"Doily" Short Horror Story // Halloween Contest Entry

Hello all! This is my submission for the #Lavishhalloween2025 contest.
For my entry I picked one of the 4 prompts & wrote a short 4 chapter story. 

This was SO fun! I did this in a "One-Take" style, meaning I won't edit or read it until I hit post. (So excuse spelling errors or mishaps in the grammar!)
I did this to create a more chalenging write session. It has taken me a week of writing and stopping to go do Mom things hahaha!

So pour yourself a haunted cup of coffee & sit down for a horror gore-filled Halloween story!   


 Chapter 1. 

“Ow! Buzz! What the hell?” I grab my arm and give it a dramatic shake.

I look over to Buzz who has just flicked the butt of his last cigarette at my left arm. 

“My bad, my bad” he says playfully, not looking up from the bed.

He’s such a doofus sometimes. I love him to death, but it still surprises me to this day that we’re best friends. 

He was a puny little dweeb in the 4th grade. I remember being paired up with the “weird kid” for our class science project and being so pissed about the whole thing. It turned out to be one of the best things that's ever happened to me.  

Buzz is technically homeless. He likes to call it “Living abroad by choice” but we both know that his parents kicked him out when he turned sixteen after he came home twisted from a party one time and smashed his adoptive mothers collection of porcelain dolls with a baseball bat. It took weeks to clean up all of the broken porcelain pieces. Legend has it that you can still find doll eyes and body parts in their house if you search hard enough. 

He has super strict parents. Conservative country-club type of people. Buzz never really fit in with his adoptive family, so he’s super passionate about the whole “chosen family” concept, which consists of me and a few stray cats we feed Taco Bell to every once in a while. 

“Meooooowwwwwww” 

Speak of the devil. 

“Hey there, Princess Peg Leg!” 

Buzz gets up from my bed and slowly makes his way to the ledge of the open trailer window.

“Good kitty” he says as he picks up the fattest orange tabby I’ve ever seen. 

We call her ‘Princess Peg Leg’ because her back right leg is missing. We have no idea how it happened, but I’m assuming by the discombobulated nub where her leg should be, that it was a violent scene. 

Do cats get in street fights? Do they know street fight rules? I guess Princess Peg Leg didn't get the memo, because she definitely brought a knife to a gun fight. 

I look up from my laptop to see Buzz swaying Princess Peg Leg back n’forth as he hums the tune to Tinkle Twinkle Little Star. I can hear her purring over his humming. It’s gentle and soothing, but also an odd sight.  

To see someone who looks like Buzz, being 6 '2 with a giant pink mohawk and looks like he hasn’t showered in days, being so gentle and almost motherly to this cat. It’s ridiculously enduring.  

I live in a super small camper trailer attached to my rusty old red chevy truck that we have parked illegally in an abandoned lot. I think it used to be a gas station back in the day. There are giant broken pieces of discarded rock in a pile, and 2 out of 5 working street lights surround the border of the lot. I inherited this trailer from my mom a few years ago after she passed away.  She was super big on wanting to “explore the world” but I think it was just because she knew she wasn’t going to be around much longer. Something about attaching yourself to last hopes and dreams and blah blah blah. My Mother impulsively spent my college tuition money on this trailer, so it’s only right that I got it in her will. It’s about 12 feet long, with a 100 gallon water tank, 2 burner stove, mini oven, a bed, and a makeshift “couch- to- fold- out- dining table” thing. It’s nice to have running water and a place to cook meals. I’ve been on my own since I was 18. That’s the birthday my mom died and I’m not aware of any living family members near here I could have gone to stay with. I think a cousin or maybe an Aunt reached out a few years ago, but I didn't want or need the help. I think. 

We live in a super small desolate town in Arkansas, called “Fogmourn”

I think the population is around 900 and dropping. My graduating class had 15 people in it, if that tells you anything.  

I’m a few years older than Buzz, so I graduated before him. We found each other at a local house show that some of the high schoolers were putting on a few towns over. I recognized Buzz  immediately that night, and from then on, we’ve been inseparable. We take care of each other. Also, don’t get it twisted. No romantic feelings here, strictly a platonic situation. He’s like my protector and I’m the one who works and cooks dinner. Even if it’s just heating up canned corn on the stove or getting take out from one of the few restaurants here in Fogmourn 

(Our favorite is an Italian-Chinese fusion spot)

It’s around 8:30 in the morning.  The sun is peering through the trailer windows and I can tell by the frost outside that it dipped down into the 40s last night. 

October in Fogmourn is ominous and sadly beautiful. It gets cold here around September and stays cold early on into the spring.  There's hardly ever a sunny day in Fogmourn. We typically get the sun for an hour or two a day, then it goes right back to gloomy overcast skies. The town is barely official….meaning we just got a post office a few years ago. Someone cared enough to pop us on the map finally, which was a huge deal around here. 

I get up out of bed, sleepily walk over to the coffee pot and press ‘brew’. 

I catch a look of myself in the mirror that hangs over the couch. “Yikes” I think to myself. 

I need to do something about this. I mosey over to the ridiculously small bathroom in the trailer and take out my makeup bag. I pop in my contacts, add some mascara to my eyes, and think really hard about what the hell to do with my hair. I finally decided on just a messy bun, as I’m getting impatient and want to just go drink my coffee.  

