Death is a Surprise Attack, Jay Cruson [leveled readers txt] 📗

I

It was just a normal Saturday morning in October when my phone started ringing. “Brianna Slecker here, what do you want?” That was my normal greeting. I did not expect a loud burst of noise, especially since it was my quiet best friend Joanne Evergood.

“Oh my god, guess what?” She sounded like she was about to piss her pants anytime now.

“What?” I was suspicious.

“Misery Manor opened early this year, we should go.”

Misery Manor is the local haunted house. Some say the screams late at night means it’s actually haunted. I say bull crap, I’ve been in there tons of times and not once did I see an actual ghost. It’s our annual ritual to go and scare ourselves before trick or treating.

“When, today?”

“Yes, today. Come on, Bri. You always complain about it not being open this early. And Jake said he would take us.”

“Fine. Come get me.”

“We will. We’re on our way right now.” Click. She pisses me off sometimes.

Twenty minutes later, we are walking the five blocks to Misery Manor.

Misery Manor has its own little background story. According to legend, it was once a fine castle like mansion. Then, the owner mysteriously died in his late forties. The cause of death is still unknown to science. Every day after his death, his house slowly started falling to disrepair. Only in the last twenty years did people decide to use it one last time before it fell completely apart.

“How did you find out before anyone else?” Jake asked Jo.

“There’s a whole online chat room about it. Sometimes, like today, the manager will post things like a surprise opening or amazing deals.” Jo replied in one breath.

“Wow, stalker much?” Jake teased.

“Give her a break, this is the first time we’re here earlier than everybody else.” I defend my best friend against my crush sometimes. That is not a bad thing. They both gave me a funny look.

“What? It’s not like we’ve always been early. Or on time.” Now I defend myself. Wow. A silence followed that.

“Wonder when they’ll let us in.” Jake peered through the glass window. A face stared back.

“Hello, children. How are you?” It was old Mrs. Worthington, the manager’s wife.

“When will the tour begin?” I asked.

“In five minutes. Why don’t you come in and have a glass of lemonade while we wait?”

“Thanks, Mrs. Worthington.” Jo ducked inside.

“Walking through those doors almost feels like coming home.” I whispered to Jake.

“Yeah, until an evil ghost comes up behind you and kills you.” He joked. I shoved him into the table.

“Oops sorry Mrs. Worthington.” I apologized while cleaning up the mess I made.

“Oh, not to worry. I think we have plenty of cookies in the back. I’ll go grab them.” I watched her leave before turning on Jake.

“What did you mean about evil ghosts? This place isn’t actually haunted is it?” I turned to find Jo.

“Yeah. Legend goes that there was a person twenty years ago who got separated from the pack going to the bathroom and they never found their way back. People found them years later. The cause of death was starvation and thirst.”
“Wow, they were lost for a long time.”

“Yeah.” We stopped talking there because Mrs. Worthington just walked in.

“I think it’s time for the tour. Why don’t you get your blonde friend ready?”

“Where is Jo?” I asked Jake.

“Jo! Come on.” He called.

“Ready?” She came back, with a strange light in her eyes.

“We are, are you?”
“Yes, let’s go!”

We followed Mrs. Worthington to the front doors and ducked underneath her arms to join the surprisingly large crowd. She said the usual greeting slash warning and let everyone in.

“This is the murder scene of Mr. Everard. Some say his spirit still haunts this room.” We followed her quick pace out the door, but we still saw Josh Endgap pretending to be “Mr. Everard”. He was the school secretary and took part in the haunted house gig for fifteen bucks per tour. He let out a feeble word that could have been “Help” and then screamed at the top of his lungs. We turned around and he winked at us. We smiled.

“I can definitely see what you meant when you said this place felt like home. I’m gonna miss it till next year.” Jake whispered in my ear.

“Shhhh! We’re entering the Torture Chambers.” Jo glared at us.

“Funny, I thought we were at Misery Manor, not the school hallway about to enter the classrooms.” I whispered to Jake. He laughed softly.

“Then again, they’re like the same thing.” He said. I laughed, earning another glare from Jo.

We walked into the Torture Chambers and tried to hear Mrs. Worthington’s quiet voice over the loud screech of a mechanical chainsaw and the tortured whimpers of prisoners. Jo started moving toward us with an unreadable expression.

“I’ve got to go.” She said.

“Go where?” I asked.

“The bathroom.” She replied.

“Then go.” Jake said.

“I don’t want to go alone.” She looked scared.

“Fine we’ll go with you.” Jake said, irritated.

We separated ourselves from the group and started walking.

“Does anybody actually know where the fricking bathrooms are?” Jake asked.

“I think they’re on the fourth floor. Or maybe the fifth.” Jo replied, anxious.

“Great! We get to go explore a haunted house alone. That’s my Christmas.” I said, rolling my eyes. We continued down the hall.

“But of course! The elevator doesn’t work, so we have to take the long stairs.” Jo was irritated now. We climbed the stairs for a while.

“Why are all the lights red? Weren’t they white a minute ago?” Jake asked.

