It's All Downhill from Here

by P. J. Night

  “I’ll see if I can get the furnace running while you put out our delicious Chinese feast,” Mr. Kim said.

  “Made by my new friend, Clem,” said Maggie.

  “Mags, Sophie, why don’t you give me a hand downstairs with the furnace?” Mr. Kim continued. “Simon, help your mother set the table.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Simon asked.

  “What?” Mr. Kim asked, spreading his arms wide. “Only boys should help with the furnace and only girls should set the table? This is the twenty-first century, Simon.”

  Maggie and Sophie followed Mr. Kim to the staircase leading down to the cellar. He paused at the top of the stairs.

  “Let me just flip this light on,” he said, hitting a switch.

  Nothing happened.

  Mr. Kim flipped the switch up and down a few more times, but had no luck. “Maggie, can you go get a flashlight from my bag of tools?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Maggie replied. She headed back into the dining room, where all the bags had been dropped.

  “Done already?” Mrs. Kim asked.

  “Nah, Dad needs a flashlight,” Maggie explained.

  She knelt down and pulled open the heavy canvas bag in which her dad carried his tools. Back home, it lived in the garage and sat on what passed for a workbench. Before they left for this weekend, he had tossed it into the car, just in case.

  Rummaging past screwdrivers of every size, several hammers, rolls of duct tape, and a few unidentifiable objects, Maggie found a flashlight. She snatched it up, snapped the bag shut, and returned to the top of the cellar stairs, where she handed it to her father.

  “Here we go,” he said, aiming the beam down the old wooden stairs. He started down, followed by Maggie, then Sophie.

  Maggie felt the staircase shift and creak with each step.

  “I don’t think these stairs are safe,” she said.

  “Sure they are,” her dad replied. “This place hasn’t been empty for that long. Just hold on to the railing.”

  Maggie reached out and grabbed the thin wooden railing that ran down the length of the staircase, and her hand plunged into a sticky mixture of dust and cobwebs.

  “Yuck,” she said in disgust, wiping her hand on the wall, only to disturb a spider, which scurried away in annoyance.

  The trio reached the bottom of the stairs and followed Mr. Kim’s flashlight beam, careful to bend low to avoid getting whacked in the head by the maze of metal ductwork. They came to a hulking metal structure.

  “Looks like a furnace to me,” Mr. Kim said as he set the gas valve to “pilot” and handed the flashlight to Sophie. “Just shine the beam down near the bottom. I’ll get the pilot light going.”

  “What’s my job?” Maggie asked, pretending to be interested.

  “You watch out for critters,” Mr. Kim said, smiling.

  “C-critters?” Maggie stammered. “You mean, like animals? Here in the house?” She glanced left, then right, certain she would spot a ferocious beast ready to spring at her. Fear welled up inside her once again. Between the man she had seen in the window and the possibility of wild animals in the cellar, her nerves were totally on edge.

  Mr. Kim knelt at the bottom of the furnace and pulled out a box of long matches. “Let’s see. Boy, I haven’t seen a furnace like this in . . . well, ever, actually. That pilot light has to be around here somewhere. You know, when I was in college, I—”

  A sudden clatter startled Maggie. The sound moved across the cellar toward them, growing louder and louder.

  “Dad, someone’s down here!” she cried.

  Sophie swung the flashlight beam in the direction of the sound. A black cat squinted into the light.

  “Critters,” Mr. Kim said. “Told ya.”

  Maggie shuddered, partly from the adrenaline that was coursing through her veins, and partly from being shocked by the thought of sharing her possible new home with stray animals.

  “Got it!” Mr. Kim exclaimed as the pilot light caught and a ring of flame raced around the furnace’s burner. “There. It should be toasty in here in no time. Come on. Let’s go eat!”

  As she followed Sophie and her dad up the cellar stairs, Maggie wondered what other surprises awaited them in this house.

  In the dining room, Mrs. Kim had done her best to make their first meal in what she hoped would be their new home special. She had sprayed and wiped down the long wooden table with furniture polish. Then she placed a candelabra containing six white candles on the center of the table. When the rest of her family returned from the cellar, she lit all six.

