Hell's Playground

Hell’s Playground



Brianna was so terrified that if anything jumped out at her right now she would probably pee her pants. “What am I even doing here?” she thought to herself.

‘You’ve come this far. Keep going forward.’

The thought was repeating in her head but there was one thing nagging her. The voice telling her to keep going was not hers. Her little voice was screaming, “Run! Back the way you came! Now!”

She wanted to run too. Her feet however, seemed to be disagreeing with her as they kept walking forward. One step at a time. With each step up the staircase, it squeaked louder and louder, as if screaming from being stepped on.

Brianna just hoped the stairs wouldn’t give out. The entire house was old and being on the top floor didn’t excite her. Why did she come in here?

* * * *


The day started out like any other. The alarm went off at 5:15 in the morning. Brianna usually woke up right before the buzzer went off. Taking a few deep breaths before getting out of bed, she grabbed her jogging shorts. Ten minutes later she was out the door for her morning jog. True, it’s very early, but she loved it anyway.

The cool air hitting her face as she ran. There was no one around to worry about. Traffic on the streets was almost non-existence. The few cars that WERE out had to drive with their headlights on.

It was peaceful. The best part of the run was when she came back to her building. Brianna would run up to the roof and cool down up there. It was the perfect spot to watch the surprise.

Something about the sun rising was inspiring to her. It allowed her to have a great day.

Her route was very specific. It was three miles long and never too far from her apartment. You could almost time where she would be each day. Brianna was a stickler for schedules.

For some reason her mind began to drift until finally it went blank. She was like a robot. She just ran.

‘Brianna,’ a voice called in her head.

She froze instantly. As if coming out of a trance she looked around. “Where the hell am I?” she said to herself.

There was no doubting that she was not in her neighborhood. She had no idea where she was. Across the street were a few run down old building. The condemned kind. It looked so run down that not even homeless or drug addicts would go in.

The house she was standing in front of was different somehow. It in itself was very old. It looked like it was ready to fall over if the wind blew too hard. Still, there was something familiar about the place.

As the sun began to rise, light slowly crawled over the house. It looked much worse than it had in the dark. It was very ugly but Brianna could not look away.

“Mam’,” a voice came from behind her, “are you lost?”

Brianna looked over her shoulder to see a police officer sitting in his patrol car. She looked back at the house. “What is this place?”

“That,” the officer answered, “is a death trap. You ask me, the city should tear it sown. Looks something like the house from that show, ‘The Munster's.’”

Brianna looked at it for a few seconds before answering, “Yea, you’re right.”

“Can I give you a lift?” I don’t see a car anywhere and no one comes here to jog.”

“Well, where am I?”

“You sure you feeling okay?”

“Just don’t know where I am or how I got here.”

“This is ‘Hell’s Playground.’ The worst neighborhood in the city.”

Hell’s Playground! That’s over fifty miles away from her house. There is no way she could have run this far. There had to be some mistake.

“You’re joking right? I left my apartment at five thirty this morning. There is no way I ran from Meadow Brook to Hell’s Playground in forty-five minutes.”

“I wish I was joking. You’re a long way from Meadow Brook. Hop in the back, I’ll give you a lift home.”

* * * *

Brianna sat staring at her computer screen. Working as a fact checker at The Morning Star had its advantages. She had no idea why but the thought of Hell’s Playground would not leave her head.

As soon as she got to work she started her search. A total of ten hits came back when she typed Hell’s Playground into the search engine. Clicking on the first hit brought up an article showing a picture of the house she was standing in front of this morning. The house looked brand new.

‘1968- Chelsey. Built in 1830 the Castle, as it has become known, is still in great shape. Local real estate tycoon Mark Franklin has tried to get the building condemned so he could purchase the land.

“I have big plans for this area,” Franklin stated. “It’s time to give our fair city a face lift. I can help with that face lift.”

The Historical Society has deemed the house to be a historical marker. One of the first homes built to start our fair city of Chelsey, it is the only one still standing. “That makes it the only thing we have that is from the birth of Chelsey,” stated the Richard Reed, President of the Historical Society. The property seems to be the topic of a heated debate.

There is one problem that had been overlooked. While Franklin and the Historical Society are pleading City Counsel for ownership, the counsel CAN NOT rule on the property. Why? The city doesn’t own it.

The property is still owned by the Van Halsen family. While no member of the Van Halsen family has been seen since 1850, the deed still belongs to the decedents. The city can not protest the ownership because taxes have been paid on the property every year.

The house has been watched very carefully but there are no signs of anyone living in the house. The most bizarre thing regarding the Castle is that it’s being kept up. There is nothing the city can do to fine the house because no deed restrictions are being violated. It’s a mystery that may never be explained.’

