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UNHOLY GROUND, A HORROR SHORT STORY, CHAPTER IV

July 25, 2025 at 1:59 pm Leave a comment

                                                  UNHOLY GROUND

That night Jake heard the voices again, but they had now grown louder.  Unable to sleep, he waited for them to begin moaning and calling him.

“Come join us,” shouted the haunting voices.

There was a new horror this night.  The outline of the door of the root cellar took on a blood-red glow, as if the entrance of hell had opened up beneath the barn.

Jake screamed, “Thomas, Thomas, wake up!”

Thomas stirred from a sound sleep.  “Quiet, Jake!”  What is wrong with you?” he shouted.  But his eyes and ears quickly determined the source of Jake’s fear.  He heard malevolent voices and saw the glow coming from the cellar door.

Before the boys’ unbelieving eyes, the seam along the double doors brightened as they were lifted from below.  The slow creak of the doors intensified as the barn began to fill with the eerie light ushering up from the root cellar.  Long, sinewy arms slowly parted the double doors.  A ghastly face of gray-green flesh came into view.  The two boys screamed for all they were worth.  Zeke and Martha came running toward the rear of the barn seeing the glow and fearing that the barn was on fire.  They stopped dead in their tracks and confronted the horrible visage of the monster rising from the root cellar.

“Boys, come to me!” shouted Martha.

The family huddled together near the stalls, unable to take their eyes off the demon rising from the cellar.  The horror now stood in the barn.  It smiled, revealed pointed teeth, and spoke.  “You have violated the ground of the Ancients.  For this you shall spend eternity guarding the entrance to our domain.”

Suddenly, a host of ethereal figures emerged from the cellar.  They flew to the heights of the rafters and descended upon the family.  One by one the spirits penetrated each member.  As the spirit emerged, the victim fell; their bodies grew indistinct and then disappeared as the phantom they now were shown with intense light.  Zeke was the last to fall victim to the spirits.  His last earthly thoughts were the warnings and signs he refused to heed.

The Young family flew among the rafters, then into the cellar to begin their eternal vigil.

               * * *

John Taylor woke during the night to make his water.  His eyes were drawn in the direction of Zeke’s place.  A small hill stood between the two properties and beyond the hill a red glow filled the sky.  John was sure that Zeke’s barn was ablaze.  But as he watched, the glow diminished and then disappeared.  No need to go to the Young place tonight, he thought.  Tomorrow he would visit Zeke to ask him about the light and make sure there was no problem.

                * * *

The sentries posted by the Indians living in the area observed the red glow in the distance and woke the elder of the tribe.  He came out of his lodge and looked to where the sentries pointed.  His weary eyes saw the distant glow.  Shaking his head, he said, “The Ancients are awake and walk the Earth.  They have claimed new victims to protect their sacred ground.  We must hold council and speak of this matter.”

               * * *

The following morning John Taylor paid a call to Zeke Young’s place.  As he approached the barn, he was relieved to see that it stood undamaged.  He was sure he would find some member of the family within and knocked on the closed door.

There was no reply.

John slowly opened the door, hoping to find no sign of tragedy.  The barn was empty save for a heavy sulfurous odor.  John left the barn and called out Zeke’s name, still no response.  He walked Zeke’s fields and was unable to find him or any member of his family.  The four had vanished without a trace.  The roan, still tied to a tree, was dead with her eyes wide open, a mask of fear and agony.

               * * *

Two sentries from the tribe were sent to observe the white man’s barn built on unholy ground.  The usually brave warriors were terrified.  They knew this was land possessed by demons.  On the second night of their vigil, they saw four images, glowing with an unholy light, emerging from the structure.  Then, before the sentries’ startled eyes, the two adult figures took flight and came towards the cowering Indians who fled for their lives. 

No further braves were dispatched to this blasphemous ground.

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