The Old Well From Hell

I've had this story in me for about 2 years now and for whatever reason I decided to write it out tonight. Been in a story telling mood I guess. This is a first draft so I'm sure it has a lot of cleaning up to do.



The Well From Hell

There's an old well that hasn't been used for ages. The stones used to build it have a strange carved pattern, worn away from the centuries but still visible. Under the right light you can almost make out hundreds of screaming faces in the stone. A large rusted iron plate covers the opening. At the center is what looks like a keyhole. One warm summer day two boys were wading through a small stream. The well was partly hidden behind large bushes but the curious children found it. They beat on the iron covering, tried to pry it off with large sticks that snapped in half at the effort. One noticed the large keyhole and stuck a variety of twigs in with no effect. They banged on the iron, hearing the faint echo of the bangs thundering down into the abyss below. Bored, they sat on the covering for a few minutes when a terrible howling came echoing up, causing the iron covering to vibrate from the noise. The boys, terrified of the sound, ran back to their homes. They stayed away from the well from then on.

A few weeks later one of the boys found a very strange thing in his backyard while digging in the dirt. It was a large ancient key with sculpted creatures decorating it. The head of the key resembled a monster with fangs protruding out. He ran to his friends house and showed him, both knowing what it was for. Although scared of the well from the sound they'd heard before, they couldn't resist their desire to find out what was inside. While walking down the shallow stream they talked about what they hoped to find, one boy thought of lost treasure, the other hoped for a passage to another world. It was getting late and they knew they'd catch Hell from their parents if they didn't show up for dinner. But neither cared, the endless possibilities of what was hidden inside that old well was too much to wait until the next day.

The sun was setting as they approached it. One boy with the key in hand ran towards the well while the other stood near, suddenly feeling a desire to turn and go home. The boy had to poke his finger into the keyhole to clear out the dirt and dust that had built up inside the opening. He leaned over the edge and pushed the key in, the sculpted monster head with fangs sliding into the hole. The boy turned the key with great effort, hearing a loud crack as it twisted around. They feared the key had broken but both shouted with excitement as the old rusty iron covering clanked open. The boys leaned into the dark opening trying to see inside. They were disappointed that glittering pirate gold or space aliens didn't appear inside. But a tiny light could be seen far below. They watched as it grew brighter and closer to the surface, the well began trembling and growing warm. The boys fell back from the opening of the abyss as it became hot to the touch. A ray of bright yellowish red light came pouring out like a search light into the darkening sky. Not knowing what to expect the boys crawled backwards from the well, anxious to see what would come out.

Then the sound of screams erupted from deep below, howls, squeels, laughter, strange shouts and groans, noises the boys suddenly became very afraid of. Then there was a deep grinding sound, like a giant bird was scraping its beak against the inside of the well from deep below screeching up with the bright fire colored light. Before the boys could turn to run, a vast array of horribly mutilated bodies flew into the sky alongside all manner of horrifying monsters. There were winged goblin creatures playing trumpets of terrible noise, horse shaped abominations with dragon tails ridden by armor plated devils. A giant flying thing resembling an owl with dozens of spider like eyes on its head flapped its wings skyward. A constant stream of endless varieties of nightmare life forms flew up into the sky. The boys hid behind the bushes, too scared to run away. Looking up, the boys saw the sky crowding with the dark shapes of all the things from inside the well, all of them flying higher and higher, their terrible noises like the crackling of thunder. So many came pouring out it started to resemble a storm cloud above, a plague of locusts rising.

There was an intense wind blowing as the stream of monsters from hell continued flying up. The children couldn't speak, they couldn't move or blink, frozen in terror and fascination. Then both were yanked into the air. It felt like an amusement park ride as they were pulled quickly into the sky. Far below they could make out the sparkling lights of the small cities below. They were both tangled in the sticky limbs of an octopus like thing with the head of a deformed pig and big black eyes dripping a black oozing blood. The last thing they thought before being torn to pieces was how fun it was to fly.