The House of Horrors was every horror cliché come to life, and from this close it looked rather more like an over-the-top, hilarious prop on the set of a cheap movie, than something scary or sinister. The windows were painted straight onto the wooden exterior of the house. Double wooden doors showed the entrance. One of the doors stood slightly open, as if inviting them inside. The house was heavily decorated, as if it were Halloween, with pumpkins in front of the painted-on windows. Bats and spider webs cloaked the outer walls, and a fake gravestone was painted below one of the lower windows, with a skeleton hand reaching from out of the grave.
Jacky could barely suppress the laughter rising in her throat. “This is the supposed ‘famous’ haunted mansion ride?”
“Maybe it’s scarier inside,” Ben said, shrugging. “We’re here now, so might as well try it out.”
Cass let out a loud breath.
Ben reached the House of Horrors first. He pushed the doors open a little farther, and gestured for Jacky and Cass to follow him.
A cold blast of air hit Jacky straight in the chest when she went through the doors. It was warm and a little humid outside, but here, in this darkened tomb, the temperature dropped several degrees, as if they’d just stepped into a portal straight to Antarctica.
Darkness surrounded them on all sides, scarcely pierced by the light shining through the opened door. Jacky figured the ride must be closed, considering how dark it was in here, and suddenly feared that if the doors fell shut, nobody would find them for hours.
Then she noticed a small, eerily glowing light about a dozen feet in front of them. The light appeared to be floating in mid-air, which, of course, couldn’t be true.
“Come on,” Jacky said, grasping Ben’s sleeve. “There’s light over there.”
“All right,” Ben said, following her right away.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Cass asked in a small voice.
“Sure,” Jacky said. “It’s right over there.”
She started walking toward the tiny light. Cass and Ben’s footsteps resonated behind her, echoing through the dark space.
The light moved farther away, and Jacky narrowed her eyes, confused. She was about to mention it to Cass and Ben, but thought better of it; Cass was scared enough as it is.
The darkness around her grew thicker, and a certain expectation lingered in the air. Jacky had the feeling something would happen. Soon. The same spiders-walking-over-her-back sensation that she’d gotten earlier, when she’d talked to the strange ticket sales man, overwhelmed her again.
Just as she was about to turn around and suggest they go back, the light’s glow expanded. She narrowed her eyes against the sudden brightness, but continued walking. Then, before she realized it, she stood in a brightly-lit room. In front of her sat a row of vehicles on rails, each vehicle resembling an open coffin, each coffin containing four seats.
Cass bumped into her. “Sorry,” she muttered.
“It’s okay,” Jacky said. Her heart had skipped a few beats, but she didn’t want to show it.
Ben appeared in the doorway of the room, and smiled. “This ride may be scary after all.”
“Welcome,” a voice interrupted their conversation.
Jacky nearly jumped out of her skin—it was the same voice she’d heard earlier, belonging to the tall pencil-mortician-man. At first she thought the voice came out of nowhere, a recorded voice that started playing every time someone entered the room, but then a figure appeared, standing behind the coffin ride.
She took a step back, barely registering everything at the sight of the man from the ticket booth.
He kept to the shadows, maybe to add some mystery to his appearance. He wore a black cloak, which he pulled around him when they came closer.
Cass gasped and whispered, “That’s the same guy.”
“I know,” Jacky said. “Calm down. There’s probably a logical explanation.” She wasn’t sure of that herself, but the last thing they needed was Cass having a panic attack.
Ben didn’t seem to notice it was the guy from the ticket booth, or if he did, he didn’t care. With a big grin still glued on his face, he walked toward the ride.
“Please take a seat,” the gaunt man continued, gesturing toward the coffin standing in front of him. “Then buckle up, because it’ll be a bumpy ride.” He smiled, revealing the same two lone teeth she’d found creepy earlier.
Ben got inside the coffin, on one of the two front seats. He set his jaw and nodded at her.
Jacky envied him, not feeling half as brave as she wanted to. Ignoring the warning voice in her head that told her to get out of here, she crawled into the second seat at the front.
