charlie and the ghost house

8/13/2019 Charlie and the Ghost House

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Story art by Charles Mills

Charlie drove down the road and realized he

had better slow down as he rounded a corner and his

car almost went out of control sliding in the mud. His

heart was racing and he was sweating slightly and hisanger was fresh. He could still hear her saying all of

those cruel things as he drove down the raod with rain

coming in sheets and roaring off the roof of the car as

he drove.


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Lightining flashed and Charlie saw the outlines of

trees bending and twisting in the wind as he just

drove to put some space between himself and home.

He slowed down and forced himself to pull over for

a moment to collect his thoughts. He took a few deep

breaths and began to talk to himself, or the car or

whatever might be listening. As he muttered angrily

he checked his belt to make sure his little revolver

was still there. He took it out for a moment and

clicked the cylinder in a circle. t sounded clean andcrisp and he checked the glove bo! for his speed

loader.

Charlie watched the rain for a moment and pushed

the gun back into his belt. He was so tired of having

to run away from the house to get peace from his

mother"s tirades. #he didn"t like his friends, didn"t likehis jobs or any of the things he did. #he made life so

difficult and he could feelt he stress mounting up till he

just couldn"t stand it anymore. He could not open her

mouth and force her meds down her throat and he

hated what he had to endure when she stopped

taking them and got in one of her moods. $hen thathappened there was nothing to do but just get up and

get out while he was still sane.

%he storm began to let up and Charlie put his car

into gear and the engine died. He put it back in park


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and tried to start it but the engine would not do more

than spin. Charlie tried once more and instead of

damaging his battery Charlie decided to just go home

and get someone to come out and take a look. Hegot out and slammed the door, cursing to himself.

$alking along the road, Charlie felt the rain begin

to fall again and he gritted his teeth. &f course, all

that driving and he had to walk back in the rain.

Charlie walked along and after a few moments he

found himself passing an erea where the trees

seemed to part a little and he looked to his right. %he

trees made a tunnel over an old rusted gate and up in

the tunnel, hidden from normal view, was a tall

standing old house, empty, dark and abandoned.

Charlie saw it better when the lightning flashed and

he grined. How neat, an old house to check out.

He walked through the rusted gate and made his

way down the overgrown driveway through weeds

and thorns that poked him through his pants. He kept

moving through the darkening tunnel of trees, the rain

began to hit him over the head harder and he went

past a tumbling wooden fence to the huge porch onthe old place, pausing to look up at it as he got ready

to go in and see what adventure waited.

%he house towered over him, tall and gray with


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windows that seemed to stare down at him like eyes,

watching him come toward the porch, framed by wood

that had paint streaked with gray from years of being

forgotten.

Charlie went up the steps and to the door. %he

front door window was a tall oval one with etching on

the edges and when the house was new it must have

been a very nice door, kind of like all of the rest of this

old ran down dump.

Charlie tried the knob and at first it felt as though

the door was locked then it let loose and turned. He

pushed the door open and was at once greeted with a

small gust of wind that carried the stench of years of

mold and decay to his nose. Charlie didnt care, he

walked in and kicked the door shut behind him. As

the dim light of night seeped through the windowspast the rotting curtains, Charlie took stock of the

room he was in.

%he walls were covered with chipped, torn paper

that had chunks missing and the ceilings were

covered with metal plates, some of which had

loosened over the years and were on the floor, bentfrom falling. %he ceiling had a massive candleabra

hanging from it and the webs that hung off of it looked

like something you would find in the fall in haunted

attractions. Charlie walked forward and saw an old


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settee against a wall and the middle of it had been

torn to bits as mice had gone in and made homes

inside of it.

Charlie was enjoying his visit and he went into the

living room where a huge fireplace was built into one

wall and old furniture sat, rotting and torn with the

finish peeling off of it.

Looking up at the Chandalier, Charlie couldnt help

but think about bringing tools back and taking that old

thing out of here. After all, it was old, probably worth

alot, and all that was going to happen to it was that it

would sit here till it eventually fell from the ceiling

and...

%here was a noise and Charlie looked toward the

big window off to the side. A rat was scurrying along,

stopped to look at him and twitch it"s whiskers, then it

ran along and vanished into a hole in the wall.

Charlie liked little mice and rats but didn"t plan on

getting friendly with this one.

