Chapter 2
Joseph woke up to the sounds and aromas of pancakes being made by his father in the kitchen. Joseph loved pancakes, so they were his favorite breakfast. Joseph looked at his clock. The big glowing green digital numbers showed that it was 9:00 in the morning. Joseph had decided to look in the closet again to see if the book was open. All night long, Joseph had dreams about what might happen in the house. He believed that if the book were open, it would cause him to dream about the Stauf house. Joseph pulled the sheets off himself as he got out of bed. He stretched his back for a very long time. Then, he wandered into his closet to inspect the book. Sure enough, the book was open.
"This is supernatural!" Joseph exclaimed. "I never opened this book last night!" Joseph closed the book and turned the shelf around. Joseph got dressed in jean shorts and a gray Atlanta Braves T-shirt. He then went downstairs to eat breakfast. Joseph entered the kitchen and saw that his mother was already seated at the table. Joseph's father was by the counter cooking pancakes. Joseph sat down across from his mother. "Okay, here come Joseph's pancakes," Joseph's overweight father said. He put two pancakes on Joseph's plate. Joseph buttered his pancakes and then began to eat.
Joseph was eating his pancakes very slowly and thinking a lot more. He was still making decisions about whether he should go or not. He had very strange dreams the night before about the same thing, and the book was open all night long. Could they be visions of the future? Finally, Joseph decided to solve they mystery. After all, the mystery had not been solved for nearly 70 years. Joseph finally finished his breakfast, and then he brushed his teeth. After brushing his teeth, Joseph told his parents what Chris and he planned to do.
"I don't know," his mother wondered warily. "There have always been mysterious happenings in that house. Not many people have ever made it out alive."
"She's right," Joseph's father said. "It's best not to go in. After all, it is said that there were a few murders there."
"Everyone says," Joseph emphasized. "No one knows the real story, so I'm going," he said.
"Suit yourself," Joseph's mom replied.
Joseph went to his room, and he grabbed a dictionary and the book about Stauf. He even gathered old newspapers he borrowed from the house. In addition, he collected clothes and other basic essentials. He even brought along a camera, Doritos potato chips, and a large, dark green sleeping bag. Joseph also packed some bacon. He also found one of his inventions, which was a folding bed. In its compact form, the bed was as small as a suitcase. However, once opened, it was the size of an average double bed. He packed some red video phones that he built for communication. Joseph packed everything in a large brown cardboard box and taped it shut. Joseph walked over to his nightstand and picked up a cell phone. His parents could call him with it in case they were worried. Joseph put the cell phone in his right pants pocket, and then, he brought the box downstairs. Then, Joseph went to the garage, and he strapped the box on his metallic blue bike. Joseph got on his bike and pedaled to Chris's house. Joseph and Chris practically lived next to each other, but the way for them to move from one place to the other was to take Seay Road, the road that went through all the subdivisions in that area. Joseph parked his bike by the driveway of where Chris lived and then went down the driveway. Chris lived behind a thick patch of trees, and the driveway was long and sloped downward and then sloped upward.
Joseph parked his bike by Chris's garage and then walked right to the sidewalk. Joseph then walked up the steps at the end of the sidewalk and entered the porch. The porch was large and had several pieces of outdoor furniture. There was an awning over the porch, so the furniture was well protected from rain. Joseph knocked at the door, and Chris answered the door.
"Are you ready?" Joseph asked.
"Yeah," responded Chris. "I'll bet you're too scared to go in," he taunted. "If you go in that house without one scream or yell for help or anything else, I'll reward you $50!" he bribed. Chris pointed to his right pants pocket. It was stuffed with cash.
Chris was prepared too. He had an orange backpack full of things. Chris thought that they could be in the house for a few days, so he had his mom call Joseph's mom. Joseph could hear the phone inside. Chris's mom was calling Joseph's mom.
Chris walked off the porch and into his garage, and then Joseph closed the front door. Joseph ran off the porch and went up the driveway and got his bike. Chris joined him on his gold bike too. The two of them biked to the Stauf house. On the way, Chris commented, "Joseph, last night I had this weird dream that we went in that house and got eaten near the end."
