The House on Hayden Pond

by Jessica Monks

  The hair on the back of Sam’s neck rose up and the room instantly felt colder. She held her breath in the dark, listening.

  When Glenn reached the stream he saw his mother’s soaking wet robe lying on the ground. Looking around he called, “Mom? Where are you?” He wanted to cross the river but the log bridge had been washed away. He ran down the riverbank but there was no sign of her. “Damn it!” he shouted. The water was high and moving fast—there was no swimming across. He now had to run all the way down to the road to get to the house. He turned and started to jog along the riverbank.

  In the basement, Sam looked around as the lights flickered on and off, glowing dimly. They seemed to have a pulse of their own.

  There he was—like he was supposed to be! Jack stood on the edge of the well, looking at her. She was overjoyed to see him but she knew what would happen next. She lunged forward, reaching for him as he fell back into the well.

  Reaching the edge, she looked down into the well, but she couldn’t see him. It wasn’t filled with water but with dark maroon blood. She was about to jump after him but something didn’t seem right. There was no sound of him hitting the bottom.

  “It wasn’t real… none of it was real,” she said, praying for faith in her own words. “It was just another trick.” Standing tall, she shouted to the gloomy basement, “Give me back my son!”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Welcome Home

  As the sound of an angry growl echoed in the basement. The blood deep within the well started to bubble, like boiling water, with tiny bubbles making their way through the thick substance to the surface. Sam was mesmerized by its movement. She could see something coming to the surface. As she watched, a head emerged from the blood, rising up as if being birthed from hell. The head lifted, revealing black eyes and small bits of flesh barely hanging onto his face. He looked up at her and smiled. His white teeth made Sam tremble. His body looked like the skin had been stripped away, revealing the fibrous tissue surrounding his bones. The blood coated every inch except for his bright white teeth.

  Looking up at Sam, he laughed deeply. Now he had risen halfway out of the pool of blood that bubbled around him. Sam tried to rise to her feet but suddenly felt stuck. She turned back to see she had been sinking in the mud. As she watched, a tangle of red veins came creeping up through the ground and reached for her ankles. With a scream she pulled at the veins, but they held her tight. Sam looked back down into the well.

  “Do you want to know who I am?” growled a raspy voice. The monster’s lips did not move but his voice itself resounded from the house and throughout the basement.

  “Your Roman…Roman Hollick,” said Sam trembling with fear.

  “This is my house. Everything in it belongs to me. Welcome home.”

  Roman began to laugh raising both his hands as a spot on either side of him bubbled violently. On this command, two skeletons emerged from the bloody pool and began climbing up the sides of the well. They looked like hundreds of pieces of bone held together by ropes of veins, creating human-like skeletons with strands of hair and small pieces of flesh clinging to their bones. Their skulls were large and misshapen, and from their bloody jaws grew great curving teeth.

  “No!” Sam cried again, and as she pulled at the veins they broke and blood pulsed from them. She rose to her feet and took a step but was pulled back to the ground. Her hands sank into the soil, which was filling with blood and turning to a red mud. As she struggled to return to her feet, with its sharp nails one of the skeletons dug into the flesh of her calf and cut her down to the ankle.

  She screamed in pain, digging at the deep mud floor, trying to get away.

  Unhinging its gaping jaw, the skeleton tilted its head and hissed loudly at her.

  Now the second skeleton creature emerged from the well and began to crawl towards her.

  “Mommy?” came a voice from the direction of the stairs.

  Sam whirled around to see Emily standing a few feet in front of her. Her eyes were closed.

  “Emily, run!” she cried, but Emily stood still. She opened her eyes. They were full of blood, moving across in dark waves. Small streams of blood poured from the corners of her eyes, down her cheeks, like tears. As if in a daze, Emily picked up a rope off the shelf and slowly walked upstairs.

  “What have you done?” Sam said, kicking furiously to free herself. She felt the skeleton climbing on top of her as it made a high-pitched screeching noise. Not knowing what else to do, she screamed as loud as she could, “Thomas! Thomas, help me!”

  The house creaked and groaned. The lights pulsed, glowing ferociously. She felt the grip of her captor release. Crawling away quickly, she flipped over onto her back. The skeletons growled and crawled towards her.

