The Mansion in the Woods

By Yannis Ng

The event I’m about to share with you traumatized me for over ten years and stalked me like a shadow to the light. I don’t want to believe that it ever happened, but I can assure you that it did. You might think I’m mad when I tell you this, but I promise you, I am not. I don’t believe in magic or dimensions, but what I’m about to tell you all happened and I am still questioning if the course of events happened, or if it was just a dream.

I am Robert Jones, of the Jones family, and this outrageous adventure all happened over ten years ago, in the winter months of December. It was a cloudy evening when the sun was at the horizon between the grey mountains, and I was playing with my sister, Maira Jones, and four of our friends, Lilith Just, Josephine Smith, Margaret Margarets, and George Lame in the park an hour before supper. We played multiple games, made snow angels, and had multiple rounds of throwing snowballs at each other gaily. We had fun trampling the thick white snow, and we travelled further and further away from the entrance of the park and deeper into the woods. Mother always warned us about the dangers of the woods before we went out, as that is the destination where travellers and children alike had mysteriously gone missing and were never found ever again, but we were so carried away with playing a game of tag, that we ended up lost in the woods.

The sun was setting, as the giant red sphere touched the barriers of the gray mountains that shielded us from looking further out, and turned them an amber hue, as if they were set on fire. The birds of the day were beginning to navigate their way home as the creatures of the night began to creep upon the urban landscape; scaring us with the occasional shuffle in the bushes, or the howl of the wolves as they called for their clan members. As we went deeper and deeper into the woods, the day began to shift into the night as we got more and more worried about getting lost in the dark, with some potentially hazardous creatures lurking nearby, like wolves and bears, waiting patiently upon us for their time to attack. Being the oldest out of all the children, the pressure was all on me to get all these children home safely, especially young little Maria, who was only five years of age, even if it meant sacrificing myself to defend them. The light began to slip away from the horizon, leaving only a few streaks of golden light barren upon the trees, when Margaret, Maria’s companion, shouted, “There’s a house! Over there!”

We all turned our heads in the direction of where she was pointing and indeed, amongst the dark silhouettes of the tall trees, there resided, a gigantic mansion.

We all looked in awe, as the house gleamed brightly in the dark as if we entered the world of fairy tales. This was where everything began. Still stressing about everyone's safety, I told them to walk along and quickly get into the house before it got too dark to see. We all shuffled and scurried into the house, and the moment we stepped in, a strong gust of wind pushed the door shut.

“Wow! Look at this place!” said Maria as she ran down the long corridor.

Believing that no one other than the six of us was in this house, I told everyone to find a place to sit down in the area, for I would search for food in this old, abandoned house.

I found this place quite queer, having said that there were few to no windows around the house, and the mansion being bigger than it looked as we got in. What’s even stranger is that I felt like I was being watched the entire time I was walking down the corridors and looking through doorways, like an invisible person was standing in my presence and spying on me.

Eventually, I found a variety of foods spread across a dining table, with mutton, mashed potatoes, and all variations of bread displayed in front of my eyes. I looked at the food, my mouth watering, but a thought suddenly came to my mind, how is there fresh cooked food when there’s no one here? I ran back down the hallways to gather the group together and we ran back to the dining room.

I was cautious when I told everyone that I was going to take the first bite, as the food may have gone bad after being on display for many years, or worse, cooked with poison in it. After tasting it and confirming it was safe to eat, everyone started gathering around the table and began to eat. I went around to see if there were cutlery or plates, as this was such an exceptional way to feast. I found a mountain of plates and cutlery as I opened a cupboard, carefully taking six of each out, and began passing them to my friends.

After we were finished, I told them to bring their dirty dishes to the sink I conveniently found next to the cupboard, and told them to wash and dry their plates and cutlery, then to put them back in the cupboard, as we still want organization in this mysterious place.

After doing the chores for this old mansion, we were getting more and more tired, meaning that it was time for bed. We moved in unison, trying to find the bedrooms in this house. It turned out that I wasn’t the only one feeling this sensation of being watched. Once we went down a particularly dark corridor, Gorge whispered to me, “Robert, I don’t have a good feeling about this place. I think someone’s watching us.”

“That's impossible. We are currently the only ones in this mansion. How can there be someone spying on us?” I reassured him, although I was feeling the same as well.

Eventually, after two hours, we finally found a giant master bedroom, housing a large bed with silk sheets, a study, a cosy area with bookshelves, blankets and pillows in the corner, and multiple cupboards, which were filled to the brim with toys. Lots of them in all variants, action figures, and dolls galore. Immediately, Maria, Josphine, and Margret ran to the shelf to play with the toys, as I and the others looked around the room, looking at the interior.

We arranged for everyone where they should rest, with all the girls sleeping on the bed, and me and George resting in the cosy corner.

~~~

“Mother, why shouldn’t we go into the woods?”

“My dear, the woods are full of dangerous creatures. There are bears and wolves that can tear you up.”

“I still want to go there.”

“Honey, travellers and children who disobey their parents got lost there. Do you want to end up like them?”

“No, Mother”

“Then promise me you won’t venture there, It’s for your own safety”

“Yes, Mother.”

~~~

“Mother! I’m going out!”

“Where are you going?”

“The park. Why?”

“Be careful. And don’t go into the woods. Alright?”

