Hey everyone! I'm SO happy! I've got people reading this now! YEY! *jumping around in little circles*. Thanks so much for all the reviews! I heart all of you guys!
So here's the next chappy! REVIEW please! By the way... just a little note--it doesn't start getting REALLY exciting till the fourth chapter I think. Just HOLD ON! But PLEASE read EVERYTHING! Believe me it won't make any sense if you skip things. It's a MYSTERY.
The Door, Lightning, and a Ghost
~*~
“Alright…” Kevin said, walking into their room after coming back from talking to Ms. Johnson. “I just talked to Ms. Johnson—and she says there is a library, and that she’ll let us in there, but on one condition.” He eyed Joe. “That we don’t go exploring anywhere else… and don’t touch anything in the room except the books.”
“Man,” Joe said, looking at himself in the mirror. “She’s strict. If she expects us to read without at least sitting down…”
“No, I don’t think she meant that, Joe,” Kevin said. “She just meant don’t touch anything you’re not supposed to—like paintings and vases and valuable things like that. She’s waiting out in the foyer for us so she can lead us there.”
Joe shook his head, walked over and jumped, flopping down on his bed, causing the whole thing to jump a bit. Suddenly he heard something large collide with the ground, and looked up to see that Nick was no longer on his bed.
“Where’d Nick go?” he asked.
“On the floor Joe,” they heard Nick mutter painfully. He got up rubbing his head. “Thanks for the flying lesson,” he said sarcastically. “But… um…ow… please don’t jump on your bed like that again if someone’s on it, alright?”
“Oops…” Joe winced.
“Anyways—to the topic at hand…” Kevin said, smiling a bit at the interesting event he just witnessed. “Ms. Johnson says it’s her own private library, but since we seemed like such good kids she’d let us in, since there isn’t much else for us to do here.”
“Or maybe,” Joe said thinking, “she doesn’t want us getting board… because we might get into something she doesn’t want us to know about—” he suddenly sat up as if he was on to something groundbreaking, “so she’s distracting us by keeping us in the library!”
Kevin took a moment to stare at him. His brother could amaze him sometimes with the crazy things he came up with.
“Yeah, Joseph,” he said sarcastically. “You’d make a great detective someday—just like dad.” He began walking towards the door. “C'mon, we can’t keep her waiting.”
They followed him out into the hallway, then down the stairs. Kevin made sure to hold onto Joe as they walked down the steps, he didn’t want Ms. Johnson seeing his brother doing anything stupid—like ride down the stair railing.
Ms. Johnson had someone else at the desk. When she saw the boys she motioned them to follow her. They passed the living room area where guests were casually reading a newspaper or sipping coffee. It had two huge windows that looked out to the gardens and beyond that the sunny, cheerful landscape. Joe’s spirits lifted, and he wanted to skip or do something happy, but he knew his brothers would not approve. So he shoved his hands in his pockets and followed quietly. But that wouldn’t do. Something was bursting inside him.
“I don’t know why Kevin, but I have this sudden sensation to sing,” he said.
“Don’t,” Kevin whispered back, dashing everything.
“Why?” Joe asked. “Mandy always thought I was a really good singer.” He sighed, thinking of home. “She also used to laugh when I’d act stupid.”
“Well either way, Joseph, don’t sing… please,” Kevin said. “Some people would rather not hear an eighteen-year-old kid squeak out a few notes right now.” He stole a glance at all the older ladies sipping tea.
Ms. Johnson finally stopped at a huge door just beyond the living room. She opened it with a key and walked inside. The boys naturally followed, but all three stopped at the doorway in sudden surprise. The room was filled with enormous amounts of books on shelves that reached up nearly to the room’s eleven-foot ceiling.
“Wow…” Joe gasped in awe.
“This was Mrs. Scarlett’s library,” Ms.. Johnson explained. “And most of the books here were hers. Apparently she spent most of her time here.” She began walking out of the room. “Just keep in mind, as I said before, don’t touch anything except the books—there are a lot of valuable items in this room. And be careful with the older books please. Some are falling apart, and I’d like to keep as many as possible preserved.”
Kevin nodded politely and smiled.
