Author's Note: This episode will introduce the dark past and a new character(s). I do not own the Haunted Mansion or any of its residents…well not any of the originals anyway. I own Kim, Jody, Sakura, Tiki and other characters. I also own this story. Also take into account that characters will "die", as in either be destroyed or crossover.
Chapter 2: Black Widow Bride
Have you ever seen a haunted house? You know the kind I mean: That old dark house that's usually at the end of a dimly-lit street. The owners haven't been seen for years. No one really knows why? The windows are broken and boarded, and the shutters hang loose on their hinges. The trees have grown wild, their branches brush against the side of the weathering house, making strange noises in the night. There's a high vine covered fence around the property. Is it there to keep somebody out? Or is it there to keep something inside? It's a house people avoid walking past at night. Strange sounds come from within the walls, and it's said that eerie lights have been both of the attic windows, and in the graveyard at the side of the house. Our story resolves around this mysterious mansion, and now we continue to explore the wonders and mysteries of the Haunted Mansion!
Dawn slowly rose in the mid-western and the rays of the sun shone through the windows of the Haunted Mansion. Today was another haunting day for the ghosts of the building, but after last night's events, many of the spirits were restless…than again, they are always restless! Sakura entered the ballroom, carrying that morning's newspaper, having successfully frightened off the postman for the 15th time that week. She joined her fellow ghosts at the dining table, where the ghostly king had fallen asleep again and one spirit lay unconscious underneath the table, drunken as can be. She inspected the newspaper and burst out laughing. Gus approached.
"What's so funny, Sakura?" asked Gus.
"It says here that the ride "It's A Small World" at Disneyland had to close as one of the singing animatronic suddenly produced a machine gun and opened fire on other animatronics and a robotic gang war started!" laughed Sakura and Gus raised an eyebrow and scuttled away as fast as his ball and chain would let him.
Kim stood on the balcony above the ballroom, her head full of thoughts, including last night's events. But, a firm image of Jody was stuck in a mind and she tried several ways to get him out of her head, including banging her head on the banister. Something loud from the attic caught Kim's attention. Curiosity taking over, she travelled along the landing and headed through the door and up the steps into the mansion's attic. A new sensation came over Kim; something was different in gloomy loft.
There were five portraits stood up within the junk, each one showing the same young woman dressed in a bridal dress with a different man standing beside her. As Kim passed each portrait, there was a mysterious slash of an axe that seemed to echo out of the woodwork, and the head of each man vanished before Kim's eyes. But when she stopped at the fifth and final portrait, she noticed that the same woman was there, but beside was a very familiar face.
"Master Gracey!" cried Kim in surprise.
Suddenly, the floorboards creaked loudly and Kim froze when a giant shadow towered over hers. Kim gulped and slowly turned, her heart beat at a million miles per hour. She turned fully, looked up and screamed her head off. Standing over her was an enormous, 10-foot high spider, with massive legs that nearly filled the entire room, and terrifying pincers that snapped wildly. Kim ran for her life, but the spider cut off all exits with just a step of its legs. Kim was backed into a corner with no hope escaping. Kim was so important she hadn't forgotten one tiny little detail: She was dead!
"Kim!" cried a voice.
Kim looked up and could see Jody standing in the doorway. He picked up the nearest item, a hat stand and he charged at the spider. Using the hat stand like a lance, he attacked the giant arachnid from behind, striking it in the backside. The spider screeched and turned, smashing the hat stand out of Jody's grip and knocked him to the floor with a single swipe of its legs. Jody, weaponless, scurried backwards as the spider moved in. Suddenly, there was a loud whistle and the spider stood down and turned. Kim looked up and saw Emily, the Bleeding Bride materialise. Although she had changed dramatically in appearance. No longer a freaky-looking, blue-faced, yellow-eyed woman but now a young, beautiful woman dressed in a flowing but ghostly blue wedding gown. Her hair which was white and crazed was now long, brown and curled at the tips. She wore a veil that covered her face, although her eyes were now a glistening green. She floated above the floor.
"Terence, stop trying to eat my friends!" commanded Emily, her face looking rather pulsated. The spider groaned and scuttled away into the darkness.
Kim and Jody both stared at Emily's new form in shock. Her new body was pulsated with a blue ghostly glow, but the beating heart she carried glowed blood red from behind her wedding gown. Emily looked at the two in patience.
"Terence, my giant pet tarantula," she explained. "And this is my true form, which I've been trying to morph back into ever since my death."
"Wha-?" asked Kim in confusion.
