S T R A N G E  O C C U L T

The Colorado grumbled down the paved road, bouncing myself and Sally whenever it hit one of the ruts or potholes that pocketed the ground.

We had never been on this route, had never even been closer than 20 miles away, but the road was familiar.

In our twenty years of hunting, we'd traveled down many others that were just like it.

Two lanes twisting through hills, fields or wilderness, but almost always remote, almost always lonely.

This one was of the hilly field variety, lined on either side with bushes and run-down fences that bordered wide expanses of land. Just another country road.

As soon as I had turned onto it, though, I knew instantly that this road would be one of the few that will actually lead to something.

I'd never really believed in that "sensitive spirits" crap, but deep in my gut, I felt that familiar, uneasy stirring.

No, this one would not disappoint.

"Want another burger?" Sally asked, staring into the white bag as my face twisted in disgusted.

All right, so maybe that feeling in my stomach came from those six McChicken burgers.

"Nah, man, I'm fine," I told my sister. I gripped the wheel as my eyes shifted from side to side.

On the left side of the road were scattered homes, modest places built within the past thirty years.

We sat back from the road, half-hidden by bare trees and deadened bushes. To my right lay empty fields, gently rising and falling without pattern. At one time they were probably filled with crops, but now they lay barren under a straggly layer of brown grass covered with a fine dusting of snow.

And even though the road was called Clayhouse, I was disappointed I didn't see a single house made from clay.

Beside myself, Sally stared out the passenger window, a look of disinterest on her face. "Aw, come on now," I drawled. "Don't pout."

Sally's head did a slow roll from the window as she looked at me through the corner of her narrowed eye.

"Yeah, well I'm sorry that a big waste of our time makes me feel less than giddy." Her head rolled back to the window, her face now more tense.

I gritted my teeth. So our last three stops turned out to be nothing more than overactive imaginations - or in the last case, a group of college students who had too little to do and too much to drink.

But in our line of work, wild goose chases and false leads were all too common.

Last year, for example, I had gone five months before I found a legitimate case of paranormal activity. And Sally was getting pissy over a lousy two and a half weeks?

"Look. One of these cases will lead us to Daniel," I explained as I had countless times before. "We gotta check out each one until we find the right one, and until…" But I trailed off, knowing Sally wasn't listening, knowing that I wasn't paying attention to what I was saying either.

Suddenly Sally straightened up, her eyes fixed on something outside the passenger window.

Surprised, I swept my gaze towards the fields on the right. Almost immediately I saw it, and felt an irrational bolt of irritation that Sally spotted it first.

 

The house sat at the top of a low, wide hill, overlooking the expanse of fields we were passing. Instead of facing the road like most houses, this one boldly stared at myself and Sally head on as our car rambled towards it.

The house itself was a ghost, just a shell left over from past glory. Even from the distance, I could tell it was abandoned. Its tall, gaping windows were black and lifeless, its red brick gray with dirt and years.

Sally let out a low whistle. "Damn. If that house isn't haunted already, it should hunt down its own ghost just so all that spookiness doesn't go to waste."

I nodded wordlessly, switching my gaze back and forth from the road to the house. Just as we were about, I found an overgrown lane that had served as a driveway of sorts at one time.

I pulled the car into the mouth, unable to go any farther because of a rusted metal gate that barred the way. The house, with its side now facing the them, could barely be seen from their vantage point. It sat far back from the road and was partially hidden by a clump of trees that stood midway beside the barely-there driveway.

"All right, let's tear this bitch up," I announced, grabbing my pack from the backseat before hopping out of the Colorado. Sally followed suit, coming around to meet myself at the back of the car.

"We should keep it light for now," I said, rifling through the stuff hidden inside the trunk. "It's still daylight, and I don't want to explain the katana to the local police."

I straightened up, holding a hammer and a short dagger. Sally didn't look surprised when I handed her the hammer, keeping the blade for himself.

I slammed the trunk lid shut and the two of us headed for the house.