Cass looked at her two friends, then to the cloaked guy, then to the coffin ride, and turned a deadly shade of pale. “Shouldn’t we wait until someone else is here?” she asked Ben and Jacky. “Like… other people.”
Jacky frowned. Cass had a point: it was odd that all the other carts were empty. The fair had been crowded with people of all ages, and surely at least a few of them would want to go on the haunted mansion ride.
A frightened scream followed by bubbly laughter erupted from deeper inside the house.
“See?” Ben said. “There are other people here. They’re enjoying the ride, that’s all.”
Cass fumbled with her sleeves and glanced behind her at the hooded man. Then she took a deep breath and got in anyway. She sat in the back seat, tightening the seat belt around her waist and clutching her legs toward her chest.
“Keep your hands inside the coffin at all times,” the cloaked guy warned. “You never know what might snap at your fingers.” He chuckled, a dry, hoarse sound. “The House of Horrors will let you go when it’s ready. I hope you’ll enjoy yourselves on the ride.” Then he disappeared back into the shadows.
Jacky wondered what he was up to, vaguely expecting him to come back with an ax or another deadly weapon and bludgeoning them to death. Just as her imagination was about to get the best of her, the ride started moving.
He’d probably done something a lot more mundane, like pushing a few buttons.
You’re growing paranoid, Jacky, she told herself. Cass’s influence, no doubt.
The ride squeaked and screeched when it started to move, like some ancient machinery that hadn’t been used in years. Jacky hoped there would be no unexpected descents, since the coffin train didn’t seem like it could withstand a lot, or gain a lot of speed.
A black curtain lingered in front of the coffin train, closing off the entrance into the House of Horrors. They pushed through the curtain, the thick, black fabric touching her face. Dust entered her nostrils, and she sneezed.
At least they could clean up the place a bit.
Ben put his hand on hers and squeezed it lightly. “You scared?” His voice mocked and teased her.
She pulled her hand back. “No,” she lied. “Not at all.”
Chapter 5
The coffin ride turned around a corner, and they reached a narrow corridor illuminated by old-fashioned lamps on the walls. Flowery wallpaper, which looked like it might have been popular in the eighteenth century, covered the walls. Cobwebs—or real spiderwebs—decorated the lamps, and Jacky couldn’t tell if they were real or fake. Either way, she didn’t want to imagine the horde of spiders that lingered there.
The ceiling opened up and a ghostly figure flew straight at the trio. The figure had a skeleton-like face, missing most of her features, and two black holes instead of eyes. Clad in a ragged, white dress, she looked like a bride who’d passed away centuries ago.
“Have you met Lady Miranda yet?” a disembodied voice echoed from all sides of the corridor. “She was to be married once,” the voice continued. “But her husband-to-be had an affair with her sister, and when she found out, poor Miranda was devastated.”
Jacky’s eyes traveled back to the phantom. At first sight, it didn’t look like a prop at all. She had to applaud the makers of the House of Horrors for that.
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br /> To her surprise, Ben reached up and touched the skeleton face. “Plastic,” he said, reassuring her.
“Keep your hands in the coffin,” Cass snapped at him.
Jacky was about to tell Ben the same thing, but she’d never suspected Cass would be the one to warn him, and that she’d snap at him about it. She turned around and looked at Cass, and was shocked for the second time.
Cass didn’t look angry. Instead, she trembled like a leaf in a heavy storm, and tears had formed in her eyes.
“All right, all right, calm down,” Ben said, pulling his hand back. “It was just a joke.”
“So Miranda killed herself,” the ghostly voice continued. “And now she haunts the home she grew up in, the house where she was supposed to live with her husband-to-be.”
The plastic ghost let out a loud wail, its mouth hanging open as if it were really screaming.
Jacky ducked, trying to cover her ears from the heart-wrenching cries.
Cass let out a startled cry, and then grew quiet, perhaps embarrassed about it.
