We Gave Ourselves to the Night

“Are you almost ready, Dee?” Zacky called through the bathroom door, pulling me from my thoughts, “get out here! I wanna go.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at Zackeys excitement, he seemed to be the only one as excited as I was about going into a Lucker house. He and Matt were the only ones who were free, everyone else promised to be over tomorrow for a belated birthday lunch. I appreciated the thought, but was happy to have at least two of the guys there on my birthday.

I was just finishing my makeup, I wanted to dress up as Harley Quinn. I would be damned if I didn’t get dressed up on Halloween, even if I wasn’t giving out candy or taking a kid out trick or treating.

Brian had woken up early and made me chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, even stuck a candle in the stack. The rest of the day was just spent lazing around watching movies. My parents and older brother had all given me a call throughout the day, friends had just been texting me their birthday wishes , and Face Booking me. It had honestly been a wonderful day, but tonight was going to be the icing on the cake.

“There done,” I opened the door and spun around, “wha’ da’ ya think?”

It was a really simple outfit. Harley Quinn leggings I had found at Hot Topic, a tight long sleeve shirt I had painted to look like her outfit, I had simple black flats on my feet that had a thin strap around my ankle. My face was painted white with just a bit of eyeliner and mascara and dark red lipstick, and I had put my hair up in pigtails.

“Very nice,” Zackey chuckled as we made our way into the kitchen where Matt and Brian were waiting.

They were seated at the table, waiting patiently just having a conversation. Matt and Zackey hadn’t dressed up, but Brian had agreed to wear a Deadpool costume t-shirt to humor me.

“Finally,” Matt rolled his eyes, but had a playful smile on his face so I knew he was teasing, “the princess has finished. Can we go now?”

I stuck my tongue out, as I walked to the door, “yes, we had to wait until it was dark anyway.”

“I still don’t really see why. We aren’t going to be able to see anything once we get there,” Matt sighed as he followed me out the door.

“Because,” I looked over my shoulder at him, “when have you ever heard of a ghost coming out in the middle of the day?”

“Another thing I don’t really understand, why do you want to see a ghost?” his head slightly tilted to the side as he asked, “doesn’t this stuff freak you out at all?”

“It terrifies me,” I stopped to look him in the eyes, “every single story about this place gives me the creeps, I couldn’t walk past the place when I was younger without getting chills, couldn’t even look at the house because I was afraid I might see something.”

“So, why do you want to go in now?” Zacky asked, keeping pace with me as we started walking again.

I looked over to him, “I just feel like I have to… and I wanted to do something exciting tonight.”

We were getting closer to the Lucker place now. I had a knot in my stomach, and my hands were getting sweaty. I was so happy these guys were with me. This did start as just an idea for something fun to do on Halloween, but the closer I got to actually doing it the more important it was becoming to me. I just couldn’t figure out why it was.

“One time,” Matt began, “when we were younger, I heard that a newlywed couple had moved in. Everything seemed fine with them at first, typical couple, nice people.

Then they started to get weird, like, they would be seen peeping in through peoples children’s windows in the middle of the night, even second story windows. Folks around town talked to them, called the cops, but they kept doing it.

People said their appearances started to change too, they started to look dirty and tired, never seemed to change their clothes-“

“Gross!” Brian piped up, snaking his arm around me. I was starting to tense up at this point, and he could probably tell.

“Really?” Matt pursed his lips, obviously unimpressed that his scary tail had been interrupted.

“Sorry, man… continue,” Brian gave my hip a comforting squeeze.

“Okay, ah… right, so! They were dirty, and behaving oddly, just basically freaking everyone out. Then they sort of disappeared for a couple days, and in that time one of the children in the neighbourhood had gone missing.

People figured it was these whack jobs, but no one had caught sight of them for a week after, not even the police. The house had been searched and everything.

A few days passed and then one night, practically the whole neighbourhood was awoken by this woman screaming bloody murder. They called the police, and pretty much everyone gathered around the house waiting, no one daring to go in out of fear.

The cops got there, rushed into the place. Were in for maybe twenty or so minutes before they came out with the woman. She was struggling against them, clawing, whaling, crying, covered in blood.

