Tales from Dark Fantasia: Silent Screams

Silent Screams

By Kate Marie Robbins

From Dark Fantasia 

The tree in Gracie’s backyard shook as a gust of wind blew through, chilling her to the bone. She instinctively pulled the hood of her hoodie up, covering her curly red hair.  It did little to warm her, but at least her hair wasn’t blowing in her eyes anymore.  Huddling near the large oak tree that sat on her parents’ property was her only salvation from the cutting wind.  “Chase, you better get here soon, or I’ll kick your ass,” she mumbled under her breath.

“You really wouldn’t,” came a voice from behind her, quietly whispered into her ear. 

Gracie jumped, the voice frightening her, even though she knew it belonged to her best friend, Chase.  “Don’t you ever do that again,” she hissed and spun around.  Her arms crossed tightly against her chest, a scowl on her face.

“Aww, c’mon, Gracie, lighten up a little.”  A grin was plastered on his face, his black hair stuck underneath a black beanie.  He wore his black leather jacket that was clearly warmer than the hoodie Gracie sported.  She was second guessing her choice, but knew that Chase was never going to let her go back inside to change. 

The scowl didn’t leave her face.  “I would, if you would stop being such a jerk.”  She stuck her tongue out at the boy, uncrossed her arms, and punched him squarely on the shoulder.  “There, now we’re even.”

The gesture only sent Chase into peels of laughter.  “You are something else, Gracie.”  He shook his head and grinned again.  “You ready to go?” he asked, changing the subject.

Truth was, she wasn’t.  What her best friend wanted to do, it was insane.  Breaking into the town’s haunted house the night before Halloween was not a good idea.  Even if they didn’t get caught, which, more than likely, they wouldn’t, she was still deathly terrified of them—haunted houses, that is.  Of course, that was why Chase thought it would be a good idea.  They could go through the haunted house when no one was there—he could show her that it was all fake and there was nothing to be afraid of.  Gracie wasn’t so sure about the idea, but there was no talking him out of it.

She had met him.  He knew she would—he knew her well enough to know that despite her protests, she would always go along with his crazy ideas.  He loved that about her.  They were partners in crime and best friends.  That night would be like every other adventure they had gone on.  

He reached out and grabbed her hand—not as a romantic gesture, but to get Gracie to budge.  She sometimes needed a little push to get moving.  This was one of those times. 

It only took the pair ten minutes to walk from Gracie’s house to where the haunted house was on the outskirts of town.  It looked more ominous than usual to the red haired girl.  It was dark inside and it was even darker outside.  The moon was hidden beneath a cloudy sky.

“Did you bring a flashlight at least?” she questioned her friend.

Instead of responding, he pulled two flashlights out of his coat pockets—one for each of them.  Gracie smiled.  He could be a jerk sometimes, but he did care about her and her feelings.  Having a flashlight would make her feel a lot safer about going inside.  That, and as long as Chase didn’t leave her side.  There was no way she was going in there by herself.

She stood on the sidewalk, staring up at the mansion that had been turned into a haunted house when no one wanted to buy it—no one wanted to live there either.  It had stood vacant for years, and it wasn’t a mystery as to why.  It was rumored that the place was haunted, thus making it the perfect place for a haunted house.  Gracie thought it was a stupid idea.  Why create a haunted house when it was already haunted?  It seemed like a bad idea, but the town didn’t seem to think so.  There had never been an incident there since it opened ten years ago.  So maybe the rumors were just that, rumors.  But as Gracie stared at the house, something felt off—very off.  She tried to think of every and any excuse she could use to get Chase to change his mind, but she came up with nothing.

Legend had it that three of the past inhabitants of the house had died from falling down the stairs—all under mysterious circumstances.  No one could say for certain if it was foul play or if they had simply tripped and fell.  After the most recent accident in the early 70’s, the house had remained vacant until it was turned into a haunted house in the late 90’s.

Her fingers instinctively went to the chain around her neck.  It was what Gracie did when she was afraid or nervous.  She held the ornate gold Celtic cross in her fingers and fiddled with it, focusing on the movements instead of what was bothering her.  It always calmed her down in the past, but tonight it wasn’t working.  No matter how long she played with the charm, it did nothing to squelch the knot in the pit of her stomach.

