A Haunted Foot Fetish

In the pleasant town of Greensville, there was an urban legend that all of its inhabitants seemed to know. An urban legend that spoke of the abandoned house in the foothills overlooking the quiet little town, and how no one could spend the night in it. If anyone dared to stay after the sun came down, their own personal nightmare would begin. Everyone in town knew of this.

But not visitors. Especially a group of five friends, all who were looking for a place to live over the summer. to get away from the hungry boys at the university and to have some peace and quiet while tanning, the girls moved into the area after seeing a certain mansion listed on Craigslist. Believing this to be the perfect getaway, the girls packed their bags with plenty of sunscreen and cute clothes and headed for their new summer home.

The girls pulled up into the driveway of the large mansion in their rented minivan. One by one, they filed out of the cramped vehicle, glad to finally be out and about. Natalie, the head of the pack, approached the house first.

“Wow! This house is bigger than I thought! This will be perfect for us!”

“But look how gross it is!” Marissa, the short one of the group blurted out. “It looks like a totally dump.”

The three other girls nodded in agreement. The house was in need of repair and several windows were broken. It appeared that no one had lived in the house for years.

“Come on girls!” Natalie pleaded. “It will take a bit of work, but we can have this place looking like Lauren Conrad’s place in no time!”

Natalie’s enthusiasm sparked a cheer from the other girls. That is, except Katy. The redhead continued to look over the dank, dark mansion, unsatisfied with the place now that she saw it.

“It looked better online,” she said. “I wonder who is selling a place like this?”
“That would be me, young lady.”

All five girls jumped in surprise and the sudden voice. They turned around and saw an old man standing behind them. He had an appearance of a gardener, with most of his clothes dirty and well worn. The old man’s hair was a ratty mess, tucked under a gray fedora.

Natalie was the first to speak up. “You must be Mr. Welkins, the owner of the estate. I’m Natalie, the girl you’ve been emailing this last two weeks.”

Mr. Welkins looked over the beautiful women, admiring her youthful body. Though Natalie was skinny as a rail, she had a decent figure and the old geezer was quite pleased at the sight.

“Oh no lovely, I don’t own the property, I just tend to the land around it,” Mr. Welkins said with a chuckle. “No one has lived here in a long time girly. I just thought it would make a suitable home for someone for the summer.”

“We would love to stay until school starts back up,” Alli, the group’s romantic, chimed in.
Like with Natalie, Mr. Welkins checked out the young woman. Alli was more curvy than her skinny friend, and her big brown eyes reigned an innocence that men craved. Looking at her made the old man’s heart jump for joy.

“Well, I’ve got the keys right here with me, if you’d like them.”

Mr. Welkins pulled out the keys and began to hand them to Alli. All of a sudden though, another hand swooped in and grabbed the keys.

“ME FIRST ME FIRST!” cried Jenny, the last member of the group. The obnoxious and cheerful girl took the keys and ran for the door, followed by Alli, Marissa and then Natalie after politely thanking the old man for the house and promising rent at the end of the week.

Katy, annoyed by her friend’s childish antics also began to head for the door. However, she couldn’t help but feel the eyes of the creepy old man behind her.

She turned around. “Thank you again for letting us stay here.”

Mr. Welkins gave her a toothy grin, one that sent a chill down Katy’s spine. “You’re shoes are quite lovely young lady.”

The random comment caught her by surprise. “My keds?” Katy looked down at her well worn shoes, a light green pair. “Thanks, I guess.”

“I’m sure someone as pretty as you has beautiful feet,” Mr. Welkins continued. “A pity you don’t show them like your friends do.”

With that, Mr. Welkins walked away, leaving a very confused Katy to ponder his comments. She had always had a certain hatred of feet, stemming from her youth. Her friends were indeed all wearing shoes that showed off their well pedicured feet, something which Katy didn't share with her roommates. Deciding not the concern herself with it, Katy walked into the house to join her friends.
The inside proved to be just as dusty, run down and creaky as the outside would suggest. Very little light made it hard to see.

“Marissa, could we put some candles out for some light?” Natalie politely asked her friend.

“I saved those for MY room!” Marisa pouted, but knew better to argue with Natalie. She pulled out the candles from her bag and put them in the first floor rooms. Creepy paintings seemingly were staring down from the walls, shadows danced across the floor, and every second there was a noise that sent one or all of the girls into a mini panic attack.

“We aren’t actually staying in here for the night?!” Jenny asked, the most scared of the group. “I think we should check into that motel in town.”

Alli nodded her head in agreement. “Yeah, at least until we get the power up again!”

Katy made a face at the two girls. “Oh come on you chickens! It’s just a little dark in here, that’s all,” she said. “Besides, we agreed to limit our budget over the summer so we aren’t broke.”

Marisa giggled. “Yeah, like Katy was after she used all her money at that strip club last month. You got drunk and spent how much on that one guy? $300? $500? Getting closer?!”

“Stop it! All of you!” Natalie demanded, and the giggling from Marisa, Alli and Jenny immediately ceased. “We are spending the night here, because we paid to be here. I’m sure the power will be back by tomorrow morning.”

From the corner of her eye, Natalie noticed a large fireplace in the spacious living room. Grabbing a candles, she walked inside, followed one by one by the other girls. There was fresh wood sitting inside the fireplace, and Natalie took a match and soon had a glowing fire started. Like magic, light engulfed the room, revealing it’s tranquil beauty. Expensive looking antiques and books lined the shelves, with paintings dotting the walls.

“Wow! Whoever lived here first had a lotta cash!” Jenny said, then pointed to a rather large painting in the center of the room. “Maybe it was this guy?”

The painting featured a lone man standing, looking to be in his late 20s, wearing a military uniform and giving off an aura of splendor and grace. He carried a scabbard in his left hand with his right hand tucked to the side. His face was serious, his short brown hair combed back and overall demeanor well kept

Alli, who was closest to the painting, was enamored the the beautiful painting. “He’s gorgeous,” she said breathlessly.

“Oh brother,” Katy said, knowing Alli’s romantic tendencies. Every movie night, Alli would be the one that would choose a romantic movie, her favorite being Titanic. Despite the ribbing from her girlfriends, especially Katy, Alli never ceased her love of romance. Ironically, in front of boys she turned shy and clumsy.

“At least we have some light in here,” Marisa said. “We have the rest of the house to look around though.”

“Dibs on the first room!” Jenny called. “The least scariest and the most well lit please!”
“Ok ladies, split up and find your rooms!” Natalie exclaimed. “Let’s get settled in before dark and then start up with the rest of the house tomorrow! Break!”

With that the 4 other girls sprinted off, with Jenny at the lead, to find the best rooms for themselves. Natalie herself had no preference, so she simply sat down and waited for the girls to have their rooms picked out.

“Just too easy,” she said out loud. “Now if we could just get that pow-”

Suddenly, the young woman felt a presence in the room and whipped out her chair. Her eyes darted across the room. Nobody was there.

“Hello?” she called out. “Is someone there?”

No answer came. Feeling very exposed to an unknown danger, Natalie sped off to join her friends in room hunting.