Scary Stories to Chill Your Bones

Haunted?

In an instant, Jordan knew it was over. That she had lost. That her life was going to slip between her fingers and never return to her body. As she sprinted down the lawn of the old haunted mansion, she tried to remember how all of this had started. If she had acted differently mere hours ago, would things be different? Would she be happily living her life, miles away from Death’s Door, which was wear she was now?

“Jordan, this Saturday, I dare you to come with me to the old haunted mansion, and explore the inside, you know, see what’s what,” Jordan’s best friend Shay had asked Jordan one Friday afternoon at school. They were in the middle of their lunch period, and Shay had apparently come up with “the best idea I’ve ever thought of in my entire life”. Shay was a daredevil. She wasn’t afraid of what other people thought of her, and was always on the lookout for an adventure. “Daring is my middle name,” she told people who asked her why she went white water rafting at the most dangerous place to be in the whole entire United States of America. She had been biking one day on a new path she had never taken before when she noticed a spooky mansion and just had to find out more. She did some research at the library and found out that the mansion had been deserted for over a decade and that it was supposedly haunted by the ghost of a young boy. Knowing that this was her big chance to show off her daring skills, Shay gathered Jordan at lunch for a meeting on what she planned to do on the weekend. At first, Jordan had hesitated. “I don’t know,” she said. “I don’t really like scary stuff.”  But finally, her ability to repel Shay’s persuasive words atrophied, and she gave in.

 On Saturday morning, Jordan had jumped right out of bed. She dressed at hypersonic speed, something she had become proficient at over the years Shay had dragged her into going on dangerous journeys. She made sure to put a pencil and paper in her pocket, in case there was anything she needed to write down. She wanted to get to the mansion before her mom could wake up and harangue her on how she had forgotten to take out the recycling last night, because Jordan had a knack for forgetting things like that. Her mom could be quite demonic in the mornings, and the fact that Jordan had forgotten to feed the cat just added to the effect.

Half an hour later, Jordan was coasting her bicycle to a stop in front of the old mansion. Right away, she knew she had made a mistake by agreeing to come. Even though it was a bright and sunny day, the mansion was in the shadow of a myriad of dying trees that reached their branches out like arms toward Jordan. The early morning breeze that swayed the branches just made them look even more alive, like at any moment they could reach out and grab Jordan, pulling her into the depths of despair. The mansion looked more than noxious, it looked deadly. Jordan was just about to jump on her bike and skedaddle on home, when Shay came around the corner. “Sorry I’m late,” she said breathlessly. “But my brother wanted to give me this grandiloquent speech on the Periodic Table or something like that and just wouldn’t let me leave. I don’t know why, but he’s into geeky stuff like that.” Jordan smiled and looked at Shay’s shirt. It had a picture of a roller coaster and said, “I survived the Turbulent Twist!” “I like your shirt,” Jordan said. “Thanks,” said Shay. “I, um, like yours. Dromedaries are very in these days.” Jordan felt her face getting hot as she glanced down at her shirt, which had a picture of a camel on it. It was no secret that Jordan loved camels, even thought it was sort of unusual. “Thanks,” she mumbled. “It’s quite an accolade that you like my shirt. Anyway, I’m not sure if I really want to go inside the mansion. It’s, well, a little scarier than I thought it would be.” Shay stifled a yawn. “It’s nothing,” she said. “Let’s just go.” Jordan took a deep breath, and then said, “Okay,”

“Now, let’s split up,” said Shay, once they were inside. Jordan was not on board with that plan at all, but then an idea popped into her head. Besides, even if she had tried to argue with Shay, she definitely would have lost the argument. So she said, “Okay, I’ll go right, you go left,” Shay nodded, and both of them went their separate ways. But in her head, Jordan had a master plan. She would walk down her hall for a few minutes, and then turn back and leave. She knew it wasn’t very nice to Shay, but Shay was the one who wanted the adventure, not her.

After a few minutes of walking down the deserted hallways that were covered in a thick layer of dust, Jordan turned around and started to walk back to the entrance of the mansion. That’s when things started to go wrong. A harsh, raspy voice filled the hallway. “Wait a minute, Missy!” it said. Thump, thump, thump. Jordan looked behind her to see that a ghost was following her. It was tall, and sleek, with a structure as white as a sheet. It resembled a human boy, except there were dark holes instead of eyes. Jordan screamed, and ran as fast as she could down the hall. She didn’t dare look behind her, for louder thumping noises told her that the ghost was still following her. Her breath became short, sharp gasps and her heart leapt into her throat. When she got to the door, she threw it open and ran through it at full speed. 

As Jordan ran across the lawn, her knees started to give way, and she knew she couldn’t keep running for much longer. She was starting to slow, and suddenly she felt the ghost’s breathing on the back of her neck. And in an instant, Jordan knew it was over. That she had lost. That her life was going to slip between her fingers and never return to her body. But as the ghost caught up with her, it didn’t pull out a knife and kill her. It didn’t even hurt her. “Miss?” it said in the same raspy voice. Jordan slowly turned, knowing she was about to die. But she looked into its face and saw the round, dark holes where the eyes should have been had been replaced by eyes. In fact, the ghost had become completely human. She was staring into the face of a small boy, who said, “Miss? I was just following you to tell you that you dropped your pencil on the floor.” And he reached into his pocket and pulled out the pencil she had taken with her. Was this all a joke? Was he doing this just to get her guard down, planning to kill her the second she took the pencil? But Jordan realized that it wasn’t. She took the pencil, said thanks, and then walked up the lawn toward the mansion, to tell Shay the truth about the story that the mansion was haunted.