A/N: Shut uuup. Haha I know, I know…I'm a horrible person. I'm sorry. I lost my writing mojo and I didn't want to just force this out. Pluuuus I had some major life stuff going on. The gist…I'm in loooove. Haha but this little sucker is not proofed. I apologize if this isn't exactly the greatest, remember I haven't written for a while. Anyway, ON WITH THE UPDATE!
Chapter 10: Acrophobia
Glen made his way through the front foyer and down the hallway that led back towards the chapel. The others were long gone by now. He'd stayed behind to compose himself. After all, finding out that the 'haunted' location you went to as a joke and an excuse to have your hottie hot hottie hottie hot hot girlfriend cling to you because she was scared actually WAS haunted and by homicidal ghosts no less, plus being locked in without any possible way of escape, and then hearing Ashley's walkie talkie hysterics, going up to the bell tower…the bell tower that's at least 150 feet in the air…didn't seem like the funnest or best idea.
"Not that going up there in the first place sounded like a fun idea," he muttered to himself as he reached the door labeled Stairwell To Bell Tower.
He stared at the door for a good while. He examined each and every inch of wood grain before him. Every tiny wood particle that was in his sight, he thoroughly packed away into his brain…as if remembering what a door looked like would actually help with anything. He looked at that damn door for so long he started seeing, what seemed to be, little demons appear in the grain.
"Time to man up Carlin, this is ridiculous. Just go up there and get it done, and then you can have a well deserved make out session with Madison. Good plan."
He grabbed the handle and tried to push the door open. It wouldn't budge.
"It's like…some…supernatural force…is…holding it…shut…" Glen grumbled while he attempted to force the door in question open.
After a good 10 minutes of struggling with the door a thought dawned on him.
"Maybe if I pull…"
He did as such and VOILA! Open door.
"Wow…I'm a dumbass…we'll just leave that out of my recap if anyone asks…"
The stairwell was dark and musty, filled with cobwebs after years and years of nonuse. The steps, wooden and rickety, had coating of dirt and dust that hadn't been disturbed in so long that it almost served as silent warning to the Carlin Boy.
Almost.
He placed one foot on the first step. It creaked as more of his weight was put onto it. Instantly he felt a chill go down his spine. It was ominous and unnerving but then again, what hadn't been about this whole situation? Up to the next step and the next he went. He could hear the wind blowing about outside and the soft clang of the bell as it lightly swayed to and fro in the gust while he continued his trek up the seemingly never ending, multilevel staircase.
"Jesus could this thing be any higher- OW!"
Glen had made the mistake of keeping his head down during his little hike so he failed to see the hatch above him. Now he had a bruised ego from the door incident AND sore noggin. Poor guy.
He rubbed the now tender spot for a little while and proceeded to push up on the hatch. Of course with his luck so far, Glen couldn't get it to budge.
"Ok honestly, this just isn't funny anymore. I know it's not a pull down one, there's no room."
He looked at the problematic hatch and found nothing that would keep it closed. Ya know, like a lock or something. He was getting ready to push up again when he heard humming; humming from above. It was barely audible, but it was definitely there, right above his head. Judging by the pitch, it was a girl.
He knew from the look of the stairs that no one else in the group had gone up there; otherwise there would've been footprints. He listened again, closely. Instead of humming this time, he heard a barely there whisper.
"I know you're there, why don't you just come up. I want to play. Don't you want to play Glen?"
The blond boy's eyes opened wide. His heart was beating a mile a minute and he had started to get little beads of sweat on his forehead. How? How on earth could she have known his name? There was no way, he had to be hallucinating.
He shook his head and took a deep breath, ready to move that damn hatch once and for all. He placed his hands against the wood and squatted as much as possible. Ready to be met with the resistance he'd come across before, Glen pushed up with all his might.
This time however, the hatch didn't pose a problem. It flew open with such force that when it flopped down the other way it clattered with a loud BAM! So loud in fact, it caused the boy to nearly tumble down the stairs.
He clutched his chest while he tried to get his erratic breathing under control and looked around the tower platform. It was completely barren, save for a few wayward leaves. There was definitely no one there before…right? Right!
Glen pulled himself completely onto the platform and shrugged his bag off his shoulder.
"Alright let's see what I got in my goodie bag," he said to himself.
He opened the bag and paused a moment.
"I really need to stop talking to myself…people will start thinking I'm mental…"
Unaware of the spirit that curiously watched him from atop the bell with a devious glint in her dead eyes and a sadistic smirk on her face, Glen rummaged through the bag. He procured what he sought after, a rope complete with matching noose. He pulled out his instruction sheet and began to read. Unbeknownst to the blond, the sadistic smirk on the girl's face turned into a full blown evil and maniacal grin.