  Suddenly a heavy support beam fell from the ceiling above the creatures, landing on them and pinning them down as they struggled to reach her.

  Then Sam heard a voice pulled straight from her dreams.

  “Run!” the voice whispered in her ear.

  Sam gasped as Roman’s head appeared from the well. He seemed to be supported by the blood at his feet. Sam struggled to her feet and ran up the stairs. The pain of her injured leg made her fall, but her will was strong and she sprang up again. Reaching the top, she kicked the door shut. Taking a kitchen chair, she jammed it against the door handle. Spinning around, she could see the garage was filled with thick smoke.

  Ellen had reached the back of the house. She looked through the window and knocked. Sam jumped at the noise and ran to the door. “Ellen? What are you doing here?” she said.

  “Listen, child,” Ellen replied, gently taking hold of Sam’s hand and looking deeply into her eyes. “He won’t ever stop till he gets what he wants. Every soul he takes only makes him stronger. Thomas came to me in a dream. He showed me the way.”

  Sam nodded her head, knowing now that Ellen spoke the truth.

  “How do we stop him?” she asked.

  “It’s all right, dear child,” replied Ellen. “I know what I must do.”

  As they spoke, the creatures clawed and pushed against the basement door.

  Cupping Sam’s cheeks in her hands, Ellen wiped away her tears. “The only way to send him back is to cut the source of his power,” she said. “To free the souls he’s using as a bridge to this world.”

  “What should I do?” asked Sam.

  “Get them out of this house and don’t ever come back,” replied Ellen, kissing Sam on the forehead. “Go, child. I will hold them off as long as I can. Tell Glenn I will always love him.”

  Sam nodded her head in agreement and, after hugging Ellen, hurried to the dining room to look for Emily.

  Upstairs in Emily’s room, Paul opened his eyes. The room seemed to be moving around him. He blinked a few times trying to stop the spinning. His head throbbed in pain. The weight of the heavy wooden armoire was difficult to lift. Paul gritted his teeth, feeling a sharp pain in his leg from the glass. He looked down towards his leg. A shard of glass was sticking out. He placed his hands down onto the shattered glass beneath him and groaned as he pushed the heavy armoire up. Using his arms, he inched out from underneath, and then turned onto his back and sat up. He examined the piece of glass and took a deep breath. With a grimace he pulled out the jagged shard. Biting his fist, he leaned forward, moaning in pain. There were clothes all around him. He picked up one of Emily’s long-sleeve tops and tied it tightly around his leg to stop the bleeding.

  “Emily!” Sam’s scream echoed through the house and brought Paul to his feet.

  “I’m coming, Sam,” said Paul, pulling the door open enough to try and climb through.

  From the living room, Sam saw Emily at the top of the stairway.

  “Emily!” she shouted. Emily had climbed over the banister and was holding onto the railing with her head tilted to look at her mother. The blood was still flowing around in her eyes and the rope was around her neck.

  “We’ve been waiting for you,” she whispered. For an in
stant her eyes became clear again. “Mommy?” she said, looking into Sam’s eyes as she let go and fell from the banister.

  “No!” Sam cried, rushing to her and supporting by her feet as she hung from the banister. Choking, Emily tried to pull the rope away from her neck.

  “Emily!” Sam cried frantically, trying to hold her daughter up.

  “I’m coming!” yelled Paul, kicking the armoire away from the door. Sam heard banging noise upstairs and the sound of footsteps through the hallway.

  Paul emerged, covered in blood, and weakly he limped to the banister. Holding his hands together and interlocking his fingers he hammered away at the banister with his fists. It was painful, but Paul didn’t care—he would break every bone in his body to save his daughter.

  Hearing the screams, Glenn reached the front door of the house but it was locked. “Stay away from the door, I’m coming through!” he shouted as he began to hack away at the door with his axe.

  Paul felt a surge of adrenaline as, pounding harder and harder, he heard the wood start to crack. Emily’s body went limp as Paul stepped back and, using the bottom of his foot, kicked into the banister as hard as he could. The wood split, cracking in two as Paul slipped back onto the floor and Emily fell into her mother’s arms.

