House on Haunted Hill
O/S for the Haunting In Forks Contest.
By: Peggy McDaniel McCombs
Beta: Martha Vilson.
Rated: M for its Horror content.
Pairing: Bella, Jake and the Pack.
DISCLAIMER: All publically recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The legends of the Quileute belong to them. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. This disclaimer applies to all discussions posted for this story.
The air had a chill to it this night in early October, as the wind whipped off the ocean and settled on the frosted ground, long before the moon sat high in the black midnight night sky.
The leaves have already turned: red and gold decorating the forests with its beauty that was only seen once a year in all its glory.
With the help of the wind a few leaves found themselves littering the ground; but not enough for the homeowners of Forks, Washington to make their way outside to start their yearly ritual of raking the leaves, lining up the bags neatly at the streets curb for the trash men to pick up at their intended time.
It was the last bonfire of the year, as the gang gathers around the fire talking and joking and making plans for Halloween night. It was a ritual they had performed throughout time. Even their fathers - and their fathers before them - sat at the last bonfire of the season and discussed what was to be done on the night that the veil separating our world from "theirs" would be lifted, letting evil walk the earth in its true form.
Of course, it was just a story that had been handed down through time. A story of how ghosts and goblins roam the earth on this blackest of unholy nights, and the young people of the Reservation always found a way to celebrate by trying to find out if the stories were true. They figured if the stories of wolves and the cold one's were true, then why couldn't these stories be true as well?
All young people on the Reservation, for as long as any man or woman in the tribe have lived, have heard the stories. Many had tried to find out the truth, but none has succeeded; or, at least none of them had heard of anyone proving the stories were indeed true.
Bella Swan joined the group of teenagers gathered on the beach that night as they discussed what they would do this particular year. The small pale-faced girl knew of the stories only because she was an imprint of the pack of huge protectors of the tribe. She admitted that she believed that there were were-wolves and vampires, but as far as ghosts and goblins, she found that stretching it a bit.
She sat and giggled as the stories were told by her wolf and the Alpha of the pack, Jacob Black. Bella wasn't one to drink, but tonight she had tossed a couple down, thinking it would take away the chill she felt. Even being close to Jake and his warm body didn't seem to quite take away the chill she felt.
She didn't know if it was the chill in the air or the stories Jake was spinning that were causing her skin to hold the goose-bumps that stood out on her arms. Even the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stood at attention as she shivered, hearing the stories almost come to life as Jake said them out loud.
She slipped her fingers behind her neck to find the hood that lay on her back; and, with a flick of her wrist, she pulled the hood to cover her head and ears as she sat with her arms folded over her chest and rocked hoping to keep the chill away.
Jake wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close trying to keep her warm as he spoke of the stories that his father - and all their fathers before them - told of the night when the "boogeyman" would come out to walk the earth. But Bella still couldn't find it in herself to believe it.
Jake spoke of a house that stood on a hill at the edge of La Push and Forks, just inside the Forks town limits. It sat back off the road and couldn't be seen due to the over growth of the landscape that had long since been abandoned. No one in their right mind would venture up there, not even to clear away the brush that grew so high it blocked the view of the houses from the road.
The wolves had seen it while on patrol, but even they wouldn't go on the land it sat on with the stories they've heard about that old mansion. They say they've heard eerie noises coming from that house at night and couldn't figure out what the noises were. They say the noises get worse on All Hollows Eve after the veil is lifted.
They say that the house comes alive and they swear that it's a port hole to hell, and that's where the demons arise on that night. Jake told of how many people have gone there and never returned, but admitted that he didn't know any of who were brave enough to even chance going there. He said that it's an old wives tale, he didn't believe anyone had set foot in that old house since the old woman who lived there died.
But what surprised Jake and the gang more than anything, was what Bella said after he finished with the tale. She offered to go there herself. She said she would prove that it was all a bunch of malarkey; that it's just an old house and people have made up stories to frighten others away.
The gang just sat there with their mouths hanging open, all but Quil who spouted, "I dare you to go there alone and spend one night in that old house."
Jake swung his head around to Quil, growling for his impudence, feeling like punching him in the nose for daring Bella to do such a dumb thing. Jake knew how Bella was; she accepted any dare given to her. Jake was frightened for her, but he knew if he demanded her to stay away from that old house, she would want to do it even more.