It’s freezing in our trailer, so I pop on an oversize brown knit brown sweater, my favorite jeans, cozy socks, & my leather knee-high boots. Finally, I feel a little more alive and less dead.  

When I open the door of the bathroom, Buzz is standing by the coffee pot, pouring us both a cup. 

“You read my mind” I said, smirking. 

“ I know! I also know your deepest darkest secret now.. Muahahahahahahaha!” he says back.  

I smile and sit down. Buzz hands me my favorite pumpkin creamer along with my coffee. He knows me so well. Though he’s convinced coffee creamer is the devil and you should only drink your coffee black. 

*Beep beep beep - beep beep beep*

My flipphone starts to ring. 

I run to the bedroom and listen round the room to where the ring is coming from. 

“Got it!” I yelled back to Buzz, very pleased with my detective skills. 

It’s my boss from ‘Mug Shots’ calling. 

“Hello?” 

I say not as chipper as I hoped I would.

“Hey Evelyn…Danny called out today. I need you to come cover his shift…” He says, less as a question and more as a demand. 

“Ugh. Fine. I could use the money anyways…I’ll be there in 15” I tell him back. 

“Thanks a million, Ev!”, he yells back with a hint of relief in his voice. 

I look up and Buzz is already smiling at me. 

“We are working today, huh?” he asks. 

“DING DING DING! You got it. Danny called out AGAIN”, I say sarcastically frustrated.  

Buzz throws on a gray knit sweater that has rips and shreds in it. Though I’m not sure if it's intentional or not, I've never asked. He picks up a pair of jeans off the floor and gives them a dramatic inhale. 

“Not bad” he says and looks at me waiting for my response. 

“EW!” I playfully nudged him back.  

He’s so weird sometimes.  

We grab our coats, bags,  and I make sure I have my headphones with me.  

I lock the trailer, though it wouldn’t matter if I did or not. Fogmorn has zero crime. Nobody ever comes here. It’s a pretty safe little town, mostly run by the retired elderly and the church people on Main Street. 

We start our little venture to Main Street where ‘Mug Shots’ is. 

I pulled out my iPod and shuffled my favorite Cat Power album. 

It’s a brisk walk as it's colder than I intended, but it’s my favorite walk. Especially in October. 

Even for a small town, the community here does try and make it festive. Pumpkins line the streets and small businesses that you never see anyone come in or out of, cheap Halloween decorations are blowing in the wind off of houses, & there are a few abandoned houses that definitely fit the whole haunted house vibe. 

We pass the corn field as always and I notice the house in the middle has a light on and smoke coming out of the chimney. I pull out my headphones from my ears and I just stare. At first I didn’t think much of it, until it hit me. I thought that house has been abandoned for years. The corn fields are attended to, sure, but I didn’t think anyone lived in that shitty rundown house. It has visible weather damage from our insane tornado seasons in the spring, the roof looks like it's concave on one side, the bricks are obviously old and weathered, & the front door doesn’t close all the way to the bottom. 

The porch is missing wood pieces, and the whole front is littered with dirty untouched farm equipment, trash that's been blown in by the town, & there's an old car rotting away with a tarp over it. Straight out of a horror movie if you ask me.  

I notice Buzz’s face as we walk away from the house. He’s obviously thinking really hard, because the vein in his forehead popped out.  

“You okay, Buzz?” I ask concerningly. 

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine. I just had a weird feeling looking at that house”, he says. 

“Me too..I thought it was abandoned” I answered back. 

We hold each other's eyes for longer than we meant to.  

I see his eyes lose their twinkle and I quickly change the subject. 

“It’s probably just the fact that we’re freezing our tits off out here. Let's go!” 

I say while running, hoping Buzz is running behind me. 

We finally make it to ‘Mug shots’. 

I open the door and walk inside. It’s not very busy yet, just a few people studying and some people who are obviously just passing through and need a hot drink to warm them up. 

“Evelyn!” I hear my name being yelled from the back.

“Hi Kory! We’re co-workers today, huh?” I say sarcastically. 

“Sure are…that damn Danny has called out like everyday" he says obviously, annoyed. 

Buzz sits at an empty table and I can see him thinking hard again. 

My heart flutters, but not in a good way. 

I pour him a mug of coffee and bring him a leftover day old blueberry scone. I sit at the empty chair in front of him and we give each other a knowing look. 

“Still thinking about that house, huh?’ I ask him. 

“I just think it’s a little weird…we’ve lived here forever and know everyone. That house has been abandoned for as long as I can remember and-” he trails off. 

Buzz shakes his head and mutters “I’m just curious I guess. That’s all’. 

“Me too. Let’s get through today and we will do some investigating tomorrow, okay?”

I pause and wait for his reaction. 

“Okay, Ev.” Buzz moans, trying to be as comforting as possible. 

I smile and notice there's a customer at the register. 

Duty calls. I hop up and get back to work. 

Though I can’t help but think about the house the entire day. My eyes often wandered into a dream-like trance every second I wasn’t doing some sort of busy work.  

It probably has a very simple explanation.  

