Halls of Horror: A Compilation of Short Stories

By James W. Cook

This is a compilation of short stories as a horror genre. There are fifteen short stories and the stories vary in length. It is the writers hope that the reader enjoys the book and looks forward to reading more of my future writings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 19, 2015
• ISBN: 9781491767702

James W. Cook

The author was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania on March 1, 1951. I attended Freedom High School in Bethlehem Pennsylvania as well as LCCC. I am also a U.S. Army veteran having served from August 1968 through August 1971 as well as being a Vietnam Veteran. I am the proud son of the late William and Thelma Cook.

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HALLS OF HORROR

A Compilation of Short Stories

Copyright © 2015 James W. Cook.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-6769-6 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-6770-2 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015907347

iUniverse rev. date:  05/05/2015

CONTENTS

The Wishing Well

Swallows Grove

The Birdhouse

The Farm

Gates Of Hell

The Toybox

Primrose Lane

Pods

Raven Road

Maggie

The Basement

The House On Hollow Hill Drive

Snatchers

Curse Of The Orb

The Devourers

THE WISHING WELL

I t was a warm spring day in Lawton, Pennsylvania. The year was 1885 and life was much simpler than any other time previous to that date. The industrial revolution was at its peak, but in the quite town of Lawton, there were numerous farms springing up all the time. One such farm was the Smith farm. There were acres and acres of land to be cultivated. The Smith family consisted of the father, mother and three small children, ages twelve, ten and eight. The two oldest were the girl’s names Rebecca and Karen. The youngest was a boy named George. They would all help on the farm before and after school. School was almost over for the summer and that meant that the Smith family would all be busy during the summer months. The children were responsible for the care of all the animals. There were cows, sheep, goats, and horses to take care of. The father, whose name was James, was responsible for the planting and cultivating of the various crops he planted. The mother, Susan Smith, was responsible for the upkeep of the house and to feed the chickens and collect the eggs. It was a rather large farm that James Smith inherited from his grandfather, William Smith. Along the side of the dirt road was the well that was used to bring buckets of water to be used in the house. James was in the process of digging another well for added water. That well was closer to the house and would be used all the time, rather than having to walk the space between the house and the roadway.

On May 10, 1885, James Smith received a letter from the bank that his payments were late on the farm. He was in debt to the bank through borrowing money for the seeds to plant and for the feed for his livestock. The bank wanted to work with James as much as they could but they had to draw the line somewhere. James was furious. He went to see the bank President to clear up the matter and was surprised at how harsh the bank was becoming. He was only a couple of months late and it was through no fault of his own. The Feed and Grain Company in town had yet to pay him for the milk and spring crops that he sold to them. Rebecca, the oldest daughter tried to comfort her father but James didn’t want his children to worry or be involved during a family crisis. He felt it was his duty to get the family through this crisis. He pleaded for the bank to wait a little longer and they agreed to wait one more month before foreclosing on the family farm. This shook James like nothing ever had before. The days were getting longer and longer. The month was just a few days away when the Feed and Grain Company sent him his money. That really helped James like nothing ever had. He immediately went to the bank and deposited the money he received from the Feed Company. That took care of the problem only temporarily. There was still the matter of the summer crops that were getting closer and closer each day. After paying the bank what was owed, James still had some money left over to help them through the summer months. Autumn was still three months away and any future payments would be collected then. Susan Smith took some of the money to buy the children some new clothes and something to play with whenever they were finished with their chores. The rest was spent on food they could not grow or raise themselves. James always was hunting with his rifle to conjure up something for supper.

James managed to shoot a wild turkey that was in the woods next to his property. There was going to be a feast tonight as the turkey was a rather large bird. After preparing the turkey for the nights meal, it must have weighed in at roughly twenty-five pounds or more. There would be a great deal to go around with some to spare. James decided to invite his neighbor, the Randalls, over for supper that night. Mark Randall accepted the invitation from James to partake of the turkey and to make an evening of it. The Randalls supplied the fresh strawberry pie and some of the vegetables. The Randalls had two children of their own, a boy of twelve and a girl that was nine. While everyone was waiting for the meal to be ready, the children played in the open field while the parents spent the time talking about the harvest that was due in the fall. Once the meal was ready, everyone took a seat and the feast began. There was some idle talk going on between the children and the adults. The meal over, everyone pitched in to help clean up while the men went to the living room to continue their conversation about their respective farms. Finally, about ten that night, the party ended and everyone went to bed in order to get enough sleep for the next days work.

