What Might Have Been, What May Be

Maybe the Door Opens

"It's inexplicable! Perplexing! Insoluble!"

"I don't care!" Astrid Hofferson snapped back at her best friend, Ruffnut Thorsen.

"It's a haunted house! What's not to like?" Ruffnut cried, exuberant.

Astrid took a sip of her smoothie, not even bothering to answer the question. Ruffnut was talking about the mysterious Raven Mansion on the outskirts of the city of Berk. It had been owned two hundred years ago by a millionaire who had gone mad and killed his son in a rage before dying by his own hands. It was a popular dare devil stunt for the teens of Berk to try to last a night there. So far no one had made it even three hours.

"Earth to Astrid," Ruffnut sang, getting Astrid's attention back.

Astrid sighed. She had wanted to get a smoothie at the local drug store with Ruffnut to relax, but she should have known better. There was always a complication when the crazy blonde was involved. "I just don't want to go looking for ghosts!"

"Oh, it will be fun! We pack a couple of sleeping bags and flashlights, then go wandering around the house for a couple of hours. We find a cold spot, then BAM!" Ruffnut pretended to shoot a gun into the roof of the drug store. "We have bragging rights!"

"You and Tuffnut already have bragging rights for the other crazy stunts you do," Astrid muttered. "Wasn't bungee jumping while hugging a goat enough?"

"No. Now are you coming or not?"

Astrid stared remorsefully at the bottom of her smoothie cup. "They just don't fill these up like they used to." The owner of the establishment, overhearing her comment, sent her a glare.

"Oh, and Snotlout's bringing the snacks," Ruffnut added.

Astrid groaned. "Him? Please, no." Snotlout was a horrible, narcissistic flirt, and Astrid didn't want to spend a whole night listening to his achievements.

"Too late! The invitation has already been sent!" Ruffnut reared back her arm and threw her smoothie cup across the room. It landed in the trash can perfectly, earning another icy glare from the owner. "Yes! My mother wanted at least another man around besides Tuffnut for protection before she gave me permission, and he was the only one available. Can I count on you to be there, Hoff?"

"Fine." Astrid sighed, not looking forward to the impending date. She was just dying in suspense!

"All right! Meet us at the gate at six!" Ruffnut hopped off her bar stool, socked a light punch in Astrid's shoulder as way of saying good bye, and waltzed out of the establishment.

Astrid chucked her smoothie cup in the direction of the trashcan, but it missed completely. The drug store owner sent her a scowl, informing her that she was not the random tossing pro that Ruffnut was and she was staying past her welcome. She sighed as she retrieved her cup and dumped it in the trashcan on her way out the door, wondering what she had just gotten into.

Astrid pedaled her bike over the hill. The dirt road was kicking up dust and making it hard to breathe, but Astrid hardly broke a sweat. The gate of the mansion soon appeared, black and bold against the red terrain. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout were already waiting there.

"'Lo!" Astrid raised a hand and brought her bike to an abrupt stop. She dismounted and leaned it against the others' bicycles, which they had all piled in a heap.

"Hello, gorgeous!" Snotlout purred, raking a hand through his greasy jet black hair.

"Hi, Astrid!" Tuffnut greeted her, flashing her the peace sign. Ruffnut duplicated the gesture, even though she probably had no idea what it meant.

Astrid bent down and unstrapped her ghost hunting pack from her bike rack, ignoring Snotlout for the moment. She had thrown only the basics into it: an extra pair of shoes (in case she needed to run away from Snotlout), a toothbrush, sleeping bag, and snacks which consisted of M & M's, peanut butter bars, and Nutella with a spoon to eat it straight out of the jar (just in case Snotlout had forgotten his duty).

"All right." She squinted at the mansion, although the sunset was making it hard to make out anything about its architecture. "What are we doing first?"

"I thought you would never ask!" Ruffnut rubbed her hands together like she was trying to create a fire between them. "We're going to sleep on the main floor."

"Have you actually been inside?" Astrid asked.

"Loads of times!" Tuffnut assured her.

"Which means you haven't, otherwise we wouldn't be here," Astrid corrected. "This should have been thought through more. That building should be set for destruction. It's been sitting empty for about a million years and it could collapse on us."

Snotlout struck a dramatic pose. "Never fear, gorgeous! You shall have me to protect you!"

"Quit calling me gorgeous," Astrid snapped.

"You worry too much, Astrid." Tuffnut switched his heavy pack from one shoulder to the other and hefted it up and down a couple of times.

"I thought you worked out a plan, Ruffnut." Astrid pinched the bridge of her nose. Why had she agreed to this crazy scheme in the first place? Now it all seemed hair-brained.

Ruffnut looked insulted. "We always wing it, Astrid."

"Just like the beautiful wings you would have as a Valkyrie," Snotlout put in smoothly, winking at Astrid. She wanted to clobber him.

"Hellooo," Tuffnut interrupted. "It's getting darker. We need to get in there soon."

Astrid took another glance at the mansion. None of them said anything, but they all grabbed their bags and started walking towards the house. Astrid did not believe in ghosts; they weren't practical and didn't fit in with any of her plans for the future. The building looked like one of those houses in every neighborhood that was dilapidated, overgrown with weeds, and in need of a dozen fresh coats of paint.

