One Way Out

by R. L. Weeks

  “Oh, Teddy,” Laura sighed and walked in, following Rosy.

  The marble floor in the hallway was almost concealed under flakes of white paint and a thick layer of dust. Moth-eaten curtains hung from gold curtain poles, covering the smashed windows. Ivy had wormed its way into the house, spread across one wall. They entered the living room, remanence of police tape lie in tatters on the dusty royal blue carpet. A flower-patterned sofa and armchair sit near an empty marble fireplace, above it a mirror covered in grime and dust so that the reflection was not visible.

  Laura hugged her arms around herself and followed the little girl who was skipping into the dark kitchen. An oil lamp sat on the mould covered work surface, a teapot lay in bits by an old-style black cooker. Laura could hear laughter from upstairs, then footsteps running across the floor, making the cracked plates on the side tremble.

  “Is that your brothers?” Laura asked, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

  “Probably,” Rosy giggled. Graffiti was painted on the back door, probably done by some kids that had broken in. The words read ONE WAY OUT. Even though the words probably didn’t mean anything, it made her heart skip a beat, and the hairs on the back of neck stood up. She grabbed the oil lamp, carrying it with her.

  “It’s just up here,” Rosy said, who was stood by a steel door that opens onto some stone steps. “They lead directly to the master bedroom.”

  “Right,” Laura swallowed, nervous to go up these dark little steps. Rosy was less than half her age and yet she had twice the amount of courage.

  “I’ll go first,” Laura whispered. She didn’t want to come across as a wimp, she should protect Rosy, not the other way round. With a forced smile, she took the lead and climbed up the steep steps. The door closed behind them, Rosy just smiled, Laura mustered up the best smile she could before reaching another steel door.

  “How did you end up here?” Laura asked before opening the door, not looking back. Something in her told her that something wasn’t right.

  “I lost my parents,” she replied.

  “So did you and your brothers run into the woods then?”

  “No,” Rosy answered bluntly. “Can we go and have playtime now?”

  “Rosy, where is 568 Old Coral House?” she asked, already knowing the answer.

  Rosy giggled, “it’s here.” Laura’s head went fuzzy.

  “Where are your parents?”

  “I don’t know, Daddy was shouting at Mummy, Mummy screamed, then Daddy came into my room. I don’t remember anything after that, I woke up the next morning with my brothers and we haven’t seen them since.”

  Laura remembered back to the first family that was murdered, one girl, two boys, the mother, and the family dog. The father was never found. Laura turned to face Rosy, who was turning more and more transparent by the second. Her voice trembling, Laura asked Rosy a question that she was afraid to hear the answer to.

  “When were you born Rosy?”

  “September eighth, nineteen-twenty-one.” Rosy smiled up at Laura. She felt sick, she couldn’t be talking to a ghost, it’s impossible, she thought.

  “Rosy, I’m sorry, but you’re dead,” Laura admitted, looking at Rosy with sad eyes. Rosy looked as if she was about to cry.

  “I really wish you hadn’t had figured that out, I’m sorry I have to leave you alone, I liked your company, but now you’ll just be scared, so I must go” Rosy admitted, before she vanished, leaving Laura leaning against the door, panting heavily, alone in the Old Coral House.

  Laura pushed open the steel door, scraping it against the carpet. The one feeling that had crept over her the most in those last few seconds was loneliness, she was completely alone yet she hadn’t felt like it up until then. She had Teddy, then Rosy, now she was surrounded by spirits, ones she hadn’t believed in five minutes ago.

  Two little boys stopped playing upon seeing her enter the room, they put down their old grotty toys and walked out of the room, their brown hats, adorable dimples, and dark brown eyes made Laura’s heart melt. They had died so young. They both looked under five.

  Fear gripped her as Rosie’s words echoed around her head, she wished she hadn’t had figured out that Rosy was a ghost, why?

  Creeping through the bedroom, damp had rotten into the headboard leaving a dark black stain. “Oh God that was from blood,” Laura said aloud and backed out of the doors. She was faced with several doors, leading down a long hallway, she eyed the staircase before deciding to make a run for it.

  She ran down the stairs, almost tripping, she dropped the oil lamp which smashed. Looking down she saw several other oil lamps smashed upon the floor, in the same spot. Kicking them aside, she ran at the door that was half-way off of the hinge and sped down the steps into the woods, not looking back, the brisk wind hitting her face. Brambles scraped at her legs, twigs hit her as she ran past the trees. Her garden came into view, her heart pounding, tears dried on her face almost instantly. The lights were back on in the house, she could survive this, the relief shot through her. She was almost at the fence, just a little further, the board on the fence was still torn down in the middle from where that woman was dragged. She could see her father’s outline in the window, he was back, and on the phone.

  “Dad,” she screamed out into the night, but then the house morphed into the abandoned one in the woods right in front of her eyes, and her surroundings shifted into the woods. She was back where she had started. Then a crushing pain shot through her head as a blunt object smashed into her skull, and everything faded away.

  NO WAY OUT

  “Wake up,” a boy's voice hushed. She looked up at the distorted face of John, it was familiar, nice, was she dreaming?

  “Am I dreaming?” she asked.

  “Unfortunately not,” John said.