“Haha,” Ben laughed. “Just a radio or something that they put in the mannequin’s tummy. Nothing to worry about.” But he didn’t say it with his usual bravado, and looked a bit pale himself.
The coffin ride carried on, turning around the corner into another narrow hallway. The light, though dimmer here, highlighted blood splatters covering the walls. At the end of the hallway stood a large grandfather clock, indicating two minutes before twelve.
“But Miranda got her vengeance,” the voice told them. “At midnight, the day after her death, her ghost returned to the house to kill her husband-to-be, Marcus, and her traitorous sister, Eleanor.”
As far as stories went, this one wasn’t very original. Jacky was about to mention that, when the coffin ride bumped into action and sped forward.
The clock ticked loudly; seconds before midnight. The lights went out, but then flashed on again, bright enough to blind her. The clock started chiming. Midnight.
“By the time the clock hit twelve,” the narrator’s voice said, “they were all dead.”
Cass screamed as the car lunged forward, straight toward the clock, which chimed faster and faster, like time itself had gone mad. The car flew straight at the grandfather clock and, just in time, the middle frame of the clock opened, revealing a secret entrance into darkness.
Jacky clenched her seat with both hands as the coffin ride was sucked into the giant grandfather clock. The ride spiraled downward, too fast for the old carts, and Cass screamed again. Even Ben tightened his grip on the bar in front of him.
Then, as suddenly as it had started its mad descent, the ride stopped.
Chapter 6
They sat in complete silence and darkness for what seemed like an eternity.
Ben finally disrupted the silence. “What the heck is going on?” His voice squeaked several tones higher than usual. “Why are we just standing here?”
“I don’t know,” Jacky said.
Meanwhile, Cass had started sobbing from the back seat. She hid her face in her sleeves, and Jacky felt sorry for her. If Ben and Jacky hadn’t pushed her, Cass wouldn’t have gone on this ride at all.
“It’s probably part of the ride,” Jacky said, more to comfort Cass than anything else. “They leave you here in the darkness, and you begin to wonder what is going on. Then you grow scared.”
“Well, that’s stupid.” Ben fidgeted with his seat belt. “I’m getting out of here.”
“Stay inside,” Cass warned him in a high-pitched voice. “The man warned us to keep our hands inside at all times.”
Jacky glanced at her, worried Cass might break down any moment. Ben’s idea was stupid, sure, but she kept on repeating what the strange ride owner had said like it was a prayer.
“Cass is right,” she said. “The ride will start again any moment. This is just to scare us.”
“Or the ride is broken. Then what?”
“We’ll stay here, and they’ll come get us out. No worries.” She nodded as if absolutely sure this would happen. “Meanwhile, I’ll shed some light on this case.”
She tried to be funny, but the joke was lost on the other two. With a sigh, she conjured her cell phone. Its blue light looked eerie and unsettling, but it was better than being flanked by darkness.
Minutes crept by, and the ride made no attempts to move forward. Cass wrapped her arms around herself, taking deep, ragged breaths in a desperate attempt to calm down.
A loud thump echoed through the darkness.
“What was that?” Ben asked.
Jacky shone the cell phone in the direction of the noise, but the light wasn’t strong enough to reveal anything. “Probably a staff member who’s going to get us out.” She had trouble keeping her own breathing steady.
A hellish, frightening scream pierced through the silence lingering around them.
Jacky clutched Ben’s arm. “That doesn’t sound fake,” she muttered below her breath.
Cass started rocking and whispered, “This is all a dream.”
“It could be,” Ben whispered. “Maybe from further along in the ride.”
The scream sounded like someone was in danger, but before Jacky could open her mouth again, footsteps approached them. At first, a surge of relief went through Jacky’s body. She’d been rigid, frozen, but now her shoulders slumped and she relaxed. As she’d suspected, someone was coming for them.
The steps picked up, like the person approaching had started running. Jacky and Ben stared at each other, wide-eyed. A blind panic, the kind of panic that hits you in the middle of an unexpected storm, took hold of them.
