February. Spooky scary moral dilemmas p.4

"It's a trick with lights," said Dick. "It's gotta be."

They had closed the door to the ghostly ballroom and gone back into the study to gather their bearings.

Kori said, "If that is so, we could simply… walk through the room, yes?"

"Yeah. Sure," said Dick, though he wasn't convinced any of this was fake anymore. "But… we're probably better off following the instructions."

"You mean…?"

Dick made himself smile as he offered his hand. "May I have this dance?"

Kori nearly forgot she was in a haunted house when Dick led her out into the ballroom.

She remembered soon enough, when they were surrounded by swirling, transparent figures. Space was made for them in the dance floor. Kori and Dick danced as naturally as they could, and advanced through the room to the other side.

They really thought they could get to the other side. But then the music changed note, and their partners changed too. One moment Dick and Kori were looking at their friend, the next they were inches away from a ghostly face. Their faces were horrifying in their resigned pleasantness; their hands were unbearably cold.

These weren't lights.

The ghosts didn't take well to rejection. When Dick and Kori tried to catch each other's eyes, their ghostly partners pulled on their hands.

"There's plenty time to dance with every guest," said the woman dancing with Dick. "This house is ours now. We took it back, and we can do what we want. We deserve this party."

"Let us tempt you to stay," said the man dancing with Kori. "We're celebrating being rid of the Doctor. It's so much better without him around."

At a turn, Dick and Kori managed to lock eyes. It was as if they shared a mind link for a moment. They both knew what they had to do. They nodded at each other, and dashed to the end of the room. The ghosts were on their tail immediately. Dick and Kori didn't need to turn to know they were being followed, and they closed the next door on an army of ghosts.

Dick looked around the new room manically, discovered simply a quiet pantry, and panted on the floor with Kori for a while.

When Kori could breathe, she said, "Is it a custom in this country to terrify your kids?"

"Not like this," panted Dick. "I-I don't know what's going on. Why is this place so good?"

"Dick. Do you believe that… that this might be real?"

"I don't know, Kori," he finally admitted. "I don't understand what's going on." He got up and took her hand. "Look, we'll get through this. I promise."

"And our friends?" she asked. "Will they be able to get out as well?"

Jenny went through the hallways of portraits, smashing everything breakable. Vic walked after her, horrified. She was moving in a way that he was pretty sure she had her eyes closed—for extra protection.

The door at the end opened into the exact same hallway, with the exact same portraits. After a moment's surprise, Jenny smashed her way through as well.

They repeated the same hallway until Vic lost count. Every time Jen got angrier and angrier, but she didn't let down until she'd burst every portrait.

Finally she burst open another door, but this time she and Vic got pulled forward, as if by a gust of air. They fell on the ground, and it was grass.

Vic raised his head. They were at the back of the haunted house, looking at the back of neighboring houses, in the quiet suburban night. He rolled around just in time to see the back door of the house, closing. The house had spat them out.

"How… we were on the second floor," he murmured to himself, as Jen flipped her hair out of her face.

The spatial disconcertment faded, and gave way a mere disappointment at being kicked out early.

The latest note said Trust the specter.

The specter was there when Gar and Raven moved onto the next hallway.

She was all the more frightening perhaps because she looked like a normal person, albeit one dressed in 1920's garb. She extended a hand at Raven.

Raven moved forward. Gar caught a look at her face when she walked on, and she didn't look scared. She looked like she was trying really hard to understand.

The ghost took Raven's hand and led her forth. Gar eventually followed after them.

He thought Raven was all backwards. The people who were nice to her, she rebuffed. But creepy old ghosts she was all nice with.

They walked, and the house half-faded into an open scene. Gar could see pieces of a sunny field.

"Was this your home?" Raven asked softly. Gar saw a bit of it too, a house at the end of the field. But if he focused he could still see the house.

Gar had always called bullshit at horror movies, or any movie, where the person cried out the other's person name when they were in danger. He thought that was unrealistic and affected. It wasn't until he was in the situation that he realized how true and automatic it was.

He watched as Raven followed the ghost to a point in the open hallway where the rail was broken off, and it just erupted from his throat. "Raven! Raven! Raven!"