"Bella, please don't do this, I can't protect you if you're in that old house alone," Jake pleaded while Leah chuckled.
"Don't be ridiculous Jake, she'll be fine," Leah spit out as Jake gave her a death glare.
"Bella it's probably not a good idea honey, anything can happen to you in that old dilapidated house. It's falling apart, you can get hurt just by that alone," Embry pleaded trying to help his best friend Jake in not wanting to see Bella get hurt. He knew that Jake would go through hell with worry if she went alone to that house.
"At least let me go with you," Jake pleaded.
"No Jake, I've been challenged to go alone and that's exactly what I intend to do," she said with a stern voice.
"I'll tell Charlie then and I know he'll stop you," Jake said as a last resort. Bella swung her head to look at Jake giving him the same look that he gave Leah not two seconds ago.
"If you tell Charlie, I'll break up with you, I'll leave this town, and never returned!" she threatened. Jake's face turned white as snow with her threat. He never thought she would do that to him when all he was doing was trying to protect her.
There was nothing he could do, he had to let her do this, and he hated every minute of it. She may find that she had to do this dare, but Jake decided he would be there. The dare was that no one could go in with her, but no one said he couldn't wait outside.
With his supernatural hearing he would hear everything she heard, and with the imprint he would feel everything she felt. He would only break the rules if her life was in danger, he thought knowing that Bella Swan was a magnet for danger which worried him even more.
~ooOoo~
Over the course of a few weeks Jake tried everything he could think of to stop her from taking this dare. He was royally pissed at Quil for daring her, a dare that Quil will not soon forget. He was still doing eighteen hours a day patrols. The guys were happy about it, but Quil was in dire straits and would think twice before daring anyone into doing anything like this again, especially Bella.
Bella put a change of clothes in her backpack along with a flashlight and spare batteries. She rolled up her pillow in a blanket and placed it on her bed. She placed a few bottled waters, a box of pop-tarts, along with a tightly closed bowl filled with carrots and celery sticks to snack on, in a bag from the kitchen just encase she gets hungry during the night. She was sure she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night.
She grabbed a jacket in case she got cold, remembering the night on the beach and how cold she felt. Doubling up on her clothes, she figured if that wasn't enough she still had her blanket she could wrap around her to keep her warm.
Bella kept telling herself that it was only an old home that people just let go. She had heard stories before of old houses that stood for years with no up keep, and she was sure this one was no different.
Of course, if a story is told often enough people start to fear them. Bella was determined she would prove that night that all those stories Jake was sharing at the bonfire were nothing more than speculations. She also wondered who the first person was that started those tales. Probably some guy who used it to scare children away from it to keep them safe. Stories like that spread like wild fire.
Jake pulled up in front of the Swan house to pick up Bella. He tried one last time to persuade her from staying the night in that house. Even if the stories weren't true, he still worried she would fall through a floor, down the steps, or over something left in the middle of the floor. Yes, Jake was petrified.
The gang was standing on the road in front of where the house was supposed to be as Jake pulled up. Bella jumped out of the car grabbing the things she would be taking with her.
"Bella, please…isn't there anything I can say to persuade you from going in there?" he pleaded one last time with terror-filled eyes.
"No Jake…it's just an old house, there's nothing to fear," she claimed.
"Except you breaking your neck," Jake moaned quietly under his breath. Jake grabbed the backpack and flung it over his shoulder, grabbing Bella's hand to walk her up to the house.
"Where do you think you're going Jake?" She's supposed to be doing this alone." Quil asked smugly. It was evident Quil hadn't learned his lesson yet. Jake spun around and glared at Quil as if he dared him to say another word.
"I'm carrying her stuff for her, Quil, and helping her get past all this vegetation so she doesn't fall and kill herself before she gets in the damn house! Aren't you supposed to be patrolling?" Jake sneered, as Quil immediately backed off. After helping Bella to the door, he made one more last-ditch effort to deter her.
"Bella, please… let's leave, we'll go to the beach, we'll have a party, you know, get a radio and some beer, we can dance maybe play a few games. 'Truth or Dare', you love that game. Come on honey it will be fun," Jake pleaded in one long breath. Bella put her hand on the side of his face and stood on her tip-toes, kissing him softly on his lips.
"No, Jake, I'll be fine," she promised.
"Bellaaaaa…" Jake whined knowing there was nothing he could do to stop her.
