The robed man laughed out loud, as if this were some kind of sick joke. He appeared several feet away from where he’d been standing just a minute ago. “Time is ticking,” he said, and vanished into the darkness.
Jacky didn’t hesitate for a second. She dropped down on her knees and felt around for her cell phone, desperate for even the tiniest bit of light.
Next to her, Ben groaned and mumbled something about how stupid it was for his parents not to get him a cell phone as well. “What are we going to do?” he asked, as if she suddenly had all the answers.
Her hand bumped into the cold frame of the cell phone. She picked it up and pushed a few random buttons, until the light was back on. Her battery was almost empty, but she didn’t want to think about that.
“Cass?” she yelled, ignoring Ben’s question.
She took a few hesitant steps forward, expecting to bump into the robed figure at any moment, but it appeared he had really vanished. She made her way toward the coffin ride, step by cautious step.
“Cass?” she asked again, looking at the closed lid for a handle or some way to open it.
No reply.
Ben appeared next to her. “Maybe she got out.”
“No way. Why would the lid still be closed then? She’s in there. She’s probably just scared. Come on, help me open it.”
They grabbed the lid from opposite ends and pulled up, but the coffin wouldn’t budge.
“Let’s both grab the same side,” she suggested.
She walked over next to Ben, put the cell phone between her teeth, and lifted with both hands. The lid shouldn’t be this heavy—it simply wasn’t possible. Ben groaned next to her, but even when they used their combined strength, the cover didn’t even move.
“Now what?” He glanced at the ticking grandfather clock at the end of the corridor. “We don’t have much time.”
Jacky bent over the coffin, nearly dropping her cell phone when she saw what was going on. About a dozen nails had been driven into the sides of the lid, locking Cass up inside.
“It’s nailed shut,” she said, barely believing her own eyes. Her heart hammered in her chest.
“What? When? How….” Ben’s breath got stuck in his throat. “Oh God, Jacky, we’ve got to get out of here.”
She understood that now more than ever, as well, but she couldn’t leave Cass alone. She tugged at the nails with her bare hands, but without some kind of tool to pry them up, it was no use.
“We have to go,” he said after a few more tries. “This is useless. We’re wasting time.”
He grabbed her arm, but she yanked her arm out of his grip. “I’m not leaving without Cass.” She turned back to the coffin. “Cass? Cass, can you hear me? Please talk to me so I know you’re in there.”
For the longest minute of her life, everything inside the coffin stayed quiet, and panic grabbed Jacky by the throat. If Cass wasn’t in there, then where the heck was she?
Then a soft whimper escaped from inside. “I… I’m scared.”
Jacky’s heart broke. “Don’t worry, we’ll get you out.” She turned to face Ben, tears forming in her eyes. “We have to find something to pry open the coffin.”
He shot another look at the clock. “We already lost six minutes—”
“Go find something,” she snapped. She didn’t want to think about their time slipping away, or about what would happen if they couldn’t get Cass out in time. “Anything to crack this open.”
He vanished, and she suspected he’d done as she said. She leaned over the coffin. “Cass….” She suddenly remembered the robed figure’s words. “Is this your worst fear?”
After a moment that stretched on forever, her best friend finally replied. “Yes. I… my sis and I played hide and seek once, and I got stuck in a trunk for hours.”
“Okay,” Jacky said. “Listen to me, Cass. This is all about facing your fears. You hear me? You have to face your fear.” She had no idea if it would work, but she had to give her friend some hope, some reason not to give up. “Think happy thoughts, like about that time we went shopping for Halloween costumes. Remember that day? I was trying on this witch costume, and my foot got stuck?”
“Yes,” Cass said, her voice still timid.
“So you helped me get out, and then we both fell on the floor. That was pretty hilarious, right?”
“I guess. Jacky… you can go on. Get out of here.”
“No! I’m not going anywhere without you, Cass. And if that creep comes back, then I’ll kick his knees so hard he’ll have bruises for years.”
