The Haunted Vacation (Short Story)

It was our vacation, so they said. We stayed at a house that was cheap. Dirt cheap. My mom was excited about being able to stay somewhere for vacation that would hardly cost a thing. My family was always obsessed with saving every dime possible. But as great and exciting as my mom and siblings made the vacation sound, I should have stayed home. When we approached the house there was a man there who I assumed to be the landlord. He seemed a bit off, as if uncomfortable being on the property. For good reason too. He showed us all the rooms, and even the horses outside which we were allowed to pet. Then he was gone. I’m not even sure I saw him leave.

I was assigned the upstairs room to myself, which was more like an attic. The wooden ceiling slanted on either side of the bed, with hardly enough room to stand. The entire upstairs was just wood, a mattress on the floor, and that was it. My mom and siblings took the downstairs bedrooms. There were only two. I googled the house address, wondering what the catch was. I found it alright. Headlines screamed across my phone screen. 

Old Farmhouse site of the mass murder

Six Teenagers murdered at the Old Farmhouse

The Old Farmhouse horror house is now being rented out!

My skin tingled and a shiver went up my spine. I reluctantly hit the photos option and there it was, this same house. There were even pictures of the rooms. My existence almost sank to the floor when a photo of the upstairs attic showed three bodies covered in bloody stab wounds lying on the mattress. One of them was half on the mattress and half smashed into the slanted ceiling. I had to sleep here? I went downstairs and asked my mom if she knew. She seemed indifferent. It didn’t seem to bother her. I needed air. I went outside to look at the horses. There were six. They looked more like ponies than horses. My gut wrenched as I glanced back down at my phone and another headline popped up.

 Each member murdered at the Old Farmhouse had their own horse. 

I was standing in front of a haunted building of horrors! And what was now even worse was the horses.  Having belonged to each of the victims, each horse seemed to be a reminder of their lost presence. I was sickened. 

That night, I was forced to sleep in the upstairs room alone. I did my best to sleep, but every time I closed my eyes I could hear screams, and see the three teenage boys who had been upstairs fighting for their lives. It was as though I was reliving their last moments just being up here. Nothing I saw when my eyes were closed was from the internet pictures. These were new images. A voice in my head said, “I was killed in that very bed.”

A paralyzing fear gripped me. Were they still here? I could feel their presence, their emotions, their pain. They were angry, scared. I couldn’t move. I opened my eyes and looked around the room. There was no one here…but when I closed them again I could see them standing there. Their presence seemed to scream for help. I felt a pain so deep and so powerful overcome me. God I had to get out of here! I raced downstairs to my family, which seemed like safety from the terrifying upstairs. But they were all wide eyed, staring at each other in horror. They said they could feel their presence. My mom said we’d get through the night and drive home. My siblings and I couldn’t sleep or sit still.

We figured maybe we’d go for a swim in the indoor pool. The pool seemed like the safest place in the house, away from where the murders took place. I felt the pool water, sending a ripple across the motionless surface. I closed my eyes at the freezing temperature of the water, and I saw it. A body lying face down in the pool, gushing blood all around his body. I opened my eyes and looked at my siblings. They were staring frozen at the center of the pool. There was nothing there, but they had seen it too. Felt his haunting presence. He was here with us. It was then that the whole image came at me all at once. There had been a frat party here on the night of the murders. They had been partying, drinking, swimming, and having a good time. But one of their friends was not. He was an outsider in comparison. He hated their fun loving spirits when his was so sunken.

That night he had had enough. He masked up and began stabbing like crazy. By this point everyone at the party was too drunk or too high to fully realize what was going on. He finished his demonic act, and left without a word. Everyone in the house was left confused. Many passed out in the blood of their friends, only to wake up in a nightmare. The cops weren’t called until the following morning. It was a bloodbath mixed with vomit from drunk teenagers. And blood covered teenagers who woke up mortified. 

I didn’t learn any of this from the news. It was as though this house and its memories were trapped inside it, disturbing anyone who entered. We left that instant. We were not going to make it through the night. I looked through the back window as we drove away, each horse standing side by side, watching us leave.