"Stop it Jake! Go, I'll be fine, just be here when the sun comes up to pick me up and stop worrying," she demanded, as she picked up her bags and opened the door. The door fought at first with some resistance, but finally gave way with the screeching of the hinges from years of little to no care.
Bella didn't know Jake wasn't going anywhere. Once that door closed, Jake was on the side of the house phased, laying in the jungle like weeds listening to anything and everything he could find to make sure Bella was safe.
Hell, he even worried that maybe it was a place where vampires hung out. He knew they would soon find out that the wolves never patrolled there if they paid close enough attention. Jake prayed that wasn't the case. As he lay there he heard movement in the weeds behind him. A low growl emulated from his chest as the intruder moved closer.
"Jake it's me," Embry announced.
"What are you doing here Em?" Jake asked.
"I wasn't gonna leave you here alone. I knew you wouldn't leave Bella alone in that house and if you weren't going to be in there with her, then I knew you'd be out here," he proclaimed.
"Thanks man," Jake said proud to call him a friend.
The two of them settled down for a long night of waiting on Bella and to make sure she stayed safe.
~oo00oo~
Once inside the house Bella pulled out her flashlight from her bag. She flipped it on and scanned the room. It indeed looked like a haunted house, with all the dust and cob webs hanging everywhere. She immediately wished she had brought some cleaning supplies, if for nothing else than to clean a spot to settle in for the night.
There were a few pieces of furniture still in the house. They looked to be in good condition, but were covered in dust and cobwebs, as was the rest of the room. There was a chair and a side table next to it with a small lamp.
There was a framed picture that sat in front of the lamp. She had to pull the cobwebs away to get to it, the webs gave her the creeps and it sent a shiver up her spine, as they clung to her hands. She flipped her hand a number of times to rid them from her fingers.
Reached down again, she picked up the framed 5x7 photo shining the flashlight on it to see it clearly. It was a picture of an older woman standing in a garden. Her flowered print dress hung to her shins and she wore green gardener gloves with an old straw hat to protect her eyes from the sun.
Bella wondered where it was taken, for it was common knowledge that the sun rarely shone here in Washington. She also wondered if this was the woman Jake spoke about from his story. She placed the picture back in its place and turned to check out the rest of the room.
Across the room was a huge fireplace lined on both sides by bookshelves. Next to them were windows that reached from the ceiling to the floor. There was a painting on the wall above the fireplace and she recognized the woman in it to be the one she saw in the smaller photo on the table. In the painting she wore a dark blue dress and white gloves on her hands. Her hair was done in an upsweep; and while she held a small smile on her lips, she still didn't look that happy at all. The books were all gone from the bookshelves; there were only a few lying on their sides, abandoned. She picked one up and blew the dust off of it as she shined the flashlight over its cover.
The joy of gardening, the title read. She smiled, as she looked at it. This woman loved to garden, she thought to herself and as soon as she thought that a crash came from the other room causing Bella to jump. She pointed the flashlight in the direction of the noise.
"Is there someone there?" She called out and then listened for a response, but none came. She slowly made herself walk towards where she had heard the noise. She stood next to the wall at the door and peeked around the facing, bringing the flashlight up to scan the adjoining room.
Slowly, she scanned from left to right. She even pointed the flashlight to the ceiling, not finding anything. It looked as though it was a dining room, there was a long table with five chairs on each side and one at each end of the table. There were two candelabra's that sat on the table, but one was on its side.
"Is there someone in there?"She called out again, but once again there was no answer. She continued into the room and walked up to the table. She noticed that the dust was disturbed where the falling candelabra lay. It must have fallen over and rolled because she could see where it had hit before rolling. "Probably rats," she told herself before looking over the room.
There was a buffet that sat against one wall with a couple of dining room chairs propped up against it. They were probably for extra guests, she thought to herself, as she continued on with her search of the room.
There was a huge hanging light fixture above the table. The walls, although covered with cobwebs, still held a slight shadow of where pictures at one time had hung.
She continued her search into the next room which was the kitchen. It was very out-dated. There were lots of cabinets and a sink, but instead of a faucet it held a pump. There was a wooden table in the center of the room where someone might prepare meals. Again she found a lot of cobwebs and dust which she was sure followed suit throughout the house.
She came across two doors. One she presumed led outside, probably to the back yard. The other she wasn't sure about. She walked over to the door leading outside and turned the door knob, but nothing happened. She pulled harder trying to open it, but realized that it must be stuck, because it wouldn't budge.
