Touch of Fear by Shyanne Henderson (the giving tree read aloud txt) 📕

“Oh come on Jenny it will be fun.” My friend Rose had told me. We had spent a whole day at school planning what to do this Halloween, and my friends decided to go to this old abandoned house that is supposedly haunted. I really didn’t want to go to this place at all, there are terrible stories that people tell about it.

It was me, Nicole, Rose, Tyrone, and Logan that stood there in front of this scary, old abandoned house. Many people have made it through this place before, but no one was stupid enough to go on Halloween night.

“I could be trick or treating right now, but no you had to pull me along.” I said as the night became fully dark.

“Oh is someone scared?” Logan asked me as he lightly shoved my shoulder. I was scared; I could already feel the ice cold shivers run down my spine. How’d they talk me into this?

“Come on let’s go.” Nicole said and slowly walked up the stairs onto the porch. She looked to the left, the right, and then back behind her. She slowly opened the door and squinted to the creak of the door. Everyone went past me and stood on the porch with Nicole.

I turned on my flashlight, and saw that my hand was shaking. I could see everyone trying to hold in their laughs. “Come on.” I said and shoved my way past all of them.

The house was dark, and the floors were creaking with every step taken. I knew that in this house there is a main floor, an upstairs, and a basement. Well the only reason I knew that was because that's what Rose told me. I really didn’t want to go into the basement, but honestly who would even want too.

Rose and Tyrone took the lead, and Nicole and Logan took the back leaving me in the middle of them, I didn’t mind. I felt safer this way. I looked around at everyone and soon thought to myself, Why did I always end up as the fifth wheel? Shrugging I began to move my flashlight, looking at every corner and at every piece of furniture covered in the white sheets. Rose and Tyrone stopped walking and turned around looking at the three of us.

“I think it’s time you guys find out why we picked to come here.” Rose said as she sat on the floor with Tyrone. Me, Nicole, and Logan sat across from the two wondering what she was talking about.

Rose looked at Tyrone giving a long sigh and said, “Nine years ago, there lived a man and his wife, along with three children ages, six, eight, and nine.”

“We have already heard this story millions of times Rose!” Nicole shouted out.

Rose gave her a long stare, not saying anything, but finally continued to speak. “The youngest child was said to be crazy. That he had a love for killing. His whole family hated him and wanted to kill him, to burn him alive!” When Rose had yelled that out it made us jump a little, “He was said to be the son of the devil. The husband and the wife choose it was time to kill him. That night the two went to his room to take him away from the house so they could burn him. Instead they had found the remains of their five year old girl. She had been chopped up to bits, and there was no question on who did this to her. They tore apart this boy’s room looking for him; he was nowhere to be found though. The parents then went to their eldest child’s room to find him gone. At this point the two parents were freaking out, unknown on what would happen to their oldest child and that’s when they heard the front door slam. Rushing downstairs, they saw their oldest covered in blood at the door. He was crying, and held his brother in his arms. He had told his parents that he didn’t mean to kill his brother and that he was trying to kill him first. The parents had believed the oldest and congratulated him on killing the devil’s son. That next night the eldest had killed his parents, he was the evil one, not the youngest child. The end.” Rose nodded a little and we shook our heads.

I said, “Okay so what does this have to do with us?”

Rose shrugged and said, “Nothing I just love telling the story, and plus I’ve never been through this place.”

I couldn’t be more disappointed and crept out at the same time. She had taken about twenty minutes to tell the story that we had heard multiple times. We all stood up and Nicole asked, “Okay what now?”

We all looked at each other and Rose pointed upstairs, “To where it all began.”

Logan nodded and looked at Nicole, “I think we will stay down here.” I looked at them and shook my head as I headed upstairs with Rose and Tyrone.

“Guess I scared them.” Rose said as she went to the room at the end of the hall.

“So Rose? Um how do you know where this whole thing started anyway?” I asked her. You could start to hear the shakiness in my voice. Rose just looked back and then kept walking. She really seemed to know where she was going.

We went into the room and everything was covered up, it was a girl’s room, not a boy’s.

“Rose? This is the wrong room, this is a girl’s room, not a boy’s” I said and Rose just looked at me laughing. What was so funny? What was going on? The questions just seem to keep running through my head.

“Oh Jennifer. Poor, poor Jenny. You see the story was wrong, the kids never died. They killed their parents, and all those killings that have been happening around here for the past nine years that was them too.” Rose said looking at Tyrone. The two began to walk closer to me. I walked backwards running into a wall, and that was when it came to me.

“Rose? Tyrone? You are the killers?!” They nodded.

"So is Logan. He must be done with Nicole now." Rose laughed. My heart stopped and I ran down stairs to see if it was true. Nicole was there on the hardwood floor, her neck was slit open. I could feel the tears rushing down my pale face, but I couldn’t stop now. I pulled out my phone and went to call 911, but it beeped. No signal...

I could hear them coming down the stairs, they were laughing and yelling my name. I turned around and stumbled a little as I saw Logan holding the bloody knife. I tried to scream, but my voice was stuck to the stock of everything. I backed up as Logan began to walk towards me. I backed into Tyrone and he pushed me down. I fell to the floor looking up at the three of them. I had no way to protect myself, I was helpless.

Logan came down with the knife stabbing me in my right shoulder. I screamed even louder than before. The blood started to run out of my wound as my vision was getting foggy.

I pushed myself back away from them and stood up, using the wall to guide me. “Please don’t do this, you will be caught.” I was panicking now. “Please I won’t tell anyone.” I stuck a hand out at them and pleaded.

They just stared and laughed, “Won’t tell! Hell if I were you, I’d tell as soon as I got out of here.” Rose yelled out.

Tyrone glared at me and took the knife from Logan. He walked over to me holding the knife down towards the floor.

“Please don’t” I cried. He held it up towards my heart and began to press it into me when Rose yelled again, “Stop!” She walked over to Tyrone and grinned, “Let me do it, she was my best friend.”

Publication Date: 04-03-2014

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