Next chapter! Enjoy it!
I own nothing but the plot line. The Almighty Larson owns the rest.
"There has to be over a thousand crystals on it," Maureen said, staring up at the ceiling. She had led her friends to the end of a long hallway and stopped when she got to a spiral staircase. They had all looked upward at the same time and admired the large, crystal chandelier that was hanging high above them. Maureen then randomly laid down on the carpeted floor to see if the chandelier looked any different. The rest of the bohemians formed a circle and joined her when they realized they wouldn't be able to get her to stand up.
"Can you imagine being high and then doin' this?" Collins asked, making Angel giggle. He grabbed his lover's hand.
"Honeybear?" Joanne said, looking over to the drama queen.
"Hmm?" Maureen replied, still transfixed by the chandelier.
"The chandelier is nice and all, but aren't you worried that we're wasting our hour by staring at it?" Maureen squealed and jumped up off of the floor. The rest of the bohemians sat up and looked at her.
"Come on!" she exclaimed, running up the stairs. Everyone else got up off of the floor and walked up the stairs to the first landing that went into the second floor where Maureen was waiting for them. When they made it to the landing, they all followed Maureen, who led them down the hallway and into a room that had a grand piano in the middle of it.
"This must be the music room," Joanne said, looking around. Maureen skipped over to the piano and pressed random keys. "Maureen, don't mess with that."
"It's a piano, Pookie," Maureen replied. "It's supposed to be played."
"Yes, by someone who knows how to play." Joanne removed Maureen's hands from the piano and the drama queen folded her arms. She sat on the piano stool while Joanne and her friends explored the room. Mark walked over to a door and opened it. It was a walk-in closet filled with musical instruments. He stepped inside.
"Does Benny even play the piano?" Roger asked.
"If he does, he's got a depressing taste in music," Collins commented, going through a folder of sheet music. "Every last one of these has somethin' to do with a funeral or death." A low, eerie chord sounded from the piano.
"Maureen!" Joanne exclaimed.
"I didn't do it!" Maureen replied, innocently putting her hands in the air.
"You're the only one by the piano!"
"But I didn't do it, Pookie! I really didn't!"
"Hey, you guys!" Mark shouted, emerging from the closet. He was holding bagpipes. "Check this out!"
"Ooh!" Maureen exclaimed, standing up. Joanne's attention quickly went from Mark to her.
"Don't even think about it," she said. Maureen refolded her arms and sat back down.
"Oh God," Mimi said. "Bagpipes? Of all the instruments to own?"
"There's a glockenspiel in that closet too. And whole bunch of other-"
"This room is boring!" Maureen interrupted, standing up again. "Let's go to a different one!" She sprinted from the room with Joanne right behind her. The rest of the bohemians, minus Mark, who was putting the bagpipes away, followed them into the hallway. This time Maureen led them into a room filled with books from wall to wall. Collins and Joanne smiled as they entered it.
"This is some library," Mimi said, looking at the four bookshelves. They were all the length and width of the wall they were on and filled to capacity.
"I bet Collins has read over half of the books in here," Roger commented as Mark walked into the library. Besides books, there were two armchairs, a small table, two reading lamps, a couch, and another liquor cabinet. Angel sat in one of the armchairs, Maureen sat in the other armchair, and Roger and Mimi sat on the couch while Collins and Joanne looked at the books.
"We're gonna be in here forever with those two bookworms," Maureen whined. Collins pulled a book out and screamed as the entire wall along with the part of the floor he was standing on turned 180 degrees. All of the sitting bohemians stood up at the same time.
"Holy shit!" Roger shouted. The wall then turned another 180 degrees, but Collins was still on the other side of it.
"Collins!" Angel cried, rushing to the bookshelf.
"Where'd he go?" Mimi asked, her eyes wide with horror. No one answered her. Maureen ran to Angel's side.
