The Tween Detectives - Oct. Prep Month

October 21st, 2017 - Aka The Haunted Mansion

“Aka The Haunted Mansion”

A Short Story

Written By

PureSciFiPlus
Aka PureSciFi

     Chilling screams spread out to the fifty individuals standing in front of The Mansion on Top of the Mountain aka The Haunted Mansion. It started making them shake and shiver. Most of them were tween or teenagers. But a few of them were children. There were several adults among them too. The children clung to the adults. The teenagers were laughing. Yet they there shaking and shivering too.

     “So, you think that this is funny, do you? You won’t after you take a tour of The Haunted Mansion,” said Hazel.

     Hazel stood in front of the door on top of the steps in front of the fifty individuals. She wore a zombie witch outfit. “We are open year-round. Yet, you are here during the month of Halloween. Why did you do that if you think that this is a joke?”

     “Because it’s funny,” said a female teenager, around sixteen, standing among a group of five other teenagers. “That’s why we are laughing at you.”

     “It’s not the haunted mansion we are laughing at. We have been here several times already. It is you that we are laughing at,” said a male teenager, also about sixteen, who stood next to the female that just spoke.

     Hazel smiled. “You don’t like the way I look. Good. I don’t like the way you look either.”

     “We aren’t trying to be a zombie witch,” said a male around fifteen. “You may think that you are scary. But you’re not.”

     “What are you? Are you a zombie or a witch?” A female, about fourteen, asked. “You can’t be both because there is no such thing as a zombie witch.”

     Hazel smiled again. “What makes you think I can’t be both? I can, and I am.”

     “Why do you think that I’m not really a zombie witch. You think that this is an outfit. But it isn’t. I am a real zombie witch. If you don’t believe me, you can come up here and see for yourself.”

     The teenagers mumbled among themselves. But no one stepped forward. “That’s what I thought. Maybe you will get braver during the tour. It all depends on how long you last in there.”

     “I could ask security to escort you back to the elevator and make sure that you leave. But I’m not going to do that because I want to see if you can make it out of the haunted mansion alive.”

     Hazel started chackling. Suddenly, she stopped as she looked at the individual in front of her. Most of them looked scared, including the teenagers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t introduce myself. My name is Hazel Graves. And I am going to be your tour guide for the next hour or two.”

     “We will be touring all three floors of this haunted mansion. On the first floor we will find the living room, the kitchen, the library, the den, and the dining room. And on the other two floors we will see where they slept.”

      “So, if every is ready let’s go. That’s if you still want to go.” Hazel looked at the teenagers. “Especially, you laughers.”

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     Hazel walked into the living room. A few seconds later the fifty individuals entered. They hovered around her. The six teenagers stood right next to her, three on each side of her. After the last of them entered, Hazel turned and faced them. “This was the living room where Carl Everett lived until he was murdered. He was killed right there on that couch.”

     The living room looked like a typical haunted house living room with cobwebs everywhere and some spooky smoke lingering around. It even had a family of four ghost hovering around in there, a couple and two tweens.”

     “Who are they?” a female teenage, around thirteen, asked. “That can’t be Carl Everett because everyone knows that he never had a family.”

     “That is true, he never got married or had a family. But he wasn’t the only one who lived here. Several did over the years. And most of them did have families.

     “Carl isn’t even the only one who got murdered here. But he was the first. And he was killed right here on this couch.” Hazel walked over and patted the back of the couch near its end. Dust puffed up from it.

     Hazel smiled as she looked at the teenager troublemakers. She pointed at one of the males with her bony finger. “You look tired. Would you like to sit down for a little while?”

     The other teenagers encouraged him to do it. After a few seconds he shrugged, and started walking toward Hazel. “Why not? What is it going to do, eat me?” He sat down. Within seconds the pillows turned red and he started sinking into it.

     That teenager started to panic. His arms and legs flapping around as he slowly sank into the couch. The other five teenagers ran over to try to help him get out. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You will probably be eaten too.”

