The Night Before Halloween
...
'Nominated for Best Horror in Stealthy Stories II TMNT Fanfic Competition 2015'
Warnings: Mild Language, Major Cliffhangers
Rating: T
Genre/s: Horror, Suspense, Angst, Mystery
Characters: Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, Michelangelo
Summary:
...And that is the story of how Leonardo ended up right outside the front door of a haunted mansion, with nothing but a camera helmet, his swords, a wannabe IPad, and a flashlight. All because he lost at a ridiculous game of rock-paper-scissors. The idea of ghost hunting is silly, and if ghosts were even real, Leo prefers not to add them in their already long list of enemies...
A/N: This story is mildly based on a horror show we had in our country called Philippines Scariest Challenge, but with a LOT of changes. Don't get me wrong, it's not about the whole show. It's just going to be a basis. The show's really freaking creepy, and the players and crew of that show even reported sightings of ghosts. Some are even caught on cam. You can watch it on Youtube for more ideas (though I doubt you'd understand the language): (remove the parentheses)
(youtube)(.com)/watch?v=_Lcr4pcpw9E&list=PLD57D5BF359E9E3C6
If you want, you can search it but sadly there's not much information about it on Google. I'm going to try to explain it more in this chapter so don't worry. Please review and favorite guys, I would really appreciate it!
P.S. Cover Image is made my yours truly! I'm kinda proud of it. I'll try to post the full image sometime in DeviantArt.
...
Leo didn't quite know for sure how he got roped into this, but he was starting to regret it. One moment, he was relaxing in the living room in the lair, enjoying the quiet atmosphere, and the next he was in front of this huge mansion wearing a ridiculous set of equipment for their supposed 'expedition.'
But don't blame him, it was all Raph and Mikey's idea.
It all started yesterday. It was the night before Halloween and they were all just watching TV quietly. No one was fighting, because it seems like Raph is in a good mood. Mikey was not being annoying too. He's just there sitting on the floor humming to himself without a care in the world. And for once, Donnie got out of his lab and joined them in the living room, taking part in this rare and unplanned bonding time. Splinter was the only one who didn't join them, choosing to stay in his room to meditate and savor the quiet atmosphere that was so rare in their home.
But then something came up on TV, a commercial for a show called: 'America's Scariest Challenge'. It showed two hosts talking about the rules of the challenge. Three players are picked to be brave enough to enter an abandoned place or house renown for something scary at night and complete some challenges enclosed in red envelopes around the area. The hard part? They should only enter one at a time, and they don't know where the envelopes are. They only know how many and where the first one is. Of course they have equipment on like a camera, a flashlight, and a two-way radio but that's all they got. The camera and flashlight are for obvious reasons. The radio, you can only use it for three calls for help. If you tried for a fourth one no one will answer you anymore. You can give up, and they can come rescue you inside. But that will show everyone that you are not brave enough to try. The commercial stated that some of the players already experienced something scary there, like seeing or hearing random things. Sometimes, it even gets caught on camera. But it depends on you to cope with it yourself and survive your time there.
The idea was so ridiculous to Leo. The things people do to entertain themselves... meanwhile, here are four teenage turtles fighting criminals, aliens, ninjas, and robots everyday as their own entertainment. They have no time for ghost hunts. And if there were even REAL ghosts, Leo would prefer not to put them in their already long list of enemies.
But then Mikey just had to open his mouth.
"Dudes, that looks so awesome! I've been thinking... can we do that?"
"No." Donnie flatly replied.
"Oh come on, it's Halloween! Bad guys rarely attack on that day -they're probably having Halloween parties- and we stopped visiting houses since we were ten so we don't have much to do! I'm so BORED!"
"Then go read your comics. Don't drag us into this." Leo rolled his eyes and changed the channel in an attempt to stop Mikey's ideas.
But it seems Raph really loves living up to his unofficial title of being Leo's constant pain in the ass, because he shot him a smug smirk and stated slowly, "Well actually... I kinda like that idea. But that doesn't mean anything Mikey," Raph warned their youngest brother who is preparing to cheer in triumph.
"What do you mean you like that idea? It sounds really ridiculous to me! I mean, us going on a ghost hunt?" Donnie said in pure disbelief.
"Well, think about it. I've heard that being scared is good for you- don't ask Donnie." He immediately told their genius brother who rolled his eyes. "And it can be a good practice session too. You can learn to be quiet and blend in the dark or stuff like that, and you can test your bravery. And the best of all? I can finally hear Fearless here scream like a girl."
Leo felt his eyelid twitch, and he shot a glare at Raph. "That's not going to happen."
Raph smirked. "Oh yeah? Prove it. Do the challenge."
It was then Leo's turn to smirk, "Why is it only me? That's hardly fair right? So that means you three should do it too!"
Mikey fist-pumped. "Heck yeah we will! Donnie will provide the necessary thingamabobs! We'll do it on the night of Halloween for an extra spooky atmosphere!"
Donnie's eyes widened and he stared at them all in disbelief. "Wait a minute, hold it! Leo, you're actually agreeing to do this?!"
