The Truth From Hell

The New Girl


"Go on! I dare ya!" One of the girls shouted to me as another pushed me toward the rusty iron gate. I stumbled forward, catching myself on one of the bars. I turned back to look at the group of girls smiling at me and motioning for me to hurry up.

"This is what I get for wanting to talk to the popular girls," I muttered quietly to myself as I turned back to the gate.

The wrought iron fence towered over me, looking as if it could barely hold itself together. Behind it was a long dirt path leading to a large house shrouded by the darkness of night. No lights were visible along the trail or in the house. I'd be more terrified if there was, not that I wasn't already.

The moon cast a faint glow, giving me just enough light so I didn't trip over obstacles.

Slowly, I pushed the gate open, flinching at the loud screech it made as it moved against the old hinges. To avoid any more noise, I opened it just enough for me to squeeze through. I cast one last glance at the girls behind me. The girl in the middle, the queen bee of our high school, was watching me with a bemused expression while the other girls plastered fake smiles over their worried faces.

Pushing down nausea, I quickly turned back to the house and started making my way up the path.


The house's story dates back to the '80s when a family was murdered by someone claiming to be possessed by the devil. People say the family's spirits still haunt the quaint home but that the devil's servants roam the halls too, making sure the restless spirits never leave.


I continued down the dirt road, hands trembling as they clung tightly to the flashlight. The porch was long and wrapped around the house, wooden planks missing in various places. Rocking chairs and wicker tables stood on the porch in random places, some tipped over or broken into splinters. Dust, dirt, leaves, and cobwebs covered every surface.

I climbed the three steps up to the porch, the wood groaning as I put my weight on each one. I stood at the door, taking a deep breath to gather my courage before I grabbed the dented doorknob and turned it slowly. Just like the gate before it, the door squeaked loudly as I pushed it open. I took a step across the threshold but quickly recoiled as the musty air threatened to choke me. Taking a few gulps of fresh air, I ducked back into the house. The thick layer of dust in the atmosphere still gripped my throat, causing me to cough.

As if the house understood the problem, all the windows around me flew open at once. I quickly looked around me, expecting to see kids from my school playing a joke on me. However, even through the dust floating in the air and out the open winds, I could tell there was no one there besides myself. I flicked on the flashlight to double-check the dark corners, but still, I saw no other signs of life.

The light reflected a lot of the dust clouds floating in front of me, but I could still see the plastic-covered furniture covered in years of dirt, grime, and other things I didn't want to think about. I turned to my right and stepped through the arched doorway into the living room. More furniture stood dressed in plastic. I could make out chairs and couches, an old piano against the far wall, and shelves built into the walls with stacks of old books. One table stood a few feet in front of me; there was barely any dust on it as if it had been cleaned recently. On it sat a large black book. I couldn't see a name on the cover. I blew the dust off the surface, but instead of seeing a title or author name, I only saw a star etched in gold filigree.

As I turned the book in my hand to flip it open, I heard the sound of small feet running across the floor in the room behind me. I dropped the book and spun around, flashing the light all around the darkened entryway. Once again, I saw no one. Just as I was calming my nerves, I heard a child's laughter in the living room. Once again, I spun around, my flashlight beam dancing across every surface. My heart beat loudly against my chest, and my hands began to shake.

"Hello?" I called into the darkness, hoping for a response but also hoping I wouldn't get one.

As the word passed through my lips, the temperature in the room dropped. I could see my breath forming in the air. The temperature continued to fall until my teeth began chattering. I wondered how it could be so cold in here when the windows were wide open, and the air outside was hot and humid.

My fear got the better of me, and I turned to run back through the open front door, but just before I could reach it, the door slammed shut. I gripped the doorknob, twisting it back and forth, but it still wouldn't budge. I threw my weight into the door until my shoulder ached. I ran back into the living room, rushing toward the nearest window. Before I was even close to the window, it slammed shut. Every other window in the room followed suit, one-by-one, trapping me. I slapped my palm against the glass, but it barely rocked in its frame.

I heard the child giggling again, and this time as I turned to search for the source, I was met by the face of a pale little girl with long black hair and dark eyes. She was dressed in a dirty and tattered nightgown. Across her neck was a large, gruesome gash that seemed to be bleeding, but the blood was too thick to be normal.

She reached her hand up to tangle her tiny fingers in the thick strands of her matted hair. "Look what the bad man did," she said in an eerily giddy voice, her lips stretching in a creepy grin.

I watched in horror as she pulled her head back, removing it entirely from her neck. Screaming, I spun around to the window and smashed the flashlight into the glass until it shattered. Not caring about the shards of glass, I began to climb through the window, but before I could pull my feet through, I felt something grip my ankles and yank me back. I kicked my legs out, trying to hit whoever was holding me. I could feel more hands grabbing higher up my legs, each gripping tightly. The hands began pulling me back inside. I continued trying to pull myself out, my hands and arms being sliced open by the broken glass.

I looked back to see what was grabbing me, but I only saw dark hands holding my legs, and nearby the little girl stood cowering. She had put her head back on and was shaking it fast enough that I thought it would fall off again.

"You made them made," the little girl whimpered. "Now they have to punish you too!" She glanced at the dark hands holding onto me before turning and running away.

I shoved my head back out the window and screamed loudly, hoping the girls would hear me, but as my eyes scanned the landscape beyond the fence, I found no one. Fear coursed through my veins, but I wasn't ready to give up; I gripped the window tightly, glass cutting into my flesh. No matter how hard I struggled, the hands were much stronger. More of them grabbed onto me as I was pulled back into the building. One-by-one, my fingers slipped, and I could feel the hands on my arms and neck pulling me down until there was only darkness.



