Ol' Stories

Goosebumps Book 1-Welcome to Dead House (my ol' vers.)

Alice Robinson, fifteen years old, and her younger brother Jin, twelve years old, are moving with their parents to a new neighborhood called Death Heights.

Although Death Heights is no more than three hours away from their old home, Alice and Jin are very upset about having to move. Perhaps this is because the move happened rather suddenly. Only a week before, their father received a letter from a lawyer informing him that he had inherited a huge old home from a great uncle named Charlie. No one in the Robinson family can remember this particular relative, but that doesn't stop Mrs. and Mr. Robinson from feeling elated about the unexpected news. Mr. Robinson had been looking for a way to quit his boring office job and pursue his true love; writing, for a long time, and the inheritance provides just the opportunity. The couple does not hesitate to pack up all their belongings and make the necessary arrangements to relocate.

When the family take their first trip to Death Heights to meet with the real estate agent, Colly Thompson and view their new home, only the two children and their dog, Peter, immediately sense that something is not quite right. Despite the fact that it is the middle of June, the entire neighbourhood seems covered in an artificial darkness created by massive, overhanging tree limbs. Dead brown leaves, shade and shadows are everywhere. Then there's the house itself, which obviously was not constructed any time recently. It is an enormous, dark, antique structure with two big bay windows on the second floor that look eerily like a pair of observing eyes. Jin proceeds to impatiently whine in protest over the latest tragic development in his life.

Alice watches with amazement as a boy appears suddenly in the doorway of her new room and disappears suddenly.

Alice feels much better after seeing her room. She goes outside to tell Jin about it, but he is gone. She finds him a little while later in the cemetery, being chased by someone. Alice keeps seeing other kids in her home and hearing strange sounds. And, the friends she makes all seem a little different. It is later revealed that the children are all zombies, having been murdered when they lived along the cursed street. Once a month, they must have the taste of blood or meat from a freshly killed person to sustain their existence for another month. The zombie children bit Peter the dog on the head because they believe that "dogs always know. Dogs always recognise the living dead. That's why they have to go first." One of the undead children, Roy, attacks Alice in the cemetery while her brother Jin is still looking for the dog, but Jin saves her at the last moment when he shines his light on Roy's face which causes him to melt and become a pile of bones. Alice and Jin run home but when they arrive they are attacked by the dead children who explain that there is no dead great uncle and that the letter sent to their parents was a trick to bring the Robinson family to Death Heights. "This is the zombified house... Once a month, you see, we need fresh blood or meat." the dead children say, as they move forward to kill Alice and Jin. Suddenly Mr. Thompson, the real estate agent, appears at the door and the dead children vanish. He tells them that he has already saved their parents from the dead people and that he will take them to join their parents.

While on their way with Mr. Thompson to the cemetery, Jin tells Alice to look at one of the gravestones where she reads the name of Mr. Thompson. They realise that Mr. Thompson is one of the dead people and that he is leading them to their deaths. When they confront him with the truth, Mr. Thompson explains that long ago the whole town was intoxicated with a yellow gas from its chemical factory and that everyone died but later Death Heights became the town of zombies. Jin succeeds in killing the undead Mr. Thompson with a blow of his flashlight on Mr. Thompson's forehead and then the two children rush to save their parents. Their mom and dad are imprisoned in an amphitheater shielded by a huge tree and located at the end of the cemetery. The dead people are all there waiting to kill and feed on them. Alice and Jin move the tree that shields the amphitheater which makes the sunlight pour in. The dead people melt away as soon as the sunlight catches them.

Alice and Jin save their parents and as the family is leaving the dead house, Mr Thompson tries stopping them but fails. They eventually got on the driveway when they saw Peter. They stopped the car and let Peter in without realising Peter was a zombie. Suddenly, Mr Thompson landed in front of their car. Mr Robinson quickly stopped the car. Then, Mr Thompson dashed and scratched Mr Robinson, making the latter become a zombie. Then Peter acted and bit Jin while licking Alice passing the zombie DNA to them which they too became zombies. Mr. Robinson then charged at Mrs. Robinson.

"Dear, this is going to be our new form and Death Heights will be our street." He said then scratched her on the cheek.

Mrs Robinson transformed and nodded. Mr Thompson smiled slyly that he had managed to get the Robinson family back.