Just in Time

“AAAAAAAAAH!!”

Screams of three terrified teen boys filled every quiet hallway as they ran for their lives. The hallways almost seemed to twist and turn into each other the more terrified they grew. Every time they thought they would be free of the turns, the slouched over figure of the ghost would greet them. Her blonde hair matted, night gown frayed at the edges – and those pail arms rising in a painfully slow manner. With the howling winds outside and the dark interiors everything made this encounter even more terrifying from the last.

Zane's crying turned into bawling as the ghost once again appeared. Ben, the so called tough guy, wasn't any better. Thomas was the only one with enough sense left in him to pull at them to turn down another hallway. This was a bad idea. Bad. Bad. Bad. Idea! Thomas knew it from the beginning. Blind sided by a stupid sense of adventure, sent them straight into a true haunted house!

It was only hours earlier when this even started. There was no ghost or howling winds of the night. Just Thomas pacing back and forth biting his right thumb nail in an anxious manner.

His friends were late and he was mentally battling on what they were going to do.

Many “what if's” crowded his mind as he turned towards the rusty metal gate only feet away. His bike rested up against the decorative bars that were just wide enough to fit an arm between them. They stood tall protecting the many acres wide blanket of snow and a lone building sitting far off. It had a colonial feel to it and was made with red bricks. However, the bare colors of the woods, the white snow, and the dark gray skies washed any sense of color from these bricks. The scenery felt ominous which made his anxiety worse than it should have been.

The squeaking sound of a rusty bike chain ripped Thomas away from his enchanted stare to the towering building. He stepped over the snow trench he made with his pacing and joined his friends at the gravel path. A whistle came from Ben's lips as he stepped onto the slushy gravel. Zane was nice enough to his bike to rest it by a tree, while Ben let his drop to the ground without any care.

“Woah,” Zane said racing to take off his helmet and join Thomas and Ben.

“This was why you made me bike a mile in the snow?”

Thomas turned back to the house. The sky seemed to be darker just above the house. The “what ifs” were starting to crowd back in once again.

“Guys, lets just go back. It was a dumb idea to come out here.”

Ben gave a devilish toothy smile and he walked toward the decorative gate. He gave it a rough shake as he tested the bars for support.

“Ben, I'm serious. We shouldn't be here.”

“Now you didn't just get me off my butt on a Sunday afternoon for 'a dumb idea'.”

Thomas turned to Zane. The boy was always the cautious one of the group. He was after-all the only one who wore a helmet and knee pads over a heavy winter ensemble in thirty degree weather. Surely he would follow through. His attention was on the area before he caught on to Thomas's cautious glares. Thomas eyed Ben waiting for Zane to join him. Though the boy with bright red cheeks only shrugged.

“It is a very large house in the middle of no where. Just like you said.”

“And maybe there are ghosts there,” Ben shifted his attention to the height of the bars calculating how much of a jump it could take to get over them, “like you said.”

“Or maybe I as wrong and this is the lavish home of a serial killer. Guys, I don't want to be caught trespassing on a serial killer's home!”

Ben moaned and turned around with his fingers clawed and face annoyed. He didn't care about the cold like Zane or Thomas did. A beanie and hoodie were good enough. They both even had the same foot ball team logo on them.

“Just for that, I'm making you go first. Up the tree! Up! Up! Up!”

He pointed towards one of the many bare trees that were littered through the woods. This one happened to have a large branch that went over the fence. When Thomas didn't move, Ben grabbed his arm and dragged him over to it. It was no use. When Thomas first found this place by accident, he was so excited. Who would have thought that such a large building would be in the middle of the woods? Adventure was truly calling his name at the time, but now only remained fear.

Complying with his friends, he went over the edge of the fence and landed softly in the untouched snow below. Ben followed just a graceful with zane making a belly flop close behind. He placed a thumbs up saying he was alright explaining that this was why he wore the snow suit. That same suit now was just the one sound Thomas could only hear through the screams. The stupid 'swishing' only grew in annoyance as they escaped down a large main hallway.

Ben looked back and forth trying to see the surroundings through the small flashes of lightning that came from outside. He frantically glanced back and forth to the walls. There were what looked like hung paintings in the dim light and maybe a sculpture, but the hallway was truly larger than the twists and turns. It seemed like the illusion lifted for a moment at least.

“Where are we now?! I can't see!”

“I wanna go home! I wanna go home!”

The low dry moan of the ghost was close behind the still boys. Thomas could feel his pulse rising even higher as he turned towards the hallway. A fraction of a second later he started pushed the boys forward trying to make them to keep running. Though just as they were about to take off once again, the three of them tripped over a large rug that stretched down the center of the hallway. Thomas could feel the burn against his bare elbows as he fell to the ground. It was Ben's idea to sneak in through the broken window into the basement. Ben's words were that the reason the window was boarded up was just for them. In doing so though, Thomas had torn his jacket.

Lightning flashed again with the figure of the ghost slowly walking towards them. However, now there were two coming from both ends of the hallway. Both identical in attire and posture. All the three of them could do was scream. The ghost started this as soon as the reached the first floor. No matter where they would go that ghost would be there. Mocking them of the terrible decision of disturbing its resting grounds.

“Look!!” Zane suddenly yelled. He pointed and through the dim light they could see a grand staircase going down to the first floor. When did they even make it up this high? The running and screaming and illusion like hallways somehow lead them to the second floor.

The three terrified teens stared at each other with wide eyes and nodded. The identical ghosts were near, but with one last run they bolted towards the stairs. Zane and his noisy snow pants were on the main floor first followed soon by Ben. However, just at Thomas was about to reach it to the steps, he was grabbed from behind by a pair of hands. He screamed, but his friends didn't dare come back. The front door opened and shut with a mighty loud slam which shook the chandelier that hung over the grand staircase.

Tears finally started to fall out of Thomas as he felt the hands that had him captive. He didn't even know what he looked like at that moment. His hair probably a mess, his face terrified, and clothes stained from falling those few times in the snow then later the basement on the way here. He felt his jaw tremble as he stared up to the figures that stared down to him. He tried to beg, but in his ears they only sounded like whines. The wheezy breathing of the ghosts was going to be the last thing he would ever hear.

“THAT'S ENOUGH!”

Suddenly, just like a flash of lightning the entire hallway lit up. Thomas had to blink a few times to adjust to the bright light. When his eyes focused, the two ghastly figures now took on the forms of two identical girls maybe in their twenties with nasty matching red noses. They straightened up, relaxing their hold on Thomas, and looked down the hallway from where everyone emerged from earlier. An graying haired man dressed in sweat pants, a white shirt, and heavy boots was stomping down the hallway. He looked tired and angry. A very bad combination.

“But Daaad,” the girls whined in harmony. They sounded plugged up and even gave matching 'sniffs'.

“You two and that Jack kid have five minutes to get back into your rooms. If I see either one of you out I swear I will ship you all off to your Grandmother's house in the morning.”

The girls gasped as one and let go of their grip on Thomas, making him lose balance and fall backwards to the floor. They then ran off down the hallway past the man talking back and forth to each other. Thomas didn't catch the whole conversation of them bickering about their grandmother. They were gone before he could even comprehend what happened. Though they didn't just disappear down a hallway, no Thomas watched as the two disappeared right through a wall. The man turned towards Thomas with a scary frown.

“Boy, you do not know how much trouble you are in right now.”