“The so-called ‘haunted’ house has become quite the attraction for Juniata High School’s students. Some have said their visit was interrupted in the first minute by an evil spirit, while others are turned away by the rickety state of the house. As far as the rumor goes, only one person has lasted longer than five minutes in this house: Becky. She is the landlord who is regularly spotted entering and leaving the house. If the state of the house isn’t enough to divert you from entering, your conversation with Becky will be. She welcomes visitors with open arms, but she may be creepier than the house itself. My friend, Finn, and I have decided to adventure out to this house and see how creepy this place is,” Finn read. He handed Brooke’s notebook back to her as he absorbed what he had read.
“Well… what do you think?” Brooke asked nervously.
“I like it. It is quite an intro,” Finn answered.
“Well, I’ll need an amazing intro for an amazing story. I can’t wait to see if this place is spooky,” Brooke replied excitedly.
“I think the landlord will be the spookiest part from what I’ve heard. She even made Heather turn away, and Heather is probably more into creepy stuff than us,” Finn added.
“Well, I’ll see you tonight at six!” Brooke exclaimed. They parted ways as they left the school, not knowing what they were about to get into.
In the following two and a half hours, they tried to prepare themselves for the adventure. Gathering courage proved to be a more difficult task than gathering supplies. Brooke grabbed a flashlight, some water, and a notepad. Finn knew that she would prepare, so he tried to devise a plan for once they got to the house. He was thinking of what they would say to Becky, what to do if they encountered a spirit, and how they would escape if something went wrong. Finally, six o’clock arrived, and they met up outside of the gravel driveway which led to the haunted house.
“So, this is the place. It seems a lot nicer than I expected,” Finn said as he walked over to Brooke.
“Well, the haunted house isn’t visible from the road. That,” Brooke pointed out, “is the house that Becky lives in now.”
“Let’s head up to the house now so we can be out of here by dark,” Finn suggested. He started to walk up the driveway towards the house.
“Why? Are you scared of the dark?” Brooke joked as she elbowed him lightly.
“Of course not!” Finn exclaimed. They continued walking up to the door of Becky’s house. The haunted house slowly became visible, and the clouds grew thicker above them—a mist formed in the woods behind the house, and their fear developed simultaneously.
“Who’s going to knock?” Brooke questioned once they reached the bottom of the steps to the main door.
“I’m not,” Finn replied quickly.
“No, that means that I’ll-"
“Are you kids here to investigate the house out back?” Becky asked from behind them.
“Yes, we are. Are you the owner?” Finn questioned.
“Yep. The name’s Becky,” she replied.
“I’m Brooke, and he’s Finn. It’s lovely to meet you. We’ve heard a lot about this place, and we just had to see for ourselves,” Brooke explained.
“I’ve heard that from a lot of people who come here. The funny thing is, none of them make it past me. Are you ready to hear the warnings?” Becky started ominously.
“As ready as we’ll ever be,” Finn nervously replied. Brooke was intrigued by Becky more than she was scared.
“The first rule: Do not, under any circumstances, turn on a faucet. Whether it be in a usual spot or the middle of a stair, do not touch it. Second, the spirits are harmless. They’re just kids like you two. You remind me of one a bit, Brooke. And last, if you ever find yourself stuck in a room with no door, look behind the largest painting to find it,” Becky explained.
“If a faucet is already on, should we turn it off?” Brooke asked after a moment of thinking.
“No. It’s better to view it as an art piece than a functional object,” Becky answered.
“Is that everything we need to know?” Finn impatiently asked.
“Yes, and if you need anything, call for me. No electricity in there, so those flashlights you brought will be useful. Some spare batteries are in the chest outside the door if they burn out. And don’t pay much attention to the bodies in the corner,” Becky warned.
“Bodies?!” Finn exclaimed.
“Nah, I’m just messin’ with you. Have fun,” she laughed while she walked past them up the steps to her house.
“She said that I remind her of a spirit… I’m not sure about this anymore,” Brooke whispered to Finn as he turned to go to the haunted house.
“I’m sure it’s just a trick to scare us away. We’ve made it too far to go back now,” Finn replied.
“I guess you’re right… I hope we don’t get hurt by anything in there, paranormal or real,” Brooke sighed.
“It’ll be fine,” Finn said. They walked together towards the haunted house, the air chilled with the setting sun.
As they approached the house, a loud grandfather clock began to chime. Two strikes echoed throughout the house and out the weathered windows for Brooke and Finn to hear. They cautiously stepped towards the door with Brooke in the lead. The door quickly swung open, and her flashlight reflected brightly on thick cobwebs gathered in every corner. A chickadee flew outside as the door opened and landed on a lone sunflower next to the house. Brooke tiptoed inside, being careful not to step on a rotting floorboard. Finn followed behind her slowly while looking around at all the strange objects. A few cheap flashlights and a half-empty water bottle littered the floor. A chilly breeze passed them, and the grandfather clock struck two louder chimes again.
“This doesn’t seem very haunted, just extremely run down,” Brooke observed while she shone her flashlight all around the room. A quiet melody starts to play from a room upstairs.
“I think you just jinxed us. That sounds like an out-of-tune piano, not an old music box,” Finn replied.
