This is chapter one of my new story, the Haunted Carousel:
Chapter 1: Silent Springs
As the crowded mini-van pulled into the driveway, Lindsay Brewer looked up excitedly. Finally they were there! Lindsay and her family had booked a vacation house at scenic and peaceful Silent Springs. Luckily; Lindsay was able to convince her parents to let her two best friends come, Karen McCUE and Brianna Mullins. The girls picked up their bags and ran to the front door. Quickly using the key, Lindsay opened the door and ran inside.
All the three girls could say was, “WOW.” And wow was right! The house was a prehistoric mansion! A time machine! They just stood there, mouths agape until a young woman sitting on a Victorian styled couch noticed they were there.
“You must be the Brewer girls.” She said smiling. The girls looked up, suddenly awakened from a trance.
“Uhh, umm, I’m Lindsay Brewer and these are my two best friends, Brianna and Karen. Uhh, did my parents know the -umm-house was like this?”
“Of course we did!” Lindsay’s father shouted merrily. “It was your special surprise!”
Mr. Brewer was laden with luggage as he stumbled to make it into the house. Mrs. Brewer walked daintily up to the front steps and smiled. “How do you like it honey?”
"It's great Mom!" Lindsay said joyfully.
"Yeah Mrs. Brewer!" Brianna said smiling, "How much did this place cost to rent?"
Mrs. Brewer didn't have to answer. Karen and Lindsay had pulled Brianna away from the parlor and off to explore the rest of the house.
The lady Lindsay had been talking to walked up and introduced herself, “I’m Sheryl Wellbanker, the owner of this house. Would you like a quick tour?”
So as the remaining three members of the party went on a house tour, the three girls explored the house. By dinnertime Lindsay, Brianna and Karen had seen the whole house and also found the perfect room to sleep in.
Chapter 2: The Carousel
Lindsay and her friends were bunking in the oldest room in the house, otherwise called the wizard’s tower for reasons unknown. Wizard’s Tower was filled with all sorts of interesting objects, like dolls and hats from other countries, gems, and all sorts of old mystical junk. On one of the walls was a portrait of Wally “Wiz” Wellbanker A huge mirror and dresser set filled up one wall, and a large couch and fireplace on the other. Then there was a skyscraper high bookcase. The Girls laid their sleeping bags out on an enormous canopy bed with a forest green comforter. But the strangest item of all was a mini carousel, hand carved by Mr. Wally Wellbanker. If you wound it up it’d spin around and play a haunting little melody. After a dinner feast in the old-fashioned kitchen, the best friends headed to bed. Just as they had gotten all cozy in their sleeping bags, Lindsay remembered something. She had left her book in the car! Lindsay read every night before bed, and she couldn’t sleep without some words in her brain, so she and Karen decided to go the car and get it. Brianna, who was already asleep and snoring, stayed behind.
A few minutes later, when Karen and Lindsay had officially retrieved the book Sherlock Holmes, they headed back to the tower. But as Lindsay walked down the hall something in the back of her mind was uneasy. Something was playing faintly through her ears. Something, something strangley familiar…Something that made goose bumps on her legs and arms. Something…
“Karen?” Lindsay asked shivering.
“What?” Karen answered nervously. “Does something sound different to you?” She asked.
“Yeah…” Lindsay answered. “It’s quiet.”
“What?” Karen said worried.
“It’s too quiet.” Lindsay repeated thoughts swirling in her mind. “Where’s the snoring…”
“BRIANNA!” they screamed and ran to their room.
Their feet pounding on the ground they ran, they ran for their lives, no, Brianna’s life.Then, when they arrived, they found everything the same, everything, except, except, except Brianna, was gone…
