Trapped

anonymous

Everyone knows the house on Hampton Street. The house that nobody dares go near. The house that seems to be at the end of the world, closest to the woods. Where old Mr and Mrs Peters live. People rarely ever see them, or even know they exist. The house is old and made of wood, as if it came straight out of Wuthering Heights. It has three parts to it, two shorter pieces on the side that lead to one really tall part of the house in the middle. The windows are barred with metal and have wooden frames, which look like they could break easily. The steps leading up to the main door are broken and the door itself seems crooked and slightly ajar, as if someone or something heavy had been walking in and out of the house. The lights have never been on, the curtains have never been drawn, the house seeming absolutely desolate and bare.

Mr and Mrs Peters show up from time to time. They are only ever seen on Saturdays in the evening, taking a walk around their garden, with candles placed all over the dry grass. One would think they were trying to start a fire. They walk around in circles and chant some words in what sounds like Latin, but they never speak loud enough for anyone to hear them. Then they go back inside until next Saturday, when they will do the same thing all over again. 

Right next to Mr and Mrs Peters’ house lived a girl named Miranda and her two brothers, Jacob and Paul. Miranda and her brothers never dared to set foot in the Peters’ lawn, let alone their house, because of all the rumors the neighborhood kids made up about them kidnapping and cooking children for dinner. Until one day when Miranda and her brothers were playing basketball. Jacob was trying to throw the ball at Miranda when he accidentally threw the ball too hard, causing it to go past Miranda, over the fence and straight through the window of the Peters’ house. 

“What the hell, Jacob?!” yelled Miranda in frustration, as she knew she was going to get in a lot of trouble with her mom and dad, and especially the Peters’.

“Who is going to go get it?” asks Paul in a shaky voice, clearly shaken and wanting nothing to do with the situation.

“Well I threw it to Miranda, so she should get it,” states Jacob matter-of-factly, which annoys Miranda.

“No, you threw it, that’s not fair!” complains Miranda, feeling terrified at even the thought of going there.

“If you don’t, I’ll tell mom and dad about when you sneaked out to go meet that bo-”

“Fine, fine I’ll go get it.” says Miranda, sounding defeated. She gathers her courage and walks right up to the house that she had seen in her nightmares, countless times. 

She rings the doorbell, the sound of chimes start to echo through the interior of the house. But there is no answer. She rings the doorbell two more times, but there is still no answer. She decides to let herself into the house, assuming nobody was home. As she opens the door a creak sound echoes throughout the hollow house. As she steps in, dust flies into her face, and she starts to cough excessively. The house is huge on the inside. It has a winding staircase that looks like the design on the Twizzlers Miranda and her brothers buy with their pocket money. A gargantuan chandelier covered in diamonds hangs at the middle of the house. But the one thing that stands out to Miranda is the huge painting that lives right at the back of the room. She walks over to it, to see a painting of Mr and Mrs Peters that seems to be very old. She feels off looking at the painting, as if it is staring back at her. She notices the unique interior and how old and fragile it looks. She continues to stare at the beautiful furniture in awe, wind comes up from behind her, and she hears the door slam violently against the broken door frame. Suddenly the curtains start to sway, looking like they are dancing with the wind that is mysteriously ventilating the house. Miranda turns back to the painting and notices a pair of eyes move. She knows she is seeing things and she decides to look harder, when she then sees Mr Peters’ entire body move in the painting. She starts to scream and tries to run back outside. Suddenly she feels a pair of hands grabbing her, as she kicks and screams for her life until everything goes black.

---

It had been 3 hours since Miranda went into the Peters’ house. Jacob and Paul had been uneasy ever since she left their driveway.

“We need to call 911!” said Paul in a panic.

“Why didn’t we think of this before?!” yelled Jacob as he ran into his kitchen to get the phone, but it wasn’t there. He ran into all the rooms, looking for a phone, but he couldn’t find anything. 

“Paul, where is the damn phone?!” cried Jacob as he ran out of the house. 

“It is on the counter.” 

“No it’s not, what are we gonna do?” said Jacob, on the verge of tears, just wanting his sister back. 

“We have to go get her, there is nothing else we can do,” said Paul, trying to sound strong but his voice cracked throughout his sentence. 

“It’s the only thing we can do,” said Jacob as he started to walk towards the Peters’ house. They got to the door, rang the doorbell numerous times, just as Miranda did but got no answer. As they let themselves in, the whistling wind passed their ears, giving them shivers. 

“Look at this place!” Paul said, sounding amazed. They were both flabbergasted by the artistry of the household. They walked around and noticed 2 paintings at the back of the room. They both approached the paintings and stared in confusion. One was of Mr and Mrs Peters’, in a setting which looked like a farm. A girl was in the second painting, and it looked more modern. The girl was wearing a purple shirt and a necklace around her neck, just like Miranda had been wearing that day. 

“You don’t think that’s her, right?” asked Jacob, sounding scared.

“Not possible, let’s get out of here and just wait till mom and dad get home,” said Paul as he started towards the door. Suddenly it shut and they both turned to look behind them. Hands were coming out of the first painting.