  “Wait, you – you’re dead,” Laura panicked.

  John sighed, “Yes.”

  “Oh please, please let me wake up from this nightmare,” she sobbed, pulling the sleeves of her jacket over her hands. She looked up, taking in her surroundings. She was in a cellar, an orange glow flickered from the candlelight, illuminating the stone walls, chains littered the floor, and a noose hung from the ceiling. There were no windows, just one door with bars on.

  “I’m going to help you, please listen,” he pleaded. Laura nodded, trying to steady her breathing, wiping her tears. “This place used to be a house used by Satanists before the families moved in. They let in some evil spirits, demons if you will.” He paused, hearing clanking from upstairs.

  “Every year, on October 31st they make the ghosts here lure in a victim, someone our age to slaughter, to feed to their essence to the demons here. Teens and new-born babies are charged with energy, it’s just what they need. They target teens mainly. They choose them well, ones that are good, a little naïve.” He arches an eyebrow.

  “They’re going to kill me?” she croaks.

  “Not if I can help you, but we have to act fast. The last one almost escaped, but he wasn’t quick enough. Look there’s only one way out. Try and run and you’ll end up back here.”

  “Okay, what do I need to do,” she asked, loud footsteps approached.

  “They can’t do anything with you until three, so you have an hour and a half. They’ll try to scare you, don’t get distracted by anything, especially the mother, her lips aren’t there –

  “Yeah I’ve seen her, she was dragged into the woods, my dog chased her,” she interrupted.

  “No distractions, do not try to save the dog, just get out okay. You don’t have long, I’m going to unshackle you, but when I do, you need to run straight for the back door. They’ll do everything to stop you, fear feeds them, and it gives them energy. If you show fear, they’ll be able to use poltergeist activity. Without the ability to grab anything, there’s nothing they can do. Leave out the back and keep running until you reach a river, run over the bridge and you’ll be safe. You’ll be only five minutes then from town.”

  “But my dog,” La
ura protested.

  “No, leave it here,” he shouted. She didn’t appreciate to Teddy being addressed as it, but she let it go. He was right, she had to get out of here.

  “Thomas, Clover,” he shouted. Two spirits appeared, one was a girl, her face tired and pale, her hair flowing and blonde. The other was a boy, around sixteen, with dark brown hair that flopped over one eye.

  “Please tell me you're not going to help her escape, it won’t work. Do we have to go through this every year?” the girls asked.

  Johns' face twisted into one of anger. “We break this ritual once, we’re all free. If we work together, we can make it happen. Let’s help her get away, then we can move on,” John barked. The boy, Thomas, nodded stiffly and Clover rolled her eyes then agreed.

  “I can hear them, they’ve grown weak. Show no fear,” Clover said.

  “She’s called Laura,” John said, she was shocked that he still remembered her name from school. More surprised that he hadn’t had committed suicide after all. She vowed to tell everyone the truth, to demolish this house once out. They worked together, feeding off of her energy and managed to remove the shackles.

  “Go,” John shouted. Laura didn’t need to be told twice. Adrenaline surged through her body as she pulled open the door, running up the wooden crooked steps, into the kitchen. Rosy stood there looking adorable, with a little smile on her face. “Please don’t go,” she asked, smiling sweetly.

  “No,” Laura shouted, running through Rosy and reaching for the handle of the back door. The woman who was dragged, who she had learned was the mother, stood beside her, her eyes demonic. The suddenness of it had made Laura jump, but she remembered, she could not show any fear. She pulled down the handle when she heard a familiar bark come from the passage. She went to run, she knew she had to do, but what would twenty-seconds matter. She turned and ran into the passage.

  “Teddy,” she screamed. He came running down the stairs, Laura’s eyes filled with tears as her best friend approached her, wagging his tail.

  “Laura, no!” Thomas shouted from the kitchen. Those were the last words she heard just as Teddy lunged for her throat, his teeth bared, snarling.

  ***

  A young female’s body was found down at the Old Coral House in Upton woods yesterday afternoon. The cause of death is still under investigation, but they believe it was a suicide. She has been identified as Laura Moor, her family have been notified…..

  James switched off the T.V, he knew Laura, she had always been nice to him at school, and she was really pretty. Why would she want to commit suicide? He ran his hand through his light brown hair and straightened his glasses.

  “What the?” he heard a howling from outside. He opened the front door and saw a cute chocolate coloured Labrador, wagging its tail, with no collar.

  “Hey buddy, you lost?” James asked, stroking his head. “You look hungry, come in, I’ll find something.”

  Teddy looked back at the kids, Rosy and the two boys, Edward and Henry, they all waved goodbye. Until next year, Rosy mouthed.

  Rosy turned to Edward. “We need to make sure that Marcus and Lillith don’t find him again, last time they almost killed him, he bit them, but then he had gone into the house and tied him up in the garden, they had managed to capture him. If it wasn’t for Laura setting him free, we would have lost him, and we wouldn’t be able to find anyone to feed them,” she said.

  The boys nodded in unison and Edward looked up to his big sister, “will Laura play with us?” he asked.

  “They never want to play with us after we kill them,” Rosy said with a sad smile. “They don’t understand like we do, we have to feed them, if not we will end up like daddy, we all will.”

  THE END