Ding-Dong Ditch

Ding-Dong Ditch. It's just a fun game, right? Well, fun for the people playing it anyway, not so fun for the ones on the receiving end but who really cares about them, right?

Still as it turns out, it's not always fun for the ones playing it either. My friends and I don't do it anymore. Not after what happened the last time. I'm not really supposed to talk about it; they said people will think I'm crazy but, I think I might go crazy if I don't tell someone.

Sometimes you just have to. Just to get it off your chest. Even if it's not always a good idea.

It was just a normal summer day. We hung out and after a few hours, we got bored. Mark decided it would be a good idea to play Ding Dong Ditch at The Witch House. The house is old and crumbling and the yard is an overgrown wasteland. The whole property is the biggest eyesore in the neighborhood. It looks like it should be condemned but this old lady has lived there for years.

Last week Mark accidentally threw his ball in her yard and went to go get it. The old lady came out screaming and threw a can of corn right at his head. It barely missed him. He didn't get his ball back, either.

Anyway, he figured this would be the perfect revenge. Just some harmless fun to get back at her for almost killing him. Normally we would never go near the place but, special circumstances so, we agreed and made our way there. Neither Kyle or myself wanted to go to the door so Mark went alone. Of course, he made sure to call us chickens but we didn't really care. That lady was crazy.

So, Mark goes for the bell and pushes it. Nothing. We figure, maybe it doesn't work so Mark knocks and then runs to hide behind the overgrown hedges with us. We watch through the leaves, nothing.

'Time to go.' I told Mark hoping that would be the end of it.

Mark shook his head. 'No way. She probably didn't hear me.' Then he takes off back to the door. He raises his hand and this time, the door opens. There's nobody there. Mark just stands there and the all of a sudden, he walks right in. It's dark inside and from where we are we can't see him anymore so we start to get worried. I leave our hiding spot and go up the pathway motioning for Kyle to follow me.

'Mark?' I call.

No answer. I stick my head in the door and try again. Still nothing. The whole house is quiet. It's eerie.

I don't like this and judging by Kyle, neither does he but we can't just leave Mark here alone, so we both step inside. It's cold. Almost like there's an a/c going full blast. There's a little table near the wall next to the staircase. It looks like it hasn't been dusted in years but there's one spot where it looks like someone ran their finger through it really recently. Kyle and I look at each other.

'You don't think he...?'

I finish the sentence for him 'He went upstairs? Yeah. I do.'

We hear a noise coming from upstairs, like something being knocked over and after a little hesitation we head up towards the sound. On the second floor, we still see no sign of Mark at first but we can hear what sounds like an old music box playing softly. So we head towards it thinking he's messing around with it. It's too dark to see very far and the switch doesn't seem to work and we make our way almost blind.

Mark is standing flat against a wall, a look of pure panic on his face. When he sees us he shakes his head frantically. We can see a light on in the room and wonder what has him so spooked. Turns out, the old woman isn't a witch after all. I'm not really sure what she is but that transparent thing with a purple glow was definitely not human.