Author's notes:
I don't own a thing.For my usual ramblings
: I love Halloween. Always have, always will. I got this inspir-ation from a CD called Night in a Haunted House and a Night in a Graveyard, that we got a long time ago that I, as strange as it seems, listen to all year. When I was younger, it royally scared the hell outta me, but now it's just cool, and it gave me the idea to write the story. From first chapter to last, it will be non-stop spooks and scared for our favorite mutants, so it might get repetitive after a while, but I know I'll have fun writing it! Enjoy!Truth or Scare
Written By Kyheena
"There's a big, dark house near here,
A very large, derelict house.
It's known locally as Hangman's Folly.
This old mansion – well, that's what it really is – is built on a hill; a strange and barren hill.
A place where birds don't sing, and animals won't go.
Horses shy, and dogs run with hackles raised in fright.
Nothing much grows there, anymore.
It is a dank and desolate place where no one stays for long.
They say it's haunted.
But we don't believe in such nonsense…do we?
Only the foolhardy would venture there at night.
Mind the cobwebs…
Stay close together.
For this is the edge of darkness.
The point of no return."
- A Night in a Haunted House, a Night in a Graveyard, Track One, "Entering the Haunted House"
Chapter I
The Halloween Dare
It was a dark and stormy night. Well, maybe dark, but certainly not stormy. The late October air was chilly, although not enough to let breath show as steam, but a light mist had covered the ground, obscuring feet to the eyes. The sky was stained an inky black among the evidence of still dusk, the horizon streaked with red, gold and purple, and wispy steely gray clouds drifted lazily past a very full and very silver moon. The air, along with being cold, was also deathly still, with hardly a breath of wind disturbed what little leaves still clung to the branches of the towering skeletal trees, nor disturbed the dead leaves that littered the ground. Nothing moved, for that matter, except for maybe the clouds high above, casting strange red, gold and black shadows across the landscape below that would soon be transformed to silver once the sun completely died. Somewhere off in the distance, an owl let out a forlorned hoot that sounded like a moan.
The house loomed in the distance, perched on top of its hill behind stone walls and an iron gate…No, it was not a house. It was a mansion, it now it was dark with no signs of life what so ever. The massive porch was covered in old, dirty cobwebs that fell across the walls and corners like badly aged bed sheets. The white branches of the naked trees reached up their bony-like branches towards the sky, reaching, pleading almost. Their dead leaves crunched under the feet of the only moving things on the outside of the mansion; four small figures, all looking anxious and a little scared, but nonetheless excited at the same time.
They were the size of small children, but at a second glance one could see that they were not children. One was an astronaut, the second one was the red Power Ranger. Another was an angel and the last one was a princess, complete with ruffled white dress and plastic tiara. They half-ran, half-skipped, half-hesitated to approach the front door of the huge structure and cast nervous glances over their shoulders, looking at the older figures that stood behind them a short way back. And every time the looked back, they would be urged on. After a long hike up the front walkway, the four small figures approached the front door.
The front of the house was even more terrifying this close than it ever looked before. Dried, yellow cornstalks were tied to the towering pillars, the stalks looking like reaching fingers. There was a chair beside the huge double-doors and upon it sat a very scary looking scarecrow wearing faded overalls, its head bowed to its chest. One of the little girls gasped as she spotted a huge black spider clinging to the aged spider webs. Hanging from the ceiling were a few large bats, their eyes glowing red. Scattered all along the porch were large pumpkins, each one decorated with a face, some of them funny and some of them scary, but all with candles glowing in their bellies, casting an eerie golden light around the small figures. There was a skeleton hanging on the door that seemed to be glowing in the dark. Standing on tiptoes to reach, rang the doorbell. The sound of a gong echoed through the inside chambers. The four small creatures held their pumpkin-shaped buckets before them, looking up with faces shining in anticipation as the door creaked open.
"Trick or…" The children chimed together, but their breaths stopped short when they saw who…or more appropriately…what was standing on the other side of the door. It was a man, or what they though was a man, bigger than any of their daddies, with a heavy muscular build and a hard face that glared down upon the children. He was dressed all in black that had a bit of a shaggy appearance to them. In spite that he had a big bowl of candy in his arm, the children gawked at him for a moment more before they screamed and took off running back down the walkway, crying for their parents, the sweets forgotten. Back at the porch, then man only snorted as he closed the door again.