"I had that same dream," remarked Joseph.
"Something tells me that house really isn't safe," Chris stated. "Why don't we turn back?"
"NEVER!" exclaimed Joseph. "I want to check the place out in more detail. I never have explored that house too much." It was a very cheerful, sunny day. Many people were out fishing, riding bikes, walking, hanging out, and doing other activities. Joseph and Chris biked passed Joseph's house, and then they continued traveling straight. Then, they came to a three-way intersection. There was a road named McBride Trail on the left that intersected with Greenfield Circle. They stopped their bikes for a moment to check for cars. When it was certain that no cars from McBride Trail were turning onto Greenfield Circle, the boys continued to bike. The road sloped downward and curved right a little bit.
When the road leveled off a little bit more and was straighter, Joseph and Chris stopped their bikes for a moment. To the left were the woods, where the Stauf house was located. To the right was the lake that was on the property of many people, including Joseph's. Straight ahead, the road sloped upward and curved right. Joseph and Chris looked at each other.
"Well, here goes," Joseph said. The boys turned left, entering a niche in the woods. After they passed the brush of woods, they saw the Stauf house. It was sitting high on a hill that was not very wide, and the only easiest way to get there was to travel on a narrow path that was elevated high above the ground below the hill. Below the hill, there was a huge plain that stretched out for miles and miles. At the edges of the plains, there were trees. However, farther north, there was much more plains and at the end, there were even some very high hills.
The Stauf property was very gloomy, and there was hardly any sunlight shining on the area. Joseph and Chris looked up at the sky. It seemed that a thunderstorm was about to start. As the boys continued riding up the long, winding path, they looked at the Stauf mansion. It looked like it were about three stories high, and it had a Victorian construction style. The house was dilapidated, as bricks had fallen out of the main chimney, shutters had fallen off their hinges, and some of the boards looked like they could fall off any minute.
Joseph and Chris came to the end of the path and were now atop the hill where the Stauf house sat. There wasn't much room for the boys to park their bikes because the house took up practically the entire space on the hill.
Joseph and Chris gazed at the house. It had a large front porch, a tall chimney, many windows, and there was somewhat of a balcony on the second floor. The house looked like it was 100 years old, and there was a mysterious window near the top of the house that seemed to glow green-blue.
Joseph and Chris started to approach the house, when an old man about 70 years old walked up some stairs made of dirt that Joseph and Chris didn't notice before. The stairs were carved into the side of the hill, and it seemed to be a way to easily access the plains below the hill. At last, the man came into Joseph and Chris's view. He stood in front of them, his arms waving as a danger sign. "DON'T GO INTO THAT HOUSE!" he yelled slightly in his raspy voice. "When I was 20 years old, I left my parents to live on my own. I didn't get married, which would allow me to have more money to myself. I searched for the nicest house I could find, and then I found this mansion. No one really knew it was haunted because the house became in a state of disrepair since 1931. Nobody had lived in it since Stauf had mysteriously vanished within the compounds of the mansion. Anyway, the house wasn't for sale, but it looked like no one was using it. I went inside and checked it out. The instant I went in there, I felt a very unwelcoming presence. I finally decided to move in, and when I did, I only did for a month. I was so scared! There were so many startling events, such as extremely fast door slams, strange feelings, and sights at night, apparitions, and more things, some even scarier than what I talked about! When I got so scared I didn't know what to expect, I moved out and built a small cabin just below the hill," the old man told the boys. "So don't go in," he begged.
"We understand," Joseph acknowledged. "But our purpose is to try to find out why all of this is happening. Would you like your house back if the ghosts were gone?" asked Joseph.
"Very much! Unlike my cabin, it is beautiful, very large, and comfortable," the old man answered.
"Well, maybe we can get the ghosts removed, then you can move back in," Joseph stated.
"Thank you two," the old man thanked.
"No problem," Joseph said.