     They watched as the teenager slowly sank into the couch. Within a minute that teenager was gone. Everyone in that room looked shocked. “You didn’t just kill him, did you?” A male teenager, also around fifteen asked.

     Hazel didn’t respond. “There is nothing more here to see. Let’s continue. We still have a lot more mansion to tour.”

     Their next stop was the kitchen. It was a small room that could only hold about twelve individuals beside the three witches stirring a large pot in front of them. “Some say that this is where Carl got killed. He ate something that didn’t agree with him.”

     The three witches looked up at the individuals. But the one in the middle is the one who spoke first. “Our latest potent is almost done. Would anyone want to try it?”

     Everyone stepped back, except for Hazel and the five teenagers as the middle witch lifted something slimy out of that pot. After what just happened in the living room I’m not going to eat anything that you have to offer,” the female that’s fifteen said.

     “Oh, no. Did the couch eat someone else?” The witch on the right of the middle one asked.

     The witch on the left of the middle one looked at her. “You should never have turned that suitor into a couch.”

     “It isn’t that you turned him into a couch,” the one on the right said. “It’s that you turned him into a cannibal couch.”

     “After what he tried to do to innocent me, do you blame me.” The middle witch pointed the slimy spoon at the tour group. “Are you sure none of you would like to try this?”

     The middle witch pointed at the teenager that looked to be about sixteen. “What about you? This will get rid of that acne.”

     “Sure, why not. I’ll do anything to get rid of this acne.”

     “After what happened to Mitch, are you Crazy?” the male teenager who looked about sixteen too stepped in front of her.”

     “Mitch wasn’t eaten. It was all a trick. They just sent him home.”

     The female teenager stepped around the other one and picked up the light brown worm looking wiggler and popped it into her mouth. “I thought that they would make it taste bad. But it doesn’t taste that bad.”

     At first nothing appeared to have happen. Then suddenly her neck began to pulsate. Then her eyes started pulsating opposite each other. A few seconds later she fell to the floor. Hazel went to her and checked her pulse. “Oh, no, not another one. You three killed another one.”

     The dining room was large enough to hold all forty-eight remaining individuals, plus Hazel. It also held a family of seven, all adults. They were sitting around a large table, three men and four women, eating something. As Hazel and the individuals got closer they could see that there was another adult male laying on the table. The seven adults were eating out of his opened stomach.

After turning his head toward the group of visitors, the man on the table spoke. “Help me. They are eating me alive.”

     One of the female adults turned toward them with what looked like steak on her fort that she pointed at them. “Is anyone hungry. There’s plenty here for everyone.”

      “Yeah, right. This is getting so boring. It’s just another trick. It’s just his head. But it’s not his body. Look at it. It’s just steak,” said the male who was about fourteen.

     Hazel smiled at him. “If you think it’s a trick, then you won’t mind eating my friend’s husband.”

     That teenager stepped forward. But he only got a couple of steps before his three friends stepped in front of him. “Don’t do it,” said the female who was about thirteen. “After what happened to Mitch and Sarah, you can’t take the chance it will happen to you too.”

     “I’m not taking any chances. It’s all a trick. We already know that Mitch is probably home by now. And Sarah is probably on her way home too. Remember, it was Hazel that checked Sarah. She got us out of there so quickly we didn’t get the chance to check her ourselves.”

     “What about the pulsating?” The female teenager around sixteen asked.

     “You know Sarah. She was probably in on it from the start. Maybe Mitch was too. They are always trying to scare us. Especially, this time of the year.”

     Before anyone could respond Kurtis stepped up and took the food and ate it. A few seconds later he smiled at his friends. “I was right. This is steak. Not only is it steak, but it really good steak.”

     Suddenly, Kurtis fell to the floor and his whole body started shaking. A few seconds later it stopped, and he just laid there. Hazel started to go over to Kurtis. But his three friends beat her to him. The thirteen-year-old looked at the others in shock. “This is no trick. He’s dead.”

     “Are you sure about that?” The female teenager around fifteen asked. “You are only twelve.”

     “Unfortunately, I’m sure. You know that both of my parents are nurses. They taught me to take a pulse years ago.”

