Letters To Myself (#Nanowrimo2017 Winning Novel!)

8,

Dear Myself,

I overstepped the line, the big, fat red line that we can't see but do know it's there. If you thought me waving the middle finger was a bad thing, I ended up going on a scary adventure which I truly regret agreeing to. The haunted house that is situated just down the road from the sixth form. One that I not only walk past but also, Mum drives past as well. The first impressions are one of overgrown trees, pieces of broken glass scattered around on the pavement and the front door boarded up by a wooden panel. No-one really knows about who used to live in that house but the stories I've heard have not been pleasant and shouldn't be the last thing that you think about before bedtime.

Well Diary, after many weeks of just seeing the house. Tonight, I actually decided to go in there and bringing my friend Leia with me. I haven't told you about Leia, she's a genuine person and if you are going through a rough patch with life, her advice will literally heal your open wounds up. Her father was once on a paranormal TV documentary about this famous ghost that roamed the walls of a castle, carrying with him a knife that he liked to throw at a particular wall with a bloodcurdling scream. I've watched the documentary but Leia's Dad doesn't hold back with the various methods he uses to talk to the ghost.

The first plan of action was actually coming up with a sensible and logical excuse as to why I was going to be late home for sixth form. So, I texted both parents to say that there were some extra catch-up sessions running and I was not going to be back for a while. After getting the all-clear from them, I met up with Leia and planned our next move. Get to the house at the right time and not in front of any school students or teachers. My work-like style clothing I wore was most likely going to end up dirty and ripped so I had bought with me a change of clothes and a torch as the nights still got darker early.

I was so afraid about who might be lurking around, some of the younger students in the past had taken things upon themselves such as exploding water bombs and fake smoke screens just to try and scare the local residents. But if there was something me and Leia were both about to discover, it was you only live once and by breaking the rules just once, living dangerous is adventurous.

On reaching the house, Leia climbed through the thick brambles first as I kept watch casually from the pavement. Cars drove by with their front lights on without any suspicion, kids playing loud music from their speakers just to get excited about the upcoming weekend.

After a few short moments, I heard three tapping noises from behind. The signal from Leia that the coast was clear and I could jump in and follow her. Almost crashing into a bush, I focused my attention on reaching her before trouble brewed. Left, right, above and below, broken glass bottles and tree branches stood in my way and in a bid to avoid them, I held onto one of the stronger branches and pulled myself along towards the house. After a few moments, I spotted Leia looking down at her mobile phone with a smirk.

One of the guys she had a crush had just texted her to say that he was free to meet-up but only if he could bring some of his friends along. Our pact between us was to tell no-one what we were up to and that included students in our own year group. I was an anti-bullying ambassador to the lower school students and being caught here would definitely result in that role being stripped from my grasp. Rubbing my hand which was red and sore from climbing around, I stared up at one of the top windows which the glass was completely smashed out of the middle.

Both of us walked around the back of the house until we noticed the door panels of the back door were rotten, somebody had obviously tried to break in recently from our observations as an unopened packet of cigarettes lay on the ground. I whispered to Leia that the packet might be a trap but who knew about our crazy adventures? Damien? Surely not?

Leia walked in first, holding the torch app on her mobile phone and shone the bright light into once what used to be a dining room. The marks on the wall that I guessed used to resemble picture frames were still clear to see. A smell of damp hit my senses as both of us walked around the ground floor. When Leia spoke, I almost jumped out of my skin because we were so focused on trying to see if there was anything spooky or interesting lying around for us to see. Watching her fingers trace around the walls of peeling wallpaper, I zipped my jacket up so that my shaking body at least had some warmth.

It was when we decided to go upstairs that I first noticed that something was out of place. One of the upturned boxes Leia had pointed out to me earlier on from outside the overgrown living room windows had vanished, all in the space of five minutes. Then, the banging started, loud like a hammer whacking a nail into the side of a wall and also, loud footsteps on the floor above our heads. By this point, Leia mouthed to me that she was going up to take a look.

Slowly, she climbed up the staircase, careful not to crash down on any loud floorboards. I followed her up halfway before I bottled it and decided to wait by the front door with the wooden panel. Through a tiny crack in the panel, I could just about make out the main road and all of the branches at the front, mysterious as ever. The amount of silence was deafening as if you could hear a pin drop.

Suddenly, there were three bangs, this time sounding like gunshots from the first floor. My gut instinct was to scream and run the hell out of the place but then again, Leia was upstairs and her life could be in danger. Stomach-churning, I raced up the stairs to see my friend shaking and tapping her fingers urgently on her mobile phone screen. I asked her what she had seen but she shook her head as tears started to flow down her cheeks. Whatever she saw had honestly scared the living daylight out of her.

In a split second, I turned towards the room that Leia had just come out of and noticed the colour red, lots and lots of red puddles on the floor and walls. Which could only mean one thing; Blood. Grabbing her hand, we together raced back down the stairs and out of the way we came in, taking caution as to not attract unwanted attention from the locals. Looking at her, she whispered the things she had witnessed. Two people, man and woman, having an argument and he had shot her with a handgun. But once the shooting had happened, the bodies of them both had faded away leaving the blood.

Diary, people were not wrong about this house being creepy as crap. Something had happened there within its walls, murder by the sounds of it. Leia also mentioned quietly that the house was planned to be demolished and brand new builds created on the same site. At least the land won't look so ugly now. After taking Leia to the bus stop and giving her some water to drink, I texted Mum to let her know that I was on my way home.

One final thing before I round off this entry, I made the stupid decision of walking past the creepy house on the way home and from the window of the same room where Leia had witnessed the shooting, a massive light flashed twice before the surroundings retreated to the stillness of the night. I guess we will never know for sure what happened in that house but Leia and I have finally lived dangerously and she got the cigarettes since I don't smoke. Let's hope she feels better in the morning.

Till we meet again.

Yours,

Morwenna.