Hoot Hill

"How is this possible?...I must be dreaming right? I must be dreaming. There is no way I'd be up here especially at this house....wasn't I just....wait.. is that??! OH MY GOD!!"...

(An hour or so before...)

"Enough is enough!" I wailed, covering my ears. "I'm not going to that dreadful house! I've heard people have disappeared Thorn! Are you crazy?!" "All I hear coming from you is I'm scared! I want my mommy!" Thorn snickered pushing my shoulder hard. "Come on Thorn he doesn't have to do this...thiisss isn't funny!" Stuttered Alan. "What? 'She' wants to be one of the guys 'she' has to be tough like one of the guys! It's just a stupid made up story anyhow! If she doesn't do this then she's not one of us!" Thorn chuckled. "Why don't you go do it?" I seethed. "Oh, I've done it already. It's like a rite of passage to being a man. You want to get into the big boy club right? This is the way" Thorn said, pointing to the house on the hill. "Thorn I.." "Alan! Shut up!" Thorn Barked, not taking his eyes off me. "Well?..(pauses, squints at me) Don't be a girl! If your going to be one of us you have to go to the attic and take a picture or I won't believe you! OR forfeit and go back to your Barbie dolls and tea parties! Don't forget your purse on the way out!" Thorn snickered aloud. As Thorn turned to Alan I kicked him. "Ow!" Thorn yelped. " I'll show you!" I yelled, turning and walking as fast as I could up Hoot Hill. "Freak!" Thorn yells back.

"Stupid Thorn and his stupid boy club bs! Why am I doing this? I should punch that smug look off his face once and for all...Jerk!" I muttered to myself as I continued up the long narrow road. I felt so creeped out. It was so dark and windy and I swear I felt like I was being followed. Nothing is more creepy then mangled trees with no leaves in the middle of the night when old abandoned houses and creepy owl vibes are involved. I just wanted to be accepted as one of the guys but to do this? Why do I need to prove myself to them? Yes I wanted to be a boy but more than anything I just wanted to accepted as I am and have friends treat me like I'm not a freak. Couldn't I just look and act like a boy without the all the jabs, questions and now this freaky house thing? I sighed. I stopped at the cobble path before me. I turned back to look at Alan and Thorn who were now riding in circles on their bikes, chatting away. I give them one more frustrated look before turning with perturbed anguish toward the house. As I continued to creep up the path I stepped on a branch which startled me, spooking some birds to fly away. "Oh, I hate this." I whined to myself. Get it together Sage..

After composing myself I slowly started to tip toe my way further, a feeling of unease washing over me with each step. As I drew ever closer, I began to see the old Mete house in view. It stood two stories tall with jagged peaks, broken windows everywhere and a rickety porch that wrapped around the whole house. The house looked a nasty brown color which really creeped me out. It looked like something out of a Stephen King book.... "I don't want to do this. I don't. I don't. Remind me to kick Thorn's butt when I get back. Yeah that's it...oh this really sucks. I'm scared and talking to myself. Great add that to the list of things they'll jab 'freak' about." I whispered, shaking my head. Why here of all places. I've heard the stories of people walking in this house and never coming back out and the police only ever finding owls. But that this didn't start happening until after the house's original owners died. I remember reading about the abduction and disappearance of the French Baron Au Du Van Mete. The Baron vanished years after his wife's tragic fall from the stairwell and his only daughter with whom he was estranged had just reconnected with him a week before that and that she had witnessed his abduction and locked herself in the attic until someone came looking for the Baron and found her.

The daughter claimed her name was Madeline and that she and her father were estranged. She had come to make amends and while visiting claimed that someone showed up and attacked her father. She was just out of sight. Her father was beaten and taken and she ran and locked herself in their attic where their family pet owl stayed and was too scared to come out in case they were still there. Unfortunately her father was never found. The towns people pitied her so they let her live in the house. She was so distraught that she soon started keeping owls for pets as a means to cope. It would soon prove to become an odd obsession as she ended up owning over 28 birds within 10 years. When the town had enough and tried to take them away she tried to fight off the people taking her birds and tragically fell over the same banister her mother fell over. Ever since then there had been people who would show up to the house only to not come back out. Soon it had reached 18 strange cases of missing people in the 150 years since her death, all whom had either entered or walked the property. The town condemned the house and ordered that no one enter. 2 years ago someone broke into the house and claimed to have made it out which sparked kids like Thorn to dare kids like me to enter creepy houses. The creepy part was also the ever growing cluster of owls that never left the property. The road was renamed Hoot Hill because after Madeline had passed away the owls congregated around the house and when anyone would go near the house you would hear the owls hooting in large numbers as if they were watching whoever dared to come near. As people disappeared more owls would appear as well. Eventually the town put up a no trespassing sign, but it didn't stop people from trespassing out of curiosity and in my case being dared to as a initiation that I never heard of nor wanted to do. I didn't want to do this but I wanted to be accepted for once. So here I was, walking up the cobbled path to a house with a creepy vibe and 20 or more hauntingly piercing owl eyes staring me down. I can do this right?? Oh boy here goes nothing..