Finally summer came and the children were off from school. Carol Randall and her brother Harold were busy playing with their toys while the Smith children worked on the family farm doing their chores before being allowed to go and play with the Randalls children. Mrs. Smith was busy doing her housework while James was finishing up with the digging for the new well. The old well looked like something in a Norman Rockwell picture. The area was serene and things appeared to be normal, but things wouldn’t stay that way for very long.

It was now July and things weren’t going the way James had hoped they would go. Because of a severe drought and the lack of grazing land for the animals, things started to go downhill very fast. Once again the bank was giving him some grief and he went to the bank to see what the problem was. According to their records, James was ineligible for any more money to tie him up until the harvest. They claimed that he was too slow in making his payments that remained from the total amount that he borrowed earlier that year. James was convinced that the bank was purposely trying to take his farm away from him since he heard through the grapevine that a land developer, by the name of Wexley Harrison, was trying to get land cheap for him to develop. Heavy industry was beginning to show strength and there were plenty of people trying to buy land cheap in order to build on the property and receive rent from those willing to place their factory on his land. Farming the land was no longer feasible, and that made land become valuable for means other than farming. The Smith farm was just one of many that were in the phase of becoming extinct. No matter what, the bills had to be paid and things had to go on as if nothing was wrong. James would spend countless hours in his favorite chair pondering his next move. He didn’t want to sell the family farm; he couldn’t continue in the red.

Finally, on a hot August night, James Smith became very depressed. With no solution in sight that would be favorable to him, he decided to take matters into his own hands. He got on his horse and rode the way into town for one more attempt to negotiate with the bank. He went into the bank and asked to see Mr. Charles Witt, the loan officer. Mr. Witt was firm in his decision to give James just thirty more days to come up with the balance of five thousand dollars that was still owed the bank. James knew that there was no way he could come up with that kind of money in thirty days. Mr. Witt became angry and made some lewd comments to James. Feeling betrayed and angry, James took out a pistol and killed Mr. Witt right there in front of everyone. He ran from the bank and headed home, leaving a stunned group of people in the bank. James wanted to get home before the sheriff came to get him. As he rode up the road leading to his farm, he told his children, who were playing at the time, to go in the house and wait for him there. He put the horse in his stall and went into the house. Susan Smith was cooking lunch at the time and James ordered his whole family into the parlor. Once there, he informed his family what he had done and told them that it was now time to finish the job. Within a second or two, he reached down and retrieved his pistol. He took careful aim and shot first his son George, then his daughter Karen and then his other daughter Rebecca, killing them all instantly. Three bullets down with three to go. His wife Susan pleaded with him not to kill her but to try to make a deal with the sheriff. James would hear nothing of the kind. He raised the gun and took careful aim at Susan and shot twice, once in the chest and the fatal round in the head. After making sure that Susan was dead, he took her body outside and placed it near the old well. He then went inside the house to retrieve the bodies of his children and take them to the old well. Once the bodies were all there, he began to dump them over the side of the well and waited to hear their bodies fall to the bottom. After the last body was dumped over the edge of the well, James heard the sheriff and his posse ride up the road leading to his farm. Knowing full well what they were there for, he went back inside the house and went to the kitchen to where he left his gun. Just as the sheriff and his men rode up to the doorway, James placed the pistol to his head and pulled the trigger. As his body fell to the ground, the sheriff entered the house and saw the body of James Smith laying on the kitchen floor, one gunshot wound to the head. They began to search the house for the remaining members of the Smith family and they began to suspect the worse. The men searched the house and the small woods behind the Smith farm, but to no avail. Not one body was discovered, so the men placed the body of James Smith on the wagon that one of the men had attached to his horse. They took the body to the town doctor for him to examine. Dr. Andrews took one look at the body and immediately came to the conclusion that the bullet that entered his head was enough to be fatal. He then questioned the sheriff where the remaining members of the Smith family were and he said that he was going to continue his investigation no matter how long it took. The sheriff then went over to the bank to see how the deputy was coming along with his investigation of the shooting at the bank where James Smith shot and killed the bank’s loan officer, Mr. Witt. Just as he entered the bank they were taking Mr. Witt’s body out the door to take it to the small clinic where the doctor would be able to examine the body and draw up his conclusions. In the meantime the sheriff went back to the Smith farm to continue his investigation as to what the reasons were that made James Smith kill Mr. Witt and his entire family. They checked everywhere and came up with nothing. It wasn’t until one of the posse members held a bright lantern at the old well and saw the bodies of the Smith family entombed down below. They were too far down to retrieve so it was decided that the bodies would remain there forever since there was no water left to retrieve from the old well. The well was sealed with a piece of plywood and bolted shut where it would remain that way for another one hundred years. The sheriff never would find out why he killed his entire family, but he did learn the reasons behind the murder of Mr. Witt.