They found the man a few minutes later; he was hiding in a little crawl space in one of the basement walls. They say he was completely mad, they could see it in his eyes, he wasn’t even there. He just clawed at them, muttering things really quickly under his breath and somehow growling at the same time… they also found the missing child… well pieces of him anyway.

The couple had apparently used his blood to write weird stuff all over the basement walls. And I guess the couple got locked up in a loony bin.”

“Are you for real with that shit right now?” I hadn’t been paying attention to anything but Matts story and my feet as we walked, but when Zackey spoke up I looked to him. Panic was written all over his face.

“Yeah, I heard that one too,” I gave him a sympathetic glance, trying my best to sound calm even though I was everything but, “My dad clamed to actually be there when they took the people out of the house… it’s hard to say if that’s true or not, he always seemed like he was joking.”

“Out of all the stories, that’s the one I believe the most,” Brian said calmly, glancing down at me, “I’ve heard the other stories a million times from other kids trying to freak each other out… but that’s the only one I’ve really heard any parents tell, and they usually say they were there and seem serious. Like they’re warning you… hard to say though, could just be a fucked up parent thing.”

I took a deep breath, “I meant... that all did actually happen, I’m just not sure if my dad was there or not…”

The three of them stopped and looked back at me. I found the story online when I was researching the place. It’s the one that put the nail in the coffin for me, once I read it I just had to come here. I had been told the story a few times when I was younger, it scared me, but I never thought twice about it.

“Are you serious?” Matt’s expression was unreadable, he just stared at me as if he was in shock.

“Yeah,” I shrugged and began walking again, “read the police report.”

“Is this a good idea then guys?” fear was creeping into Zackys voice, “I mean, come on, that’s just really fucked.”

I stopped and turned, forcing myself to look up at the one thing that had brought consistent fear to my life. The house where nightmares were made. A gentle breeze made the leaves on the trees rustle, sending shivers down my spine. This was it.

“Well, we’re here now,” Brian sounded sympathetic, “might as well see what the hype is about.”

We started to walk towards the house, when Matt spoke up, “should we go in the back?”

“Sure,” Brian shrugged, and started leading the way there.

We walked past the front porch, around to the back. I couldn’t get myself to look up from my feet. All bravery I had mustered up moments ago to look at the place was gone. The house just had this weird vibe that I couldn’t shake.

The grass was up to the middle of my shins, the whole place wasn’t really kept up. The real-estate people sent someone over once in a while to try and make the place look nice, mowing the lawn, looking after plants.

It looked like they had tried to start painting the outside of the house, but hadn’t finished. The white paint was chipping everywhere, but there was part of the wall that looked new. It was certainly one job I wouldn’t want to have.

We were all silent as Matt opened the door. It was oddly unlocked, but I couldn’t really see anyone trying to break in here anyway. We walked in, Brian closing the door behind us. We all flicked on our flashlights, shining them around to get a look at the place.

We were in the kitchen, it was actually pretty beautiful, or would be if it was cleaned. Dust was clearly on everything, and cobwebs were here and there throughout the room. There was a strong musty smell in the air. Someone had spent a fair bit of money fixing up this kitchen just to have it sit around and get into this state, that was for sure.

We moved a little further into the house, finding ourselves in a hallway leading to the front door. There was a nagging feeling pulling at me in my stomach. Something just felt off. I kept telling myself it was all in my head as we continued to move forward.

We walked all around the downstairs. There was a large living room just off to the right of the front entrance, an office to the left with gorgeous sliding doors with stained glass windows in them. There was a small powder room under the stairs, it easily fit Matt and Zacky in it. And there was a dining room to the right just before the kitchen.

Everything in the house looked expensive, but all in good taste, all be it dirty. Everything looked to be hardwood, there was beautiful wall paper and tasteful paint on the walls. It really was a nice place, or would be one if it didn’t have such a dark past.

We all stood at the foot of the stairs, no one had made a sound the entire time we were in the house. I didn’t know if it was because they were just as scared as I was. Or if they were just really trying to see if they could find anything.

“So,” I began quietly, breaking the heavy silence, “is anyone else getting a weird feeling from this place?”

