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CHAPTER ONE
Mom had got to have the brake checked! This is the third time the old station wagon had screeched and halt and this is the third time I was awaken by the slamming of my forehead to the window. I didn't even bother to check for the damaged done. I continued my sleep, refusing to let her know how she had successfully bugged me. Call it ego, I don't care.
Unlike the last brake, she didn't continue driving. In fact, the engine had stopped. My nightmare is here. I can't believe it. I opened my eyes slowly and saw that we were parked out front of the house that I dread. Ben was standing there with a dorky smile on his face. I hate that man. He convinced mom to move to this place. And now Nick Carter is officially alone. Trapped in a house with two women for the rest of his pathetic life.
Mom was the first one to get out of the car followed by Lyssa. Ben went up to her eagerly perhaps hoping that mom would get his 30% commission ready for him. Even I don't understand Lyssa. She seemed to be laughing away by some stupid jokes Ben made. Hypocrite! Oh yes! That's the only word I can describe best about her now! I don't believe her. She was the first one to protest against moving out and now she's trying to build a bond with the guy who shattered our plans.
'Hey! Aren't you coming? Mom is calling for you!' Shouted Lyssa as she opened the door to take her bag. I hate being startled like that especially by Lyssa's irritating shrieking voice. Without looking at her, I stepped out of the car and slammed the door.
I almost dropped on my knees when I turned and saw the house.
From outside, it looked like any other house. It was beautiful, three-storey colonial-style residence, set on a well-kept lawn which sloped gently down to the garden. In the small middle-class community of Windsorville it was a showplace. I wonder how dad could fork out that bargain price of $80,000!
'So what do you think?' Asked Lisa from behind as she took all the bags and boxes on the grounds. She's all enthusiastic now!
'I don't know! Let's just wait and see how's the condition is like inside, who knows looks can be deceiving at times!' I left Lyssa behind without giving her a hand and walked towards mom.
Ben stopped talking the moment when he saw me walking towards my mom as though there were some secrets between them but who cares anyway!
'So Nick… what do you think of the house?' This is the second time I heard the same question and what else would they expect me to say except that I love this house?
'Yeap Nicky boy… what do you think of this house? Do you like it? Its one of the biggest house in this town built by one of the richest merchant in the early days… many would love to have this house so your mom is so lucky…' Nicky? Who in the hell he think he is to call me that? And what does he mean by looking at my mom like that? Is he trying to flirt with her? Oh puhleez! Stop stucking up to my mom! She's single but definitely not available. Dream on!
'Nick… Mr. Ben is asking you…' Mom had that look again on her face. The same one she wore when I pushed that idiotic neighbour's son back at Merseyside. And I was only five then. I can't believe that she's giving me that same look now.
'Looks fine to me!' I said coldly without looking at Ben. I knew that in one way or another he's kinda pissed off right now! But I don't care whether he's gonna pissed off or not coz one thing that I know, if there's another way for me to convince my mom to go back to Merseyside, I'm sure as hell gonna do it!
'Well you'll like it eventually young man! This place is so calm and so peaceful-''
'But don't you think it's kinda isolated in here? I mean, how are we going to get help in case anything emergency crops up? Don't you think we would be lying dead cold while waiting for help and one more… I think the whole place is kinda eerie right mom? You think its safe enough for us to stay here?' That's a smart move Nick! Now, he's definitely going to be speechless with the fact that its true the place seemed to be isolated. Anyway, let's see what he's going to say.
'That's true Ben… I mean I would have to agree with my son for that.' I carved an evil smile at Ben who obviously had to try harder to convince my mom into staying there.
'Not to worry Mrs. Carter… everything will be just fine… even though its pretty far from the main town, still we don't have any problem with the communication line… and the crime rate is very low here-''
'Low crime doesn't mean no crime right? Mom… I think we really need to think twice about moving in here.' Ben looked irritated but who cares!
'Nick its rude to interrupt like that! Apologise to Mr. Ben now!' Apologise? Me? Hell no!
'But mom-''
'No more buts! Apologise to him now!' That's it! I've had enough! I am leaving tonight whether she likes it or not, I'm leaving for Merseyside tonight. Instead of apologising to Ben, I stormed out and walked towards the battered wagon. I saw Lyssa walked unsteadily with bags full on her hands.
'Hey! Aren't you going to help me or what?' Asked Lyssa as I passed her by.
Screw her! I'm not helping. It's not my idea to move anyway. Now, where's that Rolling Stone magazine?
* * *
I ignored her pleas for help and walked straight to the wagon. I couldn't care less for anything else. The only thing on my mind is to run away from there.