“I think they’re motion censored, for the tour. You know how some lights know when there’s movement going on and they turn on even though they were off? I think these change from white to red. To make it seem scarier.” Jo replied.

“Well then, they’re working if that’s the purpose. I’m officially freaked.” I said.

“Or maybe, it was Joe Shmoe who died a while ago. Remember the story I told you?” Jake said with a smile on his face.

“Jacob Michael Evergood, or maybe you should be called Everbad. Shut up for ten seconds about that old story. Everybody knows that ghosts aren’t real.” Jo lashed at him.

I was not about to tell her that I believe that story. It does seem like a very likely place to get lost. I wondered if we were lost.

“Isn’t that the same old statue we passed just back there?” Jo asked Jake.

“I think so. I can’t remember. What did the statue look like?” Jake asked.

“Just like that.” She whimpered.

“I’m sure they like that statue. There’s nothing wrong here.” I tried to comfort her.

“Let’s just hurry up and go.” Jake said.

We walked to the end of that hall, only to feel a freezing draft. I tried to ignore it, but every time I thought it was gone, a colder blast hit me. It lasted like that for ten minutes before I turned to Jake and Jo. They looked frozen as well.

“So I’m not the only one who feels that draft?” I asked them.

“Draft? You call this a draft?” Jake laughed, “This is more like the Arctic winds.”

“I-I-I-I’m f-f-f-freezing.” Jo shivered.

“Let’s keep moving, maybe it’s just a weird thing. Oh look, the stairs.” I pointed to the staircase.

“Hopefully it’s warmer on the next floor.” Jake said. Well, it was.

“I’m sweating.” Jo complained, “It’s ruining my make up.”

“Get over it.” I snapped. Then I stared at her. I never got sharp tongued with her.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“Let’s calm down. It’s just fear.” Jake tried to soothe it over.

“No! What’s wrong, Brianna? Don’t like the fact that I can wear it and you can’t? Tell me!”

“I don’t like the fact that you’re acting like a jerk right now.” I yelled.

“Then go back!” She screamed.

“Enough! You two are best friends. Stop yelling at each other.” Jake shouted.

We stared at each other for a while. I could not look directly into her eyes. I knew she hated me now. What did I do?

“I’m sorry, Bri. I didn’t mean anything I said.” She was trying to look into my eyes. I continued staring at the floor.

“Yeah. I’m sorry, too.” I whispered. Next thing I knew, something was choking me. I looked up to see Jo and Jake fighting off the same thing I was. Their faces turned purple, and they dropped to the floor.

“JAKE! JO!” I ran over to them. I tried to perform CPR, but I guess they were already dead.

“Oh no. What happened?” I started crying.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?” I shrieked towards the empty hall. I knew it wouldn’t help, I was mad. Then, a figure appeared. Blurry and transparent at first, but as it slowly came into view, I saw Mrs. Worthington.

“My, my, my. I am terribly sorry I had to do that, it was necessary.” She smiled at me.

“What do you mean? You didn’t do anything.” I was confused. She was giving the tour, no way had it completed already.

“Ah,” She looked at me again. “That is where you are mistaken. The large group of people was an illusion that I caused to earn your trust. I saw you were confused about the size, I thought I had blown my cover. But you ignored that minor detail for the time being. Then, your blonde friend Jo started getting very suspicious. ‘How can we hear her quiet whisper over that chainsaw?’ She looked up at me and saw that my eyes had turned red, as they quite often do when someone knows something they shouldn’t. She worked her way back towards you and the brunette.

“She knew she couldn’t say anything while within eye shot of me, I would hear her thoughts loud as day. She told you that she had to go to the ladies’ room, all the way on the sixth floor. You, of course, followed her. I couldn’t touch you then. As soon as you left the room, I knew the house would change and you would not be trackable.

“I erased the illusion when I heard the little mice on the second floor squeak in terror. I knew you were there-“

“You killed my friends? Go to hell!” I wanted to punch her. It felt like her eyes were keeping me pinned to the floor beside Jo.

“All in due time. Now, where was I before you started yelling profanities at me? Oh, yes. I remember now.

“I knew you were on the second floor. That was the safest floor for you, though it was cold. I believed I had lost you to the extreme weather. Then, I heard the flutter of flies’ wings on floor three. You were there. I could almost touch you then. I had to wait till you got here. On floor four, the one floor in the entire house that caused the inhabitants to go insane. The brunette, Jake, was the only one unaffected. I had to kill them to get to you because you wouldn’t believe everything I just told you unless you had just experienced a great trauma. And even if you wanted to say you still don’t believe me, you would have to face the fact that your friends had died in vain.” She clapped her hands and smiled as though she had just won a board game. Which, I found myself thinking, was probably what this whole situation was to her.

“You evil demon!” I started running towards her. I suddenly ran into a clear wall.

“What the--?”

“I understand you are very upset, but it is crucial that you let me finish. When I saw you for the first time, something strange happened. I felt a tug towards you. I needed you to stay with me in the house. Then was not the time to tell you. You would pass it off as a joke. I allowed the house to let you go. The next year, you came back. My pull was stronger, but still very weak.