The House

Disclaimer:

Written by Hermann Gunnar Sigurðsson (Askre).

Many had disappeared who had entered the house. When it was to be torn down, the engines blew into atoms and the workers with them. Nobody wanted to neither buy nor rent it and was it now forbidden to come anywhere near it. It wasn’t until six children were trapped that it could finally be destroyed. But one of the children was never found after it was seen entering the building.

The friends, Andrew, Harry and John along Andrew’s sisters, Ann and Julia had crawled past the warning signs of the police and now watched the house with longing eyes.

“I’m sure there is a lot of old stuff inside worth looking at,” said Harry. The other boys nodded in agreement.

“I suppose there are rats in there too,” commented Julia.

“Yes and other pests,” claimed Ann. They all looked around to check if anybody was watching. Then they started to open the unlocked gate. Suddenly someone asked.

“What are you doing?”

Kids turned around and saw in dismay that it was little Tiss who standing behind them. Tiss was always trying to hang with the kids even though they where all five years older than she was. Tiss was seven while the others where twelve. Andrew, Ann and Julia where triplets even though they looked almost nothing alike.

“Go home, we don’t want you here,” growled Harry. The others agreed.

“If I can’t go to, I will tell that you are going to the pink house,” threatened Tiss. John and Andrew clenched their fists because they knew Tiss would truly to that.

“Oh all right then, but you must obey us then,” snapped John.

The kids turned their attention back to the house and sneaked inside the garden. Andrew opened the front door and soon the kids found them inside. As soon as Julia, who walked last inside, closed the door it disappeared and where the doors had been, there was only wall.

“Where is the door?” asked Ann startled. Andrew started to fell the wall where the door had just been.

“It was here, how could it disappear like that,” he asked as he knocked on the wall.

It looked down from the plank in the roof. When is saw the kids it gasped in fear.

Not again, it thought. She jumped to another plank and was now right above the kids. The poor things, they are so young, they cannot die.

It she saw that the youngest kid was getting upset and one of the boys told her angrily to shut up. One of the other girls who had been called Ann was starting to cry. It wanted to jump to the kids and comfort them, but they would become hysterical when they would see it. The being jumped to another plank and to another until she was in another room. There she jumped down and slipped, falling on the floor with great noise

The kids almost jumped out of their skin when a great noise like someone slipped and fell was heard from the next room.

“Hello is somebody there?” called John.

“That was not a rat,” commented Ann.

“Only if it tipped over a closet,” claimed Andrew. Tiss was going to the room the noise had been heard from, but John stopped her.

“No you aren't going anywhere without us,” he stated.

Tiss glared at him with an angry look but the other kids agreed with John. So Tiss followed the other with a pout.

“Oh it was just that,” said Harry and pointed at a closed that lay on the side. Not paying any attention that the dust on the closed indicated it had been laying on the side for a long time. Andrew noticed it though but remained silence.

“Look, stairs leading up,” John pointed to stairs that lead obviously to the second floor

“But look, there are planks up in the roofs. And big ones that is,” Andrew had looked up to the roof.

“You could easily hide in them,” claimed Julia. The kids walked up the stairs but didn’t take their eyes of the planks.

“Up here are three rooms,” commented Ann when they came up. “But look here should be floor.”

Indeed there was no floor. Just a big plan allowed them to access three rooms but where floor should bee, they could see down to the first floor and the planks who would have supported the floor. When Harry was about to open doors to one of the room, Julia noticed that Tiss was gone.

“Where is Tiss?”

The kids looked around, Tiss who had been the last to climb up the stairs was gone.

“I will go look for her,” mumbled Andrew and started to go down the stairs.

Tiss had sneaked down the stairs and went out of the room. She was going to explore the house on her own. She was now in a room that was obviously the living room. There was fireplace and dusty sofas in an old style. She saw that the biggest sofa was not as dusty as the others. Actually there was no dust on it at all and there were signs that somebody had been sleeping in it. Tiss walked closer to the sofa and saw and old camera on it. It was a camera that printed the photos itself and the photo would come out through a rift on it. Tiss picked up the cushion and saw six photos under it. She took them up and saw they where all of little wolfish looking creatures.

Who took the pictures, she thought, the images showed clearly that the creatures where way to young to handle a camera.

Suddenly she heard aloud noise behind her, like somebody had jumped down from a great height. Tiss turned to and froze as she faced the gigantic creature in front of her. The creature was probably two meters if not more, with wolfish look. It was humanoid, walking on two legs. It’s fur was thin so the muscles where clearly visible. It had only leather shorts and a tank top made of leather as clothing. It’s tail reached almost all the way to the floor. Tiss couldn’t move she was so afraid, but the creature smiled friendly and the face clearly indicated it meant no harm.

“Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you,” it said gently.

Tiss looked up, the creature was clearly female, the voice had been female and despite the muscles it had female look. Tiss noticed the creature walked on it’s toes like dogs do, bit still it was not hunched over and walked straight like a human.

“Who are you?” whispered Tiss.

“You wouldn’t understand the name of my species, but you humans used to call us varjans,” explained the creature.

“What’s your name?” asked Tiss, she was calming down, the varjan seemed give strong signals that she was friendly and meant no harm.

“Last time I was called something, it was Herana,” claimed the varjan and walked towards Tiss who watched when she sat down on the big sofa.

“My children,” said Herana and pointed to the pictures Tiss was holding.

“Where are they?” asked Tiss.

“Dead,” whispered Herana.

“There you are, what on earth are you doing here?” asked Andrew when he saw Tiss sitting in a big sofa.

“I was talking to the wolflady,” claimed Tiss. Andrew groaned.

“Stop this bullshit and come, we told you not to go anywhere with out us,” he claimed.

“But it’s true, I was talking to the wolflady,” argued Tiss, but Andrew only pointed her to follow him out. They both went up the stairs to the other kids.

“I found her in a living room of some short,” explained Andrew.

“I was talking to the wolflady,” claimed Tiss once again.

“Stop this imagination crap,” shouted Andrew.

“But it’s true, I was talking…” Tiss stopped when nobody seemed to be listening.

“Lets check what is in the rooms,” suggested Harry and opened the first door. But the kids found out soon enough that all the rooms were empty so they went down the stairs again.

“We should try to find away out,” suggested John. Andrew and Harry nodded in agreement.

Few minutes later the girls looked out the window.

“Look it’s starting to get dark, we better get home soon,” claimed Ann.

“The door disappeared, no window we have found can be open and when we try to brake them up we just hurt ourselves,” growled Harry.

“How are we then going to get out?” asked John.

“Look doors to the basement,” said Andrew and tried to open a door that lead obviously to a basement.

Herana watched the kids every move when they tried to open the basement door.

Good Orvan is still asleep, he won’t kill them then, she thought. She saw that nobody seemed to pay any attention to Tiss and nobody listened to here.

Why are they so mean to her, she thought and frowned. But before she could jump to the kids they went up the stairs to the three rooms.

As soon as Tiss, who was last, walked up the stairs, Herana saw light coming from the basement door. She jumped hypnotized down, opened the door and went down the basement.

“Well we are forced to sleep here, this is the cleanest room and here are also mattresses. Shortly thereafter all the kids had picked a mattress but Tiss couldn’t sleep.

She checked if all the other kids where asleep but then sneaked down. She went into the living room and saw Herana lying in the big sofa. Tiss was startled when the varjan female suddenly turned and had a really angry look on her face. But the anger disappeared when she saw the girl.

“Sorry, I’m a bit suspicious,” Herana apologized. Tiss sat down in the sofa that was next to the one Herana was in.

“Nobody believes me when I tell about you,” claimed Tiss.

“That’s natural you know, while they don’t see me, they won’t believe you, but when they will see me, they will believe,” explained Herana.

“Why don’t then show yourself to them,” asked Tiss.

“They are always on the move, I never get the change,” grinned the varjan and sat up. “Are you not tired?”

Tiss shock her head. „Why are you here Herana?

“Like you, I’m stuck,” claimed Herana.

“How did you get stuck?” asked Tiss.

“It’s a long story, I was lured and imprisoned in this house,” mumbled the varjan.

“But what about the father of your babies?” asked Tiss.

“He’s the one who imprisoned me,” Herana stopped herself from growling; it would have only scared the girl.

“But he must have loved you first you got kid together,” claimed Tiss.

“Oh, you still have so simple understanding on the world. Sometimes people are forced against their will to have children. Sometimes the father or the mother, forces the mother or the father to have children, but you are still too young to understand this. The father of my children didn’t want children but still he forced me to have mine and then he killed them,” explained Herana. Tiss looked at the varjan with sympathy in her eyes.

“Where is he now, I will scold him for you,” claimed Tiss.

“Oh no, the last thing he would want is a human child to come near him.” warned Herana. ”Look he’s a real scumbag, the only thing he respects is his brother who is more powerful than he is.”

“Who is the bad man who forced you to have babies with him and then killed them?” Tiss was still a bit angry towards this person, understandably.

