Falmouth Academy Resonance 2020-21

Don’t Enter Abandoned Houses

Most haunted house stories start with a dark and stormy night. This was not the case here. It was quite a nice day out. The sun was shining, birds were chirping, and there wasn’t a stray cloud in the air. The leaves on the trees were still green. All people heard was the laughter of children. It was summer break; nothing could go wrong.

Elaine was not a young child. In fact, she was a teenager. A blond-haired green-eyed teenager who loved to read and write, unlike most teenage girls. Most of the girls in her grade drooled over pictures on their phones of celebrities whom they had crushes on. They also played soccer and thought that they could be the next Alex Morgan. One thing that Elaine did have in common with the girls in her grade was a sense of curiosity. One time, she and some other girls went into the principal’s office during lunch to see what dirt they could find about their classmates’ trips there.

There was a weird path behind the school down which the principal warned students never to venture, for the last kid who went down that path never came back. Even scarier, the two police officers who went to search for the child did not come back either. The path was blocked by a metal gate after the people went missing. No one dared to go down as they were afraid of death. Sometimes teenagers would dare each other to go a couple of feet, but they never went farther than that. Plus there was a sign saying: Do Not Enter Dangerous Surroundings Ahead It was summer, as previously mentioned, so the school and the surrounding areas were vacant.

Elaine decided to go look at the path out of curiosity.

It’s not even that dangerous. Plus, the last people who went down went 50 years ago! It’s safe now.

Instead of going at night, she went right at noon, when the sun was shining brightest.

As she came around the brick building that was the school, there was a furry creature motionless Natalie Todd-Weinstein on the path, its black eyes staring right into hers.

Elaine felt scared for a moment but then realized that it was just a bunny. This happens all the time. Perhaps this was Elaine’s first warning, or maybe it was just a bunny.

The path led right into the woods containing lots of oak and pine trees towering into the sky. The ground had old leaves and pine needles from last autumn. There was barely any visible dirt. As Elaine continued to walk further into the forest, she heard a rustling noise from behind her. The hairs on her neck perked up. Maybe this was a bad idea. Stop being scared. It’s probably just another bunny.

It was not a bunny. Behind Elaine, she soon learned, was a small robin poking at the ground for worms.

Its orange stomach stood out from the sad, brown forest floor. A tug later and a slimy earthworm appeared out of the earth, not prepared for its final moments alive. Perhaps this was Elaine’s second warning, or maybe it was just a robin living out its life.

It had been a little over twenty minutes since Elaine started on the path and the only sights she had seen were the wildlife. But up ahead, there was something, a silhouette of some building. It was as if there was a normal house in the middle of the woods; a three-story house with a small roof over one of the windows and a large roof over the rest. The white exterior paint was faded and there were some roof shingles on the floor below, but other than that, it looked nice. There were no broken windows and the black shutters did not look too worn. Someone could live here if they wanted to.

Elaine came up to the house, ready to explore. This could give me good inspiration for a story. Plus, 52