Haunted Short Stories

It was like every other Saturday morning. The family awoke around seven in the morning, and mom went to work on the pancake breakfast that we had almost every Saturday. Typical morning, Typical family banter. My father was always looking at the newspaper at headline news to make sure we knew what type of world we were living in. He made it a normal routine to tell us about the current tragedies happening in the world around us so that we would be more cautious.                 “Would you look at that? Another break-in in the area. We should all be more cautious at night.” My father said as he placed the newspaper down on the table. “Isn’t that right, Dear?” He said towards my mother. She nodded with a smile, “Of course, Dear.” She replied as she placed his pancake breakfast in front of him and returned to the stove to continue making breakfast. Break-ins weren’t common in our area since we had a very strict community standard. We were to have our lawns in perfect condition, and everything we did in our community was almost monitored. If you didn’t fit the standard, you would be given a citation from the community office.                 “Did they catch whoever was breaking into people’s homes?” I asked. My father glanced at the paper, and back towards me. “It doesn’t say. I’m assuming they did, you know how our community is. They will not stand for something like that.” My father assured me. We had a nice breakfast together and even did some activities throughout the day. A nice picnic lunch in the park nearby and some board games with a pot roast to finish the evening. A perfect Saturday, like any other.                 “Goodnight, Sweetheart.” My mother said as she kissed me goodnight in my bed. I watched her walk over to my sister Suzie. “Goodnight, Honey.” She said as she kissed her forehead too. It wouldn’t be long before she walked into Nichola’s room and kissed him goodnight as well. I slowly pulled the covers over my head.                 “Psst.” A voice said within the room. I tried to ignore it, but with a few seconds’ silence came another ‘psst’. I turned over a little annoyed, “What do you want Suzie?”                 “Do you think anyone will try and break into our house, Rachel?” Suzie asked a bit scared. I shrugged, “Probably not. Not to mention what dad said. He said our community won’t stand for that type of thing. The person breaking into the people’s houses has already been caught most likely.” I said trying to give her a bit of comfort, but also enough information for her to leave me alone so I could sleep peacefully. She nodded, “Okay.” She said as she threw her blanket over her head and started to nod off into sleep. Finally, some peace and quiet. I did the same and placed my blanket over my head and drifted off  asleep. A shuffle woke me up, and I sat straight up in my bed. “What was that?” I said aloud.                 “I don’t know.” Suzie answered, as she sat up in her bed too.                 “Should we go check?” I asked a bit frightened. She shook her head no, “Mom and Dad will check it out!” She said ushering me to stay in my bed. A scream from my mother caused me to duck into my blanket, “What’s happening!” I cried out.                 “Stay in your blanket!” Suzie said as I heard her climb into her own. Another scream from my mother and a yell from my father sent shivers down my spine. What was happening to them? Why were they screaming? Were they scared? So many thoughts raced through my mind at full speed. A yell from my brother Nicholas was even more concerning. But it wasn’t the only voice I heard, “Get downstairs, now!” A male voice yelled. I gasped and tried to keep myself quiet so we would not be found. It wasn’t a second later, our bedroom burst open. I peeked out from my blanket only to see a man in a mask coming towards my bed.                 “Get away from me!” I screamed as I tried to climb off my bed and run away. His big arms wrapped themselves around me, and I sharp blade was placed to my throat, “Stop screaming and do as your told!” He growled in my ear. I watched as my sister peeked out from her blanket, “Suzie run!” I screamed. Suzie did what she was told and ran for it. But the man stuck out his foot, tripping her in the process. He grabbed her as well in his other arm and began to walk down the stairs with us. We tried to kick and fight him, but it didn’t seem to phase him. We began to go down the basement stairs and there was my mother, father, and brother Nicholas. They were cowered in a corner trying to protect themselves from the intruder.                 “Suzie! Rachel!” My mother screeched as she reached out for us. She took us into our arms from the intruder and hugged us tightly. The masked man grabbed some duct tape and a few chairs that he found in the back of the basement. “Each of you sit in the chairs and sit still. If either of you tries anything, I will end you.” He warned. I glanced at my mother, “Do as he says.” My mother replied to us. Each of us took a chair and sat in it quietly. The masked man went around the room duct-taping our hands to the chairs and taping our mouths.                 “What do you want? Is it money? I can give you money if you let me and my family go.” My father said before the man could cover his mouth. The man chuckled, “Or I can just leave you in here, and take what I want anyway.” He sneered.                 “How do you expect us to get out of these bonds? How will we be able to free ourselves after you take what you want and leave?” My father asked concerned. The masked man shrugged, “That is not my problem.” He said as he placed the duct tape over my father’s mouth and continued around the circle until we were all duct-taped to the chair, and our mouths were covered. He then turned and ran up the stairs, knocking a few bottles of my mother’s cleaners over on his way up. I wiggled in my bonds to try and get a good enough grip to slip out. My mother shook her head at me to stop. I did what I was told and stopped. A smell began to fill the room, and it made it harder to breathe. The aroma began to burn my nose, and I know I wasn’t the only one who noticed. My entire family began to squirm in the discomfort. We all wiggled until we were tired and couldn’t wiggle anymore. I mustered up enough energy to do one more wiggle, and my wrist came loose from the duct tape. He didn’t place them as hard on me as he did with the others. Once my arms were free, I ripped the duct tape from my lips and searched for something to free the others with. After what felt like forever searching through the dusty basement, I finally found a pair of flower sheers and began to cut the rest of my family free. The smell that bothered us before, didn’t seem to bother us anymore. I couldn’t even smell it. In fact, I couldn’t smell anything anymore.                 “Come on!” I yelled to the others, “This is our chance!” I said as I made my way up the stairs. My mother looked down at the bottles that the masked man knocked over, “He knocked down some bad chemicals, be careful.” My mother called to us as we made our way up the stairs. My father glanced at them as well, “Yes, be careful. Those Chemicals aren’t supposed to mix. It can cause a powerful toxic gas, so cover your mouths.”                 “I can’t smell anything.” Said Nicholas.                 “Me either.” Suzie chimed in. As we made it to the top and looked around to see if the masked man was still around, it was daytime. Why was it daytime? I turned back around to tell my family it was daytime and wondered how long we had been down in the basement when something at the bottom of the basement caught my eye. I passed my parents as I started to make my way back downstairs.                 “What are you doing?” My mother asked.                 “It’s dangerous, we need to get out of here now.” My father added. Then I saw it.                 “We can’t get out of here.” I stated.                 “What are you talking about?” My mother said almost impatiently. I pointed to the bottom of the basement, “Because we never got out.” I stated. My family turned around to see that we were just as we were before, our bodies were duct-taped to the chairs. Our skin has turned blue and rigor mortis had set in. All our heads were bowed down, and we hadn’t gotten out of our bonds. We were already dead.