The House on Judgement Hill

My sins must be baptized in blood...

The things they said.....

The things they did......

I must have deserved it....

''It was my judgement.... my reconciliation.''

NO! Damn it! They've brainwashed you to think that! I MUST FIGHT IT!

Why fight when it is so easy to give in?

I can just slip into the light of judgement....

Yes that's what I need....

FUCK! I NEED TO GET RID OF THESE VOICES! WHERE ARE THEY!!!!!!

''No, the voices are good... they wish to cure me.''

They wish to make me the first in a spiritual revolution.

STOP IT! THEY KILLED YOUR FRIENDS! DO NOT GIVE IN!

I NEED TO FIND THE SOURCE! I NEED TO REMEMBER!

''No.... I must forget and slip away.''

WHEN DID THIS START?!

It has always been.

THE HOUSE! I REMEMBER THE HOUSE!

It was stormy. Ron, Johnny, Mark and I, were outside of the McDonalds. We were looking at that old mansion on Judgement Hill.

''Yes that beautiful facility. It will show us all the future!''

SHUT UP!

"How long has that house been there?" asked Johnny.

"I heard it was built back when Lincoln was president," I replied.

"Who would need a house like that?" asked Ron.

"I heard some crazy cult leader built it," said Mark.

''CRAZY!? YOU DARE MOCK A CHOSEN!?!''

GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!

"What kind of cult?" I asked.

"I don't know. Apparently they were all about how they were chosen people and how they needed to spread their word among the public. Just standard cult stuff."

"I heard it's haunted," Johnny commented.

"Bullshit!" I exclaimed.

"Don't believe me?" he challenged, "Then let's camp out there tonight."

That is the sentence that ruined our whole day.

''Ruined? I think you mean: enhanced!''

STOP THAT!

"Fine," I replied, "I'm no bitch. The rest of you in?"

"Yeah," they announced in unison.

"Great!" I exclaimed, "Let's meet back here in an hour with sleeping bags and anything we might need."

Yes, come meet God's true judgement!

DAMN YOU!

About an hour later we all met at the McDonalds. It was about 7:00 and the sun was setting. The red sky highlighted the more demon-like features of the house.

"Ready?" I inquired.

After a chorus of "Yes," we set of up the hill and into the house.

The first thing I noticed was the smell, something had obviously been rotting in there for decades. Then I noticed the overall state of the house. For being over a century old, it was in nice shape. All of the furniture seemed to have no damage other than age wear. However, the strangest thing was the glass of wine on the table in the middle of the main room. It was half full. Mark ran up to it and smelled it. After which he promptly dropped it and threw up.

"That's some nasty shit." he managed to say in between spews.

"Shouldn't it have evaporated after all of these years?" I questioned.

"I think so.," replied Johnny, "Maybe wine takes forever to evaporate."

"Or maybe some teenagers left it here from there night of fun here," Ron suggested.

"Dude that's pervy," I said.

I walked over and examined the liquid. It seemed very thick for wine.

Suddenly the room was filled with electric light. I nearly fell. I turned and saw Ron holding his electric lantern.

"You bastard! You nearly made me fall into this shit!" I yelled.

"Calm yourself, the point is you didn't fall."

Now that we had some extra light, I was able to take in the whole room. There was some armor and medieval swords hanging on the walls. A few of them had red splattered on the blades.

"Is that blood!?" I screamed.

''Yes. It's the blood of the unclean!''

"Of course not, you pansy," said Mark, "It's probably just for show."

"Yeah...." I said.

There were some portraits too. Weird portraits. The men in each painting had a different symbol floating above their heads. Their eyes were strange too. All of their pupils were blood red.

"These are some fucked up paintings," said Johnny.

"Yeah," I agreed, "I don't think we should sleep in this room."

"Why? Are you afraid the evil painting men are gonna come get you?" mocked Ron.

"No! I just... there's nowhere to put the sleeping bags."

"Yeah... I guess he's right." said Mark.

So we ventured into the next room where we encountered the most disturbing sight we had ever seen.

There were mutilated bodies everywhere. Dead men nailed to the ceiling. A woman was cut in half and hanging from a hook suspended from the chandelier. A skeleton was nailed to the floor, its jawbone was crushed on the ground next to it. A little girl was chained to the wall. Her stomach was slit open and her guts were hanging out. Bloody holes were left where her eyes should have been.