Cass let out a dry, humorless laugh.
Ben materialized behind Jacky. He shook his head.
She took a deep breath. “We can’t find anything to pry the lid open, Cass, but don’t you worry. I won’t leave you here. Ben can go look for help, and I’ll stay with you.” She had no idea where she found the courage from, but she wasn’t about to leave her friend alone when she needed her the most.
“No.” Cass’s voice sounded louder this time, more determined. “You’re not staying here, Jacky. Get out. Save yourself. I’ll manage. The two of you get out, and get help.”
She hadn’t even finished her sentence before the nails started popping out, one by one.
Jacky stared at it, mouth wide open. “Oh God,” she muttered. “Oh.” Then she yelled, “Cass!”
“What?”
“You did it! You overcame your fear. Hold on, we’ll get you out in a minute.”
With the nails popped out they had no trouble lifting up the lid of the coffin ride. They threw it on the floor, and then helped Cass get up.
Cass looked shaken, her face an eerie alabaster color in the cell phone’s faint light, but at least she was unharmed. Jacky wrapped her arms around her slim shoulders.
“I don’t want to disturb your reunion,” Ben said, taking another meaningful look at the clock, “but we’ve got to go.”
“Right.” She released Cass. “Did you find an exit?”
“No. There’s no way in or out of this hallway, as far as I can tell, but it’s kind of hard without a light.”
She went over to inspect the walls, Cass tailing closely behind. “The more time I spend in here,” she said, “the more I’m convinced this is the exact same hallway we entered earlier. You know, with the clock.”
“But that’s not possible,” Cass said. “We passed through the clock, remember?”
“I know.”
Still, she couldn’t shake the feeling. The walls had the exact same colored wallpaper, and the lights, albeit broken here, hung at the exact same places. Then there was that same grandfather clock ticking the seconds away.
“Feel the walls. There must be a hidden door or something.” At least, she hoped so.
She trailed the walls with her hands, and stopped when she saw blood spatters halfway up the wall. Fake or not, she definitely didn’t want to find out.
Cass and Ben frantically pushed against the walls, until Cass finally yelled. “Found it!”
Jacky rushed over toward her friend, nearly stumbling. “What?”
“The wall gives in if you push here.” She grasped Jacky’s hand and led it toward the wall.
Jacky pushed against the wood and, indeed, it budged. “Come on, guys, all together.”
The three of them put their shoulders to the wall and began pushing.
The wall moved backwards, squeaking like a door that hadn’t been opened in centuries, and the trio tumbled forward onto the floor.
“Well, well,” a voice Jacky faintly recognized said. “Who do we have here?”
Chapter 8
Jacky squinted, but she couldn’t make out the owner of the voice. Bright, burning light blinded her. The voice sounded like a broken vinyl record, and it belonged to a woman. One thing was for sure, it wasn’t the voice they’d heard earlier, or the tall guy’s voice.
“Aunt Cassandra?” Cass squeaked next to her, and stumbled to her feet. “Is that you?”
“Th
e one and only.”
The light dimmed slightly, or maybe it was just Jacky getting used to it, but she could make out the shape of Cass’s great-aunt Cassandra, a hunched-back, ancient woman with skin wrinkled like an old treasure map.
“What are you doing here?” Cass asked. “Have you come to save us?”
It took a moment before Cassandra replied, but then she let out a loud, cackling laugh. “Save you? That’s a good one. No, my dear, I haven’t come here for you at all.” She pointed a long, bony figure toward the huddled shape of Ben, pressed against the wall.
Ben had pulled his legs toward his chest. He was shaking all over, and the color of his skin resembled the color of a corpse.
“I’ve come for him.”
Jacky jumped to her feet, and glanced from the old woman to Ben to Cass. She raised her eyebrows and blinked. “Now it all makes sense.”
“What does? I’m still lost,” Cass said.
