Uninvited Guests

Uninvited Guests by Katelyn Bullock

 It was a conventional summer day. It was bright and the sun was shining like it had just swallowed a bunch of light bulbs.Tim and his two parents were helping the movers clear out the big, white truck and place down the furniture.“ Why don’t you go explore Tim? It will be a good opportunity to get used to the new house.” Said Tim’s mom.Tim wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to get out of working. “Fine I guess.” Said Tim, rolling his eyes.

 He sludged up the staircase and caught himself opening the front door.Tim slipped off his shoes on the mat that said “welcome” in words that weren't even readable. As he opened the door, he couldn’t help but admire the beautiful house. It was way bigger than his old house. “Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.”Tim thought to himself. This house had a glass chandelier that never stopped shining, a long, glossy, marble staircase that led to the master bedroom. Tim was eager to see the master  bedroom. He raced up the stairs and ended up in front of a large wooden door, carved with swirls and beautiful designs.He got hold of the golden door handles and pulled. But, it wasn’t what Tim had expected.The smell of mold immediately filled his nostrils. It had dust, cobwebs,  and some furniture covered in old, white sheets.

 Tim walked over to the covered furniture, scared like he was about to jump into a pool of lava. He placed his hand, which now had black dust all over it, on the sheet and lifted it. Suddenly, Two big, fat rats skittered across the floor.Tim despised rats and quickly grabbed the broom next to the door for protection.  When he was sure that the rats were gone, he went to the kitchen and examined the rusted stove, curious why his parents chose this house.After he finished looking over the whole house, he found a door that led to the basement. He slowly opened the door and saw a long,steep staircase leading to a dark room.He got curious and went down the stairs. As he went down, he noticed that there were strange noises.

They were not regular noises that you would find in a basement. They were more like squeals or screeches, but they were very quiet. When Tim finally got to the end of the long staircase,he found a lantern.He considered himself lucky to find a source of light since he couldn’t even see his pale white skin. He turned it on and a rat scurried across the floor. Tim slowly backed up and tripped over something.As he turned around slowly, he saw an old, rat skeleton. He immediately jumped forward and ran.Once he felt assured, he picked up his lantern and headed towards a light.He didn’t know where he was going but he couldn’t control himself. It seemed to him that it was a door that was ahead of him.He tried to turn around but his legs kept going forward. When he finally got his body under control, he was in front of something. Tim held his lantern up to it. It was a door...a plain, wooden door. Once again, he couldn't contain his body. He watched as his hand cautiously turned the crooked door knob. He stuck his foot in the door and felt that it was very tight and small inside. He was once again curious and stepped all the way in.Suddenly, the door shut behind him. 

Locked in and afraid,Tim yelled for his parents but they were still outside helping the movers. It was black and he couldn’t see a thing.Tim could barely breathe with all the dust and the smell of dead animals.He felt around and was so grateful when he found the lantern laying on the floor. At this point, he was very worried. Everything went quiet around him.Tim got scared and backed up against the wooden plank behind him.He felt something squishy under his bare feet, like slime or...wait a minute...he looked down slowly and saw a rat head, surrounded by wet, and cold goo.His stomach turned upside down like he had just been on a rollercoaster that went in loopty-loops over and over again. Like that wasn't enough, he heard something.Something that he could never imagine.

 Something that no one could ever imagine.A herd of rats and mice and cockroaches ran across his body and to the other side of the house. They sounded like a bunch of zoo animals that had just been let out of their cages and are all fighting to death.Tim tried to scream but he knew better.The air around him was running low. When all the pests were gone and out of sight, Tim curled up into a tight ball. He felt something on his neck.It was cold and wet. He looked up, with his hand glued to the lantern.He saw a broken pipe above him.He felt a spark of hope.If only he could find a source of food.Then it hit him.His worst nightmare but it was all he had.He put his lantern down, got on his knees, and picked up the rat that he had stepped on earlier.Tim opened the lantern’s little compartment for the candle and held it up to the organs and pool of blood from the rat to somewhat have it cooked.He had to do it. He pinched his nose and ate it. After he finished, of course, he threw up. Then, he curled back into a tight ball, turned the lantern off and fell asleep.

 The next morning, he wasn't feeling good. He threw up a ton and had a really high fever.The next day, it got worse. His illness got worse and worse everyday.

Eventually, his mom and dad went looking for him and got worried when they didn't find him.They looked in the kitchen, the bathrooms, around the neighborhood but it was no use. They called the cops but they were no help either. A year had passed and his parents had moved out of the house, thinking it was cursed. A new family moved in.A five year old named James, was told to look around the house. 

So he did. The first place James looked was at the basement door. He reached on his tiptoes and opened the door.

He ran down the stairs and saw the same door that Tim had walked in a year ago.

 The door opened itself. James hadn’t seen anything like this before. His heart was pounding. He was sure he had seen the doorknob turn. He looked in the door, and there he saw Tim. . Lying on the floor, breathless and his mouth was covered in blood. James ran upstairs and told his mom what he saw in the basement and his mom followed him and looked through the door and saw Tim. She immediately recognized him from the newspaper and called the cops. Once the police arrived along with the ambulances, they rushed down the stairs and carried Tim out.

  When they opened the door to leave, a rat ran across the floor.Tim was lying as still as a paralized goat on the carrier, every now and then, giving a little twitch here and there. The police didn't know what to do so, they just continued with Tim. They rushed him to their examination room to do experiments. As soon as the knife punctured his skin, a ton of rats came gushing out of his body and skittered across the floor, leaving Tim dead.They didn’t know what to do next. Except run.