The House Down the Street
Ananya Das
Copyright Adianya Creative 2013
About the Author
Ananya is a grade five student who is an avid reader and has started writing her own works of fiction.
This book is intended to bring her writing to millions of readers and provide encouragement to her.
It was Halloween. Abbi left for trick-or-treating at 6:30 pm. She had gotten to all the houses before she saw one that was dark and not lit up like the other ones.
Abbi walked up to the house, to see if there was any candy on the steps of the porch. As she approached the house, the front door creaked open as if it meant to invite her in. Against her better judgment, she walked in. Inside the house the furniture was dusty and old; it looked like if she touched it, it would crumble to dust before her eyes. There was a strong smell of damp. Abbi reluctantly walked into the living room. There was mould eating away at the walls which were adorned by old portraits. Abbi stepped in closer to take a better look at the portraits when she accidently hit the table which collapsed to the ground. The sound of the table collapsing frightened Abbi. One of the portraits was of a man and a woman. The other picture was of twin girls. Abbi heard the floorboards creaking from above. She heard noises that sounded like someone talking but she reminded herself that it has to be the wind. No one has lived here for years. The house was uninhabitable and no one could live here now.
Hesitantly, Abbi walked into the next room. This appeared to be the dining room. The dining room was full of cobwebs and a big oak dining table. It felt like there was something or someone down there in the shadows just waiting to grab her and drag her back into the shadows with it.
Abbi, being very curious, always looked for clues about things wherever she goes and so she did here too. She looked in every room, every corner, but found nothing but dead skin and more spiders. The house looked very haunted and mysterious to her. Abbi knew she should leave but her curiosity for this house wouldn't let her. She kept trying and trying to convince herself to leave and so she thought she would come back later to explore.
Before she went to bed, she thought about writing what she saw about the mysterious house in her journal she got for her birthday a couple years ago. She got the journal out and started writing.
After a while, Abbi couldn't take it anymore and she fell asleep with the book in her hands. Abbi's mom came in later to check on her. She tucked Abbi in and switched off the lights.
The next day was Saturday, a day off from school, (which Abbi loved) so she thought she might as well go see what's up with that mysterious house. When Abbi got there she saw that everything was the same as the day before. Today, she went a little further into the house.
Suddenly, she was astonished to find a door with her name on it. Abbi jumped at the sight of her name on this door. “Why was my name on the door? Did someone find out that I had been sneaking inside the house?”
However, she slowly opened the door stopping ever time it creaked. When she opened it, she found a set of stairs with a red carpet. Just as she was going to make her first step, she got a call from her mom to come home. Abbi knew she should get back home and it was also getting dark. So, Abbi quickly closed the door and went home which was only down the street.
When she went inside she noticed it was 6:54 pm already past her dinner time. When her mom came out she was yelling, “Where were you and what were were you doing?” Abbi had no choice but to make something up because if she told the truth she knew her mom wouldn’t let her go anywhere near that mysterious house again. So she said she was at the park. Her mom sighed and said “You better have been.” Abbi ignored her mom and had her dinner, spaghetti and meatballs. They were usually her favorite, but this time the spaghetti looked like snakes and the meatballs looked like big spiders.
After she gobbled up her dinner, she went to her room and wrote a letter to her cousin in Indianapolis, who was actually coming over for her birthday. Abbi had never met Natalie before now and was very excited that she was coming for her birthday. Abbi put everything in the letter including the mysterious house. She quickly put the letter in an envelope, gave it to her mom and called out to send it to the post office by tomorrow. Hopefully, Natalie, her cousin would get it before my birthday, Abbi told her brain as she got ready to go to bed.
Before she fell asleep, she thought about writing in her journal again. She wrote about her experiences in the mysterious house. She wrote about the stairs and the door with her name on it.
When she was all done, she put the journal on her desk and fell asleep. Later her mom came in to put a stamp on the envelope and she noticed the journal on Abbi's desk again.
Days passed and finally it was Abbi's birthday. Abbi’s mom woke her up with a happy birthday song. That sure woke Abbi up. She hugged her mom and got her birthday dress on.
After her birthday breakfast, she asked if she could go to the park. Abbi’s mom sighed and said, “Ok, but only cause it’s your birthday.”
Abbi ran out and went straight to the mysterious house. The house seemed so far away when really it was only down the street. When she went inside she noticed that the windows were now closed and the house looked a little cleaner. Someone's been here, Abbi thought.