&ver in the corner was a rocking chair, and Charlie

grinned at the sight of the old thing with its torn

padding and chipping paint. %hen he stopped and

stared. %he old chair seemed to move, or was it his

imagination.

Charlie stood perfectly still as he watched the chair


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and in a moment he realized it was not his mind, the

chair tipped forward and then began to rock back and

forth. He felt a bit nervous and helpless in this strange

house far from where he lived, but beyond that hewas only fascinated and he moved forward to look

closer as the old chair rocked and rocked by itself.

After a moment Charlie got the feeling he really

needed to not be in this house so as the storm raged

outside he went to the front door and took the knob in

his hands. He pulled and pulled but the door wouldnot open.

Charlie was much more upset now, feeling

trapped, and he tugged hard on the door. He then

heard the sound of music and spun around. t was

some old classical song being sung on a scratchy old

vinyl record and Charlie went toward the sound,checking to make certain he still had his gun. t was

there, and even though he realized it was useless to

him now he still felt more bold with it on him.

n a small room that had a rotting couch, Charlie

saw a very old record player spinning with the record

on it and a musical carousel sitting ne!t to it. Charliewalked closer and looked at the carousel that began

to spin slowly.

As the carousel moved Charlie heard the sound of


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children laughing and he stood motionless as a mist

began to spin around him like a tornado. 'ow Charlie

was getting scared and the mist spun and began

taking the shape of children running around singing invoices that echoed through the room. Charlie turned

and ran out of the room now overwhelmed with fear,

and he tugged and fought with the front door which

remained stuck shut.

Charlie drew his pistol and fired at the front door

window. %he bullet smashed a small hole in thecenter and as if it was made of fog, the hole faded

and disappeared. Charlie realized his gun was

completely useless.

He turned around, suddenly terrified at the fact

that he was in this place and could not get out, and he

saw a man standing behind him. %he man wasdressed in a tailcoat and top hat, and he walked

toward Charlie who stood frozen as the man passed

through him and made him feel freezing cold.

Charlie watched the man go out through the front

door as if it wasn"t there and he began beating the

door with his fists, but it held strong. Charlie wasyelling now, fearful, and he began to run through the

rooms trying to find a broken window or anything that

would let him out of this house full of ghostly images.


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He found one window with a missing pane, but the

opening was too small for him to fit through. He

turned around saw the figure of a ghostly woman

floating through the room with a candle holder in herhand and she vanished through a wall.

Charlie went back toward the front of the house

and he saw an old wooden chair sitting in the hall

way. He picked it up and moved toward the front door

again and began beating the window hard as the

chair began to break up. %hen he heard somethingthat turned his blood ice cold.

%here was a growling noise from deep in the

house and he heard it as the thunder died down for a

moment. He was blinded by a sudden flash of

lightning, and he felt the house vibrate as something

in its dark shadows stirred forth.

Charlie turned and slowly took a step forward

toward the back of the house, wondering what new

horror awaited. He saw what looked like two candle

lights in the dark ahead and they slowly were followed

by the body of what appeared to be a huge black dog

with hideous teeth that was growling and seemed togrow ever more menacing in the flashes of lightning

and thunder that shook the house. Charlie realised

that this dog was not like the phantoms in the house,

just a misty figure in the moonlight, but a huge, raving


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monster animal that could see him. Charlie reached

down and groped for his gun...and to his horror he

found empty space. n his haste to pick up the chair

he had dropped it.

%he dog was huge, some kind of very large black

animal that was almost a mutant among living things

and Charlie was more terrified than he had ever been.

(orget the ghosts, fear the dog.

%he dog suddenly let out a snarling bark that was

more of a roar and sprang forward, its slashing teeth

grabbing at the space where Charlie had been. He

was running, panic stricken, for another room and

mounted stairs and began to run for a bedroom. %he

dog turned and followed and Charlie went into a

bedroom and smacked the door shut just as the dog

got to it and with an echoing bang threw it"s weightagainst the door.

%he dog snarled and tore at the door as Charlie

backed up and breathed hard, shaking in panic and

the stench of rot filled his nose. He turned to look

toward the bedroom window and stopped short in

horror again. &n a rusted, rat eaten bed under arotting blanket lay the remains of a man, his dried

flesh shrunk and his bones showing through a

thousand holes as he lay with his sightless eyes

staring upward.


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Charlie walked forward and looked at the man, and

he realized that he had been there for a long time.

&utside the bedroom, the dog barked in a rage and

clawed furiously at the door.

