Hold on, have you ever seen that house before?” Danny asked me.
“Yeah. We see it every time. I know Mr. Mennick used to live somewhere out here, I think it’s his house.”
“No Jack, I’m telling you, I’ve never seen it. We’ve been taking this trail for years now. I mean, we’ve gone fishing in these woods since middle school. It hasn’t been here until now.”
“Whatever, man. Let’s just keep going, I want to get there before the sun goes down,” I tell him, but I turn around and see him walking towards the dilapidated house. I decide that I need to follow him, as I don’t want him to get lost or mugged or anything like that. It would be his luck to have some crazy old squatter living in there.
I caught up to him, and we had to struggle our way through thorns and withering bushes until we made it to the deteriorating picket fence. We looked into the yard, which was severely overgrown; the grass was just about as tall as we were. From what we could see, we viewed a roof that was in the process of falling apart. It was also composed of concrete walls that looked rather not structurally sound, as several chunks looked like they had leaped out of the wall, leaving a large gap in the moldy, graying wall. But what stood out the most was the door: it was a vibrant shade of green, and besides the dirt washed up from storms, seemed in mint condition. It even had a screen window that was still completely intact.
Suddenly, there was a bolt of lightning and a loud roll of thunder several seconds later. “Yeah, I’m not fishing in that. Better get home, man,” I said.
“What?! You’re honestly going to just walk away without checking this place out?”
“Um, yes. There’s a literal tempest coming, and it’s a house we pass every time we come out here. We’ll check it out later if you want to.”
“Jack, I’m telling you. I’ve never seen that house in my life.” I don’t know what’s wrong with him, but just shake it off and start walking away. “Wait! Listen, if you go in and see what’s in there, bait’s on me until your birthday.”
“You know what? Fine. You’re being ridiculous, man.” I stomp my way under the trellis, and turn to look back at Danny. For some reason, he is just standing frozen, eyes locked on the door. Not standing still, I mean frozen. Eyes weren’t moving, chest wasn’t taking a breath, nothing. I dismiss it, but then realize the walls of grass on either side of me, which had been swaying wickedly before, now were at a standstill. A rather emaciated looking crow watched me from a tree, unwavering in every sense, except for feathers falling off of the frozen bird one at a time. I looked in the sky and saw lightning stuck halfway in its journey to the ground. Despite the obvious fear, I moved toward a strange flickering, glow coming from inside the house. It drew me in like a moth to a flame.
I slowly shuffled to the door. I reached out for the door, and turned the rusty hunk of metal, opening the door. I walked in cautiously.
A dirty, naked human was slouched in the corner. From what I could tell, it was an old man. I saw him from the back. He was sitting in front of a raging fire, that seemed to be burning in the wall itself. He was viciously eating some sort of animal. All of a sudden, I hear a booming, guttural voice thunder out, “You should not have come, Jack Meyer. You’ve made a mistake.” The voice sounded like it was coming from all around me. I look all around me trying to find the source. When I turn back around, the man is standing face-to-face with me. He had no hair except for a dirty gray beard, which was splattered in blood from his meal around his toothless, crooked smile. His skin seemed to be plastered onto his skill itself. His ugly nose was flattened and had wide, flaring nostrils. His eyes hit me the most though: they were pure black, all pupil.
As I stared into his eyes, I felt a sharp pain suddenly stab every part of my body, and collapsed to the floor. My vision faded as I saw the man kneeling down, slowly bringing his agape mouth toward my chest.

I wake up to bright lights, and an overwhelmingly white room. I’m laying in a bed, and see Benny, still frozen standing over me. His eyes were sunken, and he looked very distraught. I saw the doctor, stuck in place, pale as a phantom. I am able to sit up, and see my reflection in the T.V. screen. The face I see is drastically different than what I expected. The face has no hair except for a dirt, gray beard, which is splattered in red around the crooked lips. It’s skin seems to be plastered to the skull itself. The face’s ugly nose is flattened and has wide, flaring nostrils. I gazed deeper into the reflection, staring into my eyes on screen, and saw nothing but black.