The Silent House

Trigger warning: body horror

It was not the sound of the glass shattering that sent shivers down my body, but the ominous footsteps that followed. My last memory of the night before was of my cramped room, that seemed to shrink at night like a prison cell. The moonlight crept through my curtains to light up the other side of the room, where a wardrobe stood next to the door that had been bolted shut hours beforehand. I had specifically requested a room with a lock when we arrived at our friends’ house, something I had done since I was little, much to my parents’ displeasure, they never seemed to trust me. My thoughts were interrupted by the continued sound of footsteps, of what must have been multiple people, possibly a party of two or three, as the sounds seemed to follow each other. But there were no whispers, they had come in silence, whoever they may have been.

I rose from my bed, curious at the sounds on the other side of the wall. As I reached the door, I could hear the feint sounds of crying from across the hall. That was where two of the girls had been staying, and what shocked me was the fear I could hear in their whimpers. I peeked through the old-fashioned keyhole on the door, only to see darkness on the other side. The house was an old one, built over one hundred years ago (as our host was happy to point out), but the rotting wooden floor in some of the unused rooms and the chandeliers that floated above us as we entered made me feel uneasy rather than comforted. I froze again, as the footsteps neared my door, becoming louder and louder. I dared looked through the keyhole again, instead pushing my ear to the side of the door as the sounds passed. I was expecting either the heavy clump of boots or even the soft sound of bare feet, but the noise resembled that of a spider if nothing else. It seem to scutter past, almost brushing across the floor. The whimpers had stopped, instead replaced by a disturbing silence that illuminated the footsteps even more. But even they had stopped, perhaps a few feet down the old hall.

The room felt colder, like a winter breeze that stuck to your skin. The scuttering had returned, but this time it was behind me, back towards the bed. I turned, sharply, but without making a nose, expecting to see a creature, but the room remained empty.

And then I saw it. It crawled up the wall, slowly, but as if it were creeping up on its prey. Its body was black, yet the moonlight seemed to glimpse of it. Then I saw the eyes, again, black as the night, but glistening in the minimal light the room offered. It continued to scuttle, this time onto the ceiling, it legs moving in tandem, effortlessly. When I decided to look up, frozen in fear, I saw the head of my once-friend sticking out the creatures’ mouth. Their body was removed, possibly inside the beast now, its stomach did seem to bulge strangely. Blood trickled down from above me, hitting my cheek like the first drops of rain.

It jumped down, but I bolted into the hallway, slamming the door behind me, resulting in a large squeak sounding out. I raced down the stairs onto the ground floor where the large reception room was located, eager to find a light source that would confirm my horrors. I found it next to the bar, where I cowered behind the seats as the light began to flicker on.

What I saw made me gag quietly, however I couldn’t find the energy to throw up. My head span as I looked around the cobwebs that clung to every corner of the room. Beside each one, a spider the size of a small horse hung there. On the floor in front of me, the remains of human flesh were spread, like a platter at a restaurant. I could resemble the body of a small child by the entrance, and the eyes of another unfortunate victim a few feet in front of me. The sounds of movement filled the room again, as the creatures scurried along the walls into what seemed like every direction. There was a cry in front of me, and the dim light allowed me to make out the distressing image of my friend, who lay there with blood splattered across her face and hair draped over her eyes. She opened her mouth to speak, yet the only noise that sounded was a whistle-like cry, as if her vocal chords had failed her. The blood in her mouth gurgled out as she attempted to speak, and I could see the remains of her tongue and teeth that seemed to have been ripped out with incredible force. My heart dropped again as I noticed something more disturbing about her

Her legs were missing. She had been crawling to me like a zombie, leaving a trail of blood across the floor. I could see the tears in my eyes that glinted at me, however there was no life in them. My friend was a body more than a person now, and she can’t have had long left. But I reached out to her, offering me hand in an attempt to comfort her in her last moments. I crawled across the floor myself, passing the various body parts to my left and right as I neared her. Our arms were near to touching as she continued to let out a pathetic whimper that echoed around the room, but as we touched hands I realised the end had come for me as well. My friend disappeared as the creature swallowed her whole, sweeping up the rest of her body. The crunching sound that followed filled the room, and drowned out the remaining screams of the girl. I could hear the noises around me now, and the last thing I saw was the giant eyes of the monster in front of me.