A homeless person broke in, started a fire, and bam! Easy peasy. 

I glare over at Buzz, who's doing a cross word puzzle in the paper. I smile with uncertainty.

I tried convincing myself, but I can't shake that loose dread feeling deep down in my lungs. 

Something feels very wrong here. Uneasy.

 I’m scared it's something much worse. Much, much worse. 

 

It’s 5:00 am on Tuesday. 

Meaning I’m scheduled to open for ‘Mug Shots’ this morning. 

It’s always hard working two days in a row when your call time is 6am. 

I roll out of bed, make my way to the closet and pick out something to wear for the day. 

A cream blouse, red velvet shorts with black tights underneath for warmth, my favorite boots, & the chunkiest cardigan you've ever seen in your life. I look at myself in the mirror. I think about my copper hair and the fact that last night's messy bun still, somehow, looks better than it did yesterday after sleeping in it last night.

 

I tiptoe past Buzz and make my way through the trailer door. I decided to take the truck to work today, as it has a somewhat functional heater, and I'm not about to walk in 30 degree weather by myself. 

I open the truck door and a bunch of Buzz’s old Mcdonalds trash falls out onto the concrete.

 

“Ughhhhhhhhh! Buzzzzzzzz!” I yelp.

I kick the trash and the wind takes it all over the street next to me. 

Whatever. I have to get to work.  

When I start the truck I notice the gas light blinking. “Dammit,” I whisper.

The only gas station in Fogmourn is 8 miles away in the opposite direction of Main Street. 

They do have piping hot donuts and I always buy cheap lottery tickets when I go. 

I have to do some heavy convincing, but eventually I’m on the road to get gas.  

I hit shuffle on my iPod.  

“Dreams - by The Cranberries” Start to play through my distorted truck speakers. 

I’m humming along when I realize about 3 miles into the drive there's a new convenience  store up ahead on the right.  

A new convenience store? I haven’t heard a single soul talk about this. Usually in Fogmourn when we get any new business, it’s plastered all over signs and in the newspaper for months. Not a ton happens here so new shops and people with ideas are exciting for the locals. 

I don’t admit it, but my stomach builds a knot. 

I pull over into the convenience store parking lots only gas pump. It’s one of those short ones that looks like an old cigarette dispenser. Light is illuminating through the frost covered windows, there's a trashcan overflowing with trash and maggots squirming around on it. Miracles somehow who haven’t frozen to death.  

I mustered up the courage to get out and put some coins in the gas pump. I stumble with it for a second as my hands are frozen and can’t seem to get them to work. The gas pump refuses to work.  

“Fuck this!” I say angrily. 

With a fast pace, I walk inside the store. 

My stomach turns over and I’m immediately nauseous. I’m hit with this overwhelming feeling of dread. 

 “Hello!? Does anyone work here?!” I yell out.

No response. 

“HELLO!?” I yelled a bit louder this time. 

Still nothing. Not a single creak. 

Annoyed, I still decided to wait patiently. 

I figured I would grab a granola bar or something while I waited, so I made my way over through the aisles. 

I picked up a chocolate chip granola bar and some mints. Huh. I've never seen these brands before?

As I’m rummaging through the aisles inspecting the weird brands, I notice a light starts to flicker above me. 

*Jingle-Jingle-Jingle* 

The bell at the front door that was obviously once an old christmas decoration, jingles and the front door slide shut. 

“Thank god!” I whisper under my breath. 

Knowing I wasn’t alone in this store anymore, a sense of relief hit me. 

Walking up the front I notice there's still nobody behind the counter. I yell out a simple hello again and wait for the response back. 

“Oh dear, oh dear! I am so sorry, pumpkin. I guess I didn’t hear you come in”

Says as an elderly shaky female voice from behind one of the aisle shelves.  

I slowly turn around and I don’t see anyone. 

“It’s quite alright! Um….I am ready to check out though, and I have to get to work before-” 

I didn't finish my sentence. I’m too focused on the shadow of an old lady that’s on the floor next to me. My back is turned towards the register and I’m facing the aisles. 

I very slowly start walking towards the aisle where the shadow is coming from. I swear time was moving in slow motion. As I peer around the corner, I am met with the most disgusting smell of road kill.

There, standing three feet away, is an old woman. Arms at her side, dead pane expression. 

Her long thin gray greasy hair hits just below her collarbone, her skin is pale but yellow at the same time, and her back is hunched over way more than I’d like to accept. She’s wearing a long floral dress with a huge brown stain on the side and an oversized hunting coat. I then notice she's not wearing any shoes. It's 30 degrees outside and she’s NOT. WEARING. SHOES. 

We meet eyes as she lets the creepist most vile smile take over her whole face.

“My name is June, dear! Will you help me take these boxes to the back?” 

I glare around her and realize there are no boxes.

Uneasy, I started to back away and before I knew it, my back was at the check out counter. 

The old lady starts to hobble towards me in an unsettling fast manor. I panic and run for the door. 

Suddenly, the old lady screams out, “HELP ME HELP ME HELP ME!” 

she starts screaming at me. Her raspy old voice is obviously full of spit and she has no care to keep any in her mouth. 

My mouth opens, but no words make their way out.

I open the door and run to my truck. 