  Sam took the rope from around Emily’s neck but her daughter wasn’t breathing. Paul grabbed the railing, and pulling himself up and along the banister, limped to the bottom of the stairs. He knelt down next to them. Sam held Emily’s nose, and tipping her head back she breathed into Emily’s lungs. Paul started chest compressions but there was no sign of life.

  “Come on baby, breathe,” said Paul.

  Another whack from the axe hit the front door and Glenn broke through. Through the gaping hole he saw Paul and Sam trying to revive Emily. With a final powerful kick the door broke open and Glenn entered the house and knelt down behind them.

  “Emily, come on baby, breathe! Emily! Breathe!” said Paul.

  Suddenly Emily started to cough. She opened her eyes and Paul fell back and covered his face. He was crying as Sam picked up her daughter and hugged her. Paul hugged them both and kissed Emily on the head.

  “Lily is at my house and she’s safe,” said Glenn.

  Sam looked up and smiled at him. “Thank you.”

  In the kitchen, Ellen could no longer hold the basement door. It creaked with such force the middle started to bow and the noise of cracking wood filled the kitchen. Blood started pouring out from underneath, causing Ellen to slip. Having no choice but to allow the skeleton creatures to enter, she stood behind the door as it swung open. As the two skeletons emerged, they looked around the kitchen. Ellen stayed quiet as one of the skeletons crouched on the floor with its grotesque vein-encrusted backbone only inches away. It looked around the kitchen but did not see her behind the door. The sound of voices in the next room drew the creature’s attention away from its search. Hissing to alert the other skeleton, they both began crawling across the floor into the dining room.

  “What the hell is that?” said Glenn as a skeleton came around the corner.

  “We have to get out of here—now!” said Sam. The skeleton bent down low to the ground and pounced, jumping across the room onto Glenn, knocking him to the floor. Sam and Paul struggled to pull the creature off him. Blood bubbled up from the floorboards beneath Glenn. Veins started shooting up through the blood, attaching themselves to the bones of the creature. With great force the veins tightened the skeleton to the floor, imprisoning Glenn.

  The other skeleton crawled halfway up the wall before leaping across the room onto Paul’s back. He was so weak he could barely fight back, and the skeleton quickly pinned him to the floor.

  “Paul!” yelled Sam, trying to pull it off. Sam picked up the axe and approached the creature holding Paul to the floor. She swung it hard, breaking the creature’s boney ribs. It writhed and screamed in pain. But a thick vein shot from the floor, wrapping around the axe and pulling it from Sam’s hands to the floor.

  “Go Sam, run! Save Emily!” said Paul. The veins sprang from the blood pool, wrapping around the skeleton and securing it to the floor on top of Paul. The skeleton pushed its boney face into Paul’s, hissing at him. Closing his eyes, Paul turned his head. “Go!” he shouted as the creeping veins covered his mouth, making him unable to speak.

  “Emily, go to Lily,” said Sam, pushing her out the door. “Run to Glenn’s house!”

  “Come with me!” cried Emily.

  “I’ll come when I can,” replied Sam. “You run!”

  Emily nodded and began to run away from the house.

  Sam turned as Roman entered the room. Tilting his head, Roman looked at Sam. The floor and walls of the house groaned and creaked. Roman’s lips didn’t move but his whispering voice growled from the rooms of the house. “I will bathe in the blood of your children!”

  With the words tearing at Sam’s heart, she screamed, “You can’t have them!”

  Roman gave her an evil smile. Lifting his left arm, he closed his hand. Sam felt a pull at her ankle, sending her down to the floor. Roman’s hand dropped back by his side and the same mysterious force pulled Sam across the floor to him. “No, no! Let me go! Please!” cried Sam.

  “Shhhhhh,” said Roman, pressing his finger to his lips. Grasping Sam’s ankle with one hand, he slowly ran his other hand along her leg to her thigh. Sam tightly clenched her eyes shut. She could not bear to look at him while he touched her.

  Ellen came out from behind the kitchen door. Looking down the hall, she could see Roman’s back. Quietly she turned and entered the basement. Following the bloody footprints down the stairs, as she stepped off the last step her feet sank in the red mud. The mud was thick with blood and soil, and every step slowed her down. The lights flickered and went out.

