The Abandoned Swing

Chapter 4

Ryan fluttered his eyes open and it took him a few minutes to realise where he was. As soon as the realisation dawned in, the terror came back. Yes, he was stuck in the haunted house with his lover and friends.

The living area was now filled with daylight. He could clearly see the paint on the walls falling off. It was darker inside when they arrived the day earlier. It might have been due to two facts - one that they had arrived in the afternoon and second the weather was really cloudy. They had argued a bit on cancelling their little adventure due to the weather. Their adventure had turned into a complete nightmare. He now wished that he had been stronger with the argument. He would have been sleeping in his soft, comfortable bed.

Airin was lying on his lap peacefully asleep. On his left side, Alby was fast asleep with his back to the wall. But what surprised him was the way Jessy had her head on Alby's shoulder and Alby had his head leaning on her head. The friend he knew till yesterday barely talked to girls. He was happy to see this change.

He tried to reach for his backpack as he began feeling thirsty but that woke Airin. She smiled at him trying to hide the fear that was in her eyes. She sat up and began to tie her hair in a pony tail as she knew it would be in a mess. Suddenly she stopped midway and he knew the reason. He saw the shock on her face as she saw Alby and Jessy. She looked back at him and pointed at them. Her jaw was still hanging open.

Airin was dumbstruck. She had never seen either of them actually talk to each other. The only times they had something close to a conversation was when they had some kind of argument. She knew Jessy for so long and she couldn't just digest it. Jessy always complained about Alby. Ryan squeezed her hands and she snapped out from her thoughts .

They didn't bother to wake Alby and Jessy. They began discussing what to do next. There was no point in sitting there doing nothing. Both of them didn't want to spend one more night in that spooky house. Both of their phones were dead and they didn't have any idea of the time. Airin suggested to look around for an exit. She tried to assure him that it was safer during daytime. However, Ryan didn't like the idea of exploring alone leaving Alby and Jessy there.

"Let's wake them up. We can't wait forever for them to get up." Airin said and both of them moved towards their friends. They didn't want to frighten them.

Jessy was the first to wake up. But as soon as she pulled her head, Alby woke up too. Both of them felt embarrassed when they realised how they were sleeping.

"Sorry for waking you up but we didn't have any other option. We can't afford to stay one more day here. We need to find a way out." said Ryan.

They were a bit relaxed as it was daytime. They believed that ghosts would come out only at night. They decided to go upstairs and find some kind of fire escape. The stairs squealed as they climbed on and the echo brought back all the fear. As they reached the top their terror grew. They were facing a mirror covered with handprints in blood. Next to the mirror, the wall also held few handprints.

They looked around and saw just one room that was closed to right side ahead. It looked like there might be another room or something to the far left but they couldn't see it from where they were standing. They decided to check the room on the right first.

Alby took the courage to move first and the others followed close by. He opened the door and moved inside. But as soon as they got inside, they saw a woman in white looking directly at them.

They screamed and ran. They didn't know where they were running to. Airin was halfway down the stairs when she felt a tug but she yanked with all her might and ran. She heard a tear but that didn't stop her. When she reached the wall and couldn't go further she turned but saw no one. Suddenly she heard the evil laughter but louder than yesterday. She was paralysed with fear and didn't dare to move.

Jessy ran to the other side past the mirror with the prints but she tripped and fell. Alby had managed to close the door and was just behind her. He tripped on Jessy and fell too. But in the process knocked down one of the tall vases on the side and the noise of evil laughter began. It was then that he noticed that the noise was coming from from a small box that had fallen down from the vase.

Jessy saw it too. Alby went and picked it up. He found a kind of switch and as soon as he turned it off, the noise stopped. He looked at Jessy and she moved towards him realisation dawning in. Now the fear had completely gone.

"Is this some kind of sick game?" Jessy asked.

"Come on Jess, let's get to others." said Alby. They found a terrified Airin downstairs but couldn't find Ryan. He was no where to be seen. They remembered he was there with them in the room. They decided to go back and check there. Airin objected. She was still in terror. They tried telling her about the source of the noise but she didn't seem to be listening. Terror had gripped her completely and she was acting paranoid. Alby decided to show her what they found in order to bring her back to reality.

They kind of dragged her upstairs. She was murmuring that someone tried to get her and her jacket was torn. They showed her the box and tried to explain her the situation. But when Jessy turned on the switch, Airin almost fell back. It took few moments to show her that it was actually a recorded sound. Half of her terror vanished. She looked confused.

They had to find Ryan. Alby approached the room followed by Jessy who was trying to comfort Airin walking beside the her. This time the hanging woman seemed less scary. They found Ryan lying in the floor. He had fainted. They woke him up and he felt relaxed when he found all three of them with him.

Alby explained what happened outside. Ryan looked at the hanging body. There was clear confusion on his face. Alby moved forward towards the body with all the courage he had. He had to be strong for others.

His investigation showed that it was not a body. It was only a head and white clothes. He brought it down with the help of his friends. Now it was clear that it wasn't even a human head. Further investigation revealed that there was some kind of clothes and things set up near the windows to look like a ghost. It seemed that someone had set it up to scare people away. So the fear vanished.

"There has to be a way out." Airin broke the silence.

"There's a kind of balcony over there. Let's try that." said Alby. All of them walked towards it. It was a beautiful view out there. But there was no way to get out.

Ryan suggested climbing down the columns of the balcony using the curtains. They all agreed. Ryan went down first followed by Airin and Jessy. Alby was the last to get out. They felt relieved to breath the fresh air again.

"Hey, look at that. Don't you see a movement there." said Jessy pointing towards the far back side of the house beyond a small fence gate.

"Come on, not again." cried Airin. All of them looked and found the movement Jessy was pointing.