The gate, which consisted of two metal poles stretched across the width of driveway with a faded "No Trespassing" sign hanging from the top one, provided no real challenge, and we were quickly on the other side, trudging through the overgrown grass.

 

Thanks melancholy  first reader and commenter 

 

It was a short hike as we stomped past rocks, thorny branches, and the occasional animal-dug hole. The cold, early November air stung my nose and snaked its way into my lungs with each breath, yet my armpits grew sticky under my blue branded shirt as we continued our way up the slow incline. The distance was longer than it looked.

The driveway suddenly faded into an open yard, and the two of us paused to gaze up at the three-story brick house, now in full view. All of the glass was missing from the windows, giving the place the feel of an empty void.

The woodwork, especially the front porch, looked rotted. Though the websites dubbed it the Clayhouse Mansion, it wasn't overly huge - but even so, it held the promise of many rooms and dark corners to explore.

The house did not stand alone. I took a quick survey of the property, my heart pounding at the possibilities.

We were walking on the grounds of an estate, complete with several old outbuildings, all which beckoned them.

In fact, the building they stood closest to wasn't even the mansion, but another large clay structure a mere couple of steps to their left. At two stories tall, it was the size of a small house, though as far as I could tell, it looked more like a storage building.

Behind the house stood another, smaller building, one that made me think of a tiny, one-room schoolhouse. There was also yet another brick structure - storeroom maybe - also in the back. Way off at the far side of the house was an old wooden barn. One wall and some of the roof looked partially collapsed. I then saw the edge of another building the house blocked from view.

"So, this is where Bloody Mary came from," Sally remarked, frowning thoughtfully. Her tone faked interest, but I know her well enough to recognize her sarcasm.

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Sorry it's short, next update will be longer!!

Tbh Mela, I kinda based this on supernatural  I'm just so addicted to it

Thanks fallen

 

 thanks, imma update in a couple of minutes

 

"Of course not," I replied easily. "But that doesn't mean she's not here."

"Yeah, well I wish we had more to go on than a couple of websites," Sally threw back. "I trust them less than those drunk college kids."

"Aw, you miss your friends, Sally?" I knew I probably shouldn't have said that.

Sally was still touchy when it came to her happy life as a happy little high school student, and I really didn't want to remind her how I had come along and ripped her away - perhaps even getting her boyfriend injured in the process.

So I accepted the glare Sally shot my way, knowing I deserved it. She shook her shoulders and sighed. "All right, let's see what's here," Sally said, stepping towards the house.

Sally hung back, so I decided to relent a little. "If we don't find anything right away, we'll go on our merry way, okay?" I said as a peace offering. "Be outta here by tomorrow." Normally, I'd spend up to a week investigating a place - my brother, Daniel, had always insisted - just to make sure it wasn't haunted/possessed/cursed. But now I had my less-than-patient sister with me.

And frankly, I was anxious to find my brother too.

"And then what? We'll travel through another three states just to get to the next Bloody Mary legend?"

I shrugged, slowing in my tracks. "Unless Daniel gives us another hint," I said over my shoulder.

Though I didn't show it - after all, getting anything done would be hard if we were both bitching - I was frustrated too.

Our brother had only left a two-word phrase scribbled on a napkin, the only thing we had to go on. I had found it sticking out of a sign - a hiding spot our brother had used before - at a rundown bar after our last successful hunt. All he had written was "Bloody Mary" and nothing more, least of all an actual location.

Hell, he was probably drunk when he wrote it.

Sally groaned as she eyed the mansion. "Something might be here," she admitted. "But I doubt it's Bloody Mary. I bet there isn't a single mirror left inside that thing."

"Won't know until we look." Sally nodded reluctantly, pulling out the hammer as she caught up with myself.

As the two of us walked towards the house, I raked my eyes over the windows, looking for a way in. The ones on ground level were boarded up; even the doorway, missing its door, was blocked by a large piece of wood. The hammer would definitely come in handy.

