Haunting

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Shannon, Joanie and Jordan crept out into the hall, as though someone was going to jump out at them. Just across from where they were standing a cloud of dust forming, coating everything in the hallway with dirt. Not that it made much of a difference, considering the entire house was currently a construction zone.

The door had sunk into the wall. Joanie was the first to step up to the plate. She gave the wooden door a hesitant push but it refused to budge.

“Come on woman,” Jordan said. “Put you back into it.” Joanie shot him a dirty look and he quickly scurried over to the door to help.

The door shuddered slightly and Shannon braced her shoulder against the door.   

“Three… two… one.” Joanie said and they all pushed as hard as they could.

They breathed a simultaneous sigh of relief when they felt the hinges crunch and the door swing open easily. They took a step back, pushing the door open the rest of the way revealing a steep, narrow staircase that disappeared into darkness.

“What do you think’s up there?” Shannon whispered to her companions.

“A kiddie porn dungeon,” Jordan suggested.

Joanie shoved the younger boy. “Don’t sound so excited,” She told him. “What if it’s like The Cask of Amontillado? And we find a dead body up there?”

That thought stopped Shannon dead in her tracks. What if they found Regina’s body, what if that secret room is where William Oswald hid his wife’s dead body? No she told herself adamantly. If there had been a dead corpse in the house for over one hundred years we would have smelt it by now.

Shannon took a deep breath and started up the staircase, Jordan and Joanie following close behind her.

“Do you think we should have brought a flash light?” Jordan whispered, his breath running across the back of Shannon’s neck.

“Don’t be a pussy,” Joanie whispered behind him, and jabbed him in the ribs, making him jump.

“You guys!” Shannon whisper yelled. “Why are we whispering?” she added.

“Because it’s insanely creepy,” Joanie said, still whispering. “Ben will be so jealous.”

The staircase was dark and there were spider webs and dust coating the walls and hanging from the ceiling. The air was ridiculously cold, and it was hard to breathe.

When they reached top, the top of Shannon’s head just brushed the ceiling, no doubt gathering a ton of dust and spiders, and both Joanie and Jordan had to bend over.

The tiny room was empty except for a single, large wooden chest.

“It’s kind of a let-down, don’t you think?”

Shannon turned to glare at Joanie. “It’s a secret room!” she yelled. “How is it a let-down? And we haven’t even opened the box yet.”

“Yeah,” Jordan said, his voice getting higher as he became more excited. “There could be treasure.”

“The guy who lived here was a homicidal business man, not a pirate.”

“this isn’t exactly a pirate lair.”

Shannon and Joanie shot down Jordan in chorus and they grinned at each other.

Shannon walked over to the chest that was placed against the opposite wall. It was large and plain. There was no lock on the box so she bent down and pulled open the rusted old clasp. It opened with a shriek and she flipped open the box, filling the room with a thick stench. It smelled like rotting meat.