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Caroline could not believe what she was doing. She was staying in a haunted house with Priscilla, see if they could last the night.
“Isn’t this exciting?!” Priscilla exclaimed, crawling into her sleeping bag. “Staying in a haunted house all night just to see if the rumors are true!”
“Not exactly my definition of exciting,” Caroline said as she heard the creak of a floorboard and shivered.
Just old house noises, Caroline tried to assure herself. Nothing to freak out about.
Yet Caroline could not help but get spooked. Here she was in a room with peeled wallpaper, a creaky floorboard, and a painting of a wealthy family, the man sitting on a chair with his wife beside him, her arm around his shoulder. There was a little girl standing next to them, raven-haired and wearing a white dress with a smile. Caroline could have sworn she saw the eyes move. She was so scared that she could not even trust her own sight. Why had they even agreed to stay here? The smile on Priscilla’s face reminded Caroline exactly why. It was amazing how Priscilla could talk Caroline into even the stupidest things. Caroline unzipped her sleeping bag and crawled inside.
It is one night, Caroline reminded herself. Just one night and you can go back to your warm and loving home.
The warm and loving home where her aunt took care of her. Her aunt who thought that she was at Priscilla’s house. Caroline was starting to wish that she was at Priscilla’s house instead of this creepy abandoned mansion. She closed her eyes, trying to think of happy thoughts as she lured herself to sleep. The image of a young girl appeared in her mind. The one with long raven hair and a white dress from the painting playing jump rope while singing a rhyme:
“Lizzie Borden took an axe,
and gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
she gave her father forty-one.”
The girl turned to her with a creepy smile.
“Wouldn’t you like to play with me?” she asked as her eyes turned black.
Caroline woke with a jolt. She looked around the room, hoping that this was a dream but, instead, she still found herself in the same creepy room as before. The same painting with the wealthy family, the same walls with the peeling wallpaper, the empty sleeping bag next to her. Wait a minute, empty sleeping bag?
“Priscilla?” Caroline called, getting up from her own sleeping bag.
She peeked out into the hallway, seeing it bare.
“Priscilla?” she called again, stepping out of the room.
Caroline went through the hall, jumping at the creaking floorboards as she scanned the place for Priscilla.
“Priscilla, if this is some kind of joke, I’m not laughing!” Caroline exclaimed as she continued walking through the hall.
All she heard as she walked through the hallway were two girls chanting a jump rope song:
“Lizzie Borden took an axe,
and gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done,
she gave her father forty-one.”
Caroline peeked into the room where the rhyming was coming from, seeing two young girls jump roping. One a dark-haired girl and the other a blonde-haired girl with curls and a gothic Victorian dress.
“This is my new friend,” the black-haired girl told Caroline with that creepy smile. “She’s going to stay with me forever.”
Caroline froze. It was the same little girl from the painting, but how was this possible? No matter, right now she had to find Priscilla.
“I’m looking for a girl named Priscilla,” Caroline told them. “Curly blonde hair, gothic look?”
The girls just laughed, causing Caroline to look at them like they were nuts.
“THAT’S ME!” the blonde girl squealed.
Caroline got a closer look at the blonde girl with the Victorian dress, her lips formed in a creepy smile as her blue eyes were screaming, “Let me go!”
* * *
“PRISCELLA!” Caroline screamed as she jolted awake.
She immediately turned on the lamp next to her. Wait a minute, a lamp? Yes, a lamp. One that rested on a wooden nightstand near her phone. The walls white and unpeeled with a shelf full of books and Blu-Rays, a poster of Chris Hemsworth right above it. Caroline was safe in her warm bed, laying on a comfortable mattress instead of a sleeping bag. Her heartbeat slowed as she tried to catch her breath.
It was all a dream, Caroline thought. You weren’t stupid enough to spend the night in a haunted mansion and Priscilla’s just fine.
Caroline heard her phone vibrate, immediately picking up her phone only to see a news article notification:
Local News: Young girl by the name of Priscilla Barnet has gone missing.