The Queen Bee


"I heard screaming," one girl said.

"Do you think we should go back?" Another girl asked.

"Why the hell would we go back there?" I snapped at the chattering girls. "She knows the story. All new kids have to go through this challenge, you know that."

"Yes... but..."

"But what?" I snapped, stepping closer to the girl who opened her mouth.

No one said anything. I took the small victory and turned back, leading the girls back through the woods toward town.


One Month Later


I glanced up at the corkboard and pouted as the missing girl's face smiled back at me from the posters her family had started passing out a few days after we had gone to the house. I snarled at the face before yanking the sign down. It had been covering my "Vote for me for Prom Queen" flier. I stared at the girl on the sign as I walked through the lunchroom to my table. My friends were already sitting in their seats. I slammed the sign on the table, causing them all to jump.

"I'm so tired of seeing this girl's face everywhere!" I snapped.

"She's been missing since we went to that house," one girl said. "Do you think something happened to her?"

"Oh please!" I sighed, rolling my eyes. "She's probably just sitting at the house, waiting to jump out and then tell everyone what we did."

"Her parents are holding a memorial," one girl said. "The police are beginning to think she's dead."

"We should go back," another girl said.

I groaned in frustration as the rest of the girls agreed. "Let's not," I said.

"Whatever, I'm going back," the girl said, and once again, the others agreed.

"Fine," I snapped. "I'll go with you just so I can record the whole thing and prove to you all that she's just fine."


Once I got home from school, I immediately went back to my room. I was already pissed off that my friends wanted to go back to that damned place; I didn't want to deal with my parents. And then I heard a knock on the door.

"What?" I snapped, dropping onto my bed.

My mother opened the door and smiled at me. "How was school?"

"Boring."

"Well, this came for you today." She handed me a thick manila envelope. "It doesn't have a return address. Are you expecting something?"

"No. Probably just something from a friend from school. Thanks mom."

She nodded and left, shutting the door behind her.

I quickly tore open the package, but I found a book inside instead of finding anything interesting. I pulled the book out, already grossed out by it as the book felt dirty and old. Silver lettering decorated the front cover reading "The Truth from Hell."

"What the hell? Is this a joke or something?" I opened the book, flipping through the pages until one hand-drawn picture caught my attention. "Is that... me?" I started reading the lines on the page. The pages on the book seemed to be describing the night the girl disappeared. I flipped another page and saw a picture that looked eerily like that girl, reaching out the window, her face frozen in a scream.

Flipping another page, I froze, dropping the book on the floor. On this page, I saw another drawing, this time, I was walking away from the group as they looked back toward the house. However, the part that terrified me was the angry black writing scrawled over the picture, "It's all your fault!"

I kicked the book across the floor. As it bounced off the wall, I heard a loud rumbling, and the book began to shake violently. The pages started flipping quickly, stopping on a page of that girl. Her face was once again frozen in a scream, both hands reaching upwards. Dozens of dark hands grabbed her legs, torso, and neck, pulling her into the darkness.

The book began shaking violently, and my room was filled with the sound of multiple voices booming. Each voice was shouting, "Your fault! Your fault!"

I slapped my hands over my ears as I began to panic. I ran to my bedroom door, grasping the doorknob and trying to yank it open. The door didn't budge; it didn't even rattle in the frame. I screamed for my mother, but my words felt trapped in my throat. The words kept echoing louder and louder in my room.

"Your fault! Your fault! Your fault!"

Then all the noise stopped suddenly; I thought I had gone deaf. I moved my hands from my ears and heard the words again, this time right next to me. "Your fault!"

I spun around quickly, meeting the gaze of that girl who disappeared in the house. I cringed at the girl standing in front of me. Her face, neck, arms, and legs were burned, black handprints decorated her flesh. Her eyes were black and empty.

She cocked her head to the side, making a horribly awful sound as her burned skin crackled, flakes of it falling to the floor. I turned away in disgust, not being able to look at her any longer.

"I'm sor--" I opened my mouth to apologize, but she leaned her face closer to mine, and her mutilated hand latched onto my throat.

"Your... fault!" She shouted right in my face, and the booming voices echoed around my room again, repeating those words.

The echoing voices were the last thing I heard before everything fell into darkness. I couldn't scream. I could only cry as I was dragged into the black void.


Two Months Later - News Reporter


"The search continues for two girls at the local high school. One girl was a new kid in town; her family only moving here four months ago, just a short time before she mysteriously disappeared. A group of four girls from the school came forward saying they were playing a game and dared her to go into the abandoned house on the outskirts of town the night she disappeared. Authorities have already been dispatched to the house. Inside the house, they found evidence of a struggle and some of the girl's blood on the broken glass of the front window, but nothing else to link to foul play. They began marking this as a kidnapping, but the evidence was limited.

The second girl was a well-known beauty queen from the town. She won multiple beauty pageants and was all ready to win prom queen her senior year. According to the girl's mother, she had come home from school and received a strange package. When she heard screaming coming from her daughter's room, she had gone to investigate. However, the door was barred shut. When authorities arrived on scene, they forced entry into the girl's room only to find it empty. There was no sign of a break-in as the windows were all locked.

Authorities are still searching for both girls. If you wish to assist with the search, please call your local police department. The mothers of both girls are begging for help, hoping for the return of their daughters."