"Start pulling!" she shouted, taking books off the shelf and tossing them over her shoulder. "We have to find the one that made the wall move!"
"Maureen, wait!" Joanne told her girlfriend. She rushed to her and stopped her from throwing any more books on the floor. "Most things like this are secret passage ways. Collins is probably safe in another part of the house."
"Well, we have to find him!" Angel exclaimed. The bohemians ran into the hallway. Mark counted how many doors he saw.
"Okay, there's still six rooms on this floor we haven't checked," Mark said. "We'll each check one and meet back in this spot. Fan out!"
Collins couldn't see anything. He'd been in dark places before, but he this was beyond dark. His back was to a wall of some sort and he was afraid to move anywhere. He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled his lighter out of it. The small flame allowed him to see that he was in a narrow hallway with nowhere to go but forward. Cautiously, he started walking, taking as small of steps as he possibly could. He got about a fourth of the way down the hallway before a deep, ominous sounding moan caused him to stop in his tracks.
"Hello?" he called. He turned back to where he'd come from and saw nothing but the wall. He then turned back around to resume walking and just barely saw a man, who wasn't there seconds ago, standing at the other end of the hallway. Neither one of them moved for a long while. Collins let the flame go out for a moment. When it returned, the man had moved a bit closer to him.
"Get out," he said. Collins didn't move. The man glared at him. He began walking toward Collins, who started backing up. "GET OUT!" Collins dropped his lighter. It became dark again. "GET OUT!"
Collins' back touched the wall again. He had nowhere else to go. He was trapped.
"Help!" he cried, turning his back to the man and pounding his fists on the wall. "Somebody! Anybody! Help me!"
"GET OUT!" the man kept shouting at him. "GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"
"Anybody find Collins?" Angel asked as the bohemians came back to the entrance of the library. Everyone answered negatively.
"Anybody find anything that looked like an entrance or an exit of a secret passageway?" Mark asked. Another group of negative answers. "Well, what the hell do we do now?"
"We could try searching the rest of the house," Joanne suggested.
"That'll take forever," Mimi pointed out.
"We have to try something though," Angel said. "Collins can't just be . . . gone forever." Tears formed in his eyes and Mimi pulled him into a hug.
"Dare I ask what you all are up to?" Alfred asked the bohemians as he walked toward them. He was carrying a feather duster underneath his arm. The six friends ran to him, causing him to stop walking and fear for his life for a short moment.
"Are you aware that there's some sort of secret passageway in the library?" Joanne asked him.
"Well, of course. Whom do you think has to keep them free of dust?"
"You have to help us then!" Maureen shouted. She paused for few seconds. "'Them?'"
"Yes."
"You mean there's more than one?" Mark asked. Alfred scoffed.
"Of course there's more than one," he said. "Have you ever known a house to have a single secret passageway?"
"We've never known a house to have any secret passageways," Mimi replied. Alfred started to say something more, but a pounding noise interrupted his thoughts. He pressed his ear to a wall. The pounding continued followed by a somewhat muffled cry for help.
"It appears there is someone inside this wall," Alfred said. Angel put his ear to the wall as well.
"It's Collins!" he exclaimed. Alfred moved away from the wall and silently counted the friends.
"I knew one of you was missing." He furrowed his brow. "How on earth did he get inside the wall?"
"Through the secret passageway in the library!" Mimi exclaimed.
"You have to help us get him out!" Angel added.
"He had to have pulled the book that opens the passageway," Alfred said. "Have you tried pulling the book and opening the passageway yourselves?"
"I knew that would've worked!" Maureen gloated. She pressed her ear to the wall as the pounding and muffled cries continued. "Nobody ever listens to me!"
"Alfred, we have no idea which book he pulled," Joanne explained.
"That's why we need your help," Roger added.
"We gotta get Collins outta there fast," Maureen informed everyone. "He's freaking the hell out."
"Well, it is dark in there," Alfred stated.
