The Red Route

We crept up to the house stealthily; silent, like a cat stalking his prey. In this case we were the prey, although we never knew that until the feeling of being watched loomed over us, like bad body odor. This part of the woods had been untouched for ages--the townspeople too scared of this old house to use the path that came this way.

Over the decades, the earth had reclaimed the spaces between the cracked brick driveway. Now you could hardly tell what was the path and what was the forest.

When I was beginning to regret hiking the way we were going, the thick wall of forest parted magically. Shortly after, as we were making our way through the weeds, rain as hard as hail came down. Thunder that shook the ground followed lightning and what started as an innocent hike in the forest turned to a horror scene, something made for movies. What made the rain worse was that we were weary with the hiking; we had gone at least ten miles to get to the romantic picnic area out in the country.

We had heard from the hotel receptionist that up that path, ten miles, would be a turn to the picnic area. Turns out, she was wrong. Her exact words were: “Up ten miles of this trail,” she had pointed to the red outline of the trail we were on, “there is a gorgeous picnic area. We tell all our clients to go there. It’s simply lovely.” She smiled. At the time I thought this was a hopeful, knowing smile, but thinking back it was malicious and evil, as if she knew something bad was to come.

Finally, we came up to something that resembled a house. It was decripet, dangerous-looking and dilapidated, but still you can see the framework of an old eighteenth century mansion. The place loomed over us with a watchfull muteness that can chill you to the bone just by looking at it. The garden showed evidence of life, and the place looked like it would have been perfect for a Halloween theme party.

“I don’t think we’re in the right place, Rose.” said Edward beside me, quietly, as if not to spook ghosts back to existence. His arms were shielding his bent head from the hail-like rain. I was doing much the same thing, but using my coat as an extra cover.

“I totally agree. This isn’t what you’d call my idea of a romantic get away.”

“Maybe she gave us the wrong path?” He asked, hopeful that we had just turned at the wrong place. On the way here he had said that the lady was nice, and like himself, he wanted to keep thinking she was.

“No,” I answered, a little louder, “I don’t think so.”


We hastily made our way up the porch, the stairs groaning with the years of unuse. Edward grabbed my hand and gave it a tight squeeze before we pushed the door open. We didn't know what would be in there.

On the first try, it hardly budged, but when he threw all his weight into it, it came crashing down with a loud BOOM!

There was an unsettling silence after, our breathing was hardly loud enough to count as a sound. I placed my steps ever-so slightly that only little tidbits of dust reached my nose. I held his hand tightly, looking behind our every step as he looked forward. We walked through the house. It was obvious it was abandoned years and years ago. The furniture looked like it should be in an antique shop, and even though dusty, all the peices were beautiful.

There really was no reason for our behavior, but the spook of the house and of the situation made us scared out of our wits. We had no idea what to do. Stay here for the night? Or go home?

We decided to stay here; besides, its not like many people were here, nothing can happen.

When the lightning striked that night, the sky was illuminated so bright that you can see just as well as electricity. Edward checked his watch. "Almost midnight," he whispered. We agreed to look for a bed.

We decided it would make sense to look upstairs, and so we did. I held on to the railing and his hand as we took one step at a time. These ancient stairs might give out at any time.

And finally we were at the top of the spiraling stairs, right at the end of a long, long hallway. We were getting wearier and wearier but in the room at the end of the hall we found a bed big enough for the both of us to share.

The room was grand. The walls a pretty summer blue color. A Chestnut wood canopied bed with burgundy blankets and pillows was situated in the middle of the room. There was no furniture besides the bed, but what did we need it for anyway? The two of us crawled it and fell instantly into a dark sleep.

I knew I was awake.
But at first I thought I was still dreaming.
There was still pain.
There was still yelling and groaning and crying out.

And it felt like I wasn’t ever dreaming, that I was only lying here in the spikes the whole time with my arms bound to the headboard of the canopied bed the whole time.
There was still blood around me and I was still gagged.
And someone was laughing, but not my Edward.

