What does haunting mean to you?

Our Scary Story

The door swung open, welcoming the family to their new home. They were seven in total, a young couple with five children. They would soon realize they would not be alone in the ancient manor. They could tell that there haven't been any signs of human presence from the state which the interior of the manor found itself in. The beautiful pieces of art that were displayed were covered in webs and dust, which made its beauty and value go unnoticed in the viewer's eye, and this seemed to spark sadness in the mother's heart.

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"It's not like it matters."

Hailey mumbled under her breath. "It's just one bad grade. Just one C. It's passing. Mom won't care, right?" She said, as if it were to convince herself that she wasn't panicking.

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(Which she was, but her mental health was usually in the shadow of her pride)

She let out a shuddering breath before putting her hands to her head. "Shit. SHIT. I haven't gotten a C in so long. I thought I could graduate with nothing lower than an A. What the fuck. What the fuck?" A sob pulled at her throat. She could barely believe it.

She was a failure. That was all that rang in her head. How could she fail her biochemistry class when she was trying to go to medical school?

She was the second oldest of the five, the firstborn being her older sister, who ran away from home. Not that Hailey blamed her. Her mother was a bit too overwhelming, she must admit. Ever since they moved into the Manor on Grove Street seven years ago, her mother went from warm to cold in just the first week they were there.

She kept mumbling

it was because of the "people in the walls," she said as she would point at the paintings.

It was terrifying. Yet, she still loved her mother.

She thinks. She was trying to get to college—away from her mother. Away from everything that had happened over the last seven years. But now, with the "C" that would be stamped soon on her report card...

She swallowed back a lump in her throat. She couldn't keep crying. She had to move forward.

She made a move to open the bathroom stall—and suddenly, there was a gasp that bubbled outside the door. It sounded grotesque—almost as if it were gargling.

Hailey soon realized it was right behind the stall she was in.

She finally understood her mother. She finally saw it. She finally felt their presence. The people in the wall...

They were  choking  on  their  own  blood. It was  such  a  grotesque sound  that  Hailey knew she  had to get  out  of there  as   soon   as possible.  As she tried the  door,  she found that it was  locked. Looking  around,  she  saw a window.  It  was her  only choice...

So she decided to break the window shattering into pieces. She was escaping and then suddenly, her foot got caught by the broken glass. She sensed the people behind her struggling to grab her and pull her up the window.

Despite being terrified, Hailey was able to fight back. She tried to kick the hands with her other leg while extending her arms to reach the window on the floor beneath her. However, all her attempts were in vain, the hands had an inhuman strength and wouldn't let her go.

As the hands slowly dragged her body through the window, she suddenly had a flashback of the time when her mother helped her after she had fallen and scraped her knee. Crying she fell into her mother's arm and her mother consoled her, putting a Band-Aid over the cut on her leg.

She fought them off and was able to get out of the window. She was shaken from her realization. She did not know who to tell about her experience besides her mother, but she hasn't been the same person since Hailey and her family moved into that old manor.

Hailey could not comprehend what had just played out in that bathroom and decided to run, although it would not solve her problems. She ran as fast as she could and as far as she could until she reached a dark forest with sounds of moaning and screams. She did not know why she was brought here but she could not leave. It's like she was being drawn into the forest, like she was meant to be there for some reason, perhaps a specific reason she could not put her finger on yet.

Hailey was a fool little did she know the forest was infested with people who practice voodoo and disguise themselves as trees due to their powers. Hailey walked further into the forest with a mysterious voice whispering for her to come closer and closer. The closer she got the louder the whispers, until she reached a vast field with a rock impaled by a sword.

The sword intrigued her. So she wandered towards its slight shine in the distance. As she drew near, she could hear the whispers getting louder and she could make out text on the sword.

It had her grade and class written on it in an old gothic text.

How it got there, she couldn't tell. The voices got nearer and she grew afraid of what the near future would hold for her. The whispers slowly turned into talking silhouettes hiding behind the trees that circled Hailey and the sword. These dark shadows were getting closer and closer. So Hailey decided to try to grab the sword. She tugged as hard as she could to no avail. By now, the shadows were only feet from her. She was having no luck. She gave up and began to run towards the shadows. She just wanted to get away. Haley closed her eyes and ran straight back where she came. But when she opened her eyes there was nothing but darkness.

"Hailey."

A voiced echoed through the darkness. Hailey felt cold, a chill that numbed her limbs and froze her nerves. Under different circumstances, Hailey would've fought. She would've found the strength to kick or shout or do anything other than freeze. But the voice was not that of a monster. It was familiar to Hailey.

A woman's voice.

Her mother's voice.

"Hailey, darling, why do you run?"