“He is of the same species I am, his name is Orvan. He has probably not even considered a varjan any longer, that means he’s maybe off my species but not recognized as one of my species,” Herana explained and sighed.

“Why does he hate children?” asked Tiss.

“Even I, who has been forced to associate with them the most, don’t know. Nobody knows why he hates them, I suspect he’s trying to be worse than his brother,” claimed Herana.

“Is his brother also bad?” asked Tiss.

“Well, some would say that yes, but he just has a bad reputation. He can be rather helpful, but Morvan, who is Orvan’s brother, loves children. He could never harm them in anyway, after all most varjan’s can’t. Orvan is an unfortunate example,” Herana sighed with these words.

“Can’t you just ask Morvan to free you?” asked Tiss.

“That’s not so simple, Morvan isn’t easily reached. Nobody knows exactly where his castle is, and Morvan seldom leaves it,” claimed Herana. Tiss sat down beside her.

“Do you hate Orvan?” she asked. Herana looked straight at Tiss who saw that the varjan was starting to cry.

“My only wish is to kill him,” she whispered.

Andrew woke up in the morning before everybody else and looked around only to see that Tiss wasn’t in the room. He stood up and left the room. He headed straight for the living room and saw Tiss sleeping in the big couch, something to big to be Tiss.

What on… you could think a giant just sat there, he thought. Tiss woke up and saw Andrew standing and watching the place Herana had sat in.

“Where is she?” asked Tiss.

“Who?” asked Andrew.

“The wolflady?” asked Tiss. Andrew groaned.

“Stop this wolflady garbage,” shouted Andrew and dragged Tiss out of the living room.

But Tiss broke free when they where going up the stairs and ran into the living room. Harry came along and with Andrew they followed Tiss. But they stopped on the spot when they saw her in Herana's arms. Tiss had her hands around the varjan and cried. Herana tried to comfort her but looked up and asked in a serious tone.

“Why are you always so mean to her?”

The boys only stood frozen and couldn’t answer. But finally Harry lost it and ran out screaming, up the stairs and into the room where John and the other girls still slept. Herana seemed to stop breathing when Harry had run out screaming.

“I hope he didn’t wake him up,” she whispered. Andrew relaxed, as it was clear the varjan was not evil.

“Awaken whom?” he asked.

“Orvan, the one who is holding you here with out knowing about it,” claimed Herana. Harry came and alongside where John and the other girls, they screamed when they saw Herana.

“Ssh you could wake Orvan,” whispered Tiss who was obviously feeling better.

“Who is Orvan?” asked John after getting over the shock he got after seeing Herana.

“He laid a spell on this building, the one who comes in can’t get out with out killing him,” Herana said.

“What are you?” asked Harry finally.

“We call ourselves Varja Makara but in short its varjans, Orvan and I are varjans,” explained Herana.

“Her name is Herana,” Tiss announced. Herana laughed when she heard that.

“I have been watching you ever since you got here, you should treat Tiss better,” claimed the varjan.

“Was it you who fell down yesterday, not the closet?” asked John. Herana nodded.

“Look you have good change to survive here if you don’t go down the basement. Orvan is there and he won’t hesitate to kill you,” Herana warned.

“But it’s locked, so you don’t need to worry,” grinned Harry.

“It’s locked when Orvan is sleeping, but not when he’s awake, don’t be tempted to go down when it’s unlocked,” said Herana.

“Why should Orvan kill us?” asked John.

“He hates children and even less human children near him, you will suffer horribly before he kills you,” claimed Herana. She put Tiss down and jumped up to a plank and disappeared, the kids didn’t see her any longer.

“Sorry Tiss that we didn’t believe you about the wolflady,” apologized Andrew.

“That’s ok, now that you have seen her, I forgive you,” said Tiss.

The kids went out of the living room. They walked past the basement doors, all but Harry who had tried to open it. Needless to say it swung open. But because Harry was last nobody noticed him. Harry looked around and started to walk down the stairs leading down the dark basement.

He came into surprisingly bright room with three mirrors. An odd looking spear was near the side, the spearhead looked like a head of a wolf and the sharp point was it’s nose. The pikestaff was golden and runes where carved on it. But he couldn’t see anybody in the room.

Suddenly a male varjan stood in front of him. He was dressed in a white robe and growled at Harry who felt he couldn’t move. The boy felt he couldn’t breath no more, he tried to swallow air but in vain. The varjan’s eyes started to glow and Harry felt like he was deep under water and couldn’t breathe. He passed away and the lifeless body fell on the ground.

Herana came downstairs hypnotized but it broke when she stepped on Harry’s body. She gasped and kneeled near the body.