“Well, why don’t we go investigate? After all, this hasn’t been as bad as we thought,” Brooke suggested before she headed toward the stairwell.
Something crashed behind them once they reached the top of the stairs. Finn glanced down to the first floor, and a pile of books lay on the floor. Brooke continued towards the room where the music was coming from, and she was met with quite a sight. A young woman, not much older than her, sat at the piano. A light haze surrounded the woman, and Brooke could see right through her. The song stopped as the woman noticed Brooke standing at the door.
“Brooke, what’s wrong?” Finn asked as he walked over to her.
“I swear I can see a ghost!” Brooke exclaimed.
“Where?” Finn questioned, looking through the room.
“She’s on the piano bench. Can you not see her?” she asked.
“No… There’s nothing here, Brooke. I think what Becky said got to you,” he replied.
“She’s right there, Finn. I’m not seeing things,” she insisted.
“Leave the house!” a voice boomed throughout the house, making everything shake.
“What was that?!” Brooke exclaimed as she moved closer to Finn in terror.
“Woah, the house shook. It was probably just the wind; it’s nothing to worry about,” Finn reassured her.
“No, there was a voice, too. It said to leave the house,” Brooke shakily explained. Whispers of spirits saying to leave surrounded them, only audible to Brooke.
“There’s nothing here; I think you’re overthinking what Becky told you,” Finn replied.
“Are we even sure that the house is safe to explore?” Brooke questioned.
“That is a good point… the rotting floorboards on the first floor should’ve been a sign not to come up here… Let’s see if there’s anything else up here before going back downstairs,” Finn suggested. They cautiously explored other rooms, a ghost or two warning Brooke to leave each room they entered. Once they entered the last room, the warnings grew louder.
“Finn, I think we need to leave. I don’t understand why you’re not hearing or seeing all of this, but spirits are warning us to leave every second,” Brooke said.
“Alright, there’s nothing interesting here anyways,” Finn reluctantly agreed. Brooke led the way down the steps, and as they neared the door, it disappeared.
“Where did the door go?!” Finn exclaimed.
“We warned you to leave,” a choir of voices echoed around them. Just from his expression, Brooke could tell that Finn heard them this time.
“How do we get out of here?” Brooke questioned as fear threatened to take over her rationality.
“We should see if there’s a window anywhere to get out of,” Finn suggested, equally terrified.
They quickly searched through rooms. Every time they’d leave a room, they walked back down the same hall to a new door. None of these rooms had windows, and the obstacles became increasingly dangerous. Finally, they came across a plain child’s bedroom.
“There’s a window behind the crib!” Finn exclaimed before he raced over to it.
“Does it open?” Brooke asked.
“It looks like it should, but it won’t,” Finn replied while he tried to push it open.
“It probably hasn’t been open in years. Maybe both of us together can open it,” Brooke suggested. They both pushed against the window, unable to open it.
Becky noticed the two’s struggle and hurried over to open the window. Brooke and Finn were unable to see her through a mysterious one-way fog. Voices telling the two to leave only grew louder and closer. Finn decided to search for anything in the room that he could use to smash open the window, but being a child’s room, there was nothing. Brooke noticed the young woman who played at the piano enter the room. The door slammed shut behind her, only spooking Finn and Brooke more.
“The rest of them were coming to hurt you. You aren’t welcome here. Leave quickly,” the girl warned while she held the door shut.
“Kids, get outside!” Becky beckoned after the windows swung open.
“Oh, thank goodness you could open it!” Finn exclaimed once they climbed out of the window. Becky immediately shuts the window again, replacing a lock from the outside. Looking back inside, Brooke and Becky watch a flood of spirits swarm the room.
“What were you two thinking, not heeding the warnings they gave?” Becky scolded.
“I didn’t think they were real warnings,” Finn admitted.
“You two could’ve gotten yourselves hurt. Though I must admit, you’ve got quite a bit of courage staying in there so long,” Becky replied.
“We didn’t mean to disturb your evening, ma’am. We’re sorry,” Brooke apologized.
“Nah, you didn’t disturb me. You just added a bit of excitement to tonight, that’s all,” Becky replied with a smile.
“Is anything broken from the outside because of us?” Finn asked.
“Nope. The door should reappear in an hour or two. I forgot to tell you two not to approach the way you did. Remember that grandfather clock you heard goin’ off? That was the warning bell that two people were approaching,” Becky explained.
“Well, thank you again for saving us. I think we’ve learned our lesson about handling ghosts’ warnings,” Finn thanked.
“It’s nothin’. Come back some time; I’m sure that young ghost would love a bit of company once in a while. She’s got quite a story to tell,” Becky replied.
“We might take you up on that offer. Thank you for being so kind. Have a wonderful weekend!” Brooke said as they prepared to leave.
“See you, kids, later! Don’t forget your flashlight,” Becky replied as she tossed the flashlight to Finn.
“That was some haunted house,” Finn said once they were out of earshot of Becky.
“Yeah, I don’t think any could be scarier. Though, Becky was just a witty lady. She wasn’t that creepy like some people said,” Brooke pointed out.
“Alright, see you tomorrow. Bright and early for school. Yay!” Finn sarcastically exclaimed.
“Don’t remind me… See you!” Brooke replied.
Little did they know what they had gotten themselves into…