He felt his own body propel forward. He grabbed Raven by the middle and pulled her backwards, and they both fell on the ground. He didn't need to explain: she panted and stared at the spot where she'd almost walked off into a certain fall. He didn't realize he was still holding her until she pushed him away.

The ghost was gone, but Gar still pulled Raven up and pushed her into another room. He wanted them nowhere near any stairs.

They came into a lounge. It was the wrong choice—at the end of the room there was another zombie, looming, threatening.

Perhaps it was because he was at the end of his rope, but something clicked in Gar.

He started waving at it. "Hey." He could feel Raven's eyes on him. "Hey, dude. Yeah, you. You mind giving us a little privacy?"

The zombie opened his jaw and gave a chilling scream.

Gar resisted the urge to cover his ears and tried to shout over the noise. "Yeah. You, buddy. You can't just sneak up on people like that. I get it's tough, being undead. I can't begin to imagine, don't get me wrong. But I'm gonna ask you to knock it off."

Gar and the zombie sort of squared off for a moment. Gar stood his ground. Then the creature seemed to dissolve in the wind, leaving them alone.

"What was that?" Raven demanded.

"I'm breaking the rules," said Gar, though he hardly understood it himself. "Look, everyone's always scared in horror movies, right? I always wondered… what if people chose to like, not be scared?"

"Then they get killed," she replied.

"That thing back there, that almost made you jump? We listened to it because the card told us to. What if we keep going the way this house wants and that gets us killed?" That gave Raven pause. "Think about it." He cupped his hands around his mouth and did a terrible impression of yodeling at the top of his lungs. Then he looked at Raven. "Are you still scared?"

"I'm feeling other things now," she deadpanned.

"See! It works!"

"Gar, that doesn't make sense. If this is all real, then these are actual vengeful ghosts and monsters. They don't care whether or not you're scared."

But Gar had to push his point—he saw no other way out. "Look, do you trust me?"

"Not really."

"Raven!"

She held her head like it hurt. "Okay, so according to your theory, what do we do? Not take anything seriously?"

"Exactly. You laugh at what you're scared of," said Gar, and he prayed he was right.

The next note for them said 'Face danger head on'.

Gar looked at Raven defiantly—and walked backwards into the next room.

Dick and Kori gingerly explored a hallway.

"What if we followed the servant's quarters?" asked Kori.

Dick looked where she was pointing. At the end of the hallway there were narrow stairs, that seemed to lead to the servants' area. "It's worth a shot."

They went down the stairs and arrived into a small lounge-like room. Bright, modern artificial light shone on simple white wood furniture.

"It looks cleaner," she observed.

"You're right. Maybe we can find a way out of the house this way." But he whispered it, like he was scared the house would hear the loophole.

There were two doors opposite to them, and a hallway. Did either of the doors lead outside, or was this still the house? They were all turned around by now. But before they could choose their path, banging was heard from down the hallway. They froze.

Dick called out, "Who's there?" It was the most stupid horror movie move, but he'd been thinking it might be their friends. It was weird they hadn't ran into anyone yet.

Louder, angrier banging came as response.

"You wanna go back up?" he whispered at Kori.

Kori's face had solidified fear into cold anger. "Let us go on," she said confidently. "I want to finish, leave this house, and then vanquish it so no one will suffer it again."

As if on cue, the room went completely dark; then it began to spin around. It spun so fast for so long, they were pushed to the walls. When it finally stopped, Dick called out "Kori!"

"Here," she returned.

He heard her voice to his left, so he reached out in the dark, and found her hand.

"It's okay," Dick said, as he shakily stood. "It's okay, we'll get out of this."

"Dick, this is horrible," she was saying. "I cannot see." They were only talking to fill the silence.

The lights came back on. Dick found himself staring at Kori from across the room; she was wearing a shocked expression that matched his. Her arm was extended too, holding no one's hand.

Dick looked at his hand. He still retained the feeling of someone's hand in his. He had even heard Kori's voice right next to him…

Kori and Dick met halfway across the room. He'd never seen her look so pale.

"The room's different…" she whispered.

There was now writing on the walls. The scribbles went along the lines of 'This is our house too' and 'We took the house back'. Arrows pointed towards the hallway. On the table, there was a golden key and a note. Most importantly, the two doors had disappeared. There was only the hallway.