It was now May of 1985, and the old Smith farm, that had laid deserted for one hundred years, was now going to become a new home for a young couple that were looking for a large place to live. The old farmhouse lacked all the modern conveniences, and had to be remodeled according to the building codes. The young couple that bought the place were Mr. Harold Comb and his lovely wife Janice. They were married about a year and were expecting their first child. They were so excited about the place but they had failed to learn the history behind the old house. What had happened one hundred years earlier evaded them, at least for now? Although the structure of the house was in good condition, they still had a long way to go to put it at the proper standards.

Once the remodeling work was finished, Janice decided to dress up the old well by the side of the road as a wishing well for those traveling the highway to the motel next door. For whatever reason one had to make a wish, the well stood there for someone to make a wish, and to have that wish fulfilled. No one, including the Combs, knew what to expect from the old well that still held the remains of the Smith family from the massacre one hundred years ago. After a few days, the first person to make a wish pulled up and got out of his car. His name was Bob Held, and he was a salesman who sold household appliances. His boss, Mr. MacDonald, was always riding Bob about the amount of sales he had. Nearly every day, Bob was being harassed by his boss. Finally after putting up with his complaining day after day, Bob decided that his wish must come true. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a quarter. Thinking twice about how he felt and with a little apprehension, he flicked the quarter down the well and made his wish. He wanted his boss to pay dearly for being so nasty. He wanted Mr. MacDonald to suffer an agonizing death for the way he treated other people. He wanted him to be on the road all day, and have a boss show him his ungratefulness. He asked the wishing well to make his boss pay and pay dearly. After placing the quarter down the well, Bob got in his car and drove away. He was running late for his next stop, but kept thinking of his wish. Bob tried to peer through the window but the rain was so hard that he could barely see far enough to pull over to the side of the road. After trying to find his way, he took a chance and began to pull over to the side of the road.

After some maneuvering, he finally was on the shoulder of the highway. While waiting for the rain to subside, he went through his books to check out what he wanted to sell to his next customer. All of a sudden, there was a loud noise coming toward him and within seconds, there was a crash. A truck had swerved along the shoulder of the highway, striking Bob’s car along the drivers side of the car. Just as he heard the crash, he was knocked unconscious. After two hours had passed by, Bob woke up and found himself crushed under the truck that had crashed into him. Hoping that someone would come along and help him, he lay back and waited for someone to come along. He tried to move about but couldn’t move since his legs were crushed beneath the twisted metal. Try as much as he could, Bob realized that he couldn’t move and realized that if he didn’t have help soon, he would die. Thinking that, he began to wish that he hadn’t made a bad wish at the wishing well. Instead of misfortune happening to his boss, it was he who felt the wrath of wishful thinking. Time seemed to go slowly, but after a couple more hours had passed by, Bob discovered that not only could he not move his legs, but that his arms were pinned beneath the wreckage. In reality, his left arm had been severed above the elbow from the sharp pieces of glass that were all over the place. About the sixth hour, Bob heard someone talking from the outside. He tried to scream for help but didn’t have the strength to yell for help. Fearing that more twisted metal would collapse on top of him, he began to try to yell out for help. Still, no one heard Bobs screams. Within another hour or so, Bob heard the sound of metal being torn away from where he was pinned down. Within seconds, he saw the nose of a dog peaking through. It was a police dog checking for survivors. Shortly thereafter, there appeared to be some light shining in. Officer Jones yelled down to Bob to see if he was all right. Bob yelled up that he was paralyzed, and couldn’t help to free himself. After about twenty minutes had passed, Bob saw the work crews for the first time lifting the wreckage surrounding him.

Within a few more minutes, the last twisted piece of metal was lifted carefully from on top of Bob. The whole time the rescue was going on, Bob continued to wish that he never made that nasty wish at the wishing well. He began to pray to God for deliverance. Finally, the medical crew was at his side. As they were checking out his injuries, Bob asked if he would lose his legs. The medical team told him that he would be all right. Bob knew better. After some twenty minutes, the medical team lifted Bob from the wreckage and placed him in the ambulance. Within ten minutes they arrived at the hospital and immediately took him to surgery. After a few more hours, Bob woke up only to realize that he had lost both legs and his left arm. All the nasty things that went through his head for something tragic to happen to his boss, Mr. MacDonald, made him wish that he was dead. Unable to move on his own, Bob pondered suicide once he got home. If anything, the wishing well gave Bob his wish with one exception. What he wanted to happen to his boss, happened to him instead. Bob spent a total of eighteen days in the hospital. Within five days of returning home, Bob committed suicide by carbon monoxide in his garage. Nothing would ever happen to his boss, Mr. MacDonald.