     The master bedroom was their next destination. One look at it and they could see that it was the master bedroom. It was a large room that at one time must have looked elegant. Now it looked like death came for a visit, and stayed. Two skeletons laid on the bed. One was female with long blonde hair. And the other was male with dark hair. As the last of the forty-seven visitors entered they turned their heads toward them.

     “Hello, everyone. I’m so happy to see all of you today,” said the male skeleton.

     “I thought that there would be more of you here to see us day,” said the female skeleton. “Wasn’t there supposed to be more of you?”

     Hazel sighed. “There was fifty when we started. But now there are on forty-seven.”

     The male skeleton held up three fingers one at a time. “Where are the other three?”

     “They didn’t survive the first floor,” said Hazel. “The living room, the kitchen, and the dining room got them”

     “This house murdered Mitch, Sarah, and Kurtis.” The female teenager about sixteen stepped forward. “What are you going to do about it?”

     The two skeletons looked at each other in shock. Then back at the teenager. “We are sorry about your losses,” said the male skeleton. But there is nothing we can do about it.”

     “What makes you think that we can help you?” The female skeleton asked.

     “Aren’t you the last two to own this mansion?” The twelve-year-old asked. Then she looked at Hazel. “Hazel said that you were.”

     “We are the last ones,” said the female skeleton. “But we aren’t responsible for what happens here. This place was haunted and cursed long before we moved in here.”

     The female around sixteen sighed. “We were hoping that you could. At first, we thought that they were tricks. But after Kurtis died we knew that it wasn’t. I guess that we are just going to have to do go to the police after we get out of here. Unless you are going to kill us too.”

     “You don’t have to worry about us,” said the male skeleton. “Those accidents only happen on the first floor. You are save up here.”

     Just then the ceiling fan and light started to shake. And just as the female who looked about sixteen looked up it fell on her. She looked dead before she hit the floor. The twelve-year-old ran over to her and took her pulse. “Connie is dead too. Are any of us going to get out of here alive?”

     The female skeleton shook her head sadly. “I don’t know how that happened. It must have been her anger at us. This mansion can be very protective sometimes.”

     “Another ghost is about to join our family,’ said the male skeleton. “If I am adding right, that makes four from this group. Right?”

     “I’m leaving before I get killed too,” said the male who is about fifteen. He turned and ran out the door. Grabbing the twelve-year-old as he did it.

     The others in the group did the same thing. In fact, the doorway got crowded with them trying to get out all at once. “Please, wait. You can leave any time that you want to. But if you don’t do it in an orderly manor you could get hurt.”

     “We could also get killed too,” said the male teenager about fifteen. “Especially, me and Lori. It hasn’t been any of the adults or children that have been killed. Just us teenagers.”

     “Bradley is right,” said Lori. “And you said that they would be killed for laughing at you. We were laughing at you too. Does that mean somehow we are also going to be murdered?”

     Both Bradley and Lori could barely be heard because they had pushed their way through the others in their group. But the group also parted to let them get past them too. After they got through, the rest of the group started leaving too. Only now they were doing it in a more orderly manner.

     After the last of the group left, Hazel looked at the skeleton couple. “At least we got four of them. I wanted to get all six of the troublemakers. But I guess four will have to do for this tour.”

     Just then they heard screaming. Hazel ran out the door. And she pushed her way through the group. She stopped suddenly at the top of the steps. Hazel looked down at Bradley and Lori at the bottom of those stairs, and smiled.

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     Hazel stood on the front porch waving at the group as they got on the elevator to return to Middletown, KS. “It looks like we got six teenagers after all. Well, it was really five teenagers and a tween. But they were all troublemakers.”

     “They shouldn’t have laughed at me. But that doesn’t matter now. They are gone. And they aren’t coming back here again.”

     For several minutes Hazel just stared at the elevator as the last of the group entered it, the doors closed, and it slowly disappear from the mountain top. “Another group should be here in a couple of hours. I wonder if there will be any troublemakers in that group too?”

Word Count = 2,586