She walked to the other door and placed her hand over the knob and turned the handle, hoping it was a closet; but, as she opened it a stale cold breeze hit her in the face taking her breath away and caused her to cough. After gaining her composure, she saw that it had stairs that led down, probably to the basement.
There was no way in hell she was going down there. She closed the door tight and wondered where the wind came from if this was nothing more than a basement. She shrugged her shoulders clearing the incident from her mind and continued on.
She walked through another open doorway and found herself back in the hallway leading to the front door. As she faced the door, to her left, were a set of stairs, leading to an upper floor. She wished not to go up there for she had no reason to, but at the foot of the stairs on the opposite side of the living room stood another room.
She flashed her light into the room and saw it was completely empty, but the strange part about it was that the walls were filled with clocks. All kind of clocks, different shapes and sizes, different colors, some were coo-coo-clocks where others were not.
They took up every single inch of the upper walls; the only thing that wasn't covered was the picture window at the front of the house. Another thing she noticed was this room was clean. There weren't any cobwebs or dust in sight, even the hard wood floor had been polished.
Just that in itself made her wonder who could have cleaned it. Even though this room was clean, the house was in bad shape. It was way too bad for someone to live here, so she wondered who would come here and just clean one room.
She looked down at her watch to see what time it was, and noticed she had been here for more than four hours. It was three minutes till midnight. She looked up at the clocks on the wall and found that they all had the same time as her watch; not only was the room clean, but the clocks were set to the right time.
"What the hell?" She asked herself in a confused state, as she stood looking over all the clocks in the room. The clocks hit midnight and they began to chime…loudly. Bella covered her ears and ducked her head.
The noise was ringing in her ears as she began to back out of the room away from the blaring of the clocks, warning her of the time; but, once the noise receded, it was then she heard another noise, or more of a moan. It was no more than a whisper, but she still heard it.
"Who's there?" she called out, but all was quiet again. The only sound she could hear was the beating of her own heart from the shock of hearing a noise, and her own breathing, which was coming in short fast pants from the fear that was starting to rise in her body.
She walked out of the hallway and back into the living room and flashed her light around the room once again, but still there was nothing. After a while she talked herself in to believing that it was just her imagination.
She untied her blanket and pillow and laid the blanket on the floor. She sat down keeping her flashlight next to her and opened the bag she had brought with her and pulled out a bottle of water.
After drudging through all this dust she needed some water. She unfastened the lid and downed almost half the bottle in one go. She screwed the lid back on and sat it next to herself, hold onto her flashlight just in case she needed it quickly. There was nothing to do, but sit there and listen, but soon she would wish she had never come to this house.
~ooOoo~
After an hour of sitting there listening to the house settle she heard the noise again, a low moan, but this time it was louder. Her eyes grew as big as saucers and at that moment she wished she had listened to Jake and went to the beach instead where the others would be waiting for her.
She flashed the light across the room, and in a split second she could swear she saw something white flash across the room. If she hadn't have had the flashlight she wouldn't have even seen that. She jumped up and flashed the light once again across the room.
"Who is here?" She screeched, as the moaning started again. "Who are you?" She yelled.
She tried to pull herself together and think for a minute. She hoped it wasn't a vampire, because if it was, Jake would come back in the morning and find a corpse instead of his girlfriend. But as she stood there, she began to think it may be one of the guys trying to scare her. She smiled, thinking that it was one of them playing tricks on her.
"Okay guys, I know it's you, stop trying to scare me, because it's not working," she declared. She waited to see if she could hear a snicker, but still nothing came. Then she thought it might be Jake trying to lure her out of here so he wouldn't worry any longer. As she thought that she called out.
"Jake, is that you?" She asked.
"Yip." Came a call of her wolf. She let out the breath she was holding, it was Jake, he was in the house, and evidently in wolf form. She swore if he caused her to lose this dare, he'd never hear the end of it. She promised.
"Jake, are you in this house? Because if you are…," She reprimanded.
"Yip, Yip." Came another call of her wolf once again.
Well this will never work she thought worriedly.
"Jake one yip for no, two for yes, do you understand?" She asked and waited for him to answer.
"Yip, Yip," he called out. Okay he understands. She thought happily.
"Jake, are you in this house?" She asked.
"Yip." No, he's not in the house she thought questionably.
