The Farmhouse
Spooky Flash Fiction
29th July 2000
“Come on guys, it’s over here somewhere,” Barry calls.
Barry and his friends are looking for the infamous farmhouse. There are rumours that experiments are performed on people against their will inside it. The most prominent stories surround a man who has is so severely disfigured that he resembles a monkey.
The tarmac resembles amber resin due to the gruelling heat of summer. The boys are getting tired, but they push on further into the forest. Barry is carrying his father’s Polaroid camera in his right hand. Jimmy is the farthest back from the group, with his hands in his pockets, fiddling with a sweet wrapper.
“Barry, let’s go home. If the rumours are true, nothing is going happen in the daylight,” Jimmy pleads.
“Jimmy, if you’re too chicken to find out what’s going on, then you can take Charlie with you. I’m staying put.”
Jimmy looks to Charlie, who shrugs his shoulders.
“Fine, we’ll stay,” Jimmy says.
They soon spot a decrepit tower and decide to get closer to it. It looks like a flask. Barry twists the object, and some photographs fall out. Looking closely at the photos, Barry sees the monkey man.
“Look! It’s that man,” Barry yells in excitement.
Jimmy and Charlie take the photo from Barry to take a look.
“So, it is real? Barry, what else is in the flask?” Charlie asks.
Charlie turns the photo over and spots something.
“There is a date! The 29th July 1990. That is exactly ten years ago,” Jimmy reveals.
Suddenly, they hear a rustling and a twig snapping.
“What’s that?!” Jimmy shouts.
“Shh,” Barry instructs, putting his finger to his lips.
A shadow emerges from the undergrowth, revealing the monkey man. He is wearing a cardigan and appears to have a comb-over hairstyle.
“Stay back! Stay the fuck back!” Barry cries.
Barry fumbles with his camera and takes a photo of the man who remains as still as a statue. The picture emerges from the slot.
“A pen, I need a pen!”
Jimmy and Charlie search the flask for a pen, and they find a pencil. Barry writes down the current date on the back of the newly developed photo.
“Quick, Jimmy! Put it in the flask, and let’s go!”
Jimmy rushes to the flask and puts everything back inside, including their photo. The boys flee, leaving the monkey man to shrink back into the shadows.
29th July 2010
“Miss Josie, is it true what my brother says about the monkey man?” Lucy questions.
“No, sweetheart, he’s just trying to scare you.”
Josie knew that this was not true. It was exactly ten years ago that they found the mutilated bodies of three young boys. One of the boys held a crushed camera in his hand. The news made headlines worldwide, and the government tried to silence anyone who had information.
The rumours are that the government were behind the farmhouse experiments. Josie was twenty years old when they found the bodies. She saw them bring them out of the farmhouse. Since that day, she hasn’t eaten meat.