Weirdville: House of Horrors (Lower Grade Spooky Fun Adventure) Read online

  HOUSE OF HORRORS

  (A Weirdville Book)

  by

  Majanka Verstraete

  Copyright

  www.EvolvedPub.com

  HOUSE OF HORRORS

  (A Weirdville Book)

  Copyright © 2013 Majanka Verstraete

  Cover Art Copyright © 2013 Noelle Giffin

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  ISBN (EPUB Version): 1622530667

  ISBN-13 (EPUB Version): 978-1-62253-066-3

  ~~~~~

  Edited by Lane Diamond

  ~~~~~

  eBook License Notes:

  You may not use, reproduce or transmit in any manner, any part of this book without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations used in critical articles and reviews, or in accordance with federal Fair Use laws. All rights are reserved.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only; it may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return to your eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Disclaimer:

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author's imagination, or the author has used them fictitiously.

  Other Books by Majanka Verstraete

  Fright Train (A Weirdville Book)

  The Doll Maker (A Weirdville Book)

  Valentina and the Haunted Mansion

  Valentina and the Whackadoodle Witch

  www.MajankaVerstraete.com

  Dedication

  For all those kids out there who love telling scary stories to their friends, and reading scary books in bed at night, wondering if they should leave the lights on or not after reading. Hope you enjoy this story as well!

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Other Books by Majanka Verstraete

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author

  What's Next from Majanka Verstraete?

  More from Majanka Verstraete

  More from Evolved Publishing

  Chapter 1

  Jacky stared at the newspaper her dad clutched in his hands. He was reading the sports section, but she was more interested in the ad section turned toward her. A giant picture of a traveling fair was flaunted on the newspaper, taking up half a page in a myriad of colors, a stark contrast to the grey background of the newspaper.

  Mystica Fair, coming to Weirdville on May 10th-12th, the headline read. Most of the rides on the picture were too blurry to make out, but she recognized a Tilt-a-Whirl and a Ferris Wheel pictured in the background.

  “Look Mom,” Jacky said, pointing at the article. “There’s a carnival coming to town.”

  Mom glanced over her shoulder to look at her. “Jacky, I’m busy,” she said, focusing back on the eggs in the frying pan, as if they were somehow more important than Jacky.

  That made no sense, because they were eggs, and who cared about eggs? Jacky didn’t even like eggs.

  But Dad did. He hadn’t moved, just kept on reading the sports page as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. Jacky sighed and slumped back in her chair, giving up.

  About five minutes later, Mom dumped the fried eggs on Jacky’s plate. “Now, what were you saying, sweetheart?”

  “There will be a carnival in town next weekend,” Jacky tried again. “Can I go?”

  Dad chose this moment to turn the newspaper around and look at the article about the carnival. He wiggled his nose, which Jacky took as a bad sign. He always did that when he disapproved of something.

  “It doesn’t really sound safe,” Dad said, scanning the article.

  He was all about safety: always wear your helmet when you’re riding a bike, never get into a car with strangers, look left and right before you cross the street. It was hard to keep track of all his rules.

  “It’s in the town square,” Jacky said. “A five minute walk, tops.” She gave her Mom her best puppy-eyes look, but Mom ignored her.

  “I suppose we could go.” Dad lifted his coffee mug and stopped right before taking a sip from it. “To keep an eye on you.”

  “Daaaaaaad.” Jacky rolled her eyes. “My friends already think I’m spoiled because you babysit me everywhere I go.” She sighed and fell back into her chair.

  “Don’t talk to your Dad like that,” Mom snapped at her.

  “It’s all right.” He set his coffee mug down and rested a hand on Mom’s arm. “Jacky has a point, and it’s only in the town square, after all. Aunt Beth lives right next door.”

  “Hmm.” Mom looked from Dad to Jacky and back again. She bit her lip and ruffled a hand through her hair. “Very well, then. Looks like I’m on the losing side.”

  “You can go on Saturday afternoon, in broad daylight, and you’ll be back by dinner time,” Dad said in one breath. “If something happens, you rush straight to Aunt Beth’s house, you hear?”

  “Yes. I promise.” She nodded her head, to reinforce for her parents that she’d keep her promise.

  “And you’re not going on your own,” he added. “Safety in numbers.”

  “Of course.” By now, Jacky would agree to anything to be able to go to the fair, but she hadn’t planned on going alone, either way. What was the fun in that?

  “Good. Then you’re allowed to go.” He gave Jacky one of his rare smiles, and she returned the gesture, a broad smile that reached from one ear to the other.

  “Now, eat your eggs,” Mom said.

  Jacky wiggled her nose, an imitation of her Dad’s nose-wiggling whenever he disapproved of something, but she didn’t protest.

  Two more days until she’d get to go to the fair. Even the eggs tasted less horrible than usual when she thought about that.

  Chapter 2

  “Hey Cass!” Jacky called out the moment she noticed her best friend lingering at the school entrance.

