Enter Siblings, Exit Haunted House
Part Three:
"Mike's Disappearing act"
Moe, Larry, Shemp, and company arrived the the house, which had an eerie look to it and upon going inside, they met an eccentric and vampire looking fellow named Count Anthony Alucard, who ended up leaving in a hurry, but, not before telling everyone to rest in peace. Larry, Mike, and Shemp got scared and disturbed what the count said, while Moe and David brushed it off. Finally they went off to bed. Will they make it through the night? Find out!
(Flashback to part two)
"Look, there's a logical explanation to why it got so dark and to why the Count said what he said." David pointed out.
"Oh, really? And you have one, I suppose!" Jenny answered, very sarcastically.
"Yes, I do! Now, shut up!" David flicked her on the nose.
"Hey, leave her alone! That's no way to treat a lady!" Shemp chimed in.
"Lady or not, somebody needs to put her in her place. Like how Moe does it." David put his hands on his chest.
"Well, as long as I'm here, you won't be bullying her!" Shemp took a tough stance.
"Oh, yeah?" David snarked.
"Yeah!" Jenny shot back.
"Nobody asked you!" David slapped her.
Jenny slapped him back, only to get her eyes poked by him.
"Hey!" Shemp kicked him in the leg.
David bonked Shemp on the head with one hand, while he flicked Jenny on the nose with the other hand.
"Leave her alone." Shemp rubbed his head.
David did the same exact thing, again, this time, surprisingly, getting is comeuppance when Shemp turned him into his direction, moving his hand back and forth and up and down, making David follow the movements with his head, and finally biting down onto David's nose. Jenny took this opportunity to kick her brother in his already sore behind.
"I'll moider (murder) both of you!" David took a step back and rubbed his nose.
"Oh yeah?" Jenny pulled a few hairs out of his mustache.
"Ow! Listen you!" David pointed his finger at his sister.
Jenny bit his finger and stepped onto his foot. David bonked her on the head and flicked her on the nose. Pretty soon, this spilled into a fight between the siblings.
"Oh, c'mon, kiddos. Cut it out." Shemp pried the two apart.
David and Jenny took a few deep breaths, trying to compose themselves.
"Now, is this any way to behave before bedtime, hmmm?" Shemp sounded like a parent, putting his hands on his hips and tapping his foot.
"No." David and Jenny answered at the same time.
"Now, can't we settle down before sleepy time?" Shemp asked in the same hilarious manner.
"Yes." David and Jenny nodded at the same time.
"OK, now shake hands." Shemp tried to hold back any laughter and act serious.
David and Jenny briefly shook hands.
"Now, let's shake on it." Shemp held out his hands and received handshakes from the two siblings.
"Group hug!" Jenny pulled Shemp and David into a hug.
"Oh no!" David groaned.
"Heee-bee-bee-bee!" Shemp liked the group hug.
"Now, let's go off to bed." Jenny told them, before going into her room and shutting the door.
Shemp and David made a move to go to their rooms, but, bumped into each other, only to brush it off and go into their rooms and shut their doors. Everyone made a move to get ready for and go to bed. Pretty soon, everyone blew out their candles, got into their beds, and seemingly went to sleep.
(Now)
As everyone was slumbering, a loud creaking noise could be heard. This alerted everyone to come out of their rooms and look around, before, suspicion started to rise.
"Who made that noise?" Moe asked.
"It wasn't me. I was under the covers." Larry pointed out.
"Don't look at me. I was sleeping soundly." Shemp put his hand on the wall.
"Look, it was just a creaking noise. Remember this house was probably built during the Victorian era, so, creaking is to be expected." David brushed it off, again.
"He's got a point, let's all go back to bed." Moe went back into his room and shut the door.
"Not me, I'm too spooked by that noise. I'm going to see what is in the kitchen or something." Mike went down the stairs.
"I'll go with you." Jenny followed her brother and was, in turn, followed by Shemp.
"I'm going back to dream land and dream about Barbara Stanwyck in "Lady of Burlesque"." David went back into his room, shut the door, and jumped back into his bed.
"She was a doll in "Ball of Fire"." Larry shut his bedroom door and got back in bed.
Meanwhile, downstairs
Mike, Shemp, and Jenny were looking around in order to make sure that there wasn't anything suspicious in the house. So far, there was nothing, but, that didn't keep them from sticking together and continuing on with their search.
"Oh, I hope we don't run into anything. I'm already scared." Mike was shaking.
"You've been the only scared one all night." Jenny looked at him.
"Well, strangely, this is how all of those horror pictures start. Everyone is upstairs, sound asleep in a spooky looking place. Suddenly, a noise rattles them awake; three people go down the stairs to investigate and the remaining three go back to sleep. Then-" Shemp was cut off.