  “Grandma’s fine china,” Mrs. Kim said as Simon pulled a stack of paper plates from the take-out bag and set one at each chair.

  Maggie laughed softly. “She says that every time we use paper plates,” she said to Sophie.

  The containers of food and cans of soda came out next.

  “Okay, everybody,” Mr. Kim announced, rubbing his palms together. “Dig in!”

  Maggie hadn’t realized just how hungry she was. Even though the Chinese food was getting cold, it tasted pretty good. The room was silent as everyone shoved forkfuls of food into their mouths.

  Mr. Kim raised his soda can. “To our first meal in the Piney Hill Ski Resort,” he announced, offering a toast. “May we look back on this weekend in years to come and remember how this great adventure began.”

  Everybody raised their own can and sipped their soda.

  “Can we look back on how it ended instead?” Maggie asked and then a forced smile.

  “All right, Maggie. Time for a little positivity,” Mrs. Kim said. “I’m hoping that you will come to think of this place as home.”

  “Well, maybe,” Maggie said. “Once the intruders and the animals all leave.”

  “With the alarm system and the fact that we have the only key, I’m a hundred percent sure the house is empty, but why don’t you check it out?” Mr. Kim suggested.

  Sophie smiled. “Come on, Mags. We can make it an adventure.”

  Maggie finished chewing her bite of lo mein and then reluctantly slid her chair back and got up.

  “Have fun exploring,” Mrs. Kim said. “I think once you get to know it, you’ll love this place, Maggie. And be careful. No one has been in this house for a while.”

  “Yeah, except Maggie’s man in the window might be lurking in the shadows! Mwa-aaaa!” Simon teased, curling his hands into claws and making a scary face.

  “That’s not what I meant, Simon,” Mrs. Kim said quickly. “Just be sure there aren’t any holes in the floor or falling plaster or other dangerous things. Now go have a good time.”

  Maggie said nothing as she followed Sophie out of the dining room.

  “But be careful!” Mrs. Kim repeated.

  The two friends entered a long hallway.

  “It sure is a big old house,” Sophie said. “You could get lost in here.”

  “Just what I want to do,” Maggie said, turning to look at the peeling old wallpaper that covered the hallway. “Get lost in my own house.”

  Then she stopped in her tracks.

  “Did I just say that? ‘My own house.’”

  “I won’t tell a soul,” Sophie said, smiling.

  Maggie started walking again to see where the hallway led and got a face full of cobwebs that had been hanging from the ceiling, waiting for a victim.

  “Not again!” Maggie cried, clawing at her face to pull the sticky, filthy strands from her eyes and nose.

  “Gotta watch where you’re going, Mags,” Sophie offered.

  “Yeah, thanks.”

  They followed the hallway as it curved to the left. The light from the one working bulb in the ceiling grew dimmer as they walked. At the end of the hallway, they came to a door. Maggie stopped short.

  “Well, go ahead and open it,” said Sophie. “It’s not going to bite you.”

  “What if the old man I saw is inside?” Maggie asked, genuinely afraid.

  “Go ahead, Mags. It’ll be okay. I pro
mise.”

  Maggie turned the knob and pushed the door open, its rusty hinges complaining as it swung inward.

  Stepping into the room, she flipped the light switch, but nothing happened.

  “I’ll go back and get the flashlight,” said Sophie. She turned and headed back down the hallway.

  Maggie stepped farther into the room and noticed a dull light flickering. It was coming from a far corner in the back of the room.

  What’s that? she wondered.

  Crossing the room slowly, squinting in the soft light, she saw floor-to-ceiling bookcases stacked with musty old volumes. A round woven rug sat in the middle of the room, surrounded by chairs and standing floor lamps. All this was difficult to see by the weak light that played around the room.

  Then she stopped and stared.

  “How is that possible?” she said aloud to no one, pointing to the source of the light.

  In a far corner of the room, on a small round table, a single lit white candle sat in an old metal candlestick. Its flame danced and its flickering light reflected on the ceiling above.

  “Who’s here?” Maggie yelled out into the empty room.