They all looked at me and shook their heads. I sighed a bit, it really had to be all in my head then.
“Ready to go up there now?” Matt asked, he looked concerned. They all looked concerned for that matter. Was I really that easy to read?

I nodded my head, and grabbed Brian’s hand, “yeah, lets go.”

The air felt heaver the further up the stairs we got. The pressure was heavy, like carrying around a toddler on my back. I tried to keep my composure better now. I didn’t want them to make me leave yet. I was scared out of my mind, just waiting for something to jump out at me like in the movies. But I needed to see everything, just to put my mind at ease once and for all.

There was a full bathroom straight ahead from the top of the stairs. A medium sized bedroom to the right. To the left there was a little railing leading along a hallway so no one would just fall down the hole for the stairs, and along that hallway were two larger bedrooms.

We all walked into the last bedroom and looked around for a moment. Everything looked like it was just left there, like someone was beginning their day and just left. There were two outfits laid out on the foot of the bed, a pair of nice black heals next to a woman’s outfit on the floor. There was a towel on the other side of the bed, also on the floor.

The smell in this room wasn’t just musty, it was rotten. The pressure in here was making it harder for me to breathe. The guys all seemed fine though, so I just tried to brush it off as me overreacting. Just my anxiety.

I jumped when Brian put his arm around me once again, “well, this is weird. But doesn’t seem like there’s anything spooky going on.”

“Yeah,” Matt agreed, “why don’t we go back to your place and try and salvage the rest of the night.”

“Feeling better about the place?” Zacky asked, looking hopeful.

I was about to shrug, showing my indifference, when I felt something freezing cold brush my neck. I instantly froze from the contact, I knew where Brians hands were, one on my hip and the other in his pocket. Zacky and Matt stood in front of me, there was no one else.

I took a deep breath in through my mouth, eyes wide in shock, “something just touched me.”

“Fuck off, Dylan,” Zacky tried to laugh it off, but his looks gave him away, he was uncomfortable again too.

“No one touched you, babe,” Brian said soothingly, “well, just me.”

I looked at him pleadingly, my heart was beating so fast now I was sure they could hear it, “no, Bri. Something touched my neck.”

He opened his mouth to protest then stopped short, there was a faint melodic giggle. It sounded like a child’s laugh. They had all heard it too, I could see it plain as day on their faces. I would have felt triumphant had I not been petrified.

“Tell me that wasn’t real,” Matt looked at the three of us for reassurance, finding none.

Suddenly there was an ear piercing shriek. It sounded like two voices, one low growl under a high pitch whale. It was a womans voice, it sounded like they were in pure agony.

No one said another word, no one had to. We all rushed through the bedroom door without another thought, the scream never letting up for a moment. None of us stopped running before we were outside on the sidewalk.

I looked around wildly; the noise had stopped once we exited the building. We were all out of breath, like the house was trying to take our last ones from us.

Something caught my eye when I looked back at the house. There was a figure in one of the windows of the bedroom we’d been in. I couldn’t stop it now, I was panicking, gasping for breath. I pointed towards the window as I sat on the ground.

Matt and Brian were instantly on me, trying to make sure I was ok. Zacky took a second to look to where I was pointing before asking if there was anything he could do to help me. Brian told him I would be fine, I just needed a minute, and he was right.

I calmed down enough to stand back up and walk with them to the house. Brian had his arms around me for support. The walk back to the house seemed faster than the walk to the Lucker place.

I could hardly wrap my brain around what happened. We all sat around the kitchen table for a few minutes before anyone said anything, we were all just trying to digest what we had experienced. I was likely having the most trouble, I had felt the more then them and had seen something. The guys just heard it, not that their experience wasn’t as valid as mine, just different.

They all decided to try and get their mind off of it by playing COD for a while. I just quietly watched, still cooped up in my thoughts.

Zacky and Matt went home after a few hours, jokingly thanking me for the Halloween scare as they went. I usually would have teased them back, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything. I just gave them a silent wave goodbye, before walking upstairs to the bedroom. Brian fallowed up after me.

I got myself ready for bed, though I didn’t think I’d be sleeping at all tonight.