"Shemp, you're not helping." Jenny chuckled.
"I'm just explaining that in a horror flick, three people go down to investigate the noise. They find nothing, but, still continue on their path to look for anything that could possibly be suspicious and out of sorts. They still find nothing, when all of the sudden-" Shemp paused when he unknowingly put his hand on a brick, which opened a secret room.
"Uh oh!" Mike and Jenny were startled.
"What'd I do?" Shemp asked, before turning around and seeing what he did, "Uh oh."
"Ummm, what should we do?" Mike asked.
"Go get the others." Jenny made a move to the stairs.
"Wait, why?" Mike had a confused look on his face.
"I'm with Jenny on this." Shemp also made a move to the stairs.
Mike shrugged and joined them on going back up the stairs. However, Larry was racing down the stairs as fast as he could, in frantic.
"Larry?" Shemp, Jenny, and Mike said in unison.
"Did you kids hear that noise?" Larry asked, completely frazzled.
"No, but, we found a secret room." Mike said.
Jenny gave Mike a piercing glare and made a loud annoyed sigh.
"What's wrong, little girl?" Mike sarcastically asked.
"I wanted to say it or better yet, I wanted Shemp to tell Larry, since, Shempy is the one who found it." Jenny sounded like a toddler who didn't get what they wanted.
"Oh, it's OK, kid." Shemp brushed it off.
"Any hoo, ignoring the toddler of a sister of mine, we found a secret room and got scared." Mike explained.
"Well, maybe that was the noise. Let's go and check out what this room is." Larry joined them, as they went back to the secret room.
"Oh, this gives me the creeps." Mike's teeth began chattering, again.
"Hey, this is a bar room. Shemp how did you find this?" Larry noticed the bar-like appearance of the room.
"I put my hand on that brick over there and it moved the bookcase, revealing this bar room." Shemp told him.
"Bar room?" Jenny asked.
"Funny place to put it." Mike added.
"This is where alcohol was served and also where mobs hid from and even fooled the police during prohibition." Larry and Shemp both said at the same time, before exchanging glances.
"Do you think there's anything in those bottles, like a beer or something? I feel awful." Mike sat on a bar stool.
"This place reminds me of the secret cave leading to Kharis and Princess Ananka in the 1940 film, "The Mummy's Hand". I wonder why they titled it that." Jenny looked around the room.
"If there's any beer, it's bootleg and probably stale by now." Larry said, before turning to Shemp, "Hey, Shemp, remember when you drank that stuff, how you'd think you were blind?".
"I drank six bottles of that stuff and I didn't even stagger once." Shemp replied.
"Didn't stagger?" Larry looked at him.
"I couldn't even move. It was like my feet were glued to the ground or as if I were paralyzed or something." Shemp answered.
"Those were great times. Remember those times, Jenny?" Larry turned to Jenny.
"Who me? I was too young. David and I were babies. You kiddin'?" Jenny replied.
"It's hard to imagine that brother of yours as a baby." Larry remarked.
"That's very true." Jenny nodded in agreement.
Mike was looking around, when suddenly, he disappeared without anyone noticing him. Uh oh!
"Hey, Mike, I-" Jenny turned around, only to notice Mike wasn't there, "Where's Mike?"
"Huh?" Larry turned around and also noticed Mike had vanished, "Uh oh! He was standing right behind me!"
"And so the mystery begins! One disappears and-" Shemp was cut off.
"Shempy, I love you, but, you're not helping." Jenny looked at him.
"You what? You love me?" Shemp quickly turned to Larry, "She loves me! She loves me!"
"Oh, this ain't no time to get all goo goo about a girl! Someone from our group has disappeared and we need to find him." Larry reminded him.
"No, no, I don't mind him getting all goo goo, but, let's find that nitwit of a brother of mine." Jenny led the search for Mike.
Pretty soon, they come to the spot where he disappeared. Shemp accidentally made a picture move, which opened a door behind him, revealing a ghost. The ghost started to tap him on the shoulder.
"Very funny, Mike." Shemp pushed the ghost back, his back turned to it.
The ghost did the same thing, again.
"Mikey, this is no time to-" Shemp turned around and screamed, "Hee-bee-bee-bee-bee-bee!"
"Shemp, this is no time for singing." Larry had his back turned to the ghost.
"Larry, there's a g-g-gho-ost!" Shemp fainted.
"Oh, what a fine time to be a damsel in distress." Larry rolled his eyes and turned to the ghost, not realizing it was a ghost, "Oh, hello. What a thing to-"
"Boo!" the ghost said.
Larry screamed and put his hands on top of his head for a brief moment, before, turning his attention to Shemp and trying to wake him up.