"Gleeeeeeen."
His head shot up faster than a jack rabbit on speed. Eyes wide yet again, he searched the area and again, found nothing. He turned his attention back to the paper in his hands. Not five seconds later he heard it again.
"Gleeeeeen."
His fists clenched the paper so tightly that the edges crumpled and it nearly split the thing, but he kept his attention on the words and not the voice that had really started to annoy him.
"Climb onto the ledge of the bell tower and tie the rope to the beam attached to the bell. Once you have done that ring the bell three times making sure to pause between each ring allowing it to sound fully. Then, sit underneath the noose in complete silence. Annie's spirit should emerge, but be aware of possible anger she may attempt to release."
Anger? Oh great. As if a bad tempered Latina isn't enough to deal with, now I've got an angry ghost? What the hell? He thought to himself.
Glen sighed and got to work. He picked up the rope and eyed the ledge warily. It was common knowledge in the Carlin household that tough guy Glen was deathly afraid of heights; something that had been brought on after a terrifying experience at Cedar Point.
Glen was 12 and finally tall enough and old enough, according to his parents, to ride the big roller coasters by himself. So that's what he did. He waited in line for the coaster known as 'Mantis'; a blue, yellow, and red monster of a coaster coasting easily at a top speed of 60 miles per hour. It wasn't your normal coaster, oh no…it was the badass 'I'm gonna make you stand until your knees go weak and then I'm gonna make you stand some more' kind, and according to the sign it ranked in as 'One of the tallest, fastest, and steepest stand-up roller coasters in the world!" Perfect one to start out on right?
The line took hours and hours to get through and when he got to the front, he was practically bouncing off the walls. Standing in the middle of the train, the ride shot out of the station like a bullet.
It was going smoothly enough and Glen was having a fantastic time. That was, until it got to the third loop. The train bounded up the incline but lost a significant amount of speed as it reached the midpoint. The brakes locked and the ride shuddered violently.
There he was, 12 year old Glen Carlin. Stuck 83 feet in the air, upside down, blood rushing to his head faster than Paris Hilton could spend $1,000 at D&G, with only his shoulder harness keeping him secured. His heart was rapidly pounding which only increased the pressure in his head, making his loss of consciousness to come all the sooner.
10 minutes in and he was seeing spots, large black spots. He was completely disoriented, but still conscious…at least for the time being. The park had gotten a few cherry pickers together and had been helping riders out of the train as fast as possible. They were a long way from where Glen was though, so when he felt his shoulder harness give out alarms were sounded.
By some miracle or act of God, Glen had mustered up enough coherence to quickly grab hold of the yellow 'safety' device that had just moments ago been keeping him strapped snugly into the train. With the lack of blood in his muscles his grip on the harness was failing fast.
The cherry pickers were frantic as they tried to get to him and just as his little fingers slipped off the harness, a rescue worker snagged him and pulled him into the basket.
A slight breeze passed through and the eldest Carlin child shivered, not only because it was chilly, but because the memory was still fresh as a daisy in his mind.
Annie, who had been silently watching the boy as he relived his near death experience, slid off the bell with that evil grin stamped back on her face. She was about to hurt the actually innocent blond and she was gonna hurt him good.
Glen carefully stepped up onto the ledge and looked down to the ground, which he immediately regretted.
"That's a bigger fall than the coaster…" he said as he swallowed a large lump that'd formed in his throat.
He reached up to tie the rope to the beam and Annie took this as her cue. She took in a breath that wasn't actually needed and shrieked as loud as she could as she charged towards the boy.
"AHHHHHHHH!"
Glen, startled beyond comprehension, swiveled in the direction of the shriek and stumbled backwards, effectively falling off. For the second time in his life he somehow found the last bit of coherence he had and grabbed the ledge on his way down. He tried to get some form of footing but the building wasn't helping any, so he was in a battle with gravity and traction.
His breathing had switched into panic mode the second he fell and his muscles were already fatigued. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold on.
Annie looked over the ledge, pleased with herself.
"You aren't supposed to be here. I told you I wanted to play and this game is always fun. I love this game. I wonder where you'll end up. Here with me, or down there. Oh yes, this game is my favorite." She said completely satisfied.
His grip was getting less and less ninja death grip and more new born baby like and he was completely drained. He was just about to give up when he heard possibly the greatest sound ever.
"GLEN?!"
"SPENCER!"