Forever.
I took out the Rolling Stone magazine I bought earlier from my bag and flipped to page 23 where I've made a mark earlier on. I was so engrossed reading about my favourite band System of a Down that I was startled by someone tapping me hard on the shoulders.
'Nick!' Shouted Alyssa from behind. The magazine dropped from my hands.
'Do you have to do that all the time?' I raised my voice at Alyssa as I bent over to pick my magazine up from the ground.
'Why not? That's for ignoring me just now! Anyway its kinda fun to see you scared! You should have seen your face just now!' Laughed Alyssa hysterically. I would have slapped that very cheeks if its not for her irritating complaints to my mom.
'Yeah… you should have seen your face just now! Ha! Ha! Ha!' I tried to imitate her high pitch squeaking voice.
'Oh poor Nick! He's such a scaredy cat! Nicky's such a scaredy cat! Nicky's such a scaredy cat!' Chanted Alyssa as she laughed. She definitely knew how to push my buttons. I hate people calling me Nicky and Ben was lucky that I did not blow my top when he called me that just now.
'Oh really? Then I guess you must be enjoying yourself going to such creepy places huh? Guess I'll just have to keep my mouth shut then since you're brave enough to stay here… you're not gonna be interested in what I have to tell anyway!' My voices strained that tone of laziness as I continued to read the magazine.
'What? Ghost stories? You have ghost stories? Come on Nick! Tell me about it will ya? Tell me now!' Insisted Alyssa as she kept pulling my sleeves.
'Uh-uh!' I shook my head and rested all my concentration on the magazine. Deep in my heart I was laughing hard that I could imagine myself rolling on the ground laughing hysterically. Stop Nick! Don't give away the game! Alyssa stared at me as she always did whenever I kept any secrets from her. She wanna stare at me so be it then! I knew her weak points and that is her wild imagination.
She simply loves making the world more interesting, more exciting and scarier than the way it already is. Sometimes I really wonder how she could cope herself with those ideas that she got from watching crime shows, ghost stories and other suspense movie shows on TV. Not that mom didn't monitor her viewing, just like me, we often sneak into such programmes when mom isn't around.
'Oh come on Nick! Please! Tell me will ya! Nick?' I looked up at her and raised my eyebrows. Oh she's begging me now and the best part is yet to come!
'Nick! Tell me, come on!'
'Fine! Fine! Just stop bugging me already! Its irritating enough with your stupid joke just now!' I said as I stuff my magazine inside my backpack.
'Well?' Asked Lyssa.
Now is payback time buddy, get her and kill her with your story!
'Nick?' My deep thoughts shattered into tiny pieces the moment when Lyssa called out my name.
'Do you know anything about this house?' I asked seriously as I pointed to our so-called new home.
'Eeemmmm…. Nope!'
'Nothing at all?' Asked me again as I creased my forehead with thousand of lines as though I was expecting something more than just 'Nope'.
'No alright! Now tell me what's wrong with this house?' Alyssa was getting impatient with my little game of questionnaire.
'I heard that someone died in this house and his soul is trapped in here… right here inside this house…' At first I realised that Alyssa was bargaining within herself to trust me or not. Afterall there were a few occasions where I started to bombard her with nothing but plain white lies about ghosts. Somehow this time, she looked so convinced or maybe something about that house convinced her to trust me about my new ghost tale.
There were a few minutes of silence as we both turned and looked around. I had to admit that I started to curse myself for creating such a tale in such a situation. Then I realised why she had to believe me. It was the bared atmosphere. How in hell did I get that story from did not seem to cross her mind at all and thus I guess its gonna make my story more interesting.
'So what happen to him? How did he die? Was he sick or what?' This is just another character of her which I hate to comment. Its just typical of her to ask questions, I mean stupid questions which she can just hold on to for a few minutes before I begin my story. Impatient! Just like mom, too impatient to wait for me to graduate from high school before coming to this stinky place. At least by the time I graduate, I would have a little say in making the decision of moving out.
'Nick? I'm asking you how did he die? Was he sick or what?' She's repeating her questions again. Come on, its not as though I am deaf or something!
'Can't you just give me one minute to explain a few points here?' I said sarcastically and she nodded her head in enthusiasm. 'Good then… it happened in the early 1800s where this place was known for its tin mines. Many merchant came to trade or even invest in those companies that operate tin mines here but there's only one man who handled things well and that was Mr. Bismark. He was the richest in the town and initially he bought almost all the tin mines in this town and provide a lot of job opportunities for the local residents… he has a son and a daughter with a lovely wife. Both his son and daughter would inherit whatever wealth that he had and whatever estates that he owned until one day his family was cursed…' Then I paused. My hairs started to stand up right to the end and my blood seemed to be clotting inside my body. Maybe I was just plain nervous afterall, such place do gives anyone a creepy feelings despite of its well-interior designed.