The ghost quickly disappeared back behind where it came from.
"Come on, kid. Say a few syllables." Larry tried to wake Shemp.
"Wha-What happened?" Shemp, dazed, stood up on his feet.
"You fainted when you saw the ghost." Larry told him.
"Oh, yeah, I was standing here and suddenly, a ghost-" Shemp fainted again into Larry's arms.
"Alright, come on, Shempy." Larry took Shemp to where the bar stools were.
"What happened?" Jenny came over.
"Ghost." Larry answered.
"Ghost? Shemp?" Jenny fainted.
"Oh, golly!" Larry did a facepalm, before, turning back to Shemp, "Come on, Shempy, snap out of it."
"Wha-Wha-What happened?" Shemp started to come to.
"Ghost." Larry told him.
"Jenny? Oh no!" Shemp was about to faint, again.
"No, no, Shemp, don't you dare faint." Larry stopped Shemp from fainting.
Meanwhile, upstairs
David and Moe came out of their rooms and headed straight downstairs to see what the commotion was all about. Once they went into the bar room, they sported unamused looks on their faces.
"Oh, David and Moe, you gotta help me with these two." Larry was trying to revive Jenny.
"Yes, please, help us revive my sweet, Jenny." Shemp was also trying wake Jenny up.
"What's the idea, letting her faint and calling her yours?!" Moe came over and bonked Shemp and Larry on their heads.
"Ooh! She told me that she loved me!" Shemp pulled an eyelash out of Moe's right eye.
"Ow! Why, you! I'll-" Moe paused when he noticed that Mike wasn't there.
"Ooh, head! Wha-what happened?! Where am I? Where's Shempy?" Jenny woke up, completely dazed.
"It's alright, baby, I'm right here." Shemp sat next to her and held her hand.
"Hey, sleeping beauty, what's the idea, waking us up and what's the idea of pulling an all nighter?! Also-" David grabbed Jenny and held his fist up, before, pausing for a moment and looking around, "And where's the cretin brother of ours?"
"We lost him!" Jenny stood up from the chair, Shemp helping her.
"What's the idea of losing him?" David folded his arms.
"Hey, he's the one playing the disappearing act on us. How would we know?" Jenny shrugged.
"Oh, he's probably out in the car! I'll go get him!" David stomped to the front door, only to find it had been locked and that he cannot open it, "Real funny, Jenny!"
"What'd I do now?" Jenny sighed.
"You locked the door! Real funny!" David tried to open the door, again, but, it just wouldn't budge.
"I haven't been at the front door, since, we came into the house." Jenny pointed out.
"OK, Larry, nice joke. Now, please open the door." David motioned for Larry to come.
"I didn't lock it." Larry said.
"OK, Shemp, you had your laugh. Open the door." David pointed at Shemp.
"Kiddo, I've been in this bar room. I didn't lock it." Shemp put his hands up.
"Alright, Moe, what's the idea of locking the door?!" David glared at Moe.
"Now, what makes you think that I locked it?" Moe put his hands on his hips.
"Well, if you guys didn't lock it and I didn't lock it, Mike must've locked it, but, that wouldn't make sense, because, he seemingly disappeared or is actually, playing hide and seek with us." David looked up at the ceiling and pondered for a moment, contemplating on where, in the house, they were going to look for him, "OK, let's search for him. Moe and Larry, you're with me. Shemp, you and Jenny make a good team."
Moe and Larry weren't at all happy, while Shemp and Jenny wandered off together in order to search for Mike and obviously, have some alone time with each other.
"Well, bowlhead and frizzhead, are you two going to stand around and look pretty or are you going to help me find that weirdo brother of mine?" David tapped his foot.
Moe and Larry followed David into another room in order to search for and hopefully find Mike. While they were searching around in the speakeasy for any clue, Jenny and Shemp went to another room to see if Mike had gone in there and was just playing a prank on him.
"Mike, you in here?" Jenny called out.
"It's dark in there. I'll feel around for a light switch." Shemp walked into the darkness and felt around until he found what felt like a light switch and turned it on.
"Ooh, that's better." Jenny grabbed Shemp's arm.
"What's the matter, kid? Can't handle the dark?" Shemp joked.
"Whaddya mean? Of course, I can handle it." Jenny puffed her chest up in order to look tough.
Shemp gave her the "really?" look, followed by the crossing of his arms.
"It scares me, sometimes." Jenny stopped puffing her chest up and confessed.
"OK, so, what are we doing, again?" Shemp laughed and patted her on the shoulder.
"Looking for the weirdo called my brother, Mike, who seems to be playing hide and seek with us." Jenny rolled her eyes, before looking into a cabinet, "Gotcha!"
There was obviously nothing in the cabinet, except spider webs and dust.