I hop in the driver's side seat and lock the doors. I haven’t ran that fast in my life ever, I don’t think. 

The thought is almost humorous to me.  

I turn to look at the front door of the convenience store and I can see June. Her face looks contorted due to the frost on the windows, but I can still tell that she's smiling. 

“What a fucking nightmare” I mutter. 

My eyes peer down at the clock. 

‘5:55 am’

“Shit! I’m going to be late for work!”  

I blurt out as I put the truck into drive and speed the hell out of there. 

 

I realize I never got gas, but there's no time now. I just need to pray and hope I don’t break down on the side of the highway. My thoughts ponder as I drive back into town. 

Who was that woman? Why did she want help with boxes so bad? 

It’s still dark outside. Not the pitch black kind of dark, but the dark blue phase of the early morning night. 

Enough where you can still see, maybe, without a street light. 

As I’m speeding into town, I realize I’m coming up on the corn field that Buzz and I walked by yesterday.  

I unintentionally slowed down a bit when driving by, and to my surprise, there was a light on and smoke coming out of the chimney.  

Almost at a complete stop now, I graze by and think about all the possibilities of who could be living there. 

My stomach feels like there's hundreds of knots in it and I’m still slightly nauseous from the convenience store situation. As I speed off, I take a peek in my review, and for a second, just a second there, I swear I saw June standing on the side of the road near the corn field, with that vile smile on her face. 

I mock it up to just having an eventful early morning, plus I haven’t had any coffee yet, so I’m still waking up.  

Yeah, that's it. I decided for the rest of the day to not dare think about the situation with June or the corn field, but just to focus on work and try to distract myself. Making coffee for customers is a good way to do that.  

I finally made it to Mug Shots. I put on my apron that has old coffee stains, and I get to work wiping the counters off. We open at 6:30, so I guess technically I wasn’t late. It’s just me for the first few hours anyways.  

 A few early risers come in through the morning. Farmers, moms with young kids, and church goers. The usual. 

Around 9:30, an older man comes in. I’ve seen in town before, but I have no recollection of him stopping in for coffee. He orders a black coffee with two creams, 1 sugar, and a pumpkin muffin. 

I walked his breakfast to him and sat it down on the table where I noticed he’s reading an article in the paper about the anniversary of the fire that ripped through part of Fogmourn in the 40s. 

I’m staring at the article when he chirps up a “Do you want the paper? Do you want to share my muffin too?”  he says annoyed that I’m staring at his morning paper. 

My cheeks turned pink as I apologized.  

“I’m sorry, I just caught a glimpse at the article about the fire. Just curious” I say sweetly. 

He hands me the paper. 

I’m still standing as I read the article. My eyes follow the words like they’re glued to the paper. 

My mouth drops open.  

An old photo of the convenience store is in the paper. Underneath the photo it says 

“June Marlowe, 1943, Fogmourn's First Convenience store”

My eyes meet the smiling woman in the photo.

I dropped the paper on the floor and my hand came up to my mouth. I feel like my heart stopped.  

How could this be? This doesn’t make any sense. 

The man, obviously annoyed that I’m still standing here, picks up the paper and says “Here, just keep it”, he hands the paper to me and takes his coffee out the door. He didn’t even eat his muffin. 

Next thing I know, the door chimes, and in walks Buzz. 

“Hey Ev! Why do you look like you’ve just seen a ghost?’ he says while laughing. 

His expression changed when he realized I wasn't laughing with him. 

My mouth opens but nothing comes out. Buzz is just staring at me. 

“Because…because I think I did.” I say back, non jokingly. 

Buzz looks down at the perfectly warmed pumpkin muffin on the table. 

“Go for it” I say as deadpan as I could have. 

We both sit and I’m still wide eyed looking off into the distance. 

“Ev…you’re freaking me out. Are you okay?” Buzz asks. 

“I think..I think I need to show you something” I say. 

Buzz nods and waits like a lost puppy. 

I then continue to explain the entire morning of events about June and the store, and the guy with the muffin. All of it comes out. I show Buzz the photo on the paper with the article.  

His expression changes as he realizes I am NOT joking. I think he’s starting to take this more seriously. 

“What do we do?’ Buzz asks with a hint of fear in his voice. 

“I’m not sure. But I think we need to start with the convenience store” 

Buzz almost looks disappointed. Like he wanted me to say nothing and just ignore the whole situation.  

The fear in my stomach turns into a curiosity, and I start making a plan. 

I want answers. I want to know what happened, why the store burned down, how it is still standing, and who the hell is June Marlowe? 

I look at the clock on the wall and realize my opening shift is almost over. 

So much for trying to distract myself.  

Kory walks in and happily takes his place behind the counter.  I grab my bag and make Buzz and I to-go coffees. 

We yell bye to Kory as we open the front door and head out. I jump in the truck with Buzz and we’re almost set until it dawns on me that I still never got gas. 

That’s first on the list. Get gas at a non-burned down creepy old lady gas station. 

“Guns & More”  

Whispers Buzz as we walk past the ridiculously large welcome sign. 

Buzz and I walk through the creaky doors of this sketchy side-of-the-highway gun store.  

