Ten years ago, I wrote a fanfiction.

And now ten years later, I intend to post it all for you to read.

The original was posted to fanfiction dot net; Back when I was only fourteen, back before I lost my account information to access my words, back when the story had been nothing more than a silly/half-cocked fantasy that my hands had vomited all over the keys to write. It donned the same title and will essentially follow the same story this one will, although by now thankfully much improved. The original suffers from many flaws: Excessive commas, spelling mistakes, forgetting the presence of important characters, my heavy bias for Freddy Krueger, extremely short chapters, some less than pleasant terms, and the biggest of all...Becoming an unfinished work. Rereading it even to this day does make me cringe to near death, but the fic stays with me. As embarrassingly written it was, "House of Horrors" sits in a very special place in my heart and I do not regret writing it. The loss of my account information after such a large passage of time never sat right with me. It was a wrong that I had never made right...Until now.

I want to express this as clearly as I can: This tale is admittedly silly, however I will try to darken the shades where they may be darkened. Quite literally, my once fourteen year old self had written our beloved horror icons dropping out of a portal into the main character's house and letting the story proceed from there. Nothing sillier than that, right? It was goofy, lighthearted, and all for the shits and giggles of my self-indulgence. That is the most clear-cut summary that I can give to tell you what you are about to embark on. While much of the original has been changed, I still intend to indulge my younger self in some silly/goofy areas. My own "canon", if you will; Things and scenes that I will rewrite and breathe life into once again. I am writing this for her and for all those that had enjoyed what I had written ten years ago, and now for any of those that would delight in such a fic: I write this additionally for you.

So to say again: I am sorry. I am sorry that it took me so long to "finish" what I had started. I have posted this additionally to Ao3.

Hopefully you can forgive me, but in the meantime, please enjoy what is to come~

Here is the link: /works/42707439/chapters/107286540#workskin (Here you will find all you need to know, including all of the proper tags and warnings. The story will be under the exact same title as this one: "House of Horrors: Director's Cut")

Chapter One: The Things that go Bump in the Night.

I awoke, careening forward into an abrupt sit on my bed. My eyes threw themselves open and fought away a swimming vision. As my face twisted into an extreme grimace, the race of my heart was in my ears. Had it not been for the reason that I had exited my dreams so suddenly, I would have groaned and flopped back to continue them…But I had no time to mourn my slumber. There were bigger things to concern myself with than being rudely awakened or the fierce, sleepy sting of my eyes. I struggled to quickly blink away the dark and the fatigue as I caught the tail end of what had ripped me from my sleep:

CRAAASSSHH!

My body reared back in alarm while my legs kicked to push myself back. My back connected with my headboard, causing it to thwack softly against the wall as I scooted all the way against it to reserve myself a cowering position to stare in the direction of my bedroom door. The frantic drum solo of my heart blasted to an eleven and still I tried my best to erase the sleepy, blurry-eyed perspective. My fists clenched in my blanket to raise it as if to halfway shield me from the noise while I did. Chest heaving, I stared in rapidly-blinking, open shock and uncertainty at my bedroom door.

What was that?! What the Hell was that!?

Sitting there in the semidarkness, feeling myself breathe and feeling dread begin to consume me, I listened for it again. I forced the pant of my mouth to stop by closing it, choosing to breathe through my nose instead. Did I imagine that? Am I dreaming? Was this the unsettling start to a horribly realistic nightmare? I groped at my blankets without relinquishing the clearly 'shitting myself' pose I was in. Everything felt real...I couldn't possibly be dreaming, coul-

CRASSH!

I gasped, my eyes widening further as I tried to wriggle myself so hard against the front of my headboard, I would hopefully phase through it and hide myself in the wall. "What the fuck is that?!" I whispered to no one in particular. My knees drew up to my chest to give some pitiful feeling of protection. The sore ache of my heavy eyes were forgotten in no time flat as they slid over to the digital clock on my desk. The fear and adrenaline had finally righted my hazy vision to make out the time.

4:32 A.M

Okay! Officially not dreaming! Officially going to piss myself! I was too afraid to be angry at the fact that I was losing my hours of well deserved sleep. Normally, I would have additionally been bitter about not being able to re-insert myself into the very interesting dreams that I had been having, but what was normal about hearing ungodly crashes in the middle of the night? In the silence of an almost entirely empty house?

Fucking nothing, that's what.