The old man hobbled right to descend down the dirt stairs he carved into the hill, and then Joseph and Chris dropped their bikes and got their things they took with them. They walked up the steps and got onto the large porch with an awning. Then, they opened the stained glass door that served as the front door. A spinning red and white spiral with Stauf's head in the center appeared. Stauf's head gave Joseph and Chris an evil look. The next thing Joseph and Chris knew, they were looking through a book of photographs in the library of the house. They showed Stauf's life. Many of the pictures showed some of the first Stauf toys that Stauf built. The pictures also showed pictures of Stauf's store called Wonderworld and Toys. In addition, there were photographs of some of the guests that were invited to his house. Joseph and Chris reached the end of the photograph book, and they shut it. Before Joseph and Chris could say anything, an invisible force grabbed complete control of the boys' voluntary muscles. They couldn't utter a word or move one bit. The force lifted them about 5 inches off the ground, and the boys floated forward toward the library door. The force stopped the boys from moving temporarily. The library door swung open by itself, and the boys floated through the door once it had fully opened.
The boys enjoyed the experience of floating in the air, although they feared this strong, controlling force would take them to a place they would regret going to. The boys passed through an alcove and flew by the grand staircase in the center of the room. The uncontrollable force stopped Joseph and Chris in front of the stained glass door they had opened several minutes back. Joseph and Chris still could not move.
The boys were scared out of their wits, but they couldn't scream or run for help, as the invisible force still had a firm grip on their muscles. Joseph and Chris wondered why they were moved in front of the stained glass door. A chill went down their spines when a ghostly apparition faded in front of the stained glass door.
This was the ghost of one of the six invited guests. The ghost's name was Martine Burden. She made a comment about the house and then vanished. Joseph and Chris got even more nervous when two more ghosts appeared in front of the door. The ghosts that appeared were married. They were Edward and Elinor Knox. They walked past Joseph and Chris and slowly faded into the darkness. Another ghost appeared near the door. This was the ghost of Julia Heine.
She scoffed and said, "I'd expect more things from Stauf." Then she walked off and faded away. Another ghost appeared. This was the ghost of Brian Dutton.
"Goodness, it smells awful, too!" exclaimed Dutton. "What's Stauf been doing here?"
He faded away, and another ghost appeared. This ghost was wearing a robe and something on his head. This was the ghost of Hamilton Temple. He looked around the foyer for a moment, and then he walked off into the darkness.
Joseph and Chris got even more nervous when the force turned them away from the door. They were turned 180 degrees, and they found themselves facing the grand staircase. Both wondered what would happen next. The force still had a firm grip on them.
Suddenly, the strong force released both Joseph and Chris. This was their chance to run out of the Stauf manor before anything else weird happened. However, Joseph and Chris had no idea what had just happened. They looked around the foyer, not certain what building it was. The boys didn't even remember anything about The 7th Guest.
"Where are we?" pondered Joseph, "and how did we get here?"
"I don't know," Chris replied. "I don't even remember coming here!"
"And just who are those ghosts we saw? And who's Stauf?" Joseph wondered.
"Let's explore these rooms," suggested Chris. Chris walked to the left, and Joseph followed crouching behind.
"Will you stop?" Chris asked sounding annoyed.
"You don't know what to expect in this place," Joseph shivered. "It's dark."
Right now, the boys were in an alcove to the left of the grand staircase. The grand staircase had many little blue steps leading up to the second floor. The foyer also had a lamp on each post at the foot of the stairs. The lamps on the two posts were the primary source of light for the foyer. Everything around the foot of the stairs was well lit. Everything else in the foyer was dark. The grand staircase defined the area of the two alcoves in the foyer. There was a left alcove and a right alcove. Both alcoves were very dark. In the left alcove, there were double doors located on the leftmost wall of the alcove. Also, there was a regular door that was in the back wall of the alcove. Next to the staircase, there was a grandfather clock and a table. In the right alcove, there were double doors and a single door, both on different walls. There was desk of some sort next to the staircase.
Overall, the foyer was very big. One could say it was nearly 20 feet high and possibly 30 to 40 feet wide. It had a floor with brown and pale yellow tiles. In the alcoves, however, the tiles looked light blue and dark blue. Many pictures hung all over the walls. Near the left alcove, there was a coffee table and some old couches that were placed in the corner.
