We went back to the house. When we got there their bags were packed neatly and sat on the first step. Justin stayed behind to put the bags in the Expedition as the rest of us stepped inside the house. Joey’s hand clasped tightly around mine as we moved closer to the broken chandelier.
We stood awestruck over the chandelier. They were here when we left. What happened to them? Where did they go?
“I thought you said they died,” J.C. looked at Joey and I.
“They did…or I mean…they are. They were when we left, I swear,” Joey answered.
“Then why aren’t they here?” J.C. asked.
“I don’t know.”
J.C. was right, nobody was under the chandelier. No blood on the floor, not even on the shattered crystal that lay sparsly throughout the Ballroom. No blood, no body. I was confused. I saw my parents die. I saw their blood, their horrid bodies under the chandelier. One moment I saw them die, another I saw their ripped off faces, then in a moment they’re not there. Could’ve the ghosts cleaned the blood and done something with the bodies? They couldn’t have, we were only gone for a few minutes.
“Tabitha, you came back. See Dorothy, I told you she would.”
I left my gaze from the crystal to look at my father who stood perfectly calm on the first landing. No blood, no scratches, no messed up face just dad. Dad now wore old fashioned cloths. Brown overalls and a white shirt under it. His blonde hair was pulled back in a small low ponytail.
Mom stood beside him smiling. A fan in one hand, the other was placed gently on her light blue dress. The dress was full at the bottom.
My mouth dropped open. “Mom, dad. I thought you were…”
“Dead?” mom finished my sentence. “Oh, we are. We have been for 275 years, sweetie.”
Joey squeezed my hand tighter as they slowly started to descend from the landing. They smiled knowing the truth was a out to come out.
“You are the ones that want to kill us? Why?” J.C. asked.
“Well we haven’t killed anybody for so long and we started to miss it. This house is full of people we killed over the years. We decided we wanted some new ones to humor us. But first we wanted to scare you,” mom told us. “So we contacted you guys.”
“We came her because we wanted to though,” Lance reminded them.
“That’s where you are wrong,” dad pointed out. “Who told you about this place, Lance? A fan, a boy, a blonde haired boy, maybe?” dad questioned. “Did he look like this?”
We gasped in shock as Walter shrunk into a blonde haired boy with a white ‘N Sync shirt on. “Oh my gosh you’re Lance Bass from ‘N Sync will you please autograph my shirt?” Lance grew pale as Walter turned back into a man.
Walter continued on. “I told you my name was Walter and said I lived in a big mansion. I even asked if you cold come visit me. Do you know what you said, Lance?” Lance nodded slowly.
Chris looked at him. “What did you say?”
Walter answered the question. “Maybe if we get a long break like a month or something. Am I right Lance?” Lance nodded again.
“Why did you do that?” Joey asked.
“It was a fan. I wanted our fans to be happy.”
“Awww…isn’t that sweet,” Walter said.
I looked around before settling on mom. “Then who am I?”
Dorothy smiled. “Ever hear of kidnapped? We took you from your home when you were just 1.”
I shook my head trying not to let the tears fall that were threatening. Covering my nose and mouth with my hands I started moving away from them. Dorothy continued on. “Your parents mourned for you for years. We got tired of it so we cut the brakes on their car.”
Tears started to pour from my eyes. Why is this happening to me now? This couldn’t be true.
Walter read my thoughts. “It is my darling. Our plan didn’t work out the way we planned it though. You became friends with these boys. You started helping them understand us. When you started loving Joey we tried to undo the doing.”
Joey spoke up from holding me. “You are the one that made me call her those names in that room.”
Walter nodded. “You’re right. When we figured out later that Tabitha really loved you. We knew we had to kill her, too.”
Joey held me closer to himself. “Oh that won’t help Joey. You can’t save her again. Netherless yourself. You all are going to die,” Walter paused a second, “tonight.”
We turned and ran fro the door only to be stopped by Dorothy smiling at us from the doorframe. She waked toward us making us walk backwards. Walter counted us and thought for a moment then smiled. “Oh we are missing one. He should be coming through that door right about…now.”
Justin burst through the door a second later. “You guys…” We all yelled for him to turn and run. After he understood what we were saying it was too late the doors were closed and blocked by the half faced lady.
copyright © 2001 AngelH