The Ghost Hunter Chronicles - A Place of Nightmares Vol 1.

A Place of Nightmares - Chapter 3 The Dumb Waiter.

Lucy O'Donnel rinsed the last dish and popped it in the drainer. She was listening to Pink on her iPod and didn't hear anyone come into the kitchen behind her. She did however have the distinct feeling of being watched. She smiled, trying not to laugh. It had be Corky, the big dog liked to quietly walk up behind you in the kitchen and catch you by surprise. Perhaps a treat may follow?

Lucy grinned and reached under the sink for the dog's Scooby Snacks. "Gotcha!" She yelled and turned round holding up the treat. The kitchen was deserted. The surfaces gleamed, new and clean under the fluorescent lights. No one stood in the doorway either.

Lucy looked around in confusion. She walked through the kitchen to the downstairs living area, jerking the buds out of her ears on her way. It had also been finished just last week and deep sofa's and a big screen TV adorned the room.

There, passed out on the floor in front of the TV were Macy and Corky. Her dad was going over some files on his lap top, Jay and her mother were elsewhere.

Lucy returned to the kitchen and dropped Corky's treat back in the bag. It was then her attention was drawn to the dumb waiter in the left corner. Apparently the Manor had started life as a rich estate belonging to an aristocratic family. Soon after the last of the family died out, it was transformed into a hospital during WWI, and after that a Mental Asylum in the late twenties. After that it was made into an orphanage during WWII. And the dumb waiter, like most of the house had stayed.

Lucy mused over the house's history. With all that history Lucy began to wonder if anything had been left behind.

"Oh don't be stupid! How old are you?" She asked the empty kitchen. Lucy had just turned sixteen and was trying to behave like the adult she wanted to be. She stopped arguing with her mother over clothes and chores, she started taking her studies more seriously. Everything a sixteen year old should be.

Still, she couldn't stop looking at the dumb waiter, and the more she looked, the more she could have sworn the temperature in the kitchen started to drop.

Lucy was getting scared. Something was in there. She knew it.

She wished she could just turn and run out of the kitchen but she felt rooted to the spot. She stood looking at the dumb waiter and jumped out of her skin when a loud thump issued from inside the thing. Thump! Rattle! Thump!

"Agh." Lucy exhaled softly. A rat! Maybe a rat was in there. Lucy hated rats, but a rat would be far better that what her imagination was serving up at this moment.

Lucy finally broke her paralysis and began backing up to grab the broom in the corner. She was thinking of yanking up the door and shooing the rat away with the broom. Never taking her eyes off the door, she was reaching back for the broom. Her hand had just connected with the wooden handle when the thump came again from inside the wall. This time, it was followed by a wet chuckle.

Lucy froze, rats didn't laugh.

She watched the door to the dumb waiter with wide frightened eyes. Again came the sound of a scuffling and banging and that evil little chuckle, and this time the door of the dumb waiter started sliding slowly upwards.

"No." Lucy whispered, her mouth and throat as dry as parchment. Suddenly she realized she didn't want to see what was hiding in there. To see it would make it real. To see it, would drive Lucy into the arms of insanity.

She noticed frost blooming on the stainless steel counter tops and saw her breath mist in front of her like it did at Christmas time. This was the middle of June.

"Luuuuucccccceeeee!" Came the phlegmy voice from the inside the wall, and the door slid up further.

Hot liquid squirted down Lucy's legs and her paralysis broke for a second time, this time propelling her screaming from the kitchen.

She raced into the living area rousing Macy and Corky. Her father jumped up from his desk. Mum and Jay came thundering down the stairs. They took in Lucy's white face and urine stained shorts, and knew something was terribly wrong.

"Lucy what happened?" Asked her mother coming over to envelope her elder daughter in a hug. Lucy tried to stammer a reply, but the minute she recalled the door sliding slyly up on it's own and that creepy voice that knew her name. It all became too much and Lucy fainted. Her mother just barley managing to catch her before she hit the floor.