“Damn that house is old,” Brianna said to herself. She scrolled down and clicked on the third listing, titled: Fire Can Not Destroy House.

‘1968- Chelsey. The Castle still stands! Last night fire was set to the Castle. Firefighters were amazed to find that even thou the house was engulfed in flames it did not burn.

The once light grey house is now black from the smoke. The fire burned for two hours before it was finally flamed out.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Chief Brandon Wolf, “We tried using our hoses to put out the fire but they wouldn’t work. We had no choice to let it burn. But then the fire just went out on its own. There’s no other way to explain what happened except the house is haunted.”

Many local residents agree with Chief Wolf. A demonstration is being organized for Friday at 1:00pm in front of City Hall. The crowd is planning to ask for the destruction of the Castle.’

‘House Protected By Satan.
1968- Chelsey. The Castle seems to be indestructible. The City Counsel unanimously decided to destroy to destroy the home. With residents calling the home, “Hell’s Playground,” it only took the Counsel two minutes to vote.

A demolition crew was sent out to knock the home down. A wrecking ball was tried first. When the ball was swung backward disaster struck. The cable attached to the ball snapped, sending the ball flying into an apartment complex across the street.

Realistate tycoon Mark Franklin watched in horror as the ball destroyed his building instead of the Castle. Fortunately, no one was in the building. Everyone had come out to see the destruction of Hell’s Playground.

Out of anger and frustration Mr. Franklin demanded the house blown up. TNT was set out on the outside of the house. However, the fireworks didn’t go off.

Two more attempts were made to blow the house up to no avail. The TNT was gathered up and placed back in a truck for transport. A loud BOOM then rang out. Four workers were killed instantly, with only small body parts available for identification.

Efforts to destroy the house were given up. “You can’t destroy something protected by Satan. It truly is Hell’s Playground,” Mayor Friday stated at a press conference after the explosion.’

A chill ran down Brianna’s back. What kind of house was this? How had she gotten in front of it this morning? The last headline caught her attention as she scrolled to the bottom of the page.

‘MASSACRE BLAMED ON HELL’S PLAYGROUND.’

‘January 2, 1969- Chelsey. Hell’s Playground has the residents of Crystal Mine in a panic. After the failed attempts on destroying the house, local residents avoided the house. Some still tried to set the house on fire but like the first fire, no damage was done.

Some residents said the house got its revenge on New Year’s Eve.

There was a large New Year’s party held at the Community Center. Many of the residents were there. The same residents who came to see the destruction of the Castle.

At the stroke of midnight the lights went out inside the center. A loud scream was heard coming from the Center. Police responded to an anonymous tip that blood had been spilled at the Center.

First on the scene was Officer Jim Daniels. When he failed to check in at the Center, Police Chief John Gordon called for all available units to meet at the Center. Total carnage is what was found.

Officer Daniels was sitting in his squad car with the engine still running. Officer Daniels was dead. His skin was a pale white with two tiny puncture wounds in his neck.

The Officers outside stormed into the dark Center with guns drawn and flashlights shinning. The lights were turned on to reveal the carnage.

Everyone inside the Center had suffered the same fate as Officer Daniels. The same pale white skin and two puncture wounds on the neck.

The Chelsey Coroner’s office said, “Every victim was missing four pints of blood. It looks like something out of a vampire movie.”

The Community Center was not the only location with these bizarre deaths. Every employee of the T.P. Construction Company that had attempted to destroy the Castle was found dead in their homes. Same puncture wounds, all missing four pints of blood.

Real estate tycoon Mark Franklyn was found dead in his bed. The entire City Counsel, voting for the destruction of the Castle, was also found dead inside of City Hall.

Even our beloved Mayor, who came up with the name of Hell’s Playground, is added to the list of victims.

The time of death was listed at midnight exactly.

Crystal Mine residents began leaving the area upon hearing the news of the mass deaths. In one day Crystal Mine has become a ghost town neighborhood. The Castle still stands unharmed.’

Two bite marks on their necks. Something out of a vampire movie. That’s crazy! At the end of the day the thing that bugged Brianna the most is that her mother had marks on her neck. She asked her mother about it once but her mother told her they were burn marks. Now Brianna wasn’t so sure.

She couldn’t concentrate at work. In the back of her head she kept hearing a man’s voice calling her name. Like a bad song stuck in her head, there was nothing she could do to get rid of it.

Lunch came and went. She had skipped breakfast but surprisingly Brianna was not hungry, just thirsty. All she could think about was the house. How the hell did she get there this morning? Why won’t this voice go away?

