The Entity

We always visit grandma, especially before schools begin in mid-autumn. We like to enjoy this traditional festival close to her village with my brother and family. It's an interesting celebration, actually, because unlike similar festivals around the world, this one is not about seasons changing or agriculture. My grandma told me it's related to a very rich family that lived in the old house near the woods. The family believed that during mid-autumn, there are visitors from heavens, and if they offer good food, music, and some golden gifts, they'll be able to live longer, probably healthier and wealthier, and so on. They shared this tradition with the local people by inviting them to their yearly celebrations. My grandmother had been there. She told me how vibrant the atmosphere was, with dancers, fortune-tellers, and the tasty food! There were huge cakes and flavorful drinks. 

Until one year… A 10-year-old girl disappeared in the woods, and they couldn't even find a clue about this tragic accident. The next year, the chief of the village moved the celebrations to the community center in the middle of the city. Here actually! He believed the family was responsible but never proved it. After some years, it became popular, and now it draws thousands of people from the area. The rich family in the old house had been forgotten. She told me that the house still stands there, but we don't know what happened to the family. The disappearance bothered no one, and the house has been left all alone in silence all these years.

I was 12 when she told me that story, and now I am 17.

I told this short story to my new friends that I met at the Mid-autumn Festival when we were in a horror tunnel with my brother. I was trying to hold him while he was running around and bumping into so many people. 

There were three girls and two boys. We seemed to be close in age. One of the boys was like me, from another city. All the others were from the villages around. We were buying some ice cream, and nobody was interested in my story except the city boy. He told me that we had to visit the house and put it on YouTube. This idea brightened up the faces of the people, and they decided to join us. One of the village boys who looked a bit older had a truck, and I had some bottles of cold beer. It was going to be a real-time horror experience. None of us thought something bad could happen in a modern-time village. It was just for fun, and we didn't sense any danger. I left my brother with my parents and promised to meet them at home. 

The city boy started filming when we were on our way to the mystery house. We were having fun at the back of the truck.

After an hour, we were tired and out of beer. Under the sea of stars, we were driving between waves of wheat fields, and suddenly, he braked. We all saw the side road turning to the right. None of us had ever used this road before, even the village boys. There was a rusted signboard buried in the wheat, with a direction written in handwriting: "Something Village." It was too worn that we couldn’t read the first word.  So we decided to hit the road!

Behind the hill, it was darker. We got more excited! By the time we started to go downhill, one of the girls sitting at the front seat squeaked. She insisted she saw a light right in front, just for a second. Truck boy said he saw it too it was a huge light, but no one wanted to turn back. Besides, we thought it was another truck coming from the opposite way, and when we arrived at the place, it was too late. 

The house was in a valley, and we could see the woods right behind it. It had a big garden which was barren. There was a half-open iron gate that led us to a path ending at the terrace. The door was sealed and locked. There were some weird writings, symbols, and cheesy drawings on it. So it wasn't completely abandoned! I felt some relief, I couldn't refuse. We broke it open with the truck boy's hammer. The noise shattered the silence in the old house, and a thick cloud of dust burst into the air when chunks fell. Up until then, we didn't notice the light standing behind the truck. It became a blinding white color while the truck boy yelled, "Who is that?" a strange, silent, and irritating sound reverberated through the area. It was like we were under the water, like miles deep. Automatically, we ran into the house and hid behind the half-open kitchen wall. One of the girls started to cry, but it got really scary when our phones started to ring, all at the same time. Then the light, sound, and our phones turned off suddenly. We were in the middle of the rusty kitchen, looking at each other in shock. I tried to calm myself down by holding onto something normal—I could hear the bugs still rattling outside, which helped me pull myself together. I told each one of them to be silent and stick together. I was trying to figure out the situation. Then a long, bluish, shimmering man with an elvish appearance and gooseberry eyes glided through the kitchen window. He didn't look inside, but deep down, we knew he was well aware of us. He was like no real person I had ever seen, nor a costumed man. His presence felt cold and otherworldly.

The truck boy silently yelled, "What the hell was that?!" I tried to stay as calm as I could to think properly. Then I saw the stairs and told them that we had to move upstairs, we could hide there. I grabbed the smallest girl who was crying, and the city boy's hand, who was still trying to record. I led them to the stairs at the back of the kitchen, and with slow steps, we started to ascend. Our phones were working, but there was no service. I was at the front of the line, and the only light brightening the wooden stairs was the thin light from my phone. The girl was holding my other hand, and we were staying as close as we could. Each step made a small creak; the wood was old. I was scared as hell when we managed to reach the top floor. It smelled like dust and mold. There were five rooms, and all the doors were closed. We had to choose wisely. The truck boy looked very stressed; he was shaking and checking his back constantly. The other boy, who had never spoken since we hit the road was silent but brave, following our steps. So it seemed logical to split into three groups. That would icrease our chance to escape.

