Chapter 1

I used to be a criminal. Robbed anyone anywhere I could. Now I'm sure you likely think less of me already; I don't blame you for that. I could make amends for what I'd done all day, but none of it would make up for anything. You see, at one time, I was young and dumb and thought of robbing people as my way of rebellion. At least that's what I tell myself. Whether or not I believe it is another conversation, but that's not what this is about.

As I've said, those days are far behind me. However, one thing from back then has haunted my dreams every single night for the past six years. I'd likely have kept doing what I was doing if it hadn't been for what I experienced in that house.

It was sometime in the evening. My partner and I had staked out this store to rob for some time, and we knew exactly when no one would be around to witness us rob the place. It was a foolproof plan that, looking back, had no reasonable reason to work. And it didn't.

Before either of us knew it, we were hauling ass down multiple small-town streets with bags filled with whatever goods we could grab. The whole time we were running we were arguing over whose fault it was. By the way, it was his fault. He tried opening a sealed case with an alarm on it that we had agreed prior NOT to touch.

We ran until our legs had nearly given out, and that's when we spotted it. A house that had long been abandoned. It didn’t take long for us both to agree to try hiding out there.

“Hurry, dammit! Can't you pick that thing any faster?”

Elliot, my partner, continued to freak out as I finally got the door open and we rushed inside. We took a few minutes to catch our breaths as police sirens began to blare. I peeked out the window just enough to see multiple police vehicles barreling down the street looking for us. Looking back at Elliot, he was shaking his inhaler as he fought to breathe.

“Will you calm down already! They're not even in the neighborhood anymore.”

Elliot breathed in his inhaler, gasping still as he clutched his chest. He let his breathing stabilize before he finally uttered.

“Is that really how to talk to someone who was dying in front of you?”

I realize that my words may have sounded harsh, but the bastard was smiling as he said that.

“You weren't dying, moron.”

Looking back out the window, I listened for the sound of sirens but heard nothing. I was almost baffled at how quickly they gave up the chase.

“Dude.”

Elliot waved his hand to get my attention.

“Hush, dammit. I'm trying to listen.”

*Click*

“The hell was that?”

I could've sworn I heard a noise.

“Dude look!”

Elliot grabbed me by the shoulder to turn me towards the interior of the house. Though annoyed, I humored him by taking a look.

It was dark, but the setting sunlight that shone through the windows lit the place up just enough to see why Elliot was so intrigued. It was massive inside. Far larger than the outside had made it look. From the foyer, there was a rotted staircase and three doorways that led into different rooms downstairs. No furniture or anything in sight. Well, aside from the large patterned carpet we were standing on. It had the words "WELCOME HOME" in bold letters.

“This place is fucking awesome, man.”

Elliot walked towards the rotted staircase. I wasn't sure what had gotten into him; after all, he was just scared shitless and barely able to breathe. Now he's as mesmerized as a moth is to a porch light.

Before I could say something to him, my phone began to ring in my pocket. Picking it out of my pocket, I didn't recognize the number, but I answered anyway.

“Jeremy*?* Jeremy, please tell me that's you.”

I could kind of recognize the voice of Carlos. He's a friend and helps out with our heists. Probably. Definitely. Whatever.

"Yeah, it's me. What's up?”

I could hear the sound of things being thrown and smashed to the ground.

“They came here looking for you, man. They've goddamn ransacked the place looking for any info on you.”

My heart skipped a beat. Not really sure why.

“Who's they?”

I could only assume the cops had somehow tracked down our hideout.

“They want their money, Jeremy. And they aren't taking no for an answer.”

Money? I owed no one any money.

"Please, Jeremy! You have to get over—"

The call was suddenly disconnected. And worse, I could once again hear the faint sound of sirens.

“Fuck.”

I once more peeked outside; nothing. Thankfully.

“Elliot, we have to go.”

Letting go of the blinds, I realized I was alone in the foyer. Elliot had wandered off.

“Elliot.”

I tried calling him, but no one answered.

“Elliot! Dammit, we don't have time for this.”

I angrily walked to one of the doorways. Pitch black. Couldn't see shit.

“Elliot! We have to go now!”

Once more, nothing. Not so much as a whisper.

“Fuck it, I'm leaving without you.”

I turned to walk back to the front door, and that's when I suddenly heard the sound of footsteps scampering up the staircase. A faint shadow was cast from the now setting sun.

