Chapter 22

'A Storm is coming!' and a huge one in this case.

The white striped winged bird is a rare type of raven whose sighting is as rare as itself. They are only known to migrate when a phenomenon or a calamity is about to occur since they don't like associating with other species they usually stick to one environment and stay hidden unless the situation is too critical that it will cost them their lives. Hence us sporting one meant that the storm which was about to fall wasn't just a simple storm and in about an hour or less, we will witness It for ourselves.

"What's up? I know that we are in a rush but you just seem so tense right now like you can't wait a minute longer to get out of this place. It may look creepy but it's not that bad and don't worry the chances of us bumping into someone is one in a million." I was already pushing Alex towards the back of the truck where the trash can was laying in the same position as I had first placed it.

"Are you sure that the only way we can get to wherever it is we are going is only by foot? is there no way we can use the truck?"

"Just look around you Yan and tell me if you can see any opening that a truck this size can fit through. and for goodness sake just tell me what's got you all worked up like this?" it's either he didn't see the white stripe under the bird's wing or if he did see it he didn't know anything of the bird or what it is associated with.

" The bird that just crushed on my windshield is a rare type of Raven that has a single white stripe under its wings. their sightings are rare as well and it's said if you happen to see one just know a natural calamity or phenomenon is about to occur and in our case, it's the storm lucking above us. I don't know how much time we got left before it starts but I would say an hour or less so we have to get moving since am not even sure that any house we find in this place will be enough to shield us from the storm."

This was enough to convince Alex to start moving quickly, he hopped onto the back of the truck undid the harness that was holding the bin in place, and started pushing it towards me while I pulled it off the truck. Thank God that the trash can came with wheels all we had to do is drag it and maybe sometimes lift it when we came across a fallen tree trunk. it was getting darker by the minute and this gave me unsettling nerves with the change in weather uncle Chris must have started being worried and called my phone a couple of times.

I would have answered but I forgot my phone back in the truck and even if I had it with me it would have been of no use since there was no network coverage out here.

"how much longer till we get there?"

" less than a minute, we are almost there." Alex was dressed warmly for a place like this but not warmly enough for the wind that came with the storm that left him shivering with both arms across his body trying to gather more heat from his body to keep himself warm.

"We are here."

Behind the huge talk trees stood an old house shade, well more like an old two-story building when you got closer since the tall trees did a great job of hiding the top half of the building. This dude really does have guts. From what I picked up in the little time we have known each other, he has no friends and his siblings are dicks to him meaning all those times that he came to this place he came all alone.

I thought the gave me creepy vibes but that was nothing compared to this house. Nothing in the feel of it gave a homey feeling to it. Everything about it was dark from its looks to the energy it was radiating. To add to it, on the worn-out roof stood a chimney that was way longer than those in normal households. "Are you just gonna stand there until the first drop of the storm hits you to get you moving."

As I focused my gaze towards Alex was already in the house and in his hand the trash can that I didn't notice when he took it off my hands. He was busy trying to get it through the raised doorway which was funny since he managed to get it up the several steps with much ease that I didn't hear him.

"You know I could use your help right about now" I was still standing where I was not bothering to move even a step closer to that house is you could call it that.

" What exactly is this place Alex!" I had to at least know if am have to get into it at some point. I was already prepared to hear all the gruesome possibilities of what this place could be, from a torture chamber to a human slaughterhouse but I got the worst answer.

" I have no idea. I was just wondering around found the place and since no one else claimed it for some time I did." all that was concluded with a shoulder shrug.

This meant the place could have been anything of what I thought it to be or even both and all that this boy can do is dismiss it with a shoulder shrug. My conscience was telling me to run to leave Alex and run before am too entangled with him and it's too late to save myself, but my guts thought otherwise. its the first time in my life that I came across someone like Alex, if I just drop everything and run I was sure I was gonna miss out on something big. Not sure if the something big was gonna be a good thing or a bad thing what I knew is that if I miss it I was gonna regret it so with a deep breath, I went up the several steps and grabbed onto the bottom of the trash can and with a few lift, we were all in the house.

Once the door closed behind us, we were consumed in a blanket of total darkness, and the moment Alex turned on his flashlight I understood why he almost went crazy looking for it. The light illuminated the long hallway and the first few rooms that I conclude to be the living room since it had a round-shaped stain on the floor where the carpet used to be and the kitchen with rusty sinks and cabinets which were missing doors.

Alex did pay attention to any of the rooms and just kept walking down the hallway guess he has already seen them more than enough. we walked past several rooms that I didn't get time to take a peek at, down more several staircases and hallways until we were standing in front of a stolen metal door. It made several screeching noises as Alex turned the lever to get the door opened. The smell that came from the room once the still door was opened was sickening.

I placed my hand on my mouth as gagging noises made their way up my throat and all I could hear was little giggles from behind me.

" Sorry about that I should have given you a heads up but it slipped my mind" He did not seem even a bit sorry with that smirk on his face.

" It smells so awful what do you have down there more dead bodies?" It was just a phrase but when he dropped his smirk and stared straight into my eyes the phrase turned into a question.

"Alex do you have more dead bodies down there?" none of us broke the stare well I was most definitely not gonna until I got my answer. This got me thinking if the main reason the house had this dark energy was because of him. Maybe it used to be a normal house until he found it and turned it into a house of horror.

" Not exactly human bodies but dead animals"

The expression on his face didn't change and only remained indifferent. He reached out into his pocket and got out to black masks handing me one before putting on his.

" it won't help much but it will cancel off most of the smell making it a bit bearable but with time you will learn to endure the smell."

once down the stairs true to his words on one corner of the room laid three different animal carcasses one more rotten than the other.

"So do you just leave them lying around as decor or what" I was being sarcastic the carcasses were laid down in an orderly manner if they were not this rotten you would take them as cute animals just taking a nap. Alex walked to where I was and looked down at the carcasses and smiled. " Maybe I should consider that next time" He walked back to the grey bag he had set at the corner and fished for a while until he finally held up what he wanted. A lighter. With that, u didn't have to ask what was in the tin can next to him. He was all prepared after all.

" I wasn't expecting company, so I only packed supplies meant for one person but since you are my guest you can use this I will have to improvise." He handed me a pair of black gloves and then wore a pair of plastic bags on his hands holding them in place at the wrists with rubber bands. He turned a few levers and opened what looked like an incinerator and by the few ashes left behind I could tell it had been recently used.

"So let us split work I will let you choose first between shoving the dead girl in the incinerator or the dead animals"

"The girl" I didn't even think it through there was no way I was going to get any closer to those smelly things

" Like I had to even ask" he gave me a teasing smile and walked over to the dead animals. I was left standing there hand rubbing the back of my neck and ears red and hot. I felt a bit embarrassed but unlike him, I was not used to this. I have done terrible this but not this kind.

I took the girl or if the trash can and not so gently threw her into the incinerator. Alex brought the dead animals and shoved them on top of the girl's body I handed him the gas can and after emptying the content on the dead bodies he reached for the lighter in his pocket and placed it on my hand. I gave him a puzzled look then he smiled and said " Do me the honors" Without hesitation, I light the lighter and watched in amazement as the ball of fire consumed the bodies. "it's a shame that the incinerator is too old to work on its own it would have made the work easier."

"Don't worry next time you will find it in perfect working condition." As we looked at the bodies burning up I thought to myself ' so there is gonna be a next time and after came the loud thundering sound of the storm. It has finally begun I wonder if this old house can hold up or are we gonna meet our final end here?