Chapter Two
The Haunted Mansion
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The next day, around 5 PM, all thirteen of them stood outside the doors of the huge,
four story mansion. It had large oak looking doors with a lot of weird designs on
them and a door knock in the center of them. They had their bags slung over
their shoulders so they could spend the night there.
“AJ, you sure this woman knows we’re coming here?” Kevin asked for like the
tenth time.
“Damnit Kevin! What did I say before?! Yes, she knows!!” AJ sounded
exasperated.
“You mean, someone actually lives here?” Emily said, shocked. “Ugh....how could
you live in this place?”
“So...umm...whose gonna knock?” Teri said timidly.
“I will!” Nick said, jumping forward. Before the others could protest, he put his
hand on the door knock and slammed it, hard. You could hear it echo through
the whole house.
“Wow, could you be a little louder?” Howie said sarcastically.
Nick gave him a look and Justin snickered behind JC’s back.
They waited anxiously for this woman to answer the door. They started to hear
footsteps coming towards the door. The next thing they knew, the door was
being pulled open. A very old looking women stood in the doorway. Teri jumped
when she saw her and hid behind Brian. Emily grabbed on to the first person she
saw, who was Lance, almost gripping his arm to death. Nick backed up a little
bit because he had been standing so close to the door.
“Hello, “she said in a soft voice, “can I help you?”
“Umm....uhh...” Nick stuttered.
AJ shoved him out of the way. “Hi, my name is AJ. I talked to you on the phone
yesterday.”
The woman gave him an odd sort of smile. “Ah yes, I know who you are now.
Are these the friends you were talking about? The ones you’re planning on doing
this dare with?”
“Yeah, they are. Umm...can we come in?” AJ asked a little impatiently.
“Oh yes! Sorry, come right on in. My name is Ms. Calhoun, by the way.” She
swung the door open wider to let them all through.
They all stepped in slowly, being cautious. The walked into the huge entrance
hall of the mansion. To there right they could see a living room and to the left
was a dining room. Straight ahead of them was a large staircase that curved up
to the second floor. You could see another staircase up on the second floor that
obviously went to the third floor. The place looked like it hadn’t been dusted in
years. Cobwebs were hanging everywhere and the place smelled a little musty.
The Ms. Calhoun slammed the door behind them, making them all jump. “Well,
there certainly is a lot of you. Don’t worry, I don’t mind. No one has been to my
place in years. It’s kind of nice to finally have some company.”
Laura leaned over and whispered in Teri’s ear. “I dunno how she stands being in
here all alone. I’d be freakin’ out!”
Teri nodded, totally agreeing. This place gave her the creeps, which was why she
was sticking so close to the others, afraid something would jump out and drag
her away.
“Umm...is there a place for us to sleep?” Joey asked Ms. Calhoun.
“Oh yes! Let me lead you up there. You will all be sleeping on the second floor.
Right this way.” She grabbed a candle on the table next to her and started
leading them up the staircase.
They all looked at each other nervously before following her upstairs. When they
got up there she led them to the first hallway but they also noticed three other
hallways that led out deeper into the house. They weren’t very well lit so you
couldn’t see very far down them.
“I wouldn’t recommend going down those other halls,” she said suddenly, “they
aren’t well lit and can get a little creepy. I haven’t been down them in years.”
Chris spoke up all of a sudden, “Is this place haunted like they say it is?”
Emily gave him a hard nudge to get him to shut up but Ms. Calhoun started
laughing. It was a weird laugh and made them all shiver.
“Haunted? I wouldn’t call it haunted. It’s like any other house with it’s weird
noises but haunted? Nah. Ok, now, here are the rooms.”
“Told ya it wasn’t haunted!” Chris said proudly to the others.
Teri made a face, still believing the place was as other people said, haunted.
They walked into the hallway, which was lit with a ton of candles on the wall.
Many doors stood on either side of the hall and they could see the hallway curve
out of sight a little ways down.
“Ok, before I let you go to the rooms, dinner is at 8 if any of you care to come
down. I must get downstairs now. Make yourselves comfortable.” With that she
turned and went downstairs.
They all stood in silence for a few minutes after she left until JC spoke up. “Come
on guys, let’s head in the rooms, it’s getting creepy out here.”
“Aww...is little JC scared?” Chris taunted him in a little kid’s voice.
“Shut up dude, I just wanna get outta the hall.”
“Ok, ok, calm down you two,” Kevin said. “Let’s see, how we gonna set the
rooms up?”
“I say we have two to a room and then let the three girls take a room together,”
Lance suggested.
“Yeah, that works,” Laura said.
They then decided who they wanted to bunk with for the night. AJ and Justin
decided to stay in the first room on the right. Kevin and Howie would be across
the hall from them. Lance and Joey would be next to Justin and AJ on the right
and Chris and JC would be next to Howie and Kevin. Teri, Emily, Laura would be
the third door on the right with Brian and Nick across from them.
They all went into their rooms. Teri opened the door to her, Laura, and Emily’s
room cautiously, not sure what she would find in there. Inside the room were
two beds with a canopy over each one. A dresser with a mirror was across from
the beds. A nightstand was between the two beds. There wasn’t much light in
the room, only a couple candles. Cobwebs hung everywhere and dust lay thickly
on the floor and dresser.
“Yuck, how the hell am I suppose to sleep in that?” Emily said, “I’m probably
gonna find a rat or something under the covers!”
“Ughh...I so want outta here,” Teri said, hating the place more and more with
each minute. “I’m gonna kill AJ once we get out of the is place tomorrow. He’s
not gonna have to worry about living through this place.”
“Oh come on guys! It’s not that bad and geez, it’s only one night need I remind
you. I seriously doubt this place is actually haunted. Who believes in ghosts any
ways?” Laura said, exasperated with the two.
“Laura, should I tell you the stories again...” Teri started.
Laura waved her off, “Those are just that, stories, how do you know they
actually happened? Yeah it’s a creepy looking mansion and no way in hell could
you get me to live here like that Ms. Calhoun but it’s not haunted! Trust me.”
Teri sighed, “Whatever, I’m gonna go talk to Brian.” With that, she left the room.
Emily went over to the one bed after Teri left and dropped her bag on it, sending
up a cloud of dust, making her cough. “Damnit, this place may not be haunted,
but it certainly needs a good cleaning.”
Chapter Three - The Game Is Just Beginning
Go back to 'The Game'