  Cass turned around and gave her a light smile. Everything about Cass was light, from the way she smiled to the color of her almost white hair, to her figure. She appeared almost as a Pixie come to life, a delicate doll with porcelain skin, girly clothes in all shades of pink and blonde, and curly hair. The two of them could never pass for twins even if they made an effort, with Jacky at least a head taller, and her tanned skin and dark-brown hair providing too great a contrast.

  “Hey, what’s up?” Cass’s voice drifted like a breeze passing by.

  “I saw this ad in the newspaper about a fair coming to town this weekend,” Jacky burst out. “My parents said I could go.”

  Cass raised her eyebrows. “I saw some posters on my way to school, but never thought you’d be allowed to go.” She hesitated for a second. “Or will they come along to supervise?”

  Jacky’s parents always wanted to supervise everything: school plays, school trips. Even when she and Cass had begged them to go to the latest ‘Twilight’ movie, her Mom had tagged along to keep an eye on them. It was nothing short of a miracle that this time around, they’d be allowed to go on their own.<
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  Then again, Jacky understood her parents’ paranoia. Their sudden episodes of smothering her had started with the disappearance of a dozen or so kids several months ago. Vanishing children had stirred Weirdville to its core. The town, usually quiet and peaceful, buzzed with gossip and worry for months. But while most parents of Weirdville had settled back into their usual routine, now that the disappearances had stopped, and the lost kids were found safe and unharmed, Jacky’s parents had continued to smother her.

  “Well, it’s just at the town’s square,” she said. “And Aunt Beth lives right across the street from there, so nope. We’re on our own.”

  Cass’s face lightened up. “That’s great. No offense, but your parents tagging along on every activity we do was getting kind of annoying.”

  “Tell me about it. Downside, though, is that I have to be home by dinner time. Still, it’s a sacrifice I’m more than willing to make.”

  “Agreed,” Cass said. She threw her backpack over her shoulder, and together the girls walked into the school building. “So what time would you like to meet?”

  Jacky shrugged. “Two o’clock?”

  “Meet for what?” A familiar voice interrupted their conversation. Ben appeared behind them and put a hand on Jacky’s shoulder.

  “We’re going to the fair,” Jacky told him without looking behind her.

  She’d known Ben since kindergarten, but they’d only become real friends when they went to summer camp together. They hadn’t known anyone else there, and had been forced to bond. But Jacky liked Ben well enough, and they’d remained friends, even after summer camp. Ben liked doing all the stuff she couldn’t convince Cass to do, like ride their bicycles through muddy terrain, or climbing the highest tree in the town’s forest, or swimming in the pond even though it wasn’t allowed.

  “Sounds fun. When are we going?”

  Jacky rolled her eyes. Ben may be good at doing all the ‘dangerous’ stuff Cass was too afraid of, but he was also pretty good at inviting himself along. She looked at Cass for approval, but the latter simply shrugged.

  “Saturday afternoon,” Jacky said.

  “Great. Where do you want to meet?”

  “How about we meet at the fair?”

  “Sure.” He smiled at her. “I have to run now, but I’ll be there on Saturday.” He jogged past them, then turned around while he walked backwards. “What time?”

  “Two o’clock,” she responded.

  “All right. See you!” Ben shouted while he turned around and broke into a run.

  Jacky watched him disappear into the hallway, and then turned back to Cass. “What’s wrong?”

  Cass looked like she’d seen a ghost. Her skin had lost all its color, and her lips trembled. She shook her head. “Nothing. Just got this weird feeling.”

  “Weird feeling?”

  “My aunt has it all the time.” She stopped and put her fingers on her chin, and stared up at nothing. “Aunt Cassandra.”

  Jacky nodded. Cass’s great-aunt and namesake, Cassandra, was an ancient woman who’d been known to be a bit wacky for as long as Jacky remembered. Her parents used the term lightly, with a half-smile, but Jacky knew they were secretly afraid of Cass’s great-aunt. Jacky never understood why, but nearly all the kids in town, and most of the adults, made it a point to avoid the old woman.

  Jacky had met her only once, when Cass had dragged her along to her great aunt’s weathered, decaying house. As far as Jacky could tell, Cassandra was just a friendly old woman who wouldn’t harm a fly.

  But afterward, when she’d told her mom about the visit, Mom yelled at her and told her not to go near “that witch” again.

  “Like something bad is going to happen,” Cass continued. She bit her lower lip to stop it from trembling. “Maybe we shouldn’t go to the fair, Jacky.”

  “Nonsense. Why shouldn’t we? It’s just a feeling, Cass.”

  Cass opened her mouth to say something else, but the piercing sound of the first period bell interrupted her.

  “Come on,” Jacky said once the noise had died down. “Let’s go.”

  Cass sighed, acting as if she wanted to bring up the subject again, but she shrugged and followed Jacky inside the class room.

  Chapter 3

  Colors exploded all around Jacky and music blasted through a dozen speakers. The fair stood in the middle of the otherwise calm and quiet town square, which had transformed into a party of colors and light for the occasion.

