Chapter One
The class was quiet save for the scritch-scratching of pencils, the nervous clicking of otherwise unmoving pens, and the scuffling of bored feet on the tile floor. Groans muddled through the air every once in a while until the teacher finally stood and told her class to put their pencils down and turn their papers over. Several "ugh"s and "craaaap"s broke out as the students did so, and the shuffle of papers filled the air with white noise as they were passed up to the front of the classroom.
"Alright class, time for today's lecture. This is a history class, and although world history is extremely important, our local history is significant as well. That's why today I'll be telling you about some of the lesser known facts of our dear old Madison, Wisconsin! A lot of you have been asking about local hauntings in light of the recent "ghost sightings" in Amity…and since most of you hardly pay attention where history is concerned I'm hoping I can keep you at least somewhat pacified for a little while with this." The teacher was clearly frustrated by her class' general lack of enthusiasm, but seemed excited about the subject matter at hand.
In the back of the classroom a girl of sixteen perked up from her sketchbook. She brushed her dyed-red hair from her face and looked past the heads in front of her. Her wide-necked sweater had slid over one shoulder, and she unconsciously pulled it back up, only for the other side to do the same and subsequently be ignored. Hauntings? She couldn't deny that was one of her favorite topics, even if people thought she was strange for being so interested. Madison certainly wasn't the least haunted place in the world, and she knew that for a fact. This might turn out to be an interesting day after all, she thought.
For the first time in a while, the girl paid attention to the subject at hand as the instructor, Mrs. Trillman, rambled on and on about various haunted locations around the city. Some rather interesting facts were noted, but the class didn't get exceptionally interested until she mentioned the recently abandoned the Masters Mansion.
"Vlad Masters, as you should know, somewhat recently relocated to Amity Park as the new mayor. He didn't, however, sell his residence. Instead it sits, partially empty, and completely alone. His home has been cited as the otherworldly residence of the Dairy King, as visitors have reported seeing the benevolent icon from time to time."
"Alice, go there."
"What? Why?" She whispered.
"You must go there."
"No, it's probably got someone walking around to make sure people don't break in." She huffed, quietly as she could.
` "Go to the Masters Mansion. It is your destiny."
"Seriously? That's some bull if I've ever heard it. Go away.
"But you must. Everything will make sense soon."
"Yeah right. Leave me alone. I'm not in the mood."
"Go to the mansion."
"I said no, now leave me alone!" Too late she realized she'd said her protest too loud, and, like so many times before, the class and teacher turned to give her incredulous stares.
"Miss Alice, do you have something you'd like to share with the class?" Mrs. Trillman asked, glibly.
"Uh…" She hung her head in embarrassment. "No, Mrs. Trillman…"
Several snickers erupted around the room, and from a few seats over she could hear a boy whisper to his friend "Geez, she's such a freak".
She frowned dejectedly, sunk into her chair, and began to doodle again, deciding not to pay attention for the rest of the class.
When the bell finally rang, students scrambled from their seats like rats trying to escape from a lab. Alice waited until everyone had left to actually leave the room, in an attempt to find herself behind her fellow students rather than in the middle; a prime target for whispers and pushing.
She walked slowly, navigating the halls in silence until she finally reached the exit where the adjoining sidewalk would lead the rest of the way home.
An unwelcome sneeze only a few steps into her route alerted her to an also unwelcome presence. "I told you to leave me alone. You're always getting me into trouble and everyone already thinks I'm enough of a freakazoid as it is." She hissed, kicking a rock into the street.
"But Alice, it is something that you must do. You know it deep inside of that fleshy little brain of yours that you must. Go to the mansion." The voice drifted into her ear as seductively as it could manage, but Alice simply swatted at it.
"Shut up already. I'm going home, not to that creepy weird abandoned mansion, and I'm going to get on my computer and do things that don't involve getting prosecuted for trespassing." She turned a corner and breathed a sigh. She had hoped that if she said 'no' enough times the spirit would leave her alone already, but so far she was having no luck.
"Why don't you trust me? I gave you your ghost sense to help you, why can't you just do this small thing for me?"
"You made me start sneezing every time a ghost wanders my way. In this stupid city, that's a lot of sneezing." As if to prove her point, she sneezed yet again, and sent a glare across the street.
"You were frustrated that you could never be sure when one was around though. Your powers are still developing of course, and they will grow, but you need me for now."
"I don't need you, I never asked for these stupid 'powers', and I want you to leave me alone." She kicked the mailbox as she turned towards the front door of her house.
All was quiet until she trudged up to her room and pulled her laptop onto her lap.
"You owe it to me, to yourself, to do this. This one, tiiiiny little thing Alice…" The whisper was cold against her cheek, and she shivered.
"Stop it!" She screeched, nearly knocking her computer onto the floor. What was so special about today, right now, that he had to be so persistent? She wished that she could turn around and punch the stupid ghost right in the nose, but his intangibility was sure to circumvent her fist making contact with any cold, dead skin. "What do I have to do to be rid of you?" She growled, getting up and beginning to pace around her cluttered room.
Books of a large variety littered her floor, many on the subject of the paranormal, from witchcraft to things of a less lively nature. A few that sat neatly in a corner concerned matters of the mind, particularly psychic ones. Alice kicked an empty can of soda into the corner that housed her wastebasket, irritated at the entity that was following closely behind her.
"Just go, child. Go and fulfill your destiny!" A passive laugh followed.
"The need to fulfill a destiny is just a mindset; you know it as well as I do. What could you possibly gain from me going to that stupid old mansion?"
"Absolutely nothing for myself, child. I've told you again and again that it is simply your destiny."
She threw her hands up and let herself drop to the floor, wrapping her arms around her knees and glaring at the dresser in front of herself. "Like I said, what's in it for me?" She grumbled. The last thing she wanted to do was comply, but she was beginning to feel as though she would get no peace until she obliged with the ghost's persistent wishes.
The voice opted not to give her an answer, instead opting to push the former subject further. "Alice, go to the Masters Mansion in the morning. If you don't, the consequences could be higher than you could ever imagine. Take heed to my words, child." With those final words, Alice noticed a definite change in her room's atmosphere; the ghost was gone.
She grumbled, standing up and brushing herself off. She kicked a few books and climbed back onto her bed, popping her laptop open and pulling up a search. In the blank bar she typed, slowly and deliberately, "vlad masters abandoned mansion".
By the time she'd finished her research she was already beginning to feel the drain of the day wearing on her body. She yawned, placed her laptop gently on the other side of the bed, and turned off her lamp.
It wasn't long before dreams took her. The quiet sneeze didn't alert her to the presence in the room, so she didn't wake as a purple-cloaked figure with a clock-topped scepter. The body shifted periodically from small, large, to frail as he watched the girl in her sleep. Her fingers curled and brow furrowed, as though she could sense something was amiss.
"What is in this for you? My dear, only time can tell you that."