The Haunt that Broke Me

I used to work at a haunted house many years ago. It was a local haunt and very popular with adults and children alike. Unfortunately, it was shut down due to an incident and I have never spoken about it until today. Here is my story of the haunted house that broke me.

My story starts off like every other spooky story. It was a cold, damp, Autumn Day. The trees were bare and colorful leaves covered the ground. Houses were decked out in Halloween decorations, some more elaborate, and some more simple. I was walking along the sidewalk, kicking leaves, sipping a warm drink from my local gas station and headed to my job, just a seasonal gig at the local haunt that I mentioned before. The haunt did not have an official name, so we all just called it, “The Haunt” as it was the only one for miles anyways. The Haunt had been around for quite a few generations and before it was a haunted attraction, used to be a house belonging to a woman named Isabelle who was a part of a cult so you can imagine the stories that came out of that place. They certainly are not something I feel comfortable sharing here, that is for sure. As I got closer to my destination, I checked my watch and realized that I was going to be early, so I stopped by the local deli for a quick bite to eat.

*ding,dong*

The doorbell rang as I stepped inside. I was greeted by Hank, the deli owner.

“Hiya, champ. Your usual, I presume?”

Hank liked to call me champ and I always got a tuna sandwich and a bag of chips. He was a father figure to me, and he made some of the best sandwiches in the town.

“Yes, my usual please. How are you doing today, Hank?”

“I’m doing great Kiddo. Are you headed to spook some people tonight?”

“You know it!”

Hank’s face turned to concern, and I felt something was wrong.

“I know you’re an adult and can make your own decisions, but I only want what is best for you. I’ve been getting a strange feeling coming from that place”.

“Hank, everyone does. You know the history of that place and so do I. Who knows if any of that information was even true?”

Hank hands me my sandwich and as I start to eat it, he pulls out a book from behind the counter.

“I found this behind the haunt as a kid and it is the diary of Isabelle”.

I ignored it and continued to eat. Time was running out and I didn’t have for Hank’s shenanigans. If he wanted to scare me, he should have picked any of the other times I was in the deli throughout the week.

“Ha, ha. Very funny, Hank. I have a job to get to. If I am late, I’ll lose my job.”

“If you go, you’ll never come out of there alive.”

I slammed some money on the counter, not bothering to count it.

“Hank, not right now.”

Now my mood was spoiled. I was so excited to start my new position at The Haunt. I was being moved to a new room which meant I got to be a different character and hear different music finally. I crossed the street and met up with my co-workers who were already in costume.

“You’re late.”

“Yea, I know. Hank was being weird. He claimed that he found the diary of Isabelle when he was a kid and started talking about how I won’t make it out of here alive. I think that was his idea of a prank but, I don’t think it was funny.”

Silence fell amongst everyone, and things began to feel awkward.

“That diary has some seriously dark stuff in it.”

“Yea, I’ve heard things about that diary. Kind of messed up that he has that thing laying around.”

At this point, I was really aggravated and just walked away. Was everyone in on this joke? I got dressed, threw on my makeup and found my boss, a very old man by the name of Bates. Bates didn’t say anything to me and just beckoned me to follow him. If anyone wasn’t into pranks, it was him. He was very stern and business oriented, but always paid us fairly and on time. It was time to see what he thought about the diary.

“Bates, do you know anything about Isabelle’s diary?”

Bates quit walking and turned around to face me. His face went pale, which I had never seen before.

“Who has it?”

“Hank has it. I thought it was just a joke.”

“Hank stole the diary, and he needs to return it immediately.”

“Why? What will happen if he doesn’t?”

“Don’t worry, I will handle this. This is your room. This used to be Isabelle’s bedroom hundreds of years ago. Try not to break anything. You are her tonight.”

I was freaking out at this point. I knew something was wrong now, and there was nothing that could be done. Bates never pranks anyone, and his panic was real. Trying to calm myself down before the first group walked by, I looked around the room at the beautiful décor. Isabelle’s room was a typical Victorian bedroom and I felt like a gorgeous undead princess in my costume and looked in the mirror to make sure everything was in place.

While looking in the mirror, I caught a glimpse of someone or something standing behind me and I turned around but saw nothing. My nerves were probably just causing me to see things, so I brushed it off.

Many groups of people walked through, and I successfully scared them all. Everything seemed to be normal, or so I thought. The night wrapped up and it was time for me to leave except, the door was missing. There was a door when I arrived, but it seemed to have completely disappeared. I was surrounded by four walls with no doors, no windows, no ventilation. Full blown panic set in and I sat on the bed, curled up in a ball, realizing that Hank was right. I went to try to call out but felt as if I was being suffocated. Staring at me was Isabelle with one hand choking me, and the other covering my nose and mouth. She was a rotting corpse and trying to pry her hands off me only made her skin fall off.

She released me and sat there staring at me as I was pinned to the bed by some invisible force. My body was unable to move, I couldn’t scream and all I could do was watch.

The mirror shattered and Isabelle rose. As she began levitating above me, the furniture in the room levitated with her. It started spinning around and Isabelle begin shrieking. I felt that it was all over for me and began to except my fate until I heard a familiar voice.

“Isabelle, your diary has been returned. Release her. Let her leave and take me instead.”

It was Hank. Hank had returned with Bates and had the diary in his hand.

I was still unable to get up and Isabelle had no interest in letting me go.

“I want the giiiiirrrrrrrl”

“But Isabelle, we did as you asked.”

I felt tears going down my cheeks and Isabelle noticed. Suddenly, I could speak again.

“Please let us go. None of us would be useful to you. Your diary has been returned and we will shut down the haunt if you wish.”

As soon as I mentioned shutting down the haunt, everything seemed to stop. Isabelle dropped to the ground with the furniture. Bates and Hank almost got smashed by a falling table but managed to move out of the way. I was weak, but able to leave without assistance. My throat had fingerprints which I hid as we exited. I apologized to Hank for not believing him and Bates immediately ceased operations. Apparently, no one else knew about what had happened and the 3 of us never spoke about it to anyone. I haven't worked at anymore haunts since then.

Isabelle’s diary was buried with her body on the premises and the house was boarded up. Kids who try to get near the property get spooked by an “unknown entity” as they call it, but we all know it’s Isabelle.