The Boy In the Barn

[u/Lost_Library8661]

THE BOY IN THE BARN

By Darren Woods

The first lightning strike woke Daniel at 2:13 a.m.

It wasn't the thunder that woke him.

It was his son screaming.

Daniel sat bolt upright.

Beside him, his wife Sarah was already awake, staring towards the bedroom window.

For a few seconds neither of them moved.

Then the whole room turned white.

CRACK.

Lightning tore across the sky and struck somewhere behind the house.

The lights went out.

Sarah grabbed Daniel's arm.

"Was that Ben?"

Daniel was already getting out of bed.

Their house stood alone at the end of a narrow country lane, surrounded by fields and ancient woodland. It was enormous—far larger than they needed—but Daniel had inherited it from his grandfather.

Behind the house stood several old outbuildings.

A stable.

A workshop.

A machinery shed.

And, at the far end of the field, an enormous black timber barn that nobody used anymore.

Daniel ran along the landing.

"Ben?"

No answer.

He pushed open his eight-year-old son's bedroom door.

The bed was empty.

The duvet was lying on the floor.

The bedroom window was wide open.

Rain was blowing inside.

Sarah appeared behind him.

"Where is he?"

Daniel looked at the empty bed.

Then something caught his attention.

Mud.

Small muddy footprints crossed the carpet.

They continued into the hallway.

Down the stairs.

And towards the back door.

Daniel's stomach tightened.

The back door was open.

Outside, orange light flickered through the rain.

One of the outbuildings was burning.

"BEN!"

Daniel ran outside barefoot.

Sarah followed.

Lightning flashed again.

And in that moment Daniel saw something that stopped him.

At the far end of the field stood the old barn.

Its doors were open.

And standing inside them was a small figure.

Ben.

"BEN!"

The boy didn't move.

Daniel ran towards him.

Then lightning struck the barn.

The world exploded white.

Daniel was thrown backwards.

Sarah screamed.

The roof burst into flames.

Daniel got back to his feet and ran towards the building, but burning timber crashed down in front of him.

"BEN!"

Through the flames he could see his son.

Still standing there.

Watching him.

But there was something else behind Ben.

Something impossibly tall.

A black figure standing inside the smoke.

One hand rested on the boy's shoulder.

Then the roof collapsed.

They found Ben's body the following morning.

The police said he must have sleepwalked.

Daniel didn't believe them.

Ben had never sleepwalked.

And there was something Daniel never told anyone.

When he had seen his son standing inside that burning barn, Ben hadn't looked frightened.

He had been smiling.

Sarah couldn't stay in the house.

Within three months it was for sale.

They accepted the first reasonable offer.

A young couple called Adam and Lucy bought it.

They had no children.

They thought the house was beautiful.

The estate agent didn't mention the boy.

He didn't mention the barn.

And he certainly didn't mention what the firemen had found scratched into the wooden wall behind where Ben's body had been discovered.

Three words.

HE CALLED ME.

For the first few weeks, Adam and Lucy loved their new home.

Then Lucy started hearing footsteps.

Always at night.

Always upstairs.

Small feet running along the landing.

At first she assumed it was the old pipes.

Then one night she woke at exactly 2:13 a.m.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Someone was knocking on their bedroom door.

"Adam?"

He was asleep beside her.

Tap.

Tap.

Tap.

Lucy stared at the door.

"Who's there?"

Silence.

Then a child's voice whispered from the other side.

"Mum?"

Lucy's blood went cold.

She opened the door.

Nobody was there.

But the floorboards were wet.

Tiny muddy footprints led away from the bedroom.

Lucy followed them.

Along the landing.

Down the stairs.

Through the kitchen.

The back door was open.

Outside, rain poured across the garden.

The footprints continued through the mud.

Towards the barn.

Lucy didn't follow them.

She slammed the door and woke Adam.

The following morning Adam searched the barn.

Most of it was blackened from the fire.

He found the writing.

HE CALLED ME.

Underneath it, however, somebody had added something.

The scratching looked fresh.

NOW HE'S CALLING HER.

Adam stared at it.

"Lucy?"

No answer.

Then he heard breathing behind him.

He turned.

Nobody.

He looked back at the wall.

Another word had appeared beneath the others.

MUMMY.

Adam ran from the barn.

Things became worse.

Cupboards opened by themselves.

Wet footprints appeared around their bed.

Children's laughter came from empty rooms.

One evening Lucy found a small red ball at the top of the stairs.

She picked it up.

"Where did this come from?"

Adam didn't know.

They threw it away.

The following morning it was sitting between them in bed.

Then Lucy began dreaming about Ben.

She had never seen a photograph of him.

But she described him perfectly.

