Tony the Phony and the Cursed Mansion by M. Isenhoff and T. Isenhoff

Today’s post is part of a Choose Your Own  Story written and hosted by T. Isenhoff and M. Isenhoff on their Storyboys blog. T. is in 3rd grade, and M. is in 6th grade. This story was their winter homeschool project. Travel over to their blog to start at the beginning. Have fun!

“Go! Go! Go!” Tony screamed to Ed. The boys sprinted down the steps, but a gunshot stopped them in their tracks.

“Hands up!” Coach Theodore called.

The boys raised their hands. The steps creaked as the man approached behind them. “March!” he barked.

The coach forced them down to the first floor of the mansion, through a kitchen in the servants’ quarters, and to a stout wooden door. “Open it,” he ordered.

The smell of rot and decay wafted up from the cool interior. “It smells like a cave in here,” Ed said as they descended a slimy wooden stairway.

“Get used to it,” Coach said.

The stairway soon lost all light. The man switched on a flashlight and guided them down a stone corridor. “In there,” he grunted.

Tony pulled open another door and heard the gentle rustle of something sliding in the darkness.

Coach Theodore’s light shown on a wide, circular pit with a rickety ladder leading down into it.

The rustling sound came again. “What is that?” Tony asked.

“Your new companions,” Coach said. “Start climbing.”

One at a time, the boys climbed down into darkness. Then the man pulled up the ladder. “See you later, fellas,” he chuckled. “Be nice to your new friends.”

Tony felt prickles run up and down his spine. “What does he mean?” he wondered.

There was a soft hissing then another sliding sound. Ed flicked on his pen light. The thin beam illuminated the slimy stone of the pit and came to rest on the hooded head of a cobra.

The End