Horror House

Along the ghost town trail in Southern Saskatchewan, Govenlock, an abandoned town, with only one building still standing. The community hall, abandoned along with the town in 1976. It’s the perfect place to go to continue my research. I pack my bags excited to be getting out of this dingy motel.
I shiver as I’m leaving the room, it’s cloudy, cold and almost winter. I throw everything into the back of my navy-blue jeep. Climbing in the front, start the car and rubbing my hands together for warmth.
Waiting a few minutes for the jeep to warm up, I glance at my phone that has preset coordinates for me to follow. I’ve been staying in small town Maple Creek while traveling The Ghost Town Trail which is a stretch of highway in Southern Saskatchewan that has 32 abandoned towns.
I’ve been documenting my journey, in attempts to compile enough information to write a book about them.
It’s only an hour drive and I had an early start so I’d have loads of time to get there and then find a place to sleep later on. I arrive in Govenlock without a hitch, and it takes no time at all to find the community hall.
I grab my bag that holds my journal, camera, a small variety of tools, and a few pens and pencils. The community hall is a single-floored brown building, seemingly small on the outside. The door, white, is boarded up. I find my small crowbar and pry the pieces of wood off the door. I try my luck with the door handle and to my surprise it opens.
The door slowly creeks open, my stomach flutters. As much as I love creepy and abandoned buildings, theres always that small part of me that is slightly scared. But maybe that’s why I love it. I love the thrill.
I step into the dark building, expecting to see a space that even slightly resembles a community hall, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. All around me is pitch black, except for a bright pink neon sign, that read:
WELCOME TO THE HOUSE OF HORRORS
I froze. Panic swirled in my stomach as I turned to leave, but the door had vanished. I was stuck. I check my phone, which had no signal. I tried 911 but all I got was the dial tone.
Facing the sign again, an arrow had now appeared next to it, pointing me in what I hoped was the right direction.
I walk down a long hallway. My heart feels like it’s in my throat. Panic and fear have enveloped me. Am I going to survive? Where am I going? This has never happened in the almost 100 abandoned buildings I’ve visited. I think back to my map at home, marking the ones I’ve been to and the ones I’ve left to visit. I think about how I may never complete it now.
This path feels endless. Dark, long, nothingness.
My footsteps echo as I quicken my pace.This building didn’t seem this big from the outside, but I also expected a community hall. Not whatever this is. Breaking out into a run I wonder how long this path could possibly be.
The temperature drops, my uneven breathing blowing out small white puffs. I slow to a walk when a sudden bright light flashes, blinding me. My heart quickens, terror coursing through my veins.
The light dimmers, my vision clearing, to see my mother…my mother alive? My mother died of cancer last year. She and I used to find abandoned houses together while I was growing up. I’m writing this book in her memory.
She’s standing in her kitchen, the marble countertops and white cupboards seem almost too white. Almost blinding. But nevertheless it was the same kitchen I grew up in, with all my fondest childhood memories.
I wrap my arms around myself, shivering from the cold. I’m too scared to turn away, too scared that she’ll disappear again. She leaves anyway. Walks out of the kitchen. Then the whole scene disintegrates, falling like ashes, piling up around my boots.
My throat closes, tears fall from my eyes. Oh no, not again. I feel like crumbling, it felt so real. Like she was alive again.
As the ashes hit the ground, the darkness surrounds me again. I take a step forward praying I get out of here soon. If I get out at all, that is. Before I can walk further, I’m blinded again. Terrified, knowing my fragile heart can’t take much more heartache. Another scene unfolds before my eyes.
I see myself this time. I’m with a strange man and a small child. Couldn’t have been any older than five. The man kisses me, and I notice a ring. One on each of our left hands. Maybe this is a vision of my future? With a beautiful girl and husband?
My heart leaps, my stomach drops as I hear a loud bang. Wishing I never stepped into this place, another man enters the scene.
The young girl cries, “Daddy!”
He demands she go to her room immediately. He turns towards my assumed husband and I.
“How could you?” His voice cracks, directing the question at the two of us-them.
Now confused about what’s actually happening, I feel myself grow slightly calmer at the distraction of my future life unfolding in the vision. The neverending ball of fear in my stomach refusing to let up, but my heart rate slowed a little.
“My wife and my best friend?” The girls father’s face wet with tears.
The girls father is my husband? Why am-
A gunshot interrupted my thoughts. Then another. The scene disintegrates.
The man- my husband- shot both my lover and future me. My panic returning full force, I start to hyperventilate. I don’t know what’s going on and I’m absolutely terrified. Wishing everything would just stop. Wishing I could just go home to my mom, but knowing that’s not possible. I’m blinded by tears. I drop to my knees, into the fallen ashes that are quickly disappearing.
Another light. Another scene. My sister this time, all bloody and broken. I remember that day. I was supposed to watch her but I turned my back, and she fell down a cliff. She never made it. And it was my fault. The scene disintegrates.
The pain in my chest is unbearable. My stomach is tightened in little knots, sobs wreaking havoc on my body. I’m screaming, begging, please make it stop but it doesn’t stop.
Another light.
*****************
“Time of death,” the doctor looks at the clock, “9:02am.”
The nurse copies down the time.
“What a shame, so many young women die too young due to car accidents. Where did her partner say she was headed? Govenlock? Isn’t that some abandoned town in the middle of nowhere?” the doctor questions.
The nurse mumbled some affirmation. The doctor paused, looking at the girl, so small, so frail, and wished her luck on her journey to the afterworld, and prayed
that she is in a better place.