Night of the Paranormal

“I can’t believe this,” Nick grumbled, looking around the old abandoned mansion he and his four friends were stranded in for the night.

“We’re going to miss the show, piss off our fans, and infuriate the label,” AJ said, tossing his bag on the ground beside an old arm chair before throwing himself into the chair. The second he sat down he was lost in a cloud of dust, causing him and everyone else to cough and fan the air.

“We might as well make the most of it guys, so let’s go and find rooms and settle in for the night,” Kevin, the oldest of the five, spoke up. Knowing they had no other choice, AJ picked up his bag and followed Nick up a flight of stairs, turning doorknobs only to find them locked.

“Here’s one,” Nick called to AJ, opening a door. They both looked inside, and cringed as they realized how moldy and dingy the room was. They glanced at each other before raising their fists, shaking them three times before Nick opened his fingers in the sideways peace sigh and AJ flattened his hand out.

“Scissors beat paper,” Nick said, slapping Alex on the back before moving on to the next door, which was again locked. Alex grimaced at the room before sighing and walking in, keeping the door wide open. He walked to the window and tried to open it, but the window had been nailed shut, so there was no way to open it but by breaking it, which he didn’t do since he didn’t want to startle the others.

With a shiver, he decided to search for Nick or someone else. AJ found Brian in a room one floor up, staring around the room with fright and disgust in his eyes.

“Damn, I thought my room was bad,” AJ muttered, staring at the taxidermy animals hanging on the walls. He walked up to one that looked like a bear and tapped it on the snout.

“This is terrible man, what the hell are we going to do?” Brian asked, walking out of the room and into the hallway.

“Like I said, make the most of this,” Kevin’s voice answered behind him.

“Do you see this room Kev?” Brian asked his older cousin, staring at the walls again.

“I see it, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” Kevin sighed. He knew he would hear a lot of this from his friends. They were all younger than him, Nick by nine years. So Kevin had to be the responsible one to keep the others in check. Brian and Howie were starting to mature a lot more, but AJ and Nick was still young. Nick, who had just turned 17, still had the most growing up to do.

“Get some sleep. It’ll make the time pass by faster,” Kevin sighed, walking back down the hallway to the bedroom he had found. Brian and Alex looked at each other before shrugging and silently agreeing Kevin was right. The sooner they got to sleep, the faster the time would go for them go get out of the mansion.

As Brian walked back into his room, he changed into a pair of basketball shorts and a tank top before climbing into the bed.

Kevin in his own room just down the hall, tripped over his backpack as he heard his younger cousin scream.

“Bri, what happened?” Kevin asked, bursting into the room.

“Found this in the bed,” Brian gulped, tossing the taxidermy rabbit in his hand on the floor. “This place is spooky as hell man.”

“I know, we’ll be out in the morning though,” Kevin tried to assure Brian. The younger man nodded and laid his head back against the pillows, letting his eyes close. Kevin went back to his own room and laid down in the bed, but he couldn’t even close his eyes to try to get any sleep.

“We’ll be out in the morning,” he mumbled before finally feeling his eyelids close. Two floors up, Nick was trying to settle in as well, but his urge to explore the house was getting the best of him. He threw his shoes back on and left the room, only to run straight into Howie.

“What are you doing Nick?” Howie asked the teenager.

“I gotta see the rest of this place, wanna go with me?” Nick asked.

“This creepy ass place? No thanks,” Howie replied, starting to walk down the hallway.

“C’mon Howie. It’s not like we’ll be sleeping tonight anyway. Might as well do something during the night.” Howie realized that, no matter how much he hated to admit it, Nick was right. There was nothing for them to do, and Howie sure as hell wasn’t getting any sleep tonight. So finally he agreed to join Nick in exploring the house. They went down to the main entrance, and Nick tried the first door he could find unlocked.

“This is a ballroom,” Howie spoke up, looking around the large room. The spirals on the floor was making him a little dizzy, however, he realized this was probably the best kept room in the mansion.

“This place has been used recently,” Nick voiced Howie’s thoughts. “It’s way cleaner than any other part we’ve seen.”

“Maybe kids came here for a Halloween dance or something,” Howie suggested, looking around the room at the candles that were almost completely melted down.

“Could have been,” Nick agreed, moving on to a door across from where they were standing. Nick tried the door, and found it to open.

“Howie,” He said, walking into the next room, which looked like a large dining hall. “Someone was definitely here,” Nick muttered, looking at the table. Food completely covered the surface of the large table. Everything from potatoes to vegetables, to fruits and meats. There were even glasses filled with what looked like red wine or punch.

“If this was a Halloween dance, then these people are late,” Howie said, looking at a piece of carrot. “This food should have spoiled a lot sooner it seems to be.”

“I know,” Nick muttered. “Someone must have had a party here, maybe like a birthday party or something.”

“Who would want to have a birthday party in a house like this?” Howlie asked, staring at Nick like he had grown another head.

“AJ,” Nick shrugged, though Howie had to admit that might have been true.

“Let’s go to the basement,” Nick suggested.

“No, I’m not going down there.” Howie said, holding up his hands. “Go knock yourself out, but I’m not going into the damn basement here. Brian’s room is full of stuffed dead animals, there’s food and crap laying all over the place. I do not want to see what these people didn’t want other people to see.”

“Fine, scaredy cat,” Nick teased with a small smirk on his face.

“Yes, I am,” Howie agreed. “Have fun, I’m going back up to try to get some sleep.” Howie turned and walked back out of the room, up the stairs and to his bedroom. After climbing into the bed, he sighed, wondering if he should have went with Nick. Sure Nick was 17 and able to take care of himself if he gets in trouble, however, he was still young and was more likely to do something rash and stupid.

“What could possibly happen in an abandoned mansion?” Howie muttered out loud. “He’ll be fine.”



Nick walked down the stairs to the basement, completely in awe by what he was seeing. It looked like a scene from an old horror movie. The walls were completely made of stone, as was the floor. Instead of traditional candles lighting the way, however, there were electrical candles on the walls.

“This place is incredible,” Nick whispered to himself, a smile tugging on his lips as he went deeper into the basement. His footsteps echoed off the walls, but his wasn’t the only ones he heard. Confused, he quickly turned around, but didn’t see anything. Frowning slightly, he turned back to walk further into the basement, only to stop when he heard the second set of footsteps again.

“Hello?” he called out, looking back again. When nobody answered, he shrugged and went back to walking.

“Just my imagination,” he laughed out, coming to a corridor with three doors. He tried all three doors, but was only able to open one. He walked into the room, using his flashlight from his bag to see what was in the room. When the beam of the light hit something shiny, he stopped and froze. It was a necklace of some sorts.

“Cool,” he breathed out loud, walking toward the object. When a bang came from behind him, Nick jumped, only to hit the back of his head on something hard. His vision swimming, Nick managed to get out into the hallway, but collapsed to his knees as darkness overtook him.