Judith and her friends from Yale were home for the weekend, and they were looking for trouble. They were staying at Judith's parents' house, who were both away, travelling, now that their only child was away from home and did not require constant supervision. Of course, this would prove to be an error, as it meant that Judith, like many 19 year old sophomores, would use he empty house to gather some friends for a party and get drunk. Judith's friends brought cheap alcohol they plied from older siblings and friends, and loaded it into backpacks and cars, and then gathered on her back porch for what they thought would be a good night of drinking by a campfire with their favorite playlists turned up.
Judith, for her part, was not particularly big on alcohol. She had trouble making a lot of friends with people in her dorm during her first year, as she spent too much time on the internet and became awkward when pressed. She had only recently got over her "alternative phase" she was in during all of high school, wearing typical punk-y outfits and declaring her "goth phase" to be eternal. So, now that she was trying to be "normal", she needed new friends. Of course, her online friends didn't need to know she was "selling out".
So she was making an effort to befriend more people and more kinds of people, which often required going out to bars or drinking copious amounts of alcohol in the privacy of dorms and apartments. She tried to drink as little as possible most nights, but, feeling comfortable at her own home, had a few more drinks than she would normally have and was beginning to feel a little bit tipsy. At least, that's what she thought she felt. She was only through two light beers, but, never having too much to drink, believed she was far more intoxicated than she was in reality.
The conversation began to die down, and Judith found herself the focus of attention less and less. She panicked a little bit. She didn't want her new friends to think she was lame. So she began to talk about some of the bars they could hop to later, and then said that they could break into an old mansion up on a hill a mile or two away from her house. The group, consisting mostly of 18 and 19 year olds, became intrigued by this, as college students are often intrigued by the promises of urban exploring and getting in to mischief. None were from Salem, however, and thus did not know that Judith was not telling the truth when she described the Abner house as "abandoned" and the Abners themselves as "an old wives tale based on a real family that has been exaggerated since my grandparents were born". To be fair to Judith, she herself had never seen an Abner, attending a fancy private school outside of Salem during her youth, and thus may have believed these things herself. She felt quite good about herself when, within ten minutes, she had her friends raring to go "urban exploring" or, as it could be described, breaking and entering into a privately-owned residence.
Too nervous to drive after drinking, the group of friends - six in total - walked in the cool evening air towards the Abner residence, Golgotha Hall. They had all displayed such bravado as they walked, though as Judith continued to tell them about the superstitious stories about the Abner family - how loud screams and wails could be heard some nights, while eerie lights floated out of the windows like puffs of smoke, or how some residents said hellhounds guarded the property and a portal to hell in the basement - each student became quieter and quieter. What would they find? Would they even come back at all? They all thought they would, deep down... but it was hard to stay so confident when you approached the property and noticed that, true to the stories, clouds had rolled in and the skies had become gray. Had they always been this gray? All night? A slight drizzle began to trickle down from above, chilling the group.
When they reached the entrance, standing in front of the grand black gate, they were all silent, eyes popping out of their heads as they stared at the old mansion. Judith, not wanting to disappoint her friends, put on a fake smile and pushed at the gate. It was locked, but, she noticed, it could be climbed. Each of the six slowly clambered over the gate, crouching low as they continued walking up the dirt walkway that led to the house itself. The property was bigger than Judith had ever thought it was. Or was that just her imagination?
To Judith's shock, there were no lights on, no sounds emanating from the house, and certainly no hellhounds on the lookout for intruders. She began to feel a bit more confident. If she was right that there were no residents - there weren't even dim lights coming from any rooms indicating anybody, supernatural or not, lived there - then surely there was no threat to them. It's not like any homeless squatters could slip into the house. Right?
They got to the front door. Tall, gaunt doors loomed over them. Judith put her hand out and gripped the handle, pushing it. Surprisingly, it opened.
"No way" she muttered. She motioned for her friends to follow behind her.
She looked around the foyer, turning right and peering into the dark parlor. Everything was clean, with nary a sight of dust or disuse in the parlor (aside from cobwebs which seemed to be present near the grand, red staircase). The tables were set with glasses and pitchers of wine ("or is that blood?" asked a terrified friend of Judith). The fire was dead, but the coals emanated just a bit of heat. Was someone here recently?
Judith tried to find light switches or electric power, but found nothing on the walls as she squinted in the dark.
"Look!" said one of her friends, Olivia. She had grabbed a grand old candlestick off of the wall near the staircase. "Is this what they used to use for lighting here?" she asked. The friends huddled around Olivia, weighing the ornate, heavy candlestick in their hands. It looked like something from Clue, or from Crimson Peak.
Judith turned her head to the side and held her breath. She could have sworn, just a second ago, she saw a pale figure standing in the corner, near the imposing old grandfather clock. But when she pulled her phone out to inspect it, there was... nothing.
"I think we should leave..." said another of her friends, a boy she had a crush on named Stephen.
Judith wanted to agree, but she was afraid of looking weak. Like a coward. "Nothing to be afraid of. Just our mind playing tricks" she said.
She did not notice the woman standing on the staircase, completely silently. Nor did she notice the eight or nine or ten other women standing in the dark around the house, watching the new houseguests.
The friends, still carrying the candle, began to wander towards a door that led to the kitchen. Maybe they could tell if someone still lived there if there was food? They inched closer, but another friend, Melissa, refused to take another step without a light.
Stephen rooted around in his backpack for a lighter. He was sure he had one.
As he pulled the lighter from his bag, Judith nearly dropped the candlestick, for it had lit on its own.
"Ohmygodohmygod" she said. She and her friends felt frozen in place as every candlestick on the walls lit, one after the other. A loud sound, like wind blowing, could be heard.
The group turned when they felt something behind them. Judith turned, slowly, and saw a gaunt, tall figure behind her, looking down on the group from almost a foot above them. The figure was floating in the air, her face cloaked in shadow.
"A GHOST!" screamed Stephen.
"A WITCH!" screamed Melissa.
Judith just screamed and began to swing the candlestick, attempting to strike the figure. The figure just smiled, and then the lights vanished again, and there were no sounds but screams and whimpers from the friends.
The candlestick fell. Judith suddenly felt a gust of wind, and felt as though she were staggering, then falling while on her feet. She breathed heavily, listening for any sounds of ghosts or witches or dreaded Abners.
The candlestick lit up again. Judith screamed when she saw Stephen and Melissa in the glow of the sole lit candlestick on the ground - for they were only as tall as it was long, less than a foot each. Judith looked down at the floor, then looked towards the windows near the door. They were so tall and large... and none could have reached the door or windows to escape.
Judith began to panic. What was she going to do? For one thing, she was shrunk and trapped in a haunted house, full of either ghosts or creepy Abners or something. Another, she left tons of bottle of alcohol out open in her house. Her parents would kill her if she wasn't killed here.
She had to find a way out and to get back to normal size.
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