As that thought entered her mind the voice stopped calling her name. She looked around franticly like she just had a nightmare. Brianna’s eyes grew large with horror as she gasped for air.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. She was parked in front of the Castle. She looked at her watch, 11:32pm.

“What the hell just happened?” she asked herself, “How the hell did I get here?”

‘Brianna you must come inside.’

The voice was back. Common sense told her to get back into her car and drive away but her body was not her own. She stepped out of the car and walked through the front door.

* * * *

‘Through that door. All your questions will be answered, just step through that door.’

Brianna eagerly opened the door, stepping inside a dark empty room. The only light came from the man through a small window. There were two large leather chairs, angled at each other, facing the door. A small end table was between the chairs with two glasses of red wine waiting.

A man was sitting in the chair to the left. His face was hidden by the shadows. The man gestured for Brianna to take a seat.

“Who are you?”

“Please sit.”

That voice. The same voice that had been calling her all day. She wanted to turn and run back the way she came but her body knew what to do. This man had a charm about him that could not be ignored. Deep down she knew she belonged. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him as she sat down in the chair.

The chair seemed to wrap itself around her. She felt bonded to the chair, yet safe and protected at the same time. A long moment of silence passed between them. He was reading her thoughts.

“Tonight is the eve of your thirtieth birthday.”

“How did you know?” she asked, fear building up inside her again.

“Relax,” he responded in a soft, gentle, deep, echoing voice. “All will be explained. In fifteen minutes it’ll be midnight. Your true self will emerge then. You will be home.”

“Who are you? Why am I here in this house?” To her surprise, her voice was calm. She was relaxed. His voice soothed her.

“I’m Otto Van Halsen and this is my home. Your home.”

“My home? Hell’s Playground is not my Home.”

“Hell’s Playground?” he asked laughing softly. “What a fitting name. I wish I had thought of it.” He lifted his glass and drank it dry. “But yes child, this is your home and I am your father.”

“That’s impossible. My mother never knew my father.”

“A lie to keep you protected. I visited your mother weekly while you were sleeping. Sadly she would not allow me to turn her. It would have saved her life.”

“Turned her? Turned her into what?”

“A vampire,” he answered coldly.

“A vampire,” she repeated laughing. “That’s funny. Vampires don’t exist, and if they did they can’t have kids.” She continued to laugh. “I’ve read Ann Rice.”

“Do not mock me child. I AM a vampire and you are my offspring.”

“Then why aint I a vampire?” she asked, trying to suppress her laughter.

“A spell was cast when you were born. You were protected from everything that can harm us. The hunger was suppressed. The spell can only last thirty years.”

“What hunger?” she asked mockingly. “Am I going to drink blood now?”

“Yes.” He could see she was not taking him serious. The stupidity of youth. “The hunger was been growing inside you. You’ve felt thirst but could not quench it. Your head would begin pounding as you heard the thoughts of others.”

That got Brianna’s attention. She was no longer laughing. For the past month she’s been feeling what he was explaining. She had never told anyone. How could he have possibly known?

“That thirst is building in you now. I can smell it. In one minute the spell will be lifted. Thirty years of hunger will consume you. You will feed and become one of us.”

He stood up and walked over to the door. To Brianna he seemed to glide across the floor. Opening the door, two men walked in, dragging a woman with them. She was crying as they dropped her to the floor. The woman looked up and Brianna was mortified. Her best friend, Trina, was on the floor crawling toward her.

Brianna looked up at Van Halsen. He just smiled.

“A snack to quench your thirst my child. See you when you are done feeding.”

He closed the doors, locking them before he left. Trina was scared, crying. She didn’t know what was going on? Brianna could hear her thoughts. She could feel Trina’s heart beating faster while her own heart slowed down. Her mouth began to water.

The grandfather clock began to chime. Midnight had arrived.

“Brianna, help me! Please! I don’t want to die!”

Brianna knelt down next to her friend. Anger filled her face. She back slapped Trina.

“Shut up you stupid bitch. Stop your whining. You were brought here for me.” She stood up and walked to the window, staring at the bright full moon that was now turning red. “You are my breakfast.”

“What?! I don’t understand,” she cried out.

In a flash Brianna moved from the window to the floor. Like a hunter toying with its prey before the kill, she grabbed Trina’s hair, pulling her head back, exposing her neck. Trina continued to cry as Brianna ran her finger gently across Trina’s neck.

“Welcome to Hell’s Playground,” she whispered before sinking her teeth into Trina’s neck. The sweet taste of blood filled her body. The thirst had finally been quenched. The hunger subsided as she embraced her new life. She was a vampire, the new ruler of Hell’s Playground.

The End