There was clattering from the stairway and a group of ghosts appeared, led by Master Gracey. Among the ghosts were Sakura, Victoria Boufout, Wolfgang Furlong the organist, Gus, Ezra, Phineas and the floating candelabra held by the invisible night maid Prudence.
"Emily, what is going on here?" cried Master Gracey, and he immediately noticed the photographs of his wife with other men. "No, seriously, what is going on?"
As Sakura waded through the crowd of gathering ghosts and approached Kim to help her get over her little shock, Emily stood silently her head bowed. Her ghostly bouquet of flowers materialised in her hands. Jody approached Kim and Sakura as well and helped Kim up, but she turned away, her little stroppy behaviour flooding back in.
"It's time I told you the truth about myself, George," said Emily sadly. "Something I've kept bottled up for many years."
"What?" asked Master Gracey, a look of worry on his face.
"Well for starters, my true name is not really Emily Cavanaugh!" said Emily.
Everyone in the room gasped, Gus' mouth hitting the floor and Master Gracey standing bolt upright, his eyes wide. Prudence's candelabra hit the floor as well, but it was quickly picked back up. Victoria's face went white as a sheet and Wolfgang looked like he going to faint. The children's faces were extremely shocked.
"Well, if you're name isn't what I thought, what is it then?" asked Master Gracey, gulping loudly.
"My true name is Constance Hennings, and you are not the first husband I have had," said the bride.
Everyone gasped a second time, much louder than before and several other ghosts had entered the room, interested by the commotion, including Tiki and Little Leota who stood in the doorframe, her mother, Madame Leota, in her grasp.
"I have had four previous husbands," explained Constance. "Do you wish to know who they were?"
"Go on," growled Master Gracey with maddened eyes.
"Very well. When did I first meet my first love…hmmm…let's see…" said Constance sinisterly. "Ah, yes! It was in 1871. I was in Paris on a holiday when I met Ambrose LaTour. He was a businessman in the high class and was helping in the construction of the Eiffel Tower. We fell in love and got married in one year. I soon discovered he had a huge fortune behind that safe door he had in his home. Unfortunately just several weeks after our marriage, he got terribly drunk and tried to rape me in the tool shed. I was panicked and was sure I was to die, but I the decided to fight back!"
The ghosts watched with mixed expressions. Master Gracey looked the most horrified.
"I grabbed the nearest item I could see – an axe – and used it to defend myself. Within five seconds I swung that axe, and Ambrose's head was rolling across the floor. He was dead!" continued Constance. "I couldn't believe what I had done at first…I had killed my own husband. But then it dawned on me, I now could inherit his entire fortune and best of all…I enjoyed killing him! I enjoyed the feel of stained blood on my fingers! I could do it again…"
"So you did! On your next three husbands…or should I say victims?" cried Madame Leota, catching everyone's attention that she was in their presence.
"Indeed. Next I met Frank, a brash gentleman from London. We got married and he offered me his entire fortune…for my fortune!" said Constance with anger. "He was obviously jealous that my fortune was higher than his so he wanted mine instead. I killed him with that same axe I used on Ambrose!"
"You little spoilt brat…" cursed Madame Leota.
"My third husband I liked. He was a Korean general named Marquis. He and I met on a voyage to America in 1874. It was he who proposed to be some months later and I accepted. Marquis gave me his heart, soul and body, as well as his fortune. He was generally the first husband I truly loved. However, he soon went off to war again and several months on I discovered he had been murdered on the battlefield, his head chopped off. His entire fortune went to me. The poor pathetic man that I loved was dead. I proposed to myself it was time I moved on…to my next husband," said Constance.
By now all the ghosts were looking at Constance with deep disgust and hatred. Ezra and Phineas had taken off their hats in sadness at the thought of this woman's massacre, and Gus looked like he was about to cry.
"My fourth husband was named Reginald. He was a dim-witted man who ran a popular travelling circus. He didn't have that much money, but still enough. He was dispatched on our wedding night!" said Constance. "And that's when I came across you George. I read in the news about your first wife falling into the jaws of an alligator. I also learnt that you had the biggest fortune of all!"
"Oh, I get it now…" said George, his head bowed and his eyes closed with tears running down his cheeks. "You planned to marry me and then behead me on our wedding night just like the others!"
"Correct…but when we got married I realised that there was something different about you, different from the others. You were kinder and not one of those eccentric creeps who thought they were gods or protectors of peace and humanity, just one of those individuals who wanted to live a normal life. That's why I didn't kill you," said Constance.
