The Haunted Corridors – Gothic

Scarlett is a G5 student with Chelsea Kueffer's Kids Canon Advanced 'B'.

Scarlett wrote this story after reading "The Bad Beginning", a gothic story.

 

The leaves rustled beneath their feet as Gabriel, Lauren, Sally and Candice walked past every house in the neighborhood. It was late in August, and the air was very cold. They were best friends and on this particular afternoon they were strolling with each other in a quiet, sparse neighborhood, close to their own.

“So, Lauren,” asked Sally, brushing her messy, mouse-brown hair that was tied up in a tall ponytail. “Truth, or dare?”

“I’ll take truth this time,” answered Lauren. He was a tall, strong popular boy that loved playing basketball and chatting with his friends.

“Seriously? Dare’s are so much better,” said Gabriel, joking.

Unlike Lauren, he preferred tennis better than basketball and liked building anything. He had glasses and short, black hair. They talked as Candice looked on. She loved books and soccer. She had short, blonde hair. The sky was very dark and cloudy, although it was only 4:00 pm. After playing several rounds, it was finally Lauren’s turn, and he chose Gabriel.

“Dare,” Gabriel said slowly.

“Okay, if you say so,” grinned Lauren slyly. He looked at the desolate, old house that were walking past. “I dare you to go into that old house for 25 minutes.”

“What? Okay Lauren, that is way too creepy,” but finding no other choice, he agreed but replied. ”You guys have to come with me. The 4 friends liked the sound of adventure, so they all walked towards the door. There was a grave in the dusty garden and as Candice saw, a shadowy figure by the upstairs window.

“Do you see that guys?” she gulped.

“Yep.”

“I told you it was not a good idea for a dare, but anyway…”murmured Gabriel. He pushed the door lightly, and to his surprise, it creaked open. Again, Candice looked up at the window but the figure was gone. They all stepped carefully into the house, making the floorboards creak. The four friends split up and observed every inch of the dark and gloomy house. There were cracked minors and rats were scurrying around the corners of the house.

“Something isn’t quite right…” thought Lauren, and right at that second, he heard a yelp come from the living room. He ran quickly to the living room and saw Gabriel, and Candice pulling on Sally’s hand which was in a hole in the ground. Running over, he took hold of Gabriel’s feet, which were sprawled on the floor and pulled back wards away from the hole with all his strength. Somehow though, nobody could pull her up, as if she was immersed into the ground. Suddenly, they were all pulled into the deep, down underground of the shabby, old house.

Candice looked around at the surroundings. They had stony edges, spider webs, and for some reason, there were long corridors, as if this place is undergrounds was built especially for one reason, there were long corridors, as if this “place undergrounds” was built especially for one reason. She looked up and saw that the hole that they had fallen through had suddenly just disappeared.

“Oww…Where are we?” moaned Sally. She was alright. The four friends got up and observed the “room” they were in.

“I don’t know where we are, but I have a feeling that it’s not very pleasing.”

“Let’s split up to find a way out. Sally right, me left, Candice up ways, and Lauren down ways,” said Gabriel. That way, they each went to a different path, towards the doom that awaited them.

As Lauren walked down the dusty, long corridor, he wondered if the situation they were in was his fault, for he had dared Gabriel to go in this house in the first place. Suddenly, he heard a bang, and stopped. He saw nothing except a light far off. He walked towards it and screamed. There, right in the light, was a head, hanging there, by a string. Its eyes were white, and it was covered in dark red blood. Lauren ran back towards the room that they were in, but somehow, he just couldn’t get to it. He was lost.

Meanwhile, upon hearing Lauren’s scream, Sally called out his name. She quickened up her pace. Then, Candice ran into her, and Sally’s heart skipped a beat, but seeing that it was only Candice, she calmed down. “Have you heard Lauren scream?” asked Sally.

“Yes. That was why I wanted to find you. What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know, but let’s just hope he’s al right.”

Gabriel was on his own, walking down his corridor. He had also heard the terrifying scream, but couldn’t quite depict where it came from. He took out his phone, and used it as a flashlight. There was nothing except for spider webs, rats, and a person. A person. It was coming nearer and nearer. Gabriel stepped back, but finally, when the person came closer, he saw that it was Lauren. “You’re all right!” exclaimed Gabriel. “Yes. I…I… saw a head. Nearly fainted…” panted Lauren. Together, they walked down the haunted corridors.

While Sally and Candice pondered on, they kept an eye out for anything suspicious. They had been down here for two hours, and they were staring. They turned their heads around, and heard a moan. “Oan, Oan…” Sally saw a person or was it, a zombie. She thought it was quite impossible, but there it was, right in front of her.

“Aaaah! Candice! Look!” she cried while pointing at the zombie. It was green, strewn with seaweed, at its scaly hands were stretched but in front of it. Candice saw it too, and she was screaming too. They both ran as fast as they could, but the zombie was unbelievably fast. With one swift motion, it took hold of Sally’s shoulder, and pulled her into the deep darkness. Candice could still hear her screams, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t grab Sally’s hand, or anything else. Sally was gone.

“Hello? Candice? Sally?” asked Gabriel. Lauren and Gabriel had both heard a high-pitched scream, come from the direction of Sally and Candice. They ran, and sure enough, saw Candice kneeling on the floor, sobbing. “Candice? Is it you?” asked Gabriel. Candice looked up and was relieved. She told them what happened, and they all went to try to find Sally. After more hours of searching, meeting gigantic red eyed spiders, seeing strewn hands on the floor, and more zombies and ghosts (or it seemed like ghosts), they finally saw Sally on the floor, which was a gigantic round circle that Lauren thought was the center of this “maze”. The three friends went over, knelt down beside her. She was not breathing, and there was a long gash down her throat and body. Sally was dead.

“No Sally, it can’t be! Couldn’t it?” sobbed Candice. There were no zombies in sight, and as they saw, a tiny opening on the top of the ceiling. With Sally on his back, Lauren found a ladder in which they all climbed up of, out of the opening, and out of the corridors. They found themselves in a grade yard, behind the old house and as they walked down silently, with Sally dead, they wondered if this doom was not over yet. Out of a window of the second floor of the old, haunted house, a man was watching them, approached more, and more doom, and from that point on, nothing, not one thing, would ever be fortunate for them again. 

Ms Kueffer's comments:

Scarlett was really inspired by the mood from the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allen Poe that we read as a supplemental text.

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