Standalone Tales - 2. The Haunted House

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Unionville, Iowa

19 year old Cole West sat down at the dorm suite kitchen table with a bowl of cereal for breakfast. He was still wearing plaid pajama pants and his light brown hair was in a messy bedhead. He checked his social media on his pear phone as he ate. “Oh, it’s Halloween,” the teen mumbled in a groggy morning voice.

A few minutes later, Cole’s best friend and roommate, Noah Brooks, entered the kitchen wearing a grey t-shirt and black athletic shorts. “Morning, Cole,” the college sophomore smiled as he opened the fridge to get some juice. “And happy Halloween.”

“Morning, Noah,” Cole said, as Noah rubbed the sleep out of his blue eyes.

“You wanna do anything tonight after class?” Noah sat next to his friend with a cup of orange juice.

“It’s my first night in a while without any major assignments so I’m probably gonna spend the evening playing video games,” Cole smirked.

“Oh come on dude you’re no fun!” Noah playfully punched Cole’s bare shoulder. “It’s Halloween night!”

“What about trick or treating?” Noah suggested, running a hand through his dark raven hair. “That was always fun.” He smiled.

“Yeah, when we were in elementary and middle school,” Cole rolled his chocolate brown eyes. “We’re a little old for that.”

“You’re right,” Noah stretched his arms. “Maybe we can go to that farm with the pumpkin patch and the corn maze?”

“We did that last weekend,” Cole sighed, crossing his arms over his bare chest. “There’s not much to do in this town! Unless you think of something better, it’s probably a good day to just hang out and play Wizard101 online or Mario Kart on the Switch until those Halloween parties start up tonight.”

“Dude, college Halloween parties are too intense,” Noah laughed.

“Yeah,” Cole agreed. The two teenagers were both pretty studious and often avoided the parties that occurred on weekends, especially after a party they went to early last year in Freshman year when a drunk guy had thrown up on Cole. That wasn’t a fun time.

Suddenly Noah had an idea, and his face lit up. “Ooh! Cole! We can go to that creepy abandoned house and explore.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess that would be fun. You know how I get about spooky abandoned places though...” Cole said uneasily.

“Dude, if you don’t come, then I’ll tell Abigail you’re a chicken!” Noah started making chicken sounds. Abigail was Cole’s girlfriend, and she likely wouldn’t care if Noah told her that he was a chicken, but Noah just seemed too excited about this.

“Fine, I’ll go,” Cole giggled.

