The house clearance team had been contacted about an abandoned property in Barnes that needed clearing. The director of the house clearance team had been warned that the house was apparently haunted and that he should be careful. This was the source of great amusement for the house clearance team, and they were cracking all sorts of jokes in the van on their way to job.
“I’ll clean out the ‘living’ room, doubt there will be any ghosts in there!” Benji, the wittiest member of the house clearance team, joked before erupting into laughter.
It had all seemed so ridiculous, until the point where they pulled up outside the house and were confronted with the grim reality. The windows of the house had been boarded up and people had written words like “beware” in red graffiti on the chipboard. There was barbed wire cordoning off the front garden and a tree with bare branches leaning towards the front of the house, casting a strange shadow across its face.
The house clearance team had been told that the house had been abandoned abruptly, six years ago, after the family reported strange and inexplicable sounds and sightings. Since then, it has mostly been left undisturbed, but is occasionally visited by local thrill seekers hoping to catch a glimpse of the paranormal.
As the house clearance team approached the front door, a deathly silence fell over them along with the racing surge of adrenalin. The inside of the house was filthy, with rat droppings covering the floor and dust and damp coating every surface. There was a rotten stench lingering in the air that felt thick in their nostrils and a cool draft sent shudders down the men’s spines.
“Right, lets get this job done as quickly as possible- I want to get out of here asap”, Terry, the director of the house clearance team instructed in a firm tone.
The men dispersed across the house, each having been assigned a room to clear out on their own.
Benji had been given one of the upstairs bedrooms to clear out and had made his way up the creaking staircase to what appeared to be a child’s bedroom. There were various toys and dolls lined up on a shelf in the corner of the room and a modest sized cot in the centre. There was a sporadic tapping sound on the boarded window as the branches of the tree in the front garden jerked in the wind outside. Aside from the harsh glare from Benji’s torchlight, the room was mostly dark because of the lack of electricity and barricaded windows. This made the atmosphere all the more sinister and Benji’s heart raced and he felt as though it could burst out of his chest at any moment.
All of a sudden, one of the dolls on the shelf spoke with a mechanical voice
“ I want my mama”, the doll declared, its chilling voice distorted by age and neglect. As the doll spoke, her eyelids batted in a slow and laboured way.
Benji jumped out of his skin and immediately sprang into action, escaping the bedroom and running straight down the stairs.
Meanwhile, Mikey, who was clearing out the dining room had had a fright of his own when he picked up a cobweb covered box and something scurried across his hand and caused it to bleed. From that point onwards Mikey and Benji refused to work alone, and instead cleared out the rooms together as fast as they possibly could.
When the house clearance team had finally cleared away the last of the debris, they hurried into the van and drove off at full speed. Benji couldn’t resist turning his head and looking back at the house, and to this day, he swear that there was a cloaked figure waving on the porch.