The front steps were rotten with half of them missing. Each of the ghost-hunting group carefully picked their way up the them. Only one broke when Snotlout accidentally put a little too much weight on it. Of one accord, they all stopped on the front porch before the weather-beaten front door.

"So," Ruffnut drew the word out, pronouncing it more like "sew". "Tuffnut! You go first!"

"Why me? We're twins, so you should go first!"

"But you were born five minutes before me!" Ruffnut rejoined. "Aren't you always wanting to be the first at everything?"

"Snotlout's expendable. He should go first," Astrid suggested.

"That's right!" Snotlout proudly declared. Then his brow furrowed. "Wait – what's expendable mean?"

"Yeah, Snotlout!" The twins spoke as one. "You go first!"

"I'm not-"

"Whatever." Astrid marched to the door. "Since all of you are wimps, I'll go!" She violently wrenched the door open as if to startle anyone who might be hiding behind it. The door handle came off in her hand as she stepped inside the house and inhaled the dusty haze that engulfed the whole entryway and living room.

"See? Nothing but a dusty old building." Astrid tossed the handle away and peered around as the rest of the gang came in behind her. The walls, covered in old striped wallpaper, were speckled with mold and peeling at the top and bottom from water damage. The carpet was more like strings braided across decaying floor boards. An odd contrast, Viking war shields hung off the wall and various Viking-age knickknacks littered the mantel above the limestone fireplace.

"So far, so good." Ruffnut wandered over to one of the moth-eaten couches and plopped down. Astrid would have bet her favorite pair of running shoes that several disgusting tiny insects flew into the air.

"I wouldn't sit there if I were you," Astrid warned.

"Who would?" Snotlout drawled. "When we get married, baby, I will personally buy you the best furniture in Berk that you can sit on and look pretty!"

"We're not getting married and I'm not your baby!" Astrid dropped her bag onto the rug in the center of the couches. The space was pretty big and untouched by vandals with the exception of the wooden mantelpiece where tons of people had carved their initials and the date. Astrid meandered over to inspect it, and her eyes wandered up to the paintings above.

"So that must be the kid who died," Tuffnut whispered, coming up behind her. His voice was subdued, a rare occurrence.

The largest portrait was of a family. A man was in the background, and with good reason. If he had been in the front, his red beard and physique would have taken up the whole frame. In front of him was a thin woman with green eyes and a subdued shade of the man's hair. She had her hands on the shoulders of a teenager with freckles and even greener eyes. Unlike his parents and how most people posed for portraits back in his time, he was grinning as if he had a secret and wanted to share it with Astrid. She almost touched the painting, but remembered just in time that it was probably fragile and would disintegrate under her fingers.

"What made his father kill him?" Ruffnut wondered.

"And what happened to the mother?" Astrid added.

"It was probably his flabby muscles," Snotlout sneered. "Who'd want a son like that?"

As Astrid opened her mouth to say something back to him, a loud crash came from behind them. They all whipped their heads around in unison to discover the couch was overturned.

"I am hurt!" Tuffnut groaned. "I am so very hurt!"

Ruffnut breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, it was just him." She went over to help him up.

"What do you mean, 'just him'?!" Tuffnut demanded. "I happen to be one of the best frozen yogurt hockey players in the world!"

He was referring to when the twins had paid an ice hockey rink to freeze frozen yogurt instead of water for ice. They had proceeded to play a one-on-one game of hockey, somehow breaking the arena's Jumbotron in the process. It was a miracle, in Astrid's opinion, that they hadn't gone bankrupt from having to pay for repairs to fix it.

"Say!" Ruffnut clapped her hands. "Why don't we all go independently explore this place? Find some ghosts!"

"How about we find a mirror?" Snotlout sniffed. "I'm pretty sure all of the dust is collecting in my hair gel."

"You use gel?" Astrid asked. "I thought you used gorilla glue."

"Ha, ha, ha." Snotlout winked at her. "Good one. I like a princess who has a sense of humor and an appreciation for my hair!"

"I think I'm going to be sick," Tuffnut muttered.

"Splitting up sounds good! Meet back here in an hour? Then we'll put up our sleeping bags." Ruffnut headed towards a swinging door that looked like the entrance to the kitchen, and Tuffnut and Snotlout each picked other doors on the ground floor. Astrid didn't like to do things halfway. She went upstairs to the next level of the house.

She could tell the mahogany staircase had once been finished with a nice stain, but it had rubbed away in all but a few places. She ran her thumb along those shiny patches as she picked her way up, careful to avoid any rotting steps. The main floor was about thirty feet below her, and she peered down once she reached the top.

The hallway was covered in a rose print floor runners that had survived in better condition than the carpet downstairs. Black and white photographs adorned the walls, the majority of them depicting the loving family that had once lived together in the house. What had gone wrong? Astrid wondered.

Going all out, Astrid walked down to the end of the lengthy hallway and chose the last door on the left to open. Squaring her shoulders, she turned the knob. It was locked tight.

A/N: So I know some ghost stories are going around. I do not want to be a copycat, and I believe my story is heading in a completely different direction than the other ones. Hope ye enjoy it!

Rider