Goosebumps: Alternate

Chapter 4: Dead House

I looked at the mansion, the replacement of my ordinary house. It stood about two-stories tall, the very top roof almost like it was touching the dark sky as the clouds rumbled and crackled, lightning filling in the air at the bottom of the stairs.

These seem like the same rickety porch stairs I've always had, but when attached to this particular house they seem more sinister... They look like they can give way and break at any moment.

My attentioned turned to a tree next to me in front of my 'home'. I could have sworn there were leaves on the eerie branches... Did a huge gust of wind blew them off? I looked down at the ground, seeing no leaves.

I flickered my attention when I saw statues; stone gargoyles looking very scary. These stone gargoyles are to frighten away unwanted visitors. They look extremely realistic, almost as if they could drop down and attack at any moment.

I took out my phone in case the connection came back.

It did, but it only has one bar. I dialed my mom's number to tell her what happened to the house. The phone rings twice, three, four times. Someone picks up.

"Bob's Slaw Pit, where you can't get your shred out of your head," an unfamiliar voice answered. "This is Grayden; how may I help you?" the unknown person asked from the other side of the line.

"...oops," I mumbled, feeling my face grow hot. "Sorry, wrong number." Before this unknown person can say anything else, I quickly hung up and tried again.

The phone rings twice, three, four times after I punched her phone number. After a minute, she picks up.

"Hi hon - ou need - ing?" My brows furrowed when I can only hear parts of her words. "Ca - u - re - m -?" her voice broke out. "He - o? ... -lo?"

I realized I got a bad connection and hung up. I'll try again when I'm in the house.

I slipped the phone back into my pocket of my shorts, walking up the creaky stairs of the creepy porch, going up to the large door, waiting to be opened.

My skin crawls just standing here on the porch. I hope the neighbors haven't noticed that my house turned into a macabre mystery mansion overnight.

The dark, swirling clouds certainly don't provide any relief from the creepy sense of dread...

The door is twice as big and easily three times as ornate as it should be. I wonder if my house key can still work on this strange home.

Before I can get the key out of my bag, I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Ahh!" I let out a startled scream, spinning around to see Brett. "Brett?!" I exclaimed in surprise. "What are you doing here?" I demanded, placing my hand on my chest, feeling my heart beating inside there. "You scared me," I couldn't help but hiss out.

"Sorry, Arielle," he replied. "I was wondering if I could hang out with you. I forgot the spare house key in my locker back at school," he told me, explaining the situation.

I bit my tongue when my heart rate got to its normal pace. "I don't know..." I said. "I can't call my mom right now because I don't have any connection. I might get it back when I go inside this... odd house."

Brett raised a brow. "Odd house?" he questioned. "Well, you're right about this house being odd... Like, how did it get here? It reminds me of a book I read from a certain series."

I shrugged. "Beats me." I scratched the back of my neck. "I've been having a strange day today... I was going to go through my normal route home when I saw moving truck full of stuff and took several things..."

"You stole things from a truck!?" Brett exclaimed in shock, having me stop talking.

"It got into an accident!" I protested. "Nobody was even there. But the stuff belongs to someone called Mr. Ghoulberg."