Loadstar 184/184.d81/t.not haunted

Text File | 2022-08-26 | 15KB | 550 lines

        NOT A HAUNTED HOUSE

          by John S. Davis
              Vail AZ


    It was the night of Jay's twelfth
birthday when he decided to spend the
night in the Haunted House.

    "You know," he said to his ten
year old sister Mary, after all the
guests had left his birthday party,
"I've been wanting to explore that
place for years, but I've been scared
to."

    "So what changed your mind?" Mary
was working on the leftover chocolate
cake and wasn't really paying
attention.

    "These." Jay held up his two
favorite birthday presents. One was a
long sleek black five-cell
flashlight. The other was an air
rifle that boys his age commonly
referred to as a "beebee gun".

    "Comf yomf stomf bromf?" Mary's
eyes were wide.

    "Try it without the cake in your
mouth."

    She swallowed hugely. "Can you
shoot that?"

    Jay sighted down the barrel and
let his offside eye fall into what he
thought of as John Wayne squint.

    "Sure can." He hefted the
flashlight. "This is bright enough to
blind any ghost!"

    "Can I go along?" She had
forgotten about the cake, which was a
mistake, as she found it being rubbed
in her hair. "Billy! You stop that!"

    "You little kids are so stupid!"
Their fourteen year old brother's
voice was filled with scorn. "You'll
never dare go in the Haunted House!"
He moved from rubbing cake into
Mary's hair to rubbing his knuckles
into Jay's hairline.

    "Ow ow ow!" Jay should have been
used to pain after the hundreds of
times his big brother had hit,
kicked, bent, scraped, tripped,
twisted, scratched and bashed him,
but it still hurt.

    "We will go in the Haunted House,
we will!" He broke loose and ran
across the room to hold and be held
by his younger sister.

    Mary fixed Billy with a cold eye.
"You know you can't stand up against
both of us. Get out of here and leave
us alone." She took Jay's hand and
pulled him a step forward.

    Her big brother thought it was
silly to be frightened of his ten-
year-old sister, but he was. He also
knew she was right, and he couldn't
think of anything to say, so he left.
But he had plans.

    "We'll go tomorrow night after
bedtime." Mary looked sympathetically
at Jay. "You've got to stop being so
scared of him, you know. He can hurt
you a little bit, but together we can
hurt him just as much."

    "I'm sorry." Jay loved his
precocious little sister but most of
the time he didn't understand her at
all. To tell the truth, he was a
little frightened of her too, even
though she'd always been nice to him.
"He's just so mean! And he hurts me
so much!"

    "I know." Mary's voice was grim.
"One of these days we'll have to do
something about him! But enough about
Billy! Let's make plans for the
Haunted House tomorrow night!"

    If they had known Billy's plans
for the night, they might have
changed their own. His plans involved
purchasing a couple of scary masks
from the costume store, some
fluorescent paint, several thousand
beebees, a gallon of tomato ketchup,
and some cherry bombs from the
illegal fireworks stand just outside
the city limits. He had BIG plans!

    Jay and Mary plans were not so
grandiose. As soon as they were
supposed to go to bed, they
rendezvoused by plan behind the
garage. Jay climbed out the window of
his first floor back bedroom and had
about a thirty foot walk to the
agreed-upon spot. He wondered how
Mary would escape from her second
floor bedroom which was directly over
the living room where their parents
were watching television. As it
turned out, he had nothing to worry
about. She was waiting for him.

    "Did you bring the flashlight?"
Her sibilant whisper was barely
audible. Jay noticed she was dressed
all in formfitting black.

    He held it up. "Here it is. You
take it. I've got the beebee gun."

    As she took the flashlight he
noticed she even had black gloves on
her tiny hands. "You look like a
Ninja," he told her.

    Apparently she had blackened her
face as well, for the white flash of
her smile contrasted tremendously
with her skin.

    "So will you when I finish with
you!" He could hear the amusement
bubbling in her voice.

    That was one of the things about
her that bothered him. Most of the
children he knew who were her age
were not amused at everything. Mary
seemed at times to be both much older
and much younger than ten. Sometimes
she was as naive as a preschooler and
sometimes she seemed older than their
parents.

    He shrugged his thoughts aside as
his little sister rubbed some black
cream into his face. When she was
satisfied with the way his skin was
darkened, she stood back and looked
at him critically.

    "Your jacket's dark enough it'll
pass for black." She fingered the
material. "And it won't reflect much.
But that shirt will have to go."

    She produced a black pullover
from somewhere within her costume and
passed it to her brother. "Put this
over your shirt."

    At his blank look she added
patiently, "Take off your jacket, put
this on over your shirt, then put
your jacket back on." She sighed in
exasperation as he hurriedly followed
her directions.

    "All set?"

    His affirmative grunt was all she
needed. She led the way across the
back yard, over the fence by way of
the elm tree and down the alley.

    The night was silent and the moon
was just short of being full. There
were just a few leaves crunching
under their cautious feet and the
night air was wonderfully cool. In
just a few weeks the leaves would be
a foot deep, crackling instead of
crunching, and the air would be
downright cold. Both of the children
enjoyed being outdoors regardless of
the weather, and the cold just added
to the excitement of their
adventure.

    When they reached the wall behind
the Haunted House, Jay lifted Mary to
the top of the wall. He heard her
sharp intake of breath as she gazed
in wonder at the shadowed mass under
the shaggy trees.

    "Are the windows flashing?" Jay
whispered to his sister.

    "Yes." Her whisper was just as
soft. "What color does the light look
like to you?"

    He climbed to the top beside her
and thought for a moment. "Violet. Or
magenta." He thought of the colors in
his crayon box. "Or right in
between."

    "Right!" she murmured. "But very
dim, I'd say. Come on!" She slid off
the wall and moved silently toward
the house.

    He followed her, trying to move
as quietly as she did. Once under the
moonshadow of the trees it was more
difficult to step without crunching a
leaf.

    "The porch." She stopped and
pointed. "Over the railing and try
the window beside the door."

    Again he followed her. The window
was unlatched but very stiff. It took
both of them to slide it upward far
enough so they could clamber over the
sill.

    "Look!" The momentary flick of
the big flashlight was like a flash
of summer lightning.

    "What was it?" Jay hadn't been
quick enough to recognize whatever
had drawn Mary's attention.

    She didn't reply, but drifted
across the room and picked up a
package that rattled as she touched
it. She shook it gently. "What does
this sound like to you?"

    He reached out a tentative hand.
"It feels like one of those big
packages of beebees."

    "That's what I thought." She
handed it carefully to him." Put this
in your inside pocket, the one with
the zipper."

    He did as he was told, then
followed her silent figure out of the
dark room into a pitchblack hall.

    Another lightning-like flash from
the five-cell brought a gasp from
Jay. "What's that?"

    A fiercely frowning demon's face
could dimly be seen an indeterminate
distance down the hall. It had three
inch fangs that seemed to be dripping
greenish yellow ichor. The mouth
gaped wide, the eyes stared evilly at
them.

    "It's not moving." Mary didn't
sound particularly frightened. "I
think it's fake."

    It turned out to be a mask that
had apparently been painted with
fluorescent paint and then nailed to
the closet door at the end of the
hall. Jay felt a little silly to be
so scared by someone's trick.

    "The violet flashing seems to be
coming from upstairs." Mary spoke a
little louder than a whisper. Whoever
is trying to scare people away must
be up there."

    Jay followed her up the b