Disturbed

Disturbed
November 2nd, 1929
All knew of this house. The house on the end of the lane. It had been abandoned for years. The brown paint was pealing and the roof was falling apart. The floorboards squeaked whenever they were stepped on and the windows were always open. No one knew what had happened to the previous owners. Many people had wondered what was in there, but none dared to enter. Until one day...

“Oh come on dad. Are ya chicken?” Kodi teased.
“I’m not a chicken. I just know that I shouldn’t go in there.” Balto protested, looking at the house.
For all the years that he had lived here, this was the one place in Nome that he had not been into. The look of it made him want to turn away but something else wanted to make him go in.
“But dad-” Kodi started.
“I’m not going in there and that’s final.” Balto interrupted.
That night:
Balto lay awake. Tossing and turning for what seemed like hours. He couldn’t stop thinking. Thinking about that house. He couldn’t figure out what it was that wanted him to go in.
“Why can’t I go to sleep?” he asked aloud.
He heard someone stirring. “Vhat are you doing still awake?” grumbled Boris. “It is very late at night. You should be sleeping.”
“I don’t know Boris. I just can’t sleep.” replied Balto.
“Well maybe be quieter so I can sleep!” honked Boris.
Balto knew that he wasn’t going to be able to sleep. He was just about to talk to Boris when he heard him snoring. ‘Faker’ he thought. Balto got up and stretched. He crept off the boat and headed towards town. He was going to find out what was in that house. One way or another.
He stepped up to the house. He looked it over. Just doing that sent a shiver up his spine. He walked onto the porch.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” he muttered.
He opened the door. It was unlocked. It creaked open and slammed against the wall. Balto walked inside. He took a look at his surroundings. He was in the living room. Cobwebbed furniture was scattered about the room. He looked to his right to see two staircases. One that led to the basement and another that headed upstairs. To his left he saw a fireplace with two chairs. He walked over to them. There was a newspaper in one. “Mysterious Disappearance” was what it read. Balto kept reading farther. “There has been a mysterious disappearance of a local family of Nome, Alaska. The McMeijer family went missing just twenty four hours ago. Sources tell us that they didn’t see anyone come or leave the house. The police have searched through the house thoroughly and- ‘Continued on B4’” After Balto finished reading this he looked at the date. “November 23rd, 1915”
“Wow. They disappeared almost fourteen years ago.” he said to himself.
He continued to look through the house. He came upon the kitchen. He saw a pot on the stove with a chair nearby. He hopped on the stove and looked inside. It was full of dead bugs and something else that he couldn’t tell what it was. He got down and went back into the main room and headed up the stairs to a hallway. The two doors to the left and right were closed shut, but the door at the end of the hallway was side open. He walked to it, as if in a trance. He walked into the room. The wallpaper had been ripped to shreds. It looked like the room had been used for storage. He saw this doll in a baby carriage with a charcoaled face.
“That’s weird.” he commented.
He walked by a stack of boxes, unaware of the evil in the house. Then all of a sudden the door slammed behind him.
“What the heck!?” he yelled.
He ran to the door, but it wouldn’t open. ‘Darn it!’ he thought. He turned around. Then all the neatly stacked boxes fell over right in front of him. One of the boxes split open to reveal a decorated, wolf’s skull. Without warning Balto started to feel pain in his side. A pain that was so terrible he could barely stand it. To his saving grace he saw an open window. He rushed to it hoping to get out. It closed when he got ten feet from it.
“What’s with this crazy house?!” He yelled in frustration.
He hurried back to the door, hoping that this pain would end. It opened before he got to it. He didn’t ask and just kept going. He limped down the stairs and hobbled out the door. He got off the porch and something weird happened, he didn’t feel any pain.
He ran back to the boat. Unaware of the evil that would follow.
“Boris! Boris! Wake up!” he called to him.
Boris awoke with a start. “Vhat? Vhat? Why did you wake me up? I was having marvelous dream!?”
Balto stopped and tried to catch his breath. “Something…Something weird happened in that house.”
“Vhat house?” Boris asked.
