By now you will have guessed who Will and Vince are modeled after. I'd venture to say that if you do. Give yourself a hand and treat yourself to a nice Hitchiking Ghost plushy.

Here's part four of my story.

TALES OF THE HAUNTED MANSION: TWO MEN A BABY AND 999 GHOSTS

PART FOUR

By Steven Acevedo

Wathel materialized in front of Will And Vince as they stepped into the long hallway.

"Sorry about that whole business back there with The Boss. He gets so melodramatic at times," he said. "Walk this way please."

"If we walked that way we wouldn't be..." Will cut his sentence when he saw Wathel

wagging his finger at the very lame joke.

"Sorry."

Vince just shrugged because there was nothing left to do.

"And now. This carriage will take you into the boundless realm of The Supernatural. Take your loved one by the hand and kindly watch your step," Wathel told them.

"In a place like this? And in front of all these ghosts? We wouldn't dare do it by our two matching wedding rings," Will said sarcastically.

"Which I bought at a jeweler's recently," Vince chimed in.

"Vince! Ix-Nay on The Ivil-Cay Union-ay!" Will said underneath his breath.

"You're the one who...OW!" Will kicked Vince in the shin.

There was no further discussion on the matter.

Wathel floated in the middle between them as the doombuggy began moving into the dark corridor in front of them. Making a turn they found themselves in a room with eleven very sinister paintings. Each one seemed to be following their movement.

"Don't mind them. They are just sizing you up," Wathel said with a prankish look on his face. "There are 999 ghosts living here. Living being sort of an oxymoron."

"That's gratifying to know," Will said shifting uncomfortably in the doombuggy. His thought wasn't even on the tour but on his son Ben who was somewhere in the mansion. Vince saw the worried look on his face and gave his hand a firm comforting squeeze.

"We'll find our kid, Will. I promise," he said softly.

"Hahahahaha!" Wathel laughed.

"What's so funny?" Vince asked with an annoyed look on his face.

"Your hand passing through my ectoplasmic body. It tickles."

"Ewww!" Both Will and Vince drew their hands away from the ghost.

They made a turn under the archway and came into the library. The busts were staring at their "victims" with gleaming glee in their eyes. "The library is well stocked with priceless first editions. Only ghost stories of course."

All of a sudden a flurry of books were tossed about as if someone were looking for something.

"Oh that's just Alphie. He's looking for a book on spells and incantations. Thinks he can beat our resident psychic in a contest of wills," Wathel said. "He'll never beat her."

"But I think you two could," Wathel added.

"In which way?" Will inquired.

"Well see. Little Leota has your son guys."

"WHAT?" they both said simultaneously.

To be continued...