“Sweet!” Noah cheered. “We’ll go this evening.”

~~~~~~~~~~

As the sun was setting over the Iowa college town, Cole and Noah stepped out of their dorm building. It was a chilly night and fallen leaves littered the grassy lawns and sidewalks.

“Where is this place?” Cole asked. The brunet boy was wearing a navy blue pullover hoodie over a grey t-shirt, jeans, and his favorite red converse shoes.

“It’s a couple blocks away,” Noah began walking in the direction. The raven-haired teen had on a red Hollister hoodie over a black t-shirt, jeans, and neon green sneakers. As they exited the campus grounds into the surrounding neighborhoods, they started seeing kids running around in various costumes with their pumpkin baskets, filling them up with candy at the houses they visited. It was a few blocks to their destination: a boarded up old Victorian house with an overgrown yard surrounded by a white 3 foot high fence. Cole walked up to the gate and tried to open it, but it was locked of course.

“How will we get in?” The taller boy asked.

“We could easily climb this fence,” Noah pointed at the fence with his thumb. He stepped on a horizontal slat in the fence, using the gaps between fence posts for his feet. He then hoisted himself up with his arms, and he fell to the soft grass on the other side.

“Smooth...” Cole giggled as his friend stood up and dusted some grass and leaves off his hoodie and tousled dark hair. Cole then climbed over as well, but landed on his feet on the other side.

The two walked up to the porch which had creaky old boards and overgrown with vines and weeds. The door of course was locked, but the front windows of the foreclosed house were broken. Likely from years of storms. Noah, the skinnier of the two boys, climbed through one of them and unlocked the front door for Cole. The interior of the old house had a terrible moldy/musty smell. Lots of shattered glass and china was on the kitchen floor. Cole had to plug his nose to not gag and potentially puke up the pizza he ate for dinner. There were a couple mice scurrying around, which made Noah yelp as he saw them.

“You scream like a girl,” Cole teased Noah.

“Look down there,” Noah pointed to the rodents’ burrow hole in the wall. Another mouse came running out.

“Eeek!!!” Cole squealed and jumped 4 feet in the air. Noah laughed. “Not funny, bruh. That almost gave me a heart attack.”

“Just giving you payback for saying I yelp like a girl,” Noah smirked. The boys looked around the abandoned house’s main floor, including the living room, kitchen, and master bedroom. The only light was from the flashlights on their pear phones. The furniture was like a time machine to the Great Depression era.

“Shit, dude. This place is really creeping me out.” Cole said shakily.

“You scared?” Noah asked. “Mister tough football jock?”

“Cut it out, Noah.” Cole sighed. “I feel like we shouldn’t be here anyways. Let’s go before the police catch us.”

“Cole, this isn’t private property, it’s been abandoned for 80 years.” Noah walked down the hall. “We still have more to check out.”

“There’s no upstairs, and we searched the entire floor.”

Noah approached a door. “This probably leads to the basement.” He opened the door. A set of stairs led down around a 90 degree corner. “Bingo.”

“Dude, I don’t know. I don’t like creepy abandoned basements.” Cole shivered.

“I can always tell Abigail you’re a big scaredy-cat,” Noah taunted.

“Well, I can always tell Molly that you’re a big jerk.” Cole threatened.

“Dude, what the hell? You know I’m on thin ice with her.”

“Then stop trying to blackmail me! Look, we’ve checked out this abandoned house and I’m ready to go home.”

“Just check out this basement, okay? If anything bad happens, you can say ‘I told you so’ and I’ll owe you all the Thanksgiving leftovers I bring back next month.”

Cole thought about it for a minute. “Fine, I’ll go, to keep you safe. Cause you’re my best friend and I care about you.”

Noah blushed and led the way downstairs. Cole followed him down the creepy steps.

In the basement was a group of 4 hooded figures. The sight of them made both boys jump 4 feet into the air. “Aah!” Noah jumped backwards into Cole who caught his friend and fell backwards into the wooden steps and slid down with Noah on his lap.

“Fuck,” Cole swore under his breath.

“Who are you?” A hooded figure approached the teenagers.

“We’re just a couple of college students who came to check out this spooky abandoned house,” Noah responded and Cole nodded in agreement while Noah swooped his head to fix his messy bangs that became mussed during the fall down the stairs.

Cole helped Noah stand up. “Well, we didn’t mean to interrupt you dudes, so we’ll just get out of here...” Cole began.

“HALT! You now know of our clan’s existence. You must join us... or be banished into the Spirit World!” Their leader announced.

“Are you guys like cosplayers or something?” Noah asked, cocking his head a little.

“They’re very convincing,” Cole gave a thumbs up and Noah nodded.

