Haunted(haunted)

Grim Grinning Ghosts

"You did it!!! You have the key!!", William shouted with joy. Then he grabbed her and kissed her. His lips were as cold as death, but there was something sweet and innocent about the kiss. " What just happened?", Kaylee was obviously blushing because she could feel the warmth on her cheeks. "You now will unlock the mystery that everyone in this mansion was trying to discover. Thanks to you this curse will finally be lifted!", he then procceded to pick her up and swing her around. "Um, well I know that the ghosts of this mansion will be free, you included.", she said as she walked toward an open space in the cemetery. Now that she had the key to whatever mystery she needed to unlock, she could go home. She let out a sigh, and sat on the grass. She was so tired from running. It seemed like it was the only thing she did her entire life. "You are weary.", William said as he walked over to her. " Yeah.", she nodded,"My life just got extra complicated. I've gone from running errands and running around outside, to running from ghosts, and saving 900 ghosts.", she laughed. "Actually, it's 999 grim grinning ghosts.", he corrected her with a smile.

"Grim grinning ghosts?", Kaylee asked. "It's a song. Here, let me show you.", he pulled out an old music box out of thin air. It started playing the haunted melody that she heard the first time she walked into the mansion's door. "It's.....that song, that music....", Kaylee said feeling startled, are there any words?" "Yes.", he laughed a bit, and he began to sing it. " When the crypt doors creak and the tombstones quake, spooks come out for a swinging wake. Happy haunts materialize and begin to vocalize. Grim grinning ghosts come out socialize. Now don't close your eyes and don't try to hide or a silly spook may sit by your side, shrouded in a daft disguise, they pretend to terrorize. Grim grinning ghost come out to socialize. As the moon climbs high over dead oak tree, spooks arrive for a midinght spree. Creepy creeps with errie eyes start to shreek and harmonize. Grim grinning ghosts come out to socialize.", his singing voice was handsome and errie. "Wow. Did anyone tell you, were a good singer?", Kaylee oogled at him. If William was alive, he would have blushed,"Thank you. I have been told once, but I have yet to hear yours." "Oh, I can't sing....", she started,"I really wish I could though...." "If you did sing, you'd have the voice of a siren. Your voice is beautiful.", he said in admiration. "Thank you.", she laughed. She could feel her cheeks get red, and she knew she was blushing. He could obviously tell, because he laughed and cleared his throat.

"Stand up, I wanna try something.", he said with a smile in his voice. "What do you want to try?", she asked nervously. He picked her up, princess style, and began to float in the air. Kaylee breathed roughly, by being caught by suprise. "You can fly!", she said as they floated higher in the air. He laughed, " Well what did you expect? I am a ghost." "I wish I could fly.", she said with pure envy. "You are flying. I'm just helping you.", he laughed as he went higher. The moon was full and bright, and the night sky sparkled with stars. When Kaylee looked below her she could see the tall trees and endless fog that engolfed the graveyard. She sighed,'How am I ever going to get out of here?', she thought with saddness. As though he could read her mind, he stopped flying towards the mansion. He was trying to bring her to the mansion and to Madame Leota to solve the query that everyone in the mansion had been trying to solve. Something was off though. He knew this heroine just wanted to go home, that none of this mattered to her, but he was determined to MAKE it matter, so he started to go back to the graveyard to visit some old friends. "What are you doing?", Kaylee nervously said as they began their descent into the graveyard, "I thought we were going to Madame Leota...." "We will, but first I want you to meet some friends of mine.", he said as he lowered her to the ground. "Why?! Don't you want me to solve this mystery?!", she angrily huffed at him. "I KNOW TO YOU IT DOESN'T MATTER! BUT FOR US.....we've been waiting for centuries of discomfort and endless meloncoly nights of wondering the mansion's grounds repeatedly, not knowing how we got here and why we are dead. To you this whole thing is an illsion of some sort. A waking nightmare!! But we have been in this nightmare for decades!! I want you to see who's tortured souls you'll be saving. Then maybe this will give you purpose to solve this query, a driving purpose to make you fearless, and to give you strength to carry on.", he was dragging her to a spot where there was a lady with an umbrella, walking on a tight rope that was beginning to break. Below the lady with the umbrella was crocodile. Kaylee's heart began to beat faster and faster.