Joseph and Chris walked up to the door in the back of the left alcove. Joseph tried to turn the knob, but the door was locked. Joseph felt something wasn't right. He felt something very odd was happening to his right.
"Chris, I feel some weird presence over there," Joseph remarked. Chris and Joseph both looked to the right. There was the old grandfather clock.
"What a dummy. Being afraid of an old grandfather clock," Chris muttered. Chris was about to turn around, but then, he too noticed something odd about the clock. He felt something wasn't quite right about it. Joseph and Chris walked closer to it, and they realized what was unusual about it. Something was moving very quickly! With closer inspection, Joseph and Chris realized that there was a tool on the face of the clock. It revealed a disk inside the clock. They discovered that this was the moon phase dial of the grandfather clock. The dial was rotating very quickly. As a matter of fact, it was spinning much faster than it really should have been.
Joseph and Chris grew strange expressions on their faces and crept away from the grandfather clock. The boys turned around and faced the double doors. Chris walked to the double doors and opened them, while Joseph crouched cowardly behind. The boys slowly wandered into the room.
Before them stood a dining room. The dining room was very bright, and in the center of the room was a long table. Several chairs were lined along the sides of the table. The boys noticed that the tables had a spider web design on the backs of the chairs.
Joseph and Chris walked deeper into the room. They turned and faced the long part of the table. On the table, there were six plates set, and there were forks and knives next to the plates as well. In the center of the table, there was a chocolate cake with pale green icing. What was bizarre about the cake was that it had symbols of skulls and graves in the cake. Suddenly, Joseph and Chris saw a ghostly drama. The ghosts were the same ones the boys had seen entering the house. They seemed to be arguing about how to arrange the cake pieces so that they were exactly the same. After about a minute or so, the ghosts faded, and Joseph and Chris were alone once again.
The same supernatural force that dragged Joseph and Chris around the house brought them closer to the cake. "It looks like we are supposed to solve something," Chris said.
"It makes me wonder. Let's try it out," Joseph said. "From what the ghosts were talking about, it seems that we might have to arrange this cake for them. We must arrange it so that each ghost gets exactly the same thing." Chris put all the pieces of blank cake on one plate and all the gravestones on one plate. He put all the skulls on another plate. "The rest don't have anything," Joseph said. Mysteriously, all the pieces went back where they had come from, and a black holographic outline of the house appeared while that was happening.
"That was strange," Chris said.
"Here, let me try. I'll put one of each on every plate." Joseph put a single blank piece of cake on each plate, then put two skull pieces on each plate, and put two gravestone pieces on every plate.
The cake pieces were moved back where they came from again, but this time, the supernatural force moved Joseph and Chris away from the cake. "We must have done it right," Chris said. They then saw another ghostly drama, where Martine Burden was trying to flirt with Edward Knox. Edward seemed uneasy about her flirting, though. Then, they disappeared, and a loud screech was heard upstairs. Joseph and Chris jumped back and gasped in shock.
"This place is really strange," Chris said. Joseph and Chris left the dining room, and went back into the foyer. They walked over to the stained glass door, intending to leave the mansion. However, they saw a ghostly drama that took place right in front of the door. Brian Dutton stood in front of the door, and he read a note from Stauf. Stauf's note informed him that if he survived the night in the house, then he would get his heart's most desired wish granted.
When the drama ended, Joseph said, "Maybe there's some sort of connection here. Perhaps these ghosts are staying here in order to obtain some type of reward. But I'm still puzzled as to the deity known as Stauf. Oh well, I suppose we'll learn more later."
Joseph and Chris gazed up at the stained glass door. Chris touched a circle, and then a spider appeared. Joseph and Chris touched many circles, experimenting until they got everything right. They weren't sure what to do, so they just experimented with circles, not knowing what would happen.
"There's got to be some sort of book around here that would help us out with this weird stuff," Joseph said.
"Why not check out the library?" Chris suggested. The two boys slowly walked toward the right side of the room, retracing their steps from the library to where they saw the ghosts come in.