“Thanks Ms. Johnson,” he said.
She nodded to them and smiled, then exited the room, shutting the door behind them.
Joe suddenly laughed evilly and rubbed his hands together with one of his sinister, scheming smiles.
“And she leaves…” he whispered, looking around the room—probably for something he could get into.
Nick tapped him on the shoulder.
“Easy now, Joe,” he smiled. “Control yourself. Just because she leaves doesn’t mean you can go jump on the couches or play football with a vase.” He turned to one of the bookshelves and scanned it. “Besides, she’s probably got cameras on us everywhere… not to mention bugs…” Nick joked.
Joe snorted and pulled out a book from the self nearest to him.
“Yeah she’s probably watching our every move,” he said mysteriously. “Who knows… she might’ve put a bug in my sandwich.”
Nick smiled, and then it faded and he looked at his brother seriously.
“You don’t like her do you?” he asked.
The question shocked Joe for a moment, but then he grinned. Nick was so intelligent—he’d probably become a great detective when he got older. Sometimes Joe wished he could be more like him.
“Yeah,” Joe said, pretending to read a page in his book. “There’s just something about her—maybe it’s her eyes, that just gives me the creeps. I can’t get over it.”
“Well,” Nick said. “Just make sure you don’t judge someone unless you really know them. She could be one of the nicest ladies ever, and you may never know because you’re too caught up in assuming she’s ‘evil’.”
Why’s he giving me all the advice? Joe wondered. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Meanwhile, Kevin was scanning the shelf of old books. He noticed most of them were on the ‘nature of ghosts’ and ‘the dead and living’. It was beginning to creep him out.
“Man…” he said, looking carefully through one book. “This lady—Mrs. Scarlett, must’ve really been interested in ghosts for some reason. Look at all these books…”
“Hey, you guys!” Joe cried at the other side of the room. He was standing by a gigantic wardrobe. “Look at this awesome old wardrobe. It’s huge!” He knocked his fist against it. “And it’s solid wood. This thing must weigh a ton… not to mention worth a ton.”
“Maybe, if you open it and go inside, Joe” Nick said with a smile, “you’ll find Narnia.”
Joe glared at him.
“Sure, Nick.”
He opened it and looked inside. Nothing except some coats and a few cobwebs. He was just about to turn away when he noticed something. He looked behind the coats. Was that a doorknob? Confused he closed the door to the wardrobe and went to its side and saw something unusual. Instead of having a back, it was directly connected to the wall. So he went back and opened the door to the wardrobe and looked inside, and sure enough there was a secret door behind the coats.
“Uh… you guys…” Joe stammered. But they didn’t hear him. They were too interested in their books.
He kind of felt stupid for doing this, but he stepped inside, all the while thinking, maybe Narnia is real. To his surprise he found the door unlocked. He swallowed and gathered up all his courage—and slowly opened the door. When he saw what was on the other side he jumped for a moment, breaking the doorknob in the process, but then sighed. It was only an old room.
He hadn’t realized he’d broken the doorknob till he noticed he held something cold in his hand.
“Oops…” he said aloud.
Suddenly his brothers were running for him. That word always caught their attention—especially if it was coming from Joe’s mouth. It never meant anything good.
“Joseph Adam Jonas, what’d you do!” Kevin cried.
“I broke a doorknob, Kevin,” Joe said. “Nothing serious.”
“It is too serious!” Kevin cried. “Does that doorknob look like a book to you? No! And you’re… you’re standing in a wardrobe for goodness sakes! What’re you doing?”
“Looking for Narnia,” Nick laughed.
“No, Kevin listen! I found a room back here—a secret room.”
Kevin and Nick stared at him for a moment. Their brother couldn’t possibly be serious… could he?
“What?” they both said.
Joe rolled his eyes.
“C’mon!” he said waving them to come in the wardrobe. He opened the secret door, which had shut slightly, so they could see what he was talking about.
“What in the world?” Kevin gasped.
Both boys walked through the wardrobe after Joe who now stood in the secret room. The room was unfinished and cobwebs hung about—not to mention it was musty. The only thing interesting was an old chair and desk in the middle of the room.