  Chapter 3

  Maggie dashed from the room as fast as she could. Turning the corner of the hallway, she almost crashed into Sophie, who was on her way back with a flashlight.

  “Soph, hurry!” Maggie cried.

  “Mags, you’re white as a ghost. What happened?”

  “Just come with me. You need to see this. Now!”

  Maggie grabbed Sophie’s hand and practically dragged her down the hallway to the library.

  “Let me turn the flashlight on so I can see what you want to show me,” Sophie said as they hurried inside.

  “No, no flashlight,” Maggie replied.

  “Then how are we going to see where we’re going?”

  It was then that Maggie realized the flickering was gone. The room was completely dark, except for the light seeping in from the hallway.

  She snatched the flashlight from Sophie’s hand and turned it on. Crossing the room quickly, she trained the light on the small round table in the corner. The single white candle was unlit.

  “Sophie, I swear that this candle was lit a moment ago. Whoever lit it must have blown it out when I went to get you. That means that there was someone in this room!”

  “No, Mags, wait,” Sophie said, reaching out and aiming the flashlight beam at the candle. “Look at the wick. It’s white, still coated with wax. It’s not burnt at all. This candle has never been lit.”

  Maggie stared at the candle and saw that Sophie was right. “How can that be?”

  “Could you have imagined it?” asked Sophie.

  “Don’t you start now with the ‘it’s only your imagination’ routine,” Maggie shot back. “It’s bad enough when my mom does it.”

  Maggie sighed. This whole thing was getting creepier by the second.

  “I have to tell my parents about this. I truly believe that there is someone here in the house with us. They need to know.”

  “Let’s go,” Sophie said, seeing how upset her friend was. The two girls returned to the dining room.

  “Back so soon?” Mr. Kim asked. “All done exploring?”

  “Dad, there is most definitely someone in the house with us,” Maggie said.

  Mr. Kim looked right at his daughter and got up.

  “Did you actually see someone?” he asked. “Where?”

  “Well, not exactly,” Maggie explained. “I walked into a room and found a lit candle. I know that none of us lit the candle, unless Simon pulled some kind of prank.”

  “It wasn’t me,” Simon shot back. “I’ve been here the whole time, helping Mom clean up.”

  “Okay, then. Someone must have lit that candle, right? Oh, and then they blew it out and replaced it with another candle.”

  “I’m not following you, honey,” Mrs. Kim said from the kitchen.

  “Come on, Maggie,” Mr. Kim said, grabbing his flashlight. “I’ll take a walk around the house with you. If there actually is someone here, we’ll find him.”

  Maggie wasn’t sure her dad believed her, but she was relieved and pleased that he wanted to at least go with her to check out her story.

  Sophie tagged along as Maggie and Mr. Kim headed back down the hallway.

  “This house really does need some work,” Mr. Kim said, looking around at the peeling plaster and dangling cobwebs.

  They reached the door at the end of the hallway.

  “Okay, Dad, put on the flashlight,” Maggie said. “The bulb in this room isn’t working.”

  Mr. Kim switched on the light, and Maggie led the way into the room.

  The flashlight beam washed over the bookshelves and chairs in the room.

  “Looks like a study or a library,” Mr. Kim commented.

  “That’s what we thought,” Sophie said.

  “Hello? Anybody in here?” Mr. Kim called out.

  He led the girls into the room. Guided by his flashlight, they walked around the edge of the room until they came to the table with the candle.

  “Is this it?” Mr. Kim asked Maggie.

  “Yeah,” she replied, looking back over her shoulder, half expecting someone to jump out from behind a chair.

  Mr. Kim aimed his light at the candle. “This candle’s never been lit, Maggie,” he said.

  “I know, Dad,” Maggie said, worried that maybe this tour of the house wasn’t such a good idea after all. “But I swear that I saw a lit candle. Then, in the time it took me to go get Sophie, that lit candle was switched for this one. I can’t explain how. I just know what I saw.”

  “Well, there’s nothing odd in this room,” Mr. Kim said, heading back to the door. “Let’s keep searching the house.”