“Not again,” she cried and took the boy in her arms. The male growled.

“There are more,” he hissed.

“NO!” she yelled. “Don’t kill them, please Orvan don’t kill them.”

“You know I hate humans,” he snarled. Herana started to cry as she started to beg.

“Please don’t kill them, please Orvan,” she begged and hugged Harry’s body.

“Shut up,” shouted Orvan and hit Herana with his fist. Herana lost her grip on the body and was thrown to the nearest wall.

“They won’t be killed as long as they don’t come here, you know that. This is the only safe place for me against the Heptagon, so the damn humans are safe as long as they don’t come down,” he snarled. Herana only stared at him, tears where starting to creep down her wolfish cheeks.

“Get out and if you must be protective about them, make sure they don’t come here,” hissed Orvan. Herana jumped up and ran up, leaving Harry’s body behind.

“Where is Harry?” asked Andrew, the other kids shrugged.

“Come lets look for him,” suggested John and the kids walked down the stairs.

“Hey look the basement door isn't fully closed,” whispered Ann.

“Harry didn’t go downstairs did he?” whispered Julia. The kids gasped and Tiss grasped John's hand.

“Should we?” asked Andrew. But John put up a determined look and nodded.

“Orvan can’t surely kill us all at once,” he claimed.

Carefully Andrew opened the basement door and the kids started to creep down. They where barely down when Orvan was standing right in front of them.

“I can see that Herana didn’t manage to protect you better, oh well,” he growled. Nobody had noticed but Herana had snuck after the kids down the basement. She had been on her way to stop them from going. But a multi toned voice told her to let the children down. Herana knew what voice that was and didn’t dare to disobey, even though it was risking the children.

“You probably want to end like your friends,” hissed Orvan.

In on of the mirrors appeared the lifeless body of Harry and he seemed to float like he was in water. Herana stared at Orvan, the varjan who had made her his slave and murdered all her children. She looked at Tiss, the female was starting to consider the little girl her daughter.

“You will not harm her!” she screamed from the stairs and jumped at Orvan who was not prepared for this attack and fell on the floor. But he was quick to stand up and snarled at Herana.

“I should have done this a long time ago,” he growled and suddenly Herana was thrown at the nearest wall. Orvan raised his hands and energy beams of some short started to emerge and landed on varjan female who was obviously in great pain.

But then Andrew could hear a voice inside; it was like seven or more people speaking all as one voice. They where gentle but firm. Orvan's massive use of his power had tricked the third played into this tragedy.

Human child, listen well. We mean no harm, while Orvan is not looking, take the spear and throw it at him, the voices said. Andrew started to look around but saw nobody who could have been speaking.

Andrew, human child. Take the spear and throw it, we mean no harm, the voices started again. That seemed to have hypnotized the boy as he walked in a rather robotic fashion to the odd looking spear. He took it and aimed at the varjan.

Throw it and we will appear, claimed the voices and Andrew threw the spear at Orvan. It went straight through the varjan who turned with difficulty towards the boy, he snarled but couldn’t do anything. The Room was filled with bright light and suddenly seven varjans stood in the room, three males and four females.

“You will do nothing child murderer, you have enough children on your conscience,” growled one of the female varjans.

Orvan was frozen in fear and stared in horror at the seven varjans. Tiss ran to Herana who lay behind the terrified male varjan. She took in one of Herana’s hand who looked weakly at her.

“I only wish…you were…my daughter,” Herana managed to whisper before she died.

“An innocent female varjan you have destroyed, kill all her six children alongside all the human children who have been trapped here. You don’t deserve life, you crossed the line now Orvan,” now all the seven varjans spoke as one. Suddenly Orvan fell down, dead. Tiss was in the meanwhile crying at Herana’s body.

“Don’t die,” she whispered. “You can be my mom, don’t die.”

“Is the child motherless?” asked the same female varjan who had stopped Orvan from attacking Andrew.

“Yes, she is an orphan, she lives with her aunt,” Andrew said mechanically. One of the varjans snapped his fingers and Andrew became normal. He looked around confused.

“Go now human children, it’s dangerous for you to remain here,” said the varjans again speaking all seven as one.

John had to drag Tiss away from Herana and out of the basement. The kids ran outside the house, two policemen who where walking past the building saw them and shouted.

“What are you doing here, don’t you know this is a forbidden area,” shouted one.

The kids didn’t answer as the walked out of the gate. Suddenly behind them the pink house grumbled to the ground. Everybody except for Tiss who still was crying, looked startled and surprised at the once invincible house that had taken so many lives. Nothing left but piles of stone and wood.