“I wonder how long it’s been since someone’s been in this room,” Joe said walking up to the desk.
Everything was so old, and lifeless. It was creepy… and yet there was something mysterious about that room.
“I think we should leave now…” Kevin said, his voice shaking, his eyes darting around the room almost as if something might jump out at any moment and grab him.
Joe didn’t hear him; he was too busy opening a little cabinet in the desk. Inside, almost completely hidden beneath all the dust and cobwebs, was a little book. Joe carefully grabbed it.
“You guys…” he said, his voice shaking with excitement as he opened the cover. “I think I just found the diary of Mrs. Scarlett.”
“What? Really?” Kevin cried, rushing to his brother’s side. Nick did the same.
Kevin looked at it for a second as Joe began reading a few pages.
“Um… I don’t know if you should be looking at that,” Kevin said worriedly. “It’s Ms. Johnson’s private property.”
Joe didn’t hear him. He was too caught up in the book.
Kevin began walking out of the room. He was uneasy about the whole situation.
“C’mon you guys,” he said. “I’m not to sure how Ms. Johnson would feel if she found us snooping around in here.”
Nick followed Kevin and they both walked out. Joe slowly followed, but his attention was firmly in the diaries pages. When he was out of the wardrobe he suddenly stopped. His brothers looked back at him as Joe suddenly gasped, “Oh, no…” he looked up at them, his bright hazel eyes wide with apparent horror.
“What’s the matter?” both boys asked.
“Scarlett…” Joe swallowed—but didn’t finish his sentence.
Their brother was beginning to scare them. He hardly ever acted this way. Kevin and Nick moved closer to him.
“Joe, what’s wrong?”
Joe looked at him.
“Kevin,” he stammered. “She saw the ghost.”
Kevin stared at him.
“What?”
“Yeah…” Joe began pacing. His brothers knew he always paced when he was deep in thought. “So that means that the ‘ghost’ people have been seeing here isn’t Mrs. Scarlett—it’s someone else.”
“Oh, c'mon! The ladies probably just crazy,” Nick said, laughing. But he suddenly stopped when he saw Joe’s serious face.
“No, Nick, I don’t think so,” Joe said. “She’s scared. You can tell by the way she explains things.” He flipped back a page. “Listen to what she writes before she’s seen the ‘ghost’:
‘I couldn’t sleep tonight. I was so scared. I cried; I wished someone were there to protect me. I know there’s something in this house—something watching and following me. But every time I look I don’t see it. Why is this happening to me? What have I done to deserve this? Something must not want me here. I know it because the lightning storms get worse and worse the longer I stay.’”
Joe flipped a couple of pages. “And then she writes a little while later…
‘I’ve seen the ghost for a couple of nights now. He watches my every move—but never dares to come out of the shadows. I only see him at night when there’s a lightning storm. I try to tell my father of this, but he hasn’t spoken to me since. I’m afraid he thinks I’ve gone crazy…’”
“Lightning storm?” Kevin asked, confused. “How come she only sees the ghost in a lightning storm?”
“And how come they seemed to be happening so often?” Nick added.
“I don’t know…” Joe said, thinking. “But we’re about to find out. I want to get to the bottom of this. Something’s just not right here…”
“Aren’t we supposed to have a storm tonight?” Nick asked, remembering what the weatherman had said over the radio that morning.
“Well, if we are, I say we go find out what Mrs. Scarlett’s been seeing,” Kevin said.
“I agree,” Joe said.
Both of his brothers looked at him, astounded.
“Are you serious?” Kevin almost laughed. “Last time I checked you were scared to death of ghosts.”
“Well, yeah… but…” Joe stammered. He sighed and looked down at the book. “I don’t know why, but I seem to sympathize with Scarlett. There’s something mysterious about this—and I’m not about to ignore it. I want to know what’s going on.” He gave a sort of grin and shrugged. “Hey, it’ll give us something to do.”
“Well then tonight… we’re going ghost hunting,” Kevin said with a determined look in his eyes and a smile. “And I don’t think we should tell anyone about it right at the moment. Especially Ms. Johnson…”
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