A Night to Remember

At The Mansion

24th October

"Here!" Frank slapped the leaflets onto the table, his excitement overflowing. "Check that out!"
Cautiously, each band member reached forward and picked up one of the glossy pamphlets that lay in the middle of the table.After a few moments, Gerard spoke.
"And this is what you called us here for?"
Frank frowned before collecting his thoughts and moving on.
"You asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday and this is it."
"You want to stay overnight in a haunted house on Halloween?" Ray clarified. As he did so, he glanced towards Mikey, who had as yet, not said a word, but looked as though he really wanted to. Gerard picked up on the glance and smiled comfortingly at his brother.
"What do you think, Mikey?"
The young bassist looked down. "I'm not keen," he said simply.
"Mikey!" Frank pleaded. "I know why..."
"I know you know why, so how can...?" Mikey paused. "I've seen enough haunted places to last me a lifetime."
Frank leaned forward and whispered in Mikey's ear. As he sat back, he stared expectantly at his friend. Mikey's nose crumpled.
"I don't know, Frank."
"Okay," Frank conceded, though it was hard to conceal that he was crestfallen.
Mikey's shoulders sagged; he hated himself for being the one to encourage that look of disappointment, no matter how hard he tried to disguise it.
"Book it," Mikey capitulated.
"No, Mikey, if it's not..."
"Seriously, Frank, I'll be fine," he nodded. "I think this is one demon I have to face."

*

31st October

"I know what you're thinking!" Frank enthused as they stood outside the house.
"I really don't think you do, Frank!" Bob glanced up and frowned.

It was a creepy enough looking building, but because, basically, it was a tourist trap, a few clichéd items had been placed around to make the place seem spooky. A rocking chair on the porch; clearly fake cobwebs; dim, slightly green tinged lighting all designed to make the place look eerie.

"Oh, great, there's even a mannequin in the upstairs window, this is really over the top, Frank," Bob grumbled.
"Oh, stop complaining, Bob," Frank replied. "It's my birthday, don't ruin it!"
"There's no mannequin," Gerard commented.
"There is, it's..." Bob pointed to the top left corner window, but nothing was there but curtains. Dropping his hand he furrowed his brow. "It must have been a trick of the light."
"Frank," Mikey pulled at the guitarist's sleeve.
Frank turned and smiled at his anxious friend.
"He's just making it up to scare you," Frank reassured him.
"I just..." Bob began.
"Didn't you, Bob?"
"Like, I said, trick of the light."
Mikey frowned.
"Shall we go in then?" Ray asked. "It's pretty cold out here, you know."

Heading inside, they laughed at the excessively creaky sounding door as they pushed it open. Hitting the lights, they looked around the entrance hall. It was a large house and the impressive entrance hall took their breath away. It was just like every horror movie house they'd ever seen. Large and dark with mahogany panelled walls. A grandfather clock – perfect! Old style furniture, creaky floorboards, patterned rugs everywhere, paintings on the walls, everything.

"There's got to be a suit of armour here somewhere!" Frank laughed. "It would be so right for this place!"
"It's pretty impressive," Ray nodded.
"Do you want to look around?" Frank asked.
"Yeah," Gerard agreed, "I'd like to, might even get a few song ideas too!"
"I think we should stick together," Mikey commented quietly.
"I think that's a good idea," Bob agreed, still feeling guilty at inadvertently scaring Mikey earlier. "It's a big place, probably easy to get lost."

Visiting room after room, they couldn't help but be distracted by the dramatic style of the house décor. It was as if it had been decorated in the late 1800s and never altered. There was a very definite feel as they moved from room to room that time had stood still and that if they checked their watches, nothing would have moved on. There was an inexplicable feeling that they were being watched, and not just by the numerous portraits hanging in every room.
In addition to the impressive layout and general sense of eeriness, each room had a floor-standing plaque giving information on the room's use in days gone by.