10.31.2008

GATES OF HELL

For years, the people in Winchester County have talked about a place called The Gates of Hell. The name refers to the very large, blood red, cast iron gates at the entrance to an old, secluded and abandoned mansion.
A person cannot see the gates from the road, they are in the middle of a long drive and a chain-link fence guards the property. The mouth of this long dirt road starts at The Cross Roads. A place where it is said you can make a deal with the devil.
A young lady named Isabelle, a dangerously curious girl by nature, went to the house with some of her friends on a dare and peered in the windows. The grounds were overgrown and the walk up to the house meant wading through waist deep brambles and saw grass. They had gone to the house in daylight, only the people who had gone to the house at night were the ones who were never seen again.
They could hear footsteps coming near the windows, but peering through the glass there was no one there. The friends had their noses pressed against the glass when something rattled the windows as if someone had banged on them from the inside. There hadn't been a soul to see and they had run away in terror. And even though the situation seemed improbable, it spooked them all more than a little .
Isabelle tried looking up the history of The Gates, but there were no available records, the town had burned to the ground a hundred years ago and with it any documentation on the creation of the house or the history of it's people. It was as if it did not exist, and yet there it sat, malevolently waiting, but for what?
Questions gnawed at Isabelle, was it all just some hoax? Had her mind just exacerbated the noises and turned them into more than they were? Fear was contagious and she figured being at the house with her friends had only made things worse. They key was to go alone and get the truth by going inside this time. She'd read that things only had power over you if believed in them and Isabelle did NOT believe in ghosts.
She got out of bed, dressed in black and slid her feet into her fastest running shoes. She grabbed her flashlight and climbed out with window. She was sweating when she got to the crossroads, and as she walked over the middle she felt as if a cold hand had touched the back of her neck. Shivering she looked all around her, "It's just in your head Belle, there's nothin' there. Don't let the place get to you."

Her hand trembled as she reached for the doorknob on the front door. She sqared her shoulders and let herself in. The noises started immediatly. It was as if there was someone walking around upstairs dragging something heavy along the old floorboards. "It's just some homeless people sqatting in the house. That's what ot's been this whole time." she took out her camera phone and got ready for the pic that would make her famous throught Winchester County.
She climbed the creaking and rotting stairs and felt the temperature drop the closer she got to the noises. She eased the door open and entered the room, she explored the whole thing and found nothing and no one, just that persistent sound. She looked out the window confused and frightened, she turned and let out a scream. There in the middle of the room was a cloaked figure dragging a bloody body across the floor.
The scream made the figure look up, and all Isabelle could see was his rotting face and the syth in his hand. She raised her camera and took the picture and ran for it. "There is nothing there Bella, there's nothin there!" she told herself as she ran.
The stairs gave out near the bottom and her leg got stuck. "This can't be happening!" she turned as she heared the stairs groan under the weight of It's footsteps. "You're not real, you're not real, you're not real!" She cried, she pulled her leg out just as the creature raised the syth and brought it down on her head.
"This house is mine!" the voice was terrible. She couldn't run fast enough. Down the grounds she stumbled and ran, and all the while she could hear it not far behinde her.
She ran onto the crossroads as she screamed, "HELP ME!" boney hands grabbed her and she kicked and screamed. She turned to look and saw the hooded figure of Death.
"Isabelle, come with me..."
She pushed away from Death and stumbled backwards away from it. "Get away from me... you're not even there. I want to go home."
"You're deadmeat Isabelle, you never should have come back."
Hands grabbed her and she looked back to see The Cloaked Man from the house. She twisted and fought, but he held her tight as he dragged her back to the Gates. "Help me! Make me a deal, please!"
"I don't need to anymore, you ignored my warning when you got here, and soon enough, you're soul will be mine."
Isabelle's screams faded into the night.

Happy Halloween! Don't do anything stupid...