"Elli—"

I barely got his name out of my mouth again before something tapped me on my shoulder.

“Do you like scary movies?”

“Gaghh!”

There behind me stood Elliot. He was shining a flashlight onto his face like he had just told a scary campfire story.

“Fuck! Where the hell have you been?”

Elliot chuckled; at least someone was having fun.

“Exploring, duh. Seriously, this place is the coolest abandoned house I've ever explored.”

I had forgotten that Elliot had a thing for urban exploration and potential haunted houses. Slipped my mind amongst everything else we had to deal with.

“Seriously though. You have to come check this out.”

Elliot started walking away again before I grabbed him by the arm.

“Look, Carlos called. Something's happening at the hideout. We have to go!”

Elliot's face instantly transformed from a giddy eagerness to an intense disappointment.

“Really, now? We've got our own fucking problems, don't we?”

Elliot is stubborn. Really stubborn.

“Look, we can always go back, okay. We can do a proper urban exploration thing. Hell, we can even put it on our YouTube channel or some shit.”

But not stubborn enough.

“Fine. Let's go once again and bail this idiot out. I swear to god if it's just those alley cats again.”

I would've told him then what I had heard over the phone, but I honestly didn't think he'd believe me.

Making our way to the front door to leave. I took hold of the handle, listening as hard as I could for the sirens. All was quiet. I glanced at Elliot, still sulking, and then I turned the handle.

“What's the matter now?"

Elliot pushed me aside and tried the handle himself.

“What the fuck? God damn thing is jammed.”

Jammed? No. Maybe we just locked it, right?

“Where the fuck are the locks? No deadbolt either? Not even a fucking keyhole?”

Okay, maybe it was jammed.

“Stand back; I'm going through it.”

I got myself ready, standing as far back from the door as I could before launching myself from my heels straight into the door like a linebacker.

*Wham!*

*SNAP!*

“Gagghhhhhhh!”

A sharp and intensely fiery pain shot through my arm. And then I couldn’t feel anything in my arm. And then my shoulder began to feel like a thousand knives had pierced it.

“Son of bitch, dude, hold on. Fuck!”

Elliot frantically dipped into another room. I sat with my back against the door, writhing in agony as I had completely dislocated my shoulder.

Elliot eventually ran back into the room holding something in his hand.

“Okay, all we have to do is relocate your shoulder, and then you'll put on this shoulder sling to keep it stable.”

I tried to stop him, but the pain was too severe for me to talk. He took hold of my arm; sweat dripped down his face as he readied himself.

“Okay, ready,”

I frantically shook my head.

“3!”

I tried to squirm away, but the pain kept me from moving.

“2!”

*CRACKLE!*

“Gaaaaghhhhhhh!”

Without even giving me enough time to process what had just happened. He began wrapping the sling over my shoulder, suspending my arm in it. My breaths had become wheezes. My whole arm felt numb. I'm not sure if he actually managed to relocate my shoulder, but it didn't sound like he fixed it.

"Alright, genius. Now you've gone and injured yourself. The goddamn door isn't budging. Carlos is probably being eaten by cats right now… I'm going to keep exploring.”

I struggled to get up on my feet. I couldn’t really argue with Elliot; there's not much to do now but maybe explore. Maybe take a look around.

“The fuck are you doing now?”

Through the darkness I tried to find something sturdy.

“I'm going to break the windows. I'm not staying in this shithole.”

Elliot rolled his eyes at me.

"Well, good luck with that. I'm going to go upstairs.”

I stopped for a second. Quick thoughts rushed through my head.

“Weren't you just up there?”

He was about halfway up the staircase.

“Uh, no. I'd been down here this whole time. Why?”

I could swear I heard something scurry up there. I thought maybe it had been him.

“Where'd you find this sling?”

He looked at me, puzzled, but I could tell he was putting it together.

“Storage closet in the laundry room. Empty apart from a box full of first aid stuff.”

Empty. This whole place was empty, not even furniture. Yet there's a single box? With first aid supplies no less. Either that's great convenience or…

“What the hell was that?”

From a room upstairs we heard the sudden sound of glass smashing against something. Elliot's eyes widened as he slowly began to descend backwards down the rotted steps.

“Did you happen to find a back door while exploring?”

He turned his gaze to mine, shaking his head. Slowly, the two of us maneuvered our way to the doorway leading to what I assumed to be the living room. Elliot cut on his flashlight, panning across the room for anything useful.