"Well..." He shot a tentative glance at their Father's closed door, "We should probably tell Master Splinter first."
Raph rolled his eyes. "Ugh, Splinter again? He doesn't have to know. We'll just say that we're gonna go topside for fun because it's Halloween and hide all the equipment in Donnie's bottomless duffel bag. He'll never notice a thing because that's always filled with knick-knacks!"
Donnie glared at him. "Hey! Leave my bag out of this!"
"Anyway, come on Fearless! There's no harm in doing that! And like Donnie said, ghosts aren't real. This'll only be like a thrill."
"No way, I refuse! Leo, don't you dare."
"Aww come on Donnie, it'll be fun!"
"So what do you say?"
At the abrupt pause, Leo took the time to gaze at them all, all the while weighing the pros and cons of his decision. Raph had his smug look on, like he knows he's already won; Mikey's puppy-dog eyes were present and as always, hard to resist; while Donnie was visibly shaking his head and mouthing 'NO' over and over again.
Leo glanced longingly at Master Splinter's door.
"Don't tell me you're scared because of something as simple as that?" Raph taunted.
Leo immediately whipped his head around to glare at him, while catching Donnie at the corner of his eyes slump his shoulders in defeat. Probably because he knew that Leo wouldn't be able to refuse that anymore. He crossed his arms. "I'm not scared. And I'll prove it to you. We'll do it. But if you scream, it's not my fault."
"That would never happen, I assure you that."
They proceeded to glare heatedly at each other, daring the other to strike or yell first. But suddenly Raph backed down, surprising them all, before grinning at him evilly. "Okay then, let's just see what will happen."
Leo narrowed his eyes, "Fine."
Donnie just groaned.
Mikey stared alternately between them, like a spectator in a tennis match. His wide grin matched his twinkling bright blue eyes. "Duuuude... I can already tell that this is gonna be so AWESOME!"
.
~oOo~
.
So now they're standing here in the middle of nowhere after lying to Splinter about their real plans. They picked one of the most famous haunted houses in the area. (I'll leave it up to you to guess what it is) No wait, scratch that. It's not a house. It's a bloody MANSION. It only has three floors, but Leo can already tell that it's much larger on the inside. And now they're standing outside the gate like four ninja ghost busters.
"Dudes? I think I'm starting to freak out a bit..." Mikey whispered when a cold wind suddenly blew violently around them, scattering dried leaves everywhere. There's no signs of people living nearby. They're too far away from civilization to bother disguising themselves. They even had to use the Battle Shell to get there.
"Well too bad. Oh wait, this is YOUR idea, so suck it up." Donnie said sarcastically before opening the gate. It creaked loudly and they all winced. Donnie groaned. "Isn't this a perfect horror scene. Next there will probably be something peeking at us from the window."
"Uhh guys? I think I just saw something peeking at us from the windows..." Mikey unknowingly repeated and pointed at a window in the far right corner of the house in the second floor, but when they turned to look, there's no one there.
"Ha-ha, very funny Mikey." Raph glared.
"But I'm not kidding!"
"Guys, stop. Can we please get a move on so we can finish this and go home?" Leo rubbed his temples in irritation. Feeling like they're treading on dangerous ground, they all nodded pretty quickly. "Good. So what we're going to do, is we will try to do the same thing they did in the show, but with a lot of changes. First of all, there will be NO challenges."
"What?!" Raph and Mikey both yelled.
"How can this be America's Scariest Challenge if there are No. Freaking. Challenges?!" Raph emphasized.
"Well first of all, we have to put the challenges in there first before we explore, but that will obviously ruin the whole thing of 'exploring' if we already know what we're up against." Donnie almost added a 'duh' but refrained when Raph shot him a glare.
"In other words, no challenges. We will only explore it, then we're out of here. No exceptions."
They both groaned and Leo rolled his eyes.
Donnie stepped forward, shuffling through the things in his duffel. "Second, we'll still have the equipment of course. We'll use two flashlights, with extra batteries just in case. A camera helmet, so we can catch additional things if we'll ever be interested to watch the feeds later on. A phone, not our shell cells because those are too small or any old fashioned radio like what they used in the show. Instead, we'll use my new invention. I still don't have a name for it but we all know Mikey will provide it right?" Donnie glanced wearily at Mikey who crossed his arms.
"You got that right D."
"Whatever. So... the thing is larger than average cellphones and will be used for video feeds or video calls. We won't use the three call limit, but you can limit your video calls so we can, as they say, 'ENJOY' the experience." Donnie emphasized the word by glaring at Mikey and Raph.
"But we will still have our Shell Cells for tracking and communication just in case. There will be no rescue, so the best we can do when we give up is to track where the others are until we're all together, then we'll get out of here."
Leo stepped forward. "And like in the show, we will not enter the mansion together. We will do this one by one. The first one to go will be given a head start of 15 minutes before the second one goes. This continues until everyone is inside. This 'expedition' of ours will last for an hour only. Are we all clear?"
"Yep." Raph said.
"Uhhh huuuhhh..." Mikey muttered, his hands visibly shaking. From the cold or fright they don't know.
