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Carla was driving in torrential rain, down an old muddy country road. The wind started blowing the car back and forth as she reached down and turned on the windshield wipers and lights. She checked to make sure she turned them on high, in the hope of seeing the road more clearly but it didn't seem to help.

Carla was in a hurry for her interview in Grafton, which was in the next town over. Even though the interview was the next day she wanted to get settled in and rested. She was starting to regret her decision to take this shortcut.

Carla had seen an ad in the newspaper, the same doctor's office she had completed her internship with was advertising for an LPN. She felt that she was a perfect fit for the job since she knew everything about the office.

Carla was from a small town. It wasn't very big and didn't have a large grocery store either. Everyone knew everything about everybody and there surely was no privacy. It was the typical small-town gossip scene.

She had left for Grafton for her schooling and fell in love with the big city life but felt obligated to move back home after she graduated. Carla's mom had been a chain smoker all of her adult life. Now suffering from emphysema, she had to be on oxygen full time. So Carla regretfully moved back to take care of her.

Carla dreamt one day she would move back to Grafton but she didn't think in her wildest nightmares that it was going to be so soon. Shortly after Carla moved back home her mother suffered a heart attack and passed away. Alone, Carla now felt she could be adventurous and move back to the big town.

Carla hit a pothole in the road which brought her back from her daydreaming. Her lights started to dim in the darkness. She tapped her dashboard, "come on old girl you can do it." She said out loud barely able to hear herself over the sound of the rain and the windshield wipers. Her optimism usually calming her fears but she now was becoming increasingly nervous.

Then it happened, her car's engine quit running. The wheels still rolling, it came to an abrupt stop as the car bumped into an old rusty gate. She paused in disbelief as she stared at her dark dashboard.

The only light around was the residual glow of lightning through the heavy rain. She looked out through her windshield trying to see what was past the iron gate. Then she saw it, the lighting had struck an antenna which lit up an old victorian style house. "oh good, someone to help me" she thought to herself as she opened her car door and stepped out. She was wearing high heels and nylons, her dress skirt was forme fit and covered her knees but she felt the cold of the night rushing up to her legs.

She took two steps from the car and fell into a muddy hole. "Shit!," she said out loud while she picked herself up off the ground, "can this night get any worse"? She screamed while grasping her drenched hair. By this time Carla was soaking wet pulling her long brown hair out of her eyes and away from her face. She walked over to the gate and happily discovered that one of the rods had rusted out leaving enough room for her to slip through.

She put her right leg through the gap first as she noticed a dim light that appeared in what looked like a window of the dilapidated house. Excited to see the light she rushed through the gap of the gate ripping her nylons as she pulled her left leg through the gap, brushing it against the bar. She then quickly as she could in heels, hobbled down the path towards the light.

She noticed with every lightning strike the outline of the old house. She could see that it was a two-story house with high pitch roofing arches and a lot of windows. The shining light was brighter now and she could see it was a candle sitting in a window with the curtains pulled back to the sides.

She finally reached the porch, trying her best to see through the darkness. She looked down, barely make out that most of the steps had rotted away. Shivering from the cold rain, and slowly navigating the steps, she determined which ones were safe enough for her to step on.

Finally reaching the door. With exuberance, she knocked as loud as she could. Bang, bang she continued knocking when all of a sudden the door opened with a creaking noise. Carla paused in the middle of her knocking motion with her arm in the air.

She slowly placed her hand onto the door giving it a slight push. "Hello"? She called out with a low squeaky voice as she pushed the door fully open. She was about to yell out hello again when she noticed another light flickering at the end of a hallway. She walked in slowly and cautiously, looking all around in the darkness, she couldn't make out anything except the flickering light. As she walked towards the light she became nervous, there was only enough ambient light that bounced off the cobwebs covering what looked like pictures hanging on the walls.

She reached the end of the hallway, finding the source of the light. Sitting on an old tea table was a small white candle in an old tarnished silver candle holder, Carla picked it up to look down the long hallway it split left and then right. She held up the candle, turned towards the left and then towards the right looking to see if she could spot more lights in either direction.

It was completely dark minus the small candlelight that Carla was now holding. "Any mini miny moe, which direction shall I go," she said to herself as she turned down the hallway towards the right. She walked a few feet when she heard a noise coming from one of the rooms. She stopped quickly in her tracks, her heart beating faster, too scared to move any further. She held the candle high over her head to see in front of her. Then she heard it again. A thud sound coming from behind the door she was standing next to. Carla's legs started shaking, her breath quickened.

She slowly turned around to see if anyone was behind her when all of a sudden, candles down the hall lit up one by one until the hall was a runway of bright lights. She dropped her candle in fright and took off running. The house was big and disorienting, she turned down different corridors, left, right, then straight. The whole house was lit up, Carla was panicking turning and twisting, down hallways, she had lost her way.

Carla's fear overwhelming her, she fell to the ground, curled into the fetal position trying to keep from screaming. She heard it, the house, it was laughing. A deep and guttural laugh over and over. Then Simultaneously all of the candles blew out, leaving Carla all alone in the dark.

As she saw the ball of light move towards her she let out a blood-curdling scream.

Carla never made it to Grafton that night and no one has heard from her since. No one has even thought to look for her either. The doctor's office thought she was no longer interested in the job while the rumor mill in her hometown thought she had moved to Grafton for the job.

Think about this the next time you are all alone, driving in the dark on a lonely winding country road.

Does anyone know where you are today?