The curtains were drawn, and there was something in my eyes, something like knives. It felt like someone was cutting me limb from limb. And I couldn’t feel my toes or my hands anymore and I tried to clench my fists but they were gone.
And I tried screaming, but my tongue was gone.
And I tried seeing, but my eyes were useless.
I was mute, in pain, and defenseless.

I thrashed more, but the spikes were worse. And I saw ‘the light’. I thought I was dying but the only thing I did was wake up.


And then my eyes opened up again, and I was able to see again. I thought that I would have to go through the whole thing, the whole business of being tied to the headboard and thrashing and being mute, pained, and defenseless again, but I didn’t.

I sat up in the bed and looked for Edward, beacause I couldn’t hear his breathing beside me. He was gone, and something had replaced him. Its neck was broken into two angles, its spine twisted in every which way. There were holes in its body where organs should be, and its face striped of its flesh.

I screamed and bolted from the room--or at least tried, because as soon as I set foot on the mahogany wooden floor, I fell though.

I was in blood again, the house was melting from the top down and I couldn’t find Edward.

All the antique furniture was gone and replaced with gallons and gallons of blood. I swam through it in what seemed like hours and hours. I couldn’t breath without the taste or smell of blood enveloping my lungs and nostrils.

I got out.

I got out and ran and ran until I couldn’t see the house anymore, or smell the blood.

I was back to square one, back at the turn where we had thought the whole thing was wrong.

I stood there in shock everything that happened, unable to close my eyes, unable to scream. I was afraid of what I might see if I closed them. Would it be me dunking into blood again? Swimming in it? I threw up where I stood.
What happened to Edward? Where was he? Did he get out before I did?
And then I realized that the creature in the bed beside me was Edward.

I had left him there.

I finally sank to my knees, realization hitting me like a rock, and cried.
Much, much later I had the strength to get up again. I was weak with hunger and shock. The blood was starting to flow my way down the driveway.
I walked away from the house.
It took hours to get back to town.

The blood had miraculously dried from my clothes and was taken away from my mouth.
I went back to the Inn. The lady was gone.
I looked back at the pamphlet she had given us that day, with that awful smile of hers.

I looked for the trail we had taken, I looked for any mention of the house at all and of the picnic area she had suggested.
There was no house or picnic area.
There was no red route.