'Then what happen to the family?' Asked Lyssa again.
Come on Nick, you have narrate the story well, now let's go for the killer!
'Then what happen to the family?' Repeated Lyssa as we started to walk slowly towards the house.
'Well… being cursed what would you expect? A party? Of course the whole family was mourning. Ever since their daughter got a spell on her, almost everyday she would cry and groan in pain… whenever she sees her family or whenever they tried to be closed to her, she started screaming in pain… they called numerous priests and uncountable Fathers to get their daughter well… none of them were actually succeed in healing her or break the spell-''
'Then what did they do? Don't tell me they killed her?' Interrupted Lyssa.
'One more interruption from you and I'm not gonna tell you!'
'Fine then! So what happen next?' I gave her an icy stare. 'Sorry but I just can't help it!' Continued Lyssa.
'Then one day they called a Father home and from one look on their daughter he knew that the spell can't be broken unless she managed to find someone with the same date of birth, with the same features and worst still with the same name… everything has to be completely the same and since at that time they could not find her twins so the only way out is to leave her in that house alone… that was the best solution that they could do because they won't hurt her anymore… but as time passed by she began to realise that she was afterall alone in that house, no one was there not even her brother… she waited for them for ages until she didn't realise that she's already dead-''
'Dead? She's dead?'
'Yes she's all dead and for years she has been searching for the one to replace her soul inside the house-''
'So did she find it?' Asked Lyssa again.
'Of course not! She's still searching for it everyday and who knows she is looking at us now and then she found out that you might be the lucky one!' My voice sounded pretty cruel there but I like. The way I snide at her definitely gave her goosebumps as she turned and looked around us. She would pull my sleeves the moment when she saw the leaves or the branches started to move.
'Stop it Nick! You're scaring me!' Protested Lyssa as she turned around to look at the house. 'How could there be ghosts in such a lovely house? He must have been trying too hard to scare me! But in ghost stories, such house are prone to have more ghosts than any other places and this place is not an exception.' She muttered as she continued to study the house. I overheard it quite well from afar.
'Hey Pumpkin! Be careful! You may never know if there's really someone plunging on you! But on second thought! They may not want to do that but still you had better be careful out here! You may never know when-'
'Shut up Nick! Shut up alright! Just get your ass out of here!' Man, she sounded nutty serious now. Still, I can't believe that Lyssa actually believe that story. What can I say, she's just being a dimwit I guess!
Nick, control yourself and finish off with a sweet revenge.
'Oh don't tell me now that you're scared huh?' Jested me as I laughed.
'Stop it alright!' Shouted Lyssa as she grunted to swallow her saliva.
'You could be the lucky one Alyssa… maybe you are the lucky one-''
'If you don't stop it I'm gonna tell mom about this!' Cried Lyssa.
I stopped at the stairs and turned sharply at her.
'Give me a break will ya! What are you going to tell mom? About this so-called ghost story? Spare yourself from the embarrassment Lyssa! No one is going to believe you!'
'Why not? You said that the house is haunted so we'll just tell mom that this house is damn haunted!' I can see fear on her face. Fancy reading and watching ghost stories but in the end, she's scaring herself more than anything could do to her.
Great Nick, now is the perfect time to drop the bomb!
'Because I made it up dimwit! Didn't mom tell you that having too much wild imagination is bad for your mentality!' I said as I continued laughing.
'You made up the story? So… everything about the tin mines and the spell are plain bullshit?'
'Well… I told you ghost stories are meant for small kids and you insisted on listening to it! So don't blame me!'
'I'm gonna get you for this!' Lyssa grinned in anger as she throw a small stone at me. The way I looked at her simply put the words together such as, 'Serves you right for startling me like that!'..
Just as Alyssa was about to get the rest of the bags, she saw a shadow next to her.
'You could be the lucky one Alyssa… maybe you are the lucky one!' Alyssa remembered those words from Nick and it kept playing on her mind. The thought of seeing an ugly creature standing right behind her. Those long sharp fangs with red blood dripping down the ground as it waited for a moment to plunge on her.
Alyssa was still entertaining to her wild thoughts when she felt something hard reached for her shoulders. She had no choice, the fingernails were extremely sharp as it pulled her stomach back.
'You could be the lucky one Alyssa… maybe you are the lucky one!'
'Mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' Chapter 2
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