The Haunting of Spook House

by George Ivanoff

  You’re about to take a closer look at the swords, when a movement at the corner of your eye catches your attention. The cabinet! Did something move inside it? Or was it just light reflected in the glass?

  You go to look. There is a weird array of stuff on display – statues, carvings, framed pictures, dog tags and a wooden box. Your eyes are drawn to the box, which has intricate patterns carved into the lid. You notice that the dust around it has been disturbed, as if it’s been moved just a little.

  You hear a noise above you and stop to listen. It’s a creaking sound, like someone (or something?) walking around upstairs. But this house is abandoned, isn’t it?

  The sound stops. Was it your imagination? Or is there someone up there?

  You glance at the swords on the wall.

  If you want to take a sword and go upstairs to investigate, go here.

  If you’d rather stay where you are and check out the box, go here.

  You run over to your friends and ask them what they’ve been up to. It turns out they’d been waiting in Spook House so that they could play a joke on you. But you never went in. It seems they don’t really believe the house is haunted either.

  The three of you head home for ice-cream.

  An hour later, your neighbourhood is rocked by a massive explosion. You switch on the TV to see the news. Spook House is a smouldering pile of rubble, and the strange man from the house next door is being arrested. As the police lead him away, he stares at the news camera from behind his goggles and mouths the word ‘ghosts’.

  Maybe the house really was haunted?

  Josiah leads you to his backyard and indicates the fence.

  ‘We shall scale the divide and enter via the back door.’ He scurries halfway up, then turns to you, slightly out of breath. ‘Stealth is of the utmost importance.’

  He throws a leg up over the top and hauls himself to the other side, falling with a crash.

  ‘I am unharmed,’ you hear his voice call back.

  You’re beginning to wonder if this is such a good idea, after all. But you might as well go along.

  You climb over the fence and follow Josiah to the back door.

  You enter the kitchen. Long disused, the space is covered in dust and cobwebs. It leads out to a hall with three doors on the left and an entrance way at the end, with a grand staircase.

  Josiah consults his handheld device and walks into the hall.

  ‘This machine measures paranormal activity,’ he explains. ‘And this house is off the scale.’

  He’s scuttling down the corridor now, pointing his device in all directions, getting more excited as he goes.

  He stops in front of the staircase, a little out of breath, and examines the readings on his device.

  ‘Let’s see … where is the highest concentration?’ He does a 360-degree turn, device held out in front of him. ‘Three potentially high source locations. We have a concentration of evil upstairs. There is a time distortion in the lounge room. And a conglomeration of multiple sources in the study.’

  He takes a long, deep breath and looks at you.

  ‘Do you have a preference for which we investigate first?’

  If you want to head upstairs, go here.

  If you want to investigate the lounge room, go here.

  If you want to check out the study, go here.

  You reach for the door handle again. But your hand goes straight through it, chilling your fingers to the bone.

  You’re confused. You can’t understand why you can’t turn the handle. Is there something wrong with it?

  You decide you’ll have to break through the door – just like they do in the movies. You take a few steps back and then charge at it with your shoulder.

  But there is no impact.

  You shiver as you pass through to the backyard. It’s like momentarily plunging into a pool of ice water.

  You look around the overgrown yard. Without hesitating, you run along the side of the house and out onto the street …

  But something isn’t right. The street looks similar to what you know, with some key differences. The newer houses aren’t there. The older houses look newer. All the cars seem different. You have definitely stepped back in time!

  You see two ladies with prams standing on the footpath, chatting. They’re dressed strangely. And like the boy, they are almost see-through, as if they have faded in the sun. You run up to them and try to get their attention. But they appear not to see you. You shout at them, but to no avail.

  Panic is now setting in. You see a girl riding a bicycle along the road. You jump out in front of her, waving and yelling. But she doesn’t stop.

  She rides straight into you … and then through you!

  You double over. It’s as if you’ve been pricked with a million ice splinters.

  You get up and stagger off. Soon you’re running. But no matter how far you go, you can’t get warm.

  You find yourself in a shopping centre. There are people everywhere.

  A man bumps into you, his shoulder passing through yours. You feel a stab of cold pain.

  Another person walks right through you. You fall over. People are everywhere … walking over you … through you.

  You are overwhelmed by the cold. You can no longer move. Your mind fogs, your vision fades …

  You enter an eternity of cold, dark nothingness!

  You throw yourself into the room as you let the window go. It slams down with a loud bang that echoes through the house, and you fall flat on your face onto the polished floorboards.

  You pick yourself up, rubbing at your sore head, and immediately try the window. It won’t budge. It’s as if the house has swallowed you up.

  You study the room. Your eyes widen. The room is different – newer. No dust. No cobwebs. No sheets. Flames are crackling in the fireplace, giving the room a warm glow. But you feel cold! A shiver creeps up your spine.

  Have you stepped back in time?

  You hear the door creak and turn to look at it. It’s standing open, but there’s no one there.

