Double Dare

Double Dare is a scary story written by Pete Le Brun (with a little help from ScaryForKids). It’s about three boys who explore a haunted mansion on Halloween night.

It was Halloween night and the school was abuzz with talk of scary costumes and parties. The hallways were adorned with orange and black streamers, paper bats and papier-mache ghosts. Witches and pumpkins were hanging from the ceiling and white cardboard skeletons lined the walls.

Nicholas had never really been into Halloween. He wasn’t the type to believe in ghosts, or anything supernatural, for that matter. Not unless there was scientific evidence to support it. He had always been rational and logical, only believing in things he could see with his own eyes.

Nicholas was walking down the school hallway, on his way to his locker, when all of a sudden, the school bullies, Tucker and Vinny, stepped out and blocked his way. Tucker was a heavy boy who wore his spiked blond hair in a military style, and Vinny was a tall boy with a pock-marked face and long, greasy black hair. Both of them were notorious for causing trouble in the school.

“Hey Dweeb!” Tucker grinned. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Uh… To my locker,” Nicholas mumbled.

“Not no more you ain’t,” said Vinny. “We got stuff we need to discuss.”

“What are your plans for tonight?” Tucker demanded.

“Nothing,” Nicholas replied. “Just sitting at home and studying, I guess… Then maybe read a book.”

“Wrong answer,” Tucker growled. “Tonight you’re spending the night in the Jardine Mansion… Unless you’re too scared, Nerd.”

“How do I know you’re not too scared to do it yourselves,” Nicholas answered.

“How do we know you’re not, Vinny replied you’re always bragging that ghosts aren’t real, and they’re nothing to be afraid of, so let’s see how you do in a real haunted house”.

“Meet us in front of the place tonight at 9PM Dweeb,” Tucker said.

“And Happy Hallloween!” said Vinny as he punched Nicholas in the stomach.

With that, Tucker and Vinny walked off in the other direction, laughing to themselves. Before they left, Tucker pushed a skinny kid into a locker and Vinny knocked a pile of books out of a girl’s hands.

Nicholas knew all about The Jardine Mansion. Everyone in school was aware of the legend. It had been built in 1798, by two brothers named Joseph and Jacob Jardine, or rather by their slaves. During the construction there was a bad thunderstorm and twelve of the slaves had been left chained up in the basement. During the night, the basement flooded and the slaves struggled to free themselves, but they were so tightly chained that they couldn’t break the shackles from the wall and they drowned in the torrent.

Joseph Jardine didn’t care too much about the deaths of those twelve men. After all, they were only slaves and there were plenty more where they had come from. He buried their bodies in the basement and set about moving his wife Margaret, and daughter Samantha into the mansion. As the story went, the vengeful spirits of the slaves murdered Joseph and Margaret, and the spirits still haunted the house, and were respsonsible for the evil associated with the house.

There were all kinds of stories about the old place. A gardener who could never plant flowers, because always withered and died. He was found murdered and his severed head was planted in the garden. An old guy named Crazy Lou claimed the house turned his friends into gargoyles after they had tried to steal one off the roof. A group kids playing baseball in a field by the house lost their ball in the pond out back. When they went fishing, they caught these unearthly monsters that had ripped their ball to shreds. A desecendant of the Jardines was even murdered and her body was found in the house. Her friend had said she contacted her through an ouija board. An attempt to burn the house down once and for all resulted in the entire town catching on fire.

“Made for good stories” Nicholas admitted to himself, as he strode through the dark woods, slleeping bag in one hand, flashlight in the other, and his back pack strapped to his back. Was that a wolf baying? There hadn’t been wolves in this town in a long time, Nick listened for something else, the hooting of an owl, anything, but was the creepy thing about these woods, there were never any signs of life in them, the trees were always dead. There were no signs there were ever any leabes on them. The Jardine Mansion came into view, and Tucker and Vinny were waiting in front. Nicholas gazed up at the mansion. It’s Victorian architechture would make anyone think it was haunted. The gargoyles glared down at him, as if they knew he was trespassing on the property. It was builit of stone and wood, and vines have begin to creep on the front of the house, but they were dead.The shutters banged in the wind, the house should have been boarded up but the police were too afraid to come near the place. Most of the town was that way after the fire. Some of the townsfolk said the house was “evil incarnate”.

Nicholas approached the house and greeted Tucker and Vinny.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” he said, trying to sound brave.

“Shut up, Dork,” Tucker snapped. “OK, here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going in first. You go around to every room and check for ghosts, then you lie down and go to sleep in the front hall, so you can run if you get scared”

Both of them laughed like hyenas.

Nicholas took a deep breath, steadied himself and walked up to the front porch. He pushed the front door and it opened with a loud creak. A cloud of dust caused Nicholas to sneeze. He was eager to explore the old place, and prove Tucker and Vinny wrong and it wouldn’t hurt to have a little fun while doing so.

Nicholas reached into his backpack, and pulled some stuff he brought, then clicked on his flashlight. He wandered into the first room, which appeared to be and old bedroom. The bed was covered in mold and had decayed long ago, leaving only remants behind. Then he wandered into the next room, which appeared to be a dining room, admiring the grand piano before him. He walked down the hall and started up the 3 flights of stairs to the upper floor.

He shone his flashlight on the portraits on the wall. There were paintings of a bunch of old men, who he assumed were members of the Jardine family. Anyone else would have thought their eyes were watching him as he walked past, like in those old Scooby-Doo cartoons. He reached the upper floor and after looking around for few minutes, he suddenly turned and hurried down the stairs and ran outside.
“What’s the matter, Nerd? You chicken?” Tucker asked.

“Did you see a g-g-g-ghost?” Vinny asked sarcastically.

They could hear music blaring from the front of the house. When they opened the door they heard eerie playing on what sounded like an organ. “T-t-there’s no organ here” Nicholas said. Tucker and Vinnie looked around, Nicholas enjoying their scared expressions , then he pointed toward the staircase, and led toward the upper floor. When they reached the bedroom they heeard it, rattling chains. Tucker figured out it was coming from under the bed, and looked under, pulling out a tape recorder. “Nice try Dweeb” Tucker said. “Happy Halloween Nicholas said, trick or treat” “Definitely a trick;” Vinnie replied, smashing the tape recorder with his foot. “No ghosts, can we go now”?

Just then, they heard the sound of chains clanking. It was coming from the basement.

“Very funny, Dweeb,” Tucker said.

“It’s not me,” Nicholas replied. “I swear.”

All three of them heard the rattling chains slowly coming up the stairs and their faces went pale.

“RUN FOR IT!” Tucker shouted, and the boys bolted for window, but it was too late. The chains were in the hall now, and a green light filled the Jardine Mansion, followed by the sound of evil, cackling laughter, which drowned out the boys screams as the rotting corpses of twelve dead slaves lumbered into the room.

The boys desperately tried to open the window, but it wouldn’t budge. The rotting corpses came nearer and nearer until they were upon them. Tucker and Vinny felt clammy hands clawing at their clothes, clutching at their faces, tearing their skin and ripping them apart.

Nicholas finally managed to pull the window open and as he scrambled out, he heard the final tortured screams of Tucker and Vinny ringing in his ears.

Suddenly, Nicholas felt a cold, bony, grabbing him by the ankle. He struggled, but he couldn’t free himself from its deathly grasp. Slowly, the hand dragged him back inside and Nicholas desperately tried to get away, but it was no use.

Nicholas screamed and screamed until he wasn’t able to scream anymore and the rotting, clutching fingers tore his face apart…