful, but Jack did not even wince. “I’m sorry, Mommy,” he said in a sickeningly sweet voice, “I slammed the door. But where is Olivia? I can hear her. Can’t you? Don’t you want to know where Olivia is?” The high-pitched noise resumed once again, sounding slightly clearer out in the hallway. Once again it seemed to come from below them, on the first floor… and it was now identifiable as Olivia’s hysterical shrieking. Jan and David rushed down the stairs frantically, Jack following closely behind. As they turned the corner into the living room, they saw the fireplace, and heard the crackling of the raging fire that had been lit in it. Echoing down from the chimney, they heard Olivia’s screams, weaker than before, interrupted by bouts of coughing. Olivia was beginning to black out, choking on the noxious smoke being funneled up past her, losing blood from the cuts and abrasions she had received from being scraped against the hot bricks. Jan called out her name desperately, as if the sound of her voice could pull Olivia free of the clutches of whatever had her trapped. Ducking between David’s legs, Jack ran towards the fireplace. “Don’t worry Olivia, I’m coming,” he said, entirely too calmly. “I’m coming to get you Olivia. We all are!” Jack took a step into the fireplace, his clothing and hair igniting, his skin being splotched by drops of Olivia’s blood that dried and solidified as soon as they landed. “Mommy and Daddy are coming too.” He turned around, his already charred face and strangely dim, reddish eyes staring straight at Jan and David. “Aren’t you coming? Won’t you try to save your own children? Don’t you care about them?” Jan lunged for the fireplace, only for David to pull her back by the waist. She protested loudly, her shrieks blending in with the weakened cries of her daughter as she saw Jack’s body disintegrating in flames through her hot, pouring tears. As the flesh on Jack’s jaw began to slide off, making visible a glistening wet section of skull, he spoke for a final time. “Of course not. You could never love them as much as we loved our father.” What scalded meat was left on Jack’s face twisted into a demented smile, and the gaseous purple entity flowed out of his disfigured nose. Olivia’s lifeless body crashed down onto Jack’s burning corpse, causing it to collapse into the flames as the force that had possessed Jack charged into the two speechless parents, shoving them back a few inches - only for them to be caught by an unbelievably large swarm of swirling purple energy, which proceeded to tear them limb from limb at an agonizingly slow place. They saved the heads for last. Once they had been severed from their lifeless torsos, the heads were tossed into the fireplace like two logs used for firewood. The flames they fed danced as the rightful residents of The House, the children of Roland, fell into slumber once more. The light from the fire illuminated the inscription on the mantle, casting it in an eerie glow. “May the memories of all who lived within The House glow forever in this hearth.” ~Typhlosion
Posted on: Tue, 02 Jul 2013 03:22:23 +0000
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