They opened a single door, and found the library. "Chris, you look on the wall in front of the sofa, I'll look on the side beside it," Joseph said. The side Joseph checked was long, and led to nearly the end of the library. Chris's side was connected to Joseph's, and stretched all the way to the door, which wasn't very far. They looked at the spines of the book, and decided whether it would help them or not. Sometimes they even pulled the book out, and read some parts of it just to make sure. They checked all the books, and when they finished, they met in front of the red sofa to discuss what they had found.
"I didn't find a single book that would help us," Chris said.
"Neither did me," Joseph said. "The ones I found were only classic novels." Just then, a small, orange-brown book caught their attention. It was sitting on the coffee table in front of the sofa. "We never checked this one," Joseph said.
"Let's," Chris said. Joseph opened the book, and he saw that there were tips given. The first one said, "Seven spiders weave an eight-sided web leaving one point vacant for the hopeless victim." The next one said, "Select both a starting and a destination point along the same straight line for the spider to build his strand of the starweb." Suddenly, without anyone opening the book, the page turned, and showed a pop-up doorway on a brick wall. Joseph and Chris were pulled through and ended up facing the stairway. They turned around and saw the stained glass door.
"Now I understand how it works," Joseph said.
"Me too," Chris said. Chris and Joseph started experimenting with it, and eventually solved it. Their point 1 was at the top of the star. The other numbered points on the star followed in a clockwise direction. They figured that the pattern was 1-6, 4-1, 8-3, 5-8, 2-5, 7-4, and 7-2.
They were magically pulled away from the door, and then they saw a short drama about a small boy trying to get through the stained glass door. He was wearing white clothes, and he looked about thirteen years old. Unbeknownst to Joseph and Chris, this boy was named Tad Gorman. He was the seventh guest. After Tad's ghost disappeared, everything remained normal.
Joseph and Chris just happened to notice a box taped up and Chris's orange backpack sitting next to the stained glass door. They did not remember that they brought these things with them to the mansion. "Hey, what's this?" wondered Joseph, going to the box. He opened it and found many different things. Inside were a dictionary, newspapers, clothes, a Polaroid camera, bacon, and Doritos potato chips. There were other things inside as well. He even saw the suitcase sized portable bed. "Well take a look here, Chris. Here's a whole box full of basic essentials," Joseph said. "I even see some of my inventions. I wonder why they suddenly appeared here."
"Yeah, that's weird. Also, my backpack is here. I wonder what's in it," Chris said. Joseph opened the orange backpack, and discovered that there were many similar things. The book Moby Dick was even inside.
"There's nothing much different in your backpack," informed Joseph.
"Let's check the double doors by the library to see if they are unlocked," Chris said. The two boys walked over, and tried to open the door. It was locked.
"Let's see if the locked door is now accessible," Joseph said. "Maybe whatever caused the door to stay stuck is now gone," he continued.
They walked away from the right section of the house, and went to the left. They tried the single door again. It opened. "Maybe when we solve these random puzzles, magic opens doors," Chris said. They entered the room. It was a small kitchen. There was a stove on the right, on the left, a sink, cabinets, a freezer, and a door leading outside. On the back wall there was an old fashioned telephone, and a pantry door that looked like a barn door.
Then, they saw two dramas. One was about Elinor Knox, who was standing by the stove, reading another mysterious note from Stauf. There was another drama about Julia Heine, who was trying to organize the pantry, but she was not satisfied by the way she was doing it. "I think we have to do something in the pantry," Chris hinted. They approached the pantry. Chris opened the doors, and then they both saw nothing but tin cans. They had different letters with some having the same, but others were different. They had different colors, and letter sizes.
"I have no idea what to do here," Chris said.
"Let's check the book of clues," Joseph said. Both boys rushed out of the kitchen, and went into the library. They checked the book of clues. The first tip said, "Rearrange the cans on the shelves so that the lettered labels form a sentence." The second one said, "Bashful, nomad, craftily, agilely meet secretly near my underground vault."
"We have to arrange that!" Joseph said. "There aren't enough cans and letters!"
"I think we have to arrange the cans to make words that mean the same as these, and I think I know what they are," Chris said.