Chase caught sight of the necklace and knew that something was off.  He stepped up next to her, doing his best not to scare her again.  “What’s wrong?” he asked softly.

“I—I don’t know,” she admitted.  She couldn’t be certain if she was just afraid of going inside or if it was something more.   She would brush it off as general fear.  “I’m just afraid to go inside,” Gracie finally stated firmly.  If she said out loud, maybe she would believe it.

He put an arm around her, pulling her close.  “Don’t worry, I’m not going to let anything happen to you.”

She believed him, she had to.  “Okay, let’s get this over with then.”  Gracie didn’t want to linger in the chilly night air, it was making her feel like she’d been put in a deep freeze.  At least inside the house it would be warmer.  Chase didn’t have to tug on her arm to get her to move this time.  She did it herself—one foot in front of the other until she was standing on the cement stairs that led to the front door.

The door opened with one loud groan, as if the hinges need a good greasing.  Though, Gracie was sure that they left them that way on purpose, but she wondered why it wasn’t locked.  Shouldn’t it have been locked?  She said nothing about it though and stepped over the threshold, following Chase inside.  

It was pitch dark inside as the wind blew the door shut with a loud slam.  Gracie shrieked and jumped, nearly dropping her flashlight.  Chase flicked his on, illuminating the foyer.  He hovered the light over his friend until she had calmed down enough to turn her own flashlight on.  Most of the windows were blacked out, so there was no need to worry about people seeing their beams of light floating around the place.  Gracie didn’t feel any different standing inside than she had outside.  The chill had yet to wear off—she was still shivering.  

“Do you want my jacket?” Chase offered, shrugging it off.  He handed it to Gracie.  “Really, take it, I don’t need it in here.”

Gracie accepted the offering and quickly tugged it on.  It did little to warm her though, but she didn’t say anything about that.  “Thanks, Chase,” she mumbled instead.  

“Where do you want to start?” he asked, grinning like Cheshire Cat.  

“You’re the one that knows about this place.  I don’t know anything, so lead the way, I guess.  Just warn me before anything is going to jump out at me or make me scream.  And for the love of god, please don’t do anything to deliberately scare me.  I’ll never forgive you, and you know it.”

“Scouts honor,” he said, smirking, hand across his heart.

“You were never in the Boy Scouts, Chase,” she retorted.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t honor their code, does it?  I swear on my momma’s life that I won’t do anything to scare you.  As long as you still hold up your end of the bargain and come with me to the legit haunted house tomorrow night.”

Gracie knew that was the reason she was doing this, so that she wouldn’t be afraid of going to the tour on Halloween with the rest of their grade.  She had ducked out of it the year before and everyone had laughed at her, calling her names.  She didn’t want a repeat of that, so this was Chase’s idea of steeling her to the things inside.  If she knew what was coming, she wouldn’t be so afraid.

“I promise I’ll go tomorrow—if I make it out of here alive.”  She was joking when she said it, but a cold chill ran through her as she said the words.

“Let’s just go through the house like it’s the real tour tomorrow.  I’ll walk you through every room and point out what’s inside and what to expect.  They never change it from year to year, so I already have it memorized.  It’s not scary for me anymore, it’s predictable.”  He shrugged, wishing that one day they would switch it up and scare the crap out of him, just not this year—not when he was just about to get Gracie to go.  “Right then, follow me.”  

They stepped out of the foyer and to the left into a dark room.  As they shone their flashlights around the room, they could see black cloth drapped over furniture that had been left there when the house was abandoned. It had been a sitting room.

“You see the fireplace over there?”  Gracie followed the flashlight beam to a wall and nodded.  “You’ll hear noise coming from there.  Chains rattling, screams, that kind of stuff. Your tour guide will lead you right in front of it and someone is going to reach out and grab you.  Don’t freak out.  Someone is crouching in there, hidden in the shadows.  It’s just a person hired to play a part.  Remember that.  Everyone in here is playing a part and none of it is real.  Replay that in your mind over and over again.  It will help,” Chase was telling Gracie, but she wasn’t really listening.  She felt like someone else was in the house with them.  She tried to shake the feeling off as nerves.

