The House on 42nd Street

            In a small town by the name of Amissville, there was a "haunted house" on 42nd Street.  Bill and his gang of friends didn't believe in such myths, so they took a bet that they couldn't spend the night alone in the old abandoned house on Halloween night.  They each told their parents they were going over to one of their friend's house for the night, and met up in front of the spooky old house.

            "A-Are you sure about this?" Jason asked, his voice quaking a bit.

            "Relax dude, this is just an old story made up to scare little kids.  You aren't a little kid, are you?" Bill replied.

            Straightening his shoulders, Jason spoke in a steadier voice.  "Of course not."  He was the first to walk up the steps and into the house.

            The room they first entered into was what appeared to be a living room.  Scouting around it, they discovered a small room to the side which held a washer and dryer, and a hallway that led to stairs leading up.  The living room itself was old and dusty, with a sofa on one side, covered in cobwebs, and a single window on the other.

            Once back inside the living room, they decided they should set up sleeping arrangements.  Tom suggested sleeping in different rooms, but was immediately cut off my Jason, who wanted all of them to sleep in the same room.  Once that was out of the way, Bill realized that they hadn't planned anything to do there, and that they were all just sitting around the window.  He recommended telling spooky stories to calm their nerves.  A few seconds later, sensing that nobody else was going to volunteer to go first, he decided to.

            "Here, I'll go first.  Once upon a time, in a creepy house a group of friends were spending the night to prove it wasn't haunted.  As they lay down to sleep, the window nearest them blew out."

            The window they all were huddled against suddenly exploded, showering them in glassy bits.  Tom, looking terrified, accused Bill of doing that on purpose to scare them.  Bill, his face chalky white, ignored him and continued his story.

            "They thought it was just a prank, somebody throwing a rock at it to scare them. They settled back down, but none of them could fall asleep.  They started hearing strange noises, scratching, moaning, and screeching. Then-"

            Creeeeaaaaaakkkk.  The door in front of them slowly opened, revealing a huge, looming, terrifying shadow.  They heard moaning, banging, screaming, scratching, strange animal noises, blood curdling cries, and many more creepy sounds.

            "Bi-Bill?  Are you sure this place isn't h-h-haunted?" Jason asked, his voice quavering.

            "Of course it isn't.  Obviously, someone is trying to scare us.  Back to the story.  The noises spooked them all, but none wanted to let it on that they were terrified out of their minds.  The washing machine in the other room started running out of nowhere, with a thumping sound coming from it as if something heavy, something big, something... like a dead body.. was in it."

            Again, exactly what he described in his story happened to them in real life.

            "Bill, quit that story!  It's freaky, how it is causing things to happen to us." Tom said.

            "Fine.  Good to know a story can scare you guys out of your minds," Bill replied, though his face was tight with fear.

            They settled in to sleep, even though it was fairly early, and tried to ignore the sinister noises and the thought that a dead body was in the washer.  Right as Bill was on the verge of sleep, he heard an ominous voice that sounded ghostly, boom that if they did not leave, they would not survive the night.  Looking around, he saw that the others had all heard it too.  They heard a creak upstairs, and footsteps thumping down the stairs slowly, rhythmically.  Scared as they were, they all hid in their sleeping bags and prayed it was all a nightmare.

            "A nightmare, you think?  You think I am a NIGHTMARE?  You have no idea, the horror I've caused.  I am the monster you hear under your bed.  The monster who reads your thoughts.  The one creeping in your closet.  I am he who scares little children to sleep.  I am from your WORST NIGHTMARES."

            Peering out from under his covers, Bill saw something he couldn't believe.  There it was, a hooded monster.  He was vaguely human, but he was covered in black scales, with double bladed axes instead of hands, and on his feet, instead of toenails, he had the tips of daggers protruding from his toes.  His head...  That was the worst part.  He had glowing red eyes under his dark black hood that shadowed his face.  His mouth twisted cruelly as he chopped off the head of Jason, who then rose, picked up his head, and took his place behind the hideous creature.  As Bill watched, the floorboards broke apart and monsters that must have been his prior victims crept through the gaps.  They were each holding an old, cadaverous head at their waist.  Bill and Tom screamed, their voices echoing into the street.  He sauntered over to Tom and sliced his head clean off.  Tom then proceeded to pick up his own head and take his rank behind the wretched thing.  Bill knew he was next, yet couldn't save himself.  As Death, as he had decided to call the thing, shuffled over, he began praying it would be a quick death.

            "A quick death?  Oh no, you never really die, do you?  You become undead, barely conscious but always in terrible pain, the aching at your neck, the pain of being alive for hundreds of years yet never dying.  This is the worst form of pain.  For I am the Annihilator!"

            As he finished speaking, he thrust his blades down, cleaving his head clean off.  He began his diabolical laugh as Bill's headless body rose and took his place among the ranks of the unholy legion.  He then crept back upstairs to his resting place, ready to annihilate his next victims.

            As for the town, they all assumed it was a prank, and that the missing kids would turn up eventually.  And so they waited, the parents becoming increasingly worried, until exactly a year later, it was declared that they had died, never to be found again.

            A group of non-believers thought they were living in the house.  They vowed to stay in the house all throughout the Halloween night.  Once they were declared missing, the house was officially announced closed, and trespassing onto the property of it was illegal.  They named it House of the Fallen, destined to become a legend of the future.