THE ABANDONED HOUSE

“Come on you babies!” Brian pleaded as he and Mike pushed Justin, Scott, and Jessica towards the house, “Go in already!”
“Ok, ok we’re going” Scott answered as he cautiously walked up the steps to the abandoned house.
“Aren’t you two coming in with us?” Justin asked Mike and Brian. He opened the door and walked inside, and Scott and Jessica followed.
“Yeah, yeah we’ll be right behind you” Mike smiled and winked at Brian. Mike and Brian walked up the steps and, at the right moment, reached for the opened door and held it shut. “Get the branch over there” Mike ordered Brian. Brian retrieved it and gave it to Mike.
"Ew there is a swarm of ants on that stick! Get me another one." Brian threw the stick on the ground and picked up another one, then handed it to Mike."How is this one servant?" Brian answered sarcastically. "Clean as a whistle" Mike proclaimed.Mike took the stick and stuck it in between the door handles.
“Let us out!” Scott, Justin, and Jessica all screamed in unison as they banged repeatedly on the door.
“So long suckers!” Mike yelled as he and Brian ran away laughing.
“So are we just going to leave them there forever?” Mike asked then stopped running to catch his breath.
“We’ll come back in the morning” Brian answered. “Now hurry up!”
“Well I should have seen that coming” Jessica said to no one in particular. She walked through the dark living room and peered out a window. “It’s getting dark! I’m going to be in so much trouble.” She tried opening the window but it wouldn’t budge. “I was supposed to be home by 7:00. Does any one have the time?”
“It’s um…” Scott mumbled as he reached for his phone in the dark, “It’s 8:45.” “I’m dead” Jessica stated as she took a seat on the floor next to Justin. “Why did we agree to this again?” Jessica asked.
“Yeah, why did we agree to this Scott?” Justin asked.
“I don’t know but instead of blaming me can we please find a way out of here first?” Scott insisted. All of a sudden, BANG! they heard a crash as loud as a gunshot come from down the hall.
“Did you hear that?” Jessica whisper yelled, “Were all going to die!”
“Oh relax” Justin said, “Is any one in here?” he yelled. There was no answer. Jessica walked over to the couch and sat down, and Scott followed her. Out of nowhere the phone on the kitchen wall rang. Jessica fell off the couch.
“No one has lived here for over 10 years! Does this house even have a phone number?” Jessica asked.
“Well don’t just stand there” Scott said impatiently, “answer the phone.” Justin slowly walked over to the phone and picked it up.“Hello?” His voiced cracked. He heard steady breathing on the other line. “Hello… HELLO!”
“Just hang up!” Scott insisted, “Its probably Mike and Brian trying to scare us to death.”
“Yeah but there’s just one problem…” Jessica started, “THEY DON’T HAVE THE PHONE NUMBER!!!”
“She’s right; no one has lived here since I was 5. The number can’t be in phone books.” Justin replied.
“Well I’m getting to the bottom of this” Scott called as he ran down the hall and Justin followed closely behind him.
“Don’t leave me here!” Jessica pleaded as she ran after them.
“Its so dark, I cant tell if my eyes are opened or closed!” Justin said as he felt around the walls.
“Just feel around for a door. There should be one to the back yard some where” Scott found what felt like a handle and pulled. A door opened and brought them into another hallway. There was a door on the ceiling that led into an attic. The door was open but the ladder had been pulled away.
“SOME ONE IS IN THE HOUSE!!!” Jessica wailed.
“Well if you don’t keep quiet that some one is going to find us!” Justin angrily shot back.
“We would be out of here already if you two would stop fighting” Scott said as he stepped through the doorway, “Now come help me find a way out.” Justin followed him and as soon as he stepped through the doorway the door shut and trapped Jessica in the hallway laughing in her face. “HELP!” Jessica begged. Justin and Scott both tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge.
“Were going to find something to open the door just relax and wait here” Justin assured her as he ran into another room.
“Easy for you to say! Your not the one trapped in the dark all alone here!” Jessica said on the verge of a panic attack.
“Come help me Scott” Justin ordered and Scott left to find him. Jessica sat with her back to the closed door and waited for them to come back. After what seemed like 5 hours, Jessica saw someone slowly slithering towards her.
“Scott?” she questioned the mysterious figure, “Justin?” The figure continued walking straight for her slowly. She closed her eyes and when she reopened them, the figure was gone. She got up and tried to find her own way out. She walked to the beginning of the long hall when she heard the breathing Justin described when he answered the phone. She turned around to see the dark figure standing at the end of the hall. It just stood there staring a hole into Jessica’s head with it beady eyes. Jessica tried to move but she couldn’t; she was paralyzed with fear. The figure started limping over to her. It got closer and closer and then it was standing right in front of her. Before she had a chance to scream she fell into a deep, deep sleep.
“We should go back and try to help Jessica” Justin pestered.
“We cant go back and help her until we find something to open the door” Scott answered, “Do you hear something?” There was a dripping noise coming from the room to their left. The door was shut and there was a light coming from the crack of the door on the floor. Scott opened the door and almost fainted.
“Shut the door!” Justin screamed but Scott didn’t move. Jessica was hanging upside down and her tomato red blood was dripping on the floor. On the wall behind her in big bloody letters it said, “YOUR NEXT”
Justin pulled Scott out of the doorway and slammed the door, “We have to get out NOW! Follow me” Justin ran around the maze of hallways and Scott followed petrified.
“What’s that?” Scott Pointed into the darkness. He felt for the handle and pushed as hard as he could. The door opened and brought them into the back yard. “Were out!” He beamed. Justin ran to the gate and tried to unlatch the lock.
“HELP!” Scott screamed. Justin turned around to see a dark figure walking towards Scott. Justin opened the gate door and yelled for Scott to follow him. Justin ran out of the yard and ran into the driveway. He didn’t look back until he was on the other side of the street. He heard the gate slam and he turned around to ask Scott something but he wasn’t there. He was trapped in the yard. Justin ran down the street but stopped dead in his tracks when he heard a torturous scream. Then came the breathing. The same breathing he heard on the phone in the house. He whipped his head around to see the figure limping straight for him, dragging the corpse of Scott in one hand, and a bloody tool in the other.
Justin tried to escape but he wasn’t quick enough for the figure, and he didn’t even have the chance to scream.
“Where were you last night?” Mike asked Brian as they walked up the steps to the house, “I called you as soon as I got home and I kept calling for like 5 hours and you didn’t pick up! I had to tell you something really important.”
“I was …uh….. Busy” Brian mumbled.
“Riiiiight…. And what happened to your foot?” Mike pointed at Brian’s bloody leg, “You’ve been limping all the way here”.
“Why are you asking me so many questions?” Brian yelled full of rage.
“Ok, ok relax! I was just wondering if…..”Mike trailed off as he rushed into the house, “Never mind lets just go get the losers.”
“Lets.” Brian smiled and locked the door behind them.