I suddenly stumbled over something small and hard on the ground. Fortunately I caught my balance before I could make an ass of myself by falling.

Frowning, I looked at my feet and kicked at the thing I tripped on. When it moved, I reached down and picked it up.

"Damn, that place is falling apart," Sally remarked as she looked at the thing in my hand.

It was a broken piece of metal twisted into a delicate design. I looked up and saw that it matched the metalwork that crowned the porch roofs in patches.

I frowned.

We were still a good hundred feet from the house. Even though the piece fit in my hand, it still had a heavy weight to it. It was small, only a fraction the size of the length missing from the roofs. Could a strong wind knock down a iron molding piece by piece?

I ran my fingers along the sides, feeling the rough spots where the metal broke off.

 

Sally searched through the grass with her feet, and she pulled up another small fragment about ten feet away. She held it up so I could see before she tossed it back on the ground. I dropped mine down in front of me, where it landed with a thud against the frozen ground.

Once we reached the house, we found a window around the back that had a loose board hammered to the frame. Unlike the other windows, this one was boarded from the outside, which probably meant it was the entrance most thrill-seekers and ghost hunters used.

Sally took the flat end of the hammer head and with a few strong jerks, managed to pry the board from the window. Behind the board, the glass was gone, just like the others.

I crawled through first, stepping aside to let Sally in behind myself.

Inside, the room was trashed, and I had to be careful where I stepped.

The lighting was dim, coming only from the cracks and holes in the floorboards above, and the sunlight that seeped around the edges of the window boards, much like a solar eclipse. Fortunately, it was just enough light to see.

This place definitely had its share of visitors, and at least some of those decided to vandalize the walls and furniture. The floor was covered with debris, and any furniture that had been left behind - and by the looks of it, most of it was - was torn to shreds.

"Okay, we've got a nice place-" When Sally snorted at that, I shrugged in agreement and went on, "-with lots of land, and an abandoned house filled with personal belongings."

"These people didn't move," Sally concluded for herself. "And whoever this place was left to wanted nothing to do with it."

"And why didn't they sell it?" I mused, already thinking of possible answers. Sally spoke two of those possibilities out loud.

"Because the family had something to hide," she said. "Or they tried to sell, but no one was willing to buy."

"And we gotta figure why," I added.

"I still don't think it's Bloody Mary," Sally said stubbornly.

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Another update 
Btw should I continue this? Not many are reading and it takes a while to write 

 

Well usually when I have time I'd work on the next scene  but I still have studying and cleaning to do  n I like to at least write one update daily it keeps the readers happy lol

 

I ignored her as I started to pick my way through the junk. Sally searched beside myself, and together we explored the entire first floor. It wasn't a comfortable search - even though the boards in the windows blocked the wind, the temperature inside was just as low as it was outside. But each room was filled with enough things to distract me from the cold. Every room was filled with debris, and the two of us searched through it for clues or signs.

I wondered briefly if looters had left anything valuable behind in the junk that littered the rooms. But of course I didn't have enough time to look.

In one room, someone had spray-painted an inverted pentagram on the wall, but there wasn't any real evidence of Satanists or any other group using the room as a meeting place.

However, there were several beer bottles and cans littering the floor - obviously this was a popular hangout. But there wasn't anything to tell them what - if anything - lurked inside the home.

After we made a sweep of the first floor, we came to a wooden staircase, the kind that went up halfway, and then turned to go up the rest of the way. "Well, this must be the spot where Garry Star died," Sally murmured, gazing up the stairs.

"Yep."

"Doesn't look like a fall that would usually kill, but all it takes is headfirst landing." Sally shot a look at me. "It's not exactly a death that screams paranormal."

"Nope. But there's also the coed with a mysterious aneurysm, that boy who disappeared, and those two suicides."

"Anything could have happened to Stevie Menders, and that was thirty years ago. Just because he lived on the same street, there's no proof he wandered over here. And, you know, if I kill myself a week from now, I somehow doubt this house will have anything to do with it."