“Welcome to Guns N More! What brings ya’ll in? Never seen ya before” 

Says the burly man at the front. He’s wearing overalls, a dirty white t-shirt, & what looks to be some sort of tethered baseball hat. He had an opened Bud Lite in his hand and a small tv on the counter was playing Wheel Of Fortune. I’ve seen him before. I think he comes into Mug Shots sometimes after church.

I glance at Buzz who’s inspecting the spiral rack of  souvenir pocket knives, which if you’re lucky you’ll find your name engraved on one.  

“We’re going on a deer hunt” I say, even though I’ve never been hunting in my life. 

"Yeah, we’re gonna need something that will get the job done if there are any big deer,” chimed Buzz from behind the rack. 

The burly man squints his eyes.

Dammit. I know our story doesn’t sound believable. Two young kids who like us going deer hunting? Yeah, right.  

He shakes his head and rolls his eyes. 

“Well in that case, here are the guns” as he points to the wall behind him. 

This catches Buzz’s attention. We both walk a little closer to the front and start inspecting the guns from a distance. 

“Anything under $30 bucks?” Buzz asks. 

“Hm. I don’t have anything here under $30, but I have an old shotgun in my truck I'll give ya for that price” he said happily. 

Buzz and I stare at  each other for a few seconds. This is sketchy, but the whole town is sketchy, it’s nothing new. 

We agree, and follow the guy out to his rusty old truck. 

He shows Buzz how to load it and what all the mechanics of it are. I can tell Buzz is a little uncomfortable with the whole “Punk owning a gun” thing, but he perseveres. 

I notice the guy also has an axe in the front teat. “How much for the axe?” I ask. 

“Hmm I’ll tell you what. You give me free coffee for a week and I’ll throw in that there axe for free” 

He says, pleased with his bargain skills. 

“Deal!” I say hastily. 

I grab the axe and Buzz pays for the shotgun. He throws in a box of shotshells & one of those keychain swiss army knives. (Noting that we couldn't find one with Buzz’s name on it, so he settled for one that had “Grandma” carved into it) 

We got back in my truck and started driving back home. 

So now we have a shotgun, an axe, & no clue on how to really use them…IF we need to use them. I think it's a placebo for us to feel safer, but I haven't given it much thought. 

The sun is starting to slowly set in the distance, but I‘m determined to show Buzz the convenience store before nightfall. We drove for a bit, listening to a Mom Jeans CD’s, laughing about stupid things. It felt normal, which was weird because we’re on our way to a convenience store with a deranged lady and we have weapons in the back seat. 

Ten minutes pass, and we finally get to where the convenience store was. Yes, was.

All that was sitting on this small plot of land was a pile of burnt to a crisp wood, trash, an old gas pump that had been scorched by the fire, and old police caution tape that was flapping in the breeze. There was also a pile of quarters by the gas pump. My quarters from this morning. 

“Uh…. Ev? There's nothing here?” Buzz says as he looks at me worried. 

I’m in disbelief. I start talking really fast about the whole situation this morning and I feel my cheeks start to get hot. Tears in the back of my eyes are forming and my throat starts to feel tight.

“Ev! Evelyn!” Buzz kindly yells a he grabs my face 

“Calm down. You need to calm down.” He tells me. 

I take a few deep breaths and I croak my words out. 

“It was here this morning. I promise it was right here. There was a convenience store, the old lady, and-” 

I trail off again. 

Buzz is staring at me with a look I’ve never seen him make before. 

“I believe you”. He tells me. 

Just hearing those words made me feel the tiniest bit more calm. 

“I’m not crazy. I wasn't hallucinating either. I know what I saw. I even grabbed this granola bar and these mints”, I tell Buzz as I pull them out of my bag. He looks more scared now. 

He inspects the granola bar and the mints. There's an expiration date on the side. It reads the year ‘09/12/43’. 

I go pale in the face. So does Buzz.  

The sun is almost entirely set now. It’s getting super dark, and the nearest street lamp is up about half a mile. 

At this point I was ready to get the fuck out of there. I push the gas and hit a sharp right turn. We’re headed back to Main Street, but we both know we have to pass the corn field and the scary house. We sit in silence until we come up on the corn field. There it was. The abandoned house, somehow looking more abandoned than it did before. However this time, there is no smoke coming out the chimney and no lights are on in the house. 

 I can feel how terrified Buzz is. I look at him and he’s loading the shotgun with shells. 

I gulp and grab my axe from the backseat.  

“Ready?” He asked me. 

“No. Not at all.” I say back. 

We get out of the truck and stand at the edge of the cornfield where it meets the highway. I let out a deep breath and started walking through the high stalks of corn. Buzz followed behind me closely and we trudged in the direction towards the house. 

Being in the cornfield was a sick type of feeling. Every once in a while I swear I heard something coming our direction but I think it was nerves more than anything. Imaginations run wild when put in uneasy situations. 

Ten or so minutes pass, and we finally reach the edge of the cornfield on the opposite end, closest to the house. 

My eyes scan everything. From the ground to the house, still making sure there are no lights and no chimney smoke. Still clear. My brain gives me a “PHEW!”. 

Buzz runs to the cellar doors.  

“This is going to be our best bet, Ev,” he says. 