Jacky fidgeted with her seat belt, her hands trembling like leaves in a strong autumn wind. The atmosphere in the room had grown threatening, dark. She had no idea why she and Ben had come to the same conclusion at roughly the same time, but something had shifted in the darkness, changed it, like the extra presence in the room, stepping toward them, was evil.
Jacky unbuckled her seat belt and struggled to get out of the coffin. Her foot got stuck, and she half-tumbled into the darkness, barely able to keep standing up.
“Come on, get out of there,” she urged her friend.
Cass wouldn’t budge. She just kept sitting there, staring forward as if seeing things Jacky couldn’t see.
The footsteps were close now, only a few feet away.
Jacky put her cell phone in her mouth, leaned forward, and tried to unbuckle Cass’s seatbelt.
“We have to go,” Ben urged.
Jacky looked up, the pale light of the cell phone illuminating Ben’s face. He looked like she did every time she saw a spider, sweat dripping down his forehead, his lips trembling, eyes wide. She shook her head, looked down again, and got back to working on her best friend’s seatbelt.
Finally, even with trembling fingers she managed to unlock it. She grabbed the cell phone and shone it at Cass.
“Get out,” she said, trying to use her most reasonable, but at the same time demanding, voice. She toned down her own fear, but Cass must’ve seen it reflected on her face, because she suddenly nodded, bolting into action.
Cass stood up and took her hand, ready to get out of the coffin and….
The coffin suddenly hurled forward.
Jacky stumbled backward, bumping into Ben. The sound of Cass hitting the coffin’s bottom with her knees echoed through the room.
“Cass!” she yelled, about to rush after her.
Ben put a hand on her shoulder and stopped her. “Someone is there,” he said, trying to keep his voice low.
She looked at him, bewildered until she remembered the footsteps that had come running, and that had stopped abruptly a few feet away. She shrugged Ben’s hand off; stranger there or not, Cass was in danger.
But before Jacky’s feet could even move, the coffin rattled to a halt, and the coffin’s lid slammed close. Cass let out a startled yelp and began to pound on the coffin from the inside, as if she’d been buried alive.
“Welcome,” a voice said, and this time it didn’t sound like the raspy voice of their host at all. This voice was much deeper and older, an ancient sound that seemed to well up from the earth itself. “The House of Horrors is ready to play.”
Chapter 7
“In here,” the voice continued, “you will face your greatest fears, your worst nightmares. Only the strong-willed make it out to the end.”
The noise came from the figure hiding in the shadows only a few feet away from them.
Jacky’s fingers dug into Ben’s skin as she glanced around the room, searching for anything they could use to defend themselves.
The figure moved forward, its robes gliding on the floor. “You have half an hour,” the robed figure continued, “to get out of here. The clock will keep the time.”
The figure snapped its fingers and a light jumped on at the far end of the room. The same large grandfather clock that they’d traveled through earlier now stood at the end of the corridor. The pointers of the clock stood motionless, as if time itself had stopped.
“These are the rules,” he said. “If you don’t find the exit within thirty minutes, you’ll be locked up in here forever. But fear not, it’s not that hard to find the exit. All you have to do to make it out is face your greatest fears. You can rely on each other, but eventually you’ll have to be the one to conquer your own greatest fear. Any questions?”
“Who are you?” Jacky almost shouted. “Why are you doing this?”
The figure chuckled, not a pleasant sound at all—a dry laugh without humor. “Questions related to the game.”
“What….” Ben started, interrupted by a big, hard swallow. “What if not all of us make it out?”
“Ah, that’s too bad then,” he replied. “In the end, you’re all on your own, either way. This is about choices, kids, and making the choices you can live with.”
Jacky ignored her trembling knees and hurled herself at the robed man. She flung her arms at him, using a move her dad once taught her. She wasn’t going down without a fight. But her arm hitting nothing but air, and her cell phone flew from her hand and dropped to the floor.
Weirdville: House of Horrors (Lower Grade Spooky Fun Adventure) Page 2