Happy Halloween

The Haunted House

“Creepy Halloween edition. Readers beware! Explore at your own peril or risk nightmares! Hahaha,” cackled the eerie voice.

Goose pimples sprouted up in the middle of her back, ran up toward her head and down her arms. Her ears flamed with heat while every fine hair stood at attention. She closed the front door of the old dilapidated mansion on the hill. It had never been completed and by the stories, no one would come and finish it after the painter was found dead. His face contorted as if he’d seen something horrible.

The sun was setting, rapidly exposing the grayish brown sky of early evening. Staying to morning was the dare, but she had ulterior motives. She reached into her backpack and pulled out her flashlight. Had the rumors been true? Ghosts protecting a hidden treasure? Bearer Bonds buried under the floor boards in the furthest most room upstairs.

Cobwebs hung in the doorways and from the ceiling, getting stuck in her eyelashes. Her light danced high and low throughout the rooms as she made her way to a staircase in the west wing. She knew someone or something was watching her. Was the house sentient or was something supernatural at play? She spun in a circle checking corners only to see nothing! The floor creaked to the left of her. She spun back around. Nothing! Anxiety filled her soul. A fire lit in the hearth. She jumped! Her heart pounded! Her breath came in gasps. A door slammed upstairs. Shadows crept making walls look longer. It was getting darker and the flashlight’s sphere seemed to be getting smaller. Her eyes stretched wider.

A cat screamed off in the distance as she stepped on the first step of a staircase. Flies buzzed and became thicker the higher she climbed. Round and round, higher and higher up the never ending steps. Her breathing labored, at the top she swallowed hard, but continued to hear her own heaving sounds.

She searched room after room, each reeking of its own special putrid odor, until she found the small rickety staircase to the dormer. The scent of copper filled her nostrils and mouth as she ascended slowly, one wobbly step at a time. The closed door stood above her. She stared at the knob, torn between opening it and running. She took a deep breath and grasped the doorknob. Her light went out. The darkness consumed her. She exhaled the breath she’d been holding and twisted the handle. The door squeaked as it slowly opened. The odor of rotting flesh blasted her in the face, making her heave and retch. When she recovered and gathered herself, she inched her way into the small room that teetered at the very top of the manor. The floorboards had been removed, causing her to trip and fall face down into a pile of gooey, rotting, maggot eaten flesh all mixed in a pile of bones. She screamed, fainting dead away.

She awoke lying in the dirt of the grand entry outside the front door as the sun crested in the east. Smelling of the dead and shivering beyond control. The Bearer Bonds were tucked neatly under her right hand.

TD Cooper 2ND CHANCES: A BOOK OF CHOICES by TD Cooper Amazon Kindle $2.99 and Createspace paperback $13.99.
GET A SIGNED COPY, VISIT MY WEBSITE FOR DETAILS also for your enjoyment I've posted my 1st place short short story. TDCooperbooks.com #NewAdult #Paranormal #Fantasy #Romance Also if you are looking for the Kindle version follow this link http://www.amazon.com/2nd.../dp/B00TD41T3G/ref=sr_1_6.