Good afternoon, House of Madness residents:
What would you do if your inner-most fear was a reality? Sometimes bravery is just disguised stupidity. As always, I hope you enjoy, and thanks for reading!
Devin was awakened by the sound of footsteps above him for what felt like the millionth night in a row, and although such an astronomical number was obviously impossible, the fact that the attic cover was once again open was more than unsettling. Night after night, Devin could hear the footsteps, yet any time he attempted to investigate the crawlspace above his bed, he had found nothing more sinister than cobwebs and insulation. Things seemed to be ramping up lately, however, as this marked the third night this week that the attic had been opened, and the night before last Devin had found his television remote up there. Was he sleepwalking? If that was the case, he was a pretty diligent one, as he keeps the ladder in the spare bedroom, and it looked like it was in the same place he always left it, without a trace of movement. "Time to up the stakes" Devin said into the darkness, and decided to grab the ladder and have a peek in the attic in the middle of the night, which he had never done before.
As Devin grabbed the ladder from the spare bedroom, he listened intently for more noises from above, yet heard nothing. He quietly and carefully mounted the ladder below the attic opening which was already ajar, and crept up each step like he was ascending Mount Everest, and was about to be dismounted by a yeti, or perhaps something even more terrifying. Devin delicately shifted the attic's lid to the side, and as he pressed his foot on the top rung and pushed his head up above the attic floor, there was a split second in which he thought he saw movement, but upon further investigation with his iPhone flashlight, he quickly concluded that nothing was there other than some old boxes and an antique rocking chair, all which he had seen on previous excursions, albeit during the daytime. Just as Devin was about to descend back down the ladder, he heard a soft cackling and noticed the rocking chair slowly moving, as if it were occupied. "OH, HELL NO!!!" Devin screamed, and hit his head on his dresser as he fell backwards off of the ladder, rendering himself unconscious.
When Devin came to a few hours later, his head was pounding and there was a dried pool of blood on the carpet where his head had laid, but neither of these things bothered him as much as what he was seeing; the attic lid was closed, and there was no longer a ladder in the room. "What the fuck?" Devin said, as he rubbed the back of his head and noticed his fingers came back with fresh blood. As he debated internally with his inner self whether or not to go to the hospital (Devin HATED hospitals), his inner curiosity got the better of him and he decided to check the spare bedroom for the ladder. There it was, in all its orange Home Depot glory, right where it always was, and even the carpet indents it was sunk into told the story of it not having been moved. As much as Devin would like to believe that it was all some kind of nightmare, it still didn't explain the injury on the back of his head, or the remote control he found in the attic days earlier. Only one thing left to do as far as Devin was concerned, he'd set up one of his old camcorders on his dresser, and another inside the attic, and connect them to his iPhone to see if he couldn't just solve this little mystery on his own.
The following night, Devin had finished giving the camcorders a once-over to make sure they still worked, had a full charge, and had a memory card ready to capture whatever was happening. Check, check, and check. All that was left was for Devin to fall asleep, and hopefully the rest would fall into place, which it horrifyingly did. At around 2a.m., Devin was awakened by the sound of footsteps above him yet again, and as he shook the cobwebs from his brain, he remembered to check his iPhone to see if he could get any footage of what was going on above him. To his horror, he saw first two long legs pop out of one of the boxes, and then two more, and two more, and finally two more until they pressed up from the floor, and a hideous melted face appeared on top of the arachnid type body while it focused directly on his camera, and he'd swear it was smiling. Devin seemed to be frozen to his bed, and once he saw the attic lid slide open, he knew his time on this earth was short if he didn't act now. As he finally managed to get to his feet, the legs of the monstrosity above him were starting to make their way through the opening, and Devin bolted for the door as quickly as he could. "I………..BEAT…………YOU!" Devin screamed at the creature as he turned to run for the front door, but as he turned and ran, he didn't notice the web that was waiting for him, like a mother opening her arms in anticipation of a loving embrace, and then it was upon him.
NB
