Tales To Make You Jump In The Dark

The SUV was shadowed by the many trees that surrounded the road it was traveling down, but the inhabitants didn't seem to take notice. It was the middle of a sunny spring day and the car was traveling down a bumpy gravel road in the middle of Georgia. Why was it traveling down a bumpy gravel road in the middle of nowhere, you ask? Well, the popular band Black Veil Brides are beginning work on their new album and thought it would be fun to rent a house for the time so that they could concentrate. Of course that task had been left up to Rhythm Guitarist Jinxx and so the guys had gotten on a plane, flew across the country and were now driving to the middle of nowhere.

The terrain was spooky, Andy noticed as he glanced out the window and took everything in. The trees were huge and dripping with moss and cobwebs-why would Jinxx have them come all the way to the South to write a record? The road they were on seemed endless and Andy was just grateful that Jake was driving their rental as the Guitarist was the most level headed of the bunch. The trailer they were hauling behind them squeaked and squealed in protest as it's tires bumped through ruts and holes in the road. The road was curving, like a snake and Andy felt his lunch churn in his stomach as they quickly went up a hill and then sped down almost as fast. His breath caught in his throat as he noticed what sat before them as they finished rolling down the hill and came to a quick stop.

Their house for the next two months was sitting right before them and it was massive and very old. Done in what he could only guess was a Plantation Style, Andy noticed the wraparound porch, the huge windows that would give them plenty of light, the small porch that sat above the bottom one on the second level and yet he couldn't help but shiver. There was something about this place-it gave off a Do Not Enter vibe and Andy was all for turning back around and going home. They could write in LA-they usually did, but the band was in need of some alone time without the distraction of booze, women and other life drama. Andy sighed before lighting a cigarette and only smirked as Ashley, their bassist, shot him a nasty look.


"You know you aren't smoking inside..." Ashley remarked as he first looked at Andy and then glanced in the back towards CC their drummer. He hated smoking and it made his lungs feel like they were on fire.

"Yeah, yeah. Jinxx this place looks like something out of a Hitchcock film man." Andy grinned as he flicked his ashes out of the slightly open window, the humid air filling his nostrils. He was used to the dry heat of California and this humidity was probably going to affect his voice in some way.

"I know-isn't is great?!" Jinxx laughed from the front passenger seat and Andy only rolled his eyes. Yeah, fantastic, if he wanted to fill his lungs with black mold and possibly fall through a rotten floorboard to the level below.

"Where did you find this place man?" CC asked as he moved his face so that it was now between Andy and Ashley. Andy was tempted to snatch the drummer's cap off of his head and toss it out the window-the thing was old and smelled like energy drink.

"Oh just looking around online. There was a site where you can rent places that have been redone and are kind of off in the wilderness. I figured we could use the peace and quiet to concentrate." Jinxx explained and Andy only sniggered. Yeah they would get plenty of peace and quiet out here...they would probably also get murdered by a bunch of local yokels.


Finally the car came to a stop and no one seemed to want to move. Andy just smirked, reached down and opened his door, pushing it open and then squinting in to the bright sunlight. The first thing he noticed was that it was completely silent, but not in a wilderness kind of way. No, there was no sound at all-no birds chirping, no snapping twigs from small animals...nothing.

Shrugging his shoulders Andy moved towards the back of the car and then proceeded towards the trailer that was hauling all of their equipment. They were really only out here writing things down-there wouldn't be any recording until they got back to LA-but the guys would need their instruments so that they could get the guitar, bass and drums in there as well.

The guys all pitched in, grabbing for things and carrying them until finally all of their equipment and supplies were sitting on the massive front porch. Andy noticed that there were some white rockers sitting against some of the front windows and one of them was rocking back and forth slowly. Strange-there wasn't much of a breeze and from what he could tell the newly redone porch wasn't slanted in any way.

Just as he turned to say something about it to Ashley, Andy noticed that the rocking had stopped and he smirked-he had freaked himself out on the ride over so of course he was going to start seeing things. Jinxx only smirked as he jingled the keys to the front door, which had been hidden under the mat, before placing the key in the lock and turning until they all heard a faint click.

