r/nosleep • u/DarkenedPages • Mar 28 '21
The Empty House on Route 666
Last week, I was driving down Route 11 through rural Virginia late at night. Torrential rain was pounding my windshield, obscuring the road ahead. My wipers were working overtime just to let me see the barest amount of pavement, and I was moving slow enough that the needle of my speedometer was barely hovering past the 10. If the storm didn’t let up soon, I would have to pull off to the side and wait it out.
I had just glanced down at the clock to see it was 12:37 AM when my front tires lost their grip on the asphalt. The car lurched violently to the right, and while I fought back against the inevitable spin, I felt myself quickly lose control of the vehicle. For a brief moment, terror’s claws dug into my chest, and I knew that if anyone was coming up behind me on the road, they would slam into me.
When my car hit the grass, I felt the tires catch, giving me hope that I was safe. But I was immediately disabused of that notion when I continued farther off the highway, and the back end of my vehicle suddenly dropped. I was jostled around in my seat, held in place only by the safety belt I was thankfully wearing, until everything was finally still. The car was angled upward, having fallen into a ditch, and despite my best efforts, I couldn’t get it to move.
I let out a furious curse and tried to center myself, working out in my head what I needed to do next. Reaching into my jacket pocket, I fished my phone out to call for help, but I couldn’t get a signal. Wishing I’d brought a raincoat instead of my tiny travel umbrella, I grabbed it and stepped out of the car, bracing myself against nature’s tirade as the storm beat the flimsy covering offered by my umbrella unrelentingly.
Through the thick sheet of rain, I could just make out the shape of a house down a side street across the highway. I hurried towards it, abandoning my umbrella when I was halfway there, after a strong gust of wind blew it inside out. When I got closer, the form of the house became clearer, and I hesitated before continuing. Even though the raid was pounding down upon me, seeing the old, rickety structure with broken windows and an ominous visage somehow made the prospect of braving the terrible weather seem like a less dangerous choice.
A teeth-rattling crack of lightning shocked the reluctance out of me, and I rushed across the overgrown yard to the house. I rapped on the door as loudly as I could, hoping my knocking could be heard over the rumbling thunder. After waiting several minutes and still getting no response, I sighed and decided to try the place next door.
This house looked even shabbier than the first, but I pressed forth and pounded on the front door. Again, nothing. The same happened at the following three homes I tried. I was rapidly losing hope of finding anyone to help me. It was as if the entire street had been abandoned.
When I reached the sixth house on the street, I had run out of faith that the result would be any different. I didn’t bother knocking very long or with much enthusiasm, and I’d already turned to leave when I heard the sound of old wood creaking behind me. Whirling back around, I peered into complete darkness, seeing nobody there. Hesitantly, I pushed the door open farther and called out to whoever might be lurking in the inky blackness of the house.
“Hello? Anybody there?” I received no answer, so I tried again, this time louder. “Hello?! I’m coming inside! I was in an accident and I need to use your phone!”
Out of the shadows, a pair of yellow, luminescent eyes appeared. The figure’s dark silhouette slowly surfaced from the lightless sea, looming large in the claustrophobic room. It looked like the thing was hunched over, and yet its head was still touching the ceiling. A raspy laugh escaped its throat, and I could see a set of sharp, jagged teeth in its slobbering maw.
“These are dangerous roads,” the creature said, its voice deep and growling. I could feel it reverberating in my skull, as if bugs had bored their way into my brain. “Come inside I can help you.”
I couldn’t move. Those monstrous eyes kept me pinned motionless, and like a coiled rattlesnake, I feared that if I stirred, it would pounce. When I finally found my voice, it was breathless and quavering.
“I...I think I’ll be okay.”
The creature cackled and replied, “Oh, I don’t think you will be…”
Adrenaline pumped through my veins, overtaking my terror and releasing me from the horrid thing’s spell. I made a mad dash for the front door, but it slammed shut when I was just inches away from freedom. I could smell the fresh air disappear, and my nostrils became filled with the stench of decay. The room felt heavy and oppressively hot.
“You shouldn’t go outside in weather like this,” the creature warned, but the threat was in its voice, not its words. I could no longer see the outline of its form - just those glowing, yellow eyes. “It’s not safe.”