  “Wow,” Ben said, mouth agape. “This is amazing.”

  Jacky agreed, but because she wanted to look tough, she didn’t tell him. Instead she walked over to one of the ticket booths, leading her friends along. Meanwhile, she looked left and right, overwhelmed by the bright pinks, yellows and greens.

  A thin, tall man glared at them from behind the booth. He looked like an oversized pencil with sickly green skin, as if he were ill or something. Clad completely in black, he looked more like a mortician than a person selling tickets at a fair. He bent over until he was eye-to-eye with Jacky.

  She imagined it was a comical sight for people standing nearby, but not for her. When he looked her straight in the eye, it felt like a dozen spiders ran up and down her back.

  Jacky swallowed her fear, shook the imaginary spiders off her back, and gathered her courage. “We’d like three tickets to the fair, please.”

  The pencil-mortician-man didn’t move. He kept staring at her, narrowing his eyes as if looking for something.

  Jacky’s bravery evaporated. Her knees weakened, and it took all her willpower not to turn around and run away.

  Eventually, the tall man straightened, opened up a drawer, and conjured some tickets.

  “That’ll be fifteen dollars,” a raspy, throaty voice said.

  Jacky didn’t react at first, certain it couldn’t have been the strange man talking. The voice didn’t suit him at all; she’d expected a deep and scary voice.

  “Right,” she said after a moment to recover from the shock. She searched her wallet, hands sweaty, while the man toggled his fingers on the desk and sniffed. She finally found enough money to pay him, and handed him the money, thankful she’d get away from here soon.

  He didn’t say thanks. He just handed her the tickets, a blank expression plastered on his face.

  Jacky snatched the tickets and turned to Ben and Cass, and they hurried toward the entrance.

  The entrance worked automatically, with a machine where they entered the tickets, and then they could pass, one by one. good thing, too, because if all the fair’s workers were like the strange ticket booth man, she didn’t want to meet them at all.

  “That man was scary,” Cass said, wrapping her arms around herself. “Did you see he barely had any teeth?”

  Jacky shook her head; she’d been too frightened to notice.

  “Come on, Cass,” Ben said. “We can’t let our day be ruined because of one man. Besides, he looked like he was sick rather than scary.”

  “I agree,” Jacky said, although she wasn’t completely sure. “What do you guys want to do first?”

  Cass glanced around, her blonde curls bouncing up and down as she whirled about. “The Ferris wheel,” she decided.

  “All right,” Jacky agreed.

  “And after that, we can go to the House of Horrors,” Ben said. “I read in the newspaper that it’s their ‘most renowned attraction’.”

  “House of Horrors?” Jacky asked, raising her eyebrows. She hadn’t read about that in the newspaper ad.

  “Yep. Apparently it’s some kind of haunted mansion ride, with fake ghosts, skeletons, vampires, you name it.”

  “Oh.” Her curiosity melted like snow in the sun. “Those things never scare me.”

  The last time she’d visited a haunted mansion in a theme park, she’d noticed the wires keeping the neon-glowing skeleton in place right away, and the fake blood on the vampire’s coffin that was nearly orange instead of red—really cheesy.

  “This one is pretty
famous, though. It’s won numerous awards because it’s supposedly ‘the scariest ride of your life’.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” Cass said. Her eyes had grown wide in fear.

  Jacky didn’t like the sound of that either, but she didn’t want to look like a chicken in front of her friends. Everyone knew Cass was a wimp, but Jacky was supposed to be the brave one.

  “Come on,” Ben tried to convince Cass. “It’ll be fun. They’re probably exaggerating. Besides, how bad can it be?”

  “Yeah,” Jacky said. “It’ll be great. You wait and see.” She grabbed Cass’s hands and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

  Cass smiled back at her, a weak smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Then she glanced behind her, back at the ticket booths, as if she wanted to get out of here.

  Chapter 4

  Jacky thought the Ferris wheel had been a blast. On top of the wheel, they’d been able to see the whole fair and the various booths, including the House of Horrors. It stood at the end of the fair, away from all the other booths, as though somehow it didn’t really belong there. From this far, it looked like nothing more than a large, dark house, but it looked enticing all the same.

  After they got off the Ferris wheel, the trio strolled toward the House of Horrors. Every once in a while, Cass would come up with something else to do, but Jacky and Ben turned her down, promising her they’d do that right after they’d gone through the House of Horrors. Cass looked paler with every step they took toward the haunted mansion ride.

  Jacky let out a loud sigh and rolled her eyes the moment Cass mentioned another ride she wanted to go on. “For god’s sake, Cass, the House of Horrors is just a thrill ride at the fair, nothing to be so frightened about. It’s almost like you’re afraid of your own shadow!”

  Cass didn’t say anything else. She pulled her sleeve, eyes focused on the floor.

  Jacky bit her lip and reached for her friend, when she stopped dead in her tracks. In front of her loomed the House of Horrors, and it was everything she hoped it wouldn’t be.