"Daisy?", he called out to her."William! Back so soon?!", she said in a french accent. "I want you to meet Kaylee.", he gestured towards her. Kaylee came from behind him and nervously smiled,"Hello." " Giselle?", the pretty girl's eyes started to water as if she were going to cry,"My baby sister! Where have you been?!" She instantly floated off the tight rope and past the crocodile to gracefully land in front of her. She gave her a hug. She was so cold and smelled of pine needles, tree sap, and a strong floal perfume. "I'm not Giselle.", Kaylee said slowly and sadly, "Sorry." "Is it memory loss?", Daisy asked William, "Some sort of spell from the curse?" "I'm afraid not. She isn't Giselle, but she has the key.", William said happily. "Oh, no way the key. She will solve the msytere, no?", Daisy sounded confused but happy. "I....", Kaylee began but was cut off by William," She has the key to the end of this curse and will bring this curse to an end." Kaylee took in a long breath, "Well we'll never solve this mystery out here in the grave yard. Do you want to dilly dally around or do you want some changes to happen?" She was more than annoyed with William and his pushiness to end this curse. She tried to see it his way, what with being doomed for eternity until by chance a mortal came to the haunted mansion to walk inside and find themself involved in unlocking a decades old mystery, she was never doomed like that. The only thing that came close to that was when she lost her grandmother on her dad's side and she was grounded for a month with nowhere to go, but that even sounded like a walk in the park compared to this.

"I want you to meet some other friends of mine.", he told her as he grabbed her arm and led her to another spot where there was busts of several men singing. Their harmony was beautiful. "Daisy, has he always been this pushy?", Kaylee asked the pretty acrobat. Daisy just laughed,"Lets just say it was a miricle my sister had fallen for him. He could be quite dominant at times. At one point, I was ready to turn him into an alligator. I miss my dear baby sister. You look exactly like her. Mother loved us so very much, and trainned us to be acrobats. Giselle did not want to be an acrobat, she wanted to study ballet, and when she failed at that, she wanted take sining lessons. She had a beautiful voice, and when she danced, she danced with great passion. I can't remember what happened the night she went missing......I havent seen her in a long time, until now.", she touched Kaylee's face,"I'm sorry. It's.....it's just......you look so much like her!!" She began to cry. "Hey, it's ok. I'm sorry.....", Kaylee said saddly. "You are apologizing for looking like my sister? How very strange!", she said with a laugh.

"Kaylee, I want you to meet, Ned Nub, Uncle Theodore, Rollo Rumkin, Phineas Pock, and Cousin Al. They are the ones who taught me to sing.", William said with a smile. "Nice to, nice to, nice to, nice to, nice to meet you mam.", they sang to her. "Nice to meet you too.", she laughed, " So, you're the ones responsible for teaching dear William here how to sing like an angel." "When he met my sister, he couldn't sing a note to save his life, but of course Giselle didn't mind that.", Daisy explained. "I wanted to suprise her. If we do meet again, in the afterlife when this curse is lifted, I want to sing with her forever.", William was far off and distant as if he were trying to reach for her from reigons beyond. The sining busts began to sing 'Grim Grinning Ghosts' as they walked away, and into the more haunted part of the graveyard. There were ghosts everywhere. Every different type of ghost you could think of. There was a viking opera singer, a maiden with a candle, two men who shot each other every two minutes, a skinny dog and a shakey caretaker, and a man who had a hatbox and no head. "Where did all of these ghosts come from?", Kaylee said with intrigue. "These ghosts retired here from the afterlife, and ever since this curse happened, they were doomed to wander these grounds, trapped for eternity. That is, until we lift the curse....", William said with purpose. "What will happen when the curse is lifted?", Kaylee asked out of curiousity. "Well, we shall all know the truth, and then, I'm not intirely sure.", William began to wonder about the curse and lifting it, "It's better than wandering and not knowing what caused it. We'll never know until we try. We have to give it a shot."

They then walked over to the ghostly stables, and into the mansion. "I hope I will be able to lift this curse.", Kaylee thought outloud. "You will.", William had the most confidence in her, but it made her sick to her stomach. No one had ever needed her this much.