Chapter 1

It was a rainy Friday afternoon on April 6, 2001. In a small city known as Fayetteville stood a large school called Spring Hill. Spring Hill had lots of cars parked in front of it on the school parking lot. In the bus loop, there were many buses waiting to take the kids home. Not a single soul was outside before the bell rang. All the kids were inside the school doing their schoolwork just before the bell rang. In Mrs. Choisnet's 5th grade class, an 11-year-old boy named Joseph was trying to solve the last math problem on the board: 1,000,000,000,000,098.888 times 1,000,000,000,000,098.888. Joseph was just about finished solving his math problem when the bell rang.

All the kids in school grabbed their things, and then, hundreds of kids flocked out of the school and ran to their sources of transportation. Joseph followed a few other kids onto bus #203. Joseph ran down the black aisle and went to seat 7a. A moment later, another kid entered the bus and walked down the aisle. He then reluctantly joined Joseph in seat 7a. He looked like he was not looking forward to sitting with Joseph.

A few minutes passed by, and Joseph and the other kid had not yet exchanged a single word. Once all the kids boarded bus #203, it left Spring Hill and drove to a road in Joseph's neighborhood several miles from Spring Hill. The road was called Seay Road, and many of Joseph's friends lived in houses in neighborhoods along Seay Road. The bus drove along Seay Road and dropped off kids who were eager to come home from a typical harsh day at school.

The environment inside the bus was happy and cheerful. The interior of the bus had a light green colored frame, and the seats were dark green. Like most school buses, this one seemed to be dirty, greasy, and lacking of a sophisticated design. Many of the students were doing many average things like homework, talking with friends, and listening to CDs. However, there was one seat with much more lively activity.

Seat 7a was where Joseph and the other boy named Chris sat. Presently, Joseph was acting very silly and making strange noises. Joseph was even bouncing around and jumping out of his seat. Joseph sat by the black aisle, while Chris sat inside the seat. Chris moped. His head was resting on his two hands. Chris looked bored and unhappy.

"How did I ever get stuck with you?" Chris said to Joseph in an angry voice.

"Mrs. Mann said I could sit here. I was lonely where I sat before, so I moved here," Joseph said in a very dopey voice.

"Hey, Tanner, do you see this child acting insane?" Chris yelled across the aisle. The boy, Tanner, was sitting across the aisle from Joseph and Chris. He looked in their direction. At that moment, Joseph stopped acting silly and transformed into a boy wearing an elegant 18th century robe, reading a book, and writing notes from what he read. This was Joseph's disguise to look intelligent. He was certain the disguise would fool Tanner.

"What do you think, Chris?" Tanner said, believing that it was obvious that Joseph was not insane. Chris frowned and then glowered at Joseph, who was only pretending to act mature. Chris was angry, as Joseph's disguise gave Tanner reason to believe that Joseph never acted silly around Chris.

Tanner Sims was the third grader who sat across from Joseph and Chris. He looked at them both. Tanner had average short brown hair and had a short face. Tanner never noticed Joseph was acting silly and his inability to be friends with Chris. Suddenly, he heard a loud noise across the seat and looked over. Then, he saw Joseph acting silly. He watched the two boys across from him quarrel.

Tanner thought, "Those two need something to allow them to become friends. It's about time something should be done to make them get along." Tanner asked Joseph and Chris, "Hey, have you guys heard of the haunted Stauf mansion?"

"Yeah," Joseph said with enthusiasm.

"So, what's the big deal?" Chris asked in a carefree way.

"Well, the house is said to be haunted. Now I myself don't know the history, or anything about the rooms or ghosts, but the only words I've heard about it are, 'don't go into the Stauf house. It's extremely scary and haunted.'" Tanner said.

"Yeah, right," Chris said in the same manner once again.

"Chris, it's located near my house behind the woods on a hill," Joseph said.

"Oh come on," Chris emphasized. "It can't be haunted. There are no such things as ghosts."

"Well, I still want to go," Joseph said.

"Well go ahead and go. I'm not like your father or something," Chris said. "You don't need my permission to go there."

"It's scary," Joseph said, trying to tempt Chris. "I've seen the eerie green-blue light in the upper window," he continued.

"Go if you want to!" exclaimed Chris.

"Come on, Chris," Joseph begged. "The house seems to be interesting, and it is way too scary to go by yourself. This time, I am going to solve the strange mystery of the house."

"He's right, Chris," Tanner said. "I have had some friends who went in, and discovered a lot, but never told me because they were too scared when they came back, and were afraid they would be cursed if they told me. I've also had some friends that have never returned," Tanner continued.

Chris hesitated. Joseph said that he would try to solve the mystery. "If we solve the mystery, then we might get money," Chris thought. "Oh, all right, I guess we both can come," Chris said sadly.

"Yes!" Joseph exclaimed. Suddenly, the bus came to a halt. It was at Joseph's house. Joseph grabbed his dark blue L.L. Bean book bag and ran through the aisle and down the steps, passed the bus, and went home.

Joseph's house was two stories tall and almost a completely brick house. It was part siding and part brick. It was very large and had large rooms. The house wasn't easily seen because it was located behind many trees in the front yard. The property the house was on had a large front yard and very large backyard. A small porch was in the front of the house where Joseph's mom often sat to watch Joseph ride his bike. Joseph went to his room entering the house through the front door.