We would've screamed but we were too stunned to do anything.

''Scream? Why would you scream at such glory?''

There was a man bound to the table in the middle of the room. His legs were bloody stumps and his arms had been stripped of their skin. I was sure he was dead until his head rose from the table, it was so terribly cut that I was surprised he was able to say the following sentence.

"I have seen the light of judgement children, and you will all see it too in time."

His head dropped and this time I knew he was really dead.

Not dead, forgiven.

And then our brains collectively decided to react.

We screamed. We screamed loud enough to wake God himself.

You mean your false God!

We then heard thumping upstairs.Thumping and clanking metal.

My instinct was to run, but the others wouldn't move.

"Damn it! Run, you stupid bastards!" I screamed.

The thumps were getting closer, they must have been on the stairs.

"Move or we die!"

All Ron could do was move his head towards me. His eyes were stricken with fear and he was starting to cry.

Then Johnny broke the grip of fear, and knocked the other two over as he bolted for the door. I was about to run too when I heard Johnny screaming.

"NO! GET AWAY FROM ME! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

When he stopped Ron and Mark snapped out of it. We ran deeper into the maze of hallways that the house contained. Every room we passed was filled with more horrors than the last.

''Horrors? I think you mean glorious treasures!''

We could still hear the thumps right behind us when we reached a dead end.

Ron started crying again, and Mark started punching the wall and screaming. I turned and saw four men in red cloaks holding syringes.

The next thing I remember is waking up bound to a chair next to Ron, Johnny, and Mark. They were all screaming.

In front of us was a man with long scraggly hair holding a saw. The saw was covered in blood, as was the man's apron.

"SHUT UP!" he yelled.

My friends quieted almost instantly.

"Your sins must be baptized in blood!" he said, "You must must pay for your crimes against God! The true God! He blessed you with limbs and a beating heart! You all, like the rest of humanity, have proved that you are undeserving of such gifts. We must strip you of them so that you can understand the error in your ways!"

He walked up to Ron, who then began to scream again. The man bashed Ron in the head with the saw handle.

"Shut your mouth! Or do I have to make you!?!"

Without an answer he reached into Ron's mouth and yanked out his tongue. With one swift strike, he cut it out.

The rest of us knew better than to scream, but Ron kept making noises akin to that of a choking elephant.

The man put the saw to Ron's leg and began to cut. Ron screamed and screamed.

''With joy, child. With joy!''

The man brought the saw to Ron's neck and he no longer screamed.

He was forgiven!

Suddenly a voice sounded from a speaker overhead.

"Children! It brings me joy to see some new faces here. You will all soon learn the error in your ways! You can seek reconciliation with us. We can forgive your sins, and you can find true happiness. Of course there are processes that you have to go through. Long painful processes of course, but they are extremely worthwhile. You have lost they way of the true man. The pure man. We are going to reintroduce these ideals to your souls. And now, we will begin the process."

Suddenly, demon-like noises began playing over the speaker. I looked to my side and saw that Johnny and Mark were starting to relax, as if they were completely fine with the craziness occurring around us.

I felt myself relaxing too. A voice in the back of my head started telling me to relax. That this is meant to be. I started dozing off. But I came to when Johnny and Mark began screaming.

The music stopped and the voice on the speaker yelled, "Thorn! Forgive them!"

The man I now know to be Thorn, slit both of their throats before I could turn to look.

The noises started again. Now I really wanted to scream, but I couldn't. Something wouldn't let me. The voice.

''Yes and if you would listen to me now you can be enlightened. YOU MUST GO BACK!''

Next thing I remember I was alone in the room. For some reason my bindings were gone. I stood up and looked around. My friends bodies were still there. The noises were gone but the voice in my head was yelling for me to sit back down and await judgement.

''Yes. We must return now!''

I basically just got up and followed the hallways out of the mansion. But why would they just leave me like that? Surely they're tracking me somehow.

''I will guide you into the light child! Listen to my guidance.''

Now I'm just outside of the mansion, awaiting God knows what. Why haven't I called the police yet?

Because this is my destiny...

I need to return.

NO! Why would I do that. They'll kill me too!

No they will forgive me.

If I return they will welcome me and I will know true love.

I can't go back.

''Yes I can. I should. I will.''

Maybe I should.

I think I will.

Judgement awaits me. It awaits all of you. One day you will all be led into the light.

The light of judgement.

And you will all be forgiven.