"Wolverine…" Came a softy accented and slightly accusing voice from behind him. Logan turned to see Ororo standing just behind him, her arms crossed in front of her, the sequences of her black dress shimmering even though she was not moving. Her black witch's hat was clenched in one of her hands. "You've been scaring away more children than you have been giving candy too. Perhaps you should let me take care of it for a while." An amused smile crossed her lips. "Or maybe if you were to put your mask back on you wouldn't be scaring as many away." Her eyes darted to the mound of latex that lay on top of a small table that stood near the mansion's front door. It looked quite pathetic now, but when it was actually in its proper place, pulled over on top of someone's head it was transformed into a slug-white monster face with gaping jaws, a blood-red mouth and sleek, sharp fangs.
"Ha, ha, very funny." Logan said sarcastically. He waited for the weather witch to out her hat back on before handing her the bowl of candy and picking his mask again. "I never much cared for this holiday anyway."
"Then why were you the first to volunteer to pass out the game then, hmm?" That knowing smile played at her lips, but before he could respond he pulled the mask back over his face.
"I heard zcreaming in 'ere." Said a familiar accented voice. "Vat happened?" Ororo smiled at the appearance of a new face in the room. Usually the voice would have belonged to the young blue-furred German mutant, but in his place stood none other than the Grim Reaper, complete with long black cloak, curved scythe blade and skull face.
"Nothing out of the ordinary, Kurt." Ororo said. "Logan just forgot to put his mask back on when he answered the door."
"Oh, zat's a relief." Kurt said as he pushed back the skull mask from his face. "At virst I thought zat it vas zomething serious."
"Be careful what you say, elf." Wolverine growled, his already gruff voice muffled behind the mask. "By the way, why aren't you and the other kids at that party all ready? If I remember correctly, you and the porcupine were constantly wining about it starting an hour ago."
"We've had some technical difficulties." Said Scott as he joined the others in the front hall of the Xavier mansion, followed closely by Rouge and Evan. Like Kurt, the other three mutants were decked out in incredibly well done costumes, all ready for the big Halloween dance that was being held at their high school. Scott made the last-minute decision to go as a pirate after his debate with Kurt about who would be doing as death, but lost in the paper-scissors-stone match they had bet against. He had been a little disappointed that he could not be death, but being a pirate was one of the easiest costumes he could pull together in the amount of time that he had. Despite the fact that he still had to wear his sunglasses and forgo the opportunity to wear an eye-patch, he still made a pretty convincing buccaneer. Rouge had chosen the perfect outfit; a Victorian Vampire, donned in robes of black and deep red velvet complete with high collar, Rouge's pale skin, purple lipstick and unusual colored-hair made her look like a natural. If there was such things as vampires, that was. Evan though, out of all the X-men that resided in the Xavier mansion, had "cheated" in his peer's eyes, as there was no talking him out of going to the dance as a skater. So at the girl's persistence – as well as quite a bit of chasing on all of their parts – they had convinced him to go as a dead skater. The "convincing" too was a bit messy, as it consisted mainly of the girls rubbing white makeup on his exposed skin and them splashing him thoroughly with fake blood. "Jean's still fixing her hair and Kitty lost her tail."
"Found it!" Piped a voice from the balcony above their heads. Kitty was leaning over the rail, her furry black cat's tail in one hand. Kitty was going as her namesake, which was also a form of cheating in Kurt's terms. She was dressed completely in black, including black gloves and shoes. Her chestnut hair hung loose over her shoulders and two pointed black ears were perched on top of her head and her whole face had been painted cat-like, including thin, wire-like whiskers that had been attached on either side of her face with make-up glue. All in all, she looked very cat-like. She ran down the stairs, missing every other step as she tried to attach her tail on her black belt at the same time.
"And where exactly was it?" Rouge asked, looking at Kitty out of the corner of her eyes.
"Umm…like, in the bathroom." Kitty answered almost sheepishly.
Rouge threw her arms into the air. "Like ah said! In the last place ya left it!"