Joseph went up the gray carpeted stairs in the front hall, turned the corner of the stairs, and went to the second floor. Joseph walked left passing the bathroom and his mom's room, which was next to Joseph's room. Of the three bedrooms in the house, her room was the smallest, and Joseph's room was in the middle. Joseph's father's bedroom, which was down the hall from Joseph's room, was naturally the largest bedroom because it was the master bedroom. Joseph went into his walk-in closet, and then he knocked on the wall in the back of the closet. Then, a small shelf turned around. Joseph pulled a dusty old book out of the shelf. It was about the size of an average Webster dictionary and was dark red. There were words graven into the book: Everything You Need to Know about Stauf and His House.

Joseph chuckled and said to himself, "Ol'e Chris doesn't know what he's getting into! I've been in that house several times, and got this book from the library. I was kicked out in many different ways, and I was lucky to get out alive." Joseph walked out of the closet and sat down at a purple foldable desk. Joseph turned on his work lamp and continued reading where he left off reading in the book. Joseph pulled out a red bookmark when he began to read. The book Joseph started to read had lots of information about the Stauf house, its history, and lots more. At this moment, Joseph was beginning to read a very informative chapter of the book that was entitled, "The Deep, Dark, and Long Hidden Secrets about the House".

Joseph put the book away about half an hour later when he began to lose interest. The book wasn't talking about strange phenomenon or anything of that topic. Joseph went downstairs and then to another set of stairs in the utility room to his dad's office. He turned on the somewhat dated Packard Bell computer and put in a compact disk. The disk had a computer game called The 7th Guest. Its rating was for teens, but it was still interesting to Joseph. It was based on what the real Stauf house was like, except no one knew exactly what it looked like inside and what happened because just about everyone that went inside to investigate either mysteriously disappeared or refused to tell of his or her experiences. Most explorers, however, never came out…AGAIN!

While Joseph was playing the computer game, he wondered if he would have a curse put on him for reading the book with all the information in it, even things talking about Henry Stauf, the man who once owned the strange house!

Joseph completed the challenging computer game, and he learned the full story of The 7th Guest.

"I wonder if that's made up, or if some of it is being made by legend?" Joseph wondered. "There's only one way to find out," he told himself. "The next time I ever enter that house is tomorrow. Then, I will discover all new secrets and be really famous for solving a mystery…if the case if horrible enough," said Joseph.

Meanwhile, the Stauf house was empty. It was sitting behind trees on a hill rotting a lot. A sinister, unwelcoming presence tainted the mansion's aura. The atmosphere seemed mysterious, reluctant, and evil all through the house. Somewhere in the attic, a mysterious figure paced the floors. Then, he lurked downstairs. He glided into the library and discovered a book about his house was missing. He knew the plans of Joseph and Chris, so he made one himself. Then, he put a spell on both Joseph and Chris that would give them a premonition of what would happen to them if they explored his home.

Back at Joseph's house, Joseph was called downstairs for supper. Joseph turned the computer off, and he went downstairs to eat in front of the television. He had decided to try eating in front of the TV for a while. Joseph's mother, a woman with short brown hair, came in and gave Joseph spaghetti. That was his favorite dinner. While Joseph was eating, and the TV was on, Joseph wondered for a moment if he should really try going into the Stauf house. There were some very mysterious happenings, and during the other times of him going inside the house, he had experienced some scary things. Joseph stopped thinking about that and began watching Rocket Power, a cartoon on Nickelodeon about four kids who surf, skate, ride bikes, and play hockey. They had many interesting personalities, and the show was very interesting.

Joseph finished his dinner, just after Rocket Power was over, and he turned the TV off. Joseph got up, and began playing more games on the computer upstairs.

Later that night, Joseph went to bed. He placed the book on the shelf in the closet, but he forgot to turn the shelf around. Joseph went into bed, and he soon fell asleep. The book that was taken from the library seemed to open, and then some colorful dust sprinkled out of it, and went straight for Joseph. It went into his head. The instant the dust went into Joseph's head, he began to dream. More magic dust came out of the book, and it went out of Joseph's house and went to where Chris lived.

The next morning, Joseph woke up. He got dressed, ate breakfast, and headed out the door. He put his helmet on and went over to Chris's house. Then, they biked together and went to the Stauf house. Joseph and Chris biked up the narrow pathway. They went to the hill, and went inside the house.

Days passed since Joseph and Chris first entered the Stauf mansion. It seemed that they had discovered more about the house than they could ever possibly imagine. There was one more room they needed to visit, though, to learn the ultimate secret of Stauf. Joseph and Chris entered the attic, and a spiritual force dragged them to the center of the room the instant they opened the door. Instantly, Joseph and Chris did not feel comfortable in the attic. Then, Stauf appeared in a wheelchair. He opened his mouth wide, and swallowed them whole!

Joseph shot up and yelled, "AAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Joseph looked around and saw his digital clock. It was 1:00 in the morning. Joseph looked in the closet, and discovered the book lying open on the shelf. He also felt a presence behind him, so he looked away from the closet, and looked in the mirror across from his bed. A clear, enlarged face of Stauf appeared on the mirror.

It boomed, "STAY AWAY FROM MY HOUSE!" Then, the apparition disappeared.

"I never opened that book at night," Joseph expressed in disbelief. Joseph closed the book and turned the shelf around. "That must have been giving me nightmares," decided Joseph. That was the last thing Joseph said for the rest of the night.