“Swamp House”

It was 12 a.m. midnight on Saturday. The year was 2000 and it was a dark night in the swamps of Georgia. Tom and Jack were driving home after going to their friend’s party. Suddenly, a fog comes upon them and the car’s lights start to flash on and off. Boom! The car abruptly falls into the swamp water. “What just happened?” Jack yelled.“Don’t know,” answered Tom. At this point, the car was stuck and both Tom and Jack were stuck in the swamp. They both looked at each other with eyes full of fear. Then Tom nervously asked, “What are we going to do?” “I don’t know, if we get stuck here we can be eaten by alligators.” “We should get the glow sticks from the trunk.” “Yes get them so we can see through this darkness.” “……They are not here Jack.” “Oh yeah they’re in the glove compartment.” “What glove compartment?” “What do you mean, what, how did this happen!” The glove compartment was ripped off and nothing remained. Tom and Jack were lost in the swamp with no protection, no light, and no food. Then out of nowhere they saw a light in the distance. “Hey look Tom there is light over there!” Jack cried out joyfully. The light seemed like light from a lighthouse to them. Jack ran towards the light to find out it was a firefly. Furious Jack grabs the fire fly and kills it in frustration and walks back to Tom sorrowfully. “What are we going to do we can be here for weeks if we don’t move.” Then out of nowhere, winds stronger than a hurricane blow through the swamp and blew the men off their feet. When the wind ceased and the men recovered from their fall they got up miraculously unwounded. Then Tom looked around him and saw a house. He cried out, “Hey Jack look there is a house over there!” They both ran towards the house. Whole observing the house, it seemed to smile at them.
"Think anyone lives there?” Jack asked. “Don’t know maybe if we’re lucky they can help us get out of here.” Tom answered. “Let’s knock before we go in.” “Okay.” Jack knocked on the door and the door opened with an ear splitting creak. The creak was so loud it seemed like it could break all the windows on the house. An old lady steps out of the door slowly. She looked as though she was 120 years old. Her whole body was full of wrinkles and her voice was old and cracked. She looked straight into the men’s eyes, “Yes, what is it?” “Our car has fallen into the swamp water, may we use your telephone to call for help” Tom replied. “Yes.” “Thanks.” Tom started to dial the phone number of one of his friends and all of a sudden the line was disconnected and the phone did not work. Meanwhile, Jack was looking around the dirty house. It very dusty had rats with glowing red eyes, cockroaches, mosquitoes, and many other bugs. They were creepily crawling chaotically throughout the house. “Shoot, the phone doesn’t work,” Tom said with much grief. Then Tom asked, “May we please sleep here for tonight.” “Yes, sleep at this house” the old lady answered. “Thanks for your kindness.” Then Jack grabbed Tom and brought him outside and whispered to him, “The house is full of bugs, rats. I do not trust this lady.” “It’s either stay out here in the cold, have no shelter, and get eaten by alligators, or this old lady’s house” “Okay fine this old lady’s house.” “Well I’m going to hit the sack.” Tom yawned. “Good night.” Jack replied. Both Tom and Jack were getting ready for bed then. Bang, bang! There was banging from up stairs. They glanced at each other and went up stairs and saw and heard nothing. Then they heard banging down stairs. They ran down stairs and saw and heard nothing again. “Where are these sounds coming from?” Jack questioned. “I don’t know,” Tom answered, “However I just thought of something. You go up stairs and I’ll stay here and then we will see who is making the bangs.” They did this and then the worst happens. A screech from nowhere comes upon them. The screech felt like it was going to blow up their ears. This torture lasted for a minute which felt like hours. They thought they would have gone deaf but they didn’t. That was when they realized the house was haunted. Just after the screech ended the both heard the banging. Jack heard it downstairs, Tom heard coming from upstairs. They both cried out, “I hear it. Tom ran upstairs and heard it too. So then he ripped off the boards on the floor and found another floor beneath them. When Tom opened it many bugs and rats came out and started eating both Tom and Jack alive. The tried to get them off but there was too many of them. They were covered from head to toe with the bugs and rats biting them. They ran out of the house screaming. They ran into the swamp never to be seen again. Tom and Jack have never been found. They can be dead or still being eaten alive today. If they are still alive they will be eaten by those bugs and rats to the bone. Some people hope they are still alive but others have accepted the fact, they are dead. Every person who has gone to those swamps and has gone to the old lady’s house has never been seen again.
The End?