“The hell are we gonna do if they come downstairs?

Elliot whispered to me like we hadn't just been talking, yelling, and screaming at full volume since we got here.

"Did you steal anything useful in that bag of yours?"

He shook his head again.

“I literally just stole random bullshit. Mostly snacks and shit.”

I rubbed my forehead in frustration, knowing damn well I did the exact same thing.

“What about that stupid fanny pack you're always wearing? I know you had that flashlight in it.”

He shook his head once again.

“If it's a weapon you're looking for, you aren't finding it in there.”

A horrid combination of fear, dread, and frustration clouded my mind as I paced the living room for anything in mind that could help us. I then pulled out my phone.

“Who're you calling?”

I looked at the keypad. I contemplated who I should call.

*Bzzzt*

*Bzzzt*

Once again, an unknown number was calling me. I couldn’t tell if it was the same number that Carlos had called me on before.

"Well, answer it, dude. It's got to be someone who can help. Worst-case scenario, it's a telemarketer.”

I hesitated before hitting the answer button.

“H-hello?”

All I could hear was breathing on the other end. I pressed the speaker button so Elliot could hear it too.

“Yo! Say something, asshole. Carlos, I swear if that's you—"

Before Elliot could finish, a raspy voice spoke roughly to the two of us. They took slight breaths in between each word like they were out of breath.

“I'm scared… please… I'm… trying to… quiet them.”

Elliot and I looked at each other in confusion.

“What? Sorry we don't understand.”

I tried my best to come off as non-threatening. Whoever this was, I figured, they weren't mentally well.

“Warn… Warning… Tried… Tried… Warn…”

Elliot snatched the phone from my hand.

“Sorry, freak. We don't have time for your schizo rant, alright!”

He hung up. Passing the phone back to me, we began walking to another room.

I stared at my phone. Once again, I contemplated who I should call. Curious, I then decided to look through my recents. Sure enough, that number was the exact same one that Carlos had called me from before.

“Hey, man, I gotta show you this.”

I followed Elliot into the other room. But he was nowhere in sight. Not even a shine from his flashlight was visible. I turned on my phone's flashlight to maybe see something. But just like the other rooms, this one was completely empty as well.

"Goddamn, not again.”

I figured maybe he had circled around and gone upstairs. Though knowing someone might be up there. You'd think that'd deter him from going up there.

“Yo!”

I jumped at the sound of his voice. I quickly turned around to see him waving at me to follow him into another room.

"Shit, man, don't disappear like that again, dammit. You're the only one with a light in here.”

Going into the next room. I focused on Elliot before he nudged me to look at something he was shining his light on.

“What am I looking at?”

Elliot fidgeted with his fanny pack. I could almost smell the excitement on his face.

“It's a basement!”

He said it so excitedly I almost facepalmed myself.

“You need help, man; like, there is no way you're excited over a stupid basement.”

He shined the light in my face, nearly blinding me.

“Look, just let me have this, okay? How often do I have the chance to explore an abandoned house with a basement"

I started to rethink why I was friends with this guy.

“If you're this excited over a basement, you'd probably piss yourself if we went upstairs to find an attic.”

I swear his eyes lit up like fireworks. As if I had just said the word “outside” to a dog.

“Okay, well, I have to go up there now.”

*Bzzzt*

*Bzzzt*

It was that same number yet again on my phone screen. I damn near dropped my phone from fright.

“Again? What does this creep want? Just don't answer, man.”

I hesitated to press "ignore." But curiosity got the better of me.

“Well, great, now you've gone and done it.”

Putting my finger up to my lips to shush him. I put the call on speaker again, and we both listened to the sounds on the other end. There was no breathing this time.

“Who is this?”

We listened. For a while, there was nothing. Then a voice finally came through.

“It's too wide… all wide… too wide…”

The voice talked the same way the other voice did. But this one was distinct. More soft and fragile. Like a child.

“Don't go… don't go in… don't go… monster.”

Each time it talked. Its speech continued to frantically speed up.

“Arm…Arm…How's the arm… Arm… How's the arm…”

My shoulder began to ache. A sharp pain made me wince and drop my phone. Elliot caught it before it hit the floor.

“How the fuck does it know about your arm?”