"I don't think it's about the darkness. I think someone's in there with him."
"Someone's in there with him?" Mimi asked.
"He sounds like he's talking to someone. I can make out the words 'alone' and 'me.'" Maureen moved away from the wall as Joanne pressed her ear to it. Everyone was silent.
"Okay I heard 'me,'" she said. "And I think I heard 'leave.' He might be saying 'alone' and possibly 'please' too. I'm not sure. He's saying it too fast."
"'Please, leave me alone' perhaps?" Alfred guessed. He started walking toward the library with the six bohemians right behind him. Upon entering the library, he noticed there were several books on the floor. He began picking them up.
"What are you doing?" Roger asked as the pounding grew louder. "Our friend is trapped in a wall!"
"I'm the butler," Alfred told the rocker. "It's my job to keep the house neat and tidy." Maureen slapped the books out of Alfred's hands. "Well, that was uncalled for."
"Clean later!" she yelled, pointing at the bookshelf Collins had been looking at. Alfred walked over to it and calmly pulled the same book Collins had pulled and stepped back. The wall turned and revealed Collins, who was covering his face with his arms. Alfred stepped toward him and pulled him toward his friends by one of his arms as the wall turned again. The anarchist brought his arms down and his eyes widened. He looked at the wall and then back at his friends.
"Collins!" Angel exclaimed, rushing to him. He trapped his boyfriend in a hug as the rest of their friends ran to him.
"Are you okay?" Mimi asked.
"I . . . don't know," Collins replied as Angel released him from the hug. He looked to Alfred. "Um . . . this is gonna sound like a weird question, but . . . is this house . . . haunted?"
"'Haunted?'" Alfred repeated. "Why, I've never heard something so absurd in all my life."
"You wouldn't think it was absurd if it was you trapped in a wall with a ghost!"
"'Ghost?'" the rest of the bohemians repeated.
"Don't be ridiculous," Alfred said. "There are no such things as ghosts."
"Then explain the guy in that wall who kept disappearing, reappearing, and tellin' me to get out!" Collins replied, folding his arms and glaring at the butler.
"I've been in that passageway hundreds of times and, I assure you, there are no-"
"I know what the fuck I saw!" Collins interrupted.
"Honey, maybe you only imagined it," Angel suggested. Collins' mouth dropped open. "Don't give me that look."
"Angel, I thought you, of all people, would believe me. I really did see somethin' in there, baby. I'm not makin' this up. My imagination ain't that vivid."
"Marijuana can alter anyone's imagination," Alfred commented.
"Alright then, why don't you go in and see for yourself?" Alfred sighed, placed the feather duster he was carrying on the table, stepped toward the bookshelf, and pulled the book that triggered the wall to turn. The bohemians stared at the bookshelf. Nothing happened for ten minutes. Alfred then pushed his way through the friends, picked up his feather duster, and put his hands behind his back.
"Now, as I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, I've been in that passageway hundreds of times and, I assure you, there are no ghosts in it," Alfred said.
"Where the hell did you go?" Maureen asked.
"To the gallery at the end of the hall. That's where it leads to."
"I checked the gallery," Joanne said. "I didn't see anything that looked like it came from a secret passageway."
"The exit opens from inside the passageway only."
"Where is the exit?" Alfred walked out of the room with the bohemians following him. He led them into a room about the same size as the music room, only this room was filled with paintings.
"Mrs. Coffin collects art," Alfred explained, sensing his employer's guests were wondering about the room. "She's paid quite a bit of money for all of these paintings." He walked over to a painting of a man whose expression was angry. "All except for this one." Collins realized that the man in the painting looked exactly like the man he'd seen while he was trapped inside the secret passageway. He quickly looked away from it. "This one was in this room when she and Mr. Coffin bought the house. It is the exit of the passageway in the library."
"Why keep such an ugly painting?" Mimi asked.