“And this location? Top choice for a cult cosplay...”

“Silence!” The cult leader took a step towards the boys, who were startled by the interruption. “Will you join us or go to the Spirit World?”

“Um, we’ll go to the.... Spirit World?” Noah answered, glancing at Cole for confirmation. The brunet boy nodded. “Whatever makes this cosplay LARP thing more realistic for you guys.”

“Is the Spirit World, like, in the backyard or something?” Cole asked with a shrug.

The cult guys began a chant and a purple spiral appeared in the floor of the center of the room. “Dang you guys got special effects?! That’s pretty rad!” Noah said.

“No one says rad anymore,” Cole chuckled. “So do we just walk through that thing and go to the spirit world?”

The purple spiral began to suck the boys in. “Aahhhhh!”

Cole and Noah popped our the other end in a field of pink grass. The sun was shining and mountains that were a cotton candy blue towered in the distance. “I... don’t think those were cosplayers,” Noah said, laying back in the soft pink grass. Semi-transparent green spirit bugs floated in the yellow sky above.

“You mean, that was a real cult that actually sent us to the Spirit World??” Cole asked, Noah nodded. “Oh man oh man oh man!”

“Calm down, we’ll find a way out.”

“No, I mean, this is great. I love this kind of fantasy shit.” Cole smiled.

“But you were afraid of coming to the haunted house?” Noah sat up and crossed his arms.

“Well yeah, bro. There’s a difference between creepy haunted houses and the Spirit World!”

“Lol, okay,” Noah chuckled. “I don’t want to stay here forever though. So help me find a way out.”

The two of them searched the meadow they were in for a portal, but to no avail. After a while, large thumping was heard. The boys turned to see a giant green rabbit hopping towards them.

“Giant bunny! Maybe he’s friendly!” Cole exclaimed.

“I didn’t know you liked bunnies,” Noah chuckled while Cole’s cheeks blushed.

“Hello, humans,” the large lop announced with a deep voice..

“You can talk?” Cole asked.

“I can.” The bunny nodded before scratching his ear with one of his furry feet.“How can I help you?”

“Can you show us the way back to… Earth?” Noah shrugged, looking at Cole.

“Ah, the human world!” The rabbit shook his head. “Yes, the Imp Queen can send you back. She’ll want a favor, though, in return. She lives in her forest hollow down the path. You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you,” Cole petted the large mammal before he hopped off.

“That might be the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had.” Noah stifled a laugh.

“Probably not as weird as the one we’re about to have with this Imp Queen,” Cole began as he walked along the gravel path with Noah. “What kind of favor will the Imp Queen want?”

Noah shrugged in response. “I bet we can take her in a battle if it’s too extreme of a favor. Two guys against one tiny fairy?” Noah flexed his muscles. “Easy.” Cole laughed.

There were plenty of signs in the forest leading the guys to the Imp Queen’s Hollow. The rabbit was right; they couldn’t miss it.

The Queen’s den was small and cozy. The Imp Queen had an aura around her wings as she fluttered in place on her throne.

“Who stands before me?!” She asked in a booming but feminine voice.

“Uh, it is us, your majesty,” Cole bowed, and Noah followed suit. “We are from Earth and…”

“Ugh… Earthlings… Let me guess, some cult opened up a portal and sent you here?”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what happened,” Noah blushed. “How’d you know?”

“They send people here ALL THE TIME! Humans are so annoying!” The Queen scoffed. Noah and Cole nervously glanced at each other. “I will gladly send you back to get you humans out of my realm. However, all I ask is one little favor.”

“Uhm, ok, what do you want?” Cole offered.

“I want to see you two… kiss.” Both teenagers gasped. “I sense an attraction between you two. You boys kiss. I send you back to Earth. Easy, cheesy!”

“Give us a moment, your majesty.” Noah said before turning to his best friend.

“Dude, I can’t kiss you! I have a girlfriend!” Cole blushed.

“So do I. But do you want to be stuck here forever?”

“Alright, man. Let’s do this,” Cole rubbed his hands together before leaning in to kiss Noah. It was a quick kiss on the lips, and both boys felt warm and flushed after parting.

“Very good. I’m surprised you two aren’t already boyfriends!” The Imp Queen applauded the young men. She then cast a spell and Cole and Noah found themselves in their dorm kitchen.

“Cole…” Noah spoke up after an awkward moment of silence. “Can we talk about that kiss?”

“Uh huh,” Cole sat down. “Is it weird that I really liked kissing you?”

“I really liked it too. Better than any kisses with any of my girlfriends.”

“Really?! So are we… gay?”

“Maybe,” Noah shrugged. “If things don’t work out with our girlfriends, would you maybe wanna try going out together?”

Cole silently nodded with flushed cheeks. “I’d like that.”