THE MYSTERY
OF THE HAUNTED
HOUSE
by
AUTHOR B
Chapter 6
The Chapters
Rebecca Miller was angry. She had been so close, the girl had let go of the boy’s hand. But the boy’s love for her was too strong. And then her children…her own children had defied her! They helped them escape…but there were still others in the house – and they weren’t going to get away!
“Frank – what’s happening?!” Joe yelled out.
“It feels like an earthquake!” Frank replied, his eyes filled with fear. “Joe, we need to find out if everyone else is okay!”
“I don’t want to go back in there!”
“We have to, but not the way we came out! We have to try and go to the front of the house. Callie, do you think you and Iola can make it?”
Callie and Iola turned to look at each other then back at the Hardy brothers.
“Lead the way, Frank!”
It was difficult; the four teens stumbled clumsily along to the front. Callie tripped over the hem of her skirt. As Frank helped her back up, she mumbled: “I knew I should have dressed as ‘Dorothy’!”
Joe wasn’t having an easy time either – his costumed feet kept causing him to trip. When he fell to the ground for the third time, Joe tore off the wolf’s feet in frustration. Iola helped him up; she kept a tight hold on his hand as they continued on towards the front yard…
The loud screeching wail had brought out several of the neighbors who were scared and curious as to what was going on. It took a few seconds for some of them to realize that something strange was happening. The Miller house appeared to be shaking off its foundation.
Fenton noticed that the door was starting to give…
Mr. Hooper, Biff and Chet rammed their bodies into the door. With a resounding crack the door collapsed. Mr. Hooper moved aside and pushed the teens out the door. Tony followed behind his mother, he held onto her arm above the elbow, trying to keep her steady.
Fenton had helped two teen girls down the steps as the ground continued to shake. Meanwhile, Frank, Callie, Joe and Iola made it to the front lawn.
“Dad!”
“Joe – Frank, thank goodness you’re all right!”
Chet saw his sister and carefully made his way towards her. “Iola are you okay?”
Iola gazed up at Joe, her eyes shining with admiration. “I’m fine – Joe took very good care of me.”
Chet just chuckled when he saw Joe blush. Suddenly someone let out a scream. “The house – look at the house!”
There was a terrible ripping noise that resounded throughout the air; the house rose up from the ground. A dark cloud hovered above as a gust of wind tore through, chilling everyone to the bone. With a loud explosion the house buckled inside itself and disappeared.
Those closest to the house, the Hardys, the Mortons and Hoopers, Tony and Mrs. Prito and Callie were thrown backwards, landing hard on the ground. The church bells began to chime the midnight hour.
Fenton slowly rose to a sitting position; he found Frank lying close by and went over to him, checking to see if he was hurt.
“Frank, are you hurt?”
“No, just got the breath knocked out of me,” he moaned. “Where’s Joe?”
“I’m right here, Frank – I’m okay.” Joe gave his brother a teasing smile, “but I’d check on your girlfriend if I were you.”
Frank could feel his face turning hot as he scrambled up off the ground to go check on Callie. As he held out his hand to help her up, the church bells went silent.
Joe was helping Iola to her feet; he looked around nervously as an eerie silence fell all around them. What was going to happen now? Iola drew closer to Joe, Chet moved nearer to his sister as the three teens glanced at each other with apprehension.
They heard a soft giggle – and then the crickets started to chirp, a light breeze made the leaves rustle. Chet stared down at his sister. “How are we going to explain this to dad?”
A small smile flitted across Iola’s face, then she began to snicker, which turned into a hearty laugh. “We could always tell him you tried another scientific experiment!”
Mrs. Prito stood silently staring at the now empty lot. Tony walked over to his mother and took her hand, she smiled at her son. “Everything is going to be okay now. The evil is gone – the Miller children can rest easy now.”
******
Police Chief Ezra Collig kept shaking his head as he looked over where the Miller house once stood. He watched as the firemen walked around and over the foundation. If he was to believe what Fenton Hardy had told him…the Miller house had somehow vanished into thin air? Chief Collig stared over at Fenton, and he let out a sigh. Fenton wasn’t someone who would imagine things, or make up a strange tale like this. And Mr. Hardy wasn’t the only person to see the house disappear the way it did. The whole neighborhood had! Although Collig had heard a lot of rumors about the Miller house, he himself never believed any of them. But after what happened tonight….He let out another sigh.
“I think I can say I’ve finally seen and heard everything!” mumbled the haggard Chief of Police.
Fenton was speaking with Mr. Morton and Mr. Shaw. Frank stood with Callie by her father’s car. He wanted to thank her for being there for him. Callie leaned against the car staring at Frank; he was so shy and handsome. She was hoping that he would ask her out on a proper date.
“Let’s go, Frank; I’m sure your mother is getting very worried about you and your brother.”
Stuffing his hands in his pants pocket, Frank gave Callie a small smile. “I’ll see you Monday at school.”
Trying not to look disappointed, Callie gave Frank her best smile. “Okay, bye Frank.”
As Frank was walking towards Fenton’s car, he saw Joe with Iola. He paused for a moment as he watched his younger brother.
Joe, blushing furiously, gazed down at Iola. He took a deep breath: “Iola, would you like to go out to the movies with me next Saturday?”
Iola beamed happily. “Yes – I’d like that very much!”
Not caring what his brother would say, or what Chet would say either – Joe kissed Iola on the lips.
Frank couldn’t believe what he just heard. His younger brother was going out on his first date! Frank turned to look over at Callie. He really liked her. What was he doing letting her go without a kiss goodbye?! Turning around, with a determined step Frank walked back to Callie.
“Excuse me, Callie – there’s something I wanted to ask you.”
“Yes, Frank?”
When Frank didn’t say anything, Callie was afraid that he was never going to ask her out!
“If I promise that you won’t see any ghosts or goblins – would you like to go out for some pizza and a movie next Friday night?”
“Even with ghosts or goblins, I’d go out with you, Frank.”
As much as he wanted to kiss Callie on the lips, Frank gave her a quick peck on the cheek.
“I’ll call you tomorrow!” he said as he ran towards the family car.
******
Not finding any open gas lines, the fire chief gave the okay to leave. The firemen got into the fire truck and drove away from the now sleeping neighborhood.
No one saw the strange red glow hovering over the empty lot where the Miller house had stood. The crickets stopped chirping, the wind stopped blowing as maniacal laughter floated through the air.
The End
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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.