The Haunting of Glensheen Mansion Hotel

Chapter 1

I stood there looking up at my masterpiece, and smiled with satisfaction. I added a few finishing touches then looked down at my watch. I let out a small yelp as it was 4 o'clock in the morning, and I needed to get home before my parents found out I was out and about again. I added my new tag to the masterpiece and hopped on my bicycle to head for home. I put my air pods in my ear to listen to some music as I made the 20 minute bicycle trip home. 

"I have about 10 minutes left till I get home then I'll have about 20 minutes to get inside before my parents are up for work," I thought to myself.

Both my parents are teachers at the high school near by, but they were usually up by 4:30 to feed my little baby brother. I love my baby brother but it was so annoying having him wake up at all hours of the night to be fed. His room is right next to mine and that was the reason I started to sneak out at night. I knew that my parents would never check my room because they would always get up, feed my brother Aidan, and head straight to bed almost like zombies. I watched them a couple of times to prove that it was true, and I would not be caught. The only time I would get in trouble for being out of bed at night was if the police would catch me in the act of painting graffiti on the walls of different businesses in Maplewood. 

Some businesses loved my art because it was always beautiful and the paintings always depicted peaceful scenes, however, most of the time I had to spend my Saturdays and Sundays, if the painting was big, painting over them. However, that didn't deter me from painting there again later on, a few months later. That meant I could never use the same tag for my graffiti because it could be traced back to me, and I really didn't want to get in trouble anymore because if I did my parents were going to send me away to live with my aunt and uncle in Duluth for a while. I always used a different tag every single time, but there was always a little bit of me infused into that tag in some way.

Are you asking yourself, "Well why do you do paint graffities then Annabelle?" I guess in a sense I like to show off my work to other people so they can admire it to, and canvases, paint, and paintbrushes can be so expensive. I have a small job of mowing lawns and babysitting for my neighbors which is just enough to pay for the spray paint I need.

I rolled up to my apartment building and locked my bicycle up in a bike rack. Instead of using the front door, because my apartment building has a doorman and would snitch on me that minute he finds out that I was out, I started up the 3 flights on the fire escape. I always left my bedroom window open just a smidge so I could get in the morning that I got back. I finally made it to my room, tossed my bag to the floor, and flopped onto my bed into a deep sleep.

*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* *Beep*

"Ugh," I said as I rolled over to turn my stupid alarm clock off. I checked the time and noticed that I only got three hours of sleep. "I'll survive," I thought to myself.

I walked over to my closet and peeled off my black clothes. I shoved them all the way to the back of my closet so my dad wouldn't discover them when he was doing laundry. I grabbed a pair of skinny ripped jeans, a ratty shirt, a fuzzy pullover sweatshirt, and my black converse shoes. I swiped on some black mascara and pulled my hair into a messy bun using my scrunchie. I did a once over in the mirror and called it good.

I walked into the kitchen where my mom was pouring coffee into two mugs while my dad was feeding my baby brother again. 

"Good morning, sweetie. How did you sleep last night?" my mom asked me as I grabbed some cereal from the cupboard.

"Pretty good, got a good 8 hours solid," I lied to her as I poured some cereal and milk into a bowl.

"Well, I wish we could figure out how come you get enough sleep, but you still have dark circles underneath your eyes," she said to me.

"Crap," I thought to myself, "I should've added some concealer underneath my eyes because I have been noticing that my under eyes have been getting a little dark."

"Maybe, I will try to go to bed earlier and see if that will help," I said to her in reply.

"I just hope you aren't sneaking out again and vandalizing property again," my dad said turning to face me. "Because if you are we are going to send you to your aunt's and uncle's place in Duluth. Plus we are this close to making you pay for the court fees too."

My parents knew that the pass few times I've been caught "vandalizing property" I snuck out pretty late at night. I did not like sneaking out during school because believe it or not I actually care about my education and want to get out of Maplewood. I want to go Julliard College in New York City as an art major, and I hope to get a scholarship but the only way I can is if I get good grades in school.

I finished my cereal, put my bowl and spoon in the dishwasher, and kissed my mom on the cheek and waved good bye to my dad. I hopped in the elevator and headed down to get my bike. I waved at Jack the doorman on my way out and grabbed my bike out of the bike rack. It was only 7:15 in the morning and school starts at 8:10, so I had some time to kill. It will only take me about 10 minutes to get to my high school, so I decided to stop at Caribou for some coffee. There was a Caribou near by so I headed there first. I popped my air pods in again and listened to some Fall Out Boy, Imagine Dragons, and Queen. 

I pulled up to Caribou and locked my bike up, and as I was walking to the front door I was able to get a good view of my newest art installment. There were a few people milling about looking at the art and taking some pictures of it too. I was pretty proud of this one because it depicted a little boy standing in the middle of a battle holding a pair of red roses. As I walked in to Caribou I pulled one of my air pods out so I could hear the conversations around me. 

"Did you see that new piece of art outside..."

"I can't believe those who vandalize buildings think it is art..."

"I hope the youth or whomever did this gets caught..."

"It really makes you think..."

"I wonder if it is that same girl again..."

By the time I reached the counter and placed my order I was ready to get out of there. Maplewood was a small town and everyone knew everyone, and I could feel everyone staring at me, judging me. Some knew that I would "vandalized property", however, I could care less because it is art and some people just don't understand that. The barista called out my order which was a small caramel cooler with no whipped cream, extra caramel, and an extra shot of espresso. I needed to stay awake today because it was the week before the semester ends, and I had at least two tests that I know of today. I grabbed my drink quickly and left. 

I checked my watch, I had about 20 minutes to make it to school, and the drive from Caribou to school was about 15 minutes. I put my airpod back in my ear and took off on my bike. As I rode ideas of new murals popped in my head, and I made a mental list in my head. 

I made it to my school just in time, and locked my bike up. I walked to my homeroom and my friends Sarah and Paisley were in there. I walked over to them and sat next to them.

"What's up," I said to them.

"Were you up to something again last night?" asked Sarah showing me a picture of my mural that was currently trending on Instagram.

"Um, yeah. I couldn't sleep last night because of my brother, and I had this image in my mind and I just wanted to get out there for people to see," I said to her in reply.

"Well, its out there and its beautiful. I just hope you don't get in trouble again," Sarah says.

"I agree, because we need to hang out and we can't when you are always having to paint over your murals on Saturday and sometimes Sunday," Paisley says to me.

"I know, and I'm sorry..." I started to say in reply when our homeroom teacher Mrs. Johnston walked in.

Author's Note:

This is the end of the first chapter, and I hope you like it so far! I am going to try to write and update this story as fast as I can, but please, please share this story to your readers also. If you have any feedback please let me know. I am really excited to write this story. Enjoy!

Thanks!

NVH1998