The Old Cedar Mansion

The door of the Old Cedar Mansion creaked open. A chill crept up Lisa’s spine. Perhaps it was a premonition of the awaiting danger that lay behind the door. Ever since she had moved to this small, old town, the residence had been warning her of the tragedies that had befallen all who had entered the mansion. But Lisa was reckless. She was the type of person that would run into a burning building to save someone, not even thinking of the consequences. Why would she be afraid of rumors? She shouldn’t have been…yet…she was…

The door eerily opened to its full extent. She stepped forward. The old wooden boards creaked under her weight.

Silence….

Nothing stirred or made a noise of any sort. The quiet was unnerving.

Darkness…

She couldn’t see anything. Only black filled her eyes. Slowly her eyes adjusted to the dark. Cobwebs covered the dusty hall. The room smelled musty and the air was thick, making it hard to breathe.

She stepped into the darkness. A noise came from the left. It was a faint growl, maybe a snicker. With fear swelling up inside her stomach, Lisa turned to the sound and took in a sharp gasp of breath.

A giant being stood a few feet away. It was taller than most men. Two pairs of sharp, glistening teeth protruded from its mouth, one set from its top lip, the other, the bottom. Its mangled and filthy hair glimmered in the vague light coming from the opened door. The monster’s grotesque face stared back at her.

Panic and fear engulfed Lisa. Her heart began to race so fast it would surely tumble out of her chest. A faint, pitiful gasp of fear escaped her lips. The cry for help, however, could not be heard over the creature’s roar. The vibration of it shook Lisa so that she stumbled a few steps backwards.

Panic-stricken, Lisa tore around and dashed out the still open door, down the dusty concrete steps, and through the rusted brass gates. Out onto the street and into the dark night.

Back in the Old Cedar Mansion, the hairy creature made a strange growl. It sounded oddly like a laugh. The creature placed its furry hands on both sides of its head and yanked upwards….tearing its head off! It revealed the face of a young, handsome boy about Lisa’s age. A wide grin was on his lips.

“I got you, Lisa,” he laughed. His eyes were held shut by a wide smile. Once opening them, he added, uncertainly as he looked around the hall. “Lisa? Hey, Lisa, where’d ya go?”

Well, that was my first story for Fiction Press. I hope you enjoyed it. I wrote it for the Halloween Issue of the 2004-2005 newspaper at my school, oh, so long ago. I noticed as I was retyping it that we have lousy editors. I misspelled “filthy” and no one noticed. Someone also changed the sentence: “The cry for help, however, could not be heard over the creature’s roar” to “The cry for help, however, it could not be heard over the creature’s roar.” Who talks like that? They made me sound so stupid….Anyway, I hoped you like my story. -

-Ryoko of the Black Knights