Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of the Haunted Mansion, they belong to Disney.

So, this is my first Haunted Mansion Fan Fiction, so bare with me. The idea popped into my head a little while ago and I liked it. It is a look into and an adventure with the hitchhiking trio. I am not a huge fan of the title but the other one I had gave away too much of the plot. I am not sure how long this is going to be but I really hope that I finish it.

So, without further distraction, here is the story.

Chapter 1: Something has Changed

A car was driving down the road towards the outskirts of the town of Liberty; it was a cool fall day in the early afternoon. This was one of the main roads in the old part of the town, the one known for having the lengthy driveway that led to Gracey Manor. The sun seemed to be floating in and out of the clouds causing shadows to be cast on the ground.

There was a young man behind the wheel, bobbing his head to the music that was blasting from his radio. He was paying little attention to the road he was on. He drummed his hands on the steering wheel fiercely, closing his eyes for a moment as he went along with the rhythm. When he opened his eyes again, he saw what looked like three figures standing in nearly the middle of the road, with what looked like their thumbs sticking out.

"Oh shi-" he shouted as he slammed down on the break and closed his eyes as the car screeched to a jolting halt. With the car stopped, he breathed heavily, the music still blasting through his radio. Turning it down, he stuck his head out of one of his open windows. "Are you ins-" he saw nothing was in front of him. Blinking in confusion, he pulled his head back into his car. Perhaps he was just seeing some after images caused by shutting his eyes too tightly. Shaking his head to clear his mind, the young man began to drive off, not noticing that he had stopped nearly parallel with the road leading to the mansion.

It was only a few moments later that he heard something shuffle around in his back seat. Absentmindedly, he glanced up into his rearview mirror. What he saw caused him to yet again slam on his break, jolting the car to a stop. One of his sports magazines was floating, open as if someone was reading it. His eyes became even wider as he saw the images of two transparent men come into being.

"Oh, it's the bikini edition," said the one holding the magazine. He was a very tall skeletal man with a wide smile displayed on his face. Resting atop his head was a bowler hat that was tilted back, away from his eyes. He wore a long, slightly ragged coat that stopped just below his knees. Around his neck was a bowtie that appeared a little bit too large. Suddenly, the larger man next to him snatched the magazine from his boney hands. "Hey! I was looking at that," the skeletal one commented.

This other one was rather weighted, his pudgy face showing a wide smirk. On his head he wore a top hat that was pushed back away from his face a bit. Stretched around his shoulders looked to be a short cape that was buttoned in the front. Under this, from what could be seen, was a closed coat that was buttoned in the same place that the cape was. Additionally, he had a carpetbag sitting on his lap. "And now I am," he opened his bag. "Though I think I'll save it for later,"

The skeletal man reached for the magazine. "Then give it back, I had it first anyway," they began to struggle with each other over who was going to get it. Both seemed to ignore the driver who was frozen at the sight of them. This was broken by the rattling of some chains that came from the passenger seat next to him. He quickly shot his glance over to a third man that materialized. This one was much shorter than the other two. He sported a long beard that dangled down as he tried to climb over the top of the seat. He wore very ragged clothes and seemed to hang a little loose over him. The rattling was coming from the chain shackled around his leg and attached to a metal ball.

"Give it here! Give it here!" he called out, reaching for the pages that were just out of his reach.

Keeping it out of both of their reaches, though it was a little harder to do with the skeletal one than the dwarf, the plump man spoke. "You know there is only one way to solve this," all of a sudden, the three stopped the fighting and turned to the one who had been observing them. "What do you think?" he asked frankly.

This situation suddenly clicked with the young man and he screamed as the three men slowly faded away, the magazine dropping to the back seat. He turned back to the road and put the pedal to the metal, speeding away.

The three haunts faded back into being at the front of the mansion driveway, all of them howling in laughter. "Did you see his face?" bellowed the plump man as he clutched his sides.

The tall, thin, skeletal one spoke through his cackles. "Mortals are always good for a nice laugh," he adjusted his hat has he leaned against what seemed to be only air.

The smallest of the trio, the one who had called himself Gus, was too busy laughing to say anything.

The three hitchhikers, Phineas Queeg, Ezra Dobbins and Gus Gracey, continued for a little longer before they settled down. Wiping a tear away from his cheek, Phineas spoke. "Wow, that was a good one,"

The tall Ezra sighed slighting, his arms crossed. "Wish I could've kept that magazine, though,"

Phineas chuckled a bit at his friend's words. "You already have that edition, Ez," he smirked and sighed as Ezra spoke again.

"Not in that kind of condition, the one I have is ripped, you can't really see the pictures," he whined playfully.

Phineas shook his head and smiled at the others. "I could go for another, how about the two of you?" despite asking the question, the specter assumed that he already knew their answers.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" the excited dwarf said as he jumped up and down on the phantom ball attached to his leg.

"Nah, I'm gonna head back to the mansion," Ezra spoke with an unneeded stretch. He flashed them his signature skeletal smile. "Knock 'em… dead," he laughed at his own joke, ignored the expression of shock on his larger friend's face, and headed down the driveway, disappearing along the way.

There was a long pause after he had vanished, the other two just looked in the direction he had gone. After a little longer, Gus spoke up. "Where's Ezra goin'?" he asked innocently.

Phineas was at a loss, stunned at the situation. This was defiantly not like Ezra, not the one that he had known. The one he knew would jump head first without warning into cars that didn't stop, leaving the other two behind because they hadn't reacted fast enough. He would then return only moments later with yet another amusing story. These antics had even caused more than one of their mortal victims to crash into a something. None of them had been harmed but that was not the point of it, they had gotten a very good laugh.

The three of them had been known to be nearly inseparable, pulling pranks on the other mansion residence and on each other when not spooking mortals. However, there was something wrong, this latest act topping the other things Phineas had noticed over the past few days. Ezra had been disappearing for periods of time without explanation, returning later not telling the other two anything. He would always seem to have a satisfied and content grin on his face, not his usual wide smile. He also seemed to be distracted by something that was on his mind and this had caused some of their exploits to backfire. However, never would the well-rounded ghost have thought that this would interrupt their favorite pastime.

Without looking down at his small friend, he spoke. "I have no idea," he said very plainly. The confusion that was held in his eyes thinned and transformed into a mixture of determination and being fed up. He turned toward Gus. "But we're going to finally find out,"

Ok, please read and review, I will hopefully have the next chapter up in a reasonable amount of time, I just want to write more chapters before I put the next one up so I am prepared.