As I begin to step on the porch, the owls start hooting away, blinking their beady eyes as I'm moving along. I open the door and step inside and suddenly stop in my tracks. It feels as if someone is in the room. I swallow hard, knowing if I don't do this I'll just get bullied more. I have to be tough. Boys are tough. Be a boy! I close the door behind me. "Hello?" I call out. You idiot! no one is here! I think.. "Ok, I just have to go into the attic and take a picture and that will prove I was here and I can get out of this place." I mutter. As I continue to make may way through the house owls are landing in various spots, following and watching my every move. "That's not creepy at all," I say to myself. I make may way up the set of creaky stairs to the door of the attic. I hear the sounds of wings flapping which startles me again. I pause and then reluctantly open the door and walk inside. It's colder up here then outside. I can see my breath in the air. It's dark and stuffy and smells weird. Ok picture first then get the heck out of here. As I got my camera ready an owl flew at me as the flash went off making me drop my camera as it startled me. I ducked down and flailed my arms as fast as I could trying to protect myself and stop it from attacking me to no avail. The last thing I see is the stairs before all goes dark...

I open my eyes to see the house as if it were new. I can hear voices faintly distorted nearby. Something here isn't right... where are the creepy stairs and owls and what is going on? I think to myself. I hear a baby's cry and I'm drawn to a nursery where a woman has just given birth. It sounds as if there is arguing in what I believe is French. I hear the words 'Pas le mien' spoken. wait. French class....uh uh.. not mine? A man in what appears to be a suit storms out passed me looking in my direction. How did he not see me. I peer my head in when hear the name Madeline. All goes dark. I now see a woman free falling. A little girl and a red rose. The same man. All goes dark. I'm back in the attic. Feathers and blood are scattered everywhere. A teen girl is crying on the floor... "It's not fair..." she cries. "It's not fair! Edith!! Edith I'm so sorry!!" she sobs, holding her knees rocking on her heals. She continues to cry. I knelt down in front of her now recognizing who was now before me. "Madeline?" I ask cautiously. All of a sudden she sharply looks at me gets up fast and fazes into my body. I am suddenly filled with a rush of images and information all at once. I open my eyes to realize I am on the roof of the house looking out. I'm a bit freaked out but now I know the truth. Why do I feel so weird?

Anyway, I learned the real story of when the baron and his wife conceived, he had wanted a son and that when his daughter was born, he rejected her saying "Pas le mien" meaning not mine. After failing to be able to conceive another child as his wife became infertile, he grew to loathe his daughter. When she was six he noticed her make a rose bloom fast and vibrant in front of him. Freaking out he grabbed Madeline as hard as he could and tried to run up to lock her in the attic space. As his wife protested and tried to fight him off he pushed her hard, sending her over their stairwell. His daughter saw him do it. In a panic he dropped Madeline hard on her back and ran to his wife shaking her "Anna! Anna Je suis désolé! Je suis désolé!!! He cries out to her as he hugs her to him. He snaps his head around in rage reaching for and grabbing his daughter hard. "This is your fault! You made this happen! You killed her! You filthy little brat! Le Feau!" He grabbed her arm, digging his nails hard, dragging her to the attic. He kept her locked up there for years, feeding her scraps, beating her almost daily and telling her things like 'she would always be alone as no one would ever come to love a witch who murdered her mom.' He would say he would make sure no one would ever know she existed. He would remind her everyday that she was a freak who deserved to be alone.

