When I was a kid my parents would sometimes bring me down to my aunt and uncle’s place to stay for the weekend mainly I’d spent time playing with my two cousins who were around the same age as me they lived on a small farm with plenty of open space and we could run around doing pretty much whatever we wanted if we thought we could get away with it the three of us would sometimes cross over to the neighboring farm about half a mile away it had been abandoned for decades with a scattering of derelict buildings and other structures still standing on the property just begging to be explored this was of course a gold mine for three adventurous young boys such as ourselves especially after my cousin’s told me stories about the deaths that took place in the house it was pretty classic fair man goes crazy ax murders his entire family hangs himself returns every night as an angry spirit looking for new victims good grisly stuff even at that age I knew they were probably making it up or at least embellishing old rumors but seeing is how the setting lent itself so well to such tales I allowed myself to buy into it one afternoon we decided to play hide and seek when it was my turn to hide I ran off for a flimsy brown barn that had living quarters on top and climbed the stairs looking for a good spot there was still furniture inside and personal belongings lay scattered across the floor i maneuvered over broken dishes tattered clothes and crumbling books eventually coming to a small room with a closet jackpot there were even long black dresses still hanging on the rod that I could hide behind I stepped inside and managed to force shut the folding door my only illumination was a slit of sunlight that shone through the crack in the door from a nearby window I crouched down with knees tucked into chest and waited some time passed and there was still no sign of my seekers my waited some more debating if and when I should give myself up after nearly an hour this was starting to get boring my head drooped I woke with a jerk it was pitch black drowsy and confused I forgot for a minute where I was or what I had been doing as it came back to me the realization that it was now nighttime and that I had been abandoned here filled me with sinking dread in the pit of my stomach I tried to get up but a sudden cramp in my calf kept me grounded i squirmed about waiting for it to pass when I heard a door slamming shut downstairs and instantly froze well one of my cousin’s there was a brief period of silence then footsteps at the bottom of the stairs but not just footsteps a thud – after every other step these weren’t the footfalls of a child they were slow heavy deliberate I held my breath praying they would go away they did not the noises continued to ascend after another moment of silence the walking resumed this time along with a steady scraping sound like something heavy being dragged across the floorboards the footsteps made their way through the debris and wandered aimlessly through the various rooms I thought they could smell something faintly putrid the constant scrape sent cold shivers coursing down my arms and back my worst fears were realized when the steps reached the bedroom doorway they got closer and closer and finally stopped directly in front of the closet door I couldn’t see a thing after an agonizing pause they continued on over to the other side of the room and out the doorway again they faded away down the hallway I waited for what seemed like an eternity there were no more sounds now and I was trying to build up enough courage to open the door and flee three things had been simultaneously just then I was bombarded with a smell I can only describe as fresh roadkill I heard raspy breathing behind me in the dark closet and I felt hot breath against the nape of my neck that was enough for me to hurdle myself out from the confines of that nightmare space relying on memory and scant moonlight to navigate through the darkened house all the while I heard footsteps chasing behind me closing in with terrifying speed it was a clumsy torturous escape full of trips and bumps and blind stumbling I never looked back at least not until I had burst out the front door and into the country night and when I did turn around I saw absolutely nothing there were no more footsteps and nobody was chasing me that didn’t stop me from running though all the way back to my aunt’s and uncle’s house there was a police car in the driveway when I got back my parents were there too worried sick everybody demanded to know where I had been apparently when my cousin still hadn’t found me by evening they’d returned home to tell their parents eventually the police were called in and informed me that they had already scoured every building on the farm the insinuation that I was lying about my whereabouts didn’t go unnoticed none of it made any sense it wasn’t until years later that one of my cousin’s filled in a final piece of the story he and his brothers had spent hours searching for me like they said but the part they didn’t tell anyone was that they thought they spotted me in the window the bedroom I was hiding in and when they got closer they saw that it wasn’t me a young boy neither of them recognized was smiling and waving down at them and gesturing for them to come upstairs that’s when they ran back home all this while I slept in the closet.
