A little girl; around 6, in a simple cotton gown, ran for cover if anybody saw her. Why was she hiding? Well, she escaped from an orphanage not to far away from where she was now: Disneyland. It was dark and everyone from the park, including all of the cast members, went home and all the attractions closed for the night. This made it perfect for an escape. The little girl wanted a family and Disneyland was the place where dreams came true, so she decided she would try to find a family to call her own. She didn't know that it was an amusement park. All she knew was that it was like a heaven.
In the bushes, she wondered why nobody was there. Maybe everyone went to bed. She finally stepped out of the bushes and saw an old mansion across the road. She thought that somebody actually lived there and maybe she could find a home there. It certainly looked like a nice place to live. But, she didn't notice gravestones on either side of the house. Also, she didn't know that inside lived animatronic figures of ghosts and scary scenes of a haunted house. As quickly as her little legs could carry her, the child went across the street and onto the porch of the house. Being little, it took a few seconds to get the door open. Peering inside, it was pitch black, but she entered anyway, thinking that the lights would be on inside. But she was wrong. Everything was pitch black and she saw nothing. She was about to go back outside, when the door slammed on her. That made her jump and she ran to the door to try and pry it open. It was locked!
She tried and tried again at opening the door, but she was trapped! To make matters worse, she heard loud claps of thunder and lightning which the sounds echoed through the room. The child slumped down to the floor, wrapping her arms around her legs and silently started to cry.
"Sombody...Anybody..Get me out of here," the child cried.
As she sat there, she thought that she would never get help and wondered if she'd see the light of day again. But, she didn't know that in this dusty, old mansion, that she wasn't alone at all.
A disembodied voice filled the room, his voice had certain smooth creepiness to it, but it also was gentle, acknowledging that the child was there in the room.
"Welcome to the Haunted Mansion. Who might you be, little one?"
Hearing the voice made the child tremble in fear, but lifted her head slightly to look and see who had been talking. As she did so, a small chandelier on the ceiling lit up the room by itself, like the disembodied voice made that happen.
The voice spoke again, "Don't be frightened, young one. Come to the center of the room so I can see you better. Don't be shy."
The child managed to go slowly to the center of the room. In doing so, she still trembled, too scared to talk.
"There you are. Now, let me introduce myself. I am the Ghost Host. I see that you are frightened to death. Poor child... Now, may I ask, why have you come to the mansion?"
The little girl finally spoke, stuttering, "I-I was looking for a family to call my own. You see, I ran away from an orphanage and I came to this place in hopes of finding a home. I-I didn't know..."
The Ghost Host sympathized, "Oh, dear. It's quite alright...What is your name?"
"T-Teresa. That's the only name I have." (Tear-ay-suh)
"Ah, my dear Teresa...Well, since you are here, maybe you could spend the night here. I'm sure some of our ghostly residents wouldn't mind."
Teresa gulped, getting a small chill up her back, "G-Ghosts?"
"Aw..Don't be frightened about that. They are still people, just..a bit different. Now, come with me. Let's find you a suitable place to rest."
The child nodded as the doors in front of her opened and she walked into some sort of room that had paintings of people on the walls, while gargoyle candle holders lit the room. Teresa's heart still raced at the feeling of this place being haunted. She then felt a cold pair of hands on her shoulders. She gasped at this.
"Do not be frightened, young one. It is just me."
Teresa turned her head to see nothing was there, "W-Where are you?"
"Oh. My mortal state is a much unfortunate sight. Probably too gruesome for child's eyes...But if you must know..."
With a flash of lightning, the room went dark and Teresa looked up to see that a noose had been hanging from the ceiling, a man's skeleton dangling in misfortune as the rope was tied around his neck. At an instant, the lights came back on.
The child whimpered as she saw this.
The Ghost Host felt guilty of this, "I didn't mean to frighten you, dear. My apologies."