Over time she'd come to find an egg hatching in a nest in the trusses and raise an owl whom she named "Edith," who was her one companion. She had grown to love her and was overjoyed when Edith grew and later laid her own eggs as eventually a male owl whom Madeline named "Chanceux" or "Lucky one" mated with Edith, laying 2 eggs. She had been good at hiding them for some time but one day the baron surprised her, spotting Edith. In a fit of rage he tore apart the room, breaking the eggs when he found the nest and killed Edith in front of her. He screamed at her that she didn't deserve to have anything because she was a curse and that she would never leave the attic for she would never be accepted by anyone as barons had sons, not witches. He locked her in a dark closet in the attic for seven days with barely any food or water. On the eighth day he opened the door. "You are a disgrace. Those owls pitied you that's why they were there. I had to put them out of their misery don't you see or you'd curse them too! Let me know how they taste." At that point she was so weak that she couldn't even mutter a word. He huffed at her, threw the tray of food at her feet and walked out of the attic, padlocking the door. She cried after he left, feeling overwhelmingly defeated. She looked at the pile of what used to be her best friend and faithful companion. She faught back puking as she was starving but couldn't touch the plate of food. The Baron hearing her ran back up, held her mouth and face hard and force fed her Edith as she struggled to escape his grasp. After he forced her to eat, he dropped her face and the plate exclaiming "La Fleau!!" He spits in her direction and leaves the room. Leaving her alone with all that has transpired. "Edith..Edith.." She cries.

Fast forward to a few weeks later and Chanceux had finally returned as he had been hiding for some time. As relieved as she was that he survived, she was also worried her father would kill him too. The thought unnerved her and sparked anger that made her crack her mirror the moment she turned her head. This shocked her at first but then She decided she needed to escape. One day he found that she had removed the panels to the inner wall and was trying to climb down. As he tried to grab her Chanceux swooped in and began pecking at the Baron. He smacks and then grabs Chanceux by the neck and began squeezing him to attempt to kill him. Madeline scared and in a panic rushed over grabbing her fathers arm. "Stop It your killing him!! Let him go!!... NOOO!" She screams. All goes quiet. Her father is gone and she is now holding a snake. Upon her realizing what she had done she begins to realize right then that he could no longer hurt her. She goes from panic to calm almost in a instant. She brings the little snake to eye level and exclaims as if no longer fazed, "Do you see? You must pity me. That is why you stayed. You're in misery and I have to put you out of your misery or I'd curse you too. Chanceux, let me know how he tastes!" And with that Chanceux flew over and snatched the snake, devouring it quickly. she had gone on to tell a different story and live ten years in that house till she herself went over that stairwell. In that time she had several owls she raised in that house. It stands as both creepy and odd because the family of owls still stay there to this day, perched around the ins and outs of house. And now fast forward to today, I realize the horror that has now befallen me.

As she had died in such a horrible way, her spirit remained restless and would attack anyone who would enter her home and disturb her birds. As a result she would determine if you were to be cursed. The problem was it didn't matter what you did. Either way you were to be on one side of the coin or the other, Meaning either you were to serve and protect her if she deemed you worthy or straight up become owl chow. I felt a sinking feeling hit me as I started to take in my surroundings. I blink and blink again. "How is this possible?...I must be dreaming right? I must be dreaming. There is no way I'd be way up here especially at this house....wasn't I just....wait.. is that??! OH MY GOD!! No No No! don't come this way! Go home! Alan! Thorn! Ahh they can't hear me! Their just kids leave them alone!!!"

"Haha I bet she got eaten!" Thorn laughs hysterically looking up at the owl hooting on the roof. "Your a jerk I hope you know that! He has been in that house for a couple hours now. I'm worried Thorn!" Alan barks. "Come on seriously? (sighs) Relax, geez we will go take a look. Don't get your undies in a twist." Thorn sighs rolling his eyes. "Come on you big baby." As they begin to walk into the house a sensation takes over me like I have no control over my body. I feel a fuzziness wash over me as I appear to glide in the air towards a hole in the attic. I drop to the floor and hop over to the side of the door. I catch my reflection in the broken mirror to my horror as I realize I am no longer human. I have been turned into a owl. As I hear the boys coming ever closer I begin to see other owls emerging into the room. Faint creepy whispers of "food!" can be heard around the room. I myself feel hunger wash over me as I slip between my mind and whatever has got ahold of me. I beg and plead for them to not enter the room knowing what is to come. I hear Thorn tell Alan he is a wimp for not going first, saying he is a bigger girl than I was. I feel the unfamiliar instinct take over. The door opens and All goes black.

End. For now....