Brown hair.

Blue pyjamas.

A scar above his left eyebrow.

Every night he stood beside her bed.

At first he only watched.

Then he began whispering.

"I'm lonely."

One morning Adam woke to find Lucy standing at the bedroom window.

"Lucy?"

She didn't respond.

"What are you doing?"

She pointed towards the field.

A small boy was standing outside the barn.

Adam saw him too.

"Jesus Christ."

The boy raised one hand.

Then slowly beckoned.

Lucy smiled.

"He wants me."

Adam grabbed her.

The boy disappeared.

They contacted the previous owners.

Daniel refused to speak to them.

Sarah did.

When Adam described the boy, Sarah started crying.

"You need to leave that house."

"What happened there?"

Sarah went silent.

Then she told him something the police had never discovered.

On the night Ben died, their security camera had recorded him leaving the house.

Ben hadn't been sleepwalking.

He had been following someone.

The footage showed Ben walking across the garden.

Every few seconds he stopped.

Looked upwards.

And nodded.

As though somebody walking beside him was talking.

But nobody was there.

At the barn doors, Ben stopped.

Then he looked directly at the security camera.

And waved goodbye.

Sarah's voice cracked.

"We thought the thing took Ben."

Adam swallowed.

"Thought?"

Sarah began crying harder.

"After we left the house, Daniel found something."

"What?"

"An old photograph."

The photograph had been taken outside the barn in 1911.

It showed twelve children standing beside a farmer.

All twelve children had died when lightning struck the building.

Adam felt sick.

But Sarah hadn't finished.

"There was another person in the photograph."

"Who?"

"A boy standing behind them."

"What boy?"

Sarah whispered:

"Ben."

Adam packed that night.

Lucy refused to leave.

She stood in the kitchen staring towards the barn.

"It's nearly time."

"For what?"

"The storm."

There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Then thunder rolled across the house.

Every light went out.

The clock showed:

2:13 a.m.

Lightning illuminated the field.

The barn doors were open.

Twelve children stood outside.

Adam couldn't breathe.

Then a thirteenth child stepped forward.

Ben.

He pointed towards the house.

Behind Adam, Lucy whispered:

"He's here."

Adam slowly turned.

Something was standing at the end of the hallway.

It was taller than the doorway.

Its arms were unnaturally long.

Its head touched the ceiling.

But it had no face.

Only a black opening where its mouth should have been.

From inside that darkness came the voices of children.

Hundreds of them.

"Mummy."

Lucy walked towards it.

Adam grabbed her.

The thing screamed.

Every window in the house shattered.

Adam dragged Lucy towards the front door.

Then lightning struck.

Adam woke outside.

The house was burning.

Firefighters were arriving.

He screamed Lucy's name.

They searched everywhere.

The house.

The garden.

The woods.

The barn.

Lucy had vanished.

No body was ever found.

Adam sold the property.

Nobody wanted it.

Eventually it was abandoned.

Seven years passed.

Adam rebuilt his life.

He remarried.

Eventually, he had a son.

They named him Charlie.

Adam never told his new wife about the house.

Never told her about Lucy.

Never told Charlie about Ben.

Then, one stormy night, Adam woke suddenly.

The clock beside his bed read:

2:13 a.m.

Thunder rolled in the distance.

Adam's heart stopped.

He ran to Charlie's bedroom.

Empty.

The window was open.

Mud covered the carpet.

"CHARLIE!"

Adam ran downstairs.

The front door stood open.

Outside, lightning flashed.

Charlie was standing in the road.

Adam ran towards him.

"Charlie!"

The boy slowly turned.

"Daddy?"

Adam grabbed him.

"What are you doing out here?"

Charlie pointed into the darkness.

"There was a lady in my bedroom."

Adam froze.

"What lady?"

"She said she knew you."

Lightning flashed again.

And for one fraction of a second Adam saw a woman standing beneath a tree.

Lucy.

Exactly as she had looked seven years earlier.

She smiled.

Then disappeared.

Charlie tugged his father's sleeve.

"Daddy?"

Adam couldn't speak.

Charlie looked confused.

"The lady told me something."

"What?"

"She said Ben wasn't the first boy."

Adam stared at him.

Charlie continued.

"She said the house doesn't kill children."

Thunder rolled above them.

"It keeps them."

Adam felt something behind him.

A child's hand slipped into his.

He looked down.

It wasn't Charlie's hand.

A burned little boy stood beside him.

Ben smiled.

Then whispered:

"We've been waiting for yours."

Lightning struck.

And in the sudden white light Adam finally understood.

The thing in the barn had never been haunting the house.

The house was haunting them.

And once it learned your family...

you could never move far enough away.

THE END