Haunted

• Bianca Rohder, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2007

Cobwebs brushed my face as I walked through the dark corridor. Why did I go through with this? It was just a dumb dare. And yet, here I am; walking through the old mansion at the end of my street. I shudder.
A floorboard creaked somewhere above my head. I froze in my tracks. Apparently I was not alone. A distant whirring, fluttering noise reached my ears upon a non-existent breeze and I ducked just in time; bats, dozens and dozens, so many that my back to started to ache as I crouched there in that dimly lit corridor, flew over my head, whipping my long black hair around my face with the tips of their wings.
I was starting to regret my foolish decision earlier. I mean, who would trade their own safety (this whole place could come crashing down at any moment!) for their little sister’s lunch? The memory came back to me with odd clarity; the bright sun beat down upon my upturned face as I sat beneath the old oak tree in the school yard as wails reached my ears. I had, reluctantly, found out that my annoying sister, Anneleise, had had her lunch stolen from the meanest boy in the seventh grade. Brainless little girl, getting me in this mess! And I, being the merciful big sister, had ended up with a tough decision: bring back the finger of the fabled skeleton of Old Mrs Brown residing in The Big House, or end up a bloody mass on the ground alongside my sister...
I shook my head to rid it of those horrible memories. I had better get on with it. I didn’t want to be in here too long. I could hear the jeers of the seventh graders from out of a grimy window which hung off its hinges at an awkward angle. What I would give to go back and change my mistakes...
I was abruptly woken out of my reverie by the sudden, sharp tones of a piano; I nearly jumped a foot in the air! I was definitely not alone! Could it be the skeleton itself, waking from its long sleep? Hurrying now, I ran up yet another rickety old staircase, following the sound of the harsh, but somehow pleasant, music.
Bursting through a door at the end of the passage, I swear I nearly died for a moment from fright! There, playing an ancient piano looking somewhat like a pipe organ, sat Old Mrs Brown herself in the flesh! Well kind of; the skeleton had rags hanging from its mouldy bones and a few strands of hair left on its grimy white skull. It turned, a macabre smile on its face. I screamed.
Suddenly blinding lights shone down upon my face. An uproar of laughter greeted me. Dimming the spotlight and showing themselves, the camera crew explained that they were part of a show that tricked people for fun. My only thought was: thank goodness my family doesn’t watch Foxtel...