Betrayal at the House on the Hill Shorts

The Dance of Death

     Music is so enchanting no matter who the person is.  No matter what music a person enjoys most, they can still find joy in the notes of any song.  

     Beams of light flicked around the entrance hall and the foyer, staring into the dark and empty rooms.  The five young adults were there because someone had suggested they go and find something for them.  The figure, shady and uneasy as they had seemed, had said that a silver necklace was somewhere in the house and that they need someone to get it.  The figure had promised something in return as well as keeping whatever they found along the way.

     "I kind of wished he'd told us where the stupid thing is," one of the girls, Lyndsay, muttered.  "I mean, how are we going to find a tiny thing like that in this big house?"  One of the boys pushed a door open, and watching as his light danced on the pots and pans hanging from the rack.  

     "We'll just have to look," Henry answered, stepping further into the kitchen.  "Besides, we get to keep anything else we find in here...."  To accentuate his point, he picked up a golden ring that was lying on the island in the center of the room.  "Already finding something nice here...."

      "We can't be too lax about this, though," Lawrence interjected.  "No one really knows how stable this place is...."  As if on que, the house groaned.  "Let's just see where this thing is, and get of here.  Lyndsay, Margo, you go with Henry and explore this floor.  Nick, come with me and we'll take the next floor up."  They parted as they had been told to and separated at the stairs.  

     "Something tells me that it's not in here," Margo said, looking into the next room.  A large pipe organ dominated one side of the room, cobwebs stretching between the pipes and dust covering the rows of white and black keys.  They steps inside and began checking the closets and under the seat of the organ for something.  After what felt like an hour of searching, finding nothing but delicate sheet music and more dust.  "This is fun, isn't it?"

     "Don't feel bad about it," Henry tried to reassure her, trying the next door and finding it unlocked.  "Come on, let's not let the others down."  The girls followed him outside to stand among moss-covered gravestones.  "Okay...this isn't really helping...."

     "I'm not digging up a dead body for a brooch," Lyndsay stated firmly.  "Let's get back in and...."  Her sentence was stopped as she noticed the puppet sitting on a headstone.  It moved creepily as it stood up, shaking a tiny spear in its hand as it jumped at her.  On a reflex she moved to the side and grabbed the shaft of the spear.  The puppet's face looked shocked as Lyndsay spun around in a circle before lobbing it over the wrought iron fence.  

     "What the Hell was that?" Margo breathed, looking around frantically for more puppets.  

     "Let's just get back in in case there's more of them," Henry ordered, nudging the girls back towards the door.  Making sure the door was shut and secure behind them, they found another door to explore.  A vast ballroom stretched out before them, dust covered tables pushed against the walls.  The floor was still covered in a thin layer of dust but the wood still looked pretty good for the dust coating.

     "Nice place," Lyndsay murmured, looking up at the cobweb-draped chandelier.  "I wonder if the others are having luck...."

     Lawrence and Nick strained as they put all of their weight against a door they had been unable to open alone.  After a few minutes of using this technique, the door was forced open and Lawrence fell into the room with a thunderous clatter.  The room he'd fallen into was full of what could only be described as junk.

     "You alright?" Nick asked, watching his friend groan as he stood up.  Lawrence gave a thumbs up and Nick's flashlight reflected off of something in his hand.  Lawrence held up the thing in his hand up to the light to examine it further.

     A long silver chain dangled from his fingers.  A silver crucifix dangled in open air, glinting slightly as it slowly spun around.  Lawrence opened his mouth to say something before he was interrupted.

     The clock in the hall struck midnight, a sound that echoed throughout the house.  Both of them were sure that it wasn't that late yet.  As the clocks quieted, a lone fiddler began to play a haunting melody that floated through the air, calling them to dance.  The music made their souls shrivel, but it also made their lips curl up into a smile.  

     "How could something be so awful," Nick said, "and so wonderful at the same time?"  Lawrence's answer was interrupted as his phone went off.

     "Guys," Margo said.  "You all might want to see this...we're in the ballroom downstairs."  Both boys rushed out of the room, downstairs and searched for the room.  As soon as they burst through the open door, they found what had slightly confused Margo.

     Lyndsay and Henry were joined in a rather old-fashioned looking dance, smiling and laughing as they did so.  The three who weren't stood in silence, listening to the fast, jaunty melody that have so entranced their friends.  

     "We've got to stop the music," Lawrence said, holding tightly onto the holy symbol.  "It sounds like it's coming from the basement.  Come on...."  They ran out of the room but didn't notice that Lyndsay and Henry had stopped their dance.

     "We can't let that happen," Lyndsay said, letting go of her partner.  "Come on, we need to get rid of that necklace...."

     Lawrence through open a door, sighing with relief as he sees stairs going down and the music getting louder as it echoed up through the house.  Slowly, so as not to slip on the wet stairs, they descended into the gloom.  There was only one door and a hole in the wall, but the music was only muffled by the heavy door.  Lawrence walked confidently towards it, trying to measure his breathing before forcing the door open.

     A stooped figure in dark clothes stood in the middle of a large pentagram on the floor, a skull grinning at them as he played.  Lawrence raised the crucifix to shoulder height, and saw the empty eyes of the fiddler upon him.

     "May the Holy Cross be a light unto me," he began to chant.  "And may the Dragon never be my guide."  The fiddler began to pick up his tune.  "Get behind me, Satan!  Never suggest...."  He was cut off as something slammed into the side of him, forcing him to trip and stumble towards the hole.  He tried to keep himself from falling into the murky water he could see, whirling his arms to try to keep himself up before eventually losing his balance.  

     The others looked down at him as he spluttered and choked in the murk, smiling down at him.  "Margo," he coughed.  "What...."

     "Come on out," she said, offering him a hand.  "The music is too nice for it to be gone.  Just give yourself to it...."  They watched as a smile broke across his face and allowed her to pull him out and to step into the room with the fiddler who smiled at them all.  The necklace had been left gleaming under the water, the fiddler taking himself and the others into the ballroom where spirits danced.

     Hauntingly beautiful, driving, melodic, tragic, and joyous, the music fills the rooms of the ancient mansion.  Dancers spin through the ballroom as the fiddler plays on.  The dance is so joyous, so enticing, that the dancers would die rather than stop.  And so they shall.