My eyes glided back to my door, feeling pulled to it almost. Naturally my curiosity was flaring inside of me like a raging sun, daring me to get up from the bed and to move closer. They always say that it's curiosity that kills the cat, but..Slowly, numbly, I gave into the urge to investigate; Awkwardly climbing over my mattress and hoping to God it would not squeak. Eyes frozen wide all the while, I set my feet on the floor and sank down, cautiously crawling across the hardwood floor on all fours as silently as I could manage. I anxiously hunched over on the floor to turn my nightlight on. It was one of the few memories that I had kept from my earlier days of childhood; A nightlight that's disguised as a simple piece of watermelon depicted in the most child-like way: Three little seeds, the soft red goodness, and the protective barrier of green on one side of the small, triangular shape of the electronic vegetable. Although it was meant to be a watermelon, it looked more like a weird and cartoonish pizza slice.

I reached my hands out to find it, bumping and patting my fingers along the wall like a blind woman. My thoughts were of a younger, frightened me to ask ridiculously; What if it's not there!? It was an absurd thought. One that wasn't at all credible. Of course it was going to be there. My nightlight wouldn't have grown legs and run away although...Currently lost in the dark, all by myself, a sliver of me almost gave the awful concept a life of its own. In the next second, I find it and the blimp of my fright releases some air. I'm all thumbs, fumbling with the childishly easy switch that's set in the front. My panic makes it feel as though my fingers are too big, like a grown up trying to dial a number on a toy phone, pressing all of the damn buttons at once and-

Aha. Finally. I told you it was there!

The light flicks on and I'm momentarily blinded, furiously blinking through the flash of green and red that semi-lights one quarter of the room. Even though the nightlight brings back good memories, I'm also reminded as to why I once feared the dark.

And one of those prime examples was just right outside.

I jumped when I heard it again. This time the crash was followed by another eerily similar sound. I became a seated statue on the floor to stare up at my door. From my low vantage point, the door loomed over me like some Eldritch god. Abandon all hope, ye who enter here . If it wasn't for how how minacious my door looked, I would have told the stupid thought to shut the fuck up. There's someone in the house. The thought was a frightening one, made all the more fear-inducing since I was meant to be the only living soul home tonight. As a matter of fact, I was supposed to have the house to myself for little over a week. My parents weren't here and my siblings were staying over at a friend's house. That left me with the cold hard facts and it spelled out an unsavory truth: I was alone; Alone to face whatever was making those noises. Before my door I felt paralyzed, unable to decide what I should do. I could either leave what little safety my room possessed or spend the rest of my night cowering under my blankets, unable to return to my dreams, losing my mind over each and every sound afterwards until the problem solved itself.

"Maybe I'm hearing things, or this is just a strange dream." I suggested, trying to convince myself oh so desperately to prolong going out into the dark beyond my room; Away from the comfort and the safety. Maybe even a raccoon! Straying animals always have a knack for finding their way into stuff, houses included!

I jumped for the second time, my breath catching in my throat as I heard a different sound: Yelling, deep and seemingly complete gibberish from my distance.

Ookay...Raccoons don't do that. Oh God. Oh fuck me.

It was by now that I became aware that I was trembling. "I hope we're not being robbed," I shuffled closer to the wall to use as a brace to coast up, my arm and shoulder pressed against it. My legs buckled all the way up. "What are they going to steal? Alysson's stuffed animals?" The tiny laugh that managed to squeeze itself through my quivering, fear-sewn lips was completely fake. Dry humor to lighten the mood-

When I reached the height of my stand and realized I was just staring at the door like a cornered animal, it became clear to me that the attempt at soothing my nerves via humor hadn't worked. At all. I swallowed reflexively.

Shit. Shit! I don't want to go out there!

Please, for the love of all that is holy, do NOT make me go out there! Can't I go back to bed? Please? Can't I just do that? Just go back to sleep and forget about it until the morning? Can we skip the part where maybe I get held at gunpoint by some dude in a stupid looking ski mask or completely forgo the part where I wound up getting cut in half by a chainsaw wielding maniac? Please fucking please with sugar on top?

...

...

...

I sighed.

Fucking Hell..

I have to go out there, don't I?

Another crash insisted that I did.

..God damn it. Goddamnit!

I felt myself start forward an inch before being pulled back. One time. Then a second unsuccessful attempt. It was every bit like the movement of a hand reaching to touch something that looked like it could bite. Was that sweat on my back? Fuck. Come on me. I tensed myself and moved forward. Annnnd goo.. Only to stop again just like I had before. My eyes fell closed and I blew a breath out through my lips. Fuck. Apparently whoever had popularized the phrase 'third time's the charm' was a dirty liar. I knew this wasn't going to get me anywhere so I decided a fourth try would be the one. I took a deep breath, opened my eyes, fought to ignore my thudding pulse-

And walked forward.

