29 October 2012
'Anyone heard if trapdoor hill?' Jamie shouts excitedly. I really don't think anyone know what here on about. No one responds. Why they ripped up my map I don't know. 'It's like a hill, but there is a trapdoor on the top?' continues Sarah, having a blonde moment, as she calls them. It's in the name; TRAPDOOR hill. 'Psst' I hear from an alley, 'Psst!' again. 'What?' I call to the 12 year old boy hiding out in there. 'Ah noo weer yer 'ill 's' he says, 'Ah'll shoo yer if yer wont, buh ah haf ta com too,' I reluctantly have to accept his offer as the others don't have a spare map. 'Ah worn yer tho, 'at 'ill's 'aun'ed, gost of th' fermer hoo killed hisself, wach owt.'
I had heard stories about 'hauntings' but more about what a great hangout it was and how it was a place for peace and quiet, and to be quite frank, I don't believe in ghosts it monsters, so these stories have to be made up. In fact, I had heard not days before that if you sleep in there, you will feel so great it's unbelievable. But then again, no one has ever dared sleep in it. So we'll be the first.
We follow this kid to the hill for about an hour and I swear we went in a circle twice. But we're here now and I have no idea what the kid was on about. We climb to the top of the hill and open the trapdoor. A faint smell of decay wafts through it. 'Must be the rotting hay. The farmer used this as a storage, right?' I ask our guide. 'Ah think su, buh 'at were too long to still 'ave 'ay 'own 'ere.' He replies. We attach our rope to descend down.
The trip down was actually quite pleasant, ignoring the smell. I can see what people said about it being quiet. Not a sound, apart from our breathing. 'Lets look around for a place to sleep,' Jamie recommends. We agree as that seems the best option.
We find a great place in here, it's warm, cozy and has fresh hay...wait, no ones been here for years. FRESH hay. No decay. But i can still smell decay. I don't think the others have noticed so it can't be too bad...can it?
It's about 9 and we decide to turn in, so we will be refreshed for tomorrow to find the tunnel I spotted earlier.
I wake up really needing to pee. So I walk off. When I get back, I look at the others; Jamie-asleep, Sarah-asleep, Tom (our guides name)-asle...not there. 'He's probably gone to the bathroom,' I say to myself. Then a blood curdling scream fills the decay scented air. 'Tom?' I call timidly, 'If this is a joke then knock it off, it's not funny,' then I hear a sound so horrid I may never forget. A bull roaring...trying to make words...accompanied by the sound of breaking bone and tearing flesh. The scream still continues. And then stops. No fading, just...stops. 'JAMIE, SARAH!!!' I shout as quietly as possible and a little spooked. The other come to at an unbelievably slow pace. I tell them to be quiet, just as another roar from the creature emerges from the eery blackness. 'Where's Tom?' ask dreamily an in unison. 'Forget him and run this way!' I point. Sarah gets up first and runs. I start after her, then notice Jamie is running in the wrong direction. 'Jamie!' I call. He stops. He turns. A half rotten, human arm reaches around him and pulls him into the darkness. I run away. Another scream fills the air and more breaking bones and tearing flesh can be heard.
I catch up to Sarah and we run faster than ever. 'What was that scream? Where's Jamie? And Tom? What's going on?' She asked, terrified of the answer. Then I say it. The words she doesn't want to hear but knows that will only follow. 'I don't know.' And I really mean it. Could those stories have been true?
She cries all the way to the smaller tunnel I spotted earlier when looking for a place to sleep. 'Are you sure it's safe?' Sarah asks. 'Well it's safer than back there!' I reply too loudly. We hear the roar again. 'Go!' I shout. Then we hear another roar. A much closer roar. I crawl in after Sarah and just get a few feet when I hear the door to the room we were just in fly open. I turn my hear slightly and wish I hadn't. I could see it. ALL of it. And now wish I hadn't. It had decaying cows legs, a human torso apart from the thick covering of fur, half rotten arms, and...the most horrific sight I have ever seen just above its shoulders. A bulls head, half covered in maggot infested flesh, non-existing eyes. With Jamie's mutilated face, worn as a mask. And looking right at us.
Sarah and I hightail it out of there. We run into the village. Tell whoever would listen. And be laughed at for 'insane' stories to make people look like idiots.
We never returned, Sarah and I. Years went by but we never forgot what happened. We never told anyone. We eventually got married and had 3 kids. I look at the photo of us, happy together, ad try to remember the good times. The times when they were alive.
About a month ago, Sarah and our kids were found dead. Ripped apart. Faceless. No could explain the wounds, so everyone thought it must have been a freak accident. They had a joint funeral and were buried together. I still look at the photo. I know it was that...thing. There was no other way they would be mutilated in that way. When I heard about their murder I knew we must have let the creature out. I still look at the photo, but my gaze has moved the the reflection behind me. It's here. I am too scared to move, and too depressed to resist my end. For I know it has come for me.
Trapdoor Hill • Opuss № I