An arrow next to the hallway had 'Reckoning Room' scribbled on top of it. The banging from within seemed louder.

Dick picked up the note on the table. "Deliverance will come, if you accept judgment and punishment." He looked up. "That means we have to go through there."

Kori took the key from the table. She still had on her warrior face.

"We will keep running in circles if we do not play along. We need to finish this the right way."

Dick nodded at her. "No more running in circles."

The hallway was as dark as the rest of the house had been. There was one door and nothing else at the end, and the plaque reading 'Reckoning Room' was fastened on it. Kori and Dick inched closer as the banging grew more urgent, as if what was inside perceived them.

"What could be there?" asked Kori.

"I think it's the doctor," said Dick.

He had taken in the signs around him. No other door in the house was under lock and key. Every other specter and being came and went as it pleased; they weren't stuck to the same place, banging repeatedly in the same way. They had taken the house back from the Doctor. This was how they kept their former captor.

They ignored all their sense of self-preservation as they came up to the door and turned the key.

The door closed by itself when Dick and Kori went through it. The room had a storm inside it.

It was all dark purple, endless night sky, with clouds and lightning. The terrible giant head floating with the storm was made of darkness.

"You came with ego in your hearts!" it boomed, in a voice that shook them to the core. "This house will never be torn down!"

One moment, Dick couldn't see through the darkness. The next, there was a door at the other end of the room.

"Never come to this place again!" roared the head.

Dick took Kori's hand and they made a run for it.

Dick and Kori burst out of the house. Outside they saw the normal city night. Victor was pacing with his hands in his pockets, Jen was sitting on the curb.

"You got out!" said Kori.

Dick got up. "And Gar and Raven? Will they come out?"

And Vic's bored face made him come down hard into reality. "Of course, man. It's just a game."

From the door, Raven watched Gar feed the monster vegan crackers.

The note had said 'Face danger head on' because the creature had a ball of fire for its head. The crackers were devoured by the fire, but Gar still made airplane noises as he sacrificed each one.

At one point Gar turned and gave Raven a thumbs up. He didn't expect her to admit anything, but she looked at him like she was exasperated he turned out to be right, and that was enough for him. The monster crumbled, and Gar lost his smile when it appeared in front of Raven.

Raven jumped when its arms grabbed her.

"Laugh at it, Raven!" Gar called.

Up close, its head was a horrifying well of fire; she could see past the fire to the melted skin, and she could smell the burning flesh, too.

Raven mustered up all her courage in order to make her face straight. "There's a cream for that," she told the monster. And Gar was right, it didn't seem so scary anymore.

She left the monster behind, and she and Gar went on their way.

They came into a cramped hallway, where the only option was a door with a plaque that read 'Reckoning Room'. Gar and Raven looked at each other, wondering the same thing; had they reached the end of the line? They went inside.

Up until now they had been in a dark, dirty, looming old house. Now they came out into a well-lit, pastel-colored sitting room. Raven and Gar blinked at the sudden light. An old man sat in a green couch, stirring a cup of tea.

Was there a dream-like glow to the room? Or was it just the contrast from everything that came before that left them reeling?

The old man smiled at them. "You. You two challenged the very notion of fear. Clever kids! You might be my favorite in a while."

"Who are you?" asked Raven.

"I'm the Magician. I'm the owner of this fine establishment," the man answered. "The same establishment you came in here trying to expose for a fraud. You were arrogant in that. But most of all, you were misguided."

"Big words coming from someone who almost killed us!" retorted Gar.

"You were never in danger," the Magician said.

"You almost made her jump off the stairs!" cried Gar.

"Ah, but she didn't." The Magician went on to explain. "This house is age-adjusted. The things that scare children wouldn't scare you. And the house had to scare you when it felt you were here to shut it down. It reacted accordingly. It defended itself."

"You're saying none of it was real," deadpanned Raven. "That the house wouldn't have attacked us if we'd just come here trying to have fun."

The man smiled at her, pleased she had gotten it so quickly.

Gar grabbed his head. He wondered aloud, "How can people have fun if they think stuff like that can exist? Even children."