I couldn't make up my mind over whether or not I should have been proud or upset with myself for actually being able to reach the door. I wet my lips and gazed down at the doorknob. Fingers becoming slick with sweat, I cautiously moved my hand forward and took hold of it. I began turning it slowly, surely, to crack it open. If my door had creaked I would have absolutely forfeited life right then and there. Luckily or unluckily enough, it did not. I carefully pushed it open and peered out into the dark hallway of the second story, my eyes briefly going to the railing on my left. The windows high above the first floor cast long rectangular shafts of moonlight along both floors. I was grateful for what light the moon gave. Not much but better than nothing. Everything was lit in a foreboding glow of ghostly white, chilling to view firsthand.

At least there's no burglars or murderers in the hallway. So far so good.

In spite of this news, I wasn't feeling even remotely good about it. My eyes surveyed what they could of the darkened interior, feeling myself anxiously move forward while slipping past my door and slowly making my way down the hall. Feeling idle and small, my hand subconsciously went to my arm to rub away goosebumps, not knowing what else to do to comfort me. Whatever parts of me that were once groggy and sore with sleep, were now tensed and filled with adrenaline. I made absolutely sure not to press my feet the wrong way on the floor. God forbid that I make a noise.

I needed a weapon, something to ensure my safety but there wasn't anything I could do about that right now. I was already in the line of possible fire and I did not want to risk backtracking at this point. If I ran back to my room now, I had no doubt that I would end up losing all of my courage and wound up hiding out until daytime. I had to see. I had to know. And while I was here, I didn't want to be heard; By ghosts, by burglars, by killers, by anyone.

Maybe the house is haunted? It was silly how hopeful I sounded. Although it was honestly preferable to the other uglier possibilities. Casper the Friendly Ghost had to be a better outcome than a gun-toting Ms. Sandiego or some unnamed serial killer that enjoyed hacking people into tiny, unrecognizable pieces a little too much. If the universe was feeling especially sadistic tonight, it could be a gaggle of all three, thus giving birth to a horrendous amalgamation of a new and far more terrifying rendition of The Three Musketeers.

I wasn't used to this atmosphere. This sudden heavy air surrounding me, tense and macabre. My house was frightening tonight. Usually I felt safe, cozy, carefree, but not tonight. Tonight I felt like I was being watched, unfamiliar eyes gazing over every part of me. Vulnerable and exposed; Like a child gearing up to face their monsters. It didn't help that I happened to be wearing these embarrassingly goofy pajamas. Seriously, of all the nights for a potential break-in, it had to be the one where I wore bright pink, penguin-covered pjs? The thought was humiliating. I was suddenly too aware of my petite form then, too aware of myself in this big, vast universe, shuffling forward in the shadows, helpless against whatever life wanted to throw at me..

And I didn't like it. Not one bit.

I tiptoed towards the banister on my left. Some portion of me wished my eyes were bigger, or that I possessed more of them so as not to miss seeing anything down below. But before my terror could reach a mounting climax at whatever was down on the first floor, I heard it again.

If I had been wearing socks I would have jumped straight out of them. My head turned to watch the hall as the gibberish from earlier was no longer gibberish but language: Voices coming from the door at the end, on the right side third from last. A light seemed to spill from within, most likely being the table lamp that had been left amongst boxes. It was a room that we had packed boxes into from our recent move here. Mostly my family and I had used it as a temporary storage room for old and forgotten memories. Now it obviously housed more than just the average storage inside.

It was difficult to swallow. I took my time facing the direction of the storage room, wiping my sweaty palms over the hips of my pajama pants. The conclusion that whoever was in my house was in that room succeeded in making me shiver feverishly as I slowly started forward once again, edging my way ever closer. Fortunately it was more than enough to silence my panicked breathing.

I was right. It appeared as though I wasn't as alone as I had thought I was.

Voices seemed to go back and forth, heated, like a game of tennis.

Gooooddd. I knew this wasn't a good idea! Why did I do this?! I'm so stupid!

Trying to get a reign on my breathing, I looked over my shoulder back towards my room. My door was left slightly ajar, my nightlight spilling out just over the threshold. I wanted with every fiber of my being to retreat and scurry back to my warm bed and blankets; Back to sleep, back to my dreams, back to being blissfully unaware, back to familiarity and normalcy.

No! You have to keep going or else you'll wonder about it all night long. You won't get any sleep! And if there is someone in the house, you need to know!