"The point is that its been found." Scott said, cutting off the girl's argument before it could get any worse. "Now as soon as Jean gets down here we can leave."
"Then warm up the engine." Jean said when she came down the stairs as well. Scott could not help but to stare a little from under his red sunglasses. Out of the entire group, Jean's costume was probably the most exquisite, as she had been working on it all month. She had decided to go to the party as a Renaissance Princess. Her gown was green and gold, accented with small pink roses and small gold and crystal buttons. All of her bright-red hair was done up on the top of her hair and had blue flowers interwoven into it. When she got to the bottom of the front staircase she too crossed her arms in front of her. "Well? Are we going to go tonight or not?"
"Wow, Jean!" Kitty said as she looked at the dress. It had really been the first time that any one of them had seen it since she bought that material for it. "You look like, totally awesome!" Jean smiled at the comment.
"Come on, come on zen, let's go!" Kurt said anxiously, pulling the mask back down over his face and making a dash for the door just after the next wave of trick-or-treaters left. "Ze party started a long time ago!"
"Yeah, let's!" Evan agreed, grabbing his skateboard. "There's no way I'm spending Halloween sitting around here!" Both the dead skater and the Grim Reaper were the first out the door with the black cat just at their heels. Rouge shot a side longed look at Logan, shrugged, and followed after them.
"Professor, we're heading out!" Scott called over his shoulder as he pretended to lead Jean outside after the youngest of Xavier's students.
Professor Xavier emerged from the library that was located just behind the stairway. "All right, Scott. Be careful and have fun. But remember that tonight is the classical night for tricks and pranks, and there's no doubt that Mystique's boys will be out tonight trying to aggravate you. Try not to let yourself get pulled into their trouble making."
Scott laughed a little, but was well aware of the Professor's caution. "All right. We'll try."
"No promise, I suppose?" Xavier asked with a small smile. "Well, the others are waiting for you. Might as well get down to your party before they end up tearing the van apart. We can't afford to repair it again right now."
Scott and Jean both nodded, said their good byes, and closed the door behind them. Xavier sighed. "You do not take the kid's words to heart, Charles?" Logan asked, removing the hot and uncomfortable latex mask again.
Xavier shook his head. "Scott's a good kid, but sometime his pride blinds him, especially when the Brotherhood is involved. And on a night like tonight…" He broke off, shaking his head and chuckling a little. "I have a feeling that anything can happen. Nothing dangerous, nothing that can hurt them. Just something that will remind them what this holiday was truly symbolizes."
"And what would that be, Charles?" Ororo asked as she handed out more candy to the next flock of children.
"Why, to scare people, of course."
* * *
The gym of Bayville High was humming from the music that was blaring from within its walls from the annual Halloween party. Pumpkins were lined from the student's parking lot to the entrance of the gym, all simply cut and with electric lights on the inside rather than candles. Lights and glimmers of colors could be seen flashing from the open doors, as well as a crowd of kids on the inside, all dancing and having a good time. The X-van pulling into a parking space and the six youngest X-men filed out, brushing off their costumes and readjusting anything that may have become messed up during the drive to the school before they started from the gym.
"Uh-oh." Kitty said suddenly. "That's not good." She pointed near the entrance of the gym. The rest of the X-men groaned too. It was all four members of the Brotherhood, all hanging out in front of the gym but looking as if they had no intention of joining the party.
"Just ignore them." Scott said. He began to walk towards the entrance of the gym. "Just walk by without making any eye contact, ignore anything they may say, and we'll be having so much fun in a few moments that we won't even think about them for the rest of the night." The rest of the team exchanged questioning glances with each other. Scott may talk like he was going to do that, but they all knew that it was a lost cause. Preparing themselves for the worse, they followed him to the dance.
"Well Summers, I never expected to see you here." Lance said in his normal cocky voice as Scott and his friends headed towards the entrance of the gymnasium. Everyone within a twenty foot eyeshot of the older boy could see all the muscles of his back and shoulders tense, but he continued to walk forward. Jean reached out and wrapped her arm around one of his, urging him on. "A little kiddy event like this might not be good enough for you and your crowd."
"Shove it, rock tumbler." Scott shot back once, but still received a pain scratch on the arm when Jean's grip tightened. "We're not here to deal with you."