  “Molly? Little Molly Stuart, where are you?” she softly called, searching around the basement. She could feel a cold chill in the air. One of the lights blinked a few times and turned on. The blood was pouring slowly from the well like an overflowing tub. “Molly May?” said Ellen. The blood began to bubble again at the surface. Ellen could see something starting to rise up through the blood—first a small skull, and then the little shoulders and arms, clad in a nightgown. As the skeleton rose, the blood started to drip off. Her nightgown and bones became clean and white. Her small porcelain like skull tilted back and forth, looking over Ellen with curiosity.

  Ellen walked nearer to her. “My sweet baby girl, I’ve been waiting for you,” she said. A tear ran down her cheek she smiled at the small skeleton.

  The little skeleton walked to Ellen and raised her bony hand. Ellen took it in hers.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Go to Hell

  The skeleton in the nightgown looked back at the well and pointed with its small boney finger. Ellen nodded and walked with her. Together they stepped into the well. Ellen sank up to her knees in the blood, but then her feet were on something solid enough for her to stand. The blood started to drain back into the well and the level slowly descended.

  Ellen looked down at her little girl, who looked up at her. Molly nodded and Ellen smiled. “Don’t worry, baby girl,” said Ellen. “I’ll show you the way. We’re going home now.” Holding each other’s hands, Ellen closed her eyes as they slipped below the surface of the blood. Feeling warmth, Ellen opened her eyes. They were in crystal clear water. Ellen smiled as she looked upon the golden-haired, glowing spirit of her smiling little girl, just as she had remembered her. She could feel warmth of the light guiding them as they slipped deeper and deeper into the well.

  Upstairs, Roman stopped as the pool of blood began to drain away from the floor. Sam was shaking. She couldn’t stand to look at him. “Leave her alone,” said Glenn again, trying to break free from the bonds of the bloody veins. “Take me instead!”

  Roman smiled. His deep laugh echoed through the house. Turning toward the kitchen, he dragged Sam along by her ankle towards the basement. Sam screamed and kicked at him,
grabbing the molding around the door way as he dragged her through.

  “No!” she screamed, slipping along through the blood.

  Suddenly Roman screamed in pain as his arm broke away from his shoulder. He looked down at his detached arm with its hand still gripping Sam’s leg as she kicked at the ground, backing away from him.

  Roman growled as he tried to step toward her—but his legs tore off his feet, which stuck to the ground. He fell to the floor, and with his one arm tried to drag himself closer to Sam.

  A high-pitched scream resonated from the house. The blood on the floor started flowing backwards down the basement stairs. Roman and his body parts slid across the floor, flowing together with the blood. The skeletons shrieked terribly as their bones broke away from the floorboards. They dug at the floor as a force pulled them back into the dining room. Their nails scraped the floorboards as they tried to escape the relentless pull. Pushing her feet against the floor, Sam backed away. Desperately, one of the creatures grabbed Sam around the ankle. She was again being pulled.

  “Sam, we got you!” shouted Paul as he and Glenn both grabbed her arms.

  “Don’t let go!” said Sam, pulling her leg free. “Go to hell!” yelled Sam as she kicked the skeleton in its face. The skull fractured apart, shattering into small pieces. The creature let out a piercing scream and clawed viciously at the floorboards as it was dragged back down the stairs. The basement door slammed shut with incredible force.

  They were gone.

  Sam sat against the wall looking at the basement door. “Thank you,” she whispered to herself, knowing whatever Ellen had done had saved them.

  Silence again fell upon the house.

  Paul and Glenn helped Sam to her feet. “Where’s my mother?” said Glenn, still looking down the hall at the basement door.

  Sam shook her head. “She’s gone. She saved us,” she said as Glenn wiped a tear from his eye.

  A noise came from upstairs, breaking the silence. It was a familiar lullaby. Looking around carefully, Glenn picked up his axe and climbed the stairs. Paul and Sam followed close behind him. Together they followed the sound of the lullaby down the hall to the bathroom. Glenn pushed opened the bathroom door with his axe. Looking around, he saw no one. The music had stopped. As Glenn and Paul stepped into the bathroom, something fell from the top of the closet. As it hit the ground it sounded like a small piece of metal. Glenn picked it up and showed it to Paul. It was a ring with the head of a lion made of gold and silver.