FRIDAY FRIGHTS...Story One Part One

                                               Haunted Dares 
                              By Robin Renee Ray
                                      

                                      Part One



Fear laid the ground work on the rhythm of Franny's beating heart. Every step she took toward the old two story haunted house made her wish she had never taken the bet. The car lights disappeared in the gloomy depths of dust and the setting sun, leaving her to pay for saying she could stay the night in the old McGregor house—a house that hadn't had a living occupant in over twenty years, not since the night of the gruesome murders of the whole McGregor family. The three children were found in their beds, all with sliced throats and bound hands. Mr. and Mrs. McGregor were found in the basement. Both had been decapitated and their bodies were mutilated in what the authorities could only claim to be a ritualistic killing.


Some ten years later, a homeless man was found hanging by the neck in a tree in the back yard, which at first glance looked like a suicide, until upon closer inspection it proved he had no organs left in his open torso. The killer had gutted him then replaced his shirt over an opening that had already dried. His insides were never found. The harder Franny tried not to think on the past events of the McGregor home, the more horrid thoughts flowed in.


"This is so stupid," she mumbled as she took the first step that led up to a wrap-around porch.


It was eerily quiet, not even the insects sang their night tune near the old abandoned house. The only home near was the one at the end of the dirt road, a half a mile away, that led to the one Franny was now contemplating on going into. Her hand shook as she laced her fingers over the smooth round white doorknob, her breath freezing in her chest. The door opened with ease. "Hello?" she called out. "I better not get an answer," she whispered as she dug the flashlight out of her overnight bag. She then pulled her cell phone out of her coat pocket and let out the breath she was holding when she saw she had full reception.


A dank moldy smell attacked her senses as she walked no more than two steps in. Franny coughed and it echoed through the large empty foyer. She closed the front door and with an extreme discomfort, forced herself to move to the middle of the foyer so she could see the rooms on both sides. All of the doorways were arched in a dome shape and wider than most. The staircase opened wide at the bottom then tapered in at the top with a dark wooden banister that hid her view of the top floor. The light that hung in the middle was made of both wood and brass and layered in cobwebs. Most of the wallpaper had peeled from the walls in patches that now blanketed the floor, giving the room an odd mirror image feel. All of the windows stood bare save the boards that were nailed over the outside.


Without thinking, Fanny walked back to the front door and flipped the light switch, then laughed at her own silly actions. Her cell phone rang and she screamed, then immediately covered her mouth, frightful that anything unnatural would answer. The rumors that grew over the years had all who dared visit the old home thinking that it was fear filled emotions that got you murdered for trespassing. Franny flipped the cell phone open on the third ring.


"Hello?"


"I'm going to rip your guts out," a male voice said, before he burst out laughing.


"You guys can come pick me up right now if you're breaking the rules," Franny replied.


"I was just kidding."


"This place is bad enough without any of you trying to push the freak buttons. We had a deal that I would do this as long as no one did anything to make me think this place is really haunted."


"I'll stick to the bet, but you better pay up if you walk out before morning."


"How would you even know, Ricky? All of you better be heading back to town."


"We can see the lights right now. Have you even made it inside yet?"


"As soon as you guys drove away. I told you I wasn't afraid of those stupid rumors, and I'll have fifty dollars and your new leather jacket when the sun comes up."


"No way, the bet is if you do it and don't get murdered, then I have a chance to stay and get what you offered."


"They were gonna try and scare you, Franny," her friend Cindy yelled out.


"Give her the phone, Ricky," Franny demanded.


"Mouth," Rick said as he handed the phone over the back of the seat.


"Don't worry Fran, no one is leaving my house until we come to pick you up," Cindy popped Ricky on the back of the head. "Prick face tried to talk us into parking up the road and then walk back and do things to scare you out of the bet. I say he's hoping you won't do it so he doesn't have to."


"Bullshit, she knows what she bet and no way in hell am I afraid of anything," Ricky yelled out and Franny shook her head.


"I should have never told Ricky that I would go on a date if I lost the bet," Franny was speaking when her cell phone beeped once and went dead. "Hello? You there?"


The relief of knowing that Cindy was going to be keeping an eye on the only other people that knew she was staying the night was a huge weight lifted off of her shoulders. Franny slowly made her way into the living room and was about to spread the small blanket she brought on the floor, when she heard something move upstairs. The ramped rhythm of her heart had her lips tingling. The beam on the flashlight took on a vibration as her head went slowly back and her eyes grew wide.






To be continued next Friday….