Arguing profoundly with myself, knowing my thoughts were right, I looked on ahead. Was this going to be the biggest mistake of my life? The most important of every choice that I had ever made? A flood of emotions threatened to overtake me: Determination, fear, and ruefulness. Inhaling sharply, trying to cast aside the hammering of my heart, I squared my shoulders and pressed on. I tried to turn down the volume of my heartbeat in favor of tuning my ears to properly listen:

"Ouch! You're steppin' on me you fuckin' jackass! Move it!"

A voice cried out in blatant annoyance. I flinched from the sudden response of a growl, my eyes widening at the noise. The noise was so unexpected and so scary it made me momentarily stop in the hall, my eyes wider than ever. What the Hell was that! That did not sound...At all human. I shook it away to shame my paranoia. Jennifer, you dolt! Of course it's human! Just a..Really, really growly one. I swallowed the growing lump in my throat and forced myself to continue a timid path towards the door.

Another crash made me cringe as I moved forward, somewhat covered in a cold sweat as it now occurred to me what the noise was, mingling with the voices: Boxes were being thrown and slung to the floor.

"Where the fuck are we?" Demanded a deep, raspy voice. The owner of said voice was obviously aggravated and confused.

"It would seem we have found ourselves in someone's home." Reasoned a gruff and guttural one.

"I wonder if anybody's in here." Snickered another. The phrasing was nothing short of mischievous. It came from the one that had apparently been stepped on, seemingly already over the small transgression.

"We don't have time to make a house call in the middle of the fucking night. Get us back, Pinhead." Snapped yet another.

Pinhead? I furrowed my brows, curious about such a strange name. That wasn't the only thing I noticed. It seemed all of these voices were male. Needless to say, noticing that detail made everything worse.

"Fuck that. Just get us somewhere else. I don't know about you, but I for one ain't goin' back to that oversized sauna. Who knows how fuckin' long we've been there already?"

"The box does not work like that." Deep and cold, full of dark authority.

I don't think I like Pinhead very much..

"Well apparently that box don't work at all." Griped the previous voice. Pinhead fixed him with a particularly stern tone; "It would be much wiser to direct the blame of our misfortune on the portal. Their gate was by human design, and if I were able to use the box in its present state, it would be only the Labyrinth to which we would go."

"Fucking portals." Snarled the raspy voice from earlier, a sound of a box being pushed over to further voice his displeasure. Labyrinth? Portals? Did I hear that right? Were they on fucking drugs or what? I silently padded to one side of the door to put my back up against it, doing my best super spy impression with my arms braced on either side to slide my way closer.

"Would'ya cut that shit out? We don't know if we're alone or not. If you're gonna blow our cover, you might as well yell out how nice the wallpaper is too while you're at it."

"Pretty sure our cover's been blown, pinocchio."

"And what if it ain't, bacon bits?"

"What'd ya call me, barbie bitch?"

"What are you, deaf? You heard what I said."

"Would you two shut the fuck up? Now isn't the time for this shit."

Was I really hearing these potential burglars argue? And insult one another with really weird and oddly specific jabs? Wasn't the whole point of robbing anything or breaking in anywhere as a group was to be on the same page? To flow as a team unit?

I was distracted by a distinctly familiar sound. It was akin to some kind of shuffling up against a wall, but weirdly lighter. Where have I heard that before? The noise was like a mixture of a deck of cards being flipped with the rattling of beads. I pictured a cartoony light bulb appearing over my head when I realized that one of them was messing with the blinds over the window. As if to further assert that I had been correct, one of the voices that had been bickering moments ago asked; "Well? What's the verdict? Can you tell where we are or not?"

A hum of contemplation arose from whoever was looking out of the window; "It's dark out, for one,"

"No shit?"

"For two, it looks like we've landed right in the lap of suburbia. We're in some kind of neighborhood, but your guess is as good as mine."

The abrasive sound of cardboard tearing became the new focus as parts were being aggressively pried open. One of them was going through the boxes.

"Look what I found.." The guttural voice seemed to be on the verge of a snicker.

"Hmm, family photo," Family photo?! Fuck! Now they know what I look like! "How touching." Pinhead mused. The monotone of his voice denied him any attempt at being sarcastic. A wild tingle of fear raced down my spine.

"Let me see that!" The sound of footsteps shuffling masked the sound of my movements toward the gap in the door. It sounded as though they were gathering together to look. "Mother and father, brother, and two sisters." The second voice now sounding cocky, chuckled and rasped; "I wonder if they're sleeping right now." I refrained a strong shudder at that, finally closing the distance between myself and the slightly open door. It was only open an inch and an inch was all I needed. I just hoped that as I was peering inside, they wouldn't be peering out.

Frantically collecting myself, I peered in through the vertical slant and felt my pupils dilate in absolute numbing shock, my breath hitching at what was before me.

No..