“What? Are you crazy? Have you ever watched a horror movie before? I argue back.  

“Well do you have a better idea, Miss Priss? He says frustrated. 

“Fine, Buzz. But if you get us killed, I’ll still try to strangle you in hell” I snap. 

Buzz tugs on the cellar doors, and after one or two hard tugs, the doors burst open. Surprisingly, the cellar doors were on the quieter side. Hopefully we didn’t alert anyone that we were here. 

Buzz goes first. He steps down the stairs of the cellar with his shotgun ready at his shoulder. 

I raise my axe above my red hair. I swear I felt just like Jack Torrance. 

Buzz somehow managed to find a light and he pulled the dusty fragile string that’s supposed to be the cord for this fixture. 

“YES!” He exclaims, smitten with himself 

My face dead pans around the room. I look up to Buzz who is just as in shock as me.

“Doilies.” I whisper 

 The basement is covered in doilies.  

We’re still and so quiet you could hear a button off of a dress hit the ground. 

It’s beautiful. As much as I’d hate to admit that. 

The whole basement is covered ground to ceiling with these beautiful cream colored doilies. There are lacey ones, floral ones, and some have little words stitched into them. 

I was expecting to find dead bodies or jars full of human organs, but no. Instead, it’s just a giant fucking tea party. 

“I don’t like this, Ev….who the fuck would hoard this many doilies in a basement?” 

Buzz is whispering and screaming now. 

“I don’t know. I’m just as confused as you are..but hey! At least it’s not piles of dead bodies” I say, trying my absolute best to make light of this situation. 

He doesn't look amused or even the slightest bit less tense. 

We explored the basement a bit more, trying to find the staircase that would lead upstairs. 

“Bingo.” I exclaim. 

We’re both standing at the foot of an old raggedy staircase.  

Like always, Buzz takes the lead. I follow closely behind him and when we reach the top, I feel Buzz take a big deep breath before twisting the door handle. 

The door opens and we’re met with the scent of old musty books, wet trash, and decay. 

I’ve never smelled anything so vile or gross in my life. My eyes are watering, and Buzz is dry heaving.  

“What is that god awful smell?” I say into the open.  

*creaaaaAAAAeeaeekkk* 

Buzz’’s arm hits me in the chest and we both freeze. 

He looks at me with worried eyes. “Sh.” he says under his breath. 

He puts his shotgun back on his shoulder and I’m holding my axe like a pro leaguer at a baseball game. 

We listen for a bit and then slowly walk out of the door frame. 

There's obviously someone here, but it’s probably just a homeless person trying to keep warm.  

That’s what I’m telling myself, because I don’t know any other explanation for this. 

The house is pitch black. We can’t see a single thing. In a way it's comforting, because if I see a ghost or something I will pass out. This way we’re visually safe from any intruders. 

I feel my stomach twist up. The same way it felt the morning of the convenience store incident. 

“Buzz….I think we should leave. I don’t like this one bit” I whisper. 

No response. 

“Buzz!?” I say a bit louder this time. 

I freeze. My breathing becomes heavy and I think you could hear my heartbeat from a mile away. 

I slowly raise my axe and turn around. Though it’s pitch black, I can tell nobody is behind me.   

I’m sweating and clenching my stomach to the point where I can barely breath. I want to cry. What is happening? Why did we ever agree to come to this fucking house in the first place? 

I’m forced to make a very scary and very fast decision. Do I stay here and try to find Buzz? Do I run out the front door and go to the police? It would still be a fifteen minute drive and by that time-”  I’m cut off by a loud clicking sound and I can tell a lamp has turned on in the room in front of me. 

There's a dim illuminating shadow and I can finally make out what part of the house I’m in. 

 I slowly walk to the room near the front door on the left. It’s a living room. There's old red velvet couches, furniture that’s been graffited, and so. many. moths. I’ve never seen so many moths in one place before.  

They’re all crowded around this one lamp on the small roundtable by the red velvet couch.  

It smells terrible. Even worse than it did before. The scent of something rotting…has been rotting, for a long time fills the crowded air around me. 

A few tears fell down my cheek. Not from sadness, but from fear. Where did Buzz go? Why am I alone here? 

 

I hear fast scattered running in the room above me. My eyes glaze up to the ceiling and the running stops.   

 

Without warning, I’m hugged hard from behind and thrown over the velvet couch. 

I want to scream but there's a hand covering my mouth. It’s Buzz. My eyes swell up with tears and I shut them tightly. He’s looking at me with the widest eyes I’ve ever seen. He’s holding me so tight that I finally understand. Buzz saw something. He saw something he didn’t want to see. Was he running from something? Who was upstairs? 

We wait, and then I hear the scattered fast pace running again. This time it’s in the hallway upstairs. The running is fast, too fast, how I imagine a spider runs with eight legs. Our eyes follow the stairs and we hear loud thumps coming down the stairs. My heart rate is probably clocking 250 at this point. Buzz slowly lets go and replaces me with his shotgun.  I have my axe on the floor in front of me, but I’m so frozen with fear I can’t grab it. 

As the thumps get closer to the end of the stairs, we can see a shadow illuminating all over the living room. The shadow of a small humped creature. We hear whispering. Loud, fast, croaking whispers fill the room.  