"I ask myself that very question every time I dust it." Alfred turned his back to the painting. "If you will all excuse me, I must check on dinner." The butler then left the room.
"Let's check out the next floor!" Maureen exclaimed. Collins took one last glance at the painting of the angry man before he and his friends filed out of the room.
Benny and his guests sat around the dining room table in silence. They still seemed a bit angry with him about the things he said about them when they entered the dining room. He wanted to apologize, but he was sure that it wouldn't get him off their bad sides. He noticed everyone kept looking at Collins and Angel was holding his hand tightly. The anarchist looked like he was afraid of something.
"Collins, are you okay?" he asked. "You seem a little tense." Alison then came into the room with a folded paper in her hand.
"Okay, I think you'll like this lease," she said, sitting down next to Benny. "I came up with it myself. All it needs is to be signed." Benny took the paper out of his wife's hand and unfolded it. As he read it, his eyes widened.
"You've gotta be kidding me!" he exclaimed. "Rent free? Seriously?"
"I think it would be easier for them to only have to worry about paying for utilities."
"Alison, this is not a good idea."
"Daddy thinks it is. As a matter of fact, he thinks it's better than any of the leases you've come up with."
"Your father thinks this is a good idea?"
"Yes, he does." Before Benny could say anything more, Alfred entered the dining room, carrying a tray with nine glasses of wine on it.
"Dinner will be served very shortly," he announced, making his way over to the table. Angel took one of the glasses off of the tray and sipped it. "Ms. Schunard, I would like to formally apologize for my comment earlier."
"Apology accepted, honey," Angel replied, smiling at the fact Alfred said 'Ms.' instead of 'Mr.' The butler made his way around the table and started to leave the room when everyone had their drink.
"Alfred, could you find me a pen please?" Alison asked.
"Certainly." Alfred tucked the tray underneath his arm, gave a small bow, and exited the room.
"I'm not signing this, Alison," Benny told his wife.
"You don't have a choice, Benjamin," Alison replied, her eyes narrowed. She and Benny were soon arguing while the bohemians watched, occasionally sipping their wine. The grandfather clock that was behind Angel's chair chimed as the table suddenly began to shake. Benny and Alison's argument stopped as the whole house started quaking and things were falling off the walls.
"EARTHQUAKE!" Maureen shouted over the still chiming grandfather clock. Everyone dove underneath the table as the ceiling caved in. The grandfather clock fell toward the table. Collins moved Angel out of the way and the clock smashed through the table, falling on his left hand. He screamed in pain as the quaking and the chiming stopped. Mark, Roger, and Benny lifted the clock off of Collins' hand before everyone slowly came out from underneath the table. The house was in ruins around them.
"Where the hell did that come from?" Mark asked rhetorically, looking at the damage.
"Honey, let me see your hand," Angel told Collins. The anarchist slowly held his hand out to his lover and quickly pulled it back when he touched it. Alfred then came into what was left of the room. His eyes were wide.
"What's happened here?" he asked.
"You didn't feel the earthquake?" Mimi replied.
"Not at all."
"Where were you?" Mark asked.
"I was in the family room searching for a pen. It looks nothing like the rest of the house. Come see for yourself." Alfred led the others to the family room. They couldn't believe their eyes. The room was completely intact and the only thing that had been disturbed was the urn that had been on the mantel, which was now on the floor with the lid still on.
"How did this room stay together?" Joanne wondered out loud. Alfred walked over to the urn and picked it up. He took the lid off of it, looked inside, and his eyes widened.
"Mrs. Coffin?" he said. "Were there ashes in this urn when you found it here?"
"Yes," Alison replied. "And there should still be ashes in there."
"There aren't." Everyone's attention was on Alfred as he held the urn upside down. "This urn is completely empty."
I gotta say this whole long chapter thing is really hard, but I'm gonna do my damnedest to keep it up. Anyway, I hope you liked this one. I've decided who I'm gonna kill, by the way.
Review please.