What was your favorite part of Halloween? What was your scariest part of Halloween

You guys have done an awesome job adjusting to our technology use--I'm so proud of you! What I'd like to do is to remind you of a few things:

--No use of first names (this is why your post was deleted, JE) or other identifying info.
--Be supportive of each other. People won't want to post if they think they'll just receive criticism. It's OK to disagree, but be respectful at all times.
--NEVER allow anyone your password, or give them permission to comment/post for you. Violation of this will get you removed form the blog. Period!
--Check your spelling (yes, there is a spellchecker on here) and your capitalization. This blog is open to the world--how embarrassing if your writing on an English class blog is filled with errors!
--If you want to respond to something someone says, post a comment, not a new post. New posts should be like paragraphs: indicating a new subject.
--Finally, have fun. This is meant to be a place for you to express yourself through writing and become a community of more informed writers. You are truly on the cutting edge of education!

So let's get this thing off the ground. I want each one of you to choose a topic that interests you (kind of a current event). You will be responsible for posting a short entry on why you selected this issue, plus including at least one link for your peers to use as a resource. Issues can range from school uniforms to the war in Iraq. We're going to go alphabetically by first name, so AG, it's your turn to post! (Please have something up by Saturday morning!)

Comment or Post!

It's great to see so many of you signed up already! (You'll have to excuse
my excitement; this is an idea I've been wanting to implement for about a
year.)

What do you think of this whole blog thing? What are some cool ways we
could use it to improve our writing?
For an idea on how blogs are used in schools around the world (yes, the
WORLD) check out this Canadian teacher's blog.

http://mr-fisher.edublogs.org/

Remember that your Blogger username should contain your initials, but no
references to first names, etc. Also, no mention of the city we're in or
school we're at--just to play it safe.

Let's see who the first person to comment is--and who will be brave enough
to write the first post!

Well, here we go! Your first assignment is to send me an e-mail with YOUR NAME in the subject line.
This will allow me to invite you to become a member of this blog.

Be sure to read the post below and discuss blogging with your parents.
This is extremely important because I will be sending home a blog
permission slip within the next few days. No signature=no blogging.

Remember, initials only! We'll talk about appropriate posting
later--right now, send me those e-mails!
:)