Haunted

The house at the end of the street. The old, creaky, spooky house. The one everyone thought was haunted when you were a kid. No one lived there, but sometimes you could swear you saw shadows in the windows. Strange noises would emanate from the backyard. People crossed to the other side of the street when walking by. You know the house. Years went by, you grew up, and you stopped thinking about the creepy house at the end of the street. It became nothing more than something to remind you how powerful a child’s imagination could be. Now, you stand outside the fence that wraps around the home’s front yard. You’ve been dared to spend one hour inside the creepy place. You don’t think much of it, break in, hang out, win a dare. You’re not scared of it anymore. You’re not scared of childish nightmares. You and your friends enter through a gate in the tall fence and as you step through, it slams shut behind you. You try to open it, but it’s locked tight. The fence is too high to climb. You turn slowly, knowing the only way to escape is through the house, and out the backyard. A single light flickers in the window ahead of you. This place is supposed to be abandoned…. Isn’t it?