THE MYSTERY
OF THE HAUNTED
HOUSE
by
AUTHOR B
Chapter 5
The Chapters
Biff Hooper stood frozen for a few seconds when the lights went out. He could hear several of the girls screaming in fright. He realized that the jack-o-lanterns were giving off a strange glowing light. It wasn’t a bright light, just enough for Biff to distinguish shapes. He made out his father’s form and started towards him.
Tony Prito immediately went in search of his mother. He found her standing by the buffet table.
“Mom, are you okay?”
“Antonio, we need to get everyone out of here!”
*****
As Joe took Iola’s hand in his, he let out a cry when he saw a shadowy form come out of the wall. There were two forms that appeared, Joe took a step back then stopped when one of the forms became a familiar shape.
Frank almost closed his eyes as he stepped into the wall. He kept his eyes open as he led Callie through. When Frank saw his brother, he started to smile – and then Callie saw the glowing red eyes and screamed. Moving closer to Frank, she trembled with fright when a shape began to take form. Soon the eyes had a face…shoulders…a torso and legs.
A woman with disheveled hair stood glaring at the young teens. She took a step forward, and as she did the sound of laughter became louder. Frank moved closer to Joe and Iola, Callie right by his side. The girls let out terrified gasps when they were suddenly surrounded by five children.
Mr. Hooper grabbed hold of Chet’s arm, and yelled over the screams: “Calm down, everyone! Stay close together!”
Biff had bumped into a few students he knew from school; with their help he gathered the few remaining teens and stood with Mrs. Prito and Tony.
“Biff, you all right son?”
“I’m fine, dad – what happened?”
“I don’t know – probably a problem with the circuit breaker.”
“No,” said Mrs. Prito. “It’s the house – and we have to get out of here!”
Mr. Hooper wanted to tell Mrs. Prito that was nonsense. He had heard the rumors about the old place – but for some reason – he knew she was right.
“Look at the walls!” Chet screamed out!
Not wanting to but compelled to look, everyone was shocked when they saw a human form appear to come out of the wall…
Fenton and Laura had been giving out candy to the trick-or-treaters, oohing and aahing at some of the costumes on the younger tricksters. At eleven o’clock, things had slowed down and Fenton went to the family room to watch a few classic horror movies. He found his favorite movie, Frankenstein and settled into his recliner to watch. Ten minutes into the movie, he found that he couldn’t concentrate. He checked the time, and although he knew he was going to be early, decided to head to the Miller house and pick up his sons.
******
The children formed a circle around the four teens. Their pale, pasty-white faces stared sadly at them.
“Who – who are they – where did they come from?!” Callie gasped.
“I think – I think they’re the Miller children and that’s Mrs. Miller!” Frank replied.
“Wh –what do they want with us?” sobbed Iola.
As if in answer to her question, the children started to push Joe and Iola, Frank and Callie back towards the wall….
The human form reached out, as if grabbing for someone. Mrs. Prito pulled Tony closer to her.
“Don’t go near the walls! Stay close together!” she warned.
“We should head for the front door. Everyone hold hands and stay together like Mrs. Prito said!” Mr. Hooper ordered as he held onto Chet and Biff. The group slowly made its way to the front door. Mr. Hooper turned the doorknob and found that the door wouldn’t open!
When Fenton reached the Miller house, an eerie glow was emanating from the two front windows. For a second he thought the house was on fire; it wasn’t until he ran up to the house that he realized the fire-like glow was coming from the two jack-o-lanterns. As he started to climb the front steps, he heard a banging noise coming from the front door.
“Frank – Joe?!”
“Fenton, is that you?” Mr. Hooper stopped what he was doing.
“Yes, it is – what’s wrong?”
“I don’t know! The lights went out and now the door won’t open!”
Fenton didn’t like this – he hoped that Frank and Joe were all right…
One of the children, a boy who looked to be about ten years old, touched Frank’s arm. “You must run – don’t let her touch you!” The boy’s voice had a gurgling sound to it – as if he were talking underwater.
Frank shuddered when he felt the cold clammy hand of the young boy. Still holding onto Callie, he reached out and grabbed hold of Joe’s shirt. With a hard yank, he shoved Joe and Iola through the wall and quickly followed after them….
Fenton was about to suggest kicking the door down when a loud angry wail rose out from the house.
That was enough for the two adults; Mr. Hooper rammed his shoulder into the door while Mrs. Prito kicked at the door….
Joe and Iola stumbled out of the darkened hallway, they found themselves falling to the grassy lawn. Frank and Callie came tumbling out and fell on top of them.
“We’re outside! How did we get here?!” asked a confused Joe.
“I don’t know and I don’t care!” replied Frank as he rolled off his brother. He then helped Callie up as Joe helped Iola – who found herself unsteady on her feet.
“Is it me or is the ground moving?” Iola stared up at Joe with a frightened gleam in her eye.
The four teens realized that the ground was shaking!
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.