“Why Ben never was nice to you,” she explained. “He wasn’t nice to you because he’s afraid of your aunt. So afraid, actually, that she’s his worst fear.”
Cass’s eyes shot wide open and she glared at Ben. “So that’s why you were mean to me sometimes.”
He didn’t respond, his eyes still glued on Cassandra.
Most kids were afraid of the old woman, but Jacky never realized she was Ben’s worst fear. “Ben, snap out of it. Cass’s aunt is really very nice. I went there once, and she baked me cookies. They were delicious.”
“Mom….” Ben rocked back and forth. “Mom says she’s a witch.”
“Well, your mom is wrong,” Cass said. “Come on, Ben, you’ve got to fight your fear.”
Cassandra’s laugh echoed through the room. “Fight your fear? Well, perhaps you can fight fear, but you can’t fight me!”
With a speed Jacky would have thought impossible for such an old woman, Cassandra lunged forward, grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up.
Ben’s legs dangled in the air as he started screaming.
“Your mommy was right, little boy,” the old woman said. “I’m a witch, and I eat little kids for supper. Tonight, you’re on the menu.”
Cass launched herself forward and yelled, “Let go of him, Aunt Cassandra!”
“Cass,” Jacky said, grabbing her friend’s shoulder. “I don’t think that’s your aunt.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Of course it is! She’s not a witch, though. I’ve no idea why she’s saying that—”
“It’s an illusion,” Jacky said. “Ben’s worst fear. If he conquers his fear, she’ll vanish. Your aunt isn’t really here.”
“Help me!” he cried out, kicking all around him.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, Ben.” Jacky tried to reason with him. “She’s just an old woman. Look, she’s barely taller than you are!”
He was too panicked to look. He clutched at the strong hand holding him, his face turning blue.
“I’ll be sorry for this if that’s really my great aunt,” Cass said.
Before Jacky could ask her why she said that, Cass rushed forward and pushed hard against the old woman. Cassandra tripped and tumbled backward. Barely able to hold herself up straight, she dropped Ben on the floor.
“Look!” Cass yelled at him “I can defeat her. So can you!”
A startled Ben looked up, narrowed his eyes, and blinked a few times, as if seeing the old woman for the first time. “I don’t have to be afraid,” he said. “She’s just a regular person. No witch.”
“That’s right,” Cass said. “No witch.” She turned around to look at Cassandra, but the old woman had disappeared.
“Come on,” Jacky said, offering him a hand to get up. “I can’t believe your worst fear was Cass’s aunt.”
“Well, my mom is kind of superstitious, and she’s been telling me stories about witches since I was a little kid.” He blushed, embarrassed his friends had found out the truth. “I’m sorry, Cass.”
“That’s okay,” she said. “At least my aunt is easy to defeat.”
“Yeah, about that….” Jacky scratched her neck.
“Oh no,” Cass said. “Don’t tell me your worst fear is something near impossible to fight.”
“Well, funny you mention it….”
She was interrupted mid-sentence by loud footsteps from behind them. The person approaching them stepped confidently, as if taking a stroll through the park. Spiders crawled all over Jacky’s back as the stranger began whistling a tune.
“What’s that?” Cass whispered.
Jacky turned to her friends and yelled, “Run!”
Chapter 9
The three of them ran in the opposite direction of the person approaching them, as fast as their legs could carry them. Thank God that at least now they had light bursting from the lamps on each side of the room.
“What is your worst fear?” Ben asked between ragged breaths.
“Trust me, it’s better you don’t know,” she said.
A wall appeared in front of them and she nearly bumped into it. The hallway continued to the right, and they all dashed in that direction. More light streamed in at the end of the corridor.
“A door!” Cass yelled. “And it’s open.”
“And it says exit!” Ben added.
A large neon sign flickered above the door. The sign that could save their lives.
The footsteps behind them droned on, and that eerie, frightening whistling continued, but the exit was close. They could make it.
