"Charlie! Charlie! We wanna go to the candy store!" Jamie and Melanie screeched.
I strapped on their seat belts in the backseat and proceeded to slip into the driver's side, counting the seconds until I could drop them back off at my aunt's house.
"Sorry guys, no can do. Your mom specifically told me not to give you guys anything loaded with sugar." I backed out of my driveway, cranking up the volume on my out-of-date radio, while heading down the empty, foggy street.
I was grateful that I didn't have to baby-sit my little cousins all night like I usually did on Sunday . My aunt never failed to leave an out-of-breath message saying, "Charlotte! I'm anchoring the nine o' clock news again! Can you watch Jamie and Mel for me please? Thanks doll! I'll be back by ten thirty." Even though everyone called me Charlie, my aunt was still the only one to call me by my real name. I guess she thought it was a bit more elegant.
As soon as I entered my house later that night, after dropping my cousins back off at their house, I shook my boots off and abandoned them by the door. Although it was mid September and it wasn't actually snowing yet, I insisted on wearing my boots anyway because it was a very cold day. My dog, Slug, jumped excitedly around my feet. I bent down to give her a quick scratch behind the ear, and made my way into my kitchen. I grabbed myself a cup of juice and a small bowl of pita chips before retreating up to my room.
I hung my hoodie on my door and plopped down on my bed, opening up my laptop and waiting for my internet to load.
My phone buzzed on my pillow next to me. I looked at the I.D. to see my mom's picture. "Hi mom."
"Hi sweetie, I just wanted to let you know that I am going to be in a little late tonight. We are finishing up our filing here and then we are all going out for Italian." I could hear the scuffling of papers in the background.
"Italian?! Why do you get to eat delicious Italian food while I'm here with nothing to eat except for pita chips and a half-eaten, leftover egg roll. Oh, and this little lime- or possibly kiwi… I'm not exactly sure." I smiled at my attempt at wittiness.
"Oh cheer up Charlie. I'll bring you food. Gotta go now though. Love you!"
"Love you." I hung up.
My internet finally loaded and it was time for me to blog. I opened up my webpage and clicked to post a new entry. My blog was called "Charlie's Bucket" and I guess I got a decent amount of followers. I didn't just teen blog all the time, but I talked about important things, and talked about some things I wanted to do in life. But basically it was all a cleverly worded clump of random thoughts I had at any given time.
I was in the midst of writing when a new comment popped up.
"I have an idea for your bucket. Follow the link." from an anonymous reader.
I warily followed the link to a page that was all black. I thought my computer froze.
"Dammit!" I hissed. Why did I have to follow a strange link?! I wasn't an idiot, but I guess I had a little more faith in my readers. I kept clicking in various spots on the page and angrily swiveling my mouse around.
In the middle of my mini tantrum, my mouse quickly glazed over something purple and small. I slowly retraced my cursor to locate the mysterious purple thing. A small, question mark popped up under the arrow. I felt cautious of clicking on it, but did anyway. I needed a new laptop anyway.
All I saw on the page was the silhouette of a man with his back turned. He was wearing a crooked top hat and I can only see the outlines of coat tails.
"Good evening friends. Glad you could make it." He turned around and started to walk forward. When he stepped into the light, I slightly flinched back. His black, worn top hat sat crooked on his messy , faded, orange curls that fell just below his chin. His dark green eyes had an eerie glint to them, which made me shiver. His hooked nose came down right above his jagged, creepy smile. He wore a tattered, black coat with the tails trailing behind him, and a blood-red vest underneath. His faded black slacks looked like they were the only part of his outfit that was actually intact, other than his shiny gold walking stick. "If many of you don't already know, my name is William. And I am the creator of the up-and-coming haunted house, The Other Half."
I had heard something about this before. Some of my friends would tell me about it. The Other Half was this new haunted house that was opening up in downtown Denver, just about fifteen minutes away from where I lived, and it was supposed to be the biggest haunted house around in a long time. Most haunted houses were just sloppily thrown together a couple of weeks before October in really small locations, like a bar or a family fun center, charging you a bunch of money to get in and didn't really scare you at all. They just got you incredibly irritated and dizzy. A bunch of my friends wanted to get together and go to the opening of this haunted house just before Halloween because they said it would be the best and scariest time to go.
My thought process was cut off by the mysterious William, continuing his strange introduction. "I want The Other Half to be the most sensational, new haunted house around. It will bring in all shapes and sizes of thrill seekers! Not only in the state of Colorado, but all around the United States. Now, I know that the grand opening is not until the tenth of October, but I want to personally invite five brave souls to be my personal guests on the fifth of October. These guests will get to go through the house before anyone and get to partake in the spine-tingling horror within."
His shifty smile and frightening eyes made me scared enough. But I had to admit, this sounded kind of tempting. I had always loved horror movies and going to haunted houses and if this one was going to actually scare me, it would be worth it. And, like my anonymous commenter had said, this would be good for my "bucket." I could blog all about this when I was done and then my readers would maybe try it out. I had to take risks now and then, because that is definitely what my blog was for in the first place: To take risks and cross things off of my bucket list.
"To those courageous souls who are interested, this will not be the easiest contest to win. I have hidden five, red tickets in various places all across the US. I will post hints about the whereabouts of each ticket on this site. It is your quest to decipher my clues and find the ticket. If you find one, post the picture of yourself with it to the main page of the 'Red Ticket' tab on this site." His cold eyes seemed to stare directly at me. "I look forward to seeing you."
The screen went dark just before letting the rest of the website pop up. I scanned down the page to look for clues and hadn't found one yet. I checked the date of the video. It was made today.
Well, I was determined to try to make this happen. Even if I didn't win, I sure as hell wasn't gonna sit back and not give it a shot.