"Are you outside watching out for me?" She asked hopefully.
"Yip, yip." The wolf answered. She was happy he was watching out for her.
"Were you ever in this house while I've been here?" She asked.
"Yip," Shit, he hadn't been in the house! What was that I saw and heard? She thought to herself?
"Are you alone, baby?" She asked.
"Yip," he responded. Understanding he was with another member of the pack.
"Who's with you?" she asked, followed by silence. Duh, of course he couldn't answer her in wolf form.
"Are you with one of the pack?" She reiterated feeling silly for asking him to talk human in wolf form.
"Yip, Yip." Okay he's with one of the pack, how am I going to do this without naming everyone in the pack. Think, Bella thought to herself, who was worried about you at the bonfire? Embry. She finally deduced.
"Is Embry with you?" She asked.
"Yip, Yip," he answered. Embry was with Jake outside watching over her she thought to herself smiling.
"Has Embry been in the house while I've been here?" She asked, trying her best to understand and explain away what she had seen.
"Yip." No… Then who the hell is in here she thought to herself?
"Have you seen any of the pack around here that could be trying to scare me?" She asked as she began to worry.
"Yip." Damn. (She could almost hear an organ playing music of despair as they played in horror movies with his answer.) Then who was that then she thought to herself?
"It… It's not a vampire is it?" She stuttered as she asked.
"Yip." Oh thank god, but if it's not a vampire then…who she thought to herself?
As she said that, she shined the flashlight in front of herself, and before her stood a white mass that she could see clear through. Bella jumped as the entity screamed out the loudest moan she had ever heard.
"OOOUUUTTTT, GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" it screamed in a raspy vigilant voice. Bella jumped back again, her heart was beating a mile a minute.
"JAKE!" She yelled in the loudest scream she could muster, and before she even finished, the front door flew open and Jake had her in his arms and out of that house before she even knew he had her.
He stopped at the road and flopped on the ground and held her tightly in his arms. He was as scared as she was and he was an over sized wolf, but she guessed you can't fight something that can just materialize or dematerialize in a blink of an eye.
She felt someone next to them and it caused her to jump once again, as she looked over and found Embry sitting as close to them as he could get. He too was breathing hard and had his head buried into his hands.
She couldn't help, but start to laugh. She laughed hard, so hard that tears flowed down her face. She knew it was more of a nervous laugh, but seeing that Embry was just as scared as Jake and herself just hit her the right way and the laughing began until they all were laughing heartily together.
After they finally stopped and got their breathing under control, they went to the beach where the others were partying and when Quil saw her he began to laugh.
"You couldn't do it! Did the big bad boogeyman get you Bewa," he said in a teasing pout. Bella turned to Quil and told him if he thought he could do it to be her guest.
She would have loved to see his face after two minutes in that place. He shut up immediately when Jake told him if he didn't shut his mouth, he would make him go back there and get Bella's things that she had left in their desperate flee to escaped.
They sat on the beach as Bella explained all she saw in that house, the white image that flew by her, the clean room with all the clocks, the cold breeze that hit her when she opened the door to the basement, and finally the ghost that ordered her from its house, where Jake and Embry saved her.
Jake and Embry backed up everything she just told them. The ghost dematerialized before Jake and Embry got in the house, but they did hear everything so they had to believe everything she had just told them all.
When Bella finally got home dawn was breaking, she fell into her bed completely wiped out. She groaned when she realized she had left her pillow and blanket in the house, but right at that moment she was too tired to care, so she passed out without either.
When she woke, she was lying on a soft pillow and a warm blanket was covering her. Looking around, she realized all her things she had left at the house were there. Spying the bag of snacks she had packed, she got up to get a pop-tart. When she opened the bag she jumped back in surprise. Laid neatly on top of her snacks was an old worn green pair of gardening gloves.
Later, when she asked Jake about it, he told her that Embry had went back and got her things. He saw the gloves and thought she must have bought them in case there was a lot of spiderwebs and bugs in the house.
She was surprised that he would do something like that for her, and she was touched by the thought; but she was completely shaken by the presence of the gloves. She made a mental note to cook Embry something special, just for him, to thank him for having the guts to go back in there after everything that had just happened.
But Bella knew one thing for sure…she wouldn't doubt any other supernatural occurrences and she would definitely think twice before accepting another dare.
Thanks for reading...huggs.