Strays: An Original Scary Story

Allan and Ted walked home from school the same way every day, right past the old Miller house with all the stray cats in the windows. No one knew for certain if anyone still lived there, but for as long as anyone could remember, the house just stood there in shambles, with the cats staring out over the long stretch of knee-high grass and through the wrought-iron fence that was bordered the overgrown yard.

Very seldom did the boys pass the Miller house after dark, but as luck would have it, after a costume party at a friends house ran late, the two boys found themselves in just such a situation.

As 9:00pm rolled around and the sun had just finished setting, Allan and Ted left the party and headed home. The Miller house loomed in the darkness in front of them as they came upon it that night, when a most peculiar sight caught Ted's eye.

"Did you see that?" he asked Allan, "Did you see the lights in the windows?"

"See what?" replied Allan, I didn't see anything."

Just then a flash went by the window, followed by another, and another. Then the unmistakable sound of giggling children cut through the night, right at the tail of the lights.

"Oh, I bet its Charlie and Billie hiding in the old house, trying to scare people," Ted proclaimed.

"Let's sneak up on them and try to scare them instead Ted," said Allan, "I bet being in that old house has them freaked out of their minds!"

Carefully sneaking through the front gate, Ted and Allan slithered across the overgrown yard and approached the side of the house and looked in. What they saw wasn't Charlie and Billie, but rather a group of about twenty kids running around playing hide and seek, appearing to have a great time doing so.

"Hey, let's go join them," Allan suggested, "We don't have school tomorrow and my mom isn't expecting me for another hour."

"I don't know," Ted stammered, tentatively pulling at his costume, "that house is awfully spooky and I don't know any of those kids."

But before he could finish, Allan was already climbing the stairs of the porch and pushing open the front door. Ted chased after his friend and barely made it to him as Allan disappeared into the house. Ted followed slowly and entered the house.

Just as he closed the door behind him, a young, red-haired boy ran around the corner and tagged Allan on the shoulder and said, "You're it," and scooted away. After just a slight glance, Ted and Allan dropped their things and took off after the boy with smiles on their faces. They ran around and around the house chasing after one another, running into all sorts of other children who were eager to join in for the game of tag. Eventually, the two boys separated as they became engrossed in the game and their new playground.

After what seemed like an eternity, Ted stopped to catch his breath. He had been lucky thus far to not yet be caught by any of the other children, but he was exhausted, which caused him to look at his watch, and a state of shock rose up in him. It was 11:30, and he was now over an hour late to get home; his parents were going to ground him for a week. He ran to the bottom of the stairs to the second floor and yelled up, "Allan, it's 11:30, we have to go now or we're going to get grounded."

There was no reply.

Ted became irate and stomped up the stairs, because he knew that he had seen Allan just a minute before pass him in the hallway and run into on of the bedrooms at the top of the stairs. When he reached the door, he stood there for a minute, and noticed for a second just how quiet it had gotten in the house, except for a low hum that seemed to be coming from the bedroom. Ted gathered himself and slowly pushed open the door.

What he saw next was just strange. Sitting in the middle of this big, empty bedroom was the entire group of kids. Some were even curled up on the floor, apparently exhausted from having run around so hard. Sitting right in the middle of the group, was Allan, with his back to the door, his back rising and falling heavily as he took in breath after breath.

Ted walked across the room and tapped Allan on the shoulders, and said, "let's go, we're going to be in big trouble." Allan turned to Ted silently, and as he did, Ted saw that his eyes had changed. They were now cat's eyes.

Ted screamed and bolted out of the room, down the stairs, and out the front door of the Miller house. He continued to run until he reached home, and immediately went to his room, never once stopping the screaming. Finally, his parents managed to calm him down by assuring him that Allan had likely just played a joke on him. Still, it was a long, sleepless night for Ted.

The next day, Ted went to school, but he walked alone. When he got there and the final bell rang, he noticed that Allan was still not there. After lunch, Ted was called to the principal's office and told that Allan had not come home that night. Ted told both the principal, and later the police, how he and Allan had been playing with some kids at the old Miller house until Allan had played a joke on Ted and he had run away screaming. They thanked him for his time and let him go home early.

After that night, no one ever saw poor Allan again, but every day on his walk home from school, Ted would pass the old Miller house. And every day the same cat would paw at the windows of the Miller house as Ted walked by. The same cat with blond hair. Just like Allan's.