While I was explaining my plan to them, we heard a door shut downstairs. The girl who was holding onto my arm at that moment screamed. So everybody ran into a room randomly and shut the door right behind. The girl and I ended up in a child's room. I immediately checked the window; there was no one and no light outside except for our truck. We had to climb down somehow to get out. There was no way for me to exit the house from inside. I was calculating every possible route when the girl whispered to me, "Listen! Listen!" I could hear slow footsteps, but there were no creaking sounds. Could it be a person from our crew? What if this was an illusion to make us come out? Then we heard someone open the door to a room next to us. After a while, we heard a boy's scream and a girl's. We weren't hidden; she was waiting for a command from me. I had to decide quickly. So I opened the window and helped the girl down onto the terrace roof. 

Surprisingly, the truck boy executed the plan just as I had. We faced each other with determined eyes. The truck's lights were still on, providing us with a glimmer of hope. The entity chasing us likely deciphered our plan in an instant. So, I sent the truck boy down to the terrace first. He knew how to start the engine. Then, the girl who had been hiding with him followed suit, immediately darting away without waiting for any of us. Instead of heading towards the truck, she ran straight into the fields without casting a glance behind her. There was nothing anyone could do for her.

I swung the little girl down onto the terrace from her arms; she had been in the room with me, and the truck boy caught her. I was lying face down on the rooftop, I was the last one , but something seized my ankle and yanked me back. I couldn't turn around to look. It was a chilling moment, and this was it—over.

So I screamed at the truck boy to run away. I could buy some time for them. Then the entity lifted me up and turned me to face its frozen face. It held me in the air supernaturally. I could hear the truck boy's and the girl's running footsteps. Then my whole body started to cramp up wildly, as if some electric current was running through my body. I couldn't move any part of me. I could hear my teeth chattering. The entity in front of me was disturbingly beautiful and inhuman at the same time. My eyelids were twitching; I could barely see it, but I could hear it. It was speaking in an unknown language, and its tone was angry and aggressive. Then I heard the truck's engine. At that moment, it released me. I fell onto the roof on my back. Before I lost consciousness, I saw a huge metal ship hanging above me and the house. It was all real…

When I woke up, I was still on the roof. It was early in the morning, and rain clouds were drifting around. I had to recall every piece of my memories for a while. Then I checked the truck immediately; they were gone. So I got up, mostly in pain. The danger had already passed. It was terrifying to go back inside, but I had to check the other rooms for anyone left. The truck boy's room was empty, and in the next room, there was only the city boy. He was still holding his phone in his hand, burnt to death. It was a shock for me. His face and skin were black as coal; his hair was gone.

I started crying, crying as hard as I could, and then stopped. This could have been my fate as well if that truck engine had started later. I could smell the burnt scent in my hair. How many of us had survived? So I went down to the floor where we were five hours ago. There were wicked symbols drawn by red ink or blood on the walls that I didn't recognize last night. What a messed-up place, my brain cursed. No one was left except me. Maybe the girl and the truck boy, but probably not, because no one came to rescue me. I had to inform the police about the incident. I walked for a long time until I reached the main road. I felt numb, and from time to time, I felt panic and scared. I had to get to the village to reach civilization. Some police cars passed by me. Then one of them stopped ahead and came back.

The truck, the truck boy, and the little girl never made it to the village. I told the police everything from top to bottom. They found the truck in the fields, away from the road, but there was no evidence of the girl or the boy. They found the city boy and his burnt phone too but the other silent boy had disappeared. I told them we were split into different rooms, and he should be in one of them. Yet, since I was too scared to check the other rooms, there was no evidence.

Later, I saw a picture of the truck on the internet. It was crushed, as if it had fallen from a great height and was standing upside-down on the ground. After months there were several funerals without any bodies. My parents were in shock, and my grandma was regretful about the story she told me. I wasn't blaming her. She could never have known that I would remember this story after all these years, and that it would lead to such a devastating incident. They never fully believed me. I had some nerve therapy sessions.

I have always believed in aliens. This was not my traumatized brain, ghosts, demons, etc. Our story was closed confidentially by the authorities. They told us they had to investigate the missing children, and that the media would harm the case. So, I remained silent, until today!

Today is the 8th anniversary of the incident, and I will visit my grandma for one last time at her sickbed…