“Sure, mother. I promise.”

~~~

I stared at the ceiling, thinking about my action in breaking our vow. Then I started to feel homesick. If I hadn’t become carried away from playing, all of us would have been home now, having supper with our parents. As I thought about it, I started to drift away to sleep. But right before I did, a loud banging on the wall woke me up. I jumped up in fright, and all the younger children started to shiver in fright. I slowly crept across the room, towards the entrance, and when I got there, the door stood ajar.

Impossible! I closed and locked it shut! How did it get knocked open? But as I went and attempted to close the door, a huge gust of wind blew hard across the room, and at that moment I could almost hear a thumping coming in our direction. The thumping got louder and louder until a silhouette started to emerge from the darkness. Without thinking, I pushed the door with all my strength, trying to fight the gust of wind, until I was able to close the door and seal it shut with a piece of scrap wood next to the door.

The door rattled violently, with an occasional hissing and scratching on the opposite side. After a while, the rattling of the door abruptly stopped, as the thumping noise travelled further and further away from us.

The room went silent for nearly a minute, and I told everyone to stay in the room as I would go outside to check on the damage it did to the door.

Before I went out, I grabbed a bat that was conveniently hidden in the toy pile, and I slowly removed the wood from the door, opening it. The door let out a loud creak as it echoed across the hallway, which was rather inconvenient, especially when there was a creature that probably wanted to eat us whole. I slowly crept out of the room and shuffled to the other side of the door. There, inscribed on the door, are deep scratch marks, making out a mortifying sentence: “You have one hour until I find you”

Struck with fear, I instructed everyone to get up and quickly move to another room, as the creature that was hunting us down would have guessed that we were still in there, and from the damage done to the door, it wouldn’t be surprising if the thing would be able to break in. The others, after hearing this, all got up and we quickly ran across the hallway to try and find a safe place to hide. We ran and ran for what seemed like thirty minutes, getting more and more anxious as our time to hide shortened. At last, we found a secure enough room with a small opening, barely big enough for me to get in, and we turned off the lights and sealed the door shut. Right at this time, the thumping grew louder and louder before it abruptly stopped.

“I know you’re in there!” the creature growled loudly.

We all stayed quiet, not making a peep, as the creature patrolled outside this safe zone, waiting patiently for one of us to come out.

Luckily, I brought the bat with me, and I gripped it tightly as I was getting ready for combat.

I swiftly swung the door open, and indeed I was right, that the creature was standing on all fours, ready to pounce. It looked more hideous than I thought, with bloodshot eyes and lumpy wart-like skin covering every inch of its body. What I also noticed was how it seemed to look transparent, probably indicating that it was not a monster, but in fact, an evil spirit, and I was correct. As I took a swing at its shins, the bat went right through the spirit.

“You pathetic little rascal. That won’t hurt me, for I am an ancient spirit that inhabits this land, and you came into my home without permission. Now you shall die!” The creature shouted as it pounced on top of me, pushing me to the ground and effectively breaking my ankle. The creature started to scratch my arms and legs, leaving horrible scars as they stung in extreme pain, and as I yelped in horror, but it was all in vain of saving my life. I should have listened to Mother, and not ventured into the deep woods. Now I’m about to lose my life! As I thought, I took what seemed to be my last breath. But as I closed my eyes, I felt the warmth of the sun and the flames in front of me, and I watched as the spirit stepped back and groaned in agony.

I came to the realization that George was flamethrowing the spirit, and that was when I noticed we hid in a closet, and not any normal closet, a closet that stored weapons. The others stepped out, each armed with a tool, and were ready for combat. While George was behind the pack, flamethrowing the spirit, the others lifted me off the floor and were about to carry me. At that time, I stood on my own and I didn’t feel any pain anymore. Then I looked down at my arms. The wounds are almost gone now, though an ugly scar still ran across where the wound should have been. I told everyone to run behind me as I would lead the way. George stopped attacking the spirit, but the moment he did, the spirit regained strength and chased after us.

“Keep flamethrowing George!” I called as I led the others and George turned on the flamethrower, continuing to repel the spirit. Still wanting to end us, the spirit kept chasing us, despite being in constant pain from the flamethrower.

The chase was wild. I led the others down long paths, twisting corners, and thin corridors, as the spirit ran after us. After running for what seemed like an hour, I finally found the exit gleaming bright in its glory.

We ran as fast as we could, while the spirit screamed in a terrifying voice, “No! You cannot get away now! You must be punished for trespassing!” But when it said that, we all ran faster than before, and leaped out to the exit. We all landed with a thud, as we looked back. We weren’t in the forest anymore. Instead, we were all outside my house, as Mother stepped out.

“You’re here on time! Supper’s ready!” Mother exclaimed.

Supper? We had spent what seemed like two days inside a haunted house, and she wasn’t worried?

“Mother! We’ve been gone for two days! I’ve been attacked by a giant spirit! How are you not worried?” I exclaimed, thinking about all the trauma I went through.

“Is that your imagination gone wild? You only went out for an hour, like you said you would. Now come in for dinner, it’s getting cold!” Mother replied.

“Robert, what are you talking about? Have you gone mad? We all have been playing in the park! Did you not remember?” Maria asked.

“I remember, but,” I replied, but was cut off by Mother’s exclamation.

“Leave the talking for later and come in! By the way, what on earth happened to you, Robert? You look like you’ve been ambushed by a dozen cats!” she said as she looked at the scarring on my limbs.

I reserved my tongue, not wanting to argue anymore, as Maria and I waved goodbye to everyone and got into the house.

To this day, I still don’t understand what happened, and when I went back to that area in the woods the next day, the house was gone. What was even stranger was that everyone who went into the house forgot the course of events that happened, and how time traveled so quickly in that realm when only an hour passed here. I wonder.