The door swung open with a low creak and Andy felt a shiver run up his arms and then down his back-this house was fucking creepy inside. To his left was a huge room with a dining table and not much-this was probably where they would practice and write. To the right was a smaller room that was lined with a few couches and one wall was completely taken up by an ancient looking fireplace-thankfully there was a very nice flat screen sitting on the mantel of said fireplace. Ahead of them were the stairs to the upper floors and Andy shivered as he looked up and thought he saw someone looking down at him. A quick glance towards the second floor and Andy only shook his head-nothing there. God he needed to fucking cool it with this shit or else they weren't going to get much done.

Soon enough the guys were all wandering to different places in the house-CC seemed to have found the kitchen and from his excited yells it sounded like it was pretty awesome. Ashley had gone upstairs and Andy could hear the floorboards above his head creaking under Ash's feet. Jake was in the diningroom with Jinxx and Andy only smirked as the two guitarists seemed to be moving furniture around so that they could fit their equipment in there.

Andy slowly walked down the hallway, stopping as he noticed the there was a door under the stairs and as he reached out to grab the knob, Andy noticed how quickly his heart was beating. What was he going to find? A body? Quickly he opened the door, expecting the worst and Andy only laughed at himself and shook his head.

Access to the basement-that was it.


"This house is pretty awesome Jinxx!" Andy called out over his shoulder and was met by a laugh and then a small giggle. Andy turned around, expecting Jinxx to be behind him, but as he turned Andy came to realize that there was no one there. He could have sworn that the giggling had been right behind him and there were those shivers again.

"What's going on man?" Someone said from his left and Andy jumped a few feet as he turned and saw CC standing there with a banana in his hands. Andy breathed slowly, trying to keep calm and he laughed low before speaking.

"Nothing-found the door to the basement. How's the kitchen?" He asked the drummer as the two walked off towards where CC had just come from.

"Fucking perfect-we're going to be eating like kings for the next month man..." CC said and Andy couldn't argue with the guy. The kitchen was also massive-with double ovens on one wall, an island that had an open range and some stools and there were two fridges against another wall. They had brought some food, but as Andy opened one fridge door, he could see that the house came fully stocked.

"This place isn't so bad...although something about it gives me the creeps." Andy said as he finished looking around and turned to face CC. The drummer was leaning up against the bar, his long black hair hanging in his face and Andy did a double take. There was something about CC that didn't seem right.

"CC? Did you hear me dude?" Andy asked as he moved towards his best friend and then jumped back as CC's head snapped up and what Andy saw made his heart stop. CC's face was twisted, his complexion slightly green and his eyes were blank holes in his head.

"Get! Out!" He screamed before falling to the floor and Andy couldn't do anything besides just stand there and look at his friend. What. The. Fuck?


There was a loud banging noise coming from all around the house and Andy just stood there in shock as the cabinet doors banged open once and then shut. He could hear people running towards the kitchen and Andy quickly shook himself out of his stupor and bent down towards CC. The drummer was breathing and it actually looked like he was sleeping. Jake, Jinxx and Ashley were now entering the kitchen, all of them looking slightly worried as they took in the site before them. Andy didn't know what was going on-had he imagined the entire thing? His insomnia had been flaring up lately and so he hadn't been sleeping like he should be. Maybe this was all just him freaking himself out-nerves over working on a new record.


"Dude! What happened?" Ashley asked as he knelt down by CC and Andy watched as the drummer seemed to be coming to. Andy wanted to speak, but what could he say? Sorry, CC just turned in to a demon, the entire house shook and I think we need to get the fuck out of here?

"I-uh-I dunno." He said dumbly and Ashley just looked up at him, a strange gleam in his eyes as he helped CC up off the floor.

"C-are you okay man?" Jake asked as the drummer finally got to his feet and looked around at them all. It was weird-it almost seemed like CC couldn't remember or even knew why he had been laying on the floor.

"Y-yeah. Must've gotten a little light headed. So, how are the rooms upstairs Ash?" The drummer asked and Ashley only rolled his eyes. Andy smirked-Ashley could be pretty picky but they weren't here to enjoy themselves...they were here to work.

"Tiny. I got my room picked if you guys want to head up." Ashley suggested and Andy only nodded as he silently left the kitchen and headed up the stairs.


