Happy Halloween! Spooky story special (late post)

The following story is a real nightmare I had as a child. I still remember it vividly, and it will be forever engrained in my memory. Enjoy!

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My mom and I were driving up to a beautiful, huge house, more of mansion in fact. We were supposed to be getting a walk through of the home, as it was listed for sale.

This stunning estate stood out, it’s white exterior and wrap around porch and balcony, made even more appealing by the surrounding snow and bright sun.

Mom and I got out of the car and we were greeted by a woman who opened the door for us. She never spoke to us though.

Mom talked while we followed the woman around to different rooms, still she never spoke, or even stopped to give us time to look at the rooms in the house. The woman brought us up to the third floor, seeing a balcony, we stepped out to gaze at the setting sun on the horizon. It’s pink, red and orange hues danced on the snow below us. Leaning on the railing, we felt relaxed, this was an amazing view, and a great building. What a home it could become.

We had turned around to see that the woman was gone. We walked inside to search the room for her, but she wasn’t with us. Mom said she would go find her, so I waited. I meandered around the room, but mom had been gone for quite some time. It was about to get dark at any minute, and she still hadn’t returned. I called for her with no response. It was almost too dark to see now, I wanted to leave. I’ve never been keen on being alone in the dark. I walk toward the bedroom door and I saw the woman walking into another room down the short hall. I ran towards her asking where my mom was, and why she wasn’t with her.

She didn’t speak, or even look at me, she just kept walking. She turned a corner through an adjoining room and vanished.

It was then that I realized this woman was not real. She must have been a ghost. A spirit in the house. I got scared, trying my best to quickly leave but I couldn’t find the stairs. The house was incredibly dark, and only a few lights worked. They were dim at best. There was one light nearby in a small nook, I ran to it and stood underneath. Somehow I felt safe in the light. But I knew I couldn’t stay. I needed to find mom, and I needed to find the stairs.

I retraced the paths we walked in my head. If I got lost, maybe mom did too, I had to find her, she must have be scared like me, but she had no idea the woman wasn’t real.

I mustered up the courage to leave the safety of the light.

I walked very slowly and looked around, I recognized the doors to my right, so the stairs should be to the left. They were! I walked a bit faster to get to the stairs but froze in place. There on the floor was a body. Long black hair flowed on the floor. This woman’s body lain up against the stairs railing on the hardwood. Almost as if she had fallen asleep there. I stood in shock for a while wondering if she would move. Staring at the the body before me, I could just make out the bony skeleton beneath the white nightgown. She’s been long dead. But how did she get there?

I tiptoed to the stairs. My feet as far from her as I could manage. I skirted around her head, avoiding her hair. I never took my eyes off her, I walked with my back against the wall as I descended the stairs, looking up at her, her arm reaching limply through the railing, overhanging the step I was on. Her face sunken in like a mummy. Though I was terrified, I couldn’t help but think, this poor woman was still pretty, and I felt sorrow.

I made it down to the second floor and I quickly but aimlessly tried to find mom without making too much noise. I needed to find her, and the next set of stairs to get to the ground floor, then we’re free. While frantically searching, I walked into a room. It was there that I saw the same body from before… only this time her body was in a chair and wrapped in an old sheet, as if she’d been there for years.

I backed into the adjoining room behind me, staring at the woman’s body with confusion. I saw movement from my peripheral. I turned to see it was my dad! I started exclaiming how happy I was to see him and babbling about everything that happened but he just walked past me and sat down on a sofa. I thought to myself, this didn’t make sense, he didn’t come with us to this house, how did he get here? He said I should sit down with him. I said no, we needed to find mom and get out. I tried explaining again what I saw, but the look on his face told me he already knew. His expression was sad, defeated almost. I slowly walked toward him and sat down, not understanding what was happening.

“Dad….I’m scared. We can leave, we are so close, we don’t have to stay!…”

“I know you’re afraid, I am too. But we can’t leave, there is no way out, we are stuck here…”

I could hear the woman from the other room shuffle and stand up. I started to cry, I knew this was the end. Dad looked at me for the first time since he’d been there and said, “I’m so sorry…” tears welled up in his eyes, his voice shaky.

The woman was standing behind me, too afraid to look, I just stared at my dad, sobbing. Long dead fingers reached around, cold, clammy skin touching the side of my face…

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~A