In one of the Doombuggies was the shadow of someone napping. Lillian Harper wasn't like most arrivals at the mansion. She hadn't died to come here. In fact, she had no idea that the mansion was more than an attraction, that everything here was real. On that shadow came a lantern of someone investigating the buggy.

Caretaker Paul Baker wasn't used to seeing other mortals. On that same notion when he saw a small child resting in the buggy, he had to poke her with a stick to verify she was, in fact, not a ghost. "Oh no… Oh no no!"

He looked around and reached down into the buggy to pick up the child, carrying her out of the buggy towards the graveyard. He covered her on his way, looking around and leading underneath the dead oak tree into an old shack beside the mansion. The shack was small and cramped, it felt rushed, like it was nailed together out of fear and panic.

The Caretaker set Lillian down on a rag bed then immediately turned around to lock the door. This door was loaded with lock after lock after padlock after nailed lock. He breathed sharply and panicked as he looked through a peephole. Lillian had awoken and slowly watched the Caretaker as he checked the outside. She slowly reached for her back pocket and took out a small spray.

The Caretaker turned around and was instantly sprayed with pepper spray. He let out a squeal and fell back onto a pile of chains and tools to set them up. He held his face and screamed as he tried to get up until Lillian smacked him over the head with a shovel and knocked him back down.

"Where am I?" Lillian held the shovel to his throat.

"I found you in one of the buggies, please calm down. They'll hear you." The Caretaker whined and covered himself in shame.

"Who are you? Talk or taste my blade!" Lillian twisted the shoved like a sword towards the Caretaker.

"I'm the Caretaker. My name is Paul Baker. Now please! They'll hear you, now please! Be quiet!"

"Who are you talking about?" Lillian was caught off guard when there was a scratching at the door. The two were silenced and Lillian kept the Caretaker at length when reaching for the door knob. She noticed the multiple locks, then reached for the uppermost lock.

The scratching stopped, and it was immediately followed by the door knob wiggling and shaking. Lillian watched the knob then investigated the peephole. There was nothing on the other side, just the empty black air of the night. Lillian looked back at the doorknob, which had stopped shaking. Suddenly it started up again and rattled harder. She grabbed the knob and it stopped. She investigated the peephole again, to see more nothing.

Lillian released the knob, "See? The wind."

"Not the wind. Not here." The Caretaker turned towards the floor and began to push some of the random clutter away. He ran into the kitchen and picked up a sleeping old dog who hadn't even noticed them come in, let alone the chaos around them.

"Where are you going? We aren't done here!" Lillian abandoned the door to reach for the Caretaker, who lifted a secret trapdoor and helped his dog inside. She grabbed his shoulder, "Hey! What are you so afraid of?"

The knob began to turn, rotating slowly until it reached a soft click of someone trying to open the door. Lillian's breath was dry, and she watched as the knocker on the other side of the door clicked over and over. She slowly took steps toward the door and peered to the other side.

Nothing was there.

Lillian backed away as one of the padlocks opened and unlocked before clattering onto the ground. She breathed heavily, trying to control her intake and outtake.

Another padlock clicked off.

The Caretaker took his things and ducked into the trap door, locking it above him and leaving Lillian to whatever was outside. Lillian rushed to the trap door and began to pull on the hatch, shouting at the old man, "Come back here!"

The board keeping the door from opening fell to the ground and clattered on the floor. One of the other locks began to slide open, but Lillian quickly grabbed the small knob on the sliding lock to hold it back. The force exerted back on her to open it began to bruise her fingers, but she continued to pull back, so it didn't open the door. Lillian held her whole body against the door as the lock slid so fast that it cut her finger.

She kept pushing against the door, her sneakers skidding in the floor below in scraped splinters. Lillian grit her teeth and pushed against the door harder until finally the opposite force stopped. She fell to the floor from her own force and slipped. Lillian took some deep breaths then reluctantly held her ear to the door. On the other side, she couldn't hear anything but her own breath echoing in the night.

Reluctantly, but almost instinctively, she looked through the peephole. There was still nothing, then a skeletal finger dove through the hole out her like a spike. Lillian fell backward, covering her eyes to prevent that bony thing from taking out her eyes. She looked back to see the finger spread into a full hand that reached entirely through the peephole, cracking and snapping as the bones broke then reformed. The arm reached for the sliding lock and unlocked the door before retracting back to the other side.

Lillian grabbed her pepper spray and the shovel, then hurried to the corner. When the door swung outward, she was safely hidden behind it. The hunched clack of old leather entered the room, and pointed shoes walked along the floor, followed by the clunk of a walking stick. The smell of old dust and rot entered the room, as she watched the shoes enter the shack and look around.

Something cracked its jaw and immediately turned towards her. Lillian held her breath, but the tips of the shoes still pointed directly at her. A deep voice like that of someone being smothered said, "A heart beat is a rare occurrence in these parts. Ask yourself…Do you really think that silly spray and shovel will work…on me?"

A wicked green eye flew to the peephole and looked at her from the other side, but Lillian instantly sprayed pepper into the weak spot. A howl off pain came from the other side of the door. Lillian kicked the door open and slammed it against the creature on the other side. Lillian opened the door while the monster tried to recover.

She smacked the robed corpse with the shovel then stabbed it in the shoulder, causing it to scream louder. Instead of running away, Lillian decided to try and finish the job before this thing kept at it. She hit it at third time then proceeded to hit it with the shovel over and over until the spade was lodged in corpse's back.

The monster let out a whine of pain, clawing at the door to try to climb up, but Lillian swatted its hand away. She held the pepper spray and directed it towards the monster's head.

"I don't know what you are, but I have things that hurt a lot more than a shovel in this shack." Lillian threatened, holding the creature back. The monster twisted on its back, revealing a greening corpse empty of anything with long wiry hair stepping from its head beneath a large top hat. It wore a big black cloak and its ribs were visible. Lillian didn't hesitate even though it was just a corpse, she had seen enough horror movies to know it could get back up.

Two green eyes rolled into the skull and the monster lunged for the spray, but Lillian blasted it into the ghost's face. It screamed at her, "Wretched little child!"

"Who are you, where am I, and what do you want?"

"I…, am Hatbox. You are in the Haunted Mansion, and I had hoped to spook the Caretaker before my big reveal to the others you brat." The ghost explained, trying to rub the spray out of his eyes.

"The Haunted Mansion, like the ride?"

"No, like the film, yes the ride! I think I need a rag to get this out."

"But you're real."

"Are you going to continue to prolong this cliché introduction or are you going to help me?"

"Why am I here?"

"My best guess is that your ignorance led you to fall asleep. The Caretaker took you here, because I guess he didn't realize you were a maniac!" Hatbox groaned again, and Lillian took the time to pocket the spray. Lillian glared down at him, then stepped over the ghost into the graveyard. The graveyard outside was a hard purple, shrouded in fog and mist. Lillian tried to scout out what she was looking for, but unfortunately, the path wasn't entirely clear. Hatbox began to get back up behind her, but Lillian soon turned back around and stepped over him, delivering a sharp kick to the head in the process. She took a few things, preparing for the upcoming journey this included a rope, some old cookies, and a set of keys.

Lillian stepped out into the graveyard like she was walking into the apocalypse, and on her way, leaving nothing but chaos in her wake.