As he said this, Teresa felt cold arms envelope her and a cold kiss of lips on her forehead. The child said nothing as she tried to hug him back, but she couldn't see him.
Then, the walls and the portraits started to stretch! Actually, the room was stretching! It was getting longer! The portraits expanded to reveal a girl on a tightrope that was a few inches away from being chomped on my a crocodile. Another was a man standing on a barrel of dynamite. Another was an elderly woman sitting on a tombstone of her husbands, and the last portrait had three men stacked on each other while the one at the very bottom was drowning in quick sand.
"Is this room actually stretching?" The Ghost Host cackled lightly, "Or is it your imagination? And as you can see, this chamber has no windows..and no doors."
"I-I don't know the difference," the child said, intrigued and a bit terrified at the same time.
The Ghost Host laughed lightly, "Neither can I. This is probably why I came to the mansion in the first place. I'm only one of 999 happy haunts to retire here."
"999 ghosts?" Teresa shivered.
"Yes, Teresa. But most of them are friendly. But I'll make sure they know that you are very sensitive. They will probably know that anyway by how young you are...Now, come along. I will guide you through the mansion first. That may assure you that this place is not a scary place as it seems to be, even though our jobs are to scare mortals when they come here to tour here."
Exiting down a corridor, the two walked past a few paintings that when the lightning flashed, they turned into corrupted corpses. That made the child jump a bit, but she kept walking. The Ghost Host followed behind her. Even though the child could not see him, she could feel his presence, which felt reassuring at times when another clap of thunder and lightning echoed through the hall. They eventually came to a loading platform where the ride vehicles, which were called Doom Buggies sat silently since the ride had closed for the night.
"Climb into one of those transportation vehicles. It's an easier way to get around in the mansion if you aren't 'dead'. Now, I won't leave your side. Some things will frighten you, I understand that completely, but you must try to contain your fear."
Teresa nodded slowly before taking a deep breath while climbing into one of the Doom Buggies.
"Th-There's no turning back now, right?" asked the child a bit nervous as the Ghost Host turned back on the system of cars and pulled down the lap bar on her car.
The Ghost Host chuckled, " You'll be fine. If not, I don't really know what to think, me being dead and all."
He tried to put at least a little smile on her face, which it worked. Even when she couldn't see her Ghost Host, she knew he was grinning from ear to ear. But now, it was time to go through the mansion. The Doom Buggy lurched forward and it slowly made its way to the endless hallway. The child's eyes grew large as she saw a candelabra floating down the hall!
"Who's that?" asked the child to her Host.
"Ah. That is my good friend Doris. She keeps check on the rooms down there. Well..she has for all eternity. Say hello to our young guest, Doris."
The candelabra waved back and forth and a woman's voice was heard, "Hello, dear! Oh, and hello, Host!"
"We must be on our way, Doris, but keep at it!" The Host laughed lightly.
"I certainly will!" Doris called as her voice echoed while the candelabra walked back down the hallway.
The Ghost Host chuckled as the tour continued, the Doom Buggy turning toward a group of withering flowers, in the center laid a coffin. A creak was heard as a pair of skeleton hands held the top of the coffin, trying to get out. On the side, perched near the coffin, a small black raven cawed while his red eyes glowed. Teresa gasped at the sight of the coffin. The Ghost Host noticed this.
"Don't be alarmed, my dear. He's been trying to get out of that thing for decades. Nobody bothers to help him get out. Sooner or later his bony fingers could get chopped off by that..."
Just then, a voice came from the coffin, "Hey, Host! Get me out of here! I've been stuck here for ages and my bones will break if I'm not out soon!"
"I cannot allow that, Reginald. If the mortals saw you of your coffin, I'm sure they'll notice the difference because they tour this place all the time. So the answer is no."
The skeleton in the coffin, Reginald, sighed, "I wouldn't want that...Nevermind. I'll just keep doing this for another decade, then."
"Carry on." The Host said as the Buggy kept going foreword.