Ignoring the windows, Abbi went straight to the stairs. This time she even went up the stairs and it seemed that the stairs never ended. When she got to the top, the red carpet ended and underneath it looked like there was a key. Abbi lifted the cloth, and yep, she was right. There was a key and also a piece of paper. The key was no ordinary key, it was red. Bloodshot red. The piece of paper also looked like a map. Abbi studied the map and found out that it lead to three doors.
On the bottom of the paper it said:
“Use this map to get to three doors. Unlock the right door and it will lead you to a big secret. Accidently unlock the wrong door, and you will meet your doom!”
Abbi decided she could take this challenge. She followed the map and it got to a cupboard. She opened it but it was empty except for a little dust.
Abbi kept walking but all she saw were dead ends. It was like a big maze.
Finally, after such a long time of walking, Abbi found a room of three doors just like the map had said. The room seemed to be a child’s bedroom with pink wallpaper. The wallpaper had loose seams, punctures and trapped air bubbles. Abbi read the map again, “Unlock the right door” she said. “But which one is the right one?”
“There should be something indicating the right door.” Abbi went back to the end of the stairs. At first, she looked under the red carpet for any other clue and when she found nothing, she went to the cupboard. She opened all the drawers and found nothing. As soon as Abbi was about to close the cupboard door, something caught her eye. There was something scribbled on the cupboard wall. As she looked at it more closely she read...
Abbi =B
'Abbi=B' what could that mean? There wasn't 'Abbi=B' on any of the doors. Abbi went back to the doors and examined the doors one more time. As she was walking in front of the doors she felt something scratch the bottom of her shoe. She bent down the near the right door. She had to look deep into the old, mostly cracked, wood of the mysterious house. Deep into the wood she saw 'Abbi=B'
“This is the door!”
When she opened the door, there was another room with three more doors. This time the room looked smaller. There were less dents and cracks. Abbi also saw a stool. She picked it up to have a closer look. Underneath the stool was another message:
Abbi =*
'Abbi= *?' Abbi looked at the doors again. But wait a minute, Abbi thought. Why would there be a stool if something was on ground? There mus
t be something above the door.
Abbi put the stool on the ground and stood up on the right door. Nothing. She stood up in front of the middle door. Nothing. She stood up in front of the left door and saw the exact message on the outline of the door. “This must be the next door.”
When she opened the door, she found herself in yet another room.
“Oh, Boy! Another mystery to solve!”
When she closed the door behind her, she saw another message that said:
“Abbi = B*”
“Well, that's convincing! What in the world does 'Abbi=B*' mean?”
Abbi turned around and saw two doors. We're finally getting closer to the secret, she thought.
This one was pretty easy one to figure out. On each side of the door, there was a message. On one of the doors, Abbi saw the same message and opened the door.
This time she was in a room, the size of her bathroom. And this one was the easiest. There was a “WELCOME” sign right on the door leading out of the room.
Abbi was very excited as she slowly opened the door. The room was completely dark and she could not see anything.
“Why is it so dark in here?” Abbi thought. “Where can the light switch be?”
Just as Abbi was about to move forward to look for the switch, the lights turned on and...
“Surprise! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!”
The room was full of her family and friends.
“Whoa!” Abbi cried “Y..Y..You did this all for me?” she stammered.
“I can't believe it! I am so happy!”
“Happy Birthday, Abbi!” said a voice from behind. Abbi turned around and she saw a very unfamiliar face.
“Who are you?” Abbi asked confused.
“I am Natalie. You silly goose” Natalie replied laughing.
“Oh, Natalie! I totally forgot! It's nice to see you.”
Suddenly the lights turned off and the room was filled with disco lights.
“It's time to party!” Natalie yelled.
After all the dancing it was time for cake and presents. The cake was half vanilla and half chocolate with strawberries and kiwis on top.
When the party was over, Abbi returned home with Natalie and her mother. As she was getting ready for bed, she asked her mom, “How did you plan all this?”
“Magic” replied her mom.
“Tell me, mom” Abbi whined.
“Nope! Magicians don't tell” laughed Abbi's mom.
“Ha- Ha very funny”
“Ok, now it's time for bed.”
“ But at least tell me what 'Abbi=B*' means?”
“It means Abbi= Birthday Star!”
“Oh, that makes sense.”
Abbi's mom kissed her on the forehead and went to sleep. But before Abbi could fall asleep, her eye caught on the journal she had been writing in. She had decided now that her birthday was over she would read what she wrote from the beginning. This is how she started:
It was Halloween. Abbi left for trick-or-treating at 6:30 pm. She had gotten to all the houses before she saw one that was dark and not lit up like the other ones. . .