Then the door slammed shut.
“No!” Cass yelled out.
The tune grew louder as the person approaching them came closer. An extra sound mixed in with the tune. Tock, tock.
Ben was the first one to reach the door. He pulled the door knob, grimacing from the effort, but the door was locked.
Sweat dripped down Jacky’s back, not so much from sprinting as from the fear crawling up on her.
Tock, tock.
Cass and Jacky stopped right in front of the door, gathered their strength, and pushed against it. The door didn’t even move.
Because she hadn’t faced her greatest fear yet. The door wouldn’t let them out until Jacky had come face to face with her worst nightmare.
“What is it?” Cass snapped at her. “What is your worst fear?”
She blinked. In all the years she’d known her friend, she’d never once snapped at her.
“An axe….” she said. “An axe murderer. I stayed up one night to watch this horror movie my parents said I couldn’t watch, and it’s been my worst fear ever since.”
“Awesome,” Ben said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “An axe murderer is out to get us. How the heck do you defeat an axe murderer? Isn’t it logical that everyone is afraid of that?”
“Guess the house doesn’t care.” Cass backed up against the door.
Jacky took a deep breath and gathered her courage. “I’ve got to face this thing,” she said, but she couldn’t bring herself to move away from the wooden door behind her. Fear paralyzed her at the spot.
Tock, tock. And the eerie tune, closer this time.
The murderer appeared in the shadows. He looked like the tall man they’d met at the ticket booth, slender with a gaunt face, cracked lips, large nose. He held an axe in his hand, and chopped it into the wall, the source of the tock, tock noise.
The scariest part was how emotionless he seemed, an empty bag waiting to be filled with emotion of any kind. He chopped the axe into the wall once more, and pulled it out. The blade was covered in blood.
She tried to see things reasonably. Cassandra had been an illusion, so this axe man probably was as well. Why would the blade be covered in blood? It’s not like anyone else was in the House of Horrors.
Or maybe there was. Maybe they just hadn’t noticed. Maybe those people had the same worst fear as she had.
Her nerves broke down and trembles started all over her body.
“Come on,” Cass said, fumbling with the door knob. “Open up.
”
“Oh God, oh God, oh God,” Ben said next to her.
“Leave them alone,” Jacky managed. “I’m the one you’re after.”
The man stopped walking, halting right in the middle of the hallway, the axe hanging loosely from his outstretched hand. He didn’t stop whistling, though, and somehow his stillness unsettled them even more than his stalking had.
Jacky’s knees trembled. She prayed the axe was an illusion, just like Cassandra had been, but the blade looked so real, stained with blood. Nevertheless, she had to do this. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and took a step forward.
“I’m not afraid,” she said, even though she still trembled. But she wasn’t afraid to face her fear.
The man put his feet wider apart, and lifted up the axe.
She closed her eyes, awaiting the final blow but hoping it would never come.
A sudden wind passed by her head.
She hesitated at first, opening one eye only. Nothing. The man had vanished into thin air. She opened up her other eye and breathed a sigh of relief.
“We did it,” Cass said from behind her. “We conquered our fears.” She threw her arms around Jacky and pulled her into a hug.
They let go, and Jacky pulled the door handle. The door sprang open and light flooded in, revealing the contours of the room they’d first entered when they’d walked into the House of Horrors: the coffin ride, the machinery booth.
“Oh, thank God,” Ben said. “I never thought we’d get out of there alive.”
“Well,” a low, teasing voice said, “you haven’t made it out just yet.”
Chapter 10
“You promised!” Jacky cried out at the robed man who’d appeared in front of them. “You promised that if we faced our fears, you’d let us go.”
“Ah, that I did. But you haven’t really conquered your fears, have you? I made you come face to face with your worst nightmare, but that’s not exactly the same as your worst fear.”
Weirdville: House of Horrors (Lower Grade Spooky Fun Adventure) Page 3