The thumping stops and its dead quiet. An elderly woman turns the corner of the living room. 

Gray hair, stained floral dress, no teeth, and no shoes. 

It’s June. 

From the convenience store. My eyes flash back to the images of her running towards me and just how terrifying that morning was.

We watch her slowly turn the corner and that's when we both collectively realize that she is dragging something behind her. My eyes scan her and the odd shaped object in her hand. It’s an ankle. The ankle is attached (barely) to the body of a woman, or at least what I think was a woman at some point. I pinch Buzz’s hand. 

The body had been burned, beaten, cut up, and limbs had been torn off. Her head is attached and the eyes are still open. I know it's impossible, but I feel like the woman's eyes followed me as June dragged her body across the living room floor. They were saying “help me” I think.

I’m struck with a feeling of helplessness. I can’t do anything to help her, as much as I want to.  

June drags the woman's body into the kitchen through the living room where to our surprise, the kitchen lights turn on. With a loud thud and an even louder straining moan from June, the woman's body is slammed down on the kitchen table. We watch in horror as June takes her knitting needles and stabs them into the woman's sternum. She shakily pushes the needles down and drags them down to the top of her pubic bone. She then takes her hand and butterflies the woman's stomach wide open. Blood and organs are exposed, though it wasn't as much of a firework show as I was expecting.  

June reaches her hands slowly into the woman's stomach and pulls out her organs one by one. A heart, a liver, a kidney, and then the intestines, though those took the longest as  it resembled a clown at a children's birthday party, pulling a long continuous scarf out of his clown lips. The harvested organs are put in a small lattice weaved basket. There's lace on the skirt of the basket, and a blood stain is seeping through the rattan. 

June, covered in blood, walks into the living room and grabs her sewing basket that sits by the fireplace. She goes back into the kitchen and slowly sews doilies into this poor girl's skin. Skinning her as if she's a professional or as if she has done this many times before, sewing so gracefully the doilies into her bloodied skin. I can’t look away. Why can’t I look away? June reaches for more doilies and stuffs them down the girls throat. She sews a few into her eyes, and then she fills the empty essentials where her organs are supposed to be with doilies. June then slides the lady down the table and slowly starts to walk up the stairs with the doily woman dragging behind her. 

I look over at Buzz who has no expression. I’d expect him to have a mortified look on his face, but he doesn't. He’s..calm? Collected? Maybe I’m reading him wrong.  

I grab his hand and he jerks it away. “Sorry, I’m just…” he stops.  

“I know. It’s okay. We need to get out of here immediately" I whisper back. 

We crawl on our hands and knees to the opposite side of the couch and we try our best to make our way back down to the cellar. We were doing really well until the end of Buzz's shotgun hits the staircase as we’re crawling by. The energy in the house changed and that’s when the light in the living room went out. 

“Fuck” I keep thinking to myself over and over. 

The house is dead quiet again until we hear the fast pace running It surrounds us. From one room to the next, upstairs, downstairs, everywhere around us we hear the shuffle running. I’m sweating, and mouth breathing at this point. That’s when June appears to the left of us by the front door. 

Without thinking, Buzz takes the shotgun and pulls the trigger.  

A swift pop and smack sound fills the room. 

He shot her. We let out a small breath of relief before moving any closer.  

There's blood everywhere on the wall and pooling up under June. We inch closer and closer until June’s eyes shoot open and she runs up the side of the wall. I scream as loud as my voice can physically go while raising my axe just in case she comes any closer. Buzz tries to shoot her again , but she's too fast for him. She’s running from wall to wall and laughing manically, while her blood is being splashed everywhere. She crawls down the wall and right past us. She bursts through the front door and into the corn field on all fours.  

Buzz and I are frozen in place. We’re looking at the blood, the front door, and the corn stalks that are moving as June runs through them. 

“What the FUCK was THAT?!” I scream at buzz 

“I have no idea, Ev. I have no, fucking, idea.” Buzz calmly responded. 

My brain is racing. Do I investigate the rest of the house while June is out in the cornfield? Do we run after June and hunt her down like the deer we’re supposed to be hunting? I can’t seem to make a decision. 

I turn around and walk into the dimly lit kitchen. Buzz follows me, backs turned so we can watch every possible entrance and exit. I’m scanning the woman insides that are in the basket, and I almost vomit from the smell. She couldn't have been but thirty or so. 

As I’m investigating the kitchen, I notice it’s covered in doilies. There's teapots, teacups, milk and sugar jars, small golden spoons, and loose teas have been spilled all over the place. Not to mention the blood sprayed vintage collection of cookie jars that obviously have some sort of human substance inside. 

Definitely not grandma's cookies. 

We hear scuffling and running above us. Is June back? Are there more bodies upstairs? 

We mustered up the courage to go upstairs. I’m sweating like a pig on a hot day and Buzz is fed up at this point.  

As Buzz and I reach the top of the stairs, all we see are sewing supplies and doilies every, single, surface. Doilies are piled up in thousands if not millions. Loose yarn balls, knitting needles, and a few stray picnic baskets are collecting dust in the corners.  My eyes widen, but something is pushing me to explore. 

Is the curiosity of the cat really all that bad? 

