Abandoned

By: Nina Timmins, 6^th Class (October 2023)

There was Zack Jones and Ben O’ Donnell approaching the eerie and mysterious house. They had found it in one of those abandoned villages in Donegal. “Come on Ben!”, shouted Zack going towards the derelict door. “I don’t know about this…”, Ben claimed. Zack, not listening, opened the door revealing a dark, creepy hallway. Ben was following closely behind Zack. They inspected the house. The air was damp and cold. It was a two-storey house with stairs that seemed to be falling apart leading up to the next floor and the same down to the dusty old basement.

There were many rooms. But it was alarming how many rooms there were. It seemed to never end. Plus, you couldn’t see one foot in front of the other due to the lack of light from the windows in the house. All the windows were boarded up. Paintings lined the walls of the hall entering into the first floor. All were scratched and torn with age. The paint cracked and peeled. Zack ran his fingers along one of the tables in the dining room on the second floor, gathering a thick layer of dust as he does so. They continued to search the second floor, but as Ben was walking he heard something. He heard the faint whispering of a young boy. “Ghosts aren’t real, are they Zack?”, Ben asked nearly quivering in fear almost not wanting Zack to answer… Zack stops in his tracks, but doesn’t respond. Since he himself does not know the answer to Ben’s question. But at that moment Zack turns his head. “Who do you think that is in the paintings?”, asked Zack. One painting in particular standing out to him. He walked closer. It was painting of a man and a little boy. He looked a bit younger than Ben and Zack, both 12 years old. There was something faintly written in worn ink. Zack squinted to see what it said. It was a signature. It read ‘Owen Murphy (1863)’. Then there was a crach. A shiver shot down Zack and Bens spines. “We need to leave now!”, Ben said sternly. “No! We need to investigate!”.

The sound seemed to be coming from the kitchen. There, a stench filled the room. It was coming from the fridge. They opened the fridge to find a small skeleton crouched. It seemed to have been a child. A waft of a vile smell of rotting food and something else. Ben let out a shriek. Zack went pale. Almost translucent. They booted it to the door. BANG!!! The door slammed, its sound echoing throughout the house, shaking its foundation. They rapidly pried at the door. But it was to no avail. They panicked. Ben fell to the floor and softly wept into his palms. But the soft weep slowly turned into manic crying. “Stop, Ben, its not going to get us anywhere. We have to find another way out.”. Ben sniffled and got up.

They roamed the never-ending corridors. But they stumbled upon a door, different to one’s they had previously seen. It has a surprisingly fresh and new coat of red paint. Zack reached out his hand slowly to meet the shiny, golden door knob. But before his hand could reach it, Ben snatched Zack’s wrist out of the air. Ben’s hands trembling in terror. “Zack… I – we…”, barely able to speak. “Something isn’t right about this…”. “Ben, unless you have a better idea, I’m going in.”, Zack said ripping Ben’s hand off his wrist. He grabbed the door knob and turned it slowly. Pushing it, he saw marble steps. Also, looking surprisingly new. Zack takes the first step. Ben follows. All of a sudden, Ben slips and tumbles all the way to the bottom of the steps. He fell unconscious. Zack sprinted to the bottom to help Ben but he stands back in shock. Because as he looked up, he saw an impossibly large room. Out of the corner of his eye he sees something – a person. “What the …?”. Zack saw a man sitting next to an easel and a canvas. The man was painting. A boy was sat beside the man. His back turned to Zack. But Zack noticed somethings about these people – they did not look like people. Zack stood there not knowing what to do. “Who… who are you?” Zack asked, not knowing what to expect next. What happened next is something that Zack would never forget.

The man the boy turned their heads to face Zack. Their eyes were completely white. But Zack noticed something… They were the people from the paintings! And the boy was the same size as the skeleton he had previously found in the fridge. “WHAT? WHO ARE YOU?!”, Zack screamed petrified and unsure what to do. “You’re not supposed to be here… YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE HERE!”, the things screeched as their mouths started to open wide. Zack didn’t want to be there to see what would happen next. He bolted back up the stairs leaving Ben. “HELP!”, Zack yelled. Sprinting for his life, he managed to reach the front door again. But… It was unlocked… There are no words for how fast Zack ran. As soon as he stopped, because his legs gave out, he fell to his knees, he screamed and cried because he knows that he’ll never forget how he abandoned his best friend Ben.

The End.