"But you thought of killing me, didn't you?" asked Master Gracey.
"Yes, I did think of killing you. But I never got the chance to do it, as Madame Leota over there ambushed me and pushed me out of the attic window to my demise!" said Constance.
"I did it to protect George!" cried Madame Leota in response, motioning for Little Leota to move into the room.
"You did it to protect me?" asked George in shock.
"Yes, you think I killed her to be with you?" asked Madame Leota.
"Well…but you still murdered my first wife, Lillian!" cried George.
"No I didn't. She lost her balance on their tightrope and fell to her demise. I was just there as a witness!" replied Madame Leota.
"Yes, she killed me to save you, but you imprisoned her in that ball, so George you are responsible for Leota's demise!" shouted Constance.
"I thought she was the lowest lifeform in this mansion, but now I see you truly are!" snapped George, but Constance just laughed lightly.
"Well you know what they say George, in wedding vows…till death do us part!" said Constance and before George's eyes, Constance's bouquet transformed into a bloodstained axe. With a laugh she tossed it at the ghosts. Little Leota snapped her fingers and a crackle of electricity hit the axe and caused it to go spinning back behind Constance, imbedding itself in the wall. Suddenly an evil laughter echoed across the attic and a mysterious cloaked figure appeared.
"Muhahahaha! You finally revealed the truth, Constance!" laughed the man.
"Who are you?" asked Master Gracey, but he noticed Constance had flinched.
The man laughed again. He wore clothes similar to that a man would wear at a funeral. A long purple cloak hid most of his features. He had skeletal hands, one of which held a hatbox. His face was a skull with wild eyes and long white hair. He grinned insanely.
"My name is Dr. Will Plough!" said the man. "Or you can call me the Hatbox Ghost!"
"Will Plough?" asked Madame Leota.
"Yes…I was Constance's fiancé before she met her first husband," explained the Hatbox Ghost. "She murdered me after a row and tossed my head in a hatbox!"
"And why is your head not in that hatbox now?" asked Ezra.
"Oh it is my friend, it is…" said the Hatbox Ghost and in a flash his head vanished and reappeared in the hatbox, before returning to his neck.
"Is what this man is saying true? IS IT?" roared Master Gracey.
"It is…" said Constance, glaring at the Hatbox Ghost with fear.
"You killed me my dear, and now I seek revenge!" cried the Hatbox Ghost. "As do these four gentlemen!"
The residents of the Haunted Mansion gasped as Constance's four previous husbands materialised, each with their heads stitched back to their bodies. All of them were covered in blood and stared coldly at Constance.
"Ambrose? Frank? Marquis? Reginald?" cried Constance in fear. "What are you guys doing here?"
"Bonjour, Cherie. We meet again!" cried Ambrose is French accent.
"Hello, Constance, my dear. You look delightfully terrified," said Frank.
"Marquis, don't tell me you hate me too?" asked Constance.
"Sometimes, Constance…love hurts!" roared Marquis and pulled out a scimitar from his belt.
"You see my dear, even your own husbands who your brutally murdered hate you. And as vengeance, we have come together to locate our most prized possessions and regain our former supernatural strength to destroy you and dominate the supernatural realm!" laughed the Hatbox Ghost. "And you will not stand in our way…none of you will!"
Everyone watched as the Hatbox Ghost lifted his hatbox and clutched the handle tightly.
"I've heard that song you're bust friends have invented, it's quite catchy. I've created my own verse for it: When the darkness wins and teleports away, for the spirits it is their doomsday, there will be a frightening boom and every ghost will need a tomb…grim grinning ghosts you are going to die!" sung the Hatbox Ghost and his hatbox was suddenly engulfed in green light.
Before anybody could even flinch, the entire attic disappeared. It was if time stopped for the ghosts and then the penultimate fate arrived…
BOOM!
The Haunted Mansion exploded, the windows shattering, walls collapsing and then entire structure falling to the ground in a matter of seconds. Parts of the house flew into the graveyard, crushing all in their way, until the entire area was covered in rubble. It was armageddon for the 1002 ghosts that dwelled inside. Soon silence followed…and only the sound of the wind and the Hatbox Ghost's laughter echoing overhead. The attic had collapsed onto the ballroom and the rest of the house fell with it. The house was now a pile of rubble, with various parts of the house visible in the wreckage. Suddenly, a small piece of wall moved and pushed aside…by Kim.
What a cliffhanger, eh? What will become of the happy haunts now and more importantly, who has survived? Find out next time in Happy Haunts 2, Chapter 3: Aftermath.