A buzzing sound started to hum its way through the phone like a bad case of tinnitus. The voice spoke even faster now, but it wasn't just the soft child voice anymore. It now sounded as if a cacophony of different people were all shouting all at once.

“BeHiNd…bEhInd…BeHind you…thEre… TherE…”

Elliot and I quickly turned around. We both shined our lights down the corridor in front of us. We had it lit up like the sun in there. Yet, nothing was there.

"Hidden…hidden… Find… ThEre…fInD…”

The voices became more and more distorted.

Though we saw no one down that corridor. We both felt like someone was there. Like they'd been watching us. We must've stood there frozen in fright for about five minutes. All the while the voices on the phone continued to shout. All repeating the same word. Over, and over, and over, and over again. It was like a symphony.

“…MoNsTer…”

“…MoNsTer…”

“…MoNsTer…”

“…MoNsTer…”

– …. — ..- –. …. ……. -.– — ..- ……. — .- -.– ……. -. — – ……. … . . ……. .. – .-.-.-

“What the hell is that noise?”

An irritating bunch of beeps caught our attention.

“Fuck this, I'm hanging up.”

He hung up before I had the time to say, "Stop."

"Damn it. I had more questions.”

He gave me a look like I was delusional.

"Well, if they've called twice already. They can always call again.”

He handed the phone back to me.

“So… like, does that mean there's… there's an actual monster in here?”

I shook my head.

“Monsters aren't real. This… it's gotta be some shit prank.”

I wanted to believe my words. I wanted to believe my own arrogance so much.

“Should we investigate? I… I don't think standing here like literal beacons is helping us.”

I agreed. Though we had no idea what we might find continuously snooping around the place. We decided to check out the room where the supposed monster had been. I mean, it had to be gone. We stood in that same spot for so long, and the chants on the phone were dying down anyway. If something was truly in here with us, it would've just taken us out by now. Right?

“Nothing. Fucking nothing. There's nothing in this stupid house!”

I was growing more frustrated by the minute. Honestly, by this point I hope to god that the police would wise up and come bursting down the door. Hell, I'd welcome going to jail. Beats spending one more aggravating and frightening moment in a supposedly abandoned nightmare.

“Do you want to try the front door again?”

Elliot chuckled before leaning on a nearby wall. And then the wall gave way.

“Gah! Shit. What the hell?”

Yet another room was discovered. And hadn't even left the first floor.

“Are you enjoying this urban exploration yet?”

I helped him to his feet.

“Pretty sure that isn't the term for whatever this place… is. Eugh… you smell that?”

You know the smell of an open garbage dumpster. Well, imagine that, but have it sprayed down in poop and let it bake in the sun. That would've smelled better than that room. And it didn't take us long to realize why.

“Is that what I think it is?”

Elliot and I wore shocked expressions as we stared bewildered at the sight. Bodies. So many bodies. All in a crude pile that stacked up to the ceiling.

*Bzzzt*

My phone rang again. I didn't hesitate to answer. And among my many questions, I only had one I could muster.

“Are we in danger?”

A static like nothing I've ever heard before shot out of my phone's speakers. A static that turned into moans. Then to screams. One lonely voice could be heard amongst it all. A glitched voice that skipped and stuttered through each and every word.

“D-d-don't y-y-y-ou li-i-i-ke m-m-m-y mast-t-t-er pi-i-e-e-ce?”

Suddenly the house began to shake. It felt as if it had come to life.

“Do you hear that?”

From where we stood I could hear a door being opened and slammed shut repeatedly. Elliot and I ran out of that room as fast as we could towards the foyer. The front door was opening and closing repeatedly, like it was taunting us with our freedom.

“Grab it!”

Like a QTE in some shitty PS3 game, Elliot and I waited at the right moment to grab the door. Holding it open long enough for us to escape. All the while the static screams from my phone called out to us.

Silence.

We lay on the lawn. Catching our breath as the night sky laid its beauty before us.

Now I know this all sounds crazy. Believe me, I wouldn't have written this whole thing down if I myself didn't believe it. In ways I can't say any of it was real. We were delusional. Right? It was an old house; maybe asbestos or some shit clouded our minds. Shit, I'm talking like we were drugged or something. The point is, we both know what we saw. And you may think it was crazy or hell, maybe even stupid, to do so.

We went back. After my arm healed. And everything was right. We needed to know. We had to go back.

Oh yeah, by the way. It was just me and Elliot. There was no Carlos.

End of Part 1