The other guys followed behind him and Andy felt himself shiver again as he looked at the second floor landing. He could have sworn there was someone sitting on the landing when Jinxx had first opened the door, but now there was no one here and Andy chalked it up, again, to a lack of sleep. The first door on the right was Ashley's room, Andy could tell because Ash's bags were sitting on the bed. The next room was the bathroom, with its ancient looking claw foot bathtub and pedestal sink. Finally Andy cracked open the next door on the left and smirked-this would be his room. It was large enough for him to move around and it was on the side of the house that didn't see much sunlight-perfect for his insomnia. The room was dark, with red wallpaper, red bedding and an old iron bedframe that squeaked when he sat down.

This would do-he wouldn't be sleeping much anyways.

Andy spent some time just sitting in his room-he would go and get his bags later-trying to take everything in. It was strange being away from home and working on an album-they had always wrote and recorded in LA. But the guys had had a rough summer, filled with arguments and near breakups, so this was a chance for them to bond with one another. Andy could hear the guys clomping up the stairs and soon he could see that CC had nicely placed his bags at Andy's door-well at least he wouldn't have to go down and get them.

Soon though they would all come together, probably make some dinner and just chill for the rest of the night. Tomorrow would be the big day where they would all sit around and discuss what they wanted their next album to be.

As he sat there on his bed, Andy could faintly hear a small scratching noise coming from somewhere in his room-what was that? Slowly he got off the bed, his heart pounding in his chest as his blue eyes scanned over the room silently. A piece of hair fell into his face and Andy quickly moved to tuck it behind his ears-he needed a haircut. His boots scuffed across the wooden floor until finally Andy found himself in front of a door in the corner. What was this? A closet? The scratching had grown louder and louder and Andy felt like his heart was beating so hard that it was going to pop out of his chest. With a shaking hand, he moved to open the door and a scream caught in his throat as the door flew open and something jumped out at him.

He fell back, his head smacking against the floor and as Andy rolled over, his head pounding, he could just make out the tail end of what appeared to be a cat. How had a cat gotten in his closet? Had the owner of the house left it here and it got locked in the closet? Andy groaned-great, now he was probably going to have a headache. Slowly he sat up, pushed his hands against the floor and got to his feet. No one had come running in when they heard the bang and of course Andy could hear laughter coming from down the stairs. Grumbling to himself quietly, Andy made his way down the hall and soon enough found himself walking down the ancient stairs.

As he walked slowly, Andy looked to his left and noticed that there were pictures hung on the wall beside the stairwell. The photos were old-black and white and there were even some artist portraits. Most of the photos were of the recent renovations on the house he was standing in and Andy could appreciate the hard work that had gone into this house. He could faintly see in one photo a bulldozer sitting in the foreground, but off in the distance Andy could just faintly make out a few headstones.

So people were buried on this property-well that was fucking creepy. Andy shivered again and just shook his head, he needed to stop freaking himself out. Finally he made it down the stairs and entered the kitchen just in time to see CC pull out a huge plate of meat from the fridge.


"You ready for some delicious meat Biersack?" CC asked on his way out the sliding glass door. Andy only shook his head as he followed behind and squinted as his eyes met the sunlight. The backyard was small and lined with trees, but the wraparound porch extended into a deck where there was a table, some chairs and a grill.

"You know how completely wrong that sounds, right?" He asked the drummer as he took a beer from Ashley, who was seated at the table with his feet up, and then took a seat across from the bassist.

"Yeah, yeah."

"So what do we think of the house?" Jinxx asked as he came out from the kitchen, followed by Jake who had his nose in his phone.

"It's fucking creepy man. Is anyone else getting that creepy vibe from this place?" Andy asked and they all just laughed at him. Leave it up to Biersack to be the whiner of the group.

"I think that's just you man." Ashley said and Andy held back the urge to flick his best friend off.

"Yeah-I think it's pretty cool being out in the middle of nowhere..." Jake stated and Andy only sighed. He was on his own then in thinking that there was something off about this house.

"Yeah, but the only bad thing about being out here is that no one can hear you scream for help..." CC said from behind him and at that Andy just shivered. The sun was shining, the sky was cloudless and the air was warm, but Andy couldn't help but feel cold all over.


How soon they would find out just how true CC's statement was.

Notes

Welcome! Please enjoy Part I of Something Wicked-your lights should be flickering on and off by now.

This story will be updated every tuesday, so please subscribe to it so that you can get notified of when new chapters are placed up. Something Wicked is in four to five parts and then the next story will be posted shortly after that.

Prepare to be scared.