I thought about saying something but didn't, feeling too uncomfortable. Sally continued. "If anything, this place is cursed, and we don't have time to figure out how to reverse it." Cocking her head, I shot her a dark look, and Sally threw up her arms. "Hey, it's not my fault they decided to trespass onto a haunted property."

"And I thought you were the sensitive one," I remarked dryly. I turned to the staircase and tested the first step. When it proved to hold my weight, I started making my way up. I could hear Sally following behind myself, the stairs creaking with each step.

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Well I think I'm going to continue till it gets boring 

 

The second floor was much like the first, only with bedrooms. However, the air was much easier to breathe than it had been the enclosed level below. A fresh breeze blew in from the open windows, so I didn't have to inhale a noseful of old, stale dust with each breath. Not only that, but the windows also allowed the late afternoon sun in, so seeing was easier as well.

Despite these luxuries, Sally and myself didn't find much to hold our interest on the second floor. More trashed furniture, more litter, and no signs of any horrible past that may or may not have happened.

I rubbed my temples. I remembered the articles and online rumors they found concerning the modern-day deaths connected to this mansion, but my mind drew blanks whenever I tried to remember the story of the original family - or even if there were more than one. Details from previous cases - from previous horrors and evil deeds - blended together so that I couldn't remember which story this house held. "Okay," I said, giving up. "Now what do we know for certain about the history here?"

"Nothing," Sally replied, effectively explaining why I couldn't remember. "No one seems to know anything. In fact, no one can even remember how long it's been abandoned. They certainly don't have any basis for a haunting claim, except that it looks haunted."

I swept my gaze over the walls of the last bedroom on the floor. "Great. So even if this place is haunted, no one knows why."

"Exactly. Then somebody starts a Bloody Mary rumor, just to have something scary to say. The next thing you know, teens are trampling around this rundown hole, and one of them trips down the stairs, just fueling the rumors."

I sighed. Sally did have a point, and as she mentioned earlier, we had yet to find any mirrors in the house. Even if the place were haunted, right now we were looking for a Bloody Mary.

Sally must have seen my torn expression. "Look, we can always come back," she bargained.

I looked around the room, staring at the lifeless furniture that had at one time held warm bodies, and I couldn't help but wonder what they had witnessed. I thought I could feel it in the air, the energy, the desolation, from something long ago. The place just didn't feel right.

But we hadn't actually found anything.

"All right," I finally agreed. "Let's just check the third floor, and then we can-"

Something thumped on the floor above us.

"What the hell?" I muttered, looking up at the ceiling. It shook as another thump sounded above.

Sally and myself barely glanced at each other as we immediately raced for the stairs.

Sally, with her longer legs, reached the stairs first, but I was right behind her as we pounded up the steps. As soon as we reached the third floor, we both stopped in our tracks as a thick stench hit our noses.

"Oh, God," Sally choked, covering her nose and mouth with her hand. "What is that?"

The windows were open, but I felt none of that fresh air we enjoyed on the second floor. Instead, the air up here lay thick and heavy, clinging to our faces. The air even seemed darker, but I couldn't tell if it was the result of a setting sun or something else. But that wasn't the reason I wanted to sink to my knees and throw up.

It smelled like death.

"Ugh," I ground out. I'd never gotten used to that smell, and judging by Sally's reaction, she hadn't either.

"You think there's a physical source?" Sally asked.

I shook my head in answer. "But we'll find out while we catch whatever's up here."

We quickly searched the rooms - most of them bedrooms - but no matter where we were, the smell didn't grow stronger, and to our chagrin, it certainly didn't get any weaker. We could not find anything to explain the smell - though we did find plenty of animal droppings, which only added to the sickening stench.

Nor could we find any sign of whatever had made the thumps we heard. I thrummed with irritated adrenalin, spinning around in the last room. "C'mon, show yourself, you son of a-"

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Hope you enjoyed it !! Haha finally starting to get creepy