The boys left the library, and this time they both understood the puzzle. Joseph and Chris went to Chris's backpack and the box that were by the stained glass door. "I thought I remember seeing my dictionary in that box," Joseph said. Joseph looked through the box to see if there were any reference books. He then found his dictionary that he packed before arriving at the Stauf house. "I was right. My dictionary was in here," Joseph said. Joseph and Chris looked up the words that were in the clue book. Chris wrote synonyms down on a yellow piece of paper he had in his backpack. The words were "shy", "gypsy", "slyly", "spryly", "tryst", "by", "my", and "crypt". Once the boys were finished gathering potential answers, Joseph put away his dictionary.
Chris started to head toward the kitchen with the sheet, but Joseph called him back for a moment. "Let's take your backpack and box with us. We're probably going to need them some more," Joseph said. Chris strapped on his backpack, and Joseph picked up his box. Then, the boys went back to the kitchen. They opened the pantry door, and they looked at the letters. Chris moved the cans around to see if they would work. They worked! Suddenly, all of Chris and Joseph's work had been messed up. All of the cans were arranged the way they were before. The boys saw Julia Heine saying, "There! Now I've solved it!"
The next thing they knew, they were out in the kitchen again. They turned right, and they saw a brown door. The boys discovered that it was unlocked! They boys opened the door up, and then they found themselves in a cellar, which was actually a stone maze. They weren't in there yet, but they could see the maze through an open space at the bottom. There was a large stone that blocked the way into the maze, but there was a section on the right side that was a passageway. There were 5 gray metal grates at the bottom. Two of the grates had some parts cut out, forming a curved shape; one had a convex curve, and the other had a concave curve.
"I think I know what we should do here," Chris responded to Joseph. "It's just common sense." Then, Joseph set down his box. He moved the grates around so that the two grates with curves were in front of the passageway. This formed a circular opening when the two grates were put together correctly.
Finally, Joseph grabbed his box and pushed it through the space. Then, Joseph and Chris crouched down and crawled through the space. Then, they got back up, and Joseph picked up his box. Then, the boys walked down the hall slowly. "Chris, I am suspecting that there is something strange down this hall that is going to scare us. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!" Joseph yelled. Just then, a woman ghost in a white gown appeared. She beckoned them forward. It was so startling that the two boys trembled, watching the ghost giving the same motions, until she disappeared into the dark hall.
"We'll probably be scared out of our wits in the whole house," Chris said. The boys then walked forward until they came to an intersection. One direction was forward, while another was left.
"Which way should we go?" Chris wondered.
"Split up," Joseph said.
"But we don't know what to expect in these halls. We'll be all alone; it will be worse," Chris said cowardly.
"I think I saw my video phones in the box earlier," Joseph said. He opened up the box, and he rummaged through the box. Sure enough, he found them. Joseph pulled two red phones out of his box that he carried along. They had little television screens on them, and they had 16 silver buttons. They were used to call a phone number. There were tiny cameras on the top front of the phone, and near the bottom, there was a microphone, and speaker. Joseph had phone number 1. Then, Joseph handed Chris number 2. "All you have to do is press the number of the other person's number, and then, you can see and communicate with them," Joseph said.
"Where did you have the money to afford these?" Chris said. "They must have cost a fortune."
"Oh no, I built them," Joseph said.
"I guess you really are a genius," Chris admitted.
The two boys turned on their phones. Chris zipped his backpack up, and Joseph shut his box. Chris strapped on his backpack, and Joseph picked up his box. The boys then split up. Chris went straight, and Joseph went left. Chris pushed button #1, and Joseph pressed button #2. On both phones, each other's pictures appeared on the screens. "Show me where you are going," Chris said to Joseph.
"Do the same with you," Joseph said. Then, the two boys held their phones in front of them as both boys wandered the maze. When either of the boys discovered that they ran into a dead end, they would go back to the previous intersection they entered, and they would try walking another way.
Chris was walking down a hall, when he suddenly heard footsteps coming his way on the other corner of his hallway. Joseph was walking too, and he heard the same thing coming his way on the other side. Joseph and Chris told each other the news on their phones. Both of them stayed clutched to a wall, and walked towards the next section very slowly. Suddenly, something bumped them.
BUMP
They were awfully surprised when they realized who bumped into them.