"Aye, aye, captain!" Toad sniggered at them from behind Lance's back.
"If it's too childish for us, then what are the likes of you doing here, huh?" Rouge snapped back at them.
"We had no choice. Mystique kicked us out. Said that she had too many other important things to do then play candy shop to a bunch of whiny brats tonight, so she made us come here. Not like we were planning to join that is."
"Not join?" Fred said from behind the white-haired boy. "I thought we were out here because they won't let us…" Pietro elbowed Fred, or at least made the attempt to. So instead he only hissed at him through clenched teeth as a signal to be quiet.
"Hey, blue boy…" Kurt and Kitty whirled around to see Todd crouching down at their feet, fingering Kurt's black robes. "Why did you bother dressing up, yo? I mean, you could have come as yourself as won the costume contest in less effort than anyone else, you know what I mean?"
"Why, you little…" Kitty made an attempt to kick at the greasy toad-boy at the same time as Kurt tried to thump him on the head with his fake scythe.
"You're veally za one to talk." Kurt growled back, pushing back the skull mask onto his brow.
"C'mon, man, let's just go." Evan persisted to Scott, pulling at his arm. "You yourself said that we're too good to mess with them tonight. Let's just go."
Scott glared at Lance and the other members of the Brotherhood with a looks-can-kill glare (almost literally), but even against his pride gnawing at him like some ferocious animal, turned away. Jean and a few of the other members felt relief from his action almost immediately, but the tension still held thick. "You're right, Evan. Have fun standing around, guys." For a moment it seemed that that would have been the end of the discussion until Lance spoke again.
"Let's go guys. This place is no fun anyway. Besides, we know the real reason why these losers are going to a meaningless school dance and not having some real fun. And of all nights, Halloween." He glanced over his shoulder and punctuated each word like a knife. "It's because they're too afraid to do anything really spectacular. They won't do anything that really gives Halloween that special pazazz."
"Excuse me?" Scott said, coming to a stop again. "Do you want to run that by me again." The rest of the team groaned. All of his self-control was now gone, and he was in that mood that he would have taken anything that Lance was ready to throw at him. And on a night like Halloween, it was about to become an all-or-nothing deal.
"He said that all of you are too afraid to do anything that makes Halloween what it is because your scared, so you lock yourselves in a hot gym with a bunch of other kids that lack the imagination to do anything cool." Pietro retorted, talking so face that they almost did not understand what he was saying.
Scott glowered even harder, despite Jean's urgings, but they had just crossed the threshold of no return. Now almost all of them were looking ready to accept any challenge that Lance and his crew could cook up. With a sigh of defeat, she too reluctantly met the eyes of the members of the Brotherhood.
"And what might your idea of a good time be?" Rouge said, a half-smile on her face. "Pumpkin-smashing or snatching children's candy bags? Oh, that's real mature guys."
Lance shrugged, even though Rouge's words seemed to hit a soft spot in his pride. "Oh, I don't know. But it wouldn't be any cheep tricks like that. I'm talking about something that will imprint something in our minds and remind us that Halloween is the one day of the year where we're allowed to be scared and no one else would care."
"Cut ze dramatic ztuff and cut to ze chase." Kurt said.
A wicked grin broke out on Lance's face. "What I mean is that if you want to make the night count, you do something that no one else has done. And that something would be to go spend a night in Hangman's Folly."
Silence gripped some the young X-men like a cold fist while it left some of the newer members in confusion. "Ex-excuse me?" Jean stammered. "What did you just say?"
"Spend a night in Hangman's Folly. What better way would there be to spend Halloween?" Fred repeated.
"Lance, no one has spent a full night in Hangman's Folly and came out as the same semi-sane person afterwards, and you know it. We've all heard the stories. There are reasons why people don't go there."
Lance shrugged and turned his back on the X-men again. "All right. But like I said, it's because you're scared."
"It's not fear, its called common sense." Jean snapped back.
"Besides, no one's proved that they're real." Kitty said. "I mean, they're probably just like stories that parents came up with to keep their kids from going there."
"All right tough guys, then prove it." Lance said back. "If you're all so brave, then I dare you to spend a night in Hangman's Folly, from now until dawn. And not only that, but you also need to go to the graveyard behind it too."