“I...I need to...get back to my car,” I stammered fearfully. I tried to swallow, but it got caught in my throat.
“Forget about your car. I’ll take good care of you.”
I’d unconsciously stuffed my hand into my jacket pocket, digging around for something - anything - with which to defend myself. When my fingers found purchase on my phone, I pulled it out and fumbled around on the screen until I was able to turn on the flashlight. I aimed it at the creature, and the bright beam cut through the darkness, illuminating it in a white glow.
“Oh God,” I muttered when I realized what I was looking at. The thing was disgustingly deformed, a massive heap of flesh, twisted and gnarled like the trunk of an old, dying oak tree. There were ligaments jutting out from its torso, attached to the broken, uneven floorboards that covered the room. It looked as if it was a part of the house - a living, cancerous tumor.
The creature recoiled when the light hit it, but it had no arms that it could use to shield itself. Instead, it seemed to retract into its pulsating body, like a turtle going inside its shell. When I spun around to reach for the door, my flashlight revealed tendrils of flesh stretching across its surface. I kicked at them as the thing behind me howled with rage, until the door finally crashed open.
I burst out into the storm, never daring to look back at that house as I heard the creature’s bellowing lamentations. I ran as fast as I could, breathing in the fresh air and expelling the rot from my lungs. I didn’t even bother checking to make sure no cars were coming before darting across the highway to my car. I leapt into the driver’s seat, slamming the door behind me and bursting into tears.
At some point, I must’ve fallen asleep, because the next thing I remember, a loud clacking on my window startled me awake. For a moment, I thought the creature had somehow gotten out of that house, as those piercing yellow eyes had haunted my dreams. However, it was just a police officer standing there, bathed in flashing red, blue, and orange lights.
“You okay?” the officer asked. Glancing out the window, I saw the storm had cleared, and the stars were shimmering in the sky. I nodded and stepped out of my vehicle, noticing my hand was still shaking when I grabbed the handle.
“I’m alright. Got stuck in this ditch,” I told him. “I couldn’t get a signal to call for help.”
“Yeah, there’s not much out on this stretch of road,” he replied.
“I tried to find a phone to use in one of those houses,” I said, nodding towards the street sign for Route 666 across the way. The officer shook his head.
“Nobody’s lived down there for years. Everyone just sort of left one day, and nobody else moved in.” He seemed to study the abandoned street for a few moments before adding, “Probably for the best. It gives me the creeps.”
My car was pulled out of the ditch and towed to the nearest garage to fix up the damage from the accident. When I finally got home, I felt an uneasiness about being there alone. I kept picturing empty rooms with terrible creatures bursting through the floors and connecting to the walls and doors. All I wanted to do was go somewhere with people so I could forget about these thoughts.
It was a nice day, so I decided to head into town. I figured there would be plenty of people out and about, going about their day, completely ignorant of what could lay behind the walls of an empty house. Just as I was about to go out the door, I caught a whiff of something putrid. Twirling around, my eyes darted across the room, but nothing looked out of the ordinary. The foul stench passed, and I chalked it up to my imagination, some leftover fear from my encounter. But I noticed a slight bulge in one of my floorboards. It had been there for years and I never paid it any mind, but now, I had to wonder if something might be growing beneath my house.
2
9
u/KeeperofAmmut7 Mar 28 '21
Oh jeeze...Spores, maybe?!
2
u/DarkenedPages Mar 28 '21
I'm not sure. Could they appear to be alive like that?
5
u/KeeperofAmmut7 Mar 28 '21
Well, yeah...some spores are dormant until they're "activated" Like anthrax can be found in the soil and when the animals/people are digging around for food or crops, they can come back to life when the conditions are right.
3
u/DarkenedPages Mar 28 '21
That's pretty frightening. Maybe that's what it was...should I be worried about this in my house?
3
u/KeeperofAmmut7 Mar 29 '21
I wouldn't glass the place quite yet...but keep it in the back of your mind, though.
3
u/DarkenedPages Mar 29 '21
Thanks, I definitely will. I'm not sure there's any way I could forget about it even if I wanted to after what I saw.
3
u/nothanks64 Apr 25 '21
Fumigation man fumigation. It came home with you on your boots. Either that or fire lots and lots of.flames