Within a few days, another person would pay a visit to the wishing well and the Smith farm. Her name is Tina Bell. Tina is a registered nurse at the local hospital. The ride to the hospital, which is in Larchmont, New York, is a few miles from the small town of Piedmont. Tina is twenty six years old and single but looking for a man. As she pulled along the side of the road to the spot where the wishing well is located, Tina felt a chill run up and down her spine. She stopped the car and got out. She walked around a bit before going up to the wishing well to read the sign that was posted there. According to the sign, a wish that was made would come true. What she didn’t know was that any wish given would turn out to be a big mistake. Tina went back to the car to get a coin out of her purse. After some digging around in her change purse, Tina returned to the well. She just stood there for several minutes before Janice Comb, who was the owner of the Smith farm, came walking up to her. Janice then asked Tina whether she made a wish yet. Tina said that she was stumped and needed some time to think of a good one. At that moment, Janice invited Tina to the house for some tea. Janice was always so trustful and would do anything for anyone no matter what. Tina agreed to have tea with Janice but she wanted to make her wish first. As she thought of her wish, Tina flipped the coin into the well. Since wishes can only come true if they are kept secret, Janice didn’t want to know what Tina’s wish was. Tina had wished that whoever mistreated her, or did anything evil against her, that they would die a traumatic death. With the wish made, Tina and Janice drove up the driveway to the farmhouse in Tina’s car. Tina and Janice got out of the car and proceeded to walk around the farmhouse. Janice told Tina about what had happened there one hundred years ago. Janice told her how James Smith killed his entire family and threw their bodies down the very well that Tina just made her wish from. Afterwards, James Smith returned to the farmhouse where he committed suicide once the sheriff got there. She took Tina into the bedroom where James had died.

Janice and Tina went into the parlor to have some tea and do some girl talk. After about an hour, a thunderstorm began to approach the farm. Janice told Tina not to leave until the storm was over. Tina felt that she had to call the hospital to inform them of her whereabouts and that she would be late. The storm came closer and closer to the farmhouse and Janice decided to light some candles should the electric go off. They both sat down again and began to talk about each others personal lives. They really seemed to hit it off. The storm was now closer and beginning to show it’s wrath. The wind became more violent and the rain came down by the buckets. The thunder and lightning became ferocious and Tina felt very nervous. She said, I better leave before I become too late for work. Janice told her to stay until the storm passed. Looking out the bay window, Tina agreed. It was starting to get dark and Tina knew that she would be held up a while longer. She asked Janice if she could call the hospital and Janice agreed. Tina picked up the phone and dialed the hospital. She put the phone to her ear and found out that there was no dial tone. The phones were dead and the storm had something to do with that. Tina worked the night shift this week and this was the first time she was ever late for work.

No sooner was Tina off the phone when the electricity went off. Luckily, Janice lit the candles should something like this happen. While Janice and Tina were sitting in the parlor, something strange began to occur. There was a knock at the front door so Janice went to answer the door. She knew it wasn’t her husband Harold, because he was out of town for the day and would not be back until tomorrow. As she opened the door, no one appeared to be there. Janice just thought that the storm had somehow managed to have the doorbell ring. Closing the door, she returned to the parlor and sat down with Tina. For the next thirty minutes, they sat there talking about their childhood and about men. The storm became more violent and one of the trees in the back yard was struck by lightning and fell to the ground, crashing against the garage. Janice returned to Tina to tell her that she was going out to the garage to inspect the damage and that Tina should make herself at home until she returned. Janice put on her raincoat and went out the back door to the garage. As she got there, she saw the damage not only to the garage but also to her car. As she turned around to return to the house, a man was standing there. He surprised Janice to the point that she screamed. The noise from the storm was so loud that Tina never heard Janice scream. Janice asked the man who he was and he said that his name was James. As Janice attempted to go around him, he blocked her way toward the house. Janice warned him to go away but he refused. Within seconds, the man grabbed Janice by the throat and proceeded to choke her to death. After her neck cracked, Janice body fell to the ground. What she didn’t know was that James Smith had returned from the dead to exact vengeance to anyone who crossed his path. With Janice dead, James proceeded to the farm house to see if anyone else was there.

Tina was still in the parlor but after some time had passed since Janice left the house, Tina decided to go looking for her. She went to the rear of the house where the kitchen was located. She peered out the back door but didn’t see Janice anywhere. Suddenly, the front door opened, and in walked James. Tina heard