“The one on the end of the lane.” he breathed heavily.
“You went in there!? Why?” Boris quickly questioned.
“I don’t know Boris. I just don’t know…” he replied.
Boris started to look him over. “Everything seems intact.” Just then he spotted a mark on his side. It almost looked like it was burned into him. “What is that?” he pointed to the mark for Balto to see.
Balto turned to look. “What is this?”
The mark that was burned into his skin almost looked like a curled up serpent. Never before had either of the two saw anything like this.
Balto looked at Boris. “What do you think it means, Boris?”
“No clue Balto. But we will maybe be able to figure out in morning. Let us catch some shut eye.”
Both went to bed that night and Balto could sleep easy. They were being watched over. By the demons.
The following morning:
Balto woke up in the morning earlier than usual. He felt different. He felt more energized, which was awkward. The sun was just starting to rise on the horizon.
“Wow, I beat the sun.” he said.
He stretched and jumped off the boat without Boris waking up. He looked up into the sky. ‘Winter will be here soon.’ He could tell by the slowly dropping temperatures and the clouds gathering in the sky. He had to tell Jenna of his experience the night before. Normally he would have walked but today he ran. While he was running through town he saw the house.
“No, never again.” he whispered and continued on his way.
He reached the front of Jenna’s house and howled just loud enough so she could hear it. There was a little bit of clatter as she came down. She stumbled out the door still half asleep.
She yawned. “What is it Balto? It’s early. The sun isn’t even up.”
He felt a little guilty, waking her up so early, but he had to tell her the strange things that happened. He was so busy thinking of what to say that Jenna started to worry.
“Balto are you okay?” she looked at him, worried.
“Yeah I’m alright Jenna. I just have to tell you about something that happened last night.” he told her.
She nuzzled him and looked down and saw the mark. “What happened?” she asked.
Balto started to confess. “I went into the old McMeijer’s house. The house at the end of the lane. When I went inside I looked around. I found a newspaper that said that they disappeared without a trace almost fourteen years ago. When I went upstairs I saw this storage room in terrible shape. In there I saw a charcoaled doll and a stack of boxes. When I entered the room the door slammed behind me and wouldn’t open. The boxes fell over and a wolf’s skull fell in front of me. Then all of a sudden I felt a pain like never before. I tried to go through an open window but it shut right before my eyes, so I headed back to the door and it opened up. I limped down the stairs and out the front door while still in pain. As soon as I got off the porch all the pain was gone and I had this…mark.”
Jenna’s head was reeling from the story. “Why did you go in their?” she blurted out. “No one should go in there.”
“Well-” he began but was interrupted.
It was Kodi. “Hey mom, hey pop. How’s it goin’?”
“Just fine, Kodi. Your father was just talking to me.” Jenna told him.
“About what?” he asked.
Balto looked at him. “Nothing important.”
“Okay, well I have to get back to the other mail dogs before we leave.” Kodi responded and happily hurried off.
Jenna looked at Balto with a concerned look. “I know it’s early but you should maybe get some rest. You went through a lot last night.”
“Don’t worry Jenna. I’ll be fine.” he told her.
If only he knew that, that was not true. He continued his day like normal. Wandering about the town just to waste time.
Soon it was sunset. He was heading back to his boat from Jenna’s house. He was walking along the houses when he passed by an empty alleyway. He almost passed it when something caught his eye. It was a shadow of some sorts.
“Eh, probably just my imagination.” he said aloud.
Sure that our minds play tricks on us once in while, but this time it wasn’t his mind. Just then there was a load bang and a trashcan fell over. Balto jumped in surprise and looked down the alleyway. Nothing.
“Okay, what was that?” he waited a few seconds. “Whatever it was I don’t want to find out.”
He started back towards the boat. Looking over his shoulder the whole way. He got back to the boat to find Boris already asleep and snoring.
“I guess he’s already asleep. Lazy bird.” he chuckled, wondering if that would wake him up, but to no avail. “Oh well. Good night Boris.” he whispered.
“Goooood niiiight.” a mysterious voice whispered.

To Be Continued

By: Walto Disney