They moved on to the next room.  It was the kitchen.  As Chase showed her the room, she saw that the blood on the walls and tables were fake.  There weren’t actual bodies in the plastic bags hanging from chains in the ceiling.  They were stuffed with manikins from the local mall.  The man that would be in the room would be drenched with fake blood and the knife he held was also fake.  Chase pointed out everything as they made a loop around the downstairs, leading them back to the foyer. 

Gracie insisted that she need a break before they head upstairs for the second half of the tour.  She sat down on the bottom stair that led upstairs.  Chase sat down next to her, but didn’t say anything.  His best friend needed a moment before he pushed her through the other scary rooms.  

They both could hear the wind howling outside and both were thankful that they weren’t out there.  Gracie was still shivering, despite the warmth of the building and the double layer of outerwear.  She shouldn’t have been so cold.  Chase was walking around in his t-shirt—he obviously wasn’t cold.  She didn’t understand how he could be warm and she was freezing.  The boy was a space heater though, so she chalked it up as that.  

The black haired boy stood and stretched out his legs.  “I’ll be right back,” he stated, taking a few steps upwards towards the second story.

“Umm, Chase, where are you going?” the red headed girl whimpered, uncertain that she wanted to be left alone.

“Relax, I’m just going to go to the bathroom, that’s all.  I’m not going to do something to freak you out. I value my life far too much to do something that stupid.  I’ll be right back.”  Gracie didn’t respond, so he climbed to the top of the stairs and disappeared from sight.  

Gracie, not wanting to be alone, stood up and walked to the front door, opening it a crack.  She wanted freedom from the confines of the haunted house.  She wanted to know there was a way of escape.  As she stared out into the night, an image of something made of nightmares came into focus.  The girl blinked, trying to convince herself that it wasn’t real.  It couldn’t be real.  When she opened her eyes, it was still there.

A black horse stood upon the sidewalk halfway up towards the house. Upon the horse was a headless rider, head tucked underneath its arm.  In the other hand was a whip made of bone.  The black shreds of cloth the rider was wearing were blowing in the wind.  Gracie’s eyes fell upon the face of what was once a man.  His black eyes bore into her soul and frightened her.  The grin on his face made her shiver.  She knew this man—she knew who he was and what he wanted.

Dullahan was coming to collect a life.  Gracie didn’t know who was going to die, but she knew it would happen there, at the haunted house.  She had to find Chase.  They had to get out of there before it was too late.  If it wasn’t too late already.  Had the rider stopped moving, maybe he would continue on.  Maybe it was a prank someone was playing on her, knowing that she believed very strongly in her Celtic upbringing.  This was just some stupid prank that Chase and his friends were playing on her, that had to be it.

“Chase, this isn’t funny.  Call your friends off.  Please get them to leave.  This isn’t funny,” she called up the stairs, turning her back on Dullahan.  

Chase emerged from the darkness.  “What are you talking about, Gracie?” he snapped at her.  “I told you I wouldn’t do anything to scare you.”

“You didn’t tell your friend to dress up as the Celtic grim reaper to scare me?”

The black haired boy shook his head.  “No, I didn’t do that,” he insisted. 

Gracie couldn’t see Chase yet, but she knew he had to have been nearby.  She hoped he would get downstairs soon.  She was starting to freak out.  Gracie spun around and came face to face with Dullahan, who had ridden into the house through the open door.  She had hoped that her frightened imagination was just playing tricks on her.  It wasn’t.

Chase, who was now standing directly at the top of the stairs couldn’t see him though, only Gracie could.  “What are you talking about?  There’s no one there. You’re just being paranoid.”  He took a step and then another, but suddenly his feet had gone out from underneath him and he was falling.

The red headed girl hadn’t seen Chase stumble as he descended the stairs, but in the pit of her stomach she knew what was happening before she even turned around.  She spun around in time to see him hit the ground with a dull thud.  She screamed his name at the same time as Dullahan did, claiming him as he landed at Gracie’s feet.

“Take me instead,” she screamed, tears streaming down her face, but the headless rider was already gone.