"You still have it wrong." The Magician took the time to sip his tea. "You're thinking of it like adults. When children come, they understand the truth of this place. That nothing is ever so cut and dried as real and unreal. But children grow up—that's the problem. They grow up and try to control everything." He shook his head. "It takes great wisdom to leave something alone that's not meant to be completely understood. I hope you take this as a lesson."

Gar was looking at the Magician and Raven alternately. She seemed to have accepted the man's version, but Gar was still unconvinced. "This isn't so harmless, like what if someone dies of a heart attack 'cause they're so scared?"

"You think I wouldn't know about that?" the Magician returned. "Everything's adjusted to the people entering. No one is ever at risk."

"What is this place?" Gar asked.

"It's a haunted house," the Magician said simply. "And I'm just a simple man who's happy to provide the community with one."

Raven and Gar walked out of the house to find their friends spread out on the lawn, waiting for them.

Dick stood. "Come on," he said, and they walked around the house towards the front, and then away from it.

As Raven and Gar walked, the impression of fear was washed from their minds, and what was left was the feeling of having spent a thrilling evening in an almost too-intense haunted house attraction—same as it had happened with everyone else.

"You're actually mad about me breaking everything?" Jen asked Vic. The two walked a bit ahead of the others in order to have an argument.

"There were cards with instructions," Vic said, "we could have just followed them, without wrecking a spot of my childhood memories."

"I got us out before everyone, didn't I?"

"But you ruined the fun of it."

"It already wasn't fun. Only you would think something like this is fun…"

Dick made an effort to tune them out. "All in favor of leaving this house alone forever?" he said to the other three.

All four raised their hands. Dick just assumed that Victor, if he wasn't currently in the middle of an argument with his girlfriend, would vote the same.

"I'll take you guys home if you can squeeze in the back," Vic said when they got to his car.

"I think I'm gonna walk," said Dick, leaving the group.

"I've got a bus about to come," said Raven, going to the bus stop.

"I'll take you up on that, Vic," said Gar.

"I will as well," said Kori, a bit dejected as she watched Dick walk away.

Dick had held her hand tonight –they had even danced- and she didn't even get to enjoy it.

Kori and Gar rode in the back of Vic's car. The price was hearing Jenny and Vic argue some more.

End of February.

I hope you guys like how I resolved the haunted house plot!

The whole thing developed from me once having a nightmare where I was faced with a monster and I managed to distract her from spooking me by talking about shampoo brands for her stringy banshee hair, effectively changing the genre of my dream by applying the social pressure of a hair conversation on her. I loved the idea of defying the very fact that you're in a horror movie by refusing to be scared so much that I gave it to Gar, because I love him too. Everything else about the plot came tumbling out of that. Hope you enjoyed it!

Fanatic2018: Honestly, this is officially a CyxJinx month, but the Gar and Raven parts are my favorite too. :) Thank you! Hope you liked how the spookiness was resolved!

PenJunior: Hey, getting questions and replying is one of the best parts of fanfic for me! It's really interesting to see how people interpret different things, and it makes me think about a lot of things I decided, because while I overthink and overplan a lot, a lot of things I just tend to write on instinct, like if something seems right I just add it for a plot/someone's personality/whatever.

But I'm laughing so much right now because Gar having a fast metabolism makes so much sense for him and his original powers and I didn't even think of it that way. I just made him one of those people who don't get hungover because it goes with his carefree personality. You might have just made canon, my dude! (So far his only gift I've shown you is the Disney princess-levels of animal whispering. There's another small, wackier 'gift' I thought of but it's only coming in Year 2)

Yes you can expect more Jenny interactions with Raven and more of Jenny's mischief (in all four parts of this series) because I love writing her; she's not gonna be a main character but she's a regular guest.

Did you see how you ended up being right on the money about how the house gave our guys special treatment? You deserve a virtual cookie!

And I hope the extra BBxRae bonding was to your satisfaction. This is a slow burn so I'm taking my time with the friendship before the romantic stuff, but something is always gonna be happening with them. (Between you and me, April is where it all goes down. .)

Thank you so much for your reviews! :)

Next up: March. The long and unexpected story behind Dick's school records.