Charlie stood, terrified and not knowing what to do.

As he stood, the bedroom window opened and the

curtain blew as a gust of ice cold wind blew into the

room. Charlie lunged for the open window and it

slammed shut as he got to it and the form of a man

walked through the room and through the door as if itwas not there.

#haking and dripping with sweat, Charlie heard the

dog tearing at the door and smashing it"s body into

the wood, which began to split. Charlie cried out in

panic and looked at the door as it began to break

apart and he looked around the room.

He dashed for a closet and began to kick the wall

with all of his strength. He kicked until the plaster

cracked, then chunks began to break loose. His heart

was pounding and behind him the dog had bashed a

hole in the door and was tearing through it.

Charlie kicked till his leg was throbbing in pain and

knocked a hole in the wall and began to tear through

it, scraping himself on the wall till he bled from several

injuries. As the dog ripped through the door, Charlie


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tumbled into another bedroom and ran to the door,

flinging it open and dashing back down the stairs. As

he moved, candles lit and wind blew as ghostly

figures swirled through the house in a chaos of voicesand moving figures.

Charlie ran down the stairs as the dog tore back

through the hole to come after him again.

&n the first floor, dripping with sweat with his

wounds stinging, Charlie ran into the hallway and

found his gun on the floor as he heard the dog

charging down the stairs barking in fury.

Charlie ducked into the kitchen, turned and aimed

his pistol. %he dog came around the corner and

Charlie fired. %he bullet struck the dog, who kept

coming, and he fired again and again as he dog came

on and jumped at him.

%he dog"s head smashed into Charlie"s chin and

he tumbled backward and hit his head on a counter,

crying out in pain as he fell.

Charlie"s gun fell out of his hand and he landed on

the floor, his head aching and he blacked out.

$hen Charlie woke, his head was hurting and he

felt his wounds stinging. He tried to move and found

the dog laying on him, it"s eyes staring into his, blank


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and empty. He was dead, and a real mess. Charlie

twisted himself and dumped the dog on the ground, a

dead animal, very much real.

He stood up, aching and dirty and picked his

empty pistol off the ground. %he storm was over,

there was light streaming in the windows of the old

house and he used his speed loader to reload the

gun. He then walked through the house and found it

very much like any other house. %he front door was

slightly open blowing back and forth in the morningbreeze. He looked into the living room and saw the

rocking chair, just sitting there as any other chair in

the world, and he walked up to it and touched it. t

rocked and creaked for a moment then stopped.

Charlie walked up the stairs and into the room

where he had seen the dead man and found a bedsitting with holes eaten in it by mice and nothing

more. He shook his head in wonder and thought that

the dog may have been a starving, sick animal,

possibly even rabid. Charlie decided to go to the

doctor when he left the house.

Charlie walked outside and looked up at the oldhouse and as he wondered what in the world he had

seen last night in the storm he seemed to see the

windows in the old house looking down at him like

some kind of eyes....but then no that had to be his


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imagination. As he turned to walk away a curtain

moved in an upstairs window, blown by a breeze, or

perhaps someone unseen watching him leave........

)oing back down the walkway through the mud,

Charlie wondered what was wrong with his car, and

he walked to it, almost running, an!ious to see what it

would do. He got in and turned the key and the

starter began to labor. He floored the pedal and the

started caught the and the engine roared to life.

Charlie breathed a huge sigh of relief. t had gotten abit too damp with him running around like a mad man.

)oing back home, he found that his mother had

retrieved her meds and was back to normal,

innatentive and lost in her own world. %hat worked for

him. $hen she had gotten back into her routine of

cleaning the house and mumbling to herself, Charlieasked her if she knew anything about an old house

down the road. #he smiled and looked as if lost in a

memory for a moment. *&h that old place, just a

moldy old house that has been there forever with alot

of strange tales told about it, probably the work of

active imaginations and people who like to scare kidswith a good ghost story. t"s the old +ishkey house.

$hen was a kid they told me that place was

haunted, some sort of a portal to ghosts from the past

who lived there at one time or another. $e can go by


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and look at it sometime if you want.* Charlie didn"t

answer, he just shivered.

Charlie"s mother went back to her chores, then

she paused for a moment. #he looked at Charlie and

said reflectively *you know, it"s just the two of us,

maybe we should get a dog.* Charlie just looked at

her blankly.

charlie and the ghost house

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