"Mike! Oh, Mikey boy! Come out, come out, wherever you are!" Shemp looked behind stuff and obviously couldn't find Mike.
In the other room
David, Moe, and Larry were looking all over the place and couldn't find Mike anywhere. David was starting to grow annoyed and was prepared to rip Mike from limb to limb for scaring them and ruining his sleep. Typical, David! Anyways, Moe inadvertently pulled a curtain off of its rings, revealing a passage way.
"Hey, Larry and David, I think found a secret passage." Moe pointed to the passage.
"Secret passage, nothing! More like haunted passage!" Larry grimaced.
"Shut up!" Moe slapped him.
"Whaddya bet that Mike is hiding in there!" David cracked his knuckles, "Boy, when I get my hands on him, ohhh!".
"Ohhh, what?!" Larry asked.
"You two might witness me beating out his brains and stretching out his tongue to the point of him wearing it as a neck tie!" David shook his fist, as he walked through the passage way.
Moe and Larry shuddered and followed him. The passage led down to a basement. A very dark basement that looked like Dr. Frankenstein's laboratory. As they got in closer, David saw a bookcase and nonchalantly took out a book. This resulted in it revolving around, revealing Mike in the process.
"Oh, David, am I glad to see you!" Mike rejoiced.
"Oh, Mike, am I not so glad to see you!" David whacked him with a book.
"Ouch!" Mike yelled.
"What's the idea of waking me up in the middle of the night and playing hide and seek?! I oughta squish you like a bug for this!" David whacked him, again.
"Hey, do you see this?!" Mike made a fist.
"Yeah, I see it!" David slapped his fist, causing it to come back and conk him on the head, "Ow!".
"Hey, kiddos, cut it out!" Moe pried the two brothers apart.
"Yeah, be glad that you found him." Larry added.
"Seriously, is this any way to behave? Hmm?" Moe sounded like a dad.
"Now, we have to tell Shemp and Jenny that we found you!" Larry affirmed.
"I suppose I'm glad, but, I get cranky when my sleep is disturbed." David shrugged.
"You're a crank all the time." Mike reminded him.
"Who asked you?!" David flicked Mike in the nose.
Back to where Shemp and Jenny were
As Moe, Larry, and company were making their way to this room, Shemp and Jenny stopped their searching in order to let each other know how they feel , only to be interrupted when Moe, Larry, David, and Mike came in.
"Look, who we found!" Moe said.
"Mike, where on earth were you?!" Jenny walked over to Mike and slapped him on the back of the head, "A very fine time to be playing hide and seek!".
"Hey, can I help it, if I happen to disappear?!" Mike looked at her.
"Look, from now on, let's all stick together." Moe suggested.
"Great idea, but, for now, let's go back to bed!" David yawned.
"Why don't we explore the house some more?" Shemp suggested.
"Yeah, Mike, where were you all this time?" Jenny asked.
"I ended up in a dungeon somehow. Then, I came across a room that looked like something from Ancient Egypt. Inside the room, was a tomb. I was too scared to find out whether or not, if it was real." Mike recounted almost everything.
"You found an Egyptian room in a Victorian/Transylvanian castle?!" Jenny and David gave him weird looks.
"Believe it or not, yes." Mike nodded.
"You believe that, Moe?" Larry turned to Moe.
"Right now, I'd believe just about anything." Moe said.
"OK, let's go and check out this imaginary room, then, let's all go back to bed." David rolled his eyes, "After all, it is the dead of night.".
Mike dismissed David with a hand gesture, before, heading to the Ancient Egyptian room. Everyone else followed him, but, stuck close together, so, that way nobody would get lost. As they were getting deeper into the passage way, darkness began looming over them.
"If it's one thing I don't like, it's the darkness." Mike said.
"Then, why are we going this way?!" Jenny asked.
"Because, I wanted to show you guys that room, otherwise, you would've said that I was crazy." Mike pointed out.
"Mike, you are the biggest scaredy cat, I know." David snarked.
"OK, I think we finally found the room." Mike clearly ignored David and opened the door to the Egyptian room, he was talking about.
"Whoa!" Moe was stunned.
"Whoa is right." Shemp added.
"Mike, I'm sorry I ever doubted you." Jenny was impressed by the room.
"OK, even I'll admit that it is impressive and that I shouldn't have doubted you." David reluctantly admitted.
"That didn't sound like an apology." Mike reminded him.
"Don't push it." David glared at him.
Suddenly, the lights went out.
"Oh, nice!" David sighed.
"We should fix the electricity in this place." Jenny said.
A scream was heard.
"What was that?!" Moe was clearly shaken by the scream.
Uh Oh! Who disappeared now?
To Be Continued...