  With Maggie’s father leading the way, the trio wandered from room to room. Each door they came to, they opened. Most of the doors opened into dark, empty rooms, filled with dust and cobwebs but no furniture, and certainly no people lurking in the shadows. After they were finished searching the first floor, Mr. Kim went off by himself and did a quick check of the second floor and attic as well.

  “I’ve been through the entire house and didn’t see anyone or any sign of anyone, Maggie,” he said as he returned to the dining room.

  Maggie let out a big sigh of relief. She didn’t have an explanation for what she had seen, but she couldn’t deny that it didn’t seem like anyone could be in the house. “All right, then, I’m going to go to bed.”

  “Good night, honey,” Mrs. Kim said. “Sleep tight.”

  “Good night,” Maggie said, and then she gave each of her parents a hug. “And thanks for reassuring me, Dad.”

  “You betcha!” Mr. Kim said. “Sleep well.”

  Maggie and Sophie grabbed their bags and headed up the staircase that led to the second floor. The stairs were sagging and well-worn, but Maggie could see that this had once been the grand staircase of a magnificent mansion. At the top of the stairs, she and Sophie stepped into a wide hallway that led to a series of doors.

  “Bedrooms, I guess,” Maggie said.

  “Let’s find out,” Sophie said, flinging open the first door she came to.

  Someone jumped out, right at the girls, crashing to the floor at their feet.

  “Ahh!” they both screamed, stumbling backward and landing on top of each other. Looking down, they saw that what had leaped out at them was only an old doll. Peering into the closet, they saw a mountain of toys and children’s clothing that had been piled up against the door.

  “I feel dumb,” Maggie said as she and Sophie climbed back to their feet.

  “Well, that door obviously hasn’t been opened in a really long time,” Sophie said, picking up the doll, tossing it back into the closet, and slamming the door.

  “Lucky us, huh?” Maggie said, brushing herself off.

  “Girls, are you all right?” Mrs. Kim called from downstairs.

  “Fine, Mom!” Maggie yelled back.

/>   “I heard a scream,” Mrs. Kim said.

  “Everything’s okay, Mom. Don’t worry. We’re going to sleep.”

  “All right. Good night, girls.”

  “Good night, Mrs. Kim,” Sophie called down.

  Continuing down the hall, they picked another door, swung it open, and jumped back—just in case. This time, nothing sprang out. They flipped on the light and stepped into a large bedroom with two beds.

  Long, silk, flower-printed draperies hung from a bowed-out picture window and flowed down to the floor. Each bed had a canopy with matching fabric. Two oak dressers stood majestically on wooden floorboards that were scuffed from decades of use.

  “Ohh,” Sophie cooed. “Pretty. I want that bed!”

  She dropped her suitcase on the floor and flopped onto a bed. It creaked as the mattress bounced up and down and finally came to rest.

  “I didn’t realize how tired I was,” Sophie said. “I guess driving out to the middle of nowhere and eating cold Chinese food takes a lot out of a girl.”

  “What do you think the chances of getting cell service here are?” Maggie asked, sitting on her bed and pulling out her cell phone.

  “Slim to none gets my vote,” Sophie replied, glancing at her own phone.

  “Nothing. Not even a hint of a bar,” Maggie said.

  “Ooh, cut off from civilization!” Sophie said in a creepy-sounding voice. “Adds to the fun.”

  “Now you’re starting to sound like my dad!” Maggie said, laughing.

  “Your dad is a pretty cool guy, you know, walking around the house with us to make you feel better,” Sophie pointed out.

  “Yeah, I know,” Maggie admitted. “I just wish he wasn’t so gung-ho about buying this place.”

  She grabbed her bag and headed down the hallway toward the bathroom. She turned on the faucet. It squealed in protest, then spat out brown water.

  “Eww!” she cried, stepping back. “Maybe I won’t brush my teeth.”

  But in a few seconds the water started running clear, and Maggie braved brushing her teeth.

  Must have just needed a minute to get back to normal, Maggie thought, swishing a mouthful around before spitting it into the sink.

  After both girls finished getting ready for bed, Maggie turned off the light and they slipped under their covers.