6. The Darker Side

Chapter One

“If you don’t want to sleep out in the rain tonight, I suggest you stop.” Casi MacKensey was getting frustrated. Whenever she got near any of her kids, they would suddenly stop talking. The rare thing was that all of them were doing it. Ashlan and Courtney in the kitchen, fixing dinner; Rielle on the phone with her best friend Taryn and her sons in the family room, watching a movie. “Better yet, I’ll just ground all of you.”

“Stop what?” Chris gave her an innocent look. 

“Christopher, you’re not too old to paddle.”

His innocent look turned to horror. “Mom, no. I’m in high school. No.”

“Watch me.” She spun around and marched over to the study where her husband was.

The minute the double doors were closed, Chris looked over at his brother. “You think she heard anything?”

“I know she didn’t hear what she wanted to hear. Maybe we should go upstairs.”

“I want to finish the movie.”

“You’ve seen it like five times.”

“And this is the sixth. I’m going for the record.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “Maybe if we drop hints, we can all go.”

“You know how Mom is, she thinks those haunted houses are dorky. Granted, most of them are. But this one is supposed to be awesome. Special effects are amazing.”

“Is that what this is all about?”

Chris jumped nearly a foot off the couch. His mother was standing right behind them. He gave her a look, looked at his dad’s office and then back at her. “How’d you do that? Are you Samantha Stevens in disguise?”

Jason sniggered and Chris gave him a look. “What?”

“You know that door that Dad has in his office?”

“What door? The closet doors?”

“No, the one with the mural on it.”

“That’s not a door…is it?”

Jason grinned. “It goes into the living room.”

“Duh, I knew that. I’m not an idiot.” Chris got to his feet. “Parents are not supposed to sneak up on their children. It’s…fundamentally wrong.”

“Oh, look who’s learning big words.” Ashlan walked out of the kitchen. “High school must doing something.”

Chris had his hand on the nearest pillow to throw it at his sister. “Don’t you dare, or I’ll ground you on Halloween night.” Chris looked at his mother and snatched his hand away from her square black pillow that had a white spider web pattern on it. 

“Never entered my head.”

His mother just glared at him and then took a breath. “Why all the secrecy?”

“You think haunted houses are dorky…” Chris began.

“Yes, I know. I heard you. I like haunted houses.”

Chris looked around the family room. “Well, that is kind of obvious but —”

“You’re really aiming to be grounded on Halloween, aren’t you?” Casi turned to her husband who just shrugged. “So, when is this awesome haunted house operating?”

“It’s open every night until Halloween,” said Ashlan. “From five till midnight.”

Casi glanced at the apple-shaped clock in the kitchen. “It’s six-fifteen, we’ll eat supper and go.”