"Under one condition." Scott said, taking a step forward. "You three have to come with us too." The Brotherhood looked taken aback. "Well? Why not? I mean, you are the ones said you got to kick off Halloween with a bang, right? If you don't go, then it's no deal, and you can't hold it against us later." He extended a hand.
Lance glared at it for a moment as if it was some nasty creature with long sharp teeth, but then he smiled too. "All right, captain, you got yourself a deal." Todd, Fred and Pietro all went as white as Pietro's hair. The oldest member of the Brotherhood looked down at his watch. "It's seven o'clock right now. We meet back here in an hour and all head to the Folly together." He seized Scott's hand. "Got it?"
"Got it."
"Fine then. One hour. Unless you all decide to chicken out before that…come on, boys. We have to get ready to do some ghost hunting." As the Brotherhood walked away, Lance was the only one who seemed to find it funny.
Jean grabbed Scott's shoulders roughly and spun him around so she could look directly into his sunglasses. She was not looking very happy. "Do you have any idea what you just done?"
"Yeah." Scott's answer was matter-of-fact. "We're going to investigate Hangman's Folly."
"You're a fool!" Jean snapped. "You know the stories as well as all of us! No one goes to Hangman's Folly. There's something about it that's just…not right. No one can explain it, but the whole area just feels wrong, and the cemetery is no better!"
"Um I don't mean to interrupt," Kurt said, poking Scott on the shoulder. "But vat iz dis Hangman's Folly? I get ze part about not vanting to go to ze cemetery, but vhy not zis place?"
"Hangman's Folly is an old abandoned mansion about half an hour's drive from the outskirts of Bayville." Scott answered. "They say that it's the most haunted house in the state of New York."
"Cool!" Evan exclaimed. "You mean we get to go to a real haunted house, and on Halloween? Ah man, count me in! I wouldn't pass that up for any party!"
"Are you crazy?" Kitty said. "You heard what Jean said, and I heard plenty stories myself! That place is like, totally evil! No one goes there, not even in daylight!"
"Well, ya sure weren't saying that b'fore." Rouge said.
"That's because I didn't want to go."
"Besides, how will we know that the Professor will let us go in the first place?" Jean said. "That place is probably falling apart at the seams and will use the slightest bit of disturbance to come crashing in. If anyone thinks that it's a bad idea, it would be him, and all of you know it."
* * *
"I think that it's a great idea." The Professor said, leaning back against the back of his wheelchair.
Everyone else in the room stared at him, jaws dropped and gawking.
"Charles, think about what you're saying." Wolverine said, rising slowly to his feet. "You're going send the kids to a moldy old house because they merely believe that it's haunted?"
Professor Xavier raised a hand, asking for silence. "Listen to my reasons, Logan. We train our Students in about every way that they can be trained. They are trained physically when they are put up to the Danger Room and they are trained mentally when we apply those skills to their missions. But there is one sector that we rarely train them in, and that's courage. Even if this house is not haunted, it will be the mere stories of the house that will keep them on edge. This will be a chance for them to face their fears and put their courage to the test. Does that sound like reason enough?"
Logan sat back down. "Huh. You mean that the lasers and the flying blades just aren't doing it for them any more?"
Xavier smiled. "I'm afraid not, my friend. Now, I believe that you six have an appointment to keep, and the time draws near. I suggest that you change out of those cloths and into something a bit more comfortable."
"Thank you, Professor!" The youngest members of the team began to rise to their feet and head back to their rooms when Logan spoke up again.
"Hold it, all of you. If you're really going to go to this haunted house, then I want proof. In the supply closest there should be three small video camera, and all of them are equipped with night-vision sensors. Take all of them if you must, but I want evidence."
"All right, Wolverine." Scott said before they all retreated back to their rooms to change and get needed supplies. "We'll get you evidence, I promise."
"So, tell me vhy zis place iz zo scary." Kurt said as he tagged along at Scott's heels, Even not too far behind.
"Well, like all your classical scary stories, Hangman's Folly had a very dark past, even before the foundation was laid out. Some say that it was even built on top of a sacred Indian burial ground…"
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To be continued…
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