"Okay then, come over here and let's distribute these babies." Donnie grinned and unpacked all the techs in his bottomless duffel bag. He first handed them the flashlights and the batteries, which they stored in their belts. Then, the camera helmets. And finally, Donnie's new invention. They visibly wowwwed at the design. The device looks strongly like an Ipad, but the cover is like a turtle shell with a shade of red, which obviously means it's for Raph. It has a large screen, with a few colored buttons on the sides.
"That's so cool! I'll name it, the T-Pad!" Mikey fist-pumped the air.
"Wooow. Sooo original." Raph said sarcastically.
"Well, now that you have personally seen it, I'll explain the basics so you won't break it before you touch it or something." Donnie said and his brothers glared at him. "Okay so, that screen is where you obviously look at when you're video calling someone. If you're calling more than one turtle, the screen will be split into two or more screens for each caller, so you won't have to switch between one screen to the next. The buttons on the sides is for who you want to call depending on the colors. Blue for Leo, purple for me and so on. You can lock the screen if you don't want anyone to interrupt your adventure or just to conserve the battery using the button on the top of the device. That's it. Now please don't break it!"
"Come on Donnie, we're not gonna break it with just a single touch!" Raph said and abruptly grabbed the T-Pad from his hands, making him yelp. He then turned it over and inspected every inch of it dramatically, Donnie eyeing him carefully for any signs of sudden tantrums that may result in a broken T-Pad on the ground. To his relief, Raph did nothing more than push the lock button and opened the device.
"Huh. That was actually pretty cool." He commented vaguely.
"Quick! The orange button!" Mikey suggested and grabbed his own orange T-Pad. Raph complied and pushed the button. Immediately, the T-Pad opened one screen and Mikey's face was shown.
"Wow Mikey, you look extra ugly in here."
"Oh shaddap Raphie-boy. You're just jealous because you look like an over-sized green blob in here."
"What did you say?!" Raph shouted and immediately tried to smack Mikey's head as he quickly retreated behind Donnie.
"Stop guys, STOP!" Leo cried and grabbed both of their arms to stop them. "Quit messing around so we can finish and go home!"
"Yeah! I still have plenty of things I need to do in the lab. Besides, Splinter will probably notice something soon!" Donnie added for extra measure.
To their relief, both had calmed down. Raph glared at Mikey. "I'm still not done with you knucklehead."
Mikey blew a raspberry at him and quickly took cover behind Leo to avoid another smack. But then, he realized that behind him and Leo was the door to the mansion.
And it was slowly creaking open.
"Holy-!" Mikey yelped and quickly dove behind Donnie for cover. Leo and the others immediately turned to look but saw nothing out of the ordinary. Mikey peeked from behind his brother and saw that the door was closed shut. They all glared at Mikey. Said turtle jumped up from behind Donnie. "What?! But... I saw the door! It-it was opening slowly like in the movies!"
"Quit being such a scaredy cat Mikey. Are you a ninja or not?!" Raph demanded.
Mikey sighed in defeat. "Yeah yeah, I'm a ninja. But I'm warning you, I did see something."
Raoh waved him off while they all proceeded to prepare themselves for the hunt. But then they realized one important thing missing...
"Who'll be the first to go inside?" Leo asked.
They all went silent.
Then they all began shouting simultaneously.
"I vote Mikey because he's the one who suggested this in the first place!" Raph shot a glare at his youngest brother.
"Leo because he's the eldest!" Mikey piped up from behind Donnie.
"Raph should go because he's the one who convinced us to do this!" Donnie crossed his arms stubbornly.
"Donnie doesn't believe in ghosts right? So you'll have no problem at all in being the first one." Leo decided.
They all went silent again, the remoteness of the place and the fact that they're so near to the door making them a bit nervous (though they'll never admit it.) Mikey smiled shakily, "So uh... rock-paper-scissors anyone?"
.
~oOo~
.
And that's the story of how Leonardo ended up right outside the front door of the haunted mansion, with nothing but a camera helmet with night vision, a wannabe Ipad, and a flashlight. All because he lost at a ridiculous game of rock-paper-scissors. Mikey would go second, Raph third, and Donnie fourth. Being the first will be really creepy because you'll be all alone in that huge house. Being the last is also creepy because you'll be left all alone outside. So either way, it's bad.
"You can do it Leo!" Mikey cheered halfheartedly behind him, his knees visibly shaking. He must be scared because he'll enter next after him.
"Scream like a girl for me Fearless!" Raph smirked and waved.
"Be alert... just in case." Donnie told him, the only serious one in here.
Leo breathed deeply and tensed his muscles. It's not going to be hard. He'll just go in, explore a bit, try not to get freaked out, and go out. It's not like ghosts are real... right? Anyway, he should avoid being scared and, the worst of all, scream. Because he'll never be able to live it down.
He turned one last time to face them, and tried to joke. "If I died in here, I'll haunt all of you."
But none of his brothers laughed. Mikey tried to smile, but he was obviously really freaked out now. Leo then started to wonder if what Mikey said and saw earlier was real...
If so, they will be in deep trouble.