We entered the house, the old wooden floorboards began to creak. With every step we took, they screamed louder and louder, as if calling for help. It was like they had been waiting for years and were bored and wanted to talk I turned to my friend.
"I think we should go back. This place is too scary.’’
''There's no going back, we are inside already!'' Bruce said. I took a deep breath, turned on the light of the phone in my hand and continued down the hall in front of me. On the right side of the wooden door hung a picture of a family and a sullen old couple holding a baby. The baby's face was very dusty and his expression was unreadable. Even though the baby was in the man's arms, the woman's gaze was sour, and she seemed to be giving him an antipathetic look. She was obviously not happy with the way the photo was taken. Wondering why they didn't put a picture of her smiling, I opened the door and a huge room appeared in front of me.
To my right, a wide wooden staircase leading upwards, probably to the third floor and then to the roof, greeted me in all its splendor. Opposite me were three doors. Beside the doors were old knightly armor, obviously bought for decoration. It was as if they were standing on their own. To the left was a large fireplace, almost big enough for me to lie down in. Its long-extinguished fire and dried ashes scattered as I opened the door. I noticed a worn bearskin rug in the center of the room, but the room was so large that three hides were placed side by side. When I shone my light on them, I realized that one was a bearskin and the other two were wolf pelts. The hunters who lived here must not have been here for a long time, I thought. My friend Bruce couldn't hide his surprise and took a step inside.
The parquet he stepped on screamed as loud as a little girl who had been robbed of her ice cream and was trying to get her mother's attention from five blocks away.
We were scared.
We waited.
We heard footsteps, upstairs.
We turned around and looked at each other's faces to go back outside. I started whispering,
"Dude, let's get out of here, there's obviously a ghost up there.”
''No, I think a dog got in or something and we have to get our kite from the roof. Think about it, who knows what other kites have fallen there. I heard that Hamilton's kite fell on the roof of this house recently. He was too chicken to pick it up, because he is a chicken. Or are you a chicken too?''
''OK, OK, OK, calm down, shut up, let's go and get it then.'' I said and started walking towards the stairs with calm, slow steps. I had a strange feeling in the back of my neck.
When I got closer to the stairs, I noticed that some of the steps were old and moldy. Also, when I got this close, there was a smell like pickles. I turned around, thinking it was probably a dead animal. Bruce covered his nose and grimaced. We kept going up the stairs.
When we got to the second floor, the doors to all the rooms were closed and there was another space, similar to the large space below. But a toy on the mantelpiece caught my attention. A wooden car. I pointed the toy with my finger and signaled my friend Bruce.
I slowly turned the light on my phone towards the fireplace and started walking towards it.
Footsteps.
I heard the footsteps, upstairs again.
''Dude, there's someone in there. That's the second time we've heard it, let's get out of here, I think this house is haunted.”
''There's no one there, maybe some dog or cat or whatever duude! don't be scared, come on, take this toy and let's go upstairs and then we'll go to the roof.''
I stepped on the old carpets on the floor and reached the toy. It was a beautifully made car figure. Next to it was a doll. An ugly doll with messed up hair. I don't know why girls like this kind of thing, so I put the doll in my pocket, thinking maybe I could give it to one of the girls on my street.
When I came back later, Bruce was already halfway up the stairs. I quickly followed him, wondering what the closed doors to my left and right were hiding, but it was a very scary place.
We're on the third floor. After that it was the roof.
I shone the light of my phone around and we started to see cobwebs. This was a smaller place than the lower floors. The staircase leading to the roof was right in front of us and there were a few pieces of furniture around it. The furniture was covered with white and old bedsheets. It was as if they didn't want dust on them. But as I shone my light on them, they looked like floating ghosts.
Bruce and I locked eyes. These ghostly things were all that stood between us and the kites above. We weren't afraid of the spiders, they would die if we stepped on them. But we couldn't step on ghost...
We started walking forward with slow and stressful steps. I was trying to see the animal that was making footsteps as we walked through the furniture. I hoped it was not a ghost, but I realized that we were already at our destination. After taking a few steps on the ladder leading to the roof, we pushed the trapdoor and opened it upwards. Just at this moment, the sheet on one of the seats started to fly because of the wind blowing. It circled around like a dancing ghost and underneath it was something we didn't expect.
Multiple eyes reflecting the light from my phone. A pair of big, big eyes baring their fangs at us. The mother cat hissed at us as if protecting her kittens.
I was scared, started to fall, but Bruce grabbed me and pulled me up. "Come on, come on, we're here, it's time to get rich!’’
When we got to the roof, we really saw a lot of kites. I immediately recognized the kites of many of our friends in the neighborhood. I thought how happy they would be if we gave them back their toys. We were going to be the heroes of the neighborhood! We rappelled them all down the side of the house and then we went back inside. The mother cat was still showing her teeth and threatening us, to protect her kittens. We made our way away from her, through the furniture and then downstairs.
As we left the house, I turned around and looked at this old abandoned house in our neighborhood that had seemed so scary to me for so many years. The stone and the wood of the house looked so sad and weeping, like they were falling apart.
But I had conquered another fear, along with my friend Bruce!
Thank you so much for reading! I hope you loved it! This story is written for and inspired by The Inkwell Fiction Prompt ‘’footsteps’’