Chapter 5.

*SLAM!*

The front door shakes violently as it shuts. 

We turn around swiftly and are preparing to meet eye to eye with June, but instead we’re met with nothing. 

Just then, every light in the house comes on. The entire upstairs is littered with trash, graffiti, and more doilies than what I thought before. Why are there so many doilies? Images of doilies being sewed into the woman's eyes haunt me. I can't unsee it. 

“At least she pays her electric bill…” says Buzz with an uneven smile. 

I didn’t think it was funny. 

I walk in front of Buzz, holding my axe up, and I start making my way down the hall. Buz is behind me, but for some weird reason, I feel like the protector in this situation. 

There's a half open door up on the left. 

I muster up every spark of courage I have and kick the door open. There's a bed, a vanity, and an impressive amount of dust in the air.  

“It seems…. Normal?” I ask Buzz. 

A few seconds pass and I realize Buzz is missing again. 

Ugh. He is the best at Irish goodbyes. My skin shivers and I feel really cold all of a sudden. I grab my sweater sleeves and push them down over the tops of my hands. 

“Buzz?!......Buzz?!” I whisper. I start investing in the room , just hoping Buzz is out investing another room. It pondered in my mind where he had run off to in the first palace, but given the circumstances I didn’t give it too much thought. I found an old trunk with some old floral dresses, a few loose sewing supplies, and a yearbook from 1935.  I hate to admit it, but the room is almost beautiful with the lights on. With the old yellow hue lighting mixed with the ambiance of the dust, it’s like I’m in an old movie. Charming in a way. 

“Eveyln!....Evelyn help!” said a voice from the hallway. 

“Buzz?!” 

“What are you doing out there? I'm here!” I whisper back. 

“Evelyn, I need help. Please!” he replied back with a cry in his voice. 

I run to the door and push it open. Buzz is standing there, holding his arm. 

“I uh. I hurt my arm.” Buzz tells me. 

As I look at his arm I don’t see any redness or a scratch. 

Huh. That’s odd. I think to myself. 

A few seconds pass when the lights go out. 

I let out a small but quiet yelp and jumped towards Buzz. He wraps his arms around me and tights his grip. 

Something felt weird. He doesn’t usually do this sort of thing. 

“I have to show you something” buzz whispers behind my ear. 

He grabs my hand and leads me to another open room on the other side of the stairs. I follow him and walk into a cold room. I can barely see, but I’m trusting Buzz has some sort of plan for light.  

I can feel Buzz’s presence a distance from mine. As if he were purposely trying to hide.  

“Buzz where are you”? "This isn't funny anymore, I’m scared and I think we should high tail it out of here” 

I whisper into the cold room  

“Why would you want to leave? I thought we were exploring…” Buzz answers back 

A bit of me let out a sigh of relief knowing he was still in here with me. 

“I don’t know..this feels wrong and I think June might be back in the house” I tell him. 

There’s an uncomfortable 15 seconds of silence, but it felt like 3 hours.  

I hear a fast shuffle along the side of the room on my right. I turn fast and raise my axe. 

“Buzz! June is in this room! RUN!” I scream at the top of my lungs. I bolt towards the door when I come face to face with Buzz. He’s smiling.  

“BUZZ WE HAVE TO RUN SHES IN THIS ROOM WHAT ARE YOU DOING GET OUT OF THE WAY LETS GO!” I’m screaming at Buzz 2 inches away from his face. 

I turn around to make sure June isn’t behind me. Thankfully she’s nowhere to be seen. 

“Oh my sweet Evelyn…. Why would I ever want you to leave? I have you right where I want you” 

It hit me like a horse carriage. That wasn’t Buzz’s voice.  

I turn back around, sweating, and I’m pretty sure I’m crying. Buzz is standing there, except it didn’t look like Buzz. Buzz was 2 feet taller, his back was hunched over, and he had elegant ivory doilies sewn right into his eye sockets that had a dark brown rim of blood around them. I try to scream but no words are able to escape my mouth.  

I feel two cold and sharp needles thrust into my throat. June shuffles around me and is smiling ghastly at me like she did at the convenience store. 

All I felt was cold metal. No pain. My body was in shock. June shuffles over to Buzz as I fall to the floor. I see her and Buzz walk out of the room before my eyes start to feel heavy. I knew we shouldn’t have come here in the first place. I knew this was a terrible idea. I feel sleepy and warm and like someone is hugging me. 

Two hands are jabbing harp needles into my eye sockets. I am all of the sudden blind in one eye, and slowly on to my next.  My limbs are torn from their grounds and I luckily can’t feel a thing. 

 

“You will make such a beautiful hallway runner, dear” said June in my ear. 

I could feel her warm spit hitting the insides of my ear and sides of my face. A tongue is then slid from my ear to my chest and two knitting needles are jammed into my slow beating heart.  

October is a time for harvesting, especially organs, but pumpkins and apples are fun to pick too. 

I smile and let the warmness take over me. 

Let this be a lesson. Some things are better left unexplored. There's beauty in letting things be still, but also to keep the mind alive with questions. Ask the questions, be curious, but always make sure you have an axe at the ready. 

I guess curiosity really did kill the cat. 

Or in this case,   me.