  You walk out into the entrance hall. A grand staircase arcs up to the second floor. A corridor to the right leads to an open doorway, through which you can see the kitchen and the back door. Perhaps you should leave?

  You hear a door slam upstairs.

  Do you want to go upstairs and investigate? Go here.

  Or maybe it would be better to just get out of this creepy house before it’s too late? Go here.

  You dash down the stairs, out of the house and onto the street.

  ‘Hey, wait!’ calls a voice from behind.

  You look over your shoulder to see your two friends, Anna and Josh, running from the house, front door wide open behind them. They are both laughing.

  As they catch up to you, Josh starts moaning, ‘Get out! Get out of the house. Run! Run away!’

  You realise that they’ve set you up. That’s why they weren’t there to meet you when you arrived. Anna and Josh were already inside, waiting to play a joke on you.

  You’re a bit annoyed with them, but soon you can’t help laughing as well.

  As the three of you walk away, the front door to Spook House slams shut.

  You spin around. Isn’t the house meant to be empty?

  From inside you hear an eerie moan. Or was that the wind?

  You and your friends glance at each other and then bolt off down the street.

  The sight of the angry man storming towards you is frightening.

  You turn and run for the door. But in your hurry, you smash straight into it.

  As your head hits the wood, everything goes black.

  Go here.

  You hear voices in the darkness.

  Your head hurts.

  You can’t move properly.

  You open your eyes. You’re lying on a cold concrete floor near some steps. Your hands and feet are tied up.

  The bald guy is talking to a woman with blonde spiky hair wearing a red suit.

 
‘We’ve got to get everything out of here,’ says the woman. Her voice is frosty and businesslike. ‘Someone might come looking for that kid. And the last thing we need is attention.’

  ‘Sure thing, boss-lady,’ the guy answers.

  ‘Would you stop calling me that, Bruno,’ demands the woman.

  ‘Sure thing, boss-la– I mean, Ms Winters.’

  ‘Now we must organise the removal of the counterfeit boy-band merchandise. While we do that, I’ll have a think about what we should do with our little intruder. We might have to … dispose of him.’

  Bruno chuckles.

  Dispose? Counterfeit boy-band merchandise?

  You close your eyes, pretending you’re still unconscious, as they turn towards you.

  You hear Bruno and Ms Winters go up the stairs … and then the door slams.

  Your eyes snap open. You struggle with your bonds, but your hands and feet are securely tied.

  You manage to get into a sitting position and check out your surroundings. You’re in a small brick-walled room – it must be the basement. There are boxes everywhere. At the far end is a table covered in dolls … boy-band dolls! There’s a vent above it.

  You push yourself up against the wall, bracing yourself so that you can stand up.

  You look up at the stairs and wonder if you can make it all the way to the top with your hands and feet tied.

  If you want to try climbing the stairs, go here.

  If you want to move over to the table with the vent, go here.

  You creep up to the first of the cardboard boxes and look in. Dolls!

  You pull one from the box and examine it. It’s a blond-haired boy in a t-shirt and dark suit.

  You check the next box. More dolls. These are of a dark-haired boy in similar clothing, his hair long and floppy.

  Recognition hits. One-Way Street! The hottest boy-band since No Direction.

  But why is this basement full of One-Way Street dolls?

  You look closer at the doll in your hand. It’s not a very good likeness. And shouldn’t he be wearing a white suit? Maybe it’s a fake? And the man in the chair is a criminal?

  At that moment you realise that the basement is silent. The snoring has stopped!

  A heavy hand comes down on your shoulder, spinning you around.

  ‘You shouldn’t be here,’ growls the man. ‘You are in big trouble.’ He pushes you towards the chair he’s been sleeping in. ‘Sit!’

  You stumble into the seat, still clutching the boy-band doll.

  The guy pulls out a mobile and lifts it to his ear.

  ‘Yo, boss-lady,’ he says. ‘We got us a bit of a problem. Just found a kid poking around the basement.’ He listens for a moment. ‘Yep. So what do you want me to do?’ He listens again. ‘Search the house? Yep. I can do that. Yep. Never know … there might be others.’

  He puts the phone away and looks down at you.

  ‘Boss-lady is coming down to deal with you personally. So you stay put while I search the house. Got it?’

  You nod.

  He snatches the doll from your hands. ‘And don’t touch the merchandise.’

  Doll in hand, he stomps up the stairs and slams the door shut. You race for the stairs but trip on a loose brick in the first step.

  It looks like something might be concealed behind it.

  If you want to inspect the loose brick, go here.

  If you’d rather go straight up to the door, go here.

  You grab one of the swords from the wall. Surprised by its weight, you accidentally drop it, but you pick it up again and head upstairs.

  Did that stone gargoyle on the bannister just wink at you?

  It’s your imagination, you tell yourself as you slowly climb the staircase, the old wooden boards creaking beneath your feet.

  There’s another bannister gargoyle at the top. This one is grinning.

  You take a deep breath and continue.

  On the second floor are three doors, all closed. You approach the first one. You nervously reach out for the doorknob. Before you can touch it, a moaning sound comes from within.

  You snatch your hand back and listen.

  ‘Get out!’ says the moaning voice.

  You clutch the sword tighter.

  ‘Get out!’ repeats the voice. ‘Get out of the house. Run! Run away!’ And then it laughs.

  Your first impulse is to do as it says – to run away.

  But then you remember that you have a sword to protect yourself with.

  Do you enter, sword in hand? Go here.

  But if you think it might be better to drop the weapon and run away, go here.

  You open the cabinet door and take out the box.

  The box is about the size of a bread loaf. You turn it around in your hands and notice that something’s inside. You try to open it, but it’s locked.

  You glance into the cabinet. There is a key sitting in the dustless rectangle where the box had been sitting. You pick up the key and unlock the box.

  You lift the lid, hoping for jewels or money. Instead you find ashes. Ashes! You wonder why anyone would keep this in a box. And then you realise – this is probably someone’s cremated remains!

  You’re about to close the lid when you notice the ashes are glowing. Surely they can’t still be hot?

  As you stare at them, sparks begin to jump out at you. What’s going on?

  If your immediate reaction is to throw the box away from you, go here.

  If you’re able to stay calm and gently place the box on the floor, go here.

  You head down the corridor towards the kitchen and the back door. You reach for the door handle. But your hand passes straight through it. You pull your hand back quickly. It’s very cold, as if you’ve touched a block of ice.

  You hear an eerie whisper from behind you.

  You turn to see a young boy. He is transparent. A ghost! A real ghost! You swallow hard, trying to control your fear.

  Dressed in shorts and a polo shirt, the boy is gesturing for you to follow him. He turns and runs back along the corridor and into the lounge room.

  You rub your eyes and wonder if you imagined the ghost.

  And then you remember your hand passing through the door handle. Did you imagine that, too?

  What is going on? What should you do?

  If you want to follow the ghost boy back to the lounge room, go here.

  If you would rather try the back door again, go here.

  You point to the staircase. Josiah nods and leads the way up the steps to the second of three doors.

  The two of you walk into a bedroom. It is sparse. There’s a single bed, a wooden desk with a mirror, a stool and a cupboard.

  Josiah sweeps the room with the device and checks the readings.

  ‘The paranormal energy seems to be converging under the floor over there.’ He points to the corner.

  You crouch to examine the ground and discover a loose floorboard. You pull it up to reveal a moth-eaten teddy bear stuffed into a small hidey-hole.

  ‘That’s it!’ cries Josiah. ‘There’s so much energy in that toy, it must have a ghost trapped inside it.’ He lowers his voice. ‘That happens sometimes … spirits get tied to physical objects that were important to them when they were alive.’

  You examine the teddy bear. It is close to falling apart – the stitching is coming undone, one of its ears has fallen off, and bits of stuffing are poking out from a tear in its back.

  ‘Place the toy on the floor and step back,’ says Josiah, unhooking the plastic hose from his belt.

  You notice a slight glow from the bear’s stuffing. What could that be?

  If you want to pull on the stuffing to check it out, go here.

  If you decide to follow Josiah’s instruction and put the toy on the ground, go here.

  You drop the teddy bear on the floor and step back.

  Josiah takes aim with the plastic hose and thumbs a switch on its side. It’s like turning on a futuristic vacuum cleaner. There�
��s a high-pitched humming sound and light spills from the end, engulfing the bear.

  Through the toy’s fabric a transparent shape emerges, which becomes distorted as it’s drawn towards the hose. Even then, you can tell the form it takes is that of a woman.

  She is dressed in a black skirt and jacket, with white shirt and gloves.

  ‘Noooooo,’ she screeches. ‘What are you doing to meeeeeeeee?’

  ‘Transferring you from your teddy bear to the containment unit on my back,’ says Josiah matter-of-factly. ‘Thus ensuring that your evil spirit never has the chance to cause harm in this world.’

  ‘But the children,’ she screams. ‘So many naughty children that need to be punished!’ Her transparent form warps even further as she is sucked halfway down the tube. ‘I must make them eat their brussels sprouts.’ And then she’s gone – trapped inside the containment unit.

  ‘Oh, I think not,’ says Josiah, flicking off the switch. The humming sound stops and the light fades. ‘One down … lots more to go. Where to next?’ He turns to face you. ‘Time distortion in the lounge room, or the conglomeration of multiple sources in the study?’

  If you want to investigate the lounge room, go here.

  But if you prefer to check out the study, go here.

  There’s probably someone trapped in the room with the rattling door. You decide to go and open it, but then the rattling stops.

  You hesitate a moment before trying again. Your hand seems to pass through the doorknob